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HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS |
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"The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.” - T.T. Munger |
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| New podcast interview: Bitcoin Market Journal publisher John Hargrave speaks with the Around the Coin podcast on the power of memes in crypto investing.
Consider this a masterclass in meme-making. Listen here for free. |
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| The Plot to Hand the Crypto Industry to the Big Banks (Decrypt): A well-researched (if alarmist) piece on how the U.S. government will likely co-opt stablecoins into the banking system.
Investor takeaway: We agree that it's likely the U.S. government will partner with an existing stablecoin provider to roll out its own "digital dollar."
However, we reach a different conclusion: this can be a good thing. Investors will have FDIC protection, and banks can finally start to own crypto, which means the digital economy will grow larger.
To be sure, there are many challenges with the U.S. partnering with a stablecoin provider, but that is all the more reason why we should read the Fed's stablecoin report and give them our feedback.
Le proactive, not reactive. |
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Here's a look at the rapid growth of USDC, one of the leading stablecoins, which is just passing the $50 billion mark. |
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While this may seem like a lot of money, it's a drop in the bucket of the overall U.S. money supply, which stands at over $20 trillion: |
Investor takeaway: Even at just a quarter of a percent of the U.S. money supply, stablecoins are growing so quickly that the government will do something about them. Co-opting seems likely. |
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| Hi Everyone,
The year of the tiger, which will be ushered in across the East this evening, is said to be energetic and courageous, a year of well-being and renewal of strength.
The tiger seeks to eradicate evil at its source, and this is the perfect year to eradicate COVID-19.
It may be considered controversial to many of our dear readers, but I'm personally of the opinion that the pandemic is already over.
What may be more shocking is that I'm writing to you as someone who recently tested positive for COVID-19. Thankfully, my symptoms are quite mild, so I'm writing this newsletter with tea instead of coffee.
Two of my kids had a similar experience, but my oldest daughter was completely asymptomatic.
Obviously enough, contracting a disease does not make me a virologist. However, the omicron variant seems to be more contagious, but less harmful, than prior variants. Hopefully, this trend will continue, and future variants will become less dangerous over time.
Just checking the numbers, we can see an increase in daily new cases of nearly 10 times from the time that WHO first classified COVID-19's omicron variant. |
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| Even though the hospitalization rates are up in the United States, the number of people dying does not seem to have increased by much, and therefore, the percentage of critical condition patients should be way down.
Let's hope that by the time this is over, nobody will care if they get COVID-19, because they won't feel it anyway. I know that's not how this works, but still, I simply can't wait for this to be over. Here's hoping that this is the year. |
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More viral, less harmful
Bitcoin adoption tends to follow a similar theme of perpetually getting more viral and less harmful. Two of the highlights from analyst Lou Kerner's latest blog do a perfect job of depicting this.
This piece summarizes the crypto highlights from Ark Invest's Big Ideas 2022 report.
More specifically, point four discusses how not only are concerns around bitcoin's environmental sustainability "ill-informed," but that bitcoin's carbon intensity has been trending downward for the last couple years.
Point two takes a look at El Salvador and the incredible rate of adoption we've seen there. Within four months of being legislated as legal tender, an estimated 84% of citizens are already using the world's number one cryptocurrency.
Obviously, the rate of adoption in a currency-less country like El Salvador is likely to be much more rapid than a place like Arizona, should it be legalized there as well, as was recently proposed by a state senator.
Similar to the spread of a virus, the rate of adoption is heavily affected by background conditions. |
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| Bored Ape fever
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Bitcoin, we can see that a very different demographic is now flocking to NFT technology, and over the weekend, Justin Bieber has reportedly caught NFT fever.
I say reportedly because Coinspeaker is the most prestigious publication I can find that covered the matter, but the article has not mentioned a source.
Here we can see the ape in question. The account that owns the NFT does say Bieber in the username, but I am not aware of any official confirmation that he actually owns this account.
So, I'll take this as fact once the Bieb changes his profile photo to a hexagon shaped ape. If he's an android user, that may take a while.
I suppose it stands to reason that different areas of the market cater to varying demographics in our great big globe.
A store of wealth and medium of exchange may be extremely relevant in places that don't have a stable currency of their own, whereas an NFT whose gas fees may run upwards of $100 might not appeal to people who make less than $5 a day.
For former child pop stars always looking for the hottest trends to invest in, I suppose aping into an ape only makes sense.
Have an awesome week ahead! |
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| Mati Greenspan Analysis, Advisory, Money Management |
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Pull out the popcorn and watch 'em argue. |
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| Bitcoin Market Journal is a daily newsletter that makes you a better crypto investor. It is created by Evamarie Augustine, Charles Bovaird, Mati Greenspan, John Hargrave, and Alexandre Lores.
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