Crypto Train is Leaving The Station
207: Do you have your ticket?
If you’ve been following Arb Letter or Arbitrage Andy for some time you know we are long term holders and proponents of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. I’ve held the majority of my positions since 2017 at this point. Weathering uncertainty and substantial long duration periods of low pricing is par for the course. As many have learned over the last 2-3 years crypto is one of the most volatile and controversial asset classes in all of human history and for good reason.
We started with the last bull cycle — spurned by the halvening and the loosey goosey policy by the US Federal Reserve in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Bitcoin mooned to $68,000, Ethereum reached $4,000+ and a whole host of alt coins, meme coins, NFTs, and other assets skyrocketed into the andromeda galaxy.
When the bender started to wind down we saw the rapid descent of prices, blow up of major key firms, liquidity issues, and legal action against ponzis and scams in the industry.
Leading into the recent SEC charges against Binance and Coinbase sentiment was at all time lows — people panic sold, lost all hope, and forget their logins to various exchanges, many of which are now defunct or illiquid.
We’ve seen some of the wildest crypto updates occur in the last 72 hours. Immediately on the heels of the SEC decision to charge both Binance and Coinbase formally, a litany of massive wall street firms have indicated high commitment and interest to the crypto markets.
BlackRock the world’s largest investment firm filed for a spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
Invesco followed suit shortly after
WisdomTree refiled for a spot ETF on Tuesday
Along with with Galaxy Digital, Invesco (IVZ), an investment management company with nearly $1.5 trillion AUM (assets under management), has submitted a renewed application for a Bitcoin ETF.
On Tuesday, EDX Markets (EDX), supported by Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities, announced its launch in the United States. After dedicating nine months to technology development, the company is now operational.
HSBC and Mastercard, two major players in the banking and payment industries, have submitted additional trademark applications related to cryptocurrencies with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (Bitcoin.Com)
Bitcoin Magazine PRO and the Samara Asset Group have announced the Bitcoin Alpha competition, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at discovering the next top bitcoin fund manager. The winner of the competition will receive $1 million in seed capital and operational infrastructure to launch their own fund, with the announcement set to take place at the Bitcoin Amsterdam conference in October 2023 (Bitcoin Magazine)
In a complete reversal of historical position, on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed his belief that the U.S. central bank should have a strong federal presence in regulating stablecoins, which constitute a significant portion of the overall cryptocurrency market currently under legislative scrutiny. Powell further acknowledged the ”staying power” of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.
The time to get onboard the crypto train is fast disappearing. We’ve received verifiable and massive validation from the institutions that control the most capital on earth. It’s not just big Wall Street firms either — conventional corporates and payment companies are announcing new programs to explore Blockchain development and technology — including Visa, Discover Mastercard, and American Express.
If you’ve made it this far congratulations — while we should be cautious to not let our euphoria cloud our judgement this is a major development on the crypto timeline. It marks mainstream interest and validates that the government will likely have to work with regulators and officials to accomodate the demand spurred by the big whales entering the space. Your conviction is being rewarded in real time. If you’re in crypto yu;ve already front run institutions.
Today we’ll take a look at what comes next, where we see the highest chance to hit it rich, and other considerations to be mindful of if you’re in the crypto space.
At present we are the #5 paid publication for crypto on substack.
This in large part is due to our continued emphasis on the long term view, our view that steady accumulation is the best strategy, and the macro considerations we put forth for people to be conscious of — many of which have played out in real time.
I have almost 8 years of experience investing in these markets. With that comes some great perspective and experience I can share with you to make you that much more effective and successful in the crypto world.
The time window to get your ducks squared away is narrowing quickly. If you’re not positioned we’ll walk through the best course of action and if you are we will cover the developments and indicators you should be mindful of to make sure you profit and protect your newly found wealth in the frontier that is the crypro industry.
There is no longer a question of if crypto is here to stay — the question remaining is who is going to benefit from it’s godly acceleration into the stratosphere.
“The Great Accumulation of bitcoin has begun. Anyone watching the flurry of ETF filings understands the window to purchase pre-IPO bitcoin before ETFs go live and open the floodgates is closing fast. If bitcoin was the most obvious and best investment of the previous decade, this will likely be the most obvious and best trade of this decade”
—Cameron Winklevoss (Twitter)
“The window to front-run institutional demand for Bitcoin is closing”
— Michael Saylor