Happy Friday, Banter Fam.
Just be grateful that you’re not Jerome Powell this morning! 7.5% inflation? Ouch.
Let’s see how the market is holding up.
Coffee. Banter. Go!
● The market digests inflation news.
● Market update (BTC local top, stablecoin highs on exchanges).
● Crypto adoption news.
● Notable Events (ONE BTC bridge, AVAX GameFi).
Yep, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data was even worse than expected.
So much so that there have been whispers (says Zerohegde) of an emergency rate hike by the Federal Reserve (Fed), with an emergency meeting being called for Monday.
But as Ran suggested in a tweet, that would look terrible for Jerome and the Fed!
Still, the 7.5% figure shows that they’ve lost control of the situation, or never had it to begin with. Look at how the US stacks up to other countries in terms of inflation.
It’s no wonder traders are turning to inflation hedges during these turbulent times, as highlighted by the Charles Schwab Trader Sentiment Survey this quarter.
With 26% of traders expecting to buy crypto assets as an inflation hedge, could the “digital gold” narrative be playing out?
Crypto market update
Bitcoin (BTC) held up nicely despite the CPI surprise. While a short term pullback is highly likely, not least in light of the potential aggressive rate highs, quantitative tightening, and hawkish talk. The overall picture looks like the beginning of a general uptrend. Bitcoin closed the day down -1.33% at 43.0K.
Stablecoin supply on exchanges is at an all-time high of $29 billion. So, it appears traders are well prepared to get bullish.
The stock market didn’t hold up as well, and the VIX, a viable fear gauge, notes anxiety is re-entering the stock market.
S&P 500 (SPY): -1.80%
Russel 2000 (IWM): -1.53%
Nasdaq (QQQ: -2.26%
VIX (Volitity S&P): +19.68%
Gold remains asleep at the wheel despite its inflation hedge narrative. Gold Futures (GC1!): +0.04%
Notable crypto gainers (24h)
● Theta (THETA): $4.15 +24%
● Mobox (MBOX): $3.49 +10%
● SKALE (SKL): $0.15 +10%
● Clover Finance (CLV): $0.27 +37%
● Alien Worlds (TLM): $0.15 +11%
● Smooth Love Potion (SLP): $0.036 +22% (Updates to tokenomics of AXS)
● Anchor Protocol (ANC): $1.90 +7%
Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index: 50 Neutral
Bitcoin ”Google” Trends: 32 (-1)
Bitcoin Options Max Pain (Mar 26): 42K
Major news
OnlyFans is adding NFTs to profile pics. Things are about to get dirty! Not only that, but OnlyFans has 100 million worldwide users.
YouTube is looking to enter the Web3 space and add videos as NFTs. How much would a Banter video fetch? The correct answer is… it would be priceless.
Binance is making a $200 million strategic investment in Forbes (former employer of Heather Morgan), the magazine mainly read by baby boomers. So, imagine when they start reading crypto articles from their trusted source?
Notable updates
● Harmony One (ONE) will integrate a Bitcoin bridge tomorrow, Feb 11th.
● GameFi on Avalanche (AVAX) appears to be heating up.
Banter’s take
Inflation is going to force the Fed’s hand – aggressive rate hikes feel inevitable at this point. However, the markets have held up well in spite of the CPI data being so high, suggesting hawkish monetary policy has already been priced in. It indeed feels like the beginning of a new cycle, with global adoption continuing to accelerate.
