Bitcoin and Austrian Economics
Market Recap
Another Wild Week for Crypto
Bitcoin and Austrian Economics
We thought we would do something a bit different this week. Last week we had a conversation with Thavash Govender about bitcoin and its implications for economics. We believe that this format may interest or be more digestible for some of our subscribers, and we appreciate any feedback you may have (just reply to this email). Here is the first of many in a series that we will be doing with ThavashOnTech.
You can use the links below to skip to sections of interest.
0:00 Intro
5:10 Etherbridge
8:19 Is Bitcoin Relevant?
11:12 A Network for Enemies
13:57 Bitcoin Pressure
14:41 Dispelling the FUD
16:18 Energy
23:40 Volatility
25:11 Decentralization
27:11 Nodes
28:50 Bitcoin vs Gold
38:00 Austrian Economics
41:00 Allocation of Capital
43:00 Money Printing
48:25 Freedom
50:25 Ancient Africa
54:25 Reserve Currency
57:10 The Power Struggle
59:25 Storing Wealth
1:01:00 CDBCs
1:05:00 CDBC issues
1:07:50 Wrap
Collaboration with the Unloc Club:
We have joined forces with the Unloc Club to bring crypto education to the masses. The format for these events is a short presentation on a specific crypto or blockchain topic followed by an ask me anything session. We hope that through events, we can engage with more people and provide frameworks for people to understand blockchain and its implications for the world. You can register for the next event here.
This week's event will focus on Ethereum and the internet of value, its brilliant opportunity for you, our readers, to come and ask us hard questions. You can watch the previous Unloc event here.
Notable Articles and News Stories This Week:
Chinese state-owned media outlet says people have the freedom to trade bitcoin — at their own risk
China has a complicated relationship with Bitcoin. Many conflicting messages are currently being delivered by state-owned media outlets to the Chinese public. They have recently published a series of reports encouraging the public to avoid cryptocurrency markets. Much of the criticism from the state-owned Xinhua News Agency and the China Central Television focused on telling the audience about "rampant" market manipulation, citing anecdotal examples. However, one thing that stated was, "if virtual currencies like bitcoin are treated as virtual commodities that can be bought and sold, then the general public has the freedom to participate in the trade at their own risks". There are very few times when the media have openly admitted this, and it will be interesting to see if there is any market reaction.
Read more about China’s stance here
DBS Issues $11.3M Digital Bond in First Security Token Offering
Singapore-based bank DBS has issued an $11.3 million digital bond in its first security token offering. The DBS Digital Bond, issued via its Digital Exchange (DDEx), has a sixth-month expiry and a coupon of 0.6% per annum. This is an example of another financial institution starting to leverage the power of blockchain to deliver financial services. DBS also said the digital bond complies with the current bond legal framework, providing investors with the same legal certainties and protections over their rights as traditional bonds.
Read more here
Digital Currencies are the Future for Russia's Financial System, Central Bank Governor Says
In an interview with CNBC, Russia’s central bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina, has said that digital currencies will be the future of their financial systems. "I think it's the future for our financial system because it correlates with this development of digital economy," she said. In October, Moscow published a consultation paper on a digital ruble and hopes to have a working prototype by the end of 2021. This is a potential move by Russia to move away from the dollar, which also this week announced it would not hold dollars in its wealth fund anymore.
Read more about it here
Whilst we all have the option to look, to seek to understand, it’s often easier not to. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and distributed ledger technology are complex systems that require significant due diligence. At Etherbridge, we aim to lower the barriers to understanding this fast-growing digital economy.
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This is not financial advice. All opinions expressed here are our own. We encourage investors to do their own research before making any investments.