Salvadoran volcanoes make the IMF sweat
Salvadoran volcanoes make the IMF sweat
Lately Bitcoin technology is approaching the global political stage, just like Google did, but with a twist
The power of internet based corporations has grown exponentially over the last two decades and many feel the power of democracy has weakened. In this environment, savvy leaders have increasingly worked with ‘big tech’ to benefit themselves and their citizens. So what’s new?
Lately Bitcoin technology is approaching this global political stage, just like Google did, but with a twist. On one hand, some entities, such as the ECB, the IMF (and of course the government of China), express worries of losing more power to ‘artificial’ currencies, insisting on creating CBDC’s. On the other hand, jurisdictions with no dog in the currency race are free to recognize the clear fintech disruptor - Bitcoin.
As the cryptocurrency ecosystem is completely open access and open source, competition for its businesses and benefits is truly global. Creating favorable laws and conversations can also appeal to the forward-thinking cryptocurrency 'shareholders’ who believe in voting with their wallets.
Since we sent our last newsletter, Texas and Nebraska have put forward frameworks for cryptocurrency investment and banking and the mayor of Miami has courted the Bitcoin community by saying “buy the dip”. 10 different politicians from across South America changed their Twitter profile to signal being pro-Bitcoin, after the smallest country in South America, El Salvador, made Bitcoin legal tender.
A price dip is a great time to talk about the future. This decade promises to be the most exciting in our industry's history.
“Bitcoin is an international language of freedom, breaking down barriers, old systems and oppression.” -Morpheus
Related news stories:
ECB report expresses worry that digital currency could make central banks lose control of money networks
IMF spokesman says El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption is risky, schedules urgent meeting with the country’s leader
Beijing to airdrop $6 million of digital yuan on 200,000 of its citizens
MicroStrategy to purchase $1.6 billion in Bitcoin due to high demand for junk bond
US Treasury proposed to expand reporting requirements of cryptocurrency brokers amidst IRS expansion
FATF to review implementation of cryptocurrency anti-money laundering
The younger generation (Generation Z) are most likely to invest in cryptocurrency.
Leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz aim to raise another $2 billion crypto fund
Miami event summary
Last weekend’s Bitcoin Magazine convention was the first major in-person business conference since the Covid-19 crisis began and drew cryptocurrency professionals and enthusiasts from across the globe. “Being in a crowd for the first time in more than a year was electric.” NYT reported, comparing the colorful event to a religious gathering. The conference was a classic bull-run conference, harking back to the 2017 ICO boom, with a significant retail presence and a registration line that stretched for more than a mile and a half.
As for the official agenda, besides some entertaining on-stage moments and PR announcements such as BitMEX exchange promising to deliver a physical Bitcoin to the surface of the moon, the headline news coming out of the event was of course the announcement that El Salvador will adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender.
Nic Carter summarized his takeaways from the conference in an informative Twitter thread.
Let’s look at the Bitcoin market
For the last 21 days Bitcoin has been trading in a range between $42,300 at the top and $31,360 at the bottom.
The top of the range at $42,300 on the 26th of May was accompanied by another tweet from Elon Musk, who spooked the market to quickly lose 7%, while the recovery from the lower bound at $31,300 was encouraged by the El Salvador news.
Short term cryptocurrency speculators are still being shaken out. This cycle saw record dollar profit taken on Bitcoin (seen in green) as well as record realized losses triggered on May 19th. Unfortunately, large losses are still being realized by the market:
Having gone sideways for some time, it's only a matter of time before the market chooses a direction. It remains to be seen which way we go, as we simultaneously see retail get spooked by the correction and larger institutions and whales buying in. We'll dive deeper into the on-chain analytics on a blog post next week.
News & links
China’s soft cryptocurrency ban: Popular cryptocurrency accounts banned from Weibo, bans exchanges from search engines, Sichuan Energy Regulatory Office discussed Bitcoin mining
Bitcoin’s Taproot update imminent, activation lock-in likely today
Don’t miss: QCP explain the stablecoin revolution happening in East Asia
Circle, the company behind USDC, raised $440 million, Ledger hardware wallet raises $380 million, Solana blockchain raises $314 million
Federal Officials recover Bitcoin ransom from colonial pipeline attack, Darknet organization warns fellow cyber criminals to refrain from attacking public good in the future
Following pipeline shutdown, U.S. to give ransomware attacks similar priority as terrorism
Regulation steps up: Binance exchange enforced OFAC measures against Zimbabwe, Japan regulators warn Bybit to ban Japanese users or register, California resident sentenced to 2 years in prison after operation Bitcoin ATMs and cash exchange with no KYC, South Korea’s financial regulator holds meeting with 20 crypto exchanges
Institutions step up: British multinational bank Standard Chartered to launch cryptocurrency brokerage. Bitcoin ETP (similar to ETF) to be available to the UK market starting June 7th. New American exchange traded fund by Guggenheim to seek exposure to cryptocurrency. DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, launched the first security token offering on its cryptocurrency exchange.
☮ Sending our love from Tel-Aviv and San Francisco,
Efficient Frontier