Faces Start To Melt

The news from Planet Ruby—Friday, March 1, 2024

• Signal: BTC
• Noise: USD

TradFi Enjoys The Sun

TradFi markets have been continuing to rally, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting new all-time highs above 5,100 and 18,000 respectively. The DXY sits around 104, off its recent local high, even though the market now expects just three rate cuts of 0.25% this year, rather than the six that were forecast so recently.

Tech stocks have been driving the rally, and there have been a couple of companies that have performed particularly well. Coinbase (breaking $200/share) and Microstrategy (punching through $1,000 and gaining a market cap large enough to put it in the S&P 500) have both put in stellar moves, for the same reason...

Resistance Is Futile

Bitcoin broke out of its consolidation on Monday, and has put in an incredible performance since, with a $10k weekly candle so far. This has been driven by immense, record-breaking ETF volumes. BlackRock alone bought 10,000 BTC on Wednesday.

GBTC outflows have fluctuated, on some days being down to a mere drip, though yesterday saw a huge $600 million outflow (completely offset by BlackRock's buying). The unexpected levels of activity around the ETFs have caused one well-known analyst to characterize it as a "craze", potentially building towards mania territory.

Peter Brandt has raised his target for this bull market to $200k, though cycles trader Loukas cautions that things may be moving too fast for a normal market cycle. Something is different this time, and that may be good, or it may be bad.

Bitcoin hasn't yet hit an all-time high in dollars, but it has blown past its ATHs in dozens of other global currencies.

Wright Forges Ahead

There were unexpected bombshells in court this week, as Craig Wright's own legal team were forced to disclose newly-submitted [apparently] forged evidence, mid-trial. Wright retakes the stand today to discuss the [alleged] deception.

The success of the bitcoin ETFs has not brought a smile to Peter Schiff's face. It's now clear that bitcoin is eating gold's lunch, cannibalizing gold ETFs and potentially overtaking them within a couple of years, or less.

There's been some great news for Gemini's Earn customers, who are set to be refunded their crypto in full, following a deal struck with bankrupt lender Genesis.

Coinbase went down, preventing thousands of traders from accessing their crypto, right as bitcoin touched $64,000. Coinbase were blamed for the $4k crash that ensued, though it didn't last long.

Michael Saylor has been buying more bitcoin. Microstrategy now owns 193,000 BTC, but rising prices means it's becoming less likely that Saylor will reach the landmark of 1% of all bitcoins. Still, in a single day, Microstrategy made half a billion dollars with their current stack. Not bad.

What's New In The SKALEVERSE?

Have you checked out SKALE's gaming scene? Zero gas and high transaction throughput make it the ideal platform for the gaming industry, allowing seamless integration of blockchain capabilities.

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