[Community Post] Long Reads Sunday by NLW - Issue #65

It was an undeniably interesting week.

We saw another rate cut from the Fed, along with hundreds of billions of dollars injected into the overnight repo markets - and all this in a non-crisis time. The bitcoin narrative continues to converge with the macro narrative.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo announced a project that Pomp called exemplary of a trend of “Corporate Central Banks;” Binance.US went live with surprised BNB support; Square Crypto made new hires; Zap created a new fiat-to-Lightning onramp; the “ETH is money” meme got some new backing; and bitcoin and DAI traded at premiums in Buenos Aires as Argentines try to work around currency controls.

Thanks as always for reading - NLW

Long Reads Sunday #65

Read LRS65 on Twitter

1/ Long Reads Sunday #65. Here’s the TL;DR on this week. On the one hand, a serious builder week with Binance.US going live, Square Crypto announcing hires and more. On the other, rate cuts and hundreds of $B injected into overnight repo markets. What’s it all mean? Thread.

2/ Quick detour. Prefer audio/visual to reading? Watch or listen to my Crypto Daily 3@3, which covered Binance US opening, repo market and rate cuts, North Korea crypto talk and much more. Youtube. Pod.

3/ You know there is no way we’re not starting this bad boy with a recap of the Fed’s massive, multipart injection into the overnight repo markets, which somehow overshadowed the second consecutive rate cut.

4/ If you’re aggressively Investopedia’ing repo and trying to figure out the significance of this, you’re not alone. Check out this thread from @moorehn for a bit of background It was one of the recommendations to @jillruthcarlson here.

5/ His answer to where to park your wealth in this sort of situation may be different, but @PeterSchiff summed up what a lot of bitcoiners were feeling after the move.

6/ Speaking of bitcoiners, the aggressive shifts in monetary policy plus “worrying political developments” have gotten some folks off the fences. Check out this thread from @dailydirtnap for a great example.

7/ The reality is that we’re simply in uncharted monetary policy waters, and no one can say they know for sure what happens next. @Travis_Kling still has the best summation of this.

8/ Then again, just because we don’t know what comes next doesn’t mean we don’t stop moving. In the vein of moving, @BinanceAmerica went live and did it with a surprise - answering the question of “why care” as BNB was among the supported assets.

9/ Another movement among the notable companies with crypto announcements, Wells Fargo announced a stablecoin for internal cross-border transfers that they claim is faster than SWIFT.

10/ To @APompliano, Wells Fargo’s announcement is exemplary of a larger phenomenon of Wall Street giants trying to create their own “Corporate Central Banks”

11/ Of course, not every company is seeking seignorage. @sqcrypto continues to put on a masterclass in what it looks like to be a good steward of an open source protocol. This week, they announced new hires from Lightning Labs, Libra & more.

12/ On Thursday’s 3@3, I dug deeper on what our expectations should be for for-profit companies building on top of the open source protocols of the crypto ecosystem, citing @sqcrypto’s $100k grant to @btcpayserver.

13/ In the wide world of Lightning, Zap got the space fired up when they announced fiat onramps - a massive (and essential) UX upgrade.

14/ That wasn’t the only payment channel news either. @BitPay announced this week support for Ethereum, allowing merchants to accept ETH.

15/ As you saw above, the “ETH is money” meme has been rising for the past several weeks. On @MessariCrypto Unqualified Opinions on Friday, @TwoBitIdiot and I discussed this meme and the state of crypto meme warfare more broadly.

16/ Interestingly, there was evidence that, at least for Argentines, “ETH is money” is more than a meme. @CamiRusso pointed out that, in the wake of new capital controls, Dai was trading at a 27% premium.

17/ The fact that cryptos are being used to skirt currency controls is an example of what I discussed on this week’s Narrative Watch - the idea that, while the asset itself is apolitical, bitcoin (and crypto more broadly) is inherently a political force.

18/ Another vector of the political battle around crypto could be around the jurisdictional competition for talent (and the tax revenue that comes from individuals and businesses setting up shop) as a mobile generation is willing to move to find beneficial treatment.

19/ For yet more evidence that cryptos are political, OKEx Korea announced this week that they would be delisting all privacy coins in order to stay in line with FATF’s “Travel Rule” guidance. @secparam discusses.

20/ FWIW, travel rule guidance is likely not as clear cut as OKEx decision would make it seem. @NeerajKA shared a piece on how privacy coins could actually be compliant.

21/ On the topic of the battle between privacy and surveillance, @Snowden’s book was released this week and promptly subjected to a lawsuit from the US government.

22/ To me, that battle between privacy and surveillance and the larger set of political issues that surround cryptos *are* the big game. Thrilled to see prominent voices like @PeterMcCormack putting this stuff center stage.

23/ Okay, just a couple more interesting things and shout outs before we get out of here. First, an interesting moment this week as Ethereum had more daily fees than Bitcoin for the first time.

24/ And if you’re in the “Ethereum is money” spirit, go deep with this monster piece by @TrustlessState, shared via @CamiRusso’s Defiant newsletter.

25/ I’ve been following all the tweets coming out of @wyohackathon. I love seeing this sort of community-led event bring people together around bitcoin and crypto.

26/ Huge shout out to @martybent and @matt_odell. Their @tftc21 had a monster week, with pods with @JackMallers discussing the new Zap fiat-LN onramp, @RaoulPal discussing the generational bitcoin hedge - AND hit 1,000,000 plays!

27/ And finally, here is your moment of zen.

28/ And there we have it - LRS65 on the books! Let me know what you loved and what I missed. And as always, you can get LRS via email.

29/ And for LRS-stlye content in a daily, commute-friendly package, check out the Crypto Daily 3@3. In video form on Youtube or via podcast or get em all via email.

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