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Fed Chair Jerome Powell will appear on CBS News' 60 Minutes this Sunday evening, US time, to discuss inflation risks, expected rate cuts and the banking system, among other topics.

Here are the highlights from Jerome Powell's speech at the program he attended:

• Fed Chair Powell said FOMC rate forecasts have not changed since December.
• It seems unlikely that the Fed will cut interest rates in March.
• Geopolitical risks are the biggest threat to the global economy.
• Good progress has been made, but the work is not over yet.
• The labor market continues to be very healthy.
• We are not yet ready to say that we have achieved a soft landing.
• Moving too quickly risks inflation rising above the 2% target.
• Basically, we want to see more good data. The problem isn't that the data isn't good enough. There's really six months of data. We just want to see more good data along these lines. It doesn't have to be better than or as good as what we see. It just needs to be good. So we're waiting to see that. That's why almost everyone on the Federal Open Market Committee believes it's appropriate for us to cut interest rates this year.

Question: Are you determined to reach 2% inflation before lowering interest rates?

Powell: "No, no. That's not what we're saying, no. We are committed to returning inflation to 2% over time. I said that we would not wait until we reached 2% to lower interest rates. In fact, you know, we're actively thinking about lowering interest rates right now, and inflation on a 12-month basis, you know, it's not at 2%. It hovers between 2-3. But it's moving downwards in a way that gives us some relief."

Question: Why is your target inflation rate 2%?

"Indeed, over the last few decades, central banks around the world, advanced economy central banks, have adopted a 2% target. Why not zero, I think that's the main question. That's because the 2% target applies if interest rates always include a forecast of future inflation.

If this forecast is 2%, that means you can cut interest rates by another 2%. If interest rates are slightly higher, the central bank will have more ammunition and more power to fight the downturn. In any case, this has become a global norm. It's a pretty stable balance, and it seems to serve the public well."

CBS announced Powell's participation in the program on its social media platform X on Thursday, the day of the interview. Powell last joined the program in April 2021.

The Fed, which left interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting earlier this week, is in the middle of a policy pivot. It is moving away from the aggressive rate hikes of the past two years and entering a period where it is assessing when it can cut rates.

At a press conference after the Fed's meeting on Wednesday, Powell said it was unlikely to cut rates at the next meeting in March, as some market participants had predicted.

The Fed Chair expressed optimism about the recent cooling inflation data, but said he was concerned that prices could not fully return to the central bank's 2% target.

Powell, who holds eight press conferences a year after every Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, often tries to reach out to Americans beyond financial markets to explain the central bank's outlook and goals for monetary policy. In 2021, Powell appeared on the 60 Minutes program and touched on the economic recovery from the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a move to further regulate the digital currency industry, Chinese authorities from the city of Beijing have announced strict measures to monitor and analyze cryptocurrency mining activities in 2024. The city is determined to crack down on cryptocurrency-related mining activities in accordance with laws and regulations.

As part of the new regulations, the city will enforce national requirements and continue to eliminate virtual currency "mining" activities. The focus will be on strengthening the monitoring, analysis and classification of these activities. The ultimate goal is to resolutely clean up the city's virtual currency "mining" activities in accordance with laws and regulations.

The Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Network Information Office and the Municipal Bureau of Economics and Information Technology will be responsible for the implementation of these measures according to their respective responsibilities.

Cryptocurrencies are currently banned in China, and therefore cryptocurrency mining is illegal. However, the interest of the Chinese people in cryptocurrencies continues, and the bans continue to buy crypto assets through various methods.

In his latest statement, well-known cryptocurrency analyst Michaël van de Poppe shared his predictions for the process of Bitcoin and altcoins in the coming months.

According to the analyst, the price of Bitcoin will be in a consolidation phase in the coming months. In addition, ahead of the halving scheduled for April, which will halve the BTC's circulating supply, there will be a final rise to the $48,000 to $50,000 resistance, according to the analyst.

Following this, van de Poppe claimed that the post-halving BTC price could see a correction to the $36,000 to $38,000 levels, at which point altcoins could outperform BTC.

The analyst claimed that altcoins are poised for their next rally and could rise 2x in the coming months. However, the analyst added that critical price levels are being held in altcoins.

In his assessment of Ethereum, Van de Poppe claimed that ETH rise is on the horizon. Citing the example of LINK, which has recently seen big rises, the analyst suggested that it took more than 2 years for the LINK price to wake up, while the ETH price has been in a downtrend for 2.5 years. He claimed that the comeback would be impressive.

The canceled restructuring of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has raised serious concerns about the profits made by the legal team handling the bankruptcy.

Former SEC commissioner John Reed Stark described FTX's restructuring plan as a rip-off.

He also clarified that lawyers for the FTX bankruptcy team should send thank-you notes to all FTX customers. According to Stark, the FTX legal bankruptcy team likely made a large amount of money from this process.

Over a year ago, Stark predicted that FTX's Chapter 11 restructuring would never happen. Despite this, the FTX bankruptcy team, which Stark claimed to have demanded tens, perhaps even hundreds of millions of dollars, insisted on promoting the idea that FTX could bounce back and become a regulated, successful financial company.

A year later, according to a Reuters report, FTX will apparently conduct a Chapter 7 liquidation. Stark questioned the amount of legal and advisory fees received from FTX before reaching this conclusion.

Reports show that FTX bankruptcy law and other professionals charge an average of $1800 per hour ($2375 per hour for top law firm partners), earn up to $1.5 million per day, and have generated close to $250 million in total revenue to date (reported at $225 million by November 2023).

A law firm that handled the FTX bankruptcy would have generated so much revenue that it would have been among the top 200 law firms in the U.S., even if the firm had taken no other business last year.

Stark, who is not a bankruptcy lawyer but has taught at Georgetown and Duke law schools for 20 years and has worked in cyber, business, law and technology for more than 35 years, considers these fees excessive and his Chapter 11 plan completely fanciful.

PlanB, the founder of the Stock-2-Flow (S2F) model, has reiterated his strong support for Bitcoin (BTC). The analyst predicts that after the halving event in April, Bitcoin will become rarer than gold and real estate.

PlanB suggests that it would be surprising if Bitcoin's market capitalization, which is currently under $1 trillion, remains below the gold market capitalization, which is over $10 trillion after the halving. According to the analyst, this translates to a potential BTC price of over $500,000, which is calculated by dividing the gold market cap by the total number of Bitcoins (20 million).

The S2F ratio, which measures rarity, is about 60 for gold and 100 for real estate. Remarkably, Bitcoin's S2F ratio is predicted to reach around 110 after the upcoming halving.

According to PlanB, Bitcoin's price is likely to rise as high as $55,000 before the next halving event. This event, which is scheduled to take place in April, will reduce the Bitcoin block reward by 50% to 3,125 BTC, making Bitcoin even rarer.

In the long term, PlanB expects the price of Bitcoin to reach a high of $532,000. This extreme bullish price call is set for 2025.

The analyst has long been criticized for having a hard time predicting the BTC price of the S2F model.

In a development of great significance for the cryptocurrency market, tech giants Alphabet, Facebook and Instagram are preparing to change their advertising policies to allow ads for spot Bitcoin ETFs.

ETF Store President Nate Geraci revealed that Alphabet has already started approving ads for Bitcoin ETFs on its platforms in the United States, including Google Search and YouTube. The move follows recent approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A spokesperson from Alphabet confirmed the policy change, saying, "Following the SEC's approval, Alphabet has begun approving Bitcoin ETF ads on its platforms in the U.S., including Google search and YouTube."

In a similar vein, Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta Platforms, are expected to follow suit. A spokesperson for Meta Platforms stated that the company is currently updating its U.S. policies in light of the SEC decision.

It is known that traditional investors are more concentrated, especially on the Facebook side, and newly released spot ETF products are aimed at these traditional investors. On the other hand, Instagram is the second largest social media platform in the world after Facebook.

The Bitcoin (BTC)** halving, which takes place every four years, is known to be an important event in the cryptocurrency market. Historically, three previous reductions in the supply of new BTC had led to price growth in the months that followed.

Clem Chambers, CEO of Online Blockchain, describes the halving as a very important and strategic force in the Bitcoin world. "This represents a fundamental shift driven by the 'code is law' principle, as opposed to the complexities associated with ETFs that meddle at people's whims," the CEO said.

Chambers also noted that halving is an immutable event that is independent of human interference and immune to conflicting views, roughness, or policy change. "For me, the significance of this fact has much greater implications for Bitcoin's price dynamics," he added.

Referring to the impact of the previous halving, Chambers stated that it had an effect that pushed Bitcoin into a vertical rise. However, he believes that the current Bitcoin market reflects the increased efficiency with which the effects of such events are integrated into price dynamics.

Taras Kulyk, founder and CEO of SunnySide Digital, a leading provider of data center hardware and infrastructure serving the Bitcoin mining industry, also shared his views. Kulyk predicts that the halving will likely lead to a "shortage" for miners with higher costs depending on input costs.

Kulyk also predicts that if the economy remains robust in the U.S., mergers and acquisitions will be a key theme as the industry consolidates and matures. Kulyk expects power generation companies to become even larger companies in the next 4-year cycle and start to benefit from the 'first buyer' economic model in the construction of new energy generation.

Due to these and other factors, Kulyk predicts that we should see Bitcoin prices ranging from $60K to $100K by the end of the year, based on the historical pricing effects of halvings.

TDeFi Chief Operating Officer Rishabh Gupta, on the other hand, said that he does not think that this halving will have as much impact on Bitcoin's price as previous ones.

Gupta also sees a potential shift in the expected four-year market cycle:

"The four-year cycle will change because institutions are showing more faith and participation. Therefore, I believe that this cycle will be different. I don't think the halving will affect the market. A large number of BTC that have not yet been traded are held in wallets. The release of these BTC will have a more significant impact than the halving itself. The four-year cycle will change, not just because of halving, but because of institutional participation."

Gupta declined to make a price prediction but said he expects another bull run after the halving in April, at which point BTC will surpass its previous all-time high of $69,000.

In a recent report, JPMorgan analysts, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, expressed concern about Tether's growing dominance in the stablecoin market.

The report highlighted Tether's lack of regulatory compliance and transparency, stating that its increased concentration is seen as a negative for the stablecoin universe and the overall crypto ecosystem.

Companies that operate stablecoins face regulatory risks globally. In the U.S., the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act is awaiting approval from Congress. Meanwhile, Europe expects partial implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in June this year. Analysts believe that stablecoin companies that strictly adhere to existing regulations could benefit from the upcoming regulatory scrutiny and potentially gain market share.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino responded to JPMorgan's report, saying that he is pleased that Tether and the stablecoin technology created by his company have been recognized by JPMorgan. However, he found it hypocritical for JPMorgan, the world's largest bank, to talk about centralization.

Ardoino attributed the success of Tether's USDT to its financial reliability, strong reserves, and commitment to emerging markets and developing countries.

Circle, another stablecoin company, had recently secretly applied for a public listing in the United States.

JPMorgan analysts interpret the move as Circle's intention to expand internationally and prepare ahead of time for upcoming stablecoin regulations.

According to analysts, stablecoins function almost like "cash" in crypto, acting as a link between traditional finance and the crypto world. According to analysts, their expansion means more money entering crypto from traditional finance, more cash circulation in the crypto space, and an increase in collateral, making the cryptocurrency financial system more stable.

However, analysts also pointed to the downsides created by Tether's increasing market share and regulatory uncertainties.

Chinese academics have explained that there is an urgent need to address money laundering issues related to cryptocurrencies at the legal level.

A revised draft of China's Anti-Money Laundering Law, which is expected to be adopted in 2025, is set to address this issue.

Professor Wang Xin of Peking University School of Law, who participated in the discussion of the revised draft of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, said, "The most important, most urgent and most necessary issue that needs to be solved at the legal level is the problem of money laundering, which includes virtual assets."

Another academic, Yan Lixin, pointed out that the use of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets for money laundering is becoming an increasingly mainstream trend. However, there is no clear definition in Chinese law on what virtual assets mean and their scope.

Wang Xin believes that China's attitude towards virtual currencies can be understood from the ban on the legal status of Bitcoin in the country. To prevent digital financial risks, China prohibits providing or receiving services for virtual currencies.

The revised draft of the Anti-Money Laundering Law already covers dealing with new money laundering risks by requiring financial institutions to assess money laundering risks and take risk management measures before adopting new technologies and introducing new products.