18th August 2023 > > PayPal and Coinbase.

tl;dr

PayPal does what it does best – it makes our life easier. Coinbase lands a body blow on the SEC.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

The volume of BTC traded on centralised exchanges is up over 105% in the last 24 hours.

I think we know why. Those weak hands we discussed just yesterday (“Glassnode’s latest report suggests that we might be in for a period of BTC price weakness”) are panicking and rushing for the exit. I need hardly repeat that this is good for diamond hands who continue to grow their crypto stash. Forced selling of leveraged longs in the futures markets to a total of nearly $1bn took us briefly below $25k but there has been a minor recovery since. This shakeout of recent speculative buys will be healthy in the long run.

Meanwhile techies are out selling bucketloads of snake oil now we have some vol. Take notice of them if you wish, but at your peril. Short-term trading only works if you get lucky, or you see client flows.

Occasional Series – Milk Road

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – PayPal

PayPal does it again.

Not content with its own stablecoin PYUSD, and the launch of its all-encompassing Cryptocurrencies Hub, PayPal have now made all our lives easier. When I say all, I mean those who use Ledger Nano for their cold storage of crypto assets. Which I can only assume includes you.

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PayPal users can now buy BTC, ETH, BCH (why?), and LTC directly through Ledger Live, with assets sent to your Ledger Nano public address.

Pascal Gauthier, chairman and CEO of Ledger, who is one our time’s visionaries, explains:

“We’re combining the uncompromising security of Ledger with PayPal's leadership in protected payments technology to help facilitate a seamless platform for user crypto transactions. Ledger is committed to simplifying the world of crypto and PayPal is committed to making the movement of money as simple, reliable and affordable as possible.”

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Pedants will point out that this facility is just for US based users, and they are right. But that will change soon.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Coinbase BTC futures

Let me state upfront that futures trading of BTC and other cryptos is a mug’s game. I guarantee you will lose money. You are the exit liquidity for hedge funds, and investment banks, who see client flows that you only know about after the event.

Having said that, the news that Coinbase has been given regulatory approval to ply futures to its retail client base is good news. Or, at least, good news in one respect. It is not good news for the retail clients who are already losing money trying to beat the pros (as evidenced by the overnight move), but consenting adults must be allowed to make their own mistakes, a concept that is increasingly lost on the woke elite.

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@avichal tells it like it is:

“Getting an FCM via the @CFTC is a big deal. It takes years of work. If I were a judge I'd wonder why somehow @coinbase manages to register with the @CFTC yet the @SECGov claims that Coinbase is unwilling to do the hard work to register.”

Avichal is probably over-egging it a touch, but he makes a fair point.

The pressure on the SEC continues to build.