The Breakdown

Most of the world outside crypto twitter that saw a clip of Mark Zuckerberg's testimony would have no idea that it was, theoretically about Libra. On CT, basically everyone bemoaned the clear lack of giving-a-crap that pretty much any Congressperson had for the actual issue at hand. Elsewhere on CT, however, I announced Bitcoin Macro, a new pop-up podcast I produced for CoinDesk and two of the three first guests - Caitlin Long and Travis Kling - discuss the repo markets. Finally, a quick news rundown including a new BTC futures options product from Bakkt and a new standing blockchain office from the CFTC.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress today, nominally about Libra but actually about a lot of things. In this (opinionated) recap of the testimony, we look at: What was different vs. the same in FB's narrative What was different vs. the same in Congress' questions The negotiation factors moving forward Highlights Predictions  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

The digital currency wars are getting hotter and hotter, but they're not one dimensional. This narrative watch looks at three key battlelines: Nations vs. Private companies - who gets to make digital currencies?  Nations vs. Nations (specifically China) - competition to get their faster and better Pegged vs. Basket vs. Fractional Reserve - the actual composition of the asset matters - as we see from pressure on Facebook to make Libra a 1:1 peg USD instead of a basket Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Circle is spinning out Poloniex and the exchange's new honors want to build away from the US. Is this more evidence of the "companies leaving US" narrative or just competitive pressure? Speaking of exchanges, Binance hit $1B in cumulative profit this week and announced 125x leverage because reasons. Finally, the big boss of the financial system Bank of International Settlements released a paper effectively calling bitcoin a failure but identifying private stablecoins like Libra as a threat.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto Subscribe via email: https://nlw.substack.com/

Chainalysis recently helped law enforcement take down a child porn ring by tracking btc addresses. This kicked off a huge conversation about how essential is it to the value proposition of bitcoin for it to be able to used for things that are against the rules - whether we like them or not. The firestorm of debate it kicked up really came down to one key question: how will institutionalization impact bitcoin? Can institutionally safe and friendly bitcoin co-exist with anti-establishment, rule breaking bitcoin? 

The fallout continues from the crazy last week in Libra, as the Association moves forward without any of its payment partners, all of whom have withdrawn at this point. Still the Association is now officially live and has a board of 5 members, only one of whom is from Facebook's Calibra subsidy. Over in the other major social network that wants its own crypto, BlockTV today reported that Telegram isn't just beset by the SEC but is dealing with a FinCEN inquiry around money laundering.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Last week was apparently "government says get rekt" week in crypto. The SEC kicked things off by disapproving a bitcoin ETF proposal from Bitwise and closed things out by taking emergency action against Telegram's $1.7B ICO. In between, the IRS dropped its first crypto guidance in 5 years, indicating that forked tokens could create a tax liability, whether you want them or not. What's more, two Senators sent threatening letters to the CEOs of Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard who, along with eBay, dropped out of the Libra Association by the end of the week. The one bright spot was the CFTC saying that ETH is a commodity.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

The title says it all. Visa, Mastercard, eBay, and Stripe have joined PayPal in leaving the Libra Association. Is this the death knell for the project? Will the rest of the organizations follow suit and leave? Or does this provide a chance to Libra to shift the narrative and arise like a phoenix? Let's dig in.  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

The SEC has denied the most recent bitcoin ETF proposal - this time from Bitwise. Some speculate that there simply will not be an ETF on Chairman Clayton's watch. The CFTC chair meanwhile has said that the CFTC considers ETH a commodity and expects futures and other derivatives products. Finally, Binance's acceptance of Alipay/WeChat pay as a fiat onramp has prompted those companies to reiterate their anti-crypto stance.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

The IRS dropped quite the surprise today: their first new tax guidance since 2014. Unfortunately, it seems to indicate that chains forking and airdropping users coins (whether they want them or not) creates a taxable event. Meanwhile, DevCon5 is cruising along in Osaka, complete with Ethereum scaling debates, the imminent launch of Multi-Collateral DAI, and the announcement of a new, open version of Libra (although it's not exactly clear why people are excited about this). Lastly, the real Libra faced some headwinds as US Senators put pressure on Visa, Mastercard and Stripe to follow suit with PayPal and leave the Libra Association.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto