The coming AI shock
by Zain Jaffer Unless you have been hiding under a rock, most likely you have heard of or even played around with the new Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications like Chat GPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and other AI applications that have sprouted up. News reports, talk shows, opinion makers now talk about Large Language Models […]
Dangerous debt levels
by Zain Jaffer Recently in early 2024 Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the US is on “an unsustainable fiscal path.” He said that we are “borrowing from future generations.” Powell suggested that we need a serious adult talk about the way America spends money by creating debt over and above what it collects as […]
Inflation remains sticky
by Zain Jaffer The Fed reported in January 2024 that the previous month’s inflation rate climbed from 3.1% to 3.4%, which brings it farther from the target 2% inflation rate and was higher than forecasted. This is bad news for those who were expecting interest rate cuts in 2024, probably since they think that the […]
The end of the Crypto Genesis era
Sometimes when you have been involved in something for a long time, you tend to notice when something major has changed or happened in that sector. As someone who has been in crypto for quite a while now, perhaps not in the very beginning in 2008, but long enough this year is perhaps the year […]
Why Bitcoin fixed supply matters
Recently an October 2023 US treasury bond auction for 30-year bonds did not do as well as hoped [see https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasury-bond-auction-runs-weak-034418412.html]. Many traditional buyers are hesitant for several reasons. One is a long-term but remote credit default risk where the US debt is too large for it to pay off. As fewer buyers show interest, the […]
The FTX crashed more than a year ago
by Zain Jaffer It was more than one year ago in early November 2022 that the crypto exchange FTX crashed, losing most of their investors money in the process. The crash was precipitated by a Coindesk report that stated that the exchange balance sheet was propped up mostly by their own FTT trading token. Subsequent […]
The Ten Year Treasury Bond
by Zain Jaffer Many investors carefully track the ten year US treasury bond yields (or rates) for many reasons. The US needs money to fund its expenditures, and if revenues from taxes and other sources is not enough, it needs to borrow money. The way it does that is to sell short term bills and […]
Relying too much on the tech economy
by Zain Jaffer Recent headlines in late August and early September 2023 were about the price of Nvidia stock, the woes of Apple related to China and US market relative to its iPhone 15 launch, and the much awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) of ARM, the chip design firm that does much of the chip […]
Is US Venture Capital broken?
by Zain Jaffer Is US Venture Capital (VC) broken? There was an interesting discussion from Silicon Valley’s top rated All-In podcast in mid September 2023 about this. Personally I have seen many of the things they have pointed out in my own venture capital efforts. But I’d like to give credit to the excellent way […]
Grayscale wins Spot Bitcoin ETF case at DC Federal Court of Appeals
by Zain Jaffer A three judge panel of the DC Federal Court of Appeals ruled in late August 2023 that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not have a legal basis to reject Grayscale’s proposed spot Bitcoin ETF. Grayscale runs the $16B Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) which they hope to convert it into […]
Swimming in Debt
by Zain Jaffer Most people these days who keep abreast of the business and political news have probably heard of the large $32T US government deficit that keeps growing daily. They’ve also heard as well that the Fed overnight lending rate went up from just above zero to now around 5.5% in a span of […]
BRICS and the US Dollar
by Zain Jaffer Recently in August 2023 representatives from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, (BRICS) and other interested countries met in South Africa to strengthen the BRICS alliance. It was announced in the meeting that six new countries would officially join the BRICS alliance in January 2024. These six new countries include Saudi Arabia, […]