The U.S. government posted a $345 billion deficit in August, and Christie's closes its

NFT shop. You're watching Coin Desk Daily. I'm your host, Jen Sanassi.

The U.S. government posted a $345 billion deficit in August, with its revenue of $344 billion,

overshadowed by a $689 billion cost for spending.

The largest outlays were Medicare at $141 billion and Social Security at $134.

But what stands out is net interest at $93 billion, now the third largest expense.

This highlights the growing pressure that rising borrowing costs are placing on federal finances. The central bank is expected

to cut rates in September by 25 basis points, but rising inflation risks could push yields higher.

Markets are responding decisively with Bitcoin briefly topping $ $15,000 earlier this morning.

Fairf news coming from the NFT space as the collectibles market fails to make a comeback.

Christie's has closed its digital art department ending its experiment with NFTs and art sales.

Two staff members were let go at the end of August, but specialist Sebastian Sanchez remains in New York.

This comes as NFT trading volumes fell 45% last quarter to $867 million, even as sales counts rose 78%.

That's according to data tracked by DAPRadar.

Okay. I'm I'm And BlackRock is considering putting ETF products tied to stocks onto public blockchains. That's according to a report from Bloomberg. The discussions follow BlackRock's

first experiment with tokenization last year when the firm introduced the BlackRock USD institutional digital liquidity fund,

which has quickly grown into the world's largest tokenized treasury product, managed in nearly $2.2 billion.

Coconutized ETFs could enable faster settlement, 24-7 trading, and broadened access for global investors.

And according to people familiar with the matter,

the products are pending a green light from regulators. That's it for CoinDesk Daily. Get more updates on

coindesk.com and we'll see you next time.