In the world of crypto it is absolutely essential to do your own research. My advice, read a lot but approach everything with a critical mind.
Here are some stuff you should check out this week.
Nick
One of these assets is not like the others…
As of last Friday here is the year to date performance of three assets:
BTC +40.8%
GOLD +10.5%
SP500 -2.26%
Bitcoin is by far — and once more — the best performing asset of the year. For sure if you put your money into Bitcoin you have to deal with massive volatility swings. But guess what? It is well worth it both in terms of pure returns and risk adjusted returns.
Is the Fed really doing anything?
I know, I know… you must be thinking “what is he talking about, the Fed is printing money like crazy, brrrr…“
Ok, but how is it helping with the real economy?
Jeff Snider has something to say about that. You can count on Jeff to not pull his punches when it comes to the Fed.
In this article Jeff asks the right questions. If the Fed saw the current disaster coming how come they didn’t do anything to prevent it? Is it really stimulus when your stimulus does not achieve anything and needs to be on forever? If QE1 to QE4 failed, is doing even more with QE-Infinity the definition of madness?
In general I highly recommend anyone interested in getting a deeper understanding of the global monetary system to check out Jeff Snider Eurodollar University.
Yes, Bitcoin solves real problems
Did you ever have a discussion with someone about Bitcoin and heard things like:
But I can already do all that with my bank account…
Oh I have a credit card, I don’t need magic internet money…
Just use Paypal bro…
The argument usually boils down to Bitcoin is useless. We already have everything we need. Bitcoin does not solve real world problems.
Well maybe Bitcoin doesn’t solve any of your problems right now if you are a software engineer working for Facebook and living in San Francisco. But there is a whole world out there.
Check this Coindesk article if you want to know what the people over in Lebanon think about their banking system…
It isn’t only about the futures
The Bitcoin futures and options markets are not the only one that are seeing increasing interest in the past few months. There is also Grayscale.
For those who don’t know, Grayscale is offering a Bitcoin Trust which is a traditional investment vehicle allowing you to get exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin — as well as other crypto assets.
Of course you don’t own the keys. But that’s typically what institutional investors want and are comfortable buying!
Grayscale total assets under management has doubled in the past 12 months to reach US$ 4 Billion. And apparently most of the recent growth is driven by traditional hedge funds looking for an exposure to Bitcoin.
Interesting times.
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