Web 3 News
OKX has launched an Ethereum layer-2 network to challenge Coinbase's COIN 0.00%↑ Base L2, per decrypt
The OKX Web 3 wallet Runes market is now officially open which allowing users to mint and trade related assets in the Runes market with zero platform fees
It’s main functions include Runes etching, Runes Mint, Runes market, Runes management, and more
Kraken is releasing a self-custody wallet called Kraken Wallet to compete in the crypto wallet space against the likes of Coinbase $COIN, MetaMask, and others
Binance is preparing to return to India, and will pay a fine of ~$2 million, per The Economic Times
They will return as an entity registered with India's Treasury Department’s Financial Intelligence Unit and comply with all applicable laws
Binance has obtained their full crypto license in Dubai after CZ agreed to give up voting control of the local entity, per Bloomberg
CZ was forced to give up his CEO position in FZE, but still remains the ultimate beneficial owner
Binance announced that it has converted all Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) to $USDC to "enhance stability"
They switched to $1 billion in $USDC from $BNB, $USDT, and $TUSD
Hong Kong has officially approved their first Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, per Nikkei
They are redeemable in-kind (vs. cash. create in the U.S.)
Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs will begin trading in Hong Kong by April 30th, per Reuters
South Korea, Japan, and Singapore may approve Bitcoin ETFs and follow Hong Kong’s lead as Asia tries to catch up to the U.S. market, per 21Shares
The South Korean won (KRW) has surpassed the U.S. dollar in fiat trading volume on centralized crypto exchanges, per Kaiko
A KPMG survey of 2,400 investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland shows 54% surveyed allocate more than 20% of their portfolio in digital asset investments
Many plan to hold for 3-5+ years
91% of them hold Bitcoin
Guy Ficco, director of criminal investigations at the IRS recently stated that cryptocurrency tax evasion cases are expected to be on the rise this year, per Cointelegraph
U.S. Senators Lummis and Gillibrand officially introduced their bipartisan new stablecoin bill this week, per CoinDesk
Representative Felix Moore (R-Alabama) disclosed buying up to $15k of Bitcoin
Short sellers betting against MicroStrategy $MSTR have lost $1.92 billion since March, per Reuters
Riot Platforms RIOT 0.00%↑ reached a 52-week low this week
Grayscale's GBTC 0.00%↑ has sold off ~50% of their Bitcoin holdings since converting into a spot Bitcoin ETF
Grayscale has announced 0.15% fee for its proposed Bitcoin Mini Trust in a new filing, per CoinDesk
They also announced they contribute ~10% of GBTC 0.00%↑ assets to the new product
The IMF has released a paper sharing the potential of Bitcoin for cross border payments including thoughts like:
Bitcoin is increasingly used as a hedge against risk
Bitcoin is used as freedom money in autocratic regimes
Bitcoin is used protect against currency debasement and financial instability
Historic returns around the Bitcoin halving, per Bitwise:
% change in price the year following the halving
2012: 8,839%
2016: 285%
2020: 548%
% change in price the month following the halving
2012: 9%
2016: -10%
2020: 6%
Bitcoin withdrawals from exchanges have reached the highest level since January 2023, per CryptoQuant
The largest U.S. Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot said in their annual 10-K report that their revenue is not correlated to Bitcoin prices
Their revenue grew 6% while Bitcoin's price was up ~155% of the same annual timeframe
Ethereum has fallen to its lowest valuation against Bitcoin in 3 years, per Barchart
Ethereum has lost ~41% of its value compared to Bitcoin since the “merge” to proof of stake
The floor price of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has fell to 10.7 ETH on Blur this week
The floor price has fallen more than 90% from the historical high, and the lowest price for BAYC since August 2021
Worldcoin is launching an Ethereum layer-2 project on Optimism, per CoinDesk
Ernst & Young has announced the launch of EY OpsChain Contract Manager, a blockchain-based contract management solution that plans to migrate from Polygon to Ethereum and will migrate to Layer 3 on the next upgrade
Homium, a mortgage lender and securitization platform, has gone live with its first home equity loans on the Avalanche blockchain, per CoinDesk
BytePlus, subsidiary ByteDance (makers of TikTok), is getting into blockchain with Sui
BytePlus will work with Mysten Labs and focus on gaming, social apps, and augmented reality with blockchain
Tether has now issued $USDT on the TON blockchain
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has raised $7.2 billion in new funding, per Bloomberg
a16z is expected to raise more funds in 2025, focusing on Web 3 and biotech
There were no Web 3 commercials during the Super Bowl, but it is expected that there will be some during the NBA and NHL playoffs, per Blockworks
Macroeconomic News
Gold ETF GLD 0.00%↑ has reached a new all-time high, per Barchart
Copper prices are the highest since June 2022, per Barchart
Coffee prices have reached another new all-time high, per Barchart
Brent Crude Oil call options volume reached an all-time high of ~350,000 contracts on Monday, per Bloomberg
Highest Debt-to-GDP ratios by country
Japan: 255%
Greece: 168%
Singapore: 168%
Italy: 144%
United States: 123%
China has reported their economy grew 5.3% in Q1 2024, above expectations of 4.6%
Japanese Yen has fallen to a 34-year low against the U.S. Dollar, per Barchart
Toshiba will lay off 5,000 employees, or ~10% of the total workforce
Boeing BA 0.00%↑ is planning to sell flying cars in 2030, starting in the Asia market, per Nikkei
Moderna MRNA 0.00%↑ has paused plans to build a vaccine manufacturing facility in Kenya following a decline in demand for COVID-19 vaccines, per Reuters
~50% of companies in the U.K. are still planning on price increases, per Reuters
Google GOOGL 0.00%↑ has officially opened their new office in El Salvador
Canada will attempt to ease a housing shortage by leasing public land to developers for construction of affordable houses under a plan that aims to build ~3.9 million houses by 2031, per Reuters
The U.S. and U.K. have banned deliveries of Russian copper, nickel, and aluminum to western metals exchanges
The IMF warned the U.S. that its massive fiscal deficits have created global inflation and pose "significant risks" for the global economy, per FT
U.S. Treasury Bills now yield ~4x more than the S&P 500's dividend, the largest ratio since the Dot-com bubble
This metric peaked at 3x in 2008
In fact, the current ratio is the 2nd highest in the last 100 years
Jerome Powell on inflation this week: “The recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it is likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence”
Richmond Fed President Barkin this week: CPI data has not "been supportive" of a soft landing
Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari says The Fed could potentially wait until 2025 to lower rates
More than 1,800 institutions utilized the Bank Term Funding Program, per the Federal Reserve
Most were small and regional banks
The CBOE Volatility Index $VIX has reached the highest level since October 2023, per Barchart
The put/call ratio on equities is the 2nd highest level this year, per Barchart
80% of stocks held by Americans are held by age 55+, up from 60% two decades ago, per the Federal Reserve
U.S. small-cap stocks are performing their worst relative to larger companies in more than 20 years, per Bloomberg
The market cap of the largest stock compared to the 75th percentile stock has reached the highest ratio since the Great Depression (1932)
The Nasdaq QQQ 0.00%↑posted the largest weekly loss in 17 months, per Bloomberg
On Friday, the Magnificent 7 stocks lost $400 billion in market cap alone
The DOJ to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation LYV 0.00%↑, per WSJ
A congressional probe has found that Wall Street used billions of dollars from American retirement savings to buy shares in index funds that included blacklisted Chinese firms, per WSJ
Lockheed Martin LMT 0.00%↑ has been awarded a $17 billion contract to develop the Next Generation Interceptor for U.S. missile defense
Northrop Grumman NOC 0.00%↑ is working with SpaceX on a classified spy satellite project already capturing high-resolution imagery of Earth, per Reuters
Big banks like Bank of America BAC 0.00%↑ are starting to realize losses on commercial real estate
Micron MU 0.00%↑ is set to announce over $6 billion in grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce to help subsidize costs for domestic factory projects in New York & Idaho, per Bloomberg
Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ iPhone shipments were down nearly 10% in the 1st quarter of the year, per IDC
Microsoft MSFT 0.00%↑ has revealed an AI that can produce a deepfake from only 1 photo and 1 snippet of audio
The NBA's exclusive TV rights negotiating window with ESPN DIS 0.00%↑ and Warner $WBD is expected to pass without a deal, per CNBC
LL Bean is laying off ~200 employees and reducing corporate employee hours
Lululemon LULU 0.00%↑ will lay off 128 employees in Sumner, WA on June 21, 2024, per a WARN notice
Bass Pro is laying off employees related to boat manufacturing due to sales slowing down
Red Lobster is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, per Bloomberg
Walgreens WBA 0.00%↑ is laying off hundreds of corporate employees
It's their 4th round of layoffs this year
J.B. Hunt JBHT 0.00%↑ reported an operating income of $194.4 million for Q1 2024, down 30% from last year
They also announced mass layoffs in California
Take Two Interactive TTWO 0.00%↑ (maker of games like Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K) are laying off ~600 employees
Boeing BA 0.00%↑ hit a 52-week low this week
Pfizer PFE 0.00%↑ has reached 52-week lows this week
Tesla TSLA 0.00%↑ to lay off more than 10% of its workforce
Tesla's stock price is down more than 60% from the all-time high in November 2021
Adam Neumann is progressing towards buying back WeWork as it seeks funds to exit bankruptcy, per FT
Average U.S. gas prices were $3.52 a gallon on April 1, up from $3.35 on March 4, per the Energy Information Administration (EIA)
More than 50% of the rooms at budget hotels nationwide were vacant during the 1st quarter of 2024, per CoStar
U.S. home insurance rates are expected to reach record levels this year, with the biggest increases occurring in states that are most prone to severe weather events, per Bloomberg
The median monthly U.S. housing payment has reached an all-time high of $2,747, up 11% from a year earlier, per Redfin
~20% of people who struggle to afford housing have skipped meals and/or worked extra hours to help cover costs, and ~17% have delayed medical care, per Redfin
21% of U.S. workers are estimated to be working at home in 2024, compared to 27% in 2022, per Morning Consult
43% of Americans don’t know what a 401(k) is, per a Beyond Finance poll
Gen Z workers are increasingly going into trades as disenchantment with the college track continues, and rising pay and new technologies have made plumbing and electrical jobs more attractive, per WSJ
~13% of Gen Z employees have said they decided to work less and put in less effort in at work because of advice on TikTok, per Resume Builder
The perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next 3 months for U.S. consumers rose to 12.9% in March, the highest percentage since the onset of the pandemic, per Bloomberg
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.