Federal Reserve's 'Civil War' Escalates, Powell May Struggle to Tame 'Hawks'

Dec 11 — A Reuters survey conducted Dec 2-9 shows the vast majority of economists expect the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to hike interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.75% at its December meeting, and to push lending costs to at least 1% by end-September next year. Earlier sources noted the BOJ is likely to deliver its first rate hike since January at the December gathering. Given inflation risks and the weak yen, Prime Minister Taro Kono’s government is expected to tolerate the move. Ninety percent of economists (63 out of 70) expect the BOJ to lift its short-term interest rate from 0.50% to 0.75% at next week’s meeting — a sharp jump from 53% in last month’s survey. Slightly more than two-thirds of respondents (37 out of 54) said rates will hit at least 1.00% by end-September next year. (Source: Golden Finance)

Per an official announcement on December 11, Binance will support the network upgrade and hard fork of BNB Smart Chain (BEP20). To prepare for the upgrade, Binance will perform maintenance on its BEP20 wallet at 14:00 GMT+8 on December 16, 2025. In line with this maintenance, BEP20 deposits and withdrawals will be suspended 5 minutes early, at 13:55 GMT+8. The maintenance is expected to last 1 hour, after which services will resume automatically. The BEP20 network upgrade and hard fork is set for 10:30 GMT+8 on January 14, 2026. Binance plans to suspend BEP20 token deposits and withdrawals 5 minutes before the fork, at 10:25 GMT+8.

On December 11, Cointelegraph reported that Australia’s securities regulator has finalized a set of exemptions to simplify distribution of stablecoins and wrapped tokens for businesses. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) unveiled the new measures on Tuesday, targeted at spurring innovation and growth in the digital asset and payments space. ASIC said it’s issuing “class order exemptions” to intermediaries involved in certain secondary distribution activities for stablecoins and wrapped tokens. This means businesses won’t need a separate (and often expensive) license to act as intermediaries in these markets, and they can now use “aggregated trust accounts” with proper record-keeping. The new exemptions build on prior broad relief for stablecoins, eliminating the need for intermediaries to hold a separate Australian Financial Services (AFS) license when offering services tied to stablecoins or wrapped tokens.

Guotai Junan Securities said on December 11 that it expects the Federal Reserve to pause its rate cuts in January, with just 25 basis points of rate cuts remaining for the two remaining meetings chaired by Jerome Powell.

On December 11, MEXC confirmed in an official announcement that BeatSwap (BTX) will be listed for spot trading, with trading scheduled to go live at 8:00 PM UTC+8 the same day.