~Estimated Read Time: 3 Minutes, 15 Seconds
*Markets are subject to volatility so the price may change.
S&P 500: $4,151.94 (-0.08%) (24%)
Bitcoin: $22,780.45 (-1.77%) (24%)
Ethereum: $1,633.22 (-1.21%) (24%)
USDC: $.99 (+0.03%) (24%)
Solana: $39.49 (-74.41%) (24%)
Hey Tea Sippers 👋,
Another week, another Friday! :) What a time to be alive. Recent news declares that the Monkeypox outbreak is officially a public health emergency.
In other news, tech stocks hit highs for companies such as Pinterest, and Lyft which recorded record earnings. And Coinbase’s price surged after the recent news, which we will get into shortly.
Well, we are going to send you off. We hope that you enjoy the stories we have for you today. Grab your tea and start sipping!
Cheers! ☕️
1. Coinbase partners with BlackRock to expand their intiatives.
Traditional finance meets centralized finance as the two biggest firms collide. You are reading this correctly, Coinbase has partnered with the investment firm BlackRock to extend crypto to institutional investors via their prime platform. What does this mean?
First things first.
BlackRock is currently the world’s biggest asset manager with $8.5 trillion in assets under management.
Now with this partnership, there over 200 institutional clients will now have access to different digital asset use cases.
Coinbase prime will now be integrated with BlackRock’s platform Aladdin in order.
“This connectivity with Aladdin will allow clients to manage their bitcoin exposures directly in their existing portfolio management and trading workflows for a whole portfolio view of risk across asset classes.” Joseph Chalom, global head of strategic ecosystem partnerships at BlackRock
Numbers.
Coinbase’s stock fell 70% last week due to crypto volatility, SEC hammering down, and insider trading cases.
Now their stock has risen significantly, up 50% on the week.
The Big Gulp ☕️:
The two big dogs have decided to collide. A lot has happened in the crypto space recently and many companies are looking to continue the push for mass adoption. The face of crypto, Coinbase, and the face of asset management, BlackRock are joining forces. This is a clear case of TradFi meets CeFi. A scary sight to see for those crypto maxis, but an exciting one for institutional and centralized players.
2. Robinhood shares drop drastically as the company struggles to retain customers.
Your once favorite stock trading app has hit a slow growth period. The stock is down and many investors are leaving it for dead. Quite a change in an industry that once paved the way for easier accessibility to purchasing assets. What happened?
Declines.
Robinhood recently laid off 23% of its staff
Transaction sales fell 9%
Sales from options and stocks fell 11% and 19%
What about Users?
MAU dropped 1.9 million → 14 million
Assets under custody for users dropped 31%
- The stock is currently trading at $10.39 down from its 52-week high of $85.00.
The Big Gulp ☕️:
All good things must come to an end, and it looks as if Robinhood has begun to lose some edge in this sector. As stock trading has become niche and many platforms have been developed, Robinhood’s business model is no longer cutting it for investors. In addition, they had some big issues in the AMC/ Gamestop debacle. Now as revenue decreases and staff members get laid off. They are in search of one big answer. How do we drive revenue growth back up?
Extra Tea ☕️
Meta- Facebook will integrate with Coinbase to allow for NFT distribution.
Partners- Binance partners with Mastercard to launch a prepaid card in Argentina.
Hacked- Solana had 8,000 wallets that were drained of over $5 million.
Adios- CEO Michael Saylor steps down from his position at Microstrategy.
Tea Pods ☕️
Here’s a fun pod by Bloomberg Crypto with Matt Levine, a columnist at Bloomberg and a previous lawyer and investment banker. He dives into what a security is and how it applies to recent news in the crypto ecosystem.
Listen Here.
Sencha Tea Fact of the Week ☕️
“The first cryptocurrency was eCash, created by David Chaum's company DigiCash in 1990.”
Since you made it this far!
If you or a friend know anyone interested in the space, feel free to recommend them.
Cheers!☕️