Earlier in the week I wrote a post about sunsets. If you read it, you know I was quick to point out that sunrises can be equally as beautiful. I mentioned yesterday that I had a lot of finance stuff to cover this week so I was spread it across two days.
Little did I know that even more stuff would happen in just the last 24 hours. It definitely feels like the sun is rising on a new era of crypto right now. As I said, I have a lot of finance related stuff to throw at you today, so I am just going to get right to it.
It is time again for another Finance Friday/Friday Finance. This is a series I started where I talk about random bits of financial stuff that I have seen, gathered, or experienced during the week. I hope as a reader you find it informational, entertaining, or both. I also hope it can generate some good discussion and edify the community.
ETH ETFs
As I said, some of the biggest news dropped in just the past 24 hours and the SPOT ETH ETF is just the piece of news I am talking about. Apparently, this turned out to be a "sell the news" sort of event as we saw prices drop across the board shortly after it was announced. While BTC was over $70,000 again and ETH was pushing $3900+, we now see them back down to $67K and $3700 respectively.
Make no mistake, this is just a temporary correction. I expect we might see a quick rebound and then maybe another small drop when the ETF actually launches? Even I question myself because it is hard to know what is going to happen. This is all new territory.
Two Crypto Bills Pass
I mentioned yesterday that the FIT 21 bill had passed with an impressive bi-partisan effort. I really didn't expect that. @bitcoinflood wrote a good post about it here. Yesterday, I watched CSPAN intently as they debated and voted on the other crypto bill. The one that would ban the Federal Reserve from implementing, exploring, or basically even thinking about creating a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
It was actually a bit funny watching old politicians with zero clue tripping over their words trying to say CBDC fluidly in a sentence. Oddly enough, the bill actually passed and I think a lot of people in the crypto space hail both bills passing as a win.
I was excited at first, but I am a little more reserved now. While I think this could be good short term, after doing a bit of Googling, I quickly realized that typically only about 5% of the bills that are passed actually become a law. There are still two big hurdles that these bills need to pass.
If you guessed that those two hurdles are Joe Biden and a Democrat controlled Congress then you are correct. I actually identify as a democrat most the time, but their archaic position on crypto currency is just ridiculous. Don't worry though, @tarazkp, I'm not going to be one of those people who votes a certain way simply because of one issue!
Retik Finance
You might also remember back on the 21st, I talked about the fact that the Retik token was launching to the public after what they consider a successful presale. The launch price was supposed to be $.15 per token. Within seconds it shot up to an all time high of over $3 before falling back down to the $2.50 range. People were still buying though. It has finally settled around $1, but I have a feeling it will go down even more after May 27th when people can start claiming the first 5% of their presale tokens and they dump them on the market.
That's assuming the claim even happens or works. I'm still feeling a little sus about this whole project. It's either going to be a huge success, or it's one of the most coordinated and well planned rugs I have ever seen. They could have easily taken the 32 million from the presale and ran. The fact that they were able to generate so much hype and take even more profit from the public launch is impressive.
I was adamant that if I couldn't buy more tokens at $.15 I wasn't interested. That's still my stance. At this point I am just going to wait and see if I can get my first 5% tokens. If I can, I will likely sell them to at least recover my initial investment, then I will wait and see what happens. If they allow staking, I will do that. If they rug, they rug. We will see! I'll keep you updated after the 27th.
I did throw some money at a "new" token called Osaka Protocol. You better not let me down @blanchy!
Taylor Swift News
You might wonder why Taylor Swift is included in my Friday Finance post. Well, in case you didn't know, besides being a prolific artist, she is also a fairly shrewd business person. That's not really why I included her though.
Earlier this week we saw the Department of Justice bring antitrust charges against Ticketmaster. As an avid concert goer, I can tell you that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are horrible. They bend you over every chance they get and leave you feeling absolutely violated.
None of this was more apparent than recently when the Taylor Swift tickets went on sale at insane prices. So insane in fact that people in the US are actually traveling to Europe to see her show because it's actually cheaper than trying to get tickets in the US.
Let me repeat that
It's cheaper to fly to Europe, stay in a hotel for two days, and buy tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert than it is to try to get tickets for a show two hours down the road in the US!
Pretty crazy right?!
It will be interesting to see how all of that pans out with the DoJ. @mrsbozz and I still attend shows, but we have cut back quite a bit in recent years due to the ever increasing price of tickets.
That's all I've got this week. I hope you have an awesome weekend. If you are in the US and you are celebrating Memorial Day, remember our fallen heroes and grill up something tasty!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
It's really too bad the Democrats are so archaic on crypto, they need to get with the future on that one. I hope Retik works out for you, maybe they will pull through and surprise everyone.
As far as Taylor goes, I would rather fly to Europe, stay in a hotel and see her there than pay prices here in the US. It's ludicrous. Ticketmaster needs to go, I'm with you all the way! People need to take out a second mortgage to see her show her in the states. You know I'm not a big fan, but she's a hell of a business woman and very talented artist!
Yeah, it almost makes you wonder if they are only against it because the other party seems to be okay with it. If that is the case they are really doing a disservice to their constituents. We will see on Retik. I have some other irons in the fire, so I am not too worried about it. It's been fun to watch the drama though. I'd love to be able to see some shows for a decent price again. Even back when I was going regularly it wasn't cheap. It's just astronomical now, and the seats aren't even that great!
Man! That’s quite expensive. Hoping it gets better soon.
You are paying for the quality of the pour and the price of the silver I think.
Not sure I'm on board for the ETH ETFs. it's a total shitcoin in my opinion. !LOLZ !PIMP
I'm starting to come around on it a bit now that the gas fees are lower.
You must be killin' it out here!
@enginewitty just slapped you with 10.000 PIMP, @bozz.
You earned 10.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 3/4 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
Quietly put one foot in front of the other with crypto, investing wisely by going in low and holding, that rug!
That sounds like a great plan!
Flying is super expensive these days. We would rather drive everywhere. Lots to see right here in good old USA 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦
I don't disagree with that. I've come to hate flying myself. It feels more like you are being herded like cattle and they charge you an arm and a leg for it. Plus I refuse to fly on some of those sketchy low cost airlines, so that makes it even worse!
I feel like certain members of our government are finally realizing if they don't allow us to board the train we will be left behind. I just said to my wife yesterday, "It feels like the US has hit the low water mark and is about to be reborn." I certain hope that's the case.
I hope so too! I think they are definitely coming around a bit whether it's because they want to or have to, who knows.
blockchain tech is here to stay
Indeed it is!
Just learned things I didn't know before.
I'm glad I was able to facilitate that!
@bozz great news. Do not sell. Rumour going around Japan is that they think the Osaka Protocol mystery founder Mephisto is the same person as the Shiba Inu founder Ryoshi who went dark in 2022 as many of his posts have the same writing style. If this is true then we are in for a rollercoaster my friend.
You just tell me when!
Oh I should have read here first. You know I'm surprised to hear it passed. But you're right, I'm sure it will die in the senate.
Funny how it has gone. Historically the Republicans support the central bank and the democrats oppose it. But on this, it has flipped. Which is just further proof that the party doesn't even matter anymore in most (not all) cases, they just vote for whatever the party head thinks is going to be a win for them.
Well, we'll see what happens, eh?
I think a lot of it will depend on when it lands on their table. If it gets pushed out far enough, the elections could play a big part in it. I'm sure you know that something similar happened back in the day. It was the Republican party that was liberal enough to want to abolish slavery back in the day and the conservative democrat party wanted to keep it.
It flipped, absolutely. But that flip was also more of one wing of the party gaining more control. Before Reagan, both parties had a liberal and a conservative wing. In made crossing the aisle easier and we'd see strange alliances between different the parties on some issues. In many ways, I think that situation was much better than today. It allowed more nuance in politics when there were multiple groups within the same party. These days it seems more like each party head (team captain) picks a side to an issue and everyone falls in, like a good team. As for which side they pick... sometimes it seems like a coin toss and it is hard to find any logic as to why they support one position on issue A and a different one on issue B.
Yeah, that is a really good point. I definitely think it was better back then. At least stuff got done. At this point even if things get done, when the next party comes in power they just spend their time undoing it all.
You need to beware of politicians who seem all crypto-happy as they will be out for your votes whilst still being in league with the financial establishment. I do wonder how significant the crypto vote is. We do need sensible rules around it. I have yet to hear much about it in the UK elections.
I think companies like Coinbase have likely pumped a lot of money into the crypto lobby over the past couple of years. Although Coinbase is clearly in it for the money as well, there is a good chance some like minded individuals are getting a crypto friendly agenda pushed. As you say though, they can promise you anything when they are trying to get elected.
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