BREAKING; Elon Musk’s X (Twitter) obtains license for Bitcoin and €crypto services to store, transfer, and exchange digital assets on behalf of its users
Elon Musk has decided to make X (formerly Twitter) an “everything app” with multiple functionalities, including a payment hub processor integrated with the microblogging social network and other tools from the building ecosystem. Musk already stated that X is a “DOGE-friendly place”. Part of the work of becoming a payment hub, or a cryptocurrency-friendly place, in the United States lies in obtaining the required licenses to operate such a business legally. Elon Musk’s company has been gradually doing that in different states but mostly focused on fiat payments under the “Money Transmitter License.” In particular, this license will enable X to store, transfer, and exchange digital assets on behalf of its users. Source: Finbold, Bitcoin Archive
This chart from Morgan Stanley shows that growth stocks are missing in Europe. That's why European indices are trading like value stocks
Source: Morgan Stanley, HolgerZ
Hedge funds exposure to mega cap tech stocks reaches highest level EVER RECORDED
Source: Barchart, Bloomberg
What's going on with Grayscale ($GBTC) and bitcoin? As summarized by James Bianco:
1) Grayscale is closed-end fund that owns Bitcoin (BTC). It currently owns the equivalent of $16 billion in BTC. 2) Because GBTC is a closed-end fund, it can and does trade at huge discounts and premiums (see the bottom panel on the chart). As of yesterday's close, GBTC traded at a 25% discount to its Net Asset Value (NAV). 3) Many years ago, Grayscale filed with the SEC to convert its closed-end fund to an ETF in order to be able to create and redeem shares. This makes it easy to keep the price and NAV at nearly the same level. Until now, this conversion never got approved (the SEC has so far denied all spot bitcoin ETF applications) 4) Today, The Court of Appeal ruled IN FAVOR of Grayscale in their lawsuit challenging the SEC's decision to deny $GBTC's conversion to an ETF. This paves the way for the first "spot" bitcoin ETF. Source: James Bianco
Is the US job market finally cooling down?
The JOLTs report for July showed a huge drop in job openings (8.82mln vs the Street 9.5mln), and June was revised meaningfully lower to 9.16mln from previous 9.58mln Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
Bitcoin strong move just over major support
Bitcoin (XBTUSD) is moving strongly to the upside after recently testing major support zone 24'650-25'250. Source : Bloomberg
SNB may hike rates next month even if ECB pauses
The Swiss National Bank could end up hiking interest rates next month to contain inflation even if its counterpart in the euro zone pauses tightening, according to Credit Suisse economist Maxime Botteron.
“Compared with the past, the interest-rate differential between the SNB and the ECB is relatively large. So there is certainly room for the Swiss to raise rates further.”
Source: Bloomberg, Credit Suisse
Investors predict that the coming years will be marked with defaults and spending cuts as a larger portion of corporate, household and state income goes into financing debt
A stark indicator of the approaching sea change is the gap between what governments and companies globally are currently paying in interest and the amount they would pay if they refinanced at today’s levels. Apart from a few months around the global financial crisis, the gauge has always been below zero. Now it’s hovering around a record high of 1.5 percentage points. Source: Bloomberg
