Mastercard Chief Speaks Out Against Facebook's Libra
In biting criticism from someone who was actually a member of the Libra coalition, the CEO of MasterCard, Ajay Banga, explained why his company ultimately decided to quit Libra.
- Siloed payment systems ‘stupid’:
“It went from this altruistic idea into their own wallet. I’m like: ‘this doesn’t sound right’ . . . For financial inclusion, the government has got to pay you in this [currency], you’ve got to receive it as an instrument you can understand, and you have to be able to use it to buy rice and cycles. If you get paid in Libra [coin] . . . which go into Calibras, which go back into pounds to buy rice, I don’t understand how that works.”
- Questions over Libra’s money-laundering controls:
"Every time you talked to the main proponents of Libra, I said ‘Would you put [KYC, AML] in writing?’ They wouldn’t.”
- Banga does not understand how Libra makes money:
“When you don’t understand how money gets made, it gets made in ways you don’t like.”
Ouch...
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Bitcoin vs. Coronavirus: A Question on Macroassets
Bitcoin as a safe-haven or macro asset is a debate that arises over and over again. And with coronavirus fears multiplying, the debate is in full effect.
On one side, for example, we have the CEO of CME Group stating that Bitcoin is acting as a safe-haven in the industry.
On the other, we have Alex Krüger taking a deep dive look into Bitcoin and it's lack of correlation to macro events.
Who’s right? It’s hard to say, but we’ll still be holding Bitcoin regardless.
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A “Black Swan” Event is Coming. Melt-up or Crash?
Music has Mozart... Physics has Einstein... Investing has Andy Krieger. He's been called the "most aggressive trader in history"... DESPITE his extreme aversion to risk.
Why? Trading legend Andy Krieger has made as much as $100 million in profit on one trade... and $300 million in profit on another.
Fellow trader Paul Tudor Jones says... “If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to trade a billion dollars... nobody knows better than Andy Krieger.”
And on Thursday, February 20th, 2020... after 33 years... he's breaking his silence. He sees a "black swan" type event coming soon. It's a market event that will create massive winners... and losers.
Which one will you be?
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Thin Applications
In a followup to his widely quoted article and thesis, Fat Protocols, Joel Monegro recently published an update looking at what he dubs "Thin Applications" or the architecture of cryptoservices.
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Galaxy’s Novogratz: XRP Will ‘Underperform Immensely Again This Year’
The past few years haven't been kind to the price of Ripple (XRP), going from a high of over $3 to where it sits today at $.28. Many people have blamed the price drop on Ripple Labs, the developer of Ripple's payment protocol and exchange network. The criticism mainly lies in the fact that Ripple Labs has been continuously selling off it's XRP token holdings (from 80 billion to 56 billion).
Now, in a leaked interview, one of Ripple's (and XRP's) major investors, CEO of Galaxy Digital, Michael Novogratz, has pointed the finger directly at Ripple Labs, likening the situation to when a company continuously sells its shares:
“When I’m buying a stock, if I know [someone’s] selling $10 billion-worth of it at some price, it makes me less excited to buy the stock.”
He also stated that he thinks the price "will underperform immensely again this year."
Ripple has responded by stating that "Mike doesn’t understand how Ripple manages its stake in XRP and didn’t take time to read what we make publicly available every quarter."
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How Many Entities Hold Bitcoin?
A major question among Bitcoin researchers and investors has been knowing how many people actually own and use Bitcoin. Even though Bitcoin’s entire transactional history is public, it’s still difficult to actually see how many individual entities are holding.
Glassnode, in their recently published research, have taken the question head-on. To make it simple, they have concluded that there are ~23.1 million entities holding Bitcoin as of January 2020. If you are a fan of deep analysis and interesting charts, this is a must read.
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Behind the “cannabis crash” — a new conspiracy?
One of the top news anchors in America just went on-camera to expose a huge story. When word spreads about what she’s uncovered — it could trigger an equally huge move in the stock market.
If you haven't seen her interview... which details a sector of the market that could soar 37x in the months ahead, click this link to watch it now.
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U.S. Government to Auction Off More Than 4,000 BTC on Feb. 18
On February 18, the US government is auctioning off over 4,000 Bitcoin, worth approximately $37 million, that have been forfeited in federal criminal, civil, and administrative cases.
Purchasing cryptocurrency from auctions has proven to be profitable for some investors. Famously, Tim Draper purchased 32,000 BTC at auctions in 2014, which would be worth over $300 million today.
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Pretty neat stuff: This allows you to pay any lightning invoice seamlessly with your connected bank account.
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