Image Source:  Exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuer Bitwise has filed for an ETF that would include businesses holding very large amounts of Bitcoin (BTC-USD).A  on Thursday revealed that Bitwise has officially filed to launch the Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations .ETF Store President Nate Geraci noted in an X post that the new ETF, if approved, would include companies that hold at least 1,000 Bitcoin in their corporate treasuries.Bitwise would also require each company included in the ETF to have a market capitalization of at least $100 million, a minimum average daily liquidity of $1 million, and a public free float below 10%.Moreover, the Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF would ensure a measure of diversification by requiring that no single fund component would have a weighting exceeding 25%. Analysis: Is a Bitcoin ETF “virus spreading”? Commenting on Bitwise’s filing for the new ETF, Geraci argued that “the BTC treasury operations virus is spreading.” This may be a reference to Strive Asset Management’s , which would invest in convertible bonds issued by Bitcoin-holding companies like Microstrategy (Nasdaq: ).Geraci also posted a chart showing some . These include Microstrategy, Marathon Digital (Nasdaq: ), Riot Platforms (Nasdaq: ) and, interestingly enough, Tesla (Nasdaq: ).Many people already own Tesla shares and/or have exposure to Tesla through various index funds. Consequently, some investors may end up with high Tesla stock exposure if they buy Bitwise’s new ETF and if that ETF has a heavy Tesla weighting.The bigger-picture question, though, is whether the recent proliferation of Bitcoin-related ETFs has become a “virus” that’s “spreading” out of control. Geraci isn’t necessarily asking this, […]

Image Source: By Tsvetana Paraskova of Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices soared on Friday by the most in a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the chances of a new deal for Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine are low.Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, jumped early on Friday in Amsterdam by as much as 5%, before giving up some of the gains by midday.(Click on image to enlarge) On Thursday, Putin said that  for a new gas transit deal to be reached between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian president was quick to add that the lack of a deal was entirely Ukraine’s fault.Ukraine has so far refused to extend the gas transit deal currently in place that would see gas transit continue uninterrupted to Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia—a refusal that Putin says only hurts Europe.The current gas transit deal began nearly five years ago and expires at the end of 2024, and if the deal does in fact expire without a new deal in place, it will indeed bring hardship to several European countries. According to Putin, the few days left in the year are not long enough to reach a new deal.The volume of natural gas that flows from Russia through Ukraine and onto Europe via the current pipeline deal is about 15 billion cubic meters or less than 10% of the total volume Russia shipped to Europe pre-Russian invasion of Ukraine.Last week, European Union leaders  to discuss the issue of […]

Image Source:   Overview of the meme coin surge in the crypto market. Examination of Dogecoin as the original meme coin and its features. Exploration of Shiba Inu as a direct rival to Dogecoin on the Ethereum blockchain. The cryptocurrency market, a space known for its constant evolution, continues to introduce new digital assets at a rapid pace.Among these, meme-based cryptocurrencies have experienced a surge in popularity, driven by their strong connections to internet culture and social media trends.Despite their often volatile nature, meme coins have successfully captured the attention of investors worldwide.For those willing to navigate the inherent risks, here’s a look at three noteworthy meme coins that stood out in 2024. The rise of meme coins: beyond the joke Meme coins represent a unique category in the crypto space, drawing inspiration directly from internet memes and social media phenomena.Their value isn’t rooted in traditional utility but rather in their association with viral culture.These coins are known for their price volatility and their popularity is often fueled by viral internet trends and endorsements from influential figures like Elon Musk, whose tweets can often have an outsized impact on their market capitalization. Dogecoin (DOGE-X): the original meme coin pioneer Emerging in 2013, Dogecoin was created as a playful tribute to the popular Shiba Inu dog meme. Unlike Bitcoin (), Dogecoin has no limit on the number of coins that can be generated.It operates using a proof-of-work consensus algorithm, where miners use computational power to solve complex math problems, validate transactions, […]

This article summarizes additional data about possible noise in the Fed Funds Rate (FFR) and CPI Inflation data from 1951 to 2024. This examination was y.1,2  Image by  from . IntroductionWe previously examined specific examples of the effects of smoothing monthly data on possible noise removal from month-to-month changes in FFR and CPI1 and year-over-year changes.2Recently,3 it was shown that there were minor differences in the variation of year-over-year inflation over a long period (1951-2024) between quarterly data and 3-month moving average (MA) monthly data. We leave the question of which data is best for another time.  (If they produce similar results, the analysis process is simplified with quarterly data.)Here, we will look further at the possibility of noise differences impacting results between month-over-month changes in FFR and CPI compared to monthly year-over-year changes.We will also examine how using different moving averages to smooth monthly data might reduce the impact of noise. Analysis Sep 2009 – Oct 2011Previous Example of Noise Overwhelming Calculated Correlation1 From September 2009 to October 2011, CPI inflation increased from -1.6% to +3.7%, a rise of 5.3%, or by a different calculation, from -2.3% to +5.6%, a rise of 5.7%.3 During these 26 months, the Fed made no change in interest rates.  The Fed Funds Rate remained at 0-0.25% the entire time.4  However, there were minor variations within the range. The monthly values ranged from 0.07% to 0.20%.  The monthly changes ranged from -0.02% to +0.04%.  In Figure 1, the change for each month is the 3-month-moving average, and the range is […]

Image Source:  Hanging on by the skin of its teeth? Year ends are invariably interesting – on occasion, intriguing. There’s money at stake, especially this year with huge 2024 market gains. End of year mark-ups in thin holiday trading (aka “Santa Claus rally”) are expected to lift Wall Street bonuses and, more importantly, hedge fund payouts (typically 20% of the year’s returns). Sometimes there are sellers standing by to capitalize on year end buying. Occasionally, markets are susceptible to pent up selling pressure. There are managers anxious to make portfolio adjustments, yet they prefer to avoid year-end sales that would impact annual performance numbers. The hope is for a peaceful holiday market price mark-up that pushes out portfolio adjustments early into the new year. It’s a tenuous peace. A surprise market downdraft forces players off the fence, sparking an earlier-than-expected start to portfolio changes. The Nasdaq100 was hit 1.4% in Friday trading. At least for a session, “magnificent” was a misnomer, with the tech darlings down 2 to 3% at intraday lows. By the close, Nvidia had dropped 2.1%, Microsoft 1.7%, Netflix 1.8%, Alphabet 1.6%, Amazon 1.5%, Apple 1.3%, and Meta Platforms 0.6%. Wall Street favorite MicroStrategy fell 3.2%, reducing y-t-d gains to 422%. Tesla sank 5.0% during the session, trimming Q4 gains to 65.0% (lagging only United Airlines in the S&P500). I’ll double-down on last week’s CBB thesis that instability has made its initial leap from the “Periphery” to the “Core” – a rather inconvenient development for an exuberant […]

   If there was ever a moment that laid bare the utter stupidity and futility of Washington’s Empire First policy it surely emerged in the smoking ruins of Syria. The latter was the desultory culmination of Washington’s 13-years-long effort to destroy the legitimate government of Syria on the purported grounds that Assad was a brutal tyrant and plunderer of the country’s paltry wealth.The fact is, he probably was just that. And might well have been among the worst of the dozens of tyrants who today oppress their citizens in nations large and small around the world. But then again, did God Almighty anoint Washington as some kind of planetary Good Shepard charged with bringing just and kind rule to all the peoples of the planet?We think not. Indeed, maintenance of a sustainable, prosperous, free constitutional Republic requires fidelity to the opposite— a regime of small, solvent government including on the Pentagon side of the Potomac. Accordingly, the sole end of foreign policy should be safeguarding the security and liberty of the homeland, not proctoring the governing etiquette of rulers halfway way around the globe that pose no military threat whatsoever to America’s homeland security.Yet Washington has seen fit during the last decade to pump-in upwards of $40 billion of overt and covert military aid, economic support and humanitarian assistance to a plethora of opposition Syrian forces for no discernible reason of homeland security. To the contrary, the expenditure of all this treasure and political capital was designed for no purpose other than to […]