Tether and Rumble: what’s really going on?

plus, IBIT and pent-up BTC demand

“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.” – Rainer Maria Rilke ||

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!

I hope you saw out 2024 with appreciation, closure and hope, and have welcomed 2025 with open arms. It will no doubt have rough spots but also beautiful moments and pleasant surprises, and time will continue to teach us much.

Below, I poke at Tether’s surprisingly substantial investment in video sharing platform Rumble.

Programming note: Monday, Jan 6th, is a holiday where I live (Epiphany, as big a deal here as Christmas), so the premium daily will return on Tuesday, when I will be mourning the end of the sparkly season but will hopefully have my voice back and less of a cotton-wool head (battling a bothersome cold).

(No audio versions until next week as I don’t have access to my recording equipment until then, sorry!)

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

• Tether and Rumble: what’s really going on?

• IBIT and pent-up BTC demand

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WHAT I’M WATCHING:

Tether and Rumble: what’s really going on?

Tether is at it again.

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the stablecoin issuer’s tokenization platform launch, commodity trade investment and other diversification initiatives that together sketch at a possible evolution map for cryptocurrency use cases.

Now, we have a surprising twist that not only adds to the intriguing pattern; it also potentially pushes both crypto and media in a new direction.

A couple of weeks ago, Tether announced a $775 million “strategic investment” in video platform Rumble.

There’s a lot to unpack here.