19th November 2024 > > Poland & Australia.

tl;dr

Poland’s Presidential elections next year suddenly just got a whole lot more interesting. The Central Bank of Australia is doing itself, nor the citizens of that delightful country, any favours.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

There was noticeably more vol yesterday around the psychologically important level of $90k, though the range wasn’t large. A decent number of long-term coins are coming out here, sold into the OTC market not via the centralised cryptocurrency exchanges. I would love to know the size of the premium being paid OTC over and above the public price, but that information will forever be kept from us.

MSTR hit an all-time high yesterday at $385, up from $44 a year ago (yep, that is almost 10x), but you all already know that it is a leveraged play on BTC with no liquidation risk, and can be held within tax-free wrappers in the UK. All those capital gains that are kept free from Sir Keir Free Gear Starmer’s bribery fund for train drivers and council staff working a four-day (soon to be three) week. Lovely.

And if you didn’t know that, you have not been paying enough attention to the CCC over the last few years. BTC diamond hands have been all over this one for a long time now.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Poland

Poland has Presidential elections in 2025. One of the candidates, Slawomir Mentzen, has previously declared a BTC stash of 33.7 BTC worth over $3mm. He has just announced this:

There are very valid concerns about some of his rather more distasteful public comments in the past. If he succeeds in becoming President, taken in the round, it is far from clear that it would be a good thing, not least the damage he might try to do to the EU.

However, we don’t get a vote. We can only react to events beyond our control, and specifically how those events relate to our primary business. Unashamedly pro-crypto, Slawomir will undoubtedly gain votes as a result of his stance. This will force the other candidates to become more friendly towards cryptos, whatever the outcome happens to be.

One of the interesting impacts of sovereign owned BTC reserves (El Salvador, Bhutan, soon the US, and no doubt Russia and China too) is that these reserves strengthen not only BTC but also the fiat money system. The maxis don’t like it, but there is a delightful irony that the decentralised world makes the centralised world, and specifically fiat, stronger and better than before. The one thing that would be utterly disastrous for the world would be a collapse in fiat. BTC is the strongest defence mechanism against such an event.

Whatever, the democratic push to embed BTC within the legacy financial system is growing by the day. It cannot be resisted.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Australia

Michele Bullock, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, is acting like central bankers the world over, sticking her head in the sand on the topic of cryptos:

“Don’t call it an alternative currency. It’s not a currency, it’s not money; it’s being used as some sort of asset class. I don’t really see a role for it in the Australian economy or payments system.”

The fear that runs through centralised, bureaucratic institutions when confronted with the almost limitless possibilities of cryptos is palpable. This burning desire for control is a horrible thing to witness amongst the cohort of global central bankers. Still, the democratic process will overtake them. Once the politicians are all onboard, the bankers will follow, for they must do the bidding of their political masters, and rightly so.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Polymarket

Betting markets are always more reliable than polls or pundits.