Crypto Strategy

MACRO DATA POINTS TO A SOFT LANDING The global deleveraging event last week was driven by weakening economic expectations and rising fears of a potential policy error by the Federal Reserve. At the height of this uncertainty, the market priced in a 50 bps cut for September, as recession risks took center stage. However, in just a few days, the narrative has shifted. The market is now leaning back towards...

WHAT HAPPENED We won't spend time diving deeply into the events of the past few days as most are likely already familiar. In short, concerns about a potential domestic recession were ignited last Friday following a weak jobs report. This caused the dollar, particularly the USDJPY, to decline, triggering an unwinding of the yen carry trade and leading to widespread deleveraging across global markets. During such a global margin call,...

IDEAL FOMC OUTCOME This week's events have been a reminder that while macro factors can align favorably, idiosyncratic elements can sometimes complicate the picture. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady until September. Notably, the FOMC statement emphasized the Fed's dual mandate, a significant shift from previous communications. Fed Chair Jerome Powell expressed a dovish stance, indicating a potential openness to rate cuts in September, contingent...

POLITICAL PREDICTION MARKETS PROVIDE PARTIAL RATIONALE FOR PAUSE IN RALLY We see the recent pause in the July rally driven by two factors:General Degrossing Across All Asset Markets: The past couple of days have seen degrossing across all asset markets, including the crypto markets. This is less crypto-specific and more of a function of the market rotating out of strategies (like the long MAG 7) that worked in the first...

BTC AS A POSSIBLE STRATEGIC RESERVE Last week, we discussed the rising political tailwinds affecting crypto. Despite events earlier in the year that might have suggested a changed stance from the Democratic Party, the political divide over the issue has grown stronger. The GOP has become the party that is undoubtedly more favorable to the industry. The attempted assassination of former President Trump, juxtaposed against a Democratic Party seemingly in...

DISCUSSING THE SUPPLY CONCERNS On balance, macro conditions have moved in our favor thus far in early Q3. We have received soft jobs numbers and softer ISM reports, and cooler inflation figures, which have sent rates and the DXY lower. Unfortunately, the mere reveal of imminent sales from the German BKA and the solidification of the Mt. Gox disbursement timeline were not enough to put a bottom in for bitcoin....

LESSONS FROM OPEC We have witnessed a significant market panic partially related to formerly locked BTC hitting the order books. The major sources of supply include:Mt. Gox – 141,686 BTCUS Government – 8,100 BTCGerman Government – 50,000 BTC At current prices, this would equate to over $12 billion in supply. This threat, combined with an inhospitable macro backdrop (rising DXY, higher rate expectations, hawkish Fed), has brought BTC down to...

FLOWS AND SENTIMENT STILL SUBDUED Last week, we received a better-than-expected CPI print, but the DXY continued to move higher due to global weakness and a hawkish Fed. We discussed the risks appearing in the metrics we use to gauge sentiment and flows. The overall lack of follow-through in the crypto market was evident. Volumes, net ETP flows, the Coinbase discount, stablecoin market cap trend, and search interest for key...

We wrote on Thursday about how the reaction to recent macro data has been quite underwhelming. Crypto broadly rallied in response to a cool CPI number, but indicators such as a muted Coinbase premium and low exchange volumes suggest animal spirits are still lacking. Muted volumes relative to market prices, and low social interest as proxied by Google search trends further evidence a lack of risk appetite in the market....

OVERALL, IT WAS A GOOD CPI/FOMC DAY As any market observer knows by now, CPI came in remarkably cool yesterday. May CPI data was soft across the board, with headline inflation at 0.0% M/M vs. 0.1% expected and core inflation at 0.2% M/M vs. 0.3% expected. The unexpected data fueled a violent rally across all risk assets as rates fell, and the futures market started to price in additional cuts,...

RATE EXPECTATIONS MOVING LOWER Last week, we discussed how rate expectations were a barrier to crypto moving higher and that we anticipate continued non-recessionary but soft economic data will help spur flows. Fast forward to this week, and we have seen a cool manufacturing PMI, a soft JOLTS report, and a services PMI in which the price component was below market expectations. The remaining important data for this week includes...