Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Sony’s crypto exchange, stablecoins in the EU, HedgeWeek

“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg  ||

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all doing ok!

Today I look at what I think is the bigger story behind Sony’s relaunch of its crypto exchange, as well as what Circle’s EU licence could mean for the stablecoin ecosystem. Plus, finally, some takeaways from HedgeWeek.

If you find Crypto is Macro Now useful, would you mind sharing it with your friends and colleagues? ❤

Programming note: It’s a short weekend in the US because of the July 4th holiday, and I’m in Mallorca this weekend for the Real Vision Annual Gathering, so this newsletter won’t publish on the 4th-6th. Back on Monday!

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

• Sony’s crypto exchange: the convergence?

• Stablecoins in the EU

• Takeaways from HedgeWeek

If you’re not a subscriber to the premium daily, I hope you’ll consider becoming one! You’ll get ~daily insight into the growing overlap between the crypto and macro landscapes, as well as some useful links. And there’s a free trial!

WHAT I’M WATCHING:

Sony’s crypto exchange: the convergence?

Yesterday, reports emerged that Sony was launching a crypto exchange. These were later modified to “revamping”, as deeper investigation confirmed that the platform would not be a new initiative – rather, the Japanese conglomerate was rebranding a crypto exchange it acquired last year, and giving it a new client interface.

This may look on the surface like a corporate bet on demand for crypto trading – it’s potentially much more than that.

Some background: Sony Corporation was founded in Japan in 1946 to build consumer electronic products – its first product was a somewhat clunky tape recorder, but it became known in the 1950s for its transistor radios. Then came televisions, the doomed Betamax TV recorder, Walkmans, CD players, video cameras, lithium-ion batteries, cameras, flash memory sticks and DVD players – for many of these categories, Sony was behind the first global viable commercial product.

Timing, tech know-how and innovation made Sony one of the driving forces behind the “Japan decade” of the 1990s, which obviously led to aggressive expansion. Flush with cash and credit, Sony ended up moving into movies, music, banking, insurance, internet infrastructure, chip production and gaming. According to some reports, its original strategy was for the convergence of culture, electronics and the internet – this was unfortunately not successfully executed, but is relevant for the firm’s moves into digital assets as it gives an early hint into the big-picture ambition.