2nd April 2023 - Freeport.

tl;dr

Another challenge to the widely, but mistakenly, held view that the US is anti-crypto.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

BTC back trading in a narrow range again, this time between $26.5k and $29k for nearly two weeks. With inflation data increasingly turning for the better, and more real-life applications emerging for cryptos - see CCC 31st March 2023 and today’s missive - this steady as she goes improvement in market sentiment for BTC is most encouraging.

Occasional Series – A useful tool

Interacting with DeFi (decentralised finance) platforms is not without its own set of unique risks.

This simple tool goes some way to mitigating those risks:

https://detecthoneypot.com/

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Freeport and why Gary Gensler is our friend

Yesterday I proposed a re-interpretation of recent actions taken by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and of recent statements made by its Chair, Gary Gensler. That reinterpretation is that Gary is working hard to encourage crypto adoption in a way that fits with his desire for a regulated environment that fosters and encourages innovation, development, and adoption.

Hard as I try, I cannot find anyone else who agrees with me on this one. It’s not unusual that I find myself in dispute with seemingly the entire rest of the world, but it is a position which I find comfort in.

Just three days ago, CoinDesk delivered a powerful editorial (https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/03/30/coindesk-editorial-it-sure-looks-like-the-us-is-trying-to-kill-crypto/) that is the exact opposite of my stance. It is well worth a read, and there are many fine points made, not least its conclusion:

“… it (the White House) should support a bipartisan effort to legislatively mandate that the SEC establish clear guidelines on securities laws as they pertain to digital assets.”

…

But its opening premise, that central banks and governments will not allow a competitor to fiat to flourish is wrong, and today’s missive adds further weight to my case.

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Freeport, an NFT (non-fungible token) startup is a blockchain platform designed to bring tokenised ownership of digital prints of iconic art to the masses, that is, you and me.

Freeport have acquired the rights to produce one digital print of four Andy Warhol pieces of art:

I probably don’t have to name each one for you.

Each print is split into 10,000 shares, to be sold to individuals in lots of 10, at prices of between $250 and $860 per lot. The waitlist is now at 2,030 out of 4,000 so if this is your bag, you can still successfully apply.

You can find the waitlist here https://freeport.app/, or use my referral link https://freeport.app/?referral_code=97215f5f-a1bb-4dee-b048-af5293424521.

Colin Johnson. CEO and Co-Founder of Freeport explains:

“We are beyond thrilled to launch the Freeport platform and start opening access to the once-exclusive world of fine-art investing. As more and more value moves on-chain, fractionalized art is increasingly being sought after by a younger, yet less financially flexible, class of investors. Our platform goes far beyond just fractionalizing shares of fine art into security tokens — we’ve built a fully-immersive and interactive platform hosting an art-centric community and redefining the ownership experience surrounding fractionalized art.”

…

The question is why this news challenges the widely held opinion that Gary Gensler and the SEC are anti-crypto.

For a very simple reason.

Freeport applied to the SEC for securities registration. On March 29th Freeport announced it had passed a Regulation A review. Freeport, a crypto start-up offering tokenised art stored on the Ethereum blockchain is open for business with the blessing of the SEC.

Freeport will incidentally act as a fiat/crypto on-off ramp as well as a digital arthouse – the prints will be sold for USD taken from your bank account. Once bought, these prints can be sold for fiat or crypto.

The ramification of this news extends far beyond the narrow remit of Freeport.