Web 3 News
Coinbase COIN 0.00%↑ experienced outages/service degradation during high volatility times this week
Coinbase is notorious for having issues during higher volume times historically
Binance has cut 200 jobs since lawsuits began with the SEC
Binance will end all services related to the Naira (Nigeria) due to legal conflicts
BlockFi could recover nearly $900 million from FTX and Alameda in a tentative agreement, per Blockworks
The five-nation BRICS group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will work on creating a payment system based on blockchain and digital technologies, per CoinDesk
Spain has blocked Sam Altman's venture Worldcoin, which collects personal data using an eyeball-scanning "orb", per FT
Operators of Germany's largest stock exchange, Deutsche Börse, launched a "regulated spot platform for crypto asset" trading
Arizona has passed a resolution in the Senate to have the state pensions’ study purchasing the Bitcoin ETFs
Wyoming has enacted a new law for DAOs that allow for the creation of an entity under the Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association (DUNA)
Wyoming’s new law will enable blockchain projects to operate within the bounds of applicable laws without compromising their decentralization while also keeping them permissionless
It helps solve challenges DAOs currently face: It gives them legal existence, enables them to contract with third parties, it enables them to pay taxes, and it provides limited liability from the actions of other members
Bitcoin has reached an all-time high price of $70,199, per Coinbase prices
The market cap has also reached an all-time high of more than $1.35 trillion
Only 6 publicly traded companies have a higher market cap
Bitcoin has also surpassed an all-time high when priced in U.S treasuries
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust IBIT 0.00%↑ has accumulated $10 billion in the first seven weeks, the fastest an ETF has ever hit that milestone and a feat which the first gold ETF took more than two years to accomplish, per Bloomberg
Cumulative Bitcoin ETF volume has surpassed $100 billion already which is more than the last 5 years of physical gold ETFs
BlackRock filed to purchase Bitcoin ETFs for its Strategic Income Opportunities Fund
Total flows into the 9 new spot bitcoin ETFs over past 2 months now exceed total flows into all physical gold ETFs over past 5 years
MicroStrategy MSTR 0.00%↑ announced a proposed private offering of $700 million of convertible senior notes which will be used to purchase more Bitcoin
Stanford University's Blyth Fund has bought Bitcoin with a ~7% allocation of the total portfolio
Grayscale announced the launch of the Dynamic Income Fund (GDIF), which earns income by staking cryptocurrencies, and will initially cover assets from nine blockchains, including Aptos, Celestia, Coinbase Staked Ethereum, Cosmos, Near, Osmosis, Polkadot, SEI Network and Solana, per CoinDesk
Coinbase and Grayscale met with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week to share information to support their push to gain regulatory approval for a spot Ethereum ETF, per The Block
The final deadline for the SEC to make a decision on the spot ETH ETF is May 2024
Ethereum's Dencun upgrade is one developers say they’ve been "dreaming of" and it could transform the way we use layer-2s, all but eliminating gas fees in the process, per Decrypt
Ethereum has surpassed the $4,000 price level for the first time since 2021
The Coachella music festival plans to do NFT passes on the Avalanche blockchain in partnership with OpenSea, per decrypt
They previously tried to partner with FTX on a similar effort that fell through
Terra Founder Do Kwon has been cleared for extradition to South Korea, per Decrypt
The U.S. will challenge the extradition of Do Kwon to South Korea
Pantera is raising funds to buy large Solana holdings from the FTX Estate, per Bloomberg
Over the past year, 39 of the 200 largest cryptocurrencies (by market cap) have outperformed Bitcoin
Over the past year, 59 of the 200 largest cryptocurrencies (by market cap) have outperformed Ethereum
Chloë Grace Moretz will star as Heather 'Razzlekhan' Morgan alongside Lewis Pullman and Ariana DeBose in "Dutch & Razzlekhan," based on aspiring rapper and convicted money launderer Heather Morgan who was involved in the $4 billion Bitfinex Bitcoin heist, per decrypt
Ubisoft, maker of Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance have joined the XPLA blockchain network as a validator, per Decrypt
CryptoPunk #3100 sold for 4,500 ETH this week, worth $16 million
2nd highest price paid for an NFT ever
It is 1 of 9 “Alien Punks”
NodeMonkes #269 sold for $1 million in Bitcoin, the highest price ever paid for a Bitcoin ordinal this week, per Decrypt
Macroeconomic News
China is raising more than $27 billion for its largest chip fund ever to counter growing U.S. restrictions, per Bloomberg
The Japanese benchmark Nikkei index has surpassed 40,000 for the first time
Thailand plans to extend its crackdown on short selling by charging individuals for such trades, per Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia to extend the cutting of 1 million barrels of oil per day until the end of June, per CNBC
The Swiss National Bank posted an annual loss of 3.2 billion Swiss francs ($3.62 billion) for 2023, per Reuters
Sweden has formally joined the NATO military alliance, ending centuries of neutrality, per CNBC
Olive oil has surged back near record high prices, per Barchart
Gold has reached an all-time high price of $2,190 per ounce
The number of publicly listed companies in the U.S. has declined by 50% since 1995
There are just over 4,200 public companies in the U.S. currently
The number of banks in the U.S. was at 31,000 in 1920 but just 4,000 today
The top 10% of stocks in the U.S. now reflect ~75% of the entire market
In 2001 during the .com boom, the concentration of the top 10% of stocks peaked at ~72%
For the first time in 20 years, selling shares is cheaper than taking on debt, per Bloomberg
Globally, IPOs and secondary sales have raised roughly $50 billion this year, up about 8% from last year’s pace, when issuance hit a more-than-decade low
From the FDIC this week:
The FDIC added 8 banks to the “problem bank” list with assets totaling $66.3 billion total
The share of unprofitable intuitions has increased to 10.9%, the highest since Q4 2017
70% of quarterly profit declines are due to specific non-recurring large bank expenses, including a special assessment to recoup failed bank costs
U.S. bank profits dropped 44% in Q4 as big firms covered failed bank costs
Overdue CRE loans are the highest since 2014
Late credit card payments are the highest since 2011
The Federal Reserve Board announced that the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) will cease making new loans as scheduled on March 11, 2024
This allowed banks to get out of bond purchases that were upside down on for the last year following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
Jerome Powell this week:
“We’re not far from confidence to cut rates”
Powell is expecting bank failures from commercial real estate
Powell said that a CBDC would not be designed to spy on Americans
Powell reaffirmed the Federal Reserve can’t introduce a CBDC without congressional approval
The U.S. economy added 275,000 jobs in February, above expectations of 198,000 on the initial reading
In February, 1.2 million foreign born workers (legal and illegal) got a new job, while 494,000 native-born workers lost a job
The unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, above expectations of 3.7%
The number of employed fell by 184,000
Total employed is just under 161 million, lowest since May 2023
278,000 Americans took on an additional job in February
Government employment accounted for 52,000 of the jobs added in February
January’s number was revised from 353,000 to 229,000
December’s number was revised from 333,000 to 290,000
In the past three months, a record (outside the jobs lost in the initial Covid outbreak) 2.4 million native-born jobs have been lost, including 494,000 jobs lost in February
10 of the last 12 months have had job gains revised lower from initial readings
In the past year, the U.S. has lost 284,000 full-time jobs, these have been replaced with 921,000 part-time jobs
Since May 2018, a net of 0 jobs have created for native-born Americans
All jobs in the past 6 years have gone to immigrants, legal and illegal
U.S. layoff announcements rose 3% last month to the highest level in 11 months, per CNBC
The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on Thursday
This year the S&P 500 has closed at an all-time 16 days so far
Fidelity to eliminate more than 1,000 jobs
New York Community Bank NYCB 0.00%↑ stock fell more than 40% Wednesday after announcing they were looking to raise capital
The stock later rebounded to be up more than 20% on the announcement of a $1 billion capital raise
The $1 billion came from Liberty Strategic Capital where former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is a director
NYCB 0.00%↑’s market cap is just under $2.5 billion at close on Friday
Home gym equipment company BowFlex filed for bankruptcy
Target TGT 0.00%↑ sales fell for a third straight quarter, and it expects sales to decline at a similar pace this quarter
Target is launching a new membership program called Target Circle 360, per CNBC
It will work similarly to Walmart+ with free same day delivery, and will be $49 per year at launch, and then move to $99 per year for folks without their Red card
Costco COST 0.00%↑ shares fell over 7.5% on Friday, largest single-day drop since May 2022
Google GOOGL 0.00%↑ co-founder Sergey Brin told a group of AI enthusiasts that he came out of retirement “because the trajectory of AI is so exciting”, per CNBC
Brin said Google “definitely messed up,” referring to the company’s faulty Gemini image generation launch earlier this month
Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ was hit with a €1.8 billion fine in the EU over abusive app store rules
Apple says it will appeal the decision
Apple has reversed a decision to ban Fortnite maker Epic Games from offering its own iPhone app marketplace in the EU, per Bloomberg
Apple iPhone sales plunged 24% in China in the first six weeks of the year, per CNBC
Reddit has now officially filed for an IPO
Jaguar has announced that it will halt production of its gas-powered models by June 2024
This move is part of Jaguar’s plan to transition into an EV-only brand by 2025
Tesla TSLA 0.00%↑ stands to earn billions of dollars a year by opening U.S. charging stations to drivers of Ford F 0.00%↑ and other EVs, per CNBC
Sam Altman to return to OpenAI board, per the Information
Dune: Part Two opened with weekend ticket sales of $81.5 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, delivering the best debut this year, per Bloomberg
U.S. home prices were 11.1% overvalued in the third quarter on a population-weighted average basis, per Fitch
Disclosures:
I am not a financial advisor, and whatever I post should not be taken as financial advice. It is for education and entertainment purposes only. Anything I post does not constitute an offer to sell or trade, a solicitation to buy, or recommendation for any security, cryptocurrency, digital asset, or related product, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advice or other related services by myself or Minerva Digital Asset Education, LLC. I and/or Minerva Digital Asset Education, LLC may have a financial investment with the cryptocurrencies/digital assets discussed. In preparing the content created, no individual financial or investment needs of the viewer have been considered nor is any financial or investment advice being offered. Any views expressed in the posted content were prepared based upon the information available at the time such views were written. Changed, new, and/or additional information could cause such views to change.