Crypto Curious & April Developments

Foreword: Hello friends, family, and fellow crypto curious people, This is the first official publication of Crypto Curious, my new monthly newsletter for anyone interested in keeping up to date on the latest developments in the crypto universe. My goal with this newsletter is to gather and share all the significant news over the previous month, spotlight developments, examine trends, and share resources and ideas in simple terms so you can better understand what's happening in the space and what to do about it! So, why was Crypto Curious created? I’ve had countless conversations with people in my network about crypto and I noticed people kept coming back to me as the “crypto guy” to ask “what’s new in crypto and how can I stay up to date?” My classic answer was “get a Twitter account, follow who I follow, and start watching youtube videos on crypto.” But, then I noticed that most people weren’t doing that, or fell off the wagon pretty early on. So I thought to myself…how can I help my network keep a pulse on crypto? A few weeks later and… whabammm!…here we are. Crypto Curious has come alive. I sincerely hope you find value in the content I’ll share here every month and hope it keeps your ear to the ground in this exciting new frontier of finance. Enjoy Crypto Curious and feel free to spread the word! April in Crypto What a month! In my opinion, this April will go down in history as the legitimizing month for crypto. The most important event of the month?: Coinbase going public. Coinbase’s public offering is seen by many as the catalyst moment that the industry needed to be legitimized. Coinbase went public on April 14th, reporting 56 million users, $335 billion in trading volume, and a mindblowing $1.8 billion in revenue for Q1 (up 10x from Q1 2020). What else happened: * SEC commissioner Hester Peirce commented on Bitcoin saying "I don't see how you could ban it. It would be a foolish thing for the government to try. A bigger problem is we'd be missing out on the innovation around Bitcoin." * The market has seen a dramatic decrease in BTC on exchanges, inverse to the price which has exploded over the past 6 months. This trend continued in April and is completely opposite to what happened in 2017. * According to the WSJ - "Beijing has tested expiration dates to encourage users to spend [digital yuan] quickly, for times when the economy needs a jump start." * Galaxy Digital, led by billionaire hedge fund manager, Mike Novogratz, filed for a Bitcoin ETF. There are now 9 applications pending with the SEC for Bitcoin ETFs. It’s expected that one will be approved by the end of 2021. * Fidelity * Goldman Sachs * SkyBridge * Morgan Stanley/NYDIG * VanEck * Valkyrie * WisdomTree * Bitwise * Galaxy Digital * Venmo is now allowing all of its 70 million users to trade crypto. * WeWork will now accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from their customers for payment. The company plans to hold the assets on its balance sheet. * Former U.S. bank regulator Brian Brooks (head of the OCC) will be the next CEO of Binance US (the second-largest crypto exchange in the US) and part of the largest exchange in the world, Binance. * Bitcoin experienced it’s 7th pullback in 2021. In 2017, btc had 12 dips (-10% to -25%) And 6 major corrections (-30% to -40%) In total: 18 pullbacks. * Nigerians have now traded 27% more Bitcoin in peer-to-peer trading after the government banned bitcoin from exchanges * The bitcoin blockchain continues to onboard more than 60,000 new wallets (users) per day * Tesla announced at its Q1 earnings announcement that it sold 10% of its bitcoin holdings to prove bitcoins legitimacy and liquidity as a reserve asset alternative to the US dollar. Elon Musk was challenged on that and his response went viral confirming that he personally holds bitcoin * Kansas City's Sean Culkin became the first NFL player to be paid entirely in Bitcoin. All of his $920,000 salary will be paid to him in BTC. * JP Morgan Launches Bitcoin Fund For Rich Clients After Years Of Bashing Crypto * The Turkish government now plans to establish a central custodian bitcoin bank to remove counterparty risk for local exchanges. This means a central bank WILL be holding bitcoin soon * Jackson, TN aims to become the second crypto-friendly city behind Miami * Nexon America purchased $100 million in bitcoin to keep as a treasury reserve asset. * 150,000 Koreans have signed petitions to remove the head of the Financial Service Regulator because he said bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have “no intrinsic value.” * Coinbase teamed up with Paypal. Users can now purchase up to $25,000 of crypto on Coinbase using Paypal. * Ethereum hit several new all-time highs. * Bitcoin closed the month at $57,200. Down from the March close of $58,782. As you can see, A LOT happens in just a month! That’s exactly why I decided to create Crypto Curious. Besides a lower close for bitcoin, as far as I can tell, all things seem to remain in the bullish trend that’s been formed over the last 12 months. I expect to see more positive news and market price moves in May. That’s it for the first publication. Thank you for listening or reading. Again, I sincerely hope you got value out of this. To find out what else I’m watching, reading, and following, check out the resources in the show notes below. I hope you have a great May. I’ll talk to everyone next month! Spencer What I’m watching, reading, and following PlanB’s Stock to flow model @100trillionUSD on Twitter This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit spencerfreidenrich.substack.com