Sunday Essentials 🪥 by JAD (6/9/24)
Your weekly reminder to brush and floss every day - and more!
Gm gm everyone~
VanEck revealed their 2030 price prediction for ETH…and it’s $22k 👀
Read their full report here ⬅️
This is particularly interesting as it happens to line up nicely with the culmination of the 2026-2030 liquidity cycle.
Let’s bookmark this for 6 years and see if they’re right 🔖
—
In other news, the Bank of Canada announced rate cuts (the first of the G7 countries to do so), followed by the European Central Bank.
If this trend continues with the US cutting rates, then history tells us that people will begin to take funds from their money market accounts and flow towards risk assets.
Increase in global liquidity = increase in ___? 👀
Do your own research; we may be in for a wild ride.
Enjoy~ ☕️
Coinbase launched their new smart wallet ✅
Semler Scientific, a healthcare company, bought 581 BTC while also adopting it as its primary treasury reserve asset ✅
The company’s stock price saw a ~50% increase after the announcement 📈
Mastercard launched “Crypto Credentials”, with which users can send/receive crypto using a username instead of a wallet address
ENS but for the institutions 👀
Mt. Gox (a large BTC exchange that was previously hacked in ~2014) transferred ~140k BTC (worth ~$9.8B) to a single wallet for creditor repayments, scheduled for sometime in October 👀
PayPal launched it’s stablecoin (PYUSD) on the Solana network ✅
Galaxy Digital tokenized a Stradivarius violin into an NFT (this particular one was once owned by Catherine the Great), in order to secure a multi-million dollar loan 🎻
RobinHood acquired Bitstamp, one of the oldest crypto exchanges, for $200M in an effort to expand crypto globally ✅
CEO of RobinHood, Vlad Tenev, stated that they “believe that crypto will fundamentally reorganize the financial system” 👀
Blackrock and Citadel are partnering with the state of Texas to create the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE), a national stock exchange akin to the NYSE 👀
It will be fully electronic, with headquarters in Dallas
🇦🇷 x 🇸🇻 Argentina has met with El Salvador to discuss the adoption of Bitcoin
🇦🇺 Australia began trading it’s first spot Bitcoin ETF this past week
🇶🇦 Qatar’s Central Bank launched the first phase of its CBDC project
🇹🇭 Thailand approved their first spot BTC ETF
🇨🇦 The Bank of Canada announced a rate cut of 25 basis points
🇪🇺 The European Central Bank announced its first rate cut in 5 years
This week’s interesting chart:
Chicago PMI from 2008-Present
I saw this posted several times earlier this week on Twitter/X.
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably asking “What is the Chicago PMI?” 🤔
The Chicago Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) is used to determine the economic health of the manufacturing sector in Chicago and its surrounding regions.
A reading above 50 (I know the image is blurry 😅) indicates expansion of the manufacturing sector and is bullish for the USD.
A reading below indicates contraction, and a bearish outlook on USD.
The reason the chart is being shared right now is because of the trends from the previous two “lows” of the PMI (in 2008 and 2020)
Though we’re currently in a period of contraction, the upside that follows is something to behold.
Tooth autotransplantation in lieu of traditional prosthetics? 🦷
A study on tooth autotransplantation (the surgical relocation of a tooth from one site of your mouth to another within the same patient) has shown that the procedure is a natural and functional alternative to traditional dental prosthetics.
The increased optionality for patients is always a good thing, but I’m unsure how practical this will be in clinical practice.
Michigan passed a law in December 2023 requiring kindergarteners to pass an oral health assessment ✅
California and a number of other states also have these laws in place, ensuring that a child is being professionally assessed for cavities and overall oral health.
PSA from the CDC 💬
“Oral conditions are frequently considered separate from other chronic conditions, but these are inter-related. Poor oral health is associated with other chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Oral disease also is associated with risk behaviors such as using tobacco and consuming sugary foods and beverages.”
Hawaii’s only free dental clinic will be closing this summer due to lack of funding 😢
What I’m Learning About
Clay, the Hallowed Red Dirt of Roland Garros
As of writing, the Men’s Tennis Singles Grand Slam Champion has yet to be determined for this year’s Roland Garros (French Open).
Iga Swiatek swept the Women’s category, claiming her 4th Roland Garros title, with a decisive 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jasmine Paolini.
With all the excitement culminating Sunday with the Men’s Final between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, I wanted to learn more about the surface that is so deeply ingrained within French tennis.
After all, the clay of Roland Garros is just as important as the players who grace the courts.
The article briefly describes the history of the clay surface and how it’s prepared each year for the Grand Slam.
1 = Red brick dust at 1-2mm; 2 = crushed white limestone at 6-7cm; 3 = clinker (coal residue) at 7-8cm; 4 = crushed gravel of at least 30cm; 5 = drain (larger stones)
Mental Model I’d Like To Adopt
50-30-20 Rule by Jim Collins
When most people think of the “50-30-20 Rule”, their minds wander to the budgeting rule of the same name.
That rule promotes a concept of saving, in which 50% of your income goes towards needs, 30% towards wants, and 20% towards savings.
Unfortunate that investing isn’t included in this.
The 50-30-20 Rule that I’m talking about, however, is a concept introduced by author and polymath, Jim Collins.
This rule indicates that 50% of your time should be spent doing something creative/intellectual, 30% of your time in teaching, and 20% in the things that must be done.
This was the framework he used while creating his management laboratory, though the intricacies of it may differ for each individual.
If anything, I’m inspired to take charge of my time by doing something that pushes my boundaries creatively/intellectually.
Apply this rule to yourself and see what you can do to improve your future self.
In Case You Missed It
Venmo Transaction Fee Increase
Venmo, owned by PayPal, announced to business users that the transaction fees for goods and services will increase to 2.99% per transaction, hurting 1099s (freelancers / independent contractors).
Dan Romero, a co-founder of Farcaster, has suggested that the creation of a stablecoin payment app could become a solution for these users.
Miscellaneous
The Switchboard’s Interview w/Jason Yoong
Always cool to see what my brother is doing 💯
Quote I’m Pondering
“You're looking at Bitcoin as the best performing asset of the last 10 years. I can't see why you wouldn't have a piece of it in your portfolio. Honestly, that would make zero sense to me why you would have zero exposure. Unless you just have some ideological problem with it. And that's called religion, which is not something I'm interested in.”
Ian C. Rogers (CXO of Ledger), when asked about BTC.
In this interview, Ian goes into many different aspects of his life, ranging from his early career with Beats/Apple/LVMH, the importance of BTC, Ledger’s strategy, his digital art strategy, and other nuggets of wisdom.
Highly recommend reading/listening to the full interview with Ian here ⤵️
Seriously, do yourself a favor and read it.
As a personal aside, I feel very fortunate to have gotten to know Ian over the past 2.5 years. He even brought out a Ledger Stax test product last May for a group of us to check out. A very humble human being who is the definition of cool. Looking forward to catch up with him at the next event 💯
Photo of the Week
Art of the Week
COMBAT MODE by Emily Xie
"COMBAT MODE" is inspired by retro video game posters. It depicts two creatures in battle, melding the nostalgia of old school video games with the contemporary possibilities of digital illustration. The series combines digital collage, algorithmic design and techniques, along with generative AI. The same underlying image comes in 10 different palettes with varying probabilities of appearing, ranging from highly common to ultra rare. Each piece comes stamped with its corresponding transaction hash for a sense of provenance and a touch of uniqueness.
Influenced by Xie's lifelong love for video games, "COMBAT MODE" is more than just a nod to the world of gaming; it is a salute to those based individuals who continuously level up and conquer every challenge.
Stay safe out there and be happy~
Best,
Philip
Disclaimer:
All thoughts and opinions are my own; please DYOR (do your own research) and remember that this is NFA (not financial advice). After all, I’m just another dentist.