MAJR News 044
Bitcoin break $50k for the first time in 3 months, BTC supply shock playing out, Missouri Mayor wants to give his city bitcoin, MicroStrategy buys another $177M in BTC, EtherRock NFT sells for $600k
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MAJR NEWS BRIEF
Threads & Video
MUST READ THREAD from Bitcoin on-chain analyst Dylan LeClair detailing data showcasing the bitcoin supply shock playing out right now.
Preston Pysh on the Investor’s Podcast Network talks bitcoin adoption with writer and bitcoin influencer Croesus.
Top Stories
BITCOINBitcoin Tops $50,000 for First Time Since May
Bitcoin broke $50k for the first time in 3 months since May. The $50k price level represents strong resistance for the digital asset, but could now flip to support as bitcoin inches closer to all-time highs. This past month’s rally from $28k levels is due to a number of bullish factors - more overall adoption from retail to institutions, accumulation from bitcoin whales and extreme HODLing behavior as more coins leave exchanges and into cold storage. Bitcoin is going through a supply shock and the increase in price reflects current market sentiment.
Blockstream Raises $210M, Acquires Mining Chip Manufacturer Spondoolies
Bitcoin infrastructure company, Blockstream raises $210 million in a Series B round valuing the company at $3.2 billion. Blockstream also acquired the intellectual property and key employees of a mining hardware manufacture to beef up it’s bitcoin mining stack by creating a business line for specialized mining chips called ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits).
Saylor’s MicroStrategy Buys Another $177M of Bitcoin
MicroStrategy (MSTR) added another 3,907 bitcoin or $177 million in bitcoin to their company’s reserves. This brings the new total to 108,992 BTC, which was acquired for $2.918 billion at an average price of $26,769. The current price of bitcoin is $48,600 which shakes out to $5.297 billion.
Andreessen Horowitz-backed Substack will start accepting bitcoin as payment for select crypto content
The newsletter platform, Substack announced that they will now allow accepting bitcoin as payment and as a means for tipping using Bitcoin’s layer 2 Lightening Network. The will be using the payment process OpenNode.
Missouri mayor suggests giving residents up to $1K in Bitcoin
Jayson Stewart, the mayor of Cool Valley, Missouri publicly endorsed bitcoin and wants every household in his city to have some exposure to the digital asset. He’s exploring the idea around giving more than $1 million in bitcoin to the city’s 1,500 residents (30 BTC) and the funds couldn’t be touched for 5 years. The 5 year HODL is indicative of the mayor’s understanding of bitcoin’s 4 year halving cycle and how important it is to hold the asset through it’s price appreciation. This is another example of bitcoin entering politics. It will be a bipartisan issue.
CRYPTOPaxos Renames Standard Stablecoin as Pax Dollar
Paxos, the blockchain infrastructure and stablecoin company changes the name of it’s stablecoin from Paxos Standard to the Pax Dollar (USDP). Paxos and other companies offering stablecoin services such as Circle (USDC) and Gemini (GUSD) are working closer with regulatory to provide more transparency into their offerings. Paxos and Circle’s stablecoin’s reserves are 100% backed by cash and cash equivalents.
DeFi Adoption Is Still Far From Mainstream: Chainalysis
Decentralized Finance applications and tokens are still in the very early days of adoption even though the space and usage has grown significantly over the last couple of years. Most usage seems to be coming from higher income earners and professional traders and investors. DeFi’s market has grown from $5 billion to $159 billion in it’s short history and is not slowing down. Adoption is coming from both developing and developed markets.
As Visa Moves Into NFTs, Expect More Corporations to Follow Suit
Visa, the credit card payments company bought a CryptoPunk NFT for $165k. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets and they’ve taken crypto’s mainstream narrative by storm. This is not Visa’s first foray into crypto as they’ve been partnering with crypto companies help with crypto payments. It’s unclear what a small investment into NFTs means for Visa, outside of quality marketing. NFT trading volume sky rocketed after the announcement.
Ethereum Rock JPEG Sells for $600K as NFT Frenzy Continues
EtherRocks are the latest NFT craze to light up markets as NFTs for unique rock images sell for hundreds of thousands and now millions. The cheapest rock is now on sale for $1 million. Only 100 rocks can ever be made available and each new rock is designed to get more expensive than the last. The game / digital art is built entirely on Ethereum.
MAJR TAKE: NFTs are no doubt here to stay, but the recent high prices for some of the NFT projects are showing signs of an overheated market. Be cautious.
MACROTreasury Sales Under Scrutiny as Foreign Demand Rises to Record
A breakdown of the US Treasury auction on 8/11 shows a record amount of treasuries were sold to foreign investors, $15.4 billion of the $41 billion notes sold or 38% of the supply. This was the most in over a decade. Possible theories for the sudden influx in international demand point to a shortage in quality collateral.
South Africa Unemployment Rate Rises to Highest in the World
The jobless rate in South Africa soared to the highest of 82 countries, rising to 34.4% in Q2’21. People who are available for work, but not currently looking for a job rose to 44.4%. The rise in unemployment is due to a mix of Covid outbreaks and restrictions combined with a broken education system and strict labor laws that make hiring and firing workers onerous. The unemployment rate in Africa’s most industrialized economy has been over 20% for the last two decades.
Delta Variant Outbreaks in Sparsely Vaccinated Asian Countries Disrupt Production
There is a gap between the strong demand coming from vaccinated countries like the US and the less vaccinated manufacturing countries like Vietnam. This gap is getting wider with the surge in the Delta variant and strict lockdown policies such as as quarantining tens of thousands of people in military barracks. Factories are shutting down and drastically reducing the number of floor workers which puts a damper on production affecting brands like Adidas, Crocs and Steve Madden. Vietnam produce more than 30% of American shoes and is the second largest producer of apparel after China.
New Appetite for Mortgage Bonds That Sidestep Fannie and Freddie
Wall Street financial firms are back to packaging up giant pools of mortgage loans and selling them to investors. In Q2’21, there was more than $42 billion an issuance which was the most since the 2008 financial crisis. This is happening in the private market and outside of the government backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This private market labeling of mortgages are flowing from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase and it’s expected to keep growing due to investor’s need for higher yields.
Fed Chairman Powell Navigates the Inflation Debate
Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell is expected to speak this week and readdress the central bank’s positioning on inflation and its bond purchase program. Central bankers seem split over when to taper, however the recent surge in the Covid Delta variant could provide the poor economic backdrop needed to reconfirm the Fed’s accommodative policy and stick to it’s monthly purchases even against high price inflation.
MEDIABTC039: The Bitcoin Adoption Curve w/ Croesus
Bitcoin and crypto adoption is here to stay. Don’t let your friends and family miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
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