Thursday, June 22, 2023

A new narrative takes shape, even more strong institutional signals, and alpacas

“He conquers who endures.” – Persius ||

Hi all! Today’s email is a bit shorter than usual (you’re welcome!) due to a schedule squeeze… I mean, of all the days…

You’re reading the premium daily Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, where I focus on the growing overlap between the crypto and macro ecosystem. Thanks so much for being a subscriber! Nothing I say is investment advice. Nevertheless, I hope you find it useful – if so, please consider hitting the ❤ button at the bottom and sharing with friends and colleagues.

If you’re not yet a subscriber, I hope you’ll think about becoming one to support my work. It would REALLY make my day! 😊 It’s currently only $8/month (with a free trial!), although I will be raising the price soon.

WHAT I’M WATCHING

The narrative shift. It’s a big one. We went from “the institutions are out” to “the institutions are back” in the space of a couple of days. Now we are moving from “BTC is a risk asset” to “BTC marches to a different drummer” equally as fast. More on this below.

Legacy banks with muscle. CACEIS, the asset servicing arm of Crédit Agricole and Banco Santander, has been registered by French regulators to provide crypto custody services. This is a big deal. More on this below.

NFT intelligence. The German Federal Intelligence Service BND – the country’s foreign intelligence agency, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office – has released a series of NFTs with the aim of recruiting talent through a gamified blockchain treasure hunt. I’m torn between thinking this is nuts to thinking it’s actually quite cool.

Modi’s visit to the US. I’ll have to go into this more another day, but for now, keep an eye on the role of the rupee in global finance.

Yellen likes the IMF. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants to increase funding for the IMF’s “poverty reduction” mission. Of course she does, I’m sure it’s not at all about spreading US economic philosophy and influence. (There really needs to be a sarcasm emoji, don’t you think?)

MARKETS

A new narrative