View this email in your browser

Over 100,000 crypto investors trust the Journal.



HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS

July 26, 2022

"Of the five most important things in life, health is first, education or knowledge is second, and wealth is third. I forget the other two."

- Chuck Berry

Vitalik Buterin on the Future of Ethereum(YouTube): If you couldn't make it to the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris last week, here's the must-see video.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin lays out his vision for the future of the network, emphasizing how much work remains to be done: "The bitcoin community sees bitcoin as 80% complete; the Ethereum community sees Ethereum as 40% complete."

Investor takeaway: The details of the next phases aren't as important as the long-term vision that Buterin is communicating. Note he says the first goal is for Ethereum to be robust enough just to "survive." (If only more crypto projects showed that humility.)

Source: Vitalik Buterin

He shows how the rate of change on Ethereum is accelerating, but eventually it will settle down and become boring and stable. He warns about the "short-term pain" that will be necessary for the "long-term gains."

With his product roadmap, vision, and culture-setting, Vitalik is like a new kind of "crypto CEO," though he would probably chafe at the term. This talk is a master class for any crypto leader.

In our view, Vitalik is a key factor in Ethereum's success. As value investors, we're looking for good companies run by great managers. Vitalik is that "manager" of the Ethereum "company."

Hi everyone, 

It seems that crypto winter is over, at least according to my inbox.

Over the past few days, I received not one but two emails from major companies regarding crypto. 

Buy the Dip

In anticipation of National Avocado Day on July 31, Chipotle Mexican Grill launched a “Buy the Dip” advertising campaign.

The Mexican grill accepts 98 digital currencies for payment, and what better way to promote this than a giveaway? Chipotle is giving away $200,000 in crypto over the next few days, including bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Avalanche and Solana—as well as offering one-cent guac or queso. Notably, with Dogecoin recently trading at $0.06087, and the price of guacamole at $1.95, the one-cent guac is the greater value.

My family happens to be fans of the burritos and queso from Chipotle, so I gave it a shot yesterday, trying to time the best spot to “buy the dip.” While Monday I was not successful, I did win one cent guac today. And since it's free—I'll try again tomorrow.

This made the campaign seem to me very much like gaming—exactly what regulators have targeted in the wake of the meme stock event and Robinhood's interactive trading platform.

However, there were no regulators present at this campaign, which wasn't the first time Chipotle has used crypto as a giveaway. Last year the firm gave away $100,000 in burritos and $100,000 in bitcoin in its “Burritos or Bitcoin” campaign in celebration of National Burrito Day. 

In addition to being invited to win crypto (or guacamole), I received another email, this time from Fidelity Investments. The email subject line, "Fidelity Stock/Crypto Asset Management," caught my eye. Did I miss a ruling from the SEC on crypto custody?

Apparently not. This email was a promotion to join the crypto community (I kind of thought I already was in the Twitter Crypto community, but ok), specifically by joining the Telegram channel of Fidelity Crypto Investments. 

I’m not sure how many emails were sent by Fidelity, one of the world’s largest asset managers, but there are currently only 113 subscribers to the channel, which, by the way, didn’t have much news about crypto at all, just a few very general, disclosure-based posts on investment themes.

Promotions by these companies indicate that even as pricing remains volatile, and as regulators seek new ways to reign in the industry, crypto's popularity continues to expand. The winter is not over, but signs of spring may be close.

Make it a great day!

Evamarie Augustine

Market Analyst

Bitcoin Market Journal is a daily newsletter that makes you a better crypto investor. It is created by Evamarie Augustine, Charles Bovaird, Mati Greenspan, John Hargrave, and Alexandre Lores.

Paid subscribers get full access to our top crypto picks; both free and paid subscribers get content to build you into a better investor.

Upgrade to paid, and become a Blockchain Believer!