US oil is approaching Mad Max mode
Cushing Oklahoma is where crude that settles under the CME’s West Texas Intermediate contract must be delivered. Whenever there is a big discrepancy between the price of WTI and Brent (the latter of which trades more internationally) there is often a big incentive to store US crude there. The tankage system at Cushing, however, has […]
Spotlight on how crypto genius failed
Decentralised finance, a.k.a DeFi, has been hurting The Blind Spot’s head ever since we first heard about pancake swaps earlier this year. Try as we might we couldn’t wrap our heads around it. What the hell was it? What was its point? How did it work? Why did everyone seem to know what was going […]
ALTIF transcripts: Lawfare latest – Banks vs Cadwalladr
Lawfare latest: Banks vs Cadwalladr A victory for public interest journalism, or a travesty of the law? We pick through the surprise judgment handed down in Brexit “bad boy” Aaron Banks’s libel case against investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr in the company of top media lawyer, Mark Stephens. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With […]
Spot Markets Live Transcript: 20/06/22
Comments IK – I’ve decided to post today’s comments after all, but only as an example of what you will see when you are in the live chat. I have, however, obscured the identities with initials for privacy reasons. (Apart from Graham from Coodash.) They’re also in reverse chronological order. 12:08 Graham Halliday: Thanks for […]
Is the ECB’s anti-fragmentation tool a CBDC?
The most intriguing news that came out of the ECB’s ad hoc meeting on Wednesday was that the governing council had accelerated work on a new “anti-fragmentation instrument” to help it cope with diverging sovereign bond valuations as it moves into a tightening phase. The exact wording was this: In addition, the Governing Council decided […]
What the Fed giveth, the Fed taketh away
The outcome of Wednesday’s FOMC decision could possibly end up being one of the most important in recent history. Thanks to some tactically positioned media guidance, the market is, as of Monday, expecting the Fed to go as far as a 75 basis points hike when It concludes its June FOMC meeting. The up-turn in […]
Coinbase as a pathway to “tradfi” crypto contagion
When Coinbase direct-listed on the Nasdaq on April 14, 2021, it did so with a valuation of $85.8bn. The listing came at what might retrospectively be considered the peak of crypto market exuberence and the height of the NFT craze. The nuts price tag at the time somewhat remarkably put the crypto trading platform ahead […]
Spot Markets Live lives!
Thanks to the good folks at Coodash (and a much deserved shout out to Graham Halliday for his work on this) The Blind Spot now has the tech functionality to run a live markets chat. For the next few weeks or so, however, we will be operating in Beta testing mode. In time, the Coodash […]
ALTIF transcripts: What to do about the energy crisis?
What to do about the energy crisis Prices are high; supply is insecure; basically it’s a nightmare. But which levers do you pull to make things better, and which do you leave well alone? We talk to former Number 10 adviser and consultant Josh Buckland about how to fix the UK’s energy woes. Presented by […]
The Celsius crypto meltdown is linked to the Terra debacle
If you’re not knee deep in crypto goings on, the news this Monday morning that the Celsius network is in trouble might not mean very much to you. But what’s going on may have serious repercussions for the entire crypto network. Bitcoin is down 10.46 per cent in the last 24 hours on the news. […]