Today’s post will be about Japanese yen vol, but I am sure to bore some readers with that topic, so I am starting with something a little more interesting. As many of you know, I am a little bit of a bitcoin skeptic. At the end of the day, I have trouble investing in the ledger in the sky.
Call me old-fashioned, call me a troglodyte, call me a bitter gold bug, call me whatever you want, I just can’t bring myself to get long bits in the cloud. And before you send me messages how I don’t understand it, don’t forget I was mining bitcoin before most of Wall Street had ever heard of it. So I am much more than just some trade-a-saurus that refuses to get with the times, I am the knob who passed on bitcoin at $5.
Yet I have the privilege of counting Tony Greer from TG Macro as one of my pals, and his enthusiasm about using crypto currencies for micro-payments has piqued my interest. From Tony’s great letter the other day:
For selfish reasons, this is the article that gets me most excited about bitcoin and the blockchain. The streamlining of media distribution is going to kick the door open for individuals to compete with publishing powerhouses and main stream periodicals.
Publishing content on Amazon, iTunes, even YouTube is extremely costly for the author/artist. Youtubers can’t earn money until they get 10,000 views. Apple and Amazon take between 30% and 75% for the right to their distribution networks. Since media consumption has gone digital, it’s been difficult to charge on a PER ARTICLE basis because of high transaction costs making it prohibitively expensive. All that’s about to change. The blockchain is going to allow thousands of transactions to be processed at low to no cost, it will preserve a record of all those transactions along with all the content, it provides transparency for the artist/author and consumer, and one day, it will make the Morning Navigator available to every single reader in the world for $1 per copy.
Take a moment to read the article Tony linked to. Yeah, I know. You would never expect me to be linking to an article in BitCoin Magazine, but life’s funny.
I have no real counterargument to the idea of using cryptos for micropayments. There is a real need for the ability to easily transfer small amounts of money. Given that it is simply a change in a ledger at a bank, it should be virtually free. Yet the banks, VISA and Mastercard, have for too long enjoyed oligopoly pricing, and just like the music industry fifteen years ago, they will not willingly lower their fees until it is too late.
The other day I was out with some bankers who were explaining Ben Davies’ newest project. Many of you will remember Ben as the CIO of Hinde Capital, but a year or so ago he left to devote his time to GLINT. Having a look at the prototype, I realized this product very well might change the way we think about global currencies and how we transact. I will not bother shilling their service, but needless to say, existing financial institutions should be worried about the emergence of GLINT, Goldmoney, and all the other fintech startups that are nipping at their heels.
