BitDigest September 24 · Issue #749

• Crypto prices continue to slide in the risk-off market environment but bitcoin’s dominance is inching upwards
• The Fed is investing CBDCs as a response to providing COVID-19 assistance payments to citizens
• The European Commission released a proposed regulatory framework for crypto-assets leading to the development of pan-European regulatory sandboxes

Weekly Stock Review

Highlights from the North American listed crypto, blockchain and mining stocks:

• Chinese miner Ebang International (NASDAQ: EBON) is the top performing publicly traded asset and only North American listed crypto and blockchain stock to report positive returns this week.
•  Marathon Patent Group (NASDAQ: MARA) was the worst performer of the week posting a -20.8% return. The crypto miner reported that its announced LOI to acquire Fastblock Mining has been withdrawn and the company has subsequently hired a new investor relations firm (expect to see many more PR headlines).
• Bitfarms (TSXV:BITF) has been added to weekly update and announced the company has entered into an equipment lease arrangement to add 144 petahash of  computing power and signed a letter of intent to acquire 7,000 new miners.
• The premium to NAV on Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX:GBTC) has fallen to single digits (6.2%), hitting its lowest level in recent memory.
• Pricing for Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (NASDAQ: BLCN) has fallen below NAV (-2.6%).
• Bitcoin (BTC) comparatively fell 6.8% this week.

Crypto Art Getting More Attention

Anyone who has visited my office or more recently has been on a Zoom call with me has seen my fondness for crypto art. Besides, liking the images depicted in the artwork, this has been a way to show my support for the industry and technically I have found the concept of proving provenance and tokenized property rights prime applications of blockchain technology and its use of technologies like AR and visual movement fascinating.

While I have been writing about crypto art for many months, one of the questions I continue to ponder is whether the NFT comprises a part of the original work or if it is a separate piece. Some artists create NFTs as their own respective work, but I have chosen to try and acquire both tangible work and the accompanying digital work – believing they combine to complete the artists piece – when available.

Crypto art has gotten a lot of new attention this week from two announcements:

• Calling digital art the next evolution of art, Anthony Pompliano informed readers of his daily letter that he plans to invest heavily in this space going forward. Pomp is commissioning works and has started purchasing pieces on digital marketplaces like Nifty Gateway and Opensea.
• Christie’s auction house is including a blockchain inspired art work in its Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale on Octover 7th. Portraits of a Mind by artist Robert Alice is the 21st piece in a 40-painting series of blockchain art inspired by Satoshi Nakaamoto’s source code for bitcoin.

Regarding digital art, I have a request. If anyone has found a good way to display digital art, please tell me. I have looked at a couple specialized frames, but so far have not found the right solution.

Crypto Miners May be Making Enemies with PC Gamers

Last week Nvidia finally launched their new RTX3080 graphics card. Many gamers I speak with were planning to get one and waited patiently for the sale to begin, but to horror of all buyers, all 3080 units were sold out within seconds. It is apparent that bots were used to acquire all of the $700 units before buyers could act. Units have since appeared on different web sites at significant price increases, so many believe that scalpers were behind this incident, but a new theory has evolved that crypto miners looking to acquire the latest processors to mine Ethereum and other DeFi protocols were really the purchaser of the units.

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