Ndax Weekly TL;DR Aug 31

Charles Schwab expands beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum

• Charles Schwab announced plans to add Solana, Avalanche, and Chainlink to its direct crypto trading platform in the coming months. The brokerage oversees more than $12 trillion in client assets and approximately 39 million active brokerage accounts. Schwab Crypto began rolling out in May with Bitcoin and Ethereum and will now expand to five supported crypto assets. (Charles Schwab)
• Why it matters: Schwab moving beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum will make three additional crypto assets available to one of the largest pools of retail investment capital in the world. Perhaps more important, one of Wall Street’s largest traditional brokerages is becoming more comfortable offering a broader range of digital assets.

Bitcoin gets its first quantum-resistant mainnet transaction

• StarkWare said Wednesday that researcher Avihu Levy successfully completed the first quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction on the Bitcoin mainnet. The transaction spent a 10,000-satoshi output using a technique called signature grinding, which is designed to limit exposure of public-key material while a transaction is awaiting confirmation. (Quantum Insider)
• Why it matters: Quantum computing is considered a longer-term threat to Bitcoin, but researchers continue moving from discussing the problem to testing practical defenses. Successfully executing a quantum-resistant transaction on Bitcoin’s live network shows that limited protections could potentially be implemented even before a network-wide upgrade takes place.

BNB Chain completes Pasteur security and capacity upgrade

• BNB Chain activated its Pasteur hard fork on BNB Smart Chain, introducing upgrades designed to strengthen bridge and validator security while improving network capacity. Among the changes, the upgrade added protections against duplicate bridge validators and additional controls around validator authorization and block building. (Cointelegraph)
• Why it matters: The Pasteur upgrade focuses on two areas that matter as BNB Chain scales: security and the amount of activity the network can handle. Cross-chain bridges have historically been a major source of crypto exploits, so strengthening how bridge validators are verified addresses a particularly sensitive part of blockchain infrastructure.

Canadian spotlight: Sixty-Six Capital uses USDC loan to buy Bitcoin

• Vancouver-based Sixty-Six Capital announced that it borrowed USDC 2 million from K33 Holding and will use the proceeds to acquire just under 25 BTC. The short-term loan carries a 6.95% annual interest rate and matures on September 30. Sixty-Six is shifting its Bitcoin exposure from ETF units toward direct onchain holdings.  (TMX Newsfile)
• Why it matters: The dollar amount might seem small, but, Sixty-Six Sixty-Six Capital is a good example of how stablecoins can become part of corporate treasury infrastructure. The company used USDC as short-term financing to acquire BTC while its own funds were still moving through the banking system. This allowed the company to reduce its exposure to Bitcoin price movements while waiting for those funds to arrive.

• BTC Weekly Range: $106K-$111K
• ETH Weekly Range: $3.3K-$3.4K

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Sept 2 - BoC Rate Decision
Sept 3 - US Weekly Jobless Claims
Sept 4 - Canada Unemployment Rate
Sept 4 - US Unemployment Rate 

Bitcoin held onto most of the previous week’s sharp rally and traded around US$79,000 to US$80,000 through much of the week. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs also recorded eight consecutive days of net inflows through Wednesday, attracting roughly US$2.8 billion during the streak.

In Canadian-dollar terms, Bitcoin held above C$100,000, trading between roughly C$103,000 and C$112,000.

The crypto market’s ongoing momentum coincided with a complicated economic picture. U.S. second-quarter GDP growth was estimated at a relatively modest annualized 1.5% rate, while July PCE inflation remained elevated at 3.7% year-over-year.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh reinforced those inflation concerns at Jackson Hole on Friday, emphasizing that price pressures remain too high. Policymakers still need convincing evidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward the central bank’s 2% target. Markets interpreted the comments as hawkish, pushing Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar higher while keeping the possibility of another rate hike firmly in focus.

Elsewhere, Canadian GDP grew at a 3.3% annualized pace in the second quarter, according to data released on Friday. This was comfortably above the Bank of Canada’s 2.5% forecast, while consumer spending increased 0.8%, business investment rose 2.3%, and exports climbed 3.6%.

The Canadian number may reduce some of the urgency for the central bank to provide monetary support, but renewed U.S.-Canada trade tensions remain a major wildcard. Potential escalation could weigh on economic growth and quickly change the outlook.

• Why some crypto platforms list fewer coins than global exchanges
• Buying $500 vs. $50,000 of Bitcoin using Ndax: What Changes?
• Why where you trade crypto actually matters: The case for Canadian-registered exchanges