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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (168673)	2/17/2021 7:45:06 AM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 219421

More re bitgold Perhaps Blackrock is FOMO / chasing something else ? bloomberg.com Bitcoin’s $50,000 FOMO Is Overpowering Bankers The Fear Of Missing Out is rippling through business and finance. But not everyone can be Elon Musk. Lionel Laurent February 17, 2021, 4:30 PM GMT+8 Very tempting. Photographer: Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images LISTEN TO ARTICLE JPMorgan Chase & Co. traders are said to be “ salivating” over Bitcoin. It’s easy to see why. The cryptocurrency’s price has shot past $50,000, double where it was on Christmas Day, creating a powerful centrifugal force of excitement — and real money judging by crypto exchange Coinbase Inc.’s reported profit margins of 20%. Never mind that Bitcoin’s persistent flaws, from relatively slow transaction speeds to wild price swings, make it a poor store of value or medium of exchange. The promise of life-changing wealth during lockdown is a strong draw for eager punters. Beyond the memes, wealthy financiers and billionaires are loudly loading up on digital gold, drowning out any skeptical voices. Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. has plowed $1.5 billion into Bitcoin, and wealthy hedge-funders like Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller are on board. It’s hard to heed “boomer” warnings comparing the craze to 17th-century Dutch tulip mania when the likes of ARK Investment Management’s Cathie Wood are egging firms on to buy. No wonder the world of “legacy” corporate finance is salivating. The mood echoes how Citigroup Inc.’s former boss Chuck Prince depicted the peak of the subprime bubble: “As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.” Nowadays it seems everyone is adding crypto to their dance card. MasterCard Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. have announced crypto plans, while JPMorgan Co-President Daniel Pinto says his bank will “get involved” eventually. Some investors say they’ve bought crypto while hating every minute of it — the very definition of the Fear of Missing Out. The Bitcoin AristocracyThere are over 8,000 addresses holding balances worth over $10 million Source: Bitinfocharts Hard as it is to resist crypto FOMO, it’s still worth thinking about rules of engagement and taking a careful approach. One principle might be to remind companies of their fiduciary duty to shareholders. Simply sticking Bitcoin on the balance sheet like Tesla is a poor hedge, as its price tumbles in times of market stress have shown. It’s not a common medium of exchange either, with merchants amounting to an estimated 1% of crypto transactions between mid-2019 and mid-2020. Most companies with a dollar cost base selling goods other than luxury cars have no real need to hold a pile of cryptocurrencies. Copying Musk is for the brave — it only works if the price keeps going up. Corporations should stick to their financial lane, not swerve onto Tesla’s. Most investors prefer for excess cash to be reinvested in operations, returned or managed appropriately. For bankers, acting as a broker for crypto clients could certainly fit into their job description. However, some caution is warranted here, too. Jean Dermine, a professor of banking at Insead, reckons Bitcoin touches on several areas of risk: operational risk, such as client identification and the potential for fraud; legal, especially with a decentralized global asset; and regulatory risk, given a history of lawsuits and government crackdowns in the sector. And then there’s the need to protect consumers too. So while trading Bitcoin might make business sense, the risks should make it expensive to do so, with high levels of loss-absorbing capital set aside to back it. Switzerland, for example, has reportedly guided toward a flat bank risk weight of 800% for Bitcoin. That helps explain why banks have so far kept one step removed from the asset, whether via futures or taking on crypto exchanges as clients. Opinion. Data. More Data.Get the most important Bloomberg Opinion pieces in one email. While treading cautiously on Bitcoin, banks would do well to take a more strategic approach to the whole crypto landscape. The future of money hasn’t been decided yet, and “legacy” finance may be better equipped to co-opt or compete against such assets than people think. Banks have been toiling away at proprietary blockchain projects, such as JPMorgan’s JPM Coin, which could save money on payments. They are natural partners for central banks’ planned digital currencies, like the digital euro. Finally, a principle for regulators. They should take a balanced approach to financial innovation without letting systemic risks get out of hand. Crypto exchanges are better regulated than they used to be, and consumer warnings are issued frequently. But if Bitcoin became deeply embedded in the global financial system, the question would inevitably arise over what to do if an asset with no government backer crashed. When the music stopped for Citi and others in the 2007-2008 financial crisis, central banks joined hands to throw the financial system multiple lifelines — helping spur the creation of Bitcoin itself. It would be a very odd look for the Bitcoin aristocracy to be bailed out by its arch-nemesis, central bank fiat money. Bitcoin is playing an irresistible tune, but for many in the corporate-finance world, the best dance right now should be baby steps. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. To contact the author of this story: Lionel Laurent at llaurent2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.net Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. LEARN MORE Sent from my iPad

To: carranza2 who wrote (168673)	2/18/2021 3:07:31 AM
From: TobagoJack	1 Recommendation Recommended By MulhollandDrive Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 219421

Re <<rates>> the few basis points shall do nothing against the spirit of the equity market, I am guessing, because the rates cannot be allowed to go high-enough to matter speaking of rates, spirit, and equity market, all in the singularity known as MSTR Michael Saylor is perhaps using MSTR shareholders and bondholders' monies to boost BTC, that which he himself went long awhile ago, but hey, he must have received SEC nod. bloomberg.com MicroStrategy Boosts Bonds-for-Bitcoin Offering, Sets 0% Coupon Katherine Greifeld MicroStrategy Inc. boosted its convertible debt sale to buy Bitcoin by nearly half and cut the coupon to 0%, making it virtually a straight bet on the price of world’s largest cryptocurrency. The software maker priced $900 million of senior convertible notes, up from the $600 million announced Tuesday, and gave an option for $150 million more within 13 days. The debt will pay no interest and the company estimates total proceeds of about $1 billion -- enough to buy about 20,000 Bitcoin at current levels. The scale of the offering’s increase speaks to the success of MicroStrategy’s bet on Bitcoin so far. The enterprise software company began buying crypto last summer using corporate cash, before issuing debt in December to amplify its bet past $1 billion. That stake has since tripled, as Bitcoin rallied 350% since it announced its first purchase on Aug. 11. MicroStrategy shares have surged over 600% since. MicroStrategy has become so focused on speculating on cryptocurrency to boost its profits, its latest foray spurred the $9 billion company to add a second pillar to its corporate strategy: “to acquire and hold Bitcoin.” Chief Executive Officer Michael Saylor has been proselytizing for Bitcoin for months, urging companies to shift part of the corporate treasury into the infamously volatile digital token to boost yield and protect against both inflation and a weakening dollar. So far, few have followed, though Tesla Inc. plowed $1.5 billion of its $19 billion cash pile into Bitcoin last week. MicroStrategy’s ability to increase the size of its offering speaks to the strong demand among bond buyers to get a piece of the action in Bitcoin -- even if that comes at a premium to the token’s market price. MicroStrategy declined to comment on the debt offering. Wall Street has increasingly taken notice of Bitcoin’s meteoric rise. Morgan Stanley said one of its biggest private wealth funds would consider adding the token. MasterCard suggested some cryptocurrencies could soon be used to transact on its network, following a similar move by PayPal last year. Read More: MicroStrategy to Add Bitcoin, Widening Premium of Shares While the 0% coupon offers little in income, the promise of what amounts to a call on Bitcoin has drawn strong interest. Even after the December issue quickly moved into the money, none of the bonds have been converted as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bitcoin has rallied 75% this year to roughly $50,850 as of 9:53 a.m. in New York. MicroStrategy’s coupon will mark the 10th 0% issue this year, a phenomenon abetted by the Federal Reserve’s policy that has pinned short-term rates near zero. Shares of MicroStrategy fell 2.9% to $927.51. The stock surged 172% last year. (A prior version of this story corrected size of Tesla’s cash pile to $19 billion in sixth paragraph.) Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. LEARN MORE

To: carranza2 who wrote (168673)	2/18/2021 3:11:59 AM
From: TobagoJack	3 Recommendations Recommended By carranza2 maceng2 MulhollandDrive Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 219421

Martin has been compelled to acknowledge bitgold, given that ignoring it does not make it go away ask-socrates.com Bitcoin $100,000? TUESDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2021 BY: MARTY ARMSTRONG Bitcoin has rallied to the 50k level and many are now suddenly calling for 100k. This is typical of blow-offs to the upside where the expectations start to jump in whole numbers. Our timing models have been projecting April as both high volatility and a turning point. It appears that exceeding the February high of this week during March would warn of a possible further rally into April but our target would be the 59,000 area - not 100,000. The key weeks ate 2/15, 2/22, 3/08, and 04/12. This can get choppy in here after this week. Nevertheless, this rally actually proves that BitCoin is by no means a currency. It is simply an instrument no different from a stock or a commodity. It is by no means a store of value for that is not something that would fluctuate wildly. So do not marry the trade. That is all this is - a trade! Something is brewing for this entire April/May time period on a global scale. Of course, we have Joe Biden who has been a puppet for the staff surrounding him. They are the ones who draft these executive orders and he just signs them. Reliable sources are warning that the strategy of these swamp-creatures is to not just undo everything that Trump did right down to now paying for abortions overseas to reduce the population, but they wrongly are claiming that Biden was elected to be the opposite of Trump. This is not going down very well in the financial markets where this seems to have tipped the scale toward a decline in confidence in the government. Our models confirmed that the shift began from the 2009 low. This rally in Bitcoin is reflecting this anti-establishment trend. Pay attention to Socrates from here going into April. Something is just now quite right in Bidenland.