Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: How to spend crypto via Apple Pay (without Apple’s express permission)

• 🔎 This seems important: "Who wants some Solana?" - FTX

• 🤝 Partner: A Gold IRA can diversify your portfolio and safeguard your retirement​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Ethereum ETFs — we’re probably gettin’ ‘em whether we like it or not.

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
Fiat, Hardware Wallets, Stablecoins, Web3.

💅 This is cool:

How To Spend Crypto via Apple Pay (Without Apple’s Express Permission)

In one sentence: Hardware wallet maker SafePal just bought a bank, so its users can bank with USDC instead of fiat, and use an Apple Pay-friendly debit card to spend their crypto.

In today’s “our phones are definitely listening to us” news:

Remember yesterday when we harped on about the importance of having ‘slippery’ fiat-to-crypto on ramps/off ramps?

Well — check out the headline that just popped up in our news feed:

“Crypto Wallet SafePal Ventures Into Banking With New USDC Visa Card“

Here’s the basic gist of what’s happening:

SafePal make hardware wallets (these calculator lookin’ things), and want to make the ‘moving cash into crypto’ process smoother, so — get this:

They went out and bought a bank, called Fiat24.

(Or invested heavily in it, at least).

The result being: customers can have a bank account that stores USDC stablecoins, instead of actual US dollars.

Which seems insignificant on the surface — but that means funds of any size can be moved in seconds (and for pennies on the dollar), instead of days (and for a 1-3% cut of the total amount being moved).

Plus! They’ll even give you a debit card to spend your crypto directly at stores.

Which technically means you’ll now be able to spend crypto via Apple Pay (we never thought we’d utter those words).

But besides all of that, here’s what we love most about this solution…

The ‘fiat-to-crypto’ transfer process will no longer exist in the mind of the end user. It’ll all be done quietly in the background, and at the moment of payment — making crypto not only the cheaper option, but the easier one.

We love to see it!

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

Someone’s Trying To Buy 1% of Solana’s Circulating Supply From FTX (And the Market Is Loving It!)

In one sentence: Pantera Capital wants to buy 1% of SOL’s circulating supply from FTX and hold it for four years (which has helped push SOL’s price up 13% over the past 24 hrs).

Perception is a funny thing…

Like — if one billionaire sells their home to another — is that:

A) A positive reflection on the neighborhood (a billionaire wants to buy here!)
— or —
B) A negative reflection on the neighborhood (a billionaire wants to sell here!)

It’s really all about perception.

Same thing goes for private sales of cryptocurrency — like the one rumored to be happening between FTX and a crypto management firm, Pantera Capital.

In this case, it seems it’s being seen as a good thing.

Pantera wants to buy $250M worth of SOL, from FTX’s $5.8B bag — and the rumored purchase has helped to push SOL’s price up 13%, to ~$148, over the past 24 hrs.

But here’s the twist:

Pantera is pitching to buy $250M worth of SOL, not at $148 per token — but at $59.95.

(That’s a helluva discount!)

If this deal were to go through, Pantera would have to hold that SOL for at least four years.

☝️ And that right there, is why the market is LOVING this news:

Pantera wants to buy up 1% of Solana’s circulating supply, and hold it till 2028.

🤝 Partner:

A Gold IRA Can Diversify Your Portfolio and Safeguard Your Retirement

Safeguarding your retirement with a Gold IRA can help you shield your wealth from market shifts, economic uncertainty, and inflation.

And with gold’s value projected to increase in 2024, now is a good time to invest.

Planning for retirement involves more than saving, so fortify your portfolio with gold today and plan for a better tomorrow.

See Money’s list of Best Gold IRA Companies to start planning a better retirement.

🔪 Let's dissect this:

Ethereum ETFs — We’re Probably Gettin’ ‘Em Whether We Like It or Not.

In one sentence: Cause the SEC has already painted themselves into a corner by approving the trade of Ethereum futures, it’s pretty darn likely we’ll see an ETH ETF at some point.

The big dawgs have been chatting about whether to approve an Ethereum ETF, which has rehashed two long held conversations in the Web3 space…

Conversation 1: Is Ethereum even a commodity? 

Commodities tend to have less stringent regulations (and are more likely to be packaged up as ETFs) while securities are watched closely by the SEC.

Commodities = ‘unchanging things’ like wheat or gold.
Securities = ‘changeable’ things, like shares in Apple.

E.g. What if tomorrow, Tim Cook changed Apple’s business model to selling handmade jewelry on Etsy?

It’s because of this potential for change, that securities are more heavily regulated. Now — the SEC has not formally commented on this debate, but there are OG references hinting that SEC Chair Gary Gensler sees ETH as a commodity.

(Deep in his secret, degenerate heart <3).

Conversation 2: Do folks even want an ETH ETF? 

The argument for an ETH ETF goes something like this:

More investment = a higher Ethereum price.

(Which = everyone being able to afford that life size wax figure of Stone Cold Steve Austin cracking a beer that they’ve wanted for their home office).

No? Ok. You’re the weird one, not us.

The argument against an ETH ETF goes something like this:

If you hold Ethereum, you can propose updates, changes and advancements to the network. Putting a whole bunch of Ethereum in the hands of a select few financial firms puts the network at risk of centralized control.

But here’s the thing — none of this actually matters RE: ETH ETF approval!

Cause the SEC has already painted themselves into a corner by approving the trade of Ethereum futures in the US.

(Futures = a way to bet on the future price of ETH via the stock market).

☝️ And that’s exactly how/why they were forced to approve a Bitcoin ETF.

What is USDC?