It is time again for another Finance Friday/Friday Finance. This is a series I started where I talk about random bits of financial stuff that I have seen, gathered, or experienced during the week. I hope as a reader you find it informational, entertaining, or both. I also hope it can generate some good discussion and edify the Leo community.
I was really looking forward to writing this post most of the week. Then the events of FTX happened and I was a bit more apprehensive. I think despite the mild dumpster fire we found ourselves in this week, there is still a lot to get excited about.
Let's take a look at a couple of those things:
PBS:FTW
Like many kids in the United States, I pretty much grew up on PBS (Public Broadcasting System). Since cartoons were only on Saturday mornings, the weekday mornings were dedicated to educational programing. Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, Electric Company, 321 Contact, and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood were some of the highlights.
I mention this to point out that PBS has been serving us quality programing for a long long time. NOVA is no exception so when I saw they were doing an entire show dedicated to cryptocurrency, I knew I had to watch.
I was concerned about how they would spin it. While my hope was that they would offer a fair and objective view, the norm these days seems to be to sell into the FUD. I have to say, after watching it yesterday morning, I think they did a very good job.
Sure, they talked about some of the scams, they also talked about the energy concerns with PoW, but they also talked about the potential, the reason it was created, and they also dispelled some of the common myths that are out there. They had some really good people in the interviews and they even went all the way back to explain two key encryption and how that was created and eventually applied to blockchain.
It was a good starter piece for anyone new to or curious about crypto. After watching, I even posted this post to my Facebook page:
With all of the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) that is out there about crypto currency right now, this was one of the most honest and well researched stories I have seen in a while. Well done NOVA, It's worth the watch. Don't like the environmental implications of Proof of Work? Check out Proof of Stake. Better yet, check out a Delegated Proof of Stake blockchain, I might be familiar with one or two of those...
It included a link to the site I linked above. I'm a bit sad to say that I got a whopping 4 likes on that post and zero comments. One of those likes was from @ericvancewalton I knew I could count on him! It would seem my Facebook friends might not be ready for crypto yet. Maybe this got them thinking though.
My biggest issue with the episode was the fact that they did mention PoS, but only in relation to Ethereum. Like ETH was the one pioneering PoS. They did offhandedly mention that other chains are already using PoS, but it was more of a throw away comment than anything. They didn't dig into any of those. It also explained the birth of NFTs and why those have value.
Hater's will always hate, and the unbelievers will always try to poke holes, but hopefully a few of them watched this episode of NOVA and it gets them thinking just a little bit.
My Ally
I know I have mentioned Ally Bank in the past. I set up and account with this online only bank to manage my fiat to crypto and crypto to fiat transfers. Unfortunately, due to the snails pace the traditional banking system runs at, it ended up not being feasible. For example transferring funds from my main bank account to my Ally account takes three days or more.
I still have some money sitting in that Ally account, but I don't really do much with it. I just got another email from them the other day saying that they are increasing my interest rate from 2.5% to 2.75%. Nothing compared to what we get in the DeFi world, but still not too bad when you consider this is a "traditional" bank.
ARK Investments
Finally, I am going to leave you with this little piece of news I just saw. It would seem ARK Investments are shifting their holdings in Robinhood over to Coinbase. Given how horrible Coinbases stock has tanked since the IPO, that isn't too surprising. It basically did a 10x loss per share I think. Given that news and the positive stuff that happened with the stock market yesterday, I saw Coinbase's stock jumped $10 per share from the mid 40's to the mid 50's.
Interesting stuff for sure given everything that has happened with centralized exchanges lately.
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The show itself probably aired at a horrible time with the FTX crash that happened recently and I don't blame them for focusing on the larger cryptos. After all, I don't think most people know about the smaller ones and it would just confuse the normal person.
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Yes,. Horrible time indeed. No way to guess that though.
So there is a show that basically inculcates the knowledge of crypto? Wow! That is a great idea I believe. Well, despite the red bloodshed that has happened this week in the crypto space, a show like this might cool the tensions off.
I was about to ask you more about the Ally Bank of a thing but seeing that slow-paced transaction time, I don't think I want that!😅
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Yeah, the premiere of the episode was kind of ill timed but it is still really good. I don't blame Ally. It is the whole traditional banking system.
Well, lets still see how far they can go with the show. I hope long enough.
Didnt coinbase launch at over $200 or something.
Yeah, I think it was over $300. Their valuation was nuts.
I'm going to have to watch this! I'm glad to hear PBS portrayed it in a fair/balanced way! I have so many good memories of watching PBS as a child.
I'm afraid this FTX debacle has done immeasurable damage to the crypto space. It's probably set mass adoption/retail investing back by at least a few years. We were just on the cusp of some very big players coming in too. It's so sad that it happened at such a crucial time.
I think you will enjoy it if you get the chance to watch it. They did a good job of not getting too technical. As I said to others, the timing is unfortunate, but it is at least getting some exposure that isn't all FUD. I saw an article that said the same was you, they actually used the same phrase "immeasurable damage". It was positive though, it seemed to imply that this could push people past viewing it as a get rich quick thing and start looking harder at the utility of it. To be fair though, stuff like this still happens in the traditional system and people barely bat an eyelash, if they even hear about it in the first place...
I'll definitely be sure to watch it. I have a flight coming up in a week and it'll be perfect for that. I agree with you about the damage SBF/FTX has caused. It'll likely just be a temporary setback and maybe the SEC will swoop in and finally provide some regulatory clarity.
Wouldn't that be nice. I have heard a lot of people saying they think this will push mass adoption back two or three years. I'm actually okay with that. I think once that happens we won't see the big swings like we do now. I'm down for a couple more big swings before this settles into a middle of the road thing for me!
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Two or three years is what I'm thinking too. Before this I was thinking Q3 2023 into early 2024. Now it's more like 2025-2026. On the bright side it'll really allow devs and investors to build a more solid foundation and in that way it's a gift. I'm worried about how strict regs will be in the US. I think they may come down very hard on Alts.
Yeah, they probably will come down quite hard. I guess time will tell. As quickly as this happened, something else could happen and move us in the other direction. It is so unpredictable.
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