The increase in the number of initial applications in the United States last week exceeded expectations, giving the Federal Reserve room to maintain interest rates unchanged

2025-02-27 13:57

Odaily Planet Daily reported that the number of initial jobless claims in the United States increased more than expected last week. The Ministry of Labor announced on Thursday that the number of initial applicants increased by 22000 in the week ending February 22, to 242000 after seasonal adjustment, higher than market expectations of 221000. A separate federal employee unemployment compensation (UCFE) program shows that the large-scale layoffs of federal probationary employees have not had any impact, with the majority of them being laid off by Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) around February 14th. As policy makers closely monitor the impact of Trump's fiscal, trade, and immigration policies on the economy, historically low layoffs are maintaining the momentum of economic expansion, giving the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates unchanged. Economists believe that the policies of the Trump administration will lead to inflation. (Golden Ten)

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Today 2025-02-27

17:02

Olas' Mech Marketplace Enables AI Agents to Hire Each Other for Help

What if artificial intelligence (AI) agents could hire other AI agents to help them with their work?That’s essentially the idea behind Mech Marketplace, a decentralized platform from crypto-AI firm Olas that enables easy collaboration between various AI agents on an autonomous basis.See all newsletters“We’re not at a point where AI agents can do everything,” David Minarsch, a founding member of Olas, said in an interview. “In order to architect the systems, it's better if you separate concerns. So you let different agents specialize in different things, and that specialization gives rise to the need for agents to trade with each other.”For example, if you’re using an AI agent to make money from prediction markets, the agent would typically know how to interact with the betting platform — how to place orders, how to withdraw funds — but it may need help from a different AI agent to make the actual predictions.AI agents can already interact with each other; Olas has recorded more than four million transactions within its ecosystem, and more than half between agents. The difference, Minarsch said, is that AI agents can currently find other agents only by having their specific identities coded in.The marketplace, then, makes things more dynamic; instead of being programmed to interact with specific bots, AI agents can now simply come to the Mech Marketplace and find whatever they need.Olas is supported by a variety of blockchains: Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base and Gnosis Chain, with the vast majority of transactions occurring on this last chain. Almost 2,000 AI agents have already been deployed across Olas’ ecosystem, about 500 of which are active on a daily basis.The firm recently raised $13.8 million to help it launch Pearl, an app store that allows users to own AI agents.Down the line, AI agents will likely be able to abstract away some of crypto’s complexities, Minarsch said. Instead of manually seeding wallets, bridging networks, and managing DeFi yield vaults, users will simply be able to tell the agent what to do for them.“We will find ourselves in a situation where every human will have multiple agents augmenting their daily lives and fully autonomously doing things for them,” Minarsch said.How AI Agents and Crypto Will Revolutionize Commerce

16:17

Glassnode： Bitcoin's cost intensive area of $96000 to $98000 may be a strong resistance level

16:06

Crypto for Advisors: DeFi and On-chain Finance

Recent security breaches have rocked the crypto space, highlighting the fact that security will continue to need to be a key focus for providers.In today’s issue, Marcin Kaźmierczak from Redstone Oracles breaks down why 2025 will be a critical year for DeFi and on-chain finance.See all newslettersThen, Kevin Tam looks at the institutional adoption of bitcoin as seen from the recent 13-F filings and highlights key positions in Ask and Expert.-Crypto for AdvisorsSubscribe hereThe recent hack of ByBit for nearly 401.000 ETH, valued at about $1.5 billion at that time, exposed that security will play a tremendous role in further crypto adoption. Can institutions expand on-chain after such an incident? Undoubtedly. It’s a matter of gradual adoption alongside ensuring top-notch security procedures.In traditional finance, yield-generating assets are typically seen as stronger long-term investments than non-productive ones since they provide investors with ongoing cash flow and income. This perspective helps explain why some investors prefer ether over bitcoin. Ether is seen as more “productive” because it powers a network supporting a wide range of decentralized applications, benefiting from network effects. Beyond that, ether can be staked to earn consistent yield, aligning well with traditional valuation methods that prioritize ongoing dividends. The rising interest in staking, especially in the context of yield-generating assets, is evident in the growth of liquid staking, which enables frictionless and capital-efficient staking. This trend accelerated further in 2024 with the emergence of liquid restaking — for instance, ether.fi, a leading liquid restaking platform, saw explosive growth last year, with over $8 billion worth of ether staked through its rails.The total amount of staked ether is expected to grow and play a significant role in DeFi. Around one-third of all ETH — or $90 billion — is staked, with further inflows anticipated from traditional financial institutions exploring staking. As staking becomes more accessible through FinTech applications, some investors may transition from custodial to non-custodial solutions as they gain a deeper understanding of blockchain technology.Global demand for U.S. dollar exposure is immense, and stablecoins are the most efficient way to meet it. Stablecoins like USDC expand access to dollar-denominated wealth preservation and streamline value exchange. In 2024, venture capital investments have flowed into stablecoin projects, and we anticipate further development in this space. Regulatory frameworks like the EU’s MiCA have provided more explicit guidelines, further legitimizing stablecoins and likely driving higher adoption next year. Additionally, stablecoins are being integrated into traditional financial systems. For example, Visa has begun using USDC on networks like Solana to facilitate faster and more efficient payments. Additionally, PayPal entered the market with PUSD, and Stripe made one of crypto’s most significant acquisitions by purchasing Bridge to expand its stablecoin operations. In 2024, the total stablecoin market capitalization reached an all-time high, exceeding $200 billion dollars, and continuing to set new records in 2025.A key challenge in DeFi is moving funds across networks to access different investments. By 2025, significant progress is anticipated toward eliminating the necessity of bridging funds by introducing a "one-click solution." This development should simplify the process for new DeFi users, likely attracting more participants to the space. Additionally, wallet providers are expected to improve the security of on-chain finance and streamline the onboarding process by eliminating cumbersome crypto-native setups. This shift, driven by innovations like the Account Abstraction movement, aims to make crypto more accessible and user-friendly for accessing on-chain finance. Currently, the irreversible nature of transactions and the prevalence of sophisticated scams deter many new users. However, improved security features should encourage more individuals to engage with decentralized finance.While simply holding bitcoin on its native network isn’t inherently linked to on-chain finance, we’re witnessing a growing integration of bitcoin with decentralized financial ecosystems. For example, roughly 0.5% of bitcoin’s total supply through staking protocol Babylon is now locked to secure Proof-of-Stake (POS) chains. The increased acceptance of bitcoin by large banks and some governments is anticipated to create trickle-down effects, changing the public’s perception of digital currencies away from being seen purely as a speculative asset or illicit activities toward being a legitimate financial instrument, bringing new users on-chain.Marcin Kaźmierczak, COO, Redstone Oracles SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 122 may encourage banks to integrate digital assets into the regulated financial system. By opening competition, banks can compete with centralized exchanges. Banks can offer services like bitcoin-backed lending, staking and custodial services, which treat digital assets more like traditional assets.This is a positive move into a more flexible regulatory approach and balancing investor protections with the operational realities of financial institutions.From institutional investment to mainstream recognition, this is another major shift in how the world views and interacts with digital assets. The accumulation by sovereign wealth funds, and pension funds is just getting started.Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (the wealth fund owned by the government of Abu Dhabi) holds $436 million in one bitcoin ETF with overall assets under management of $302 billion. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund (AIDA) manages a combined $1.7 trillion, indicating that their bitcoin investment is a relatively small portion of the overall portfolio.Additionally, this past fall, Mubadala offered to acquire Canadian asset management firm CI Financial Corp. for $4.6 billion.In the U.S., the State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s latest report shows its bitcoin ETF holdings have more than doubled from last quarter to over $321 million. Recent Q4 2024 SEC filings reveal that Canadian Schedule 1 banks, institutional money managers, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds have disclosed significant bitcoin holdings (see charts).Notably, Bank of Montreal now tops Canadian banks with $139 million in spot bitcoin ETF investments. And BMO’s bitcoin holdings went from zero to over $100 million in a single year.Currently, in North America, there are approximately 1,623 large entities holding over $25.8 billion in bitcoin ETPs.-announced plansLinkedIn postannounced

16:06

Russia indefinitely extends pilot phase of digital ruble project

15:53

BRN analyst: Maintain bullish stance, expect market to rebound before the end of this week

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