Minerva Weekly Newsletter Week 21 2024
Covers 5/19/24-5/25/24
Web 3 News
Coinbase COIN 0.00%↑ to launch gold and oil futures trading
Coinbase's COO says that there is a feeling of panic at the White House around digital assets: "The tone from the SEC has just changed literally overnight...The administration sensing some panic"
Kraken is “actively reviewing” plans that may include removing support for Tether ($USDT), the world’s most-traded cryptocurrency, on their EU exchange, per Bloomberg
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been moved to a temporary detention center in Oklahoma, despite a federal judge’s request that he remain in New York to assist in his appeal, per Bloomberg
FTX liquidators are close to listing Sam Bankman-Fried’s $30 million penthouse in Bahamas up for sale, per Bloomberg
OKX, the 2nd largest offshore exchange, announced the withdrawal of OKX Hong Kong's VASP license application
OKX will cease to provide services to Hong Kong residents by May 31st
OKX self-hosted wallets are not affected and will remain available to Hong Kong users
South Korean crypto-related searches exceed equities by 25%, with the top four high-frequency words are Bitcoin, NFT, airdrops, and Ethereum, per DeSpread
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank have submitted different stances on digital asset regulation to government panels, per Reuters
The central bank supports a ban on stablecoins, and the group plans to finalize its report as early as June
Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs have now been approved to list on the London Stock Exchange, and will start trading May 28th
Brazil's central bank is aiming to finalize digital asset regulations this year
Tether $USDT is now the 19th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries, surpassing Germany
Tether holds $91 billion as of March 31st
The FIT21 bill has passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bi-partisan support
This clarifies many things around digital assets, and is generally seen as pro-crypto
The House of Representatives has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act
Bitcoin reserves on exchanges have fallen to all-time lows of ~1.7 million, per coinglass
The percentage of Bitcoin held for 3 years+ has reached a fresh all-time high
There have now been 10 straight trading days of positive inflows for spot Bitcoin ETFs
Blackrock's IBIT 0.00%↑ is close to surpassing Grayscale's GBTC 0.00%↑in the number of Bitcoin held in their spot Bitcoin ETF
Point73, the $34 billion hedge fund of Steve Cohen and owner of the New York Mets, disclosed ~$77.5 million in holdings of the Fidelity spot Bitcoin ETF FBTC 0.00%↑ as of the end of Q1 2024
Kenya has signed a deal with Bitcoin miner Marathon MARA 0.00%↑ to monetize underused energy across the country by mining Bitcoin
MetaMask wallet is adding support for Bitcoin, per CoinDesk
Ethereum closed May 20th up over $590, +$70 billion in market cap for largest single-day gain for ETH ever driven by a sudden reversal on the likelihood of the spot Ethereum ETF approval
The SEC has officially approved the 8 spot Ethereum ETFs
The balance of Ethereum on exchanges is at the lowest level since 2016 at ~12.87 million ETH
Down ~66% since May 2021
Uniswap Labs says a potential enforcement action against it by the U.S. SEC has no merit because crypto tokens are not securities, per Bloomberg
Solana wallet Phantom has acquired a16z-backed Bitski wallet platform, per The block
Worldcoin $WLD has violated Hong Kong's data protection principles (related to eye-scanning) and must cease operations, per CoinDesk
Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein will step down and be succeeded in August by Peter Mintzberg, a Goldman Sachs $GS executive who led strategy at the bank’s asset management division
Donald Trump's presidential campaign is now accepting crypto donations including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, $USDC and more
Decentralized social media Farcaster announced the completion of a new $150 million funding round
Cryptocurrency funding increased significantly in Q1 2024, with startups raising ~$2.4 billion across 518 deals, with a median pre-seed and seed-stage pre-money valuation of $21.8 million, per crowdfundinsider
Kabosu, the Shiba Inu from Japan who was made famous by the Doge meme, and that represented the Dogecoin $DOGE $SHIB, has passed away
Macroeconomic News
Gold has reached a new all-time high, per Barchart
Gold's 50-year returns have now surpassed bonds, per Bloomberg
China is holding more copper than usual amidst surging copper prices, per Bloomberg
Chinese banks sold $36.7 billion worth of foreign currencies to their clients last month, the most since 2016, per Bloomberg
Japan's 10-year treasury yields have risen above 0.975%, for the first time since 2013
Moody’s has upgraded El Salvador's credit rating to Caa1 from Caa3
U.K. April Core CPI came in at 3.9%, 3.6% was expected
Alabama has abolished income taxes on gold and silver
Fed minutes released this week
Officials note “disappointing” inflation data in Q1
Officials discussed holding rates higher for longer
Some worry that financial conditions are not sufficiently restrictive
Many commented on uncertainty about degree of policy restrictiveness
The U.S. Government is projected to spend more money on interest from debt this year than on national defense, per Yahoo Finance
Interest expenses are the government’s 3rd largest expense behind Social Security and healthcare
30-year U.S. Treasuries are on track for their 3rd worst annual return since 1919
Only 2009 and 2022 have been worse for long-term treasuries over the last 105 years
FDIC Chair Gruenberg announced he is stepping down from his position
Week-to-date (as of 5/22) U.S. gasoline demand is down 8.3% from the same period a year ago, per GasBuddy
Major U.S. companies could face lawsuits from their own shareholders for making political donations, per Bloomberg
Investor allocations in U.S. stocks have reached the highest level in history
The S&P 500 SPY 0.00%↑ traded ~31.5 million shares on 5/21, the lowest volume for a full trading day since 2017
The Dow Jones fell over 600 points on 5/23 and posted the worst trading day of 2024 so far
The U.S. DOJ is looking to breakup Live Nation and Ticketmaster LYV 0.00%↑
Berkshire Hathaway currently has a record $157.2 billion in cash
Nvidia NVDA 0.00%↑ earnings reported this week:
Revenue: $26.0 billion, $24.69 billion est. (record)
EPS: $6.12 , $5.60 est. (record)
Net Income $14.8 billion, up 600% (record)
Data center revenue $19.4 billion, up 430% (record)
10 for 1 stock split
All-time high stock price reached after hours
Google GOOGL 0.00%↑ is building the first undersea fiber optic cable that will directly connect Africa with Australia, per Bloomberg
Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, per CNBC
Eli Lilly LLY 0.00%↑ to spend $5.3 billion to expand the manufacturing of Zepbound and Mounjaro, per WSJ
Walmart WMT 0.00%↑ to close 8 stores, impacting more than 1,000 jobs
Target TGT 0.00%↑ reported a 3% decline in revenue for Q1 along with store traffic and average customer spend falling by 1.9%
Target's CEO says the decline reflects “continued soft trends in discretionary categories”
Soda startup Olipop is projected to reach $500 million in sales this year, more than double the $200 million generated in 2023, per Bloomberg
The TSA recorded a record number of travelers screened in a single day on 5/24
Norfolk Southern NSC 0.00%↑ has agreed to pay more than $310 million in costs related to the 2023 derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio
Nissan has paused production plans to build electric vehicles in the U.S.
~71% of U.S. advisors have less than 1% of their portfolio allocation in gold
Airbnb hosts have seen their earnings decline for 22 of the last 24 months
Groundbreakings for office construction have reached an historic low in Q1 2024, per JLL
34% of small businesses say they have 1 month or less cash on hand in April, per Bloomberg
It is currently cheaper to rent than buy in all 50 of the top metros nationwide, per Bankrate
The monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced home ($412,778, per Redfin) is $2,703
The median monthly rent is $1,979 as of February, a 36.6% difference
Around half of all U.S. renters are renting above what many consider an affordable % of their income (30% or more)
New single-family homes for sale have reached the highest level since 2008, and continue to trend upward
Since purchasing a home, 44% of new homeowners have taken on extra debt to maintain their lifestyle, and 43% have struggled to make mortgage payments on time, per a Clever Real Estate survey
Over 34% of U.S. homes are now bought with cash, per Axios
6.3% of homes for sale had a price drop, the highest share in a year and a half, per Redfin
Childcare expenses cost more than rent for the average American family, per Bloomberg
The number of people with $1 million+ in their 401(k) at Fidelity reached an all-time high of 485,000 in Q1 2024
72% of all adults say they are doing at least okay financially, the lowest since 2016, per the Fed
60% of Americans don't think they're saving enough to comfortably retire, per Primerica
Live comedy ticket sales are currently at an all-time high, per Axios
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.