Tuesday, August 8, 2023

“The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.” – Martin Heidegger  ||

Hello everyone, and happy 8/8! I do love symmetry…

You’re reading the premium daily version of Crypto is Macro Now, and I want to take a moment to thank you for being here! It’s not like there aren’t so many sources to choose from these days. In this daily premium version, I give some depth on factors I’m keeping an eye on that sketch the growing overlap between the crypto and macro landscapes – my focus is on how crypto is affecting the global economy, and vice versa. There is often a market discussion as well, because that is an important piece, not just for the structural changes but also for investor sentiment, which impacts attention and funding. But nothing I say is investment advice!

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NOTE: I’m doing a Twitter Spaces later today, at 10amET, with CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole – come and join us for a discussion on this week’s CPI report and how it might impact crypto markets!

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

• PayPal issues a stablecoin

• Worldcoin’s woes intensify

• Watch the banks

• Don’t count on China’s recovery

• Bond market wobbles

WHAT I’M WATCHING

PayPal issues a stablecoin

PayPal has announced that its stablecoin, long in the works but paused last February due to the lack of regulatory clarity, is going live. It will have the ticker PYUSD, will be backed 1:1 by “secure and highly liquid” dollar assets (dollar deposits, cash and US treasuries) held by PayPal, and will run on Ethereum. PYUSD will be able to be transferred to and used from Venmo as well as participating crypto wallets. For now, this is only available to US customers (but not in Hawaii).

Why this matters:

Several strong signals are sent by this move:

1) PayPal no longer feels that the lack of regulatory clarity is an impediment. There is currently a stablecoin bill up for consideration by the House of Representatives, the first of its kind to get this far. And Representative Patrick McHenry commented on PayPal’s move yesterday in an official statement:

“This announcement is a clear signal that stablecoins—if issued under a clear regulatory framework—hold promise as a pillar of our 21st century payments system.”