ratings

According to Decrypt, Chainlink and Moody's Ratings have completed a pilot project demonstrating how to simultaneously distribute credit ratings across multiple blockchains. The test was announced on Tuesday, using Chainlink's cross-chain interoperability protocol CCIP to distribute Moody's ratings to both permissioned and permissionless chain networks.The pilot operates through Moody's Ratings Token Integration Engine TIE, which was built by the 125-year-old rating agency to disseminate credit assessments and related data in a blockchain environment. Both parties stated that the pilot proves that ratings can be transmitted across chains through a single interoperability layer while retaining Moody's existing publishing and governance processes. Moody's has rated or assessed over 70 digital issuances, including digital bonds and tokenized funds, from January 2017 to October 2026.Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer of Chainlink Labs, stated that as more financial assets go on-chain, credit intelligence must flow cross-chain and accompany every rating change. Fabian Astic, Global Head of Digital Economy at Moody's, believes that the future of tokenized finance is unlikely to exist solely on a single blockchain, platform, or market infrastructure.This pilot runs entirely on a testnet using representative test data and has not published any actual rating actions on-chain; it is a proof of concept rather than a live product. Previously, Moody's launched TIE on the institutional-grade Canton Network and subsequently expanded to Solana.

According to a report by Investing.com, Citigroup has downgraded its rating on U.S. stocks, global tech stocks, and European tech stocks from "overweight" to "neutral," citing that investor positions may further decline, while upgrading European stocks (excluding the UK) to "overweight."Citigroup stated that market sentiment around AI has significantly weakened, partly due to the midterm election results raising questions about the long-term trajectory of AI spending; the Nasdaq position may shift from neutral to net short, needing to drop about 5% before it truly turns negative.Citigroup remains optimistic about AI in the medium term but will wait for positions to clear and AI sentiment to stabilize before restoring the overweight rating.

Fitch Ratings stated that a significant reassessment of the long-term monetization prospects of artificial intelligence could lead to a reduction in capital expenditures and impact the entire artificial intelligence value chain.

Fitch Ratings stated that SpaceX's "BBB+" rating remains unchanged due to the GPU leasing transaction.

S&P Global Ratings released a report on Thursday, granting the UK digital bank Revolut a BBB+ investment grade rating for the first time, and expects the company to issue senior unsecured bonds in 2027 to establish a debt buffer capable of absorbing potential losses and meeting regulatory requirements.The report noted that Revolut's balance sheet has exceeded £40 billion (approximately $53.5 billion); if the bank were to collapse, the Bank of England could push for a restructuring, with investors bearing the corresponding losses. S&P expects that as Revolut expands its unsecured retail lending business and launches mortgage products, its loan portfolio size will double by 2027 and double again by 2028.S&P believes that Revolut has a strong consumer brand, a scalable technology platform, and an increasingly diversified product range, but its main banking customer relationships still account for a lower proportion compared to traditional banks, and rapid global expansion may exacerbate operational complexity and compliance risks. BBB+ is considered a lower tier within S&P's investment grade ratings.

Fitch Ratings pointed out that global borrowing costs are rising, and bond yields are climbing.

According to The Block, S&P Global Ratings has launched a new risk assessment framework for on-chain lending vaults. The report states that the deposit scale in this field has reached $10 billion, up from $1.5 billion two years ago.The framework will assess credit, liquidity, managers, blockchain, protocols, security, and governance risks, with the first batch of vault assessments to be announced soon.

Fitch has assigned Tesla (TSLA.O) a "BBB" issuer default rating for the first time, with a stable outlook.

StoneX analyst Mark Palmer initiated coverage of Robinhood with a buy rating and a target price of $170, implying about a 45% upside from Tuesday's closing price of $117.34. Palmer noted that Robinhood is expanding from retail trading services to acquire exchanges and blockchain infrastructure with software profit margins.Robinhood Chain launched its mainnet on July 1, generating more Gas fee revenue in the past 24 hours than all other Ethereum Layer 2s combined. As of September 3, the chain's daily fee revenue was approximately $4.59 million, with an annualized revenue close to $39 million as of August 29. StoneX predicts that Robinhood Chain could generate $980 million in revenue by fiscal year 2029, with a profit margin of 85%.In the prediction market, Robinhood traded 13.6 billion event contracts in the second quarter, with over 5 billion contracts traded during the World Cup period alone, generating approximately $156 million in revenue, a 50% quarter-over-quarter increase. On Tuesday, Robinhood announced partnerships with Crypto.com and OG.com, investing in both companies and routing some event contracts to OG.com. Previously, Bernstein analysts also maintained a rating of outperform for Robinhood, with a target price of $160.

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) stated that the Protocol Cluster has released two new articles that systematically assess the upcoming network upgrade Hegotá. Among them, the "Hegotá EIP Opinion Post and Tier List" evaluates and ranks the currently proposed 62 EIPs, marking the first time the team has published a unified EIP rating list for a major network upgrade.It was reported that approximately 60 researchers, engineers, and domain experts from 9 teams under the Protocol Cluster participated in the review, submitting a total of 397 rating opinions and engaging in live discussions on controversial proposals. The accompanying article outlines the current and future key directions of the Ethereum protocol layer, with one core goal being to promote Ethereum L1's quantum resistance by December 2029.The Ethereum Foundation indicated that the aforementioned upgrade plans, long-term commitments, and shared priorities at the cluster level provide the contextual basis for finalizing the scope of the Hegotá upgrade and the EIP ratings. Additionally, the Protocol Cluster will hold an AMA on September 16 at 14:00 UTC in the r/ethereum community on Reddit to discuss topics such as the Hegotá EIP ratings and key protocol developments.

According to Jinshi reports, Trump has ordered a new round of attacks on Iran, aiming to force Tehran to surrender, with actions possibly starting as early as this weekend and lasting for several days. In an interview, Trump stated that the strikes by Washington and Israel against Iran are "progressing smoothly." Additionally, due to the ongoing war in Iran and soaring gasoline prices, Trump's approval rating has dropped to 40.6% this month, a new low since his second term began.

Fitch Ratings, an international credit rating agency, released an assessment report on Monday, categorizing Bitcoin-backed securities as "speculative grade" credit ratings, warning of their "high risk" that could lead to losses for lenders and investors.The report pointed out that the extreme volatility of Bitcoin prices is a major risk factor. When the collateral coverage ratio falls below the stipulated threshold, it can quickly erode the value of the collateral and trigger margin calls and forced liquidations.Fitch cited the collapses of crypto lending platforms such as BlockFi and Celsius in 2022-2023, emphasizing the vulnerability of collateral models under market pressure. This assessment primarily targets credit instruments that directly rely on the value of collateral for repayment, excluding equity products like spot Bitcoin ETFs.

According to Cointelegraph, international credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has released a report warning of a potential negative reassessment for U.S. banks with "significant" exposure to cryptocurrencies.Fitch Ratings stated that while cryptocurrency integration can enhance fees, yields, and efficiency, it also poses "reputational, liquidity, operational, and compliance" risks to banks. The report noted that the issuance of stablecoins, the tokenization of deposits, and the application of blockchain technology provide banks with opportunities to improve customer service, but banks need to adequately address challenges such as cryptocurrency value volatility, the anonymity of digital asset owners, and the protection against digital asset theft.The report also emphasized that if the stablecoin market grows to a size that could impact the treasury market, it may pose systemic risks. Major banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are all involved in the cryptocurrency space.

Bitcoin critic and economist Paul Krugman stated in a blog post that the recent decline in Bitcoin (BTC) is not a coincidence, but rather related to the declining poll numbers of pro-cryptocurrency U.S. President Trump.In his Substack article "The Trump Trade is Unraveling," Krugman wrote that Trump's plummeting poll numbers have negatively impacted Bitcoin prices.He believes that Trump had promised to support the digital asset industry and promote pro-cryptocurrency policies, making Bitcoin effectively a bet on "Trumpism."He added that President Trump's diminished power has led to a weakening of his efforts to promote cryptocurrency, which in turn has affected Bitcoin prices.Krugman has long criticized Bitcoin. He argues that Bitcoin is economically useless, serving neither as a medium of exchange nor as a hedge against inflation, and its performance resembles that of a more volatile tech stock. (Decrypt)

ChainCatcher news, the crypto risk analysis company Agio Ratings announced the completion of a $6 million financing round, led by AlbionVC, with participation from Portage Ventures and MS&AD. To date, the company's total financing has reached $11 million. The company primarily assesses and quantifies the risks of exchanges, custodians, and lending institutions in the cryptocurrency industry. The new funds are intended to expand the scope of risk ratings and provide support for traditional financial institutions such as banks.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jin Shi reports, S&P Global Ratings economists stated that overall, inflation will remain relatively controllable, and there may be room for further easing of monetary policy in the future.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, global credit rating giant Moody's has completed a test with tokenization startup Alphaledger to embed municipal bond credit ratings on the Solana blockchain. This experiment integrates Moody's rating data directly into tokenized securities on the blockchain via API, providing institutional investors with real-time and reliable credit information.This initiative is expected to drive the development of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, with Boston Consulting Group and Ripple predicting that the market could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. Moody's stated that it will continue to explore the application of its ratings in the digital financial ecosystem, potentially expanding to other fixed income products such as corporate bonds in the future.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Untangled Finance and Moody's Ratings have completed a proof of concept that tests a system allowing decentralized access to Moody's financial data, transferring credit ratings on-chain.The proof of concept conducted on the Polygon Amoy testnet integrates Moody's ratings into Untangled Finance's risk oracle, Credio.The system uses zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology, allowing for the secure publication, updating, and revocation of credit ratings on-chain while protecting proprietary information.This development can make risk assessment more transparent and efficient, enabling DeFi protocols and other blockchain-based applications to integrate real-time credit data without relying on centralized intermediaries.

ChainCatcher news, QCP Capital's latest analysis points out that after a turbulent week, the market has returned to the starting point of last Monday. Over the weekend, Trump announced the establishment of the U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve. While some market participants believe this news has already been priced in, others see it as the only catalyst to drive cryptocurrency innovation to new highs later this year. Unexpectedly, Trump used this "lifeline" in advance, pulling the Bitcoin price back above $90,000 during the low liquidity period on Sunday.QCP Capital notes that for a president proud of being a market hero, last week's performance of risk assets was disappointing. The new round of tariff policies and the less-than-expected progress in the Russia-Ukraine talks have shaken investor confidence. Although the timing of the strategic reserve announcement was unexpected, the political considerations are clear—Trump needs a win to prevent a decline in approval ratings, which is a metric he personally values highly.Despite encouraging signs of recovery in risk assets, the market has not fully returned to normal. Bitcoin is still trading near the bottom of its multi-month range, front-end cryptocurrency volatility remains relatively high, and major cryptocurrencies continue to show a bearish skew until the end of March. The VIX fear index is also at a high level, indicating widespread unease in the market regarding overall risk assets, especially after the recent announcement by the U.S. government to raise tariffs.Key events this week include Wednesday's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), Friday's non-farm payroll data, and Friday's White House cryptocurrency summit. The latter will be an important event, expected to reveal key details about the U.S. cryptocurrency reserve and regulatory framework.