• US Fed Update: Bitcoin and Ethereum are trading sideways as the market awaits Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole remarks, scheduled for 10am tomorrow.
  • Correlations remain elevated: Bitcoin’s correlation to the NASDAQ and S&P500 currently sit at 0.75 and 0.72 respectively. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have experienced a relief rally off the lows this summer in line with other so-called risk assets. See here.
  • Bear trap or the start of another leg up? The rally is facing a key test as investors now pivot their attention to tomorrow’s Jackson Hole speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell for any indication that the so-called ‘Fed Pivot’ which helped put a bid under risk assets was a head-fake.
  • Ethereum’s relative outperformance: Ethereum has been a good news story in crypto this summer, nearly doubling from the June lows, inching close to $ 2,000 before retracing to around $,1650. It also briefly hit 50% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization, leading to renewed calls that Ethereum will overtake Bitcoin, a hypothetical known as “the flippening.” Read Alex’s essay below to find out why he thinks those calls are overly rosy.
  • The Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) sent cease and desist letters to five crypto firms over alleged misrepresentation of deposit insurance. This is in the wake of the collapse of several centralized crypto lending firms who advertised themselves as safe alternatives to banks and other deposit taking institutions, when in fact they were making risky loans with investor capital.
  • According to reporting from CoinDeskFTX could buy BlockFi for as little as $15 million. FTX, controlled by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman Fried, has been acting like a latter-day J.P.Morgan, bailing out troubled crypto firms. Clearly, he’s also a sharp negotiator. Read Alex’s op-ed in Fortune Magazine on Bankman-Fried’s outsized role in this summer’s crypto credit crunch.
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