Many people have come to own and embrace crypto because of a powerful sense of mission that includes:
Fairness and efficiency: a desire to see transferring money more like sending a text message — instantaneous and low cost to all, and not something that often takes days and costs greater than 10% in middleman fees for those who can least afford it.
Privacy: it seems not a day goes by that yet another privacy destroying cyber exploit or revelation of an abuse of trust is revealed. Blockchain technology can protect individuals from predatory practices and help us take control of our personal data and financial information.
Open access: over a billion people around the world do not have a bank account, including a significant percentage of citizens in developed countries (over 5% of Americans lack a bank account). To use bitcoin you do not need to first apply and gain approval from a gatekeeper like you do to open a bank account. Anyone with a computer and internet connection can access crypto.
Democratizing finance: small investors in many countries have traditionally lacked access to financial services and opportunities available to the wealthy (e.g. overly restrictive accredited investor rules). Crypto is helping to level the playing field. In a world of rapidly rising consumer prices and seemingly out of reach home ownership, we believe strongly that crypto can help address the sense of despair many younger people in particular feel around their financial future.
In the US, crypto has always been an “easy sell,” as it were, to the end of the political spectrum that favors a more deregulatory and free market approach, but recent legislation in both the Senate and House had support from both Democrats and Republicans at introduction, a surefire sign that any perceived partisan gaps around crypto are beginning to close.
Even some officials within the Biden Administration (which many perceive as anti-crypto) have begun to draw subtle but important distinctions, with Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo saying that his agency’s focus is on “the illicit use of” cryptocurrencies, not debates about the legitimacy cryptocurrencies themselves. He also told a November conference that “digital assets are yet another innovation with the potential to be transformative…they offer the potential to unlock new opportunities,” and that Treasury’s goal is to “…create a regulatory environment that fosters responsible innovation.”
In sum, increased fairness and transparency of our money and financial system is a goal that is shared by more people, and not surprisingly more policymakers across the political spectrum are coming to support crypto.
Summary:
Market Movements In January crypto sold-off alongside other asset classes, with Bitcoin (BTC) down -17% and Ethereum (ETH) down -27% As we are set to publish crypto has rallied strongly to start February, with bitcoin recouping almost all of its January loss There is some evidence that the frost that set on crypto markets these past few months is abating 2. On-Chain Insights
The continuing increase in bitcoin’s estimated hash rate despite another monthly bitcoin price decline speaks to the medium-term price confidence of bitcoin miners and the availability of economically attractive sources of energy Overall bitcoin on-chain payments, transaction activity, and fees continued decreasing in the month of January 3. What we’re reading, hearing, and watching
Bitcoin Magazine, Bloomberg, NY Times, and more