Markets
GameStop Meme Stock Craze Prompted Market ‘Plumbing’ Changes, Says SEC Chair Gensler
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1 month agoon
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adminGameStop’s short squeeze in 2021 taught the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) several key lessons. Among those highlighted in a Monday speech by SEC Chair Gary Gensler was the need to modernize equity markets, in part by embracing shorter settlement times.
A retail-led movement to bet big against Wall Street short sellers caused GameStop’s stock price to spike nearly four years ago amid the “meme stock” craze. Forced to hold or sell shares skyrocketing in price, restrictions imposed by several brokerage firms blunted the rally that was later enshrined in stock market history and recounted in books and films.
Gensler, an unwavering critic of the digital assets industry, partly pinned the restrictions on a lack of market efficiency. Ultimately, a shift toward shorter settlement times—that experts say blockchains benefit from—improved upon mechanics that stifled some GameStop investors.
“Many everyday investors lost access to the market at a critical time,” Gensler said. “The longer it takes for a trade to settle—the slower the plumbing—the more risk our markets assume.”
When purchasing or selling a stock on a venue like the New York Stock Exchange, there is a delay between when the transaction is made and when it becomes fully processed across a series of intermediaries, including a broker-dealer, clearing agency, and exchange.
Notably, the SEC has accused crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase of fulfilling several of these roles at once, without proper registration, while facilitating securities transactions. Both companies have denied the regulator’s claims amid ongoing battles in federal courts.
Once conducted through paper checks and physical certificates, the settlement window for securities has been shortened with SEC rule changes over time. Commonly referred to as T+2, a two-day settlement window was reduced in May, making what Gensler said was “a real difference” for everyday investors.
At the same time, the shift to T+1 influenced the relationship between brokers, which match buyers and sellers, and clearinghouses that facilitate the exchange of securities and payments.
Margin calls from clearinghouses led some brokers to restrict purchases of GameStop stock during its famed short squeeze in 2021. But the “amount of margin, or collateral, that must be placed with the clearinghouse” was reduced significantly with T+1’s adoption, Gensler said.
Gensler’s GameStop reflection followed crypto-focused remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller last week. Discussing the merits of decentralized finance (DeFi), he described how intermediaries have historically provided value—but now face competition.
As reflected in the popularity of centralized crypto exchanges, Waller posited that DeFi could play a complementary role to existing financial markets, rather than replace legacy systems. Along those lines, he said distributed ledger technology (DLT) like blockchain could be an “efficient and faster way to do recordkeeping,” while smart contracts flatten trade structures.
“Smart contracts can effectively combine multiple legs of a transaction into a single unified act,” Waller said. “This can provide value, as it can mitigate risks associated with settlement.”
Companies like tZERO are building blockchain-based marketplaces for private securities. The Utah-based firm gained approval from the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to operate as a custodian for digital assets sold as securities last month.
In early 2025, the firm plans to launch with a “full digitization” of its Series-A preferred equity. But Wall Street tastemakers have visions for a crypto-based market extending far beyond that.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink hailed tokenization as the “next generation for securities” in 2022. Using a digital representation of an asset to conduct trades on a blockchain, he said the process would provide market participants with “instantaneous settlement” and “reduced fees.”
Alongside the crypto’s rise, financial firms have looked at other qualities inherent to blockchains, such as the 24/7 schedule that they operate under within the context of trading. Crypto markets don’t close, which can provide both opportunities and risks alike.
In April, the Financial Times reported that the New York Stock Exchange was exploring round-the-clock trading. The development would be a significant break from the exchange’s regular six-and-a-half hour trading window, extended as recently as 1985.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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The Chart That Shows Bitcoin’s Bull Run Won’t Stop at $100,000
Published
7 hours agoon
November 21, 2024By
adminPeak Bitcoin, hardly.
As I wrote in Forbes in 2021, the world is waking up to a new reality in regards to Bitcoin – the unlikely truth that Bitcoin’s programming has cyclical effects on its economy.
This has led to at least 4 distinct market cycles where Bitcoin has been branded a bubble, skeptics have rung their hands, and each time, Bitcoin recovers more or less 4 years later to set new all-time highs above its previously “sky-high” valuation.
I personally watched Bitcoin go from $50 to $1,300 in 2013. Then, from $1,000 to $20,000 in 2017, and I watched it go from $20,000 to $70,000 in 2021.
So, I’m just here to relate that, from my past experience, this market cycle is just heating up.
For those who have been in Bitcoin, there’s one tried-and-true and that’s Google Search. As long as I’ve been in Bitcoin, this has been the best indicator of the strength of the market.
Search is low, you’re probably in a bear market. Search heading back to all-time highs? This means new entrants are getting engaged, learning about Bitcoin, and becoming active buyers.
Remember, this is a habit change. Bitcoin HODLers are slowing shifting their assets to a wholly new economy. So, Google Trends search then, represents a snapshot of Bitcoin’s immigration. It shows how many new sovereign citizens are moving their money here.
And it’s something that all who are worried about whether bitcoin’s price topping out in 2024 should pay attention to.
Last year was the Bitcoin halving, and historically, the year following previous halvings has led to price appreciation. Maybe you’re tempted to think, “this time is different” – not me. I look at search and I see a chart that continues to accelerate into price discovery. Trust me when I say no one I know is selling bitcoin.
As shown above, buyer interest is accelerating, and these new buyers have to buy that Bitcoin from somewhere. Add nation states, US states, and a coming Trump administration set to ease the burden on the industry?
Well, I think the chart above says it all really.
This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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Bitcoin
Bitcoin Nears $96K, Continuing Wild ‘Trump Trade’ Rally
Published
19 hours agoon
November 21, 2024By
adminBTC traded above $95,900 in early Asian hours, less than 6% from a landmark $100,000 figure that would push it above a $2 trillion market capitalization.
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Bitcoin
Bitcoin Boosts MicroStrategy (MSTR) to Higher Trading Volume Than Tesla and Nvidia
Published
1 day agoon
November 20, 2024By
adminToday, MicroStrategy (MSTR) surpassed a $100 billion market cap to become the 93rd largest publicly-traded company in the U.S.
At the time of writing, MSTR has done more trading volume than both stock giants Tesla and Nvidia today, and has traditional stock traders like the Wall Street Bets community losing their minds.
Wow $MSTR is the most traded stock in America today.. to best $TSLA and $NVDA is crazy. It's been years since a stock has traded more than one of those two (it may have actually been $GME to last do it). It's also about double $SPY! Wild times.. pic.twitter.com/bUr8nycMX3
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 20, 2024
This is absolutely mindblowing considering MicroStrategy was a mere $1 billion company when it first bought bitcoin for its treasury about four and a half years ago.
The big question I’m asking myself is, how and when does this end? Assuming MSTR continues to pump until the peak of this bull market, it’s anyone’s guess on how high MSTR may go.
But how hard will it crash in the bear market, considering it is essentially a leveraged trade on bitcoin? Dare I even suggest that this time may be different, and that the downside of the next bitcoin bear market won’t be as brutal as the 70%+ corrections we’re historically used to seeing?
Even with the spot bitcoin ETFs, and the notion that the US may lead the charge of nation states buying up mass amounts of bitcoin, I’m still not convinced that we don’t eventually see a massive downturn in bitcoin’s price. And I’m mentally preparing for a normal bitcoin bear market to commence after this bull market finishes sometime in the next year or so.
But back to MSTR — Michael Saylor has thus far proven that the Bitcoin for Corporations strategy works in stunning fashion. Public companies have been coming out of the woodwork this past week announcing that they’ve purchased bitcoin for their balance sheet or plan to do so, and it seems this trend will continue as the CEO of Rumble asked his X audience if he should add BTC to their balance sheet (almost 94% of his 42,522 voters voted “yes”).
Lets put this in a poll format…
Should Rumble add Bitcoin to its balance sheet?
— Chris Pavlovski (@chrispavlovski) November 19, 2024
Michael Saylor even offered to help explain how and why Rumble should adopt a corporate BTC strategy.
Institutional bitcoin adoption is here and it’s only going to grow for the foreseeable future. As companies figure out the logic behind adopting bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, the number of publicly-traded companies that adopt this strategy is going to explode.
Companies that add bitcoin to their balance sheet will rise above most other companies — even top big tech giants — in terms of trading volume, as MicroStrategy has, until all companies add bitcoin to their balance sheet. I try to put myself in the shoes of a trader, with knowledge on Bitcoin and think to myself, “Why on earth would I buy any company’s stock if they don’t have bitcoin on their balance sheet?” I wouldn’t — it would be way too boring.
Putting BTC on the balance sheet helps create volatility, and therefore opportunity for stock traders, which is good for the traders, stock price, and company overall. If you are a publicly-traded company, it is a no brainer to adopt bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.
This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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