Happy Friday! Binance Bytes is an initiative by the Research team to provide a quick round-up of the week.
Highlights š§µ:
1/ Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China, and other key partners risk igniting a global trade war. Intended to exert economic pressure on Mexico, Canada, and China to fulfill their commitments to halt illegal immigration and stop the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the US, these tariffs could strain NATO and G7 relations, threaten the US-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA), and disrupt industries such as North American auto manufacturing. Retaliatory tariffs and higher inflation are likely. Additionally, allies shifting trade toward Latin America, India, and the Gulf could weaken US influence, reshape global trade, and destabilize the international monetary system if these aggressive policies continue.
2/ The Berachain Foundation launched its proof-of-liquidity layer-1 blockchain mainnet on February 6, accompanied by a US$632M airdrop of 79 million BERA tokens to eligible users. The BERA token, which initially fell from US$15, is currently trading at around US$8 and will serve as both a gas and staking token. The largest airdrop allocations are designated for holders of Bong Bears NFTs and related projects. Berachain's proof-of-liquidity consensus mechanism aims to enhance network security by reinvesting revenues back into the ecosystem, with 34.3% of tokens reserved for institutional investors and 20% allocated for ecosystem research and development.
3/ The U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, introduced on February 5 by Senator Bill Hagerty (with bipartisan support), aims to regulate payment stablecoins and ensure financial stability by allowing state regulators to oversee stablecoins with assets under US$10B and setting strict reserve requirements for conservative assets like short-term Treasuries and bank deposits. The Federal Reserve can intervene in systemic risk situations, though issuers can challenge such actions in court. Larger non-bank stablecoin issuers will be regulated by the Comptroller of the Currency, whilst banks can issue tokenized deposits and use distributed ledger technology for intrabank transactions, though interbank DLT use is not explicitly allowed.
Check out our latest publications from this week š: Monthly Market Insights - February
