The Federal Reserve released its May meeting minutes on Wednesday, signaling it is prepared to do multiple 50-basis-point interest rate hikes in the coming months. Officials stressed the need to raise interest rates quickly to tackle rising inflation and possibly move past its “neutral” stance in which it is neither supportive nor restrictive of economic growth. More: - Fed officials met May 3-4 and approved a 0.50% interest rate increase, bringing the central bank’s target range between 0.75% and 1%.
- The Fed also announced plans to reduce its $9T balance sheet of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities starting in June.
- Analysts expect the Fed’s benchmark rate to rise to 2.5% to 2.75% by the end of the year.
- The Fed has five more meetings this year in June, July, September, November, and December.
- Stocks rose on Wednesday following the release of the meeting minutes.
- The Dow rose 0.6% to 32,120.28.
- The Nasdaq increased 1.5% to 11,4343.74 and the S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 3,978.73.
In related news: - In a report released on Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the U.S. economy to grow by 3.1% this year.
- The nonpartisan group updated its real GDP growth projections for 2023 and 2024 to 2.2% and 1.5%, respectively.
- It estimates 2022 inflation to be 4.7% and come down to 2.7% in 2023 and 2.3% in 2024.
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 Supporters of the Terra ecosystem have voted in favor of a plan, Proposal 1623, to revive the cryptocurrency. In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Terra announced its community passed the proposal, which calls for creating a new blockchain and its associated Luna token. Earlier this month, TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin that was supposed to be pegged to the U.S. dollar, fell far below its $1 peg, triggering investors to dump it and its sister coin Luna. UST traded as low as under a third of a penny. More: - At their peak, Luna and UST had a combined market value of ~$60B.
- Under the new proposal, Terra will distribute tokens to holders of the old Luna token and UST tokens.
- 30% of the new token will go to investors in the Terra community.
- 35% will go to those who held Luna before it collapsed.
- 10% will go to UST holders before it collapsed.
- The remaining 25% will go to traders who still own Luna and UST after the crash.
- Luna jumped more than 20% on Wednesday following the news; UST was up over 50%.
- The UST and Luna collapse triggered a ripple effect across the crypto ecosystem. The crypto market has lost about $600B in value in the past month.
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 Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images According to an investor, SpaceX has raised $1.5B in new funding at a $125B valuation. The space company was last valued at $100B in October. SpaceX is also conducting a secondary sale for up to $750M in common stock, allowing existing stockholders and current and former employees an opportunity to cash out. SpaceX has remained a private company since its founding in March 2002. More: - Over the last week, the company has been embroiled in controversy following reports that in 2018, it paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle a sexual-misconduct claim against CEO Elon Musk.
- Musk responded to the claims on Twitter, calling them “utterly untrue.”
- On Friday, in an email to employees, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said she believed the allegations against Musk were false.
In related news: - SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has surpassed 400,000 subscribers globally.
- The satellite network serves about 36 countries with plans to add more customers in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East next year.
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Andreessen Horowitz announced its fourth Crypto Fund on Wednesday, called Crypto Fund 4, totaling $4.5B. The VC plans to invest about $1.5B of the fund in seed-stage Web3 companies and the remaining $3B in venture investments. Andreessen Horowitz has been investing in crypto since 2013; some of its crypto portfolio companies include Coinbase, Yuga Labs, Lightspark, and OpenSea. More: - In a blog post announcing the new fund, Partner Chris Dixon noted that blockchains will power the next major computing cycle, which they refer to as Web3.
- Dixon said there is a major computing cycle every 10 to 15 years.
- Personal computers were in the 1980s, the internet in the 1990s, and mobile computing in the 2000s.
- The firm plans to invest its new crypto fund in Web3 startups at every stage, including gaming, DeFi, social media, layer 1 and layer 2 infrastructure, DAOs, and NFTs.
- Andreessen Horowitz has raised over $7.6B for crypto/Web3 funds.
- The firm also announced plans to grow its operations team to better support Web3 founders.
- Operating functions include Research, Engineering, Security, Talent, Legal and Regulatory.
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 Image Credit: Amazon Amazon opened its first physical clothing store called Amazon Style on Wednesday. The store is located in Glendale, California, about 10 miles outside of Los Angeles, and it carries men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. Amazon Style will sell brands like Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Levi’s, Champion, and Steve Madden. More: - Unlike traditional clothing stores, shoppers at Style would use their phones to scan QR codes around the store, directing them to select the clothing they want, with their preferred color and size.
- The selected clothing can either be delivered to a fitting room for customers to try on or to checkout, where customers can pay for their items.
- Customers are also able to pay with their Amazon accounts.
- Earlier this year, Amazon announced it was closing its physical bookstores and pop-up kiosks to focus on its Fresh supermarkets and Style stores.
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Lyft said it will slow down on hiring, cut the budget of some of its departments, and grant new stock options to some employees to make up for its lower share price. The ride-hailing company joins a growing list of tech companies like Snap, Meta, Uber, and Twitter that have announced slowing hiring or freezing hiring altogether in the last month. More: - Lyft President John Zimmer, in a memo to employees on Tuesday, said the company and other business leaders have been taking a hard look at how they respond to concerns about an economic slowdown.
- Zimmer said the company will prioritize initiatives and hiring in efforts that support its core ride business.
- He added the company does not plan to do any layoffs.
- Lyft shares are down over 60% year to date. It closed at $16.65 a share, down less than 1% for the day.
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Quick Hits - Bubbles, with users from around the world, encourages teams to decline meetings-that-should-have-been-emails.*
- Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey officially left the company’s board. In November, Dorsey announced he would be leaving the board at the end of his term at the annual meeting of stockholders on May 25, 2022. Dorsey made the announcement when he announced he would step down as CEO.
- One of Apple’s leaders on its Apple car project is leaving the company less than a year after he was hired. Christopher “C.J.” Moore is leaving Apple to join Luminar Technologies. Luminar makes laser sensors that enable semi-autonomous driving in passenger vehicles.
- The U.K. government has approved the $5.3B deal to sell Chelsea FC to a group led by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly. The U.K. Premier League team is owned by Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch who was sanctioned in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- FDA Commissioner Robert Califf testified before a House subcommittee on Wednesday about the ongoing shortage of baby formula in the U.S. following the shutdown of Abbott’s baby formula plant in Michigan. Califf said the Michigan plant was “egregiously unsanitary,” leading to four infants falling ill and two dying.
- At the D.C. Blockchain Summit, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the U.S. dropped the ball on crypto regulation. She added there is a lot of fraud in the space, and we are not allowing innovation to develop in a healthy way in the space.
- If your site is struggling, it may be time for a more powerful commerce platform. Read our eBook and find out if your business is ready.*
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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