#Crypto #Cryptocurrencies #Bitcoin #Blockchain #Decentralization: "Crypto is a vibes-based financial market. The lack of fundamental anchors such as earnings or interest rates mean that crypto trades overwhelmingly on sentiment. But the proximate cause of the recent return of “good vibes” to the crypto market appears to be the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to allow direct crypto exchange traded funds (ETFs) run by investment institutions to enter the US market.
The irony of this development is remarkable. The bitcoin white paper, crypto’s founding text, says: “The main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required.” When you consider that the big positive news in cryptoland today is that BlackRock has opened a bitcoin fund that trades on the Nasdaq, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the main benefits have been lost.
It is notable that BlackRock-managed funds also backed Bankman-Fried’s FTX with venture capital funding just over a year before it collapsed. It was one of many top Wall Street and Silicon Valley names whose funding helped give FTX its veneer of legitimacy, although the size of these investments was relatively small. For all the talk of crypto’s “decentralised” structure and antagonism with “traditional finance”, it has often been big money managers pushing the gas.
BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF reached $10bn faster than any ETF in US history. Although all such funds benefit from the run-up in crypto prices, they will continue to earn fees as long as retail investors are hanging on for the ride.
The persistence of middlemen in crypto builds on customer demand. People on the whole have enough common sense to know that we are fallible. The very clever tech behind bitcoin was undermined because it didn’t take human nature into account."
https://www.ft.com/content/10fe3070-c739-495c-941d-fd57f1daafa9?shareType=nongift
@remixtures the critical point is that this doesn't mean trusted third parties are required.
ETFs can help serve as anchors for Bitcoin, similar to interest rates, but they're optional, with users free to take advantage of them or not as they feel like.
It's nice to see such an anchor emerge, as it has positive implications for the operation of the currency, so the good vibes from the SEC decision are rational.
