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Crypto markets have recouped losses after last weeks crash, which saw Bitcoin fall as low as $56,000.

The renewed bullishness comes amid slowing job growth a possible sign of easing inflation and hopes of rate cuts later this year.

Today, the largest cryptocurrency is back trading at just above $65,000. The second-largest Ethereum is up 11% since its low last Wednesday.

Overall, the wider cryptocurrency market added some $200 billion, according to CoinGecko, since Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke on May 1.

He signalled that a rate hike when the central bank raises interest rates and increases borrowing costs for banks and businesses would be unlikely.

Still, the coast is far from clear for the Federal Reserve to begin lowering interest rates soon, according to Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter.

Interest rates in the United States have risen to record highs as the Federal Reserve combats rampant inflation stoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. High interest rates also increase the amount people earn on their bank holdings, another incentive to keep cash rather than spend it.

Rate hikes are thus less beneficial for stocks and riskier investments like cryptocurrencies, as seen in last weeks dramatic drop in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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In the first quarter, economic growth in the US slowed to its lowest level in nearly two years. The deceleration was partly attributed to a moderation in consumer spending and a widening trade deficit, or when a country imports more goods than it exports.

When rates are higher, business loans become more expensive, which discourages owners from expanding or hiring. The ripple effects can slow the wider economy as well.

Recent employment data released Friday, for instance, revealed the slowest job growth in six months and lower than the average monthly gain over the last year.

High unemployment combined with inflation and slowed economic activity would spell even more trouble for Powell.

Powells key objective these days is to avoid stagflation, an economic climate in which the economy continues to face high inflation while in a recession.

According to crypto venture capital firm Ryze Labs, that situation looks less likely to occur.

With rate hikes off the table and markets already pricing in little to no cuts for 2024, we think this bodes constructively for risk assets, Ryze Labs analysts told DL News.

The worst of stagflationary headwinds might be behind us, they said.

Sebastian Sinclair is a markets correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Contact Seb at sebastian@dlnews.com.

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Bitcoin and Ethereum bounce back after week of brutal losses here's why - DLNews

SpaceX yesterday completed one-half of a planned Wednesday double-header of Falcon 9 launches, successfully flying a booster out of Florida but standing down a second mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. Veteran B1083 took flight from historic Pad 39A at Floridas Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 2:48 p.m. EDT, near the end of the days expansive launch window, but teams elected to stand down B1082s mission from the West Coast and reschedule for a backup opportunity on Thursday.

Weather in Florida was exceptionally fine for the first flight of the day, with a 90-percent probability of acceptable conditions and a launch window spanning almost four hours, from 11 a.m. EDT through 2:48 p.m. EDT. Moisture extent is limited to the very lowest levels of the atmosphere, noted the 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Space Force Base in an update, so there will be only a slight chance of Cumulus Cloud Rule violation at sea breeze onset during the midday hours.

Nevertheless, SpaceX delayed T-0 deeper into the window and B1083 finally went airborne at 2:42 p.m. EDT, spearing uphill for the third time in as many consecutive months. This particular booster entered service early in March when she lofted Dragon Endeavour and Crew-8s Matt Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Aleksandr Grebenkin on the first leg of their trek to the International Space Station (ISS), while a second mission in Aprils second week delivered a 23-strong batch of Starlink internet communications satellitestotaling 37,700 pounds (17,100 kilograms)into orbit.

Her third launch was laden with an additional 23 Starlinks, which were successfully deployed a little past 65 minutes into yesterdays mission, bringing to more than 700 the total number of these flat-packed satellites flown on over 30 missions so far in 2024. Meanwhile, B1083 returned to a smooth touchdown on the expansive deck of the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), A Shortfall of Gravitas.

As a network, Starlink enables high-speed and low-latency internet provision to over 70 sovereign nations and international markets in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa. Last month, the Hawthorne, Calif.-headquartered launch services provider announced that Starlink connectivity is now available in Albania and Micronesia, bringing to 75 the total number of sovereign nations or regions to receive coverage.

The downsized V2 Mini satellites, first flown in February of last year, boast three to four times greater usable bandwidth than earlier Starlink iterations. V2 Minis include key technologiessuch as more powerful phased-array antennas and the use of E-Band for backhaulwhich will allow Starlink to provide 4x more capacity per satellite than earlier iterations, SpaceX explained. Among other enhancements, V2 Minis are equipped with new argon Hall thrusters for on-orbit maneuvering.

Florida-based intercity operator Brightline adopted Starlink on its trains in 2023, the first passenger rail service in the world to do so. Additionally, El Salvadors Ministry of Education has begun integrating Starlink capability into its schools to help close the digital divide between urban and remote rural communities and 50 Rwandan schools are now connected via Starlinks high-speed internet service.

And in January, SpaceX lofted its first six Direct-to-Cell Starlinks, which permit mobile network providers to offer seamless global access to texting, calling and browsing, whether on land, lakes or coastal waters, without the need to change hardware or firmware. Within six days of that first launch, SpaceX engineers sent and received their first text messages via Direct-to-Cell and as of April Starlink reportedly had about 2.7 million registered subscribers or customers worldwide.

Attention then turned to Space Launch Complex (SLC)-4E on the West Coast, where the flight-proven B1082 booster stood ready with her own batch of 20 Starlinks, including 13 with Direct-to-Cell functionality. Targeting a three-hour window from 7:48 p.m. PDT through 10:30 p.m. PDT Wednesdau, this mission will mark the 75th Falcon 9 flight out of mountain-ringed Vandenberg since September 2013 and the 15th so far this year.

B1082 is also a relative newcomer to the Falcon 9 fleet, having first flown on 2024s initial SpaceX mission in early January. A second launch in mid-February achieved records including the 300th flight of a Falcon 9 vehicle and the 200th consecutive safe landing of a booster, while a third last month supported the U.S. Space Forces USSF-62 mission with the first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) meteorology satellite.

An on-time launch at 7:48 p.m. EDT might have seen a pair of Falcon 9s roar uphill from opposing U.S. coastlines only eight hours apart, but it was not to be. Teams stood down the Vandenberg mission, which is now rescheduled to fly in a 118-minute window extending from 8:20 p.m. PDT through 10:18 p.m. PDT Thursday.

As the 75th Vandenberg mission in a little more than a decade, tonights accomplishment has been built by 16 Falcon 9 boosters, which since September 2013 have delivered more than 1,400 Starlinks, nine batches of Iridium NEXT global mobile communications satellites, five military missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, U.S. Space Force and Space Development Agency (SDA) and four multi-customer Transporter stacks, totaling 289 discrete payloads covering a smorgasbord of science, technology and educational outreach disciplines and applications.

Added to that list, Vandenberg Falcons boosted several Earth-observation payloads and NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) into deep space to investigate the asteroid Didymos and impact its tiny companion, Dimorphos. With an increased launch tempo achieved in the last two years alone, more than half of these 75 West Coast missions have flown since the start of 2023.

And that tempo has seen a rapid uptick in the numbers of Vandenberg Falcons flying more regularly than ever before. SpaceX accomplished its first dual-launch month from the Californian site in February 2022, then saw three flights for the first time in April of last year and completed its first four-mission month last January.

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SpaceX Targets Thursday Evening for Weeks Second Falcon 9 Launch - AmericaSpace

Victoria Pinkett presents as vice chair of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

Graduating mechanical engineer Victoria Pinkett has a practical frame of mind. While some engineers are drawn to the math and fundamental theories, Pinkett has always had a tendency to take a hands-on approach. From designing the most aerodynamic wings for optimal flight, to taking on student leadership roles, to winning a coveted internship at SpaceX its fair to say shes ready for some real-world problem solving.

I secured the internship after connecting with a SpaceX recruiter through an event at USC! This gave me the chance to work on their Starlink program as a hardware reliability engineering intern. Starlink involves creating satellites for space-based internet and user terminals that function as Wi-Fi antennas, power supplies and routers.

One of the most rewarding aspects about working on Starlink was the opportunity to help provide internet access worldwide, especially in areas where it had been previously inaccessible. It was fulfilling to be part of a project that connects people worldwide and gives them access to new resources.

During my internship, I gained valuable engineering experience by taking ownership of projects and diving into concepts I had only briefly explored in school. I was mainly working on root cause analysis, hardware testing, design of experiments and studying large-scale, rapid manufacturing processes.

My senior design project was an amazing learning experience. In their senior year, mechanical engineering students work in small groups to conceive, design, build and test a project from scratch. My group did a comparative analysis of the impact of wing flexibility on thrust. We constructed paper airplane wings with wires to make them more rigid or more flexible, then we tested how fast each wing design could generate thrust when set in motion.

We were able to apply concepts wed been learning in our classes, such as design, 3D printing, motors and testing with LabVIEW. It was an incredibly rewarding process that allowed us to collaborate, problem-solve and bring an engineering project to life.

Understanding wing flexibility helps to make aircraft wings more efficient; though careful analysis, we can optimize wing designs to provide enhanced thrust and efficiency with lightweight construction. Our project contributed to current industry research for advancing commercial aircraft and drones.

My involvement with Viterbi Makers was incredibly valuable. Its an incredible design team that completes year-long electronics and robotics projects. During my sophomore year, our team built a robotic drumming system called Robot Rock. I played a key role in designing the robot, ensuring all the components were properly aligned so it could produce sound and function cohesively.

As a relatively new student, I had minimal experience with hands-on engineering projects. Working on Robot Rock pushed me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to apply concepts Id been learning in class to a tangible project.

Collaborating with students across different years and majors taught me invaluable lessons on effective teamwork. This project allowed me to develop my communication and collaboration skills which really helped me during my time at USC.

Ive been involved with the Viterbi Student Ambassador program since my freshman year. Its been one of my favorite and most fulfilling involvements. Acting as a liaison between the Viterbi Admissions Office and prospective high school students, I shared insights on why I chose USC, student life, my specific major, and the general engineering experience. I assisted with admitted students day events and created content such as podcasts and Instagram posts.

I vividly remember being a high school senior trying to decide where to attend college. Listening to the Viterbi ambassadors share their passion for USC, their diverse activities and how much they had grown here really encouraged me to come here. Their enthusiasm made me incredibly excited to become a Viterbi engineering student myself. Ive been honored to pay that forward and help future engineers envision their potential here.

Throughout my time at USC, I became really involved in NSBE, a national student-run organization with collegiate chapters, including one at USC.

I started as the western regional TORCH (Technical Outreach and Community Help) chair, organizing events to expose people to engineering. During my junior year, I served as the Western Region chair, facilitating chapter connections and organizing a regional conference with a career fair and professional development workshops. This year, I was the national vice chair, overseeing membership engagement initiatives, chapter programming and planning the national convention in Atlanta for 18,000 attendees.

Serving as a NSBE leader taught me strategic planning, communication and what it means to be a servant leader invested in others growth. My experience with NSBE has undoubtedly made me a better person and engineer.

Ill be moving to the East Coast to work for Pratt & Whitney, a leading company in jet engine design and manufacturing. Ill be part of their rotational engineering development program. Long-term, Im fascinated by the idea of working on human spaceflight initiatives potentially even contributing to efforts to return to the Moon and eventually for human exploration of Mars. In the coming years, the pursuit to push the boundaries of space exploration will be an incredible way to way to use my engineering skills!

Published on May 8th, 2024

Last updated on May 8th, 2024

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From the Maker Space to SpaceX: Why Engineering is Far More than Fundamentals - USC Viterbi | School of ... - USC Viterbi School of Engineering

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Ethereums transaction fees have reached a six-month low, caused by the shift of transactions to layer-2 (L2) blockchains, according to the latest edition of IntoTheBlocks On-chain Insights newsletter.

This migration has contributed to a decrease in the total fees accrued by Ethereum. In April, transactions on the largest three L2s, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, accounted for an unprecedented 82% of all Ethereum transactions.

With the inclusion of additional L2s, this percentage is likely even higher. The launch of EIP-4844 on March 13 played a crucial role in this transition by slashing L2 fees by more than tenfold, leading to a 10% drop in mainnet transactions and a shift in Ethereums token economics.

In the competitive landscape of L2s, different platforms are carving out their niches. Institutions have shown a preference for Arbitrum, which dominated 73% of Ethereums transaction volume among the top L2s. Conversely, Arbitrum accounted for only 39% of the number of transactions, while Base captured a 50% share. Notably, Blackrock and Securitize have recently applied to introduce the BUIDL real-world assets fund on Arbitrum.

On the retail side, Optimisms OP Stack has been gaining traction through SocialFi applications. Coinbases Base L2 experienced a surge in transactions following FriendTechs airdrop, and the social media-based card game Fantasy.top generated $6 million in fees this week on the Blast L2. This diversification of applications has intensified the competition among L2s, particularly in terms of market capitalization.

Optimisms OP token has seen a 48% increase from its April lows, outperforming ARBs 22% gain. The OP token now surpasses ARB in both circulating market cap and fully diluted valuation. Additionally, venture capital firm a16zs $90 million investment in OP has bolstered the projects resources and credibility.

The ongoing competition among L2s is leading to lower fees for Ethereum in the short term. However, it is simultaneously fostering a rich ecosystem of applications that promise to stimulate economic activity and offer long-term benefits, concludes IntoTheBlock.

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Ethereum fees hit lows while L2 capture users' attention: IntoTheBlock - Crypto Briefing

The Solana network could be on track to overtake the Ethereum network in transaction fees, a potentially significant development for Solanas status as a so-called Ethereum killer.

Solana could flip Ethereums transaction fees as soon as this week, according to Dan Smith, senior research analyst at Blockworks, who wrote in a May 7 X post:

Captured maximal extractable value, or MEV, refers to profits that are mostly captured through arbitrage trading on protocols. MEV measures the maximum amount of value that can be extracted from a blockchain by a user or a group of users.

Moreover, Solanas $2.8-million total economic value was near Ethereums $3.1-million total economic value on May 7, according to Smiths X post:

However, Solanas daily transaction fees are still far from Ethereums. Ethereum generated over $2.75 million worth of fees in the past 24 hours, compared to Solanas $1.49 million, according to DefiLlama data.

Looking at the total value locked (TVL), Solanas $3.94 billion in TVL is still a small fraction or around 7.4% of the Ethereum networks $53 billion TVL.

Related: How Binance played a key role in arrest of ZKasino scam suspect

Solana launched on mainnet in March 2020, with a claimed throughput of 50,000 transactions per second (TPS), promising to improve on the lack of scalability and inefficiencies of Ethereum, as a so-called Ethereum killer.

Unlike Ethereums modular approach to scalability via layer-2 (L2) scaling solutions, Solanas monolithic approach aims to create scalability and low fees as a standalone blockchain network.

However, Solanas approach saw widespread criticism following its previous outages. At the beginning of April, the demand for memecoins caused approximately 75% of Solana transactions to fail, as the network was unable to handle the large demand.

On Feb. 6, block production on Solana stopped for approximately five hours, before engineers and validators were able to restart the network, according to Solanas status page.

Related: Bankruptcy law firm S&C absolved from misconduct, according to new FTX proposal

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Solana could flip Ethereum in transaction fees within a week: Report - Cointelegraph