2nd July 2024 > > Reasons to be cheerful.

tl;dr

Metaplanet, Prequin, and Coinbase give us reasons to be cheerful, in three parts.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

Arthur Hayes’ latest essay includes this quote:

“The U.S. budget deficit is projected to surge to $1.915 trillion in fiscal 2024, exceeding last year’s $1.695 trillion and marking the highest level outside the COVID-19 era, according to a federal agency that attributed the 27% increase compared to its earlier forecast to higher spending.”

A 27% increase not previously predicted? That is some miss.

Money-printer goes brrrrr.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Metaplanet

Metaplanet, a Japanese investment adviser, has added another 20.2 BTC to its stash of BTC held on balance sheet, now totalling 161.3 BTC:

https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/33500/a732c107/ac16/4f4b/8c0c/65184ceab604/140120240630541695.pdf

We can be fairly confident about the nature of at least one of the investments it advises investors to hold.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Prequin

Mark and Lindy O’Hare, husband and wife and serial entrepreneurs have sold their data group Prequin to BlackRock for £2.5bn. With a combined holding of 80% that is a pretty decent payday. But why do we care?

Prequin collected and disseminated data on alternative financial assets. This includes categories such as infrastructure, hedge funds, and private equity.

BlackRock’s chief financial officer, Martin Small, explained that this will help “… the democratisation of alternatives” for retail investors. This is a key step in the tokenisation plans afoot at BlackRock, a methodology that requires public blockchains and cryptos to function properly.

And some still maintain that there are no use cases for cryptos.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Coinbase Prime

Coinbase Prime is the institutional arm of Coinbase, providing custodial and trading services for the transfer of larger amounts of crypto that do not go through the retail focussed exchange.

It has won a contract from the Department of Justice to handle the latter’s crypto holdings confiscated following law enforcement actions, which is good news on three levels.

Firstly, for all us who are shareholders in Coinbase, it enhances the revenue stream. Secondly, it reduces the risk of spooking markets who have an over-exaggerated fear of government selling of cryptos. Finally, it ensures the best deal for US taxpayers, which may not directly impact us, but perhaps one day this example of good practise may be noticed, and copied, by our own bureaucrats. Highly unlikely I know, but I can’t help being relentlessly positive when it comes to all things crypto.