October 13, 2021 | Issue #190

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MUST READS

Coinbase announces NFT waitlist, FTX expands to Solana based NFTs

Coinbase is breaking into the market for NFTs, announcing Tuesday the waitlist for access to Coinbase NFT. (You can sign up for the waitlist and get a sneakpeek of everything here.)

The new offering will allow users to mint, purchase, and showcase NFTs. To start, it will support Ethereum-based NFTs, but it has plans to expand to other chains after it launches.

Meanwhile, crypto exchange FTX-US announced on Monday the fully-fledged launch of its marketplace for Solana-based NFTs, and Binance continues to build out Binance NFT.

It seems that the exchanges want a piece of the action after watching marketplaces such as OpenSea explode in volume (see Deep Dives section).

Make Up Your Mind, Jamie...

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has once again sparked a backlash from the crypto community over his statements on Bitcoin.

Speaking at an Institute of International Finance event on Monday, Dimon called Bitcoin “worthless,” stressing, however, that JPM clients "disagree."

He added: “I'll just challenge the group to one other thing: how do you know it ends at 21 million? ...You all read the algorithms? You guys all believe that? I don't know, I've always been a skeptic of stuff like that.”

As you can imagine, the crypto community was quick to react. Brain Armstrong of Coinbase, Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy, and Michael Novogratz of Galaxy Digital all had a word on the matter.

At the end of the day, what gives. Consider this timeline of Mr. Dimon's comments, then go ahead and pull up a chart since the bickering started.

2014: “terrible store of value”
2015: “will not survive” “will be stopped”
2016: "going nowhere"
2017: "a fraud"
2018: "don't really give a sh*t"
2019: [JPMCoin launch]
2020: “not my cup of tea”
2021: “I have no interest in it” “fool’s gold” “worthless”

We too are a skeptic of things we have made no effort to understand and which will likely obsolete us!

Related: JPMorgan: Institutions Are Rotating Out Of Gold Into Bitcoin As A Better Inflation Hedge

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DEEP DIVES

Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

Alright... Tether. We've covered it many, many times in this newsletter.

For all of our new readers out there, the story is that Tether (a stablecoin that’s supposed to be worth $1 because it’s backed by real U.S. dollars) has grown to have 69 billion in circulation. Simple math would tell you that means they should have $69 billion dollars in reserves. Except, maybe they don't?

Despite the company’s assurances that the money is safe, exactly what’s behind Tether has been a mystery.

So a writer from Bloomberg set out to solve the mystery. The money trail led from Taiwan to Puerto Rico, the French Riviera, mainland China, and the Bahamas.

Check out the full story to learn how Tether was dreamed up by a former Mighty Ducks child actor, run by an Italian ex-plastic surgeon, and banked with the co-creator of Inspector Gadget.

OpenSea: The Reasonable Revolutionary

The Generalist continues hitting it out of the park with their deep dives into crypto companies. This week, we have an exploration into the NFT marketplace OpenSea.

Read this to learn about the reality of NFTs, how OpenSea weathered the crypto bear market, how it commands 90%+ of the NFT market, and what the frontier looks like for OpenSea as large exchanges begin to enter the NFT market.

The Quest For Digital Cash

Alex Gladstein's new essay follows the evolution of eCash to Bitcoin, the career of pioneering cryptographer Adam Back, and the ongoing Cypherpunk struggle to fight for freedom and privacy via open-source code instead of asking the state for permission.

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REGULATORY FRONT

Unpopular Opinion: El Salvador President Mr Nayab Bukele should not be praised by Crypto community

Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin criticized El Salvador president Nayib Bukele on Friday for forcing businesses in the country to adopt bitcoin. Buterin also called out "Bitcoin maximalists" for supporting Bukele.

His Point: "Making it mandatory for businesses to accept a specific cryptocurrency is contrary to the ideals of freedom that are supposed to be so important to the crypto space," Buterin wrote in a Reddit post.

Related: El Salvador Sees Rise In Identity Theft As Scammers Steal Personal Data To Get $30 Bitcoin Bonus

Senator Ted Cruz Talks Bitcoin

Regardless of how you feel about Senator Cruz's politics, you have to admit it is refreshing to hear from someone in DC who really gets Bitcoin, its role in preserving freedom in the Digital Age, and how the Bitcoin mining industry could revolutionize the energy sector.

If anything, this is a great conversation to watch because you will come away having a better understanding of how most of the politicians in DC view Bitcoin.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Coinbase's New Offering, Ted Cruz Talks BTC, & Has Anyone Seen Tether's Billions?

Coinbase announces NFT waitlist, FTX expands to Solana based NFTs

Make Up Your Mind, Jamie...

Digital currency in your 401(k)? Now you can and why you should

Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

OpenSea: The Reasonable Revolutionary

The Quest For Digital Cash

Wine Investment for Everyone

Unpopular Opinion: El Salvador President Mr Nayab Bukele should not be praised by Crypto community

Senator Ted Cruz Talks Bitcoin

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