Long Reads Sunday #91

Is 'money printer go brrr' distracting us from the 'dollar wrecking ball?'

Happy Sunday from the Hudson Valley

Bit of a shorter edition today to spend some extra time with family. Top news and podcast rundown first, then a quick note on the two themes I think mattered most this week: the dollar debate.

Happy Long Reads

NLW

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This Week’s Top Bitcoin & Crypto News

• BitMEX launching a new ETH/USD futures product to be settled in bitcoin

• Bloomberg says Bitcoin maturation is accelerating

• Starbucks, McDonalds and Subway among the first testers for China’s digital currency

• Argentina’s central bank is trialling a blockchain-based system for interbank settlement

• Securitize launches a new peer-to-peer security token trading service

• Coinbase releases a proprietary price oracle as it expands focus on DeFi

• Dharma launches social crypto payments for Twitter

• Blockstack opens testnet on new Proof of Transfer  consensus mechanism

• Tim Draper’s venture studio releases a WordPress plugin for crypto trading

• Africa the next great payments battleground as Binance-backed crypto payments app launches

• Libra adds 50 job openings in Ireland as well as a new Association member in Heifer International

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On The Breakdown this week:

• Monday | Bearish or Bullish? What Oil, DeFi Hacks and Cash Hoarding Tell Us About Markets

• Tuesday | From Proof of Health to UBI: How Everything Changes Post COVID-19, Feat. Joe McCann

• Wednesday | The History of the Dollar System From Bretton Woods to QE Infinity, Feat. Luke Gromen

• Thursday | We Don’t Need Big Brother To Beat This Virus

• Friday | Why Bitcoin Is Freedom Money, Feat. Yan Pritzker

Nathaniel Whittemore @nlw

🚨New podcast with @LukeGromen🚨 If you listen to ONE episode of @BreakdownNLW ever - make it this one. 70 years of economic history that leads to one, inevitable conclusion: Why the Fed is the only Sugar Daddy left. On @CoinDesk coindesk.com/why-the-fed-is…

coindesk.comThe History of the Dollar System From Bretton Woods to QE Infinity, Feat. Luke Gromen - CoinDeskNLW takes a historic look at how we went from the Bretton Woods system of gold-backed USD to the Fed’s “QE Infinity” of today.

Nathaniel Whittemore @nlw

"Financial engineering has created potentially devastating implications for US trade, supply chain management, manufacturing, and innovation." -@joemccann on financial engineering and the economy we're headed towards post COVID-19 plnk.to/nlw/e/10004722…

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Our Main Theme: The Dollar Debate

There are conflicting narratives around the dollar right now.

The first has to do with the potential for inflation caused by the Fed ramping up intervention. It is wonderfully memed with the huge array of “money printer go brrr” memes. It has made FinTwit look basically indistinguishable from Bitcoin.

At the same time, there are some who argue that the real concern isn’t some massive inflationary event, but instead lies in the dollar’s comparative strength around the world.

I believe this is one of the most important macro debates right now, and wanted to share a few starting points.

Ari David Paul does an incredible job frame setting around this topic. He gets into what happened after 2008, how MMT came to be and what it argues, what’s different between now and 2008, why debt deflation is the immediate term concern, and why investors are hedging the possibility of US inflation for the first time in 30 years.

Ari Paul ⛓️ @AriDavidPaul

A very complicated topic being debated even by the most senior economists and seasoned investors: what does the world look like as we combine deflationary "dollarization" with massive money printing. This thread is an attempt at exploring the subject -

Raoul Pal has been beating this drum for a while and argues that the money printer go brrr meme isn’t just wrong - it’s distracting.

Raoul Pal @RaoulGMI

The Dollar Wrecking Ball: I hear the narratives that the Fed is printing money...Brrr... and that is going to cause a dollar collapse. I worry that this narrative is very wrong. My strongly held view is that the dollar is the pinnacle of all the macro issues we face. 1/

Jill Carlson wrote a piece for CoinDesk this week that reflected many similar arguments.

CoinDesk @CoinDesk

ICYMI: In a world that is inherently short of dollars and is only becoming more so, refusing to increase supply is anything but responsible and rational, writes @jillruthcarlson. #WeekendReads #brrr

ow.lyHow I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Money Printer - CoinDeskMoney printer go brrrrrrr. In a world inherently short of dollars, refusing to increase supply is anything but responsible and rational, says our columnist.

Lyn Alden explains this concept further.

Lyn Alden @LynAldenContact

The dollar bull vs dollar bear debate often focuses on the $12 trillion or more in dollar-denominated debt that exists outside of the United States. However... (thread)

Dan Tapiero notes that in places where the currency is failing compared to USD, some are seeing premiums in p2p bitcoin trading.

Dan Tapiero @DTAPCAP

#bitcoin trades at 15k in Lebanon. Classic emerging mkt funding crisis made worse by deflationary dollar peg that is breaking. Study this case as it will be model for other weak EM. Will be key part of macro story behind upcoming bitcoin price rally.

newsbtc.comBitcoin Trades at $15k in Lebanon Amidst Economic Turmoil, Showing Its Real PotentialBitcoin tops near $15,000 on Lebanon P2P marketplaces as the country’s official fiat crashes 50 percent in just a month. The bitcoin rate in international is

This dollar shortage and demand has shown up in the massive increase in USD stablecoins in the last two months. Avi Felman from Blocktower and Max Bronstein wrote about the crypto-dollarization phenomena.

Chris Burniske @cburniske

Permissionless dollars are just as valued, if not more valued, than dollars trapped in the traditional system.

Spencer Noon @spencernoon

The aggregate marketcap of fiat-backed stablecoins has officially surpassed $8 billion (h/t @coinmetrics) https://t.co/uAJtQeLLta

Max Bronstein @max_bronstein

1/ Excited to share our second post on Unexpected Values, “Crypto Dollars and the Evolution of Eurodollar Banking,” in which we discuss the world's growing need for dollars and how different crypto dollar models are positioned to service this demand.

unexpected-values.comCrypto Dollars and the Evolution of Eurodollar BankingBy Max Bronstein and Avi Felman OverviewWhile Bitcoin is rapidly assimilating into the global monetary picture, the dollar is unequivocally the world’s reserve currency given its dominance in world trade and the scale of the global demand that exists for dollar denominated debt. Furthermore, there i…

Coinbase co-founder Fred Ersham noticed this as well.

Fred Ehrsam @FEhrsam

Crypto community very focused on the US ("money printer go brrr" memes). More likely the crisis breaks weaker developing world monetary regimes and very little focus there.

For more on this topic, a few resources.

First, check out my discussion with Luke Gromen that is effectively a TL;DR on the last 70 years of global monetary history.

Nathaniel Whittemore @nlw

"What the petrodollar system allowed us to do was print $ for oil while the Soviets had to actually lift oil out of the ground. Once the system got set up, we won the Cold War. It just hadn't been marked to market yet." @LukeGromen on @BreakdownNLW plnk.to/nlw/e/10004723…

Second, check out my conversation with Preston Pysh a few weeks ago about what happens when currencies fail.

Nathaniel Whittemore @nlw

🔥Friday Fire INCOMING🔥 Just when you thought it was safe to decompress, I'm dropping the last Breakdown in the craziest market week in a decade. @PrestonPysh on what happens to #BTC & the world after inevitable intervention: When. Currencies. Fail. coindesk.com/what-happens-w…

coindesk.comWhat Happens When Currencies Fail? Feat. Preston Pysh - CoinDeskMassive and novel government intervention in markets is now a foregone conclusion, but what happens to bitcoin as the dust settles?

Third, check out Preston Pysh’s interview with Jeff Booth.

Preston Pysh @PrestonPysh

Inflation?... Deflation?... Which one is it? We tackle this important question on this week's podcast with @JeffBooth - Author of, The Price of Tomorrow.

theinvestorspodcast.comTIP294: Inflation - Deflation - Which One Is It? w/ Jeff Booth author of The Price of TomorrowOn today’s show, we talk to entrepreneur and best selling author, Jeff Booth. Jeff is the author of, The Price Of Tomorrow, which is a book about why deflation is the key to an abundant future. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN: Why we have too much debt and

Thanks as always for reading!