14th February 2024 > > Central banks & Ledger.

tl;dr

New Zealand’s central bank governor probably wishes he had kept his mouth shut. Ledger and Coinbase combine to make our lives just a little bit better.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

That US CPI number which missed by 0.2%, a miss that is well within the expected range of inaccuracy and will undoubtedly be revised when no-one is looking, knocked 4% off the price of BTC in the immediate aftermath of its publication. All other risk assets sold off too.

This is yet another unimpeachable demonstration of the fallacy of leaving interest rate decisions in the hands of “experts” who have entirely failed to fulfil their mandate, and who will always fail to do so. Yes, I am looking at you Mr. Central Bank. Go back to the day job for everyone’s benefit.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Talking of which

Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Adrian Orr, has been weighing in on stablecoins:

"Stablecoins are not stable. They're only as good as the balance sheet of the person offering that stablecoin."

This is true of course, which is why the CCC has long campaigned for greater clarity and insight into the assets held as backing for stablecoins. But it is also true about the printers of fiat, though the balance sheet of stablecoin issuers is a lot less opaque than that of central banks.

Orr also opined that fiat has the advantage of independent (we all know that isn’t true) central banks focussed on low inflation. Look how that has turned out.

But not content with displaying either a streak of disingenuity or ignorance Orr let the cat out of the bag:

"It's a great business to be in, Central Banking, where you print money and people believe it":

https://twitter.com/stephanlivera/status/1757323627907666098

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Coinbase and Ledger

These two stalwarts of the crypto industry have announced a strategic partnership to allow Ledger users to buy and sell crypto on Coinbase from within the Ledger Live app:

https://www.ledger.com/blog-ledger-live-and-coinbase-pay-collaborate-to-streamline-crypto-purchases

For those who are new to self-custody there are well-grounded fears about the process of transferring cryptos from a centralised cryptocurrency exchange to your hardware wallet. The feelings of anxiety until the transfer is complete are not particularly pleasant. This source of stress now has a solution.

Ian Rodgers, CEO at Ledger, understands this well:

“Both Ledger and Coinbase are focused on making crypto easy-to-use and keeping consumers secure. Now Coinbase users can easily buy crypto right within Ledger Live, and Ledger users can easily buy with Coinbase. Ledger is proud to give this experience to Coinbase customers and option to Ledger users through this partnership.”

The only disappointing bit is that this option does not yet appear within my Ledger Live app. I am sure it is only a matter of time.