The long-awaited FedNow rapid payments network finally launched. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve concludes its July meeting with another interest rate hike. The social network formerly known as Twitter gets a makeover, what does it all mean for crypto? Keep reading to find out!
The United States Federal Reserve has debuted the rapid payment platform FedNow for a handful of banks and credit unions. The Fed’s newly launched network is a conduit for banks and other financial institutions to instantly transfer money 24/7 and 365 days a year. Read: no more waiting until the next business day to have cash deposited in your bank account!
If this sounds familiar, that might be because other countries have had their own instant payment networks up and running for years. Or maybe it’s reminding you of another asset that can be transferred seamlessly in real time … hmm.
In reality, FedNow isn’t going to have the same widespread consumer applications that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have, primarily because of FedNow’s limited scope, but also because there’s no convenient way for the public to access it directly. Crypto, on the other hand, can be bought, sold, sent, or swapped in a few taps with Olliv.
Peer-to-peer: What is DeFi?
All eyes are on Jerome Powell and co. for the Fed’s July meeting. A hike of 25 basis points to the central bank’s borrowing rate was a foregone conclusion for this month’s meeting. The amount of future rate hikes, or whether they should happen at all, remains up for debate. Cooling inflation numbers from June put more of a foundation around the highly sought after “soft landing” strategy for Powell and the Fed.
The “soft landing” is shorthand for a scenario where the Fed’s campaign of aggressive interest rate hikes manages to tamp down core inflation numbers without plunging the U.S. economy into a full-blown recession. It’s a bit like attempting to land a jumbo jet in heavy crosswinds. Easier said than done, in other words.
Catch up: Chill inflation numbers
Gone away is the blue bird, here to stay is the … X? Twitter has begun rebranding to X, a business alias and product name favored by billionaire owner Elon Musk. Tesla has an SUV model named X and X.com was the domain for PayPal before cementing its own name. Now, Musk is bringing the X factor to the social network he scooped up in 2022 for $44 billion.
Token prices saw the move as a welcome sign, with DOGE prices jumping nearly 13% after the X name was unveiled early Monday morning. DOGE is the favored memecoin of Musk, and any overhaul to the social networking site has crypto soothsayers looking for an easter egg that indicates crypto payments could be coming down the pipeline.
Musk’s vision for the site formerly known as Twitter is to be an all-in-one social app, where users can share updates about their lives before toggling over to another tab where they might be ordering a pizza. All that functionality makes it clear that payment support is probably a must-have for Musk’s big vision. How soon that comes to fruition and which token is used for payments on X is TBD.
Flashback: Memecoin mania
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