Oil and the Commodity Index in the past year.
Commodities do not cause inflation; they are a consequence of currency purchasing power decline.
Graph via Bloomberg
Several sources have confirmed that a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) economist has been leaking key inflation data to $JPM and $BLK (group of 50 super users).
The problem is that the BLS says "super users" DO NOT EXIST!
“I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, a forecasting firm.
In mid-February, one user asked if they could be added to the “super user email list,” to which the BLS economist replied minutes later, “Yes I can add you to the list.”
While the recipients’ names were redacted from the request, email signature details or disclosures from their employers were visible in some of the provided records.
In addition to BlackRock and JPMorgan, other banks, hedge funds and research firms — Brevan Howard, Millennium Capital Partners LLP, Citadel, Moore Capital Management, High Frequency Economics, Nomura Securities International and BNP Paribas — appeared in the exchanges and declined to comment. Pharo Management and Wolfe Research also came up in the emails but didn’t provide comment.
Source: NYT, BBG
BINANCE TO ESTABLISH GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS: CEO RICHARD TENG
Binance is breaking its tradition of being based nowhere by establishing a global headquarters, according to CEO Richard Teng.
Teng revealed the company is in talks with various jurisdictions to determine its new home base during an on-stage interview at the Paris Blockchain Week conference.
This shift comes amidst Binance facing regulatory scrutiny in multiple markets for operating without proper licenses and compliance. The decision marks a departure from the previous stance held by co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who considered headquarters and offices as outdated concepts.
Source: DL News
California Bans Low-Skill Jobs with new $20 minimum wage for fast food workers.
Mass layoffs are already being announced, while major chains pour money into store automation so they can keep running without workers.
Fast food is only the start; California's already going after delivery drivers, with more mass layoffs and price hikes to come.
Tokenization of real world assets is mostly silly.
If you tokenize something exogenous to a blockchain, you really only hold an IOU.
And an IOU is what you already have with many real RWAs (e.g. real estate deeds, securities, IP), except a “tokenized” IOU is slower, less efficient, and more likely to be lost or stolen.
Meet Riot Blockchain.
Riot did 280 Million in Revenue in the last 12 months and lost 255 Million.
If Bitcoin doubles, Riot might only lose 255 Million again in the next 12 months.
Possibly, if Bitcoin does a 4x, Riot might actually turn a profit. Briefly.
Buy Bitcoin instead of Riot.
"Shrinkflation" has officially hit the housing market:
Housing affordability continues to hit record lows as prices rise along with rates.
Homebuilders' solution is to simply build smaller homes with the average new home now at 2225 square feet.
This is down ~100 square feet in just 1 year and 250 square feet since 2016.
The new reality is that people are paying more to get less with many goods and services.
Affordability will never go back to pre-pandemic levels.
Today we are announcing a new company.
For years, blockchains have focused on (1) marketing to new users and (2) communities with reporters via PR.
These efforts are necessary, but they neglect the most important group of people for a blockchain — the ecosystem stakeholders.
This is what @tokenrelations is solving.
We are helping blockchains better communicate with their developers, partners, token holders, and people building on top of their technology.
The business is cofounded by award-winning journalist @jacqmelinek and already has three launch partners (Avalanche, Optimism, and Aptos).
When I decided to start the business, I only approached one person to be our partner — Jacquie. She understands crypto culture, has a strong track record of creating valuable content, and is entrepreneurial enough to quit her job and go all-in on the opportunity.
I am excited to start showing people the products and services we have been working on.
If you are a blockchain who needs help communicating with your ecosystem stakeholders, DM me or Jacquie.
We look forward to building Token Relations into another key component of the industry.
Bitcoin 69K in November 2021 is very different from Bitcoin 69K in April 2024.
In November 2021, the Power Law "fair value" was 24.5K. We were trading at 2.8X that. In log terms, thats about 1.6 standard deviations! That's VERY expensive.
Today the power law model "fair value" is 64K. We are at 8% over fair value. Thats just 0.1 standard deviation. Basically, we are "on trend".
The biggest deviation overshoot was in March 2021 when we hit 58K. At that point the trendline was 18.2K, 3.2X. That's about 2 standard deviations!
Most people don't appreciate this. It's one of the big benefits of the power law tool of analysis!
🚨– I HOPE AMERICANS UNDERSTAND how perilously close our country is to becoming a defacto dictatorship like we're witnessing unfold in Brazil.
How critical this battle Elon Musk is fighting is for free speech and BOTH of our societies.
• "His Excellencey" Alexandre de Moraes' rise to power is the result of a packed Supreme Court, JUST like the far-left is actively trying to pack our Supreme Court here in the United States
Capturing the Supreme Court allows unelected bureaucrats to dictate law as they choose
• In Brazil's case, it's allowed this court to hold power over the Senate, which happens to be the only body in their government capable of holding this rogue judge responsible
This judiciary has twisted the law to give itself investigatory powers. It now extorts the Senate, threatening the individual Senators with investigations and consequences if they dissent
• Now, we're witnessing the authoritarian attack on free speech as it is the true threat to any dictatorship
There are so many similarities between the coordination between our governments and efforts to control speech, including the tactics of the left to pack the Supreme Courts that we can not ignore it
If the Democrats (the left) were able to overturn the filibuster here in the U.S. our country could easily become the next Brazil
The battle for freedom in Brazil is the same battle to preserve freedom for the United States and across the West.