Plus: Fed might hold rates higher after today's data

GM. Pulled up to the juice bar, asked for gains - bartender handed me a warm glass of hopium.

Let's taste it anyway, I guess:

🏢 Naver is buying Upbit.

🤑 $300 bonus.

🍍 US economy shows strength.

🍋 BingX review, Vitalik pushes open-source systems + more

🏢 Naver is buying Upbit

Imagine if one day, Google decided to buy Coinbase. Like, one of the most powerful tech companies just casually buying the biggest crypto exchange in the US.

Idk if y'all see the vision, but this would be massive. Millions of people who never cared about crypto would be bumping into it as part of their normal online routine.

Crazy, right? Well... people in South Korea basically woke up to this scenario today.

Naver (which is like Google meets PayPal meets Amazon, but Korean) is reportedly working on a deal to buy Upbit, the #1 crypto exchange in South Korea by trading volume and users.

Now, neither Naver nor Upbit's parent company Dunamu has officially confirmed this... but they also didn't deny it 😏 So we're rolling with it 😏

And investors seem to be rolling with it, too - Naver's stock pumped 12% the second this news dropped.

Here's how this whole thing is supposedly gonna work: instead of paying cash, Naver's planning to do what's called a share swap.

Basically, Dunamu's current owners would give up their Dunamu shares, and in return, they'd get Naver shares. Once that happens, Dunamu - and with it, Upbit - becomes part of the Naver family 🫶

And then... think about it: Naver runs a huge chunk of South Korean digital life. People use it to search stuff, shop online, pay bills, message friends, you name it.

If they also control Upbit, crypto could just show up inside apps people are already opening tens of times a day.

"Hello, this is mainstream adoption calling..." 📞

Oh, and they're also reportedly looking into creating a Korean won-pegged stablecoin after this whole share swap situaysh gets sorted out.

So yeah, there you have it - one of South Korea's biggest companies going all-in on crypto...

And yet, some people still don't understand 🤔

🤑 $300 bonus on the table

Quick question: do you like free bonuses or do you love them? 😌

BitDegree and BloFin dropped another spicy campaign - and this time they're giving away up to $300 in futures bonus just for making a deposit! 🎁

BUT - only the first 100 people get it. In other words, blink and you'll miss it.

📅 Deadline: October 8, 8 PM UTC.

Don't let future you roast you for missing out.

🥝 Memecoin harvest

PSA: staring at this list may cause a dopamine overload ⚠️

Data as of 04:35 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

🍍 Market flavor today

The crypto market's still consolidating - no dramatic price moves in sight.

That goes back to earlier this week. Too many traders were long on leverage, and when prices dipped, $1.5B+ in those positions got liquidated.

That forced selling pushed the whole market lower and made everyone more cautious.

But that isn't the only thing. A big part of the current mood comes from what's happening in the US economy.

And today, we got two important data points:

1/ Jobless claims

This measures how many people are filing for unemployment benefits for the first time.

The number came in at 218K, which is:

👉 Lower than expected (forecast was 233K).

👉 Lower than last week (232K).

Translation: fewer people are losing their jobs. The labor market is holding up better than people thought.

2/ Q2 GDP

Or Gross Domestic Product, if we're talkin' full government names, which tracks the total value of all goods and services produced. Basically, the economy's scorecard.

The result: the US posted +3.8% growth, compared to +3.3% expected and -0.5% last quarter.

Translation: the economy's expanding faster than expected.

Put it all together, and it's a pretty clear sign the US economy isn't headed into a recession right now.

Yay, amirite? Well... from the crypto perspective, it's a double-edged sword:

👉 On the bright side, it's good for confidence: growth is back, jobs are steady;

👉 But it also means the Fed has less reason to cut rates soon. If anything, they might keep policy tight longer to make sure the economy doesn't overheat.

That's why, after today's data, the market's expectations for a rate cut next month fell from about 91.9% yesterday to 83.4% as of writing.

And crypto likes rate cuts... because cheaper money = more liquidity = happier traders.

So yeah 🧍 Stay tuned, because tomorrow brings even more important numbers: PCE (the Fed's fave inflation indicator) and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey.

Those will help confirm whether today's "strong economy" message really sticks, or if there's room for the Fed to ease up sooner.

🍋 News drops you can't miss

🚀 Wondering if BingX is actually worth your time? You're in luck today - we broke it all down in our review so you can skip the guessing part and get straight to the good stuff.

🩺 Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, says healthcare, finance, and government systems should be open-source. Right now, they're mostly run by private companies with tech that the public can't review.

⚖️ The FTX Recovery Trust is suing Genesis Digital Assets, its affiliates, and co-founders Rashit Makhat and Marco Krohn. Reason: they allegedly misused funds before the exchange collapsed.

🏛️ Kraken's donating $2M to political groups supporting crypto rights: $1M to the Freedom Fund PAC, and another $1M to America First Digital.

💶 ECB board member Piero Cipollone says the digital euro isn't likely to launch before mid-2029. He said there's still political and legal work that's gotta get done first.

🍌 Juicy memes