The Weekend Rip: Oops, All Crypto

October has historically treated the crypto market quite well. In the first three days of the months, it has retained that historical precedent. 📅

Crypto got a pretty big boost after China banned crypto last month. It might have been pushed north by looming fears in the world of stocks, fears about the debt limit, Fed Chair Jerome Powell announcing that the U.S. government had ‘‘no intention’’ to ban crypto, and El Salvador jumping into the Bitcoin mining space by using energy from its volcanoes. ⬆️

The global crypto market climbed double-digits this week, boosted by $BTC.X and $ETH.X‘s 10% jumps. Other large-caps made big moves this week too, including $SOL.X (+23.8%), $BNB.X (+22.9%), and $LUNA.X (+19.9%).

The week’s biggest winners included blockchain game Axie Infinity (+95.1%) and the OMG Network (+75.04%).

It seems that the September Curse has come to a close. Sentiment is looking up and crypto pundits are welcoming “Uptober” on Twitter. 

Several days ago, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen warned that the U.S. was at risk of running out of money by the middle of October. By doing so, the country would default on its debt for the first time in history.

There’s a surprisingly easy way to solve that problem: raise the debt ceiling. For the unacquainted, the debt ceiling is an arbitrary limit imposed by Congress to restrict federal debt. For nearly all of American history, Congress used the debt ceiling to reduce debt. Ironically, it has done a very poor job of doing so (especially in the last four decades). tl;dr: debt go 📈.

In today’s climate, the reasons for raising are more dire than they’ve ever been. Most economists and politicos (including the folks at the Treasury) agree that not raising the debt limit could have severe repercussions on the dollar, the global economy, and the U.S. public.

Certainly lawmakers will come around, right? Well, prediction market bettors aren’t too sure: PredictIt bettors have assessed that there is only a 33% chance that the debt limit will be raised by Oct. 15. 😬😬

Considering Oct. 15 is ridiculously close to Yellen’s foretold Debt D-Day, these odds would suggest that bettors aren’t bullish on a debt limit raise happening in time. The fallout could be exceptional, leaving millions of families without their child tax credits and social security checks. 

But for markets, a default will certainly mean a credit downgrade… increased borrowing costs… some stock shockwaves… and potentially a swift boost to crypto markets which reject central banking theory. 

It’s untold what will happen at this point, but we have our eyes on this elephant in the room. 🐘

Mr. Goxx is one of the best traders you’ve never heard of. He’s also a hamster.

The crypto-trading rodent has pulled down returns as high as 21%, which is pretty impressive considering that he is unaware of what exactly his actions are causing.

(Have you ever tried explaining what a market is to a rodent?)

Like most traders, Mr. Goxx’s trading setup is pretty straight-forward. Albeit, there are a few changes which have been made to optimize the ergonomics of his setup. To make trades, he has to make use of a hamster wheel which is designed to change the crypto he wishes to trade. Once he has selected a crypto, he has the option of running through one of two small tunnel segments (to buy or sell.)

Mr. Goxx, the CEO of Goxx Capital, streams nearly everyday from his office. His trades can be watched live on Twitch.

Though funny and lighthearted, it speaks to the current situation in the crypto markets. Literally anybody, including animals, appear to be making money. Does it speak to the mass adoption of crypto or the insanity of the markets?