Nike Buys NFT Fashion Startup

The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day

Dec. 14, 2021

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–Daniel Kuhn

Today's must-reads

Top Shelf

ELON IS BACK: Dogecoin surged as much as 33% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric-car maker would accept dogecoins as payment for its merchandise. Musk tweeted that "Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes." Dogecoin rose to as high as $0.20 following Musk's tweet before falling back to about $0.18. Earlier this year, Tesla started accepting bitcoin as payment for its electric cars before pausing that program due to environmental concerns. Musk's opinions on cryptocurrency have been as inconsistent as DOGE's price.

METAVERSE 'FOOTPRINT': Multinational footwear behemoth Nike has acquired NFT collectibles and fashion startup RTFKT, which announced the move Tuesday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. RTFKT attracted headlines in March when a digital footwear collaboration with prolific NFT artist FEWOCiOUS sold for $3.1 million. The acquisition will "extend Nike's digital footprint and capabilities," Nike President John Donahoe wrote in a blog post.

PEAK STABLECOIN: Avalanche, an Ethereum-rivaling smart contract blockchain, is adding a native version of USDC, the stablecoin backed by cash and liquid cash equivalents administered in part by Boston-based Circle. Bringing USDC to Avalanche should further grease the wheels of decentralized finance (DeFi) on the network, following a recently announced $200 million incubation fund for DeFi projects of various stripes. Up until now, users have had to bridge USDC from Ethereum over to Avalanche.

STELLAR PILOT! Ukrainian bank Tascombank will test an electronic hryvnia, a digital version of its sovereign currency. The digital currency will be built and tested on the Stellar network and be deployed via global fintech platform Bitt's digital currency management system, the bank said. The pilot, which will kick off in 2022, will test the digital currency's effectiveness in public employee payroll, peer-to-peer payments and merchant payments.

DIG THE UNICORN: NYDIG has raised a stunning $1 billion in a round of funding that will value the bitcoin investment firm at over $7 billion, the company announced Tuesday. The round was led by WestCap and joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, FinTech Collective and existing investors Affirm, FIS, Fiserv, MassMutual, Morgan Stanley and New York Life. The capital will be used to "further accelerate progress towards making this exciting network accessible and useful," NYDIG CEO Robert Gutmann said.

–Helene Braun

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Overheard on CoinDesk TV...

Sound Bites

"We have something that seems to be substitutable for money … but how do we ensure that this is an actual payment mechanism?"

–Law Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, Dr. Ryan Clements discussing stablecoins, on CoinDesk TV's "First Mover."

What others are writing...

Off-Chain Signals

Coinbase, still spooked by the SEC, offers crypto yield everywhere but U.S. (Protos)
Animoca Brands will co-develop a play-to-earn game with NFT giant Bored Ape Yacht Club (Decrypt)
Hackers accessed 96 private keys stolen from Vulcan Forged, a crypto gaming ecosystem, stealing $140 million in crypto (The Block)
Twitch co-founder Justin Kan is launching a gaming-focused NFT marketplace called Fractal (Medium)
Survey: Two-thirds of BlockFi Rewards Cardholders Spend Less with Cash-back Cards (Blockworks)
Read the latest class action against stablecoin issuer Tether (Court Listener)

How crypto is changing media and entertainment – and forging its own culture. Follow along with our continuing coverage here.

Neil Strauss Pens the Bored Ape Yacht Club 'Tell-All'

What does it mean to write a memoir about a group of NFT avatars that kind of exists but kind of doesn't? The author of "Pickup Artists" (and nine other books) tells Jeff Wilser.

The Elon Effect: How Musk's Tweets Move Crypto Markets

Elon Musk has repeatedly shown interest in toying with the crypto markets. We dive into how Tesla's CEO has swayed the prices of DOGE and BTC during 2021.

Putting the news in perspective

The Takeaway

Is Bitcoin Progressive?

Strictly speaking, Bitcoin is for everyone. I like to think about this decentralized network as a type of public commons – it's an open ledger that anyone can append, anyone can access, anyone can take part in. (I do.) It's bigger than any single individual, corporation or government. To this extent, Bitcoin is one of the fairest – perhaps the most fair – monetary networks today.

But progressive, Bitcoin is not. Released into the wild during the height of the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin is an experiment with non-state money. It's a political project, one that enshrines the values of private property and open markets.

In recent months, a host of progressive-leaning pols and regs in the United States have raised their concerns about Bitcoin and crypto broadly. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), for one, said a world staring down ecological crisis has no room for this carbon-intensive computer network. Especially one that is primarily used by "shadowy super-coders," she said.

Bitcoiners have made sport out of responding to these erroneous and fatuous remarks – which, to be fair, also come from across the political aisle. There are more than a few Bitcoin superfans who lean progressive and try to make the case that the network ought to be a plank in democratic policy making.

Often, their reasons are sound. The neutral Bitcoin network stands distinct from the traditional financial sector, littered as it is with a history of redlining, usury and unethical behavior. If financial access is a progressive concern, then Bitcoin could play a role.

There's also the view that miners, who use a lot of power in a process that both creates new BTC and secures the network, could incentivize green energy development in their search for the cheapest and most reliable power sources (to some extent this is already happening).

And, to be sure, there are plenty of Democratic politicians who see hope in crypto. Rep. Antonio Torres (D-N.Y.), a representative from The Bronx borough of New York City, recently asked if crypto could lower the cost of remittances for his constituents.

But I think the attempt to rebrand Bitcoin as progressive muddies the waters and obfuscates exactly what Bitcoin is. Bitcoin is a project that stands against the state. It supports the establishment of open, global markets that are hard to regulate by design.

There's a long history of progressivism in the U.S., a political ideology that seeks to mitigate the worst effects of capitalism and often calls on the federal government to play a role in managing the economy. Progressives brought us the five-day workweek and other strong labor protections. They've often been staunch advocates for press freedoms.

Today, progressives are an ascendant political force. Their platform advocates for greater government spending to extend the welfare state, more attuned oversight on business and stronger consumer protections.

As mentioned, there are many areas where Bitcoin aligns with progressive goals – especially anywhere where personal liberty and expression come into play. But I think fundamentally it stands in contradiction. If anything, Bitcoin furthers the neoliberal agenda, beginning in the later half of the 20th century, which moved to turn over government resources to public-private partnerships or management by market actors.

It's common to hear that Bitcoin's technology is apolitical, but it's not. In the first Bitcoin block ever mined, its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, encoded a headline about government bailouts of banks. A Bitcoin system would limit the power of governments to respond to crises, to provide for its citizens.

None of this is to say that Bitcoin isn't a powerful tool. It's important to get clear about this because people and politicians may come to it on their own terms.

It's often said that Bitcoin may not have all the answers, but gets people to ask the right questions. That could have resonance for political identities. If progressives want Bitcoin to be a political cause, they should consider voting for a different party.

–Daniel Kuhn

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