28th March 2025 > > GameStop & DeFi.

tl;dr

GameStop is going all MicroStrategy. DeFi is going mainstream (perhaps).

Market Snap

Market Wrap

Tariff talk continues to weigh heavily on price action.

Occasional Series – Just Stop Oil

To everyone’s relief JSO has called time on its childish and puerile antics. It was always striking (to me at least) that the only diversity on show amongst its adherents was the colour of some members’ hair, which is not yet to my knowledge a protected characteristic. JSO claims to have kept 4.4bn barrels of oil in the ground. Well, yes and no. Disrupting supply from the UK simply increases production elsewhere, transferring UK wealth to countries with somewhat less robust measures against autocracy, encouraging greater human rights’ abuses, and increases net carbon emissions as oil and gas is shipped around the globe in dirty diesel freighters. If that “success” makes its members happy, then I am pleased they are showing their true colours to the world.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Technical Analysis

It won’t take long for you to find this graphic or something very similar all over the crypto chat sites right now:

I am reliably told that if we stay above the “descending triangle” then prices might go higher for an indeterminate time up to an indeterminate level than if we go below the “descending triangle”.

If we go below the base of the “descending triangle”, prices might go lower for an indeterminate time down to an indeterminate level than if we stay above the “descending triangle”.

Yep, thanks for that non-insight matey boy.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – GameStop

Now that GameStop has made the very sensible decision to add BTC to its treasury reserves (https://www.curiouscryptos.com/post/26th-march-2025-the-crypto-task-force-gamestop) it has gone all MicroStrategy on us.

The day after filing the SEC form to authorise buying BTC with its spare cash, GameStop issued a 1.5bn convertible bond the proceeds of which will be ploughed into BTC.

Shareholders are happy (the stock is up tens of points), future shareholders aka buyers of the convertible are happy (the initial size of the bond offering was increased which is always a healthier sign than scaling back), and all crypto holders worldwide are happy.

If you are not personally feeling happy about this news, you might want to assess why not. Just a suggestion is all.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – DeFi just got a boost

The US Senate has voted 70-28 in favour of repealing one of the planks of Operation Choke Point 2.0, namely that DeFi platforms must comply with all KYC regulations, and report customer transactions by customer to the US taxman, in the same way the centralised exchanges (crypto or otherwise) must do.

The rule was clearly designed to snuff out any DeFi innovation and development based in the US. Those who sponsored these rules try to claim otherwise, but that merely adds “liar”, probably highlighted in red, to their CV.

DeFi platforms are code, no more than that, and open-source as well. They are powered by their own native coin, whose value is subject to market forces as are all assets, financial or otherwise. Economic gains from the platform accrue to holders of those coins, explicitly with payouts, or implicitly in the market price. The process of governance – like the democracies we enjoy today in the enlightened parts of the world – varies from platform to platform, and none can ever be perfect. Some are better than others, some can be criticised for this perceived failing, some can be criticised for that perceived failing. But you as an individual are free to participate or not. Over time, the successful models will win.

All you need to get involved is a wallet with some minimal amount of crypto. This is code, not a centralised organisation with an identity, a head office, and company registration number. You may like it or not, but this concept of finance without identification exists, it is growing, and it ain’t going away.

…

Critics of cryptos generally, and DeFi in particular, claim that it enables money-laundering, terrorism, and other criminal activity. As does cash, to a much greater extent. If you really want to encourage drug smugglers into your continent, what better way than circulating a note worth roughly five times more than your competitor in the hubristic act of “mine is bigger than yours” (that will be the EUR 500 note if you haven’t been paying attention).

Legitimate businesses, in the centralised or decentralised world, care about reputational risk. They care about their longevity, for their founders, their stakeholders, their employees, their customers. Reputational risk is probably the one key risk that can take an organisation down overnight, as Ratner’s founder learnt to his eternal horror after describing his company’s own products as “crap”.

Just because code can be used for nefarious activities does not mean that DeFi platforms seek out that activity. Perhaps there is a vanishingly small minority that do, but that is a business model that is guaranteed to last little time at all.

I welcome robust and precise reporting and monitoring of fiat on/off ramps into and out of crypto. Past that point, trying to control the decentralised world with old-school centralised strictures is not going to cut the mustard.