The Brief for October 26, 2020

Last week, bitcoin went bonkers. Biggest one-week gain since April.

What happens next?

We shall see. The last time we reached this price level, it crashed for months. The time before that, we saw a six-week explosion before a massive bear market.

Stick to the plan and it won’t matter.

Meanwhile, check out one podcast and four (!) articles, including one from me.

I rarely bring my public content into Crypto is Easy but this post means a lot to me, maybe it means a lot to you, too.

Tap the button below to read it on Voice, a new crypto writing platform. You can also read it on Medium.

  • Bottom line: PayPal’s market cap went up 5.5% after it announced its users can buy and use bitcoin from their accounts.

  • My take: interesting that PayPal’s stock price moved so much from this announcement. As of this brief, it already gave up all those gains, but if a bitcoin announcement can move stocks when the mainstream DGAF about crypto, you can bet some other companies took notes. Let’s see what happens with PayPal’s rumored BitGo acquisition.

  • Why we care: if PayPal gets free PR and a stock bump from crypto, other public companies will do it, too. That’s good for sentiment and awareness—making it easier for people to believe bitcoin is a normal, legitimate financial asset.

  • Bottom line: China’s stock market is booming, with IPOs exploding and valuations of “new economy” businesses going bonkers.

  • My take: another sign of these odd times.

  • Why we care: some of the best crypto projects come from China and its neighbors. As more money circulates among Chinese and other Asian countries’ investment classes, more of it can go into crypto—either investing in the developers and projects, or buying crypto outright (despite China’s “ban” on crypto).

  • Bottom line: a Morgan Stanley executive thinks the U.S. Democratic Party will unleash further financial stimulus that spurs the Fed to raise interest rates much earlier than expected, while also raising taxes and regulations that crimp corporate growth.

  • My take: I’ll believe it when I see it. We haven’t even had the election yet!

  • Why we care: These types of reports get people riled up but don’t change anything. The Democratic Party isn’t as pro-tax/anti-business as Wall Street thinks it is, and the Fed wants inflation and stimulus. Also, a lot can change between now and when this executive thinks those things will happen, regardless of the outcome of this election.

If you have some time, listen to the Bully Esquire podcast episode, “DeFi Takes the Crypto Space by Storm.” A brilliant take on the investment opportunities and regulatory risks around DeFi.

Relax and enjoy the ride!

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