ETF rollercoaster | Hodler’s Digest

If your country is looking for a new finance minister, Max Kaiser might be your guide. He has a simple yet effective way to solve not just Venezuela's, but any financial crises. This week surged to a two month high of 8.4k after the promise of an ETF approval was dangled in front of the market. But the Winklevi were rejected for a second time resulting in a market correction below 8k.

However, a public dissent followed swiftly from the only commissioner to side with the twins. So do not despair Hodlers. There are other ETFs awaiting SEC approval and other catalysts that could propel the market. Like the impending US China trade war, rising currency rates and the MasterCard pageant.

Be brave, Hodl on. Here's your weekly Hodler's Digest. Back in the day, the space was occupied by anarchists and true believers who would have died for a truly decentralized currency. But lately some seem to have lost sight of Satoshi's original dream. Like Coinbase. Coinbase set up a political action committee, an organization that takes donations for a targeted political influence which is completely against the ethos of bitcoin. It is meant to bypass intermediaries, not bolster them. Last week it was revealed that The Winklevi donated $100,000 to Governor Andrew Cuomo's re election campaign just one month before Gemini was approved to operate in NYC. News of an ETF approval propelled Bitcoin skyward. But political donations and PACs may be a step too far. A step towards centralization. Bitcoin reached $8,000 this week. People were bullish again, and for good reason. Mastercard secured a patent that would allow customers to make purchases with crypto. Blackrock is looking into blockchain and Swiftolin is becoming ever more crypto friendly. And Warren Buffet is releasing his own crypto backed by McMuffins. Don't quote us on the last one guys, but come on. $8,000? If it is approved, the crypto market would enter a phase of compliance which could lead to a more mature market and mainstream adoption actually becoming a real thing. In 2003, the Rothschild and Deutsche bank introduced an ETF for gold and the precious metals shot up 300%. So not only would bitcoin recover from its downward trend, but but it could even breach $22,000.

Alas, the Winkleville were rejected for a second attempt at an ETF and Bitcoin.

Fell back below 8k.

The SEC cited problems with investor fraud and the fact that 95% of trade is conducted on non U S based exchanges. Enter our new favorite commissioner Sorry, Commissioner Gordon Hester Pierce, the only commissioner to vote in favor of the Winklevie bid, published an official dissent against the SEC's decision to reject the ETF. She believes it was a step in the wrong direction for three reasons. One, it focused on the underlying bitcoin market, not the derivatives themselves two, it will inhibit institutionalization of the bitcoin market and three it shows a skeptical view of innovation. Thanks for answering the bitcoin signal, Commissioner pierce. Also, several ETFs are still awaiting approval, so the dream is far from dead, guys.

Hoddle on for dear life. Iran has confirmed it will press ahead with its own state issued cryptocurrency to circumvent incoming U.S. sanctions. While the technical details remain a mystery, a national encrypted key for the domestic banking system is expected within just three months. Following ironing out of some of the problems, Iran's authorities had previously come out against crypto. In April, they banned banks from dealing with cryptocurrencies completely. Following in the footsteps of Venezuela's Petro, Iran appears to be looking to blockchain to circumvent sanctions like the complete ban on acquiring US Dollars, which comes into force in August. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's blockchain. Blockchain will save the world Speaking in China, former JPMorgan Chase VP said blockchain may be the key to avoiding the next global financial crisis. Peng Hwadong, currently an advisor at the Asian Blockchain Institute, said that his experience at JP Morgan during the peak of the 2008 financial crash led him to think that blockchain could be the pivotal technology for est both transparency and trust in the global economic system. He spoke of transparent systems without intermediaries as the key to radically reducing global financial risks, establishing trust mechanisms at the lowest cost. China remains tough on crypto, but blockchain, on the other hand, has been gaining.

Traction within political circles.

The Chinese president openly praised its potential this spring, and recently the deputy director of China's IT Ministry urged the country to unite forces to foster blockchain as a core technology for the new digital economy. Kiwi CEO Sergei Soliden revealed that an ex employee used company payment terminals to mine bitcoin. All the way back in 2011, this unnamed programmer let's call him Gil Froileski managed to mine 500,000 bitcoin that was $5 million, then almost $4 billion today. Kiwi detected their employees mining operation after noticing the increased electricity usage of the terminals at night upon being discovered, Guilfordevsky refused to give up his fortune and immediately resigned. American or Russian, Guilfoyles never gave in to the man. Solinin realized that it would be more profitable to use the terminals to mine Bitcoin than their original purpose. But three months after they set it up, Kiwi's computing power was already insufficient. Unfortunately, Gil Foilevski wasn't able to drive off into the sunset. All of his Bitcoin has been mysteriously lost, claimed Kiwi. Seems legit. Did you make fortunes 40 under 40? Alas, I didn't. But I'm only 24, so I still have time this week, Fortune magazine released their list of the 40 most influential figures in global business under 40 years old. Unsurprisingly, Instagram's Kevin Systrom, Airbnb's Brian Chesky, and Mark Zuckerberg were included. But we don't care about boring billionaire centralized normies. We care about the crypto heroes. And we weren't disappointed. Not one but five prominent crypto names were Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin, Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, Telegram founder Pavel Durav, and Robinhood co founders Bajit Bhatt and Vlad Tanev. The prominence of crypto has even justified Forbes creating a richest in crypto list. Names include Binance CEO CZ Rock Pearce, and of course, Armstrong and Buterin. It might be a step down for Vitalik to be featured alongside world leaders, but all crypto publicity is good publicity, right? Like for OMG approval. If the SEC approves an ETF like Hodl and subscribe for WTF approval. If the SEC keeps rejecting ETF's Cointelegraph like subscribe and Hodl.

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