4th September 2023 > > SAP & ETFs.

tl;dr

SAP will boost crypto adoption by corporations. And that old ETF again.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

KuCoin has released a survey that shows that over 50% of the Turkish population now own cryptos. And the reason is obvious. Inflation is at 48% as at mid-August. The Turkish Lira has lost one-third of its value against USD in the last couple of months.

As a hedge against inflation, as a hedge against autocrats, as a hedge against cronyism and corruption, BTC is peerless.

And that’s just in the UK, run by wealth destroyers such as Jeremy Hunt whose real surname is not suitable for a family friendly publication.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – SAP

SAP, based in Germany, is a giant in the provision of software to corporations.

In June SAP announced a trial of using blockchain technology and USDC (USD stablecoin) for cross-border payments. The problem, according to SAP, is this:

“Today, cross-border payments are a hassle for many small and mid-sized enterprises with international business partners. Expensive – up to 50 USD per transaction, slow – up to 7 days to transmit the money, and non-transparent – you never know the status of the transaction.”

SAP set up a test centre using a test Ethereum chain and test USDC. Trials have now finished, so we await the results, though if they come back as anything other than a roaring success, I would be mightily surprised.

This is just one of the many real-life use cases for blockchain technology.

It is claimed that 99 out of the world’s largest 100 companies are customers of SAP. When this functionality gets rolled out, that will be crypto adoption right there on a grand scale.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – ETFs

J.P. Morgan has weighed into the debate, predicting that the SEC will approve multiple BTC spot ETFs all at once. Their view is based upon the outcome of the SEC vs GBTC case (https://www.curiouscryptos.com/post/30th-august-2023-etfs-and-a-graph) following which JPM believe the SEC has only two courses of action – rescind approval for BTC futures ETF or grant the BTC spot ETF. The former action would be “highly disruptive and embarrassing for the SEC”.

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Which has got me thinking that maybe there is too much hype around an ETF.

Market consensus is increasingly coalescing around a positive outcome, but BTC is stuck at $26k. Back at the end of 2021, it was the excitement around a futures ETF that drove us to all-time highs. There is no evidence of a repeat of that enthusiasm this time around.

With next year’s halving unlikely to have any outsize impact (as we have previously discussed though I am in a very small minority on this point) it looks like we must rely on ever-increasing adoption of cryptos to drive prices upwards.