I took some time off last week. Now I’m time on.
BUT I’m also settling back in after a week with family. Minimal crypto.
I’m looking forward to this week’s update for paid subscribers. In the meantime, some interesting bits of content that you may enjoy.
BTW for everybody speculating on the US central bank’s next move, here’s my take:
Fed is now at the floor, not the ceiling for rates.
Fed will hike until data shows inflation is cooling across all of its inflation metrics or some bigger economic disaster strikes.
Fed doesn’t care about the value of anything you own right now. Killing inflation is the most important thing.
Many will suffer as a result.
Some people believe the Fed will “break something," reverse course, print more money, and send asset prices up again.
We’ll see. While I didn’t talk much about the Fed in the July monthly issue, I ran through a few ideas and observations you may want to think about.
Have you seen this Decrypt video?
Watch it now:
Save this for whenever US regulators fine Chipotle, a popular fast-casual chain restaurant, for a bait-and-switch scam rug pull on retail speculators.
Promise people a chance to win $200,000, give them dip instead.
Wall Street Journal Opinion piece: The SEC's Cryptocurrency Confusion
Do you wonder why US crypto regulation is so confusing and seemingly abusive?
This short article sums it up nicely. I’d suggest you read the whole thing. Here’s the nutshell:
Cryptocurrency is so difficult to categorize because many of its variants blur the lines between traditional categories of money, stock and commodities. Most are a bit of each. Some tokens can be used to store data and serve as a form of payment or an investment—all at the same time. The purpose depends on the user’s preference.
Even if cryptocurrency developers wanted to register their projects with the SEC, as traditional public companies are required to, they couldn’t. They don’t have a board, CEO or CFO to file the requisite paperwork with the commission. Nor do they have proxy voting of shares by mail, which the commission still requires companies provide to shareholders.
Consider another facet of crypto that would shock the drafters of the 1933 Securities Act. Imagine if a bank or stock exchange were run by an autonomous, open-source computer code that took deposits and processed loans. Occasionally the code is modified by a few hundred anonymous coders around the world, who collaborate over the internet to keep it running smoothly.
One regulator—the US Securities and Exchange Commission—thinks it has jurisdiction over everything. Most of the rest of the government disagrees, but when you read the letter of the law and consider the various rules that have taken effect over the years, there’s no other agency that makes sense.
US Congress and regulators will develop a crypto-specific framework over the next year.
On a non-crypto note, in her newsletter, Kyla Scanlon raises some great questions about how we interpret the information we get on social media (and media generally).
Worth a read.
Relax and enjoy the ride!
Weekly Rundown - August 7, 2022