All things Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, Blockchain, Web 3.0, and the future of money.With daily analysis of the macro trends and technological innovation.

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Chart of the Day - Bitcoin During The Trump Administration

Daily News Summary: 

• BlackRock Entering into Bitcoin - BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is preparing to enter into the bitcoin futures markets with two of their funds, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Global Allocation Fund

• Don’t Worry About the Tether FUD - The Tether concerns from last week are not new and based on misunderstandings of how Tether works. Not a real concern, per those we follow:

  • Willy Woo - “The author doesn't have a full grasp of the data he's looking at, nor the mechanics of how these exchanges work. The [Tether] flows are not flows into BTC but simply exchange volumes between traders."

  • Nathaniel Whittemore, Host of the Breakdown podcast - “The causality of the price of Bitcoin argument ignores the most obvious reason the price of bitcoin is going up -- because companies like Grayscale are buying all of it, and holders aren’t selling. Reaching to say it’s because of the manipulability of this other asset [Tether], ignores the most simple explanation sitting there in front of us.”

  • Brock Pierce, Chairman of The Bitcoin Foundation - “Garbage”

  • The New York Attorney General is in the midst of an investigation into Tether parent iFinex. However this investigation is into whether iFinex commingled funds between two different subsidiaries to cover up losses, and not into whether Tether is unbacked by assets.

• Bitcoin for the Balance Sheet - Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor is hosting a February 3 online event for CEOs and CFOs interested in holding bitcoin on their Corporate Balance Sheet.

  • “Last year, we became the first publicly traded company to adopt bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset. Forward-thinking organizations have taken note and reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. We are now taking the opportunity to share our learnings and methodologies, as well as bring together bitcoin luminaries and corporate strategists to discuss how others can benefit from this trend. Join our Bitcoin for Corporations landmark event to understand the array of considerations of this new strategy.”

• Janet Yellen Doesn’t [Yet] Understand Crypto - It may be a good time to buy today’s short-term dip as misunderstandings about the Tether stablecoin and statements by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen get cleared up.

  • Janet Yellen, the new U.S. Treasury Secretary who recently led the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2014-2018 to unprecedented dollar printing, stated during her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, "Cryptocurrencies are a particular concern. I think many are used - at least in a transaction sense - mainly for illicit financing.”

  • Here’s our view...

    • Bitcoin is a major hedge against the coming inflation after the economy recovers from COVID and the velocity of money increases. Bitcoin is 10x better than gold and is likely to exceed the total market cap of gold ($11T) this decade, which would lead to a $534k intrinsic value per BTC.

    • Cash is the primary method of exchange used in criminal activity and money laundering, not Bitcoin. 

    • New research from Chainalysis shows, that the percentage of crypto volume involved in crime is actually decreasing, from 2.1% of all transaction volume in 2019 to 0.34% in 2020. This is less volume than an exchange like Binance did yesterday.

  • Good quotes:

    • “The idea of singling out this technology [Bitcoin] and saying this [illicit financing] is its primary use case, is patently ridiculous. The idea that these networks aren’t used for anything is just an old idea.” - Nathaniel Whittemore

    • “It’s disappointing to hear Dr. Yellen repeat the mistaken view that Bitcoin is mainly used for illicit activities. That statement is demonstrably false.” - Jake Travinsky

• Brave Reaches 24 Million Users, Integrates with IPFS - In the world of decentralized web 3.0 development, “Brave, the privacy-focused web browser, has integrated with the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), which is essentially a redesigned internet protocol with censorship resistant properties. Brave users can now more easily access IPFS sites and even run a node on the distributed system.”

• Pakistani Regional Government Entering into Bitcoin Mining - Yesterday, Alex Gladstein from the Human Rights Foundation shared an article titled “Tracing The Growth Of Bitcoin In Pakistan,” which was written by Farooq Ahmed.

  • The Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining industry in Pakistan was thriving until April 2018 when the government put a ban on trading and mining cryptocurrencies in the country. But the mining industry in Pakistan is increasing steadily despite the fact that the government has been shutting down mining farms since this ban was enacted.

  • “Ultimately, that ban led to an increase in the number of people operating bitcoin miners at home, most of which using mining pools like ViaBTC, Braiins and Slush Pool to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.On December 2, 2020, the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), one of the country’s four provinces, passed a resolution on legalizing cryptocurrencies and bitcoin mining. Earlier this year, KPK approved the use of government funds to mine bitcoin. Local outlet BOL News reported that KPK’s government will set up two bitcoin mining farms.Anthony Pompliano, in a newsletter about this article writes, “The situation in Pakistan is only possible because of the open source nature of Bitcoin. Literally anyone with an internet connection can now join a digital, decentralized, global financial system. They have the same tools at their disposal that the western world has had for two decades. This is a powerful, powerful shift.”

  • Jack Ma, Ant Financial CEO, has resurfaced on live videos in China, driving a major increase in Alibaba shares

  • Coinbase is acquiring blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service firm Bison Trails for around $100 million

  • Janet Yellen may need to update her understanding of what Bitcoin is used for.

Report of the Day

Messari has released this new free report on Asia’s Crypto landscape, written by Mira Christanto. 

• “With Asia accounting for 60% of world population, infrastructure companies across the world are interested in tapping the growing market. By the end of last year, six of the top ten largest crypto unicorns in the world were located in Asia. Today, of the top 20 token projects, over 40% of the market capitalization is based in Asia.”

• Covers the key exchanges and players in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and India

The People We’re Following Closely

• Robert Breedlove

• Lyn Alden

• Michael Saylor

• Vitaly Buterin

• Ryan Adams

• Camila Russo

• Barry Silbert

• David Hoffman

• Anthony Pompliano

• Dan Morehead

• Dan Held

• Ryan Selkis

If You’re Just Getting Started, Start Here:

1. Bitcoin Common Misconceptions by Robert Breedlove (Podcast)

2. The Skybridge Fund Deck by Anthony Scaramucci (Deck)

3. Michael Saylor - Bitcoin is Hope (Podcast)

4. The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo (Book) 

5. The Stone Ridge 2020 Shareholder Letter by Ross Stevens (Letter)

6. Crypto Theses for 2021 by Messari (PDF)

The Coin Times: Tracking the most important blockchain stories of the 2020s including a decentralized internet and the creation of a new global monetary system that works for everyone. As always, published for informational purposes only. Not intended as financial advice. Please do your own research.

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