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- Weekly Rundown - February 16, 2025
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Smart Investors Are Betting On A.I. Stocks—Are You?
Experts say Trump’s $500B A.I. investment plan could transform the industry.
Meanwhile, a small but ambitious A.I. healthcare company just went public after eight years of innovation, securing $18M in funding and partnering with industry giants.
With a $120M market cap and shares still under $2, this stock may not stay cheap for long.
FTX will start repaying creditors this week.
Those claims will go out as cash payments pegged to the prices of cryptocurrencies in November 2022, plus 9% interest.
How many of the recipients will put that money into crypto?
Not enough to change the trajectory of the market. At an immediate payout of about $1 billion and a total payout of $16 billion, we're not looking at amounts large enough to make a difference to your portfolio.
(And only a portion of those payouts will go into the market.)
Let's move on to more important things.
As promised, I took down my reviews of the top 50 altcoins. They’re gone. Some were already stale. Crypto moves fast!
Did you get this week’s market update?
In that update, I shared an insight into the Wall Street ETFs and why all may not be as it seems. I also looked at changes in HODL behaviors and other shifts that suggest the market may be turning.
Scroll down for some content you may enjoy.
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In this recent Hacker Noon article, Juan C. Guerrero explains how Tether built America's next financial weapon. Its custodian is a Trump insider, its reserves make it a top 20 holder of US debt, and the new crypto czar made its welfare a national priority.
In short, stablecoins finance the US debt and spread global dependence on the US dollar.
Read the article for the full Monty.
Why does this matter for our investments?
When global finance embraces stablecoins, DeFi and RWA protocols will get more valuable, as will their tokens. These are the only platforms that deliver natively digital finance options with stablecoins (until Wall Street creates its own).
If you haven't thought about owning any DeFi or RWA tokens, you may want to do that once the market settles down. I'll talk about some of those in my market updates when the time comes.
As for market analysis, never dismiss the importance of stablecoins.
For example, the sustained decline of stablecoins in early 2022 suggested we take caution in the face of a market that had started to rise again. The sustained growth in 2023 showed us new inflows and interest that went undetected in the on-chain data and technical indicators.
It’s fair to question whether we can still use this information the same way.
We already had to account for the greater use of stablecoins in routine commerce and DeFi positions. Soon, we may also have to adjust for a partnership with the US government to promote stablecoins.
How does this mesh with the new administration’s desire to cut spending and debt, making Tether less necessary for the US treasury?
Unclear.
What does this mean for global currency flows?
Unclear.
Will this create new geopolitical rifts with countries that don’t want the dollar to undermine domestic monetary policy?
Unclear.
What does Circle have to say about this?
Probably a lot.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if USDT, not Bitcoin, becomes the asset that revolutionizes finance?
Bottom line: Q4 disclosures show institutions bumping up their allocations to crypto.
My take: We already knew November’s pump came from a surge in buying pressure that forced a short squeeze and December’s climb came from MicroStrategy’s buying spree and ETF flows. The real question is how many institutions combined their long exposure with a short position and how many sold their ETF holdings this quarter. We will never know about the short positions. We will see who sold when the next disclosures come out this summer.
If you're wondering why big inflows didn't push ETH’s price to the moon, a lot has to do with tokeneconomics and size. ETH constantly bleeds value while LSDs enable people to use Ethereum without buying more ETH. Meanwhile, total ETF inflows reached only a few billion—not a small amount, but not enough to move a $330 billion asset like Ethereum.
With enough time and interest, those ETF flows will push ETH’s price higher.
Why we care: It’s nice to confirm the data we saw last year, but this doesn’t tell us anything about what’s happening now.
Relax and enjoy the ride!
Do you want to consult with me or chat? Schedule time on Tealfeed!
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