This Type of Token Has Increased 30-Fold YTD

June 11, 2021 / Unchained Daily / Laura Shin

Daily Bits ✍️✍️✍️

Ledger raised a $380M Series C at a $1.5B valuation.
Meat supplier JBS paid $11M in BTC to resolve a ransomware attack.
ForUsAll, a 401(k) provider, is partnering with Coinbase to allow administrators to invest up to 5% of their 401(k) contributions in crypto (ForUsAll’s CEO Jeff Schulte is this week’s guest on Unconfirmed).
The SEC sent out a second note to investors, warning against Bitcoin futures.
Karura, a DeFi network for Kusama and Polkadot, raised $100M via a crowd loan.
CryptoPunk 7523 sold for $11.7M.
Arrington Capital Management is launching a $100M fund to invest in the Algorand ecosystem.
The Texas Department of Banking gave crypto custody a greenlight for state-chartered banks.
0x and Polygon are spending $10.5M to woo developers to build on Polygon.
Referencing El Salvador, an IMF spokesperson said that “adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues.”
A global standards body for bank regulation recommends strict capital requirements for banks with crypto exposure in its latest consultation.

What Do You Meme?

What’s Poppin’?

Inflation is poppin’.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 5% rise in the consumer price index over the past 12 months — the largest yearly increase since a 5.4% rise in August of 2008.

In a similar vein, weekly data shows that the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has topped $8 trillion for the first time, up nearly $1 trillion from June 2020 — the rough equivalent of a 15% increase.

A Crypto Inflation Hedge Has Increased 30-Fold YTD

According to research compiled by Arcane Research and summarized by CoinDesk, one crypto-asset class has been very successful during May and June’s bearish market action, perhaps suggesting that crypto investors are looking for an inflation hedge and proven store of value during turbulent times.

Indeed, the market capitalization of gold-backed tokens has grown 30-fold since the start of 2020. Carl Vogel, a senior product manager at Paxos, the creator of the largest gold-backed token (PAXG), told CoinDesk that “gold tends to be, in very volatile times, a very natural and great asset class to go ahead and diversify into.”

Bitcoin’s market cap, often touted as a hedge against inflation, is only up about 25% YTD, coming nowhere close to the 30-fold number of gold-backed tokens, indicating that Bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative may have died down a bit.

On The Pod…

Want Crypto in Your 401(k)? It’s Finally Possible — With This Provider

ForUsAll recently announced a new product that will allow cryptocurrency investments to be made inside 401(k) retirement accounts. Jeff Schulte, CEO of ForUsAll, discusses why putting crypto in a 401(k) is such a game changer, how this differs from Bitcoin IRAs, and more! Show highlights:

how bringing crypto into a 401(k) with ForUsAll will work
what “guardrails” ForUsAll is placing on investors who choose to invest in crypto
the tax advantages of purchasing crypto within a 401(k)
whether ForUsAll is offering a Roth IRA
why nobody has offered crypto within a 401(k) before now
what differentiates a crypto 401(k) from a self-directed IRA
what are the fees for the 401(k), who it will be available to, and when it will launch
how security and keys are being handled
why ForUsAll is not offering every token available on Coinbase
how ForUsAll is determining which cryptos will be available to trade
why offering crypto ETFs through a 401(k) may cause problems regarding the fiduciary risk of employers
what new crypto features ForUsAll is excited to roll out

Book Update

My book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, is now available for pre-order now.

The book, which is all about Ethereum and the 2017 ICO mania, comes out Nov. 2nd. Pre-order it today!

You can purchase it here: http://bit.ly/cryptopians