The 50th Bitcoinomics Newsletter
09 January 2023 - 15 January 2023 week Bitcoin & Economic News
This newsletter contains charts and other interesting pictures too. Some Email clients auto-block pictures, so don’t forget to enable them!
Bitcoin News
TL;DR
Hive Blockchain installed 1,423 of the new Intel Bitcoin miners
El Salvador: Bitcoin is money, everything else is a security
Samsung Asset Management will launch Bitcoin Futures ETF in Hong Kong
Hive Blockchain installed 1,423 of the new Intel Bitcoin miners
The new Intel chips not only have the potential to break the effective duopoly of Bitmain and MicroBT in the mining machine market, but also allow mining companies to design computers to their specifications, a major departure from those other manufacturers' models.
Hive's first 5,800 machines, delivered in late 2022 and dubbed BuzzMiners, can together produce computing power between 638 petahash/second (PH/s) and 754 PH/s, or 110 terahash/second (TH/s) to 130 TH/s per machine, said Aydin Kilic, the company's president and chief operating officer. That lags behind some of Bitmain's latest models such as the Antminer S19 XP or the S19 Pro+ Hydro.
Intel touted an efficiency of 26 joules/terahash (J/T) for the chips in April, which wouldn't beat Bitmain's S19 XP series, but is on par with or better than other models currently on the market.
El Salvador: Bitcoin is money, everything else is a security
El Salvador continues its widespread adoption of digital assets as the country officially passes a law establishing a legal framework for all cryptocurrencies. The news was shared by the National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador (ONBTC), which stated that the law had been passed on January 11th.
The announcement specifically states that the county has built on its “first-mover advantage by passing landmark legislation establishing a legal framework for all digital assets that are not bitcoin.” Moreover, it adds that the implementation of this legislation, “paves the way for volcano bonds,” which will reportedly begin to be issued soon.
Additionally, the ONBTC stated that the passing of this digital securities law offers “unprecedented consumer protection from bad actors in the ‘crypto’ space while also firmly establishing that we are open for business to all those who wish to build the future with us on bitcoin.”
Moreover, the legislation creates what ONBTC calls the “National Digital Assets Commission,” in their series of Tweets. This new commission is defined by the legislation as a “regulating agency in charge of applying the securities law and protecting the fights of digital asset purchasers as well as issuers in El Salvador, and of deterring fraudsters from operating here.”
Samsung Asset Management will launch Bitcoin Futures ETF in Hong Kong
According to a report by Fortune Korea, the Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF invests in Bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in an effort to achieve performance that is comparable to spot BTC prices.
“Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF is a competitive product that reflects Samsung Asset Management’s long-term futures-based ETF know-how and risk management experience.” said Park Seong-jin, Head of Samsung Asset Management’s Hong Kong branch
With this development, both institutional and retail investors can benefit from price exposure through a regulated onramp. As a result, Samsung’s Hong Kong investment product promises to increase exposure and knowledge of Bitcoin in the region.
However, while investors can now gain exposure to swings in Bitcoin’s fiat price through an ETF, they will not own the underlying asset.
Global Economic News
TL;DR
The US Inflation-, Savings-, Credit- and other rates are telling an unprecedented story
The EU economy is crunched based on the latest data
The US Inflation-, Savings-, Credit- and other rates are telling an unprecedented story
As always Nick Gerli’s threads are worth checking because it tells a different story than the mainstream economists.
“The Savings Rate just collapsed down to 2.2%, the lowest level ever. Means Americans are running out of money. Last time it was this low was 2006-07. Right before GFC. Major Recession Warning. Expect a big decline in consumer spending in 2023.” by Nick Gerli, CEO & Founder of Reventure Consulting
“US commercial bank interest rates on credit card plans” by Tracy, CEO & Chief Energy and Materials Strategist at Hightower Resource Advisors LLC
“Overtime hours have historically been a good indicator for economic activity. They're not looking good:” by Lyn Alden, Founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy
“You have to go back to 1960 to see a 3-month annualized % change in CPI used car & truck component this negative (-27.5%).” by Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
“3m annualized % change for CPI alcoholic beverages is soaring at fastest rate in decades” by Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
“Behind CPI: Real Wages have Fallen Now for 21 Months in a Row. People feel this and know they are falling behind and becoming poorer, despite the official narrative that tries to mislead.” by Wall Street Silver
“In February 22, we compared US tech stocks to the dot.com bubble and suggested selling the Nasdaq .Back then, one of our favourite charts had just hit its March 2000 highs. Well on Friday, it broke key support suggesting tech will continue to underperform.” by Julian Brigden, Co-founder of Macro Intelligence 2 Partners
The EU economy is crunched based on the latest data
The recent November Trade surplus shows that the EURO is massively overvalued.
German State's office: German Government budget recorded Financial Deficit of €117.6 Billion at the end of 2022.
But “don’t worry” the ECB just prints more Euros and buys up 100% of all the debt anyway.
“Global recession is coming. Germany's foreign manufacturing orders (black) collapsed in November 2022. The domestic counterpart (blue) has been weak for some time, so it's been the resilience of global demand that's held up German manufacturing. That is now coming to an end…” by Robin Brooks, Chief Economist at IIF
“Germany's industrial production in the energy intensive chemical and pharmaceutical sectors fell over -15% in 2022 data to November. This is the counterpart to high storage levels of natural gas. Whole swaths of German manufacturing have been shut down and likely won't reopen…” by Robin Brooks, Chief Economist at IIF
Bitcoin price speculations
These are just speculations, no investment advice!
Bitcoin Shorts
Funny Bitcoin short stories
Jack Dorsey is "working on" integrating Bitcoin’s Lightning into Square POS terminals.
See how one Bitcoiner is building "digital" boilers that replace heating systems in a whisky distillery, an apartment building + more! (video)
Nepal orders internet service providers to block Bitcoin and shitcoin related websites and apps.
Wallet of Satoshi is doing almost 20,000 LN payments/day now.
The majority of Bitcoin is held by hodlers.
Bitcoin Miners have Stopped Selling and Started Buying
First active Bitcoin Lightning node in Nigeria - running on an old laptop powered by a diesel generator
Texas A&M University to offer Bitcoin course this semester
First mainstream media talk about Bitcoin fueled by renewables (video)
Bitcoin = Freedom money (video)
Local street food vendor in Malawi, Africa getting onboarded to Bitcoin WITHOUT internet. You can’t stop adoption. (video)
Taxi cab in El Salvador uses Mempool to help educate passengers on Bitcoin
Suggestions
Interesting articles to read
Sources:
https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/hive-blockchain-deploys-first-intel-182047051.html
https://www.btctimes.com/news/samsung-asset-management-will-launch-bitcoin-futures-etf-in-hong-kong
