OK, I am the resident tradfi reporter on all things bitcoin financialization so I sort of HAVE TO include yet another PWNED article by a tradi journo -- in this case, our old friend Madam Toothfairy.
Background: Katie Martin at the FT made a documentary last year about Saylor and Strategy, ridiculing his take on bitcoin and (in)famously said "My teeth are scarce, but they're not worth billions of dollars" -- betraying, in a single sentence, her economic illiteracy, her misunderstanding of bitcoin, and her faulty grip on Strategy. (She thus deserves the moniker Madam Toothfairy for all eternity.)
Anyway, I'm also having a good time (#1517660, #1517667, #1518545) writing about these themes because -- my enemy's enemy... -- tradfi critics of Saylor these days usually make good points! Financialization is against the ethos of Bitcoin, undermining its point and purpose; and beside that, is bad for society and the world. Plus, there's probably a good case to be made that the treasury madness set adoption back rather than propelled us forward.
Enter the Bitcoin clown carsEnter the Bitcoin clown cars
Bitcoin vehicles: clown cars:
Bitcoin is having a bad year, down about a third to $60,000. Why? Well, why does anything happen? Why do toddlers remove their shoes before you want to leave the house? Why do people tell you a hot cup of tea cools you down on a hot day? Some things just happen.
WHYYYY, indeed, does anything happen. Madam Toothfairy offers a plausible hypothesis: the Great Brotation. only bros are in "crypto" and bitcoin and only bros are Elon fans, thus own SpaceX.
the Great Brotation = "some crypto holders have been getting out to make space in their portfolios for other shinier stuff like chip stocks and SpaceX."the Great Brotation = "some crypto holders have been getting out to make space in their portfolios for other shinier stuff like chip stocks and SpaceX."
So bros rotating from one shitty bro domain to another becomes, ergo, brotation. I get it. Very clever.
She continues, smugness in her voice,
...Shares in Strategy, for example, the bitcoin treasury company run by Michael Saylor, have dropped by 46 per cent this year, outstripping the 31 per cent decline in bitcoin [...] The stock is down by 79 per cent since the film we made about it last year, FYI. -- where madam Toothfairy got her nickname, eds. remark #987799* #1506177)
Where does all of this leave us? WELL,
Heaven knows you can never write bitcoin off, but right now it feels like the general urge to buy it has dried up, the urge to buy it wrapped up in something that looks like a stock has evaporated even further, and packages that wrap it in leverage are a big fat no-no.
Amen to that. BYE-BYE, Sailorbois!
I am somewhat partial to this corner solution type story: i.e. there's just not that much capital controlled by people who are open to bitcoin or other revolutionary technologies.
On the note of financialization, let's say Saylor really had engineered the perfect flywheel. Would you still hate it if he was basically sucking the purchasing power out of dollars and transferring it into bitcoin?
I think thats a valid take.
Slowly thats going to change. The sole reason I'm hopeful that the CLARITY act passes is because its going to force lots of hands.
Once IBM stock + GLD ETF is traded as a token, its going to force bitcoin to become a member of many digital baskets.
To be clear, I think "blockchain tokens" are just another scam, but I'm cheering it on because of the trojan horse aspect of bitcoin becoming the sponge that eats all capital.
By the way, an under-reporting aspect of CLARITY act is that just like the argument for stablecoins is that it enables some dude in Africa with only a phone to hold US Dollars, the same is true for stocks. Why wouldn't GOOG want some dude in Africa to buy their stock? That is to say, there is massive structural incentives for this to happen....
It's interesting to see so many arbitrary restrictions being removed. Access to the stability of America's financial system could really be game changing for much of the world.
If it was perfect, probably not as much. Still on principle, cuz it's not what bitcoin is here for. But yeah, I'd likely be more celebratory if price had been up and to the right, STRC the largest instrument on the market etc
I like that even madam toothfairy has to be a little cagey about it heavens knows!
Honestly, I don't think the tradfi people are smug enough yet. Perhaps that's just the price we must pay for bitcoin doing what it has done, but I think I'd feel rather more comfortable if that got gloaty and crowed a bit.
https://twiiit.com/TomerStrolight/status/1922639314980045208