China Proposes Cross-Border Digital Currency Pilots

PANews reported on December 25th that, according to CNBC, Nvidia has agreed to acquire all assets of AI chip startup Groq (excluding its GroqCloud business) for

The post Here’s How Consumers May Benefit From Lower Interest Rates appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Topline The Federal Reserve on Wednesday opted to ease interest rates for the first time in months, leading the way for potentially lower mortgage rates, bond yields and a likely boost to cryptocurrency over the coming weeks. Average long-term mortgage rates dropped to their lowest levels in months ahead of the central bank’s policy shift. Copyright{2018} The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Key Facts The central bank’s policymaking panel voted this week to lower interest rates, which have sat between 4.25% and 4.5% since December, to a new range of 4% and 4.25%. How Will Lower Interest Rates Impact Mortgage Rates? Mortgage rates tend to fall before and during a period of interest rate cuts: The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 6.35% from 6.5% last week, the lowest level since October 2024, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages also dropped to 5.5% from 5.6% as they neared the year-ago rate of 5.27%. When the Federal Reserve lowered the funds rate to between 0% and 0.25% during the pandemic, 30-year mortgage rates hit record lows between 2.7% and 3% by the end of 2020, according to data published by Freddie Mac. Consumers who refinanced their mortgages in 2020 saved about $5.3 billion annually as rates dropped, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Similarly, mortgage rates spiked around 7% as interest rates were hiked in 2022 and 2023, though mortgage rates appeared to react within weeks of the Fed opting to cut or raise rates. How Do Treasury Bonds Respond To Lower Interest Rates? Long-term Treasury yields are more directly influenced by interest rates, as lower rates tend to result in lower yields. When the Fed pushed rates to near zero during the pandemic, 10-year Treasury yields fell to an all-time low of 0.5%. As…

The post Philippines Blocks Coinbase, Gemini in Unlicensed VASP Enforcement appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Internet service providers (ISPs) in the Philippines