Quota-based competition ≠ priced-based competition
Can it really be true that most economists analyzing China don’t understand this?
The surge in bullion lease rates is China’s Libor moment
The popular perception that China is a beneficiary of rising bullion prices overlooks that it is the one that needs the metals for financing. The true market signal is that rebalancing is near.
Analysis: The great Ethena de-pegging (or not?)
Friday’s de-pegging of Ethena’s USDe rocked crypto markets and came as if out of the blue. With more than 72 hours to gather intel and reflect on what went on, here’s our post-mortem of the bloodbath that day — and what it augurs for DeFi resilience and delta-neutral strategy stablecoins more broadly. You can listen […]
Crypto bloodbath: the stablecoin fallout
Looks like it was a close one for the Delta-One coins like Ethena’s USDe.
Presented without (much) comment: Slowly, then suddenly, edition
Odds and ends we’ve spotted throughout the week.
Stablecoins as stablization programs for the West
The Genius Act is about more than separating credit functions from payment float. It’s a form of forward guidance that says, ‘You can trust us, because we have an intent to peg. ‘
The new American América spread
Hi everyone — Dario here. The deluge of AI-driven news means that once-respectable fields like geopolitical analysis, once handled by a few competent individuals (and me), can now be readily manufactured and packaged under a credible-sounding Substack name by the most acne-ridden of adolescents. That’s why The Blind Spot is turning towards color pieces — […]
Why ‘perps’ could be the next big thing after stablecoins
As perpetual futures edge into the mainstream, they stand to reshape dollar funding markets in unexpected ways.
Bootstrapping a European manufacturing business
Dispatches from the frontlines of European manufacturing There is something Kafkaesque about European manufacturing: it doesn’t really exist. The problem isn’t just how expensive manufacturing in Europe is. It’s how inflexible and specialized most participants have had to become to fend off Asian competition. The result is a dearth of manufacturing methods, materials, and expertise, […]
The free speech community is tearing itself apart over Charlie Kirk
The fracture stems from a blind spot: a reluctance to recognize that certain limits on speech are legitimate, especially at war, and that whataboutism isn’t always equivalent.