JUST IN: Vitalik Buterin releases updated roadmap for Ethereum.

@WatcherGuru

2023 Recap:

• US judge rules XRP is not a security.

• $10 trillion asset manager BlackRock officially files for a Spot Bitcoin & Ethereum ETF.

• BlackRock CEO says crypto is digital gold and "Bitcoin is an international asset."

• Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all charges.

• Elon Musk tells advertisers who are trying to blackmail him to "go fu*k yourself."

• Russia to use Chinese yuan instead of US dollars to settle trade with Asia, Africa, & Latin America.

• FED Chair Jerome Powell says "crypto appears to have staying power as an asset class."

• Changpeng Zhao (CZ) resigns as Binance CEO.

• Coinbase relists Ripple XRP.

• Chinese Yuan overtakes US dollar as most-used currency in China's cross-border transactions for the first time in history.

• Saudi Arabia enters trade alliance with China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and four Central Asian nations to step further away from reliance on the US dollar.

• Argentina President Javier Milei plans to replace the peso with the US Dollar and shut down the central bank.

• Turkish crypto exchange CEO sentenced to 11,196 years in prison for stealing $2 billion in customer funds.

• SEC drops lawsuit against Ripple XRP executives.

• Crypto asset manager Grayscale wins lawsuit against SEC.

• Coinbase sues the SEC, seeking regulatory clarity for the crypto industry.

• El Salvador President officially signs bill eliminating all taxes on income, property, and capital gains for technology innovations.

• Hong Kong court recognizes cryptocurrencies as property.

• Chinese property giant Evergrande files for bankruptcy.

• Terra founder Do Kwon arrested in Montenegro.

• US Government arrests SafeMoon founders John Karony, Kyle Nagy & Thomas Smith.

• BlackRock names JPMorgan as an authorized participant for its Spot Bitcoin ETF.

• UK Government plans to establish new digital asset legislation and make the country a crypto hub.

@WatcherGuru

🚨 In the past 24 hours, Japan has had 190 earthquakes of magnitudes above 2 and up to 7.5

Follow @insiderpaper

Il presunto scopo delle banche centrali è quello di fornire “stabilità macroeconomica” controllando l’inflazione; ciò che fanno invece è aiutare a finanziare i deficit pubblici acquistando titoli di stato. Fungono anche da cartello legalizzato per le grandi banche commerciali, proteggendole dalle corse agli sportelli nel loro ruolo di “prestatori di ultima istanza” (un termine improprio poiché è chi usa la valuta il vero prestatore involontario di ultima istanza).

Lungi dal controllare l’inflazione, la BCE, in particolar modo, funge da elemento motore per gli aumenti cronici dei prezzi attraverso l’espansione dell’offerta di denaro. Emette euro coperti solo dal corso legale, un eufemismo per dire "minaccia di violenza". L’aumento dell'offerta di denaro non farà altro che far aumentare i prezzi nel tempo. La BCE agisce come se questo fatto potesse essere ignorato.

È noto che l’aumento delle tasse crea malumori crescenti, tuttavia la contraffazione a norma di legge da parte delle banche centrali è molto più "sicura", perché il furto è meno visibile. Invece di avere meno euro a causa di una maggiore tassazione, i consumatori hanno euro più deboli a causa della contraffazione. Le loro tasche vengono svuotate silenziosamente attraverso prezzi più alti.

https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/inflazione-report-152-miliardi-conti-correnti-un-anno-AFNOQWCC

🌍 🇪🇹 🇪🇬 Geopolitics of the Red Sea & East Africa | CIG #commentary

🔶️ While analysts held a magnifying lens over the Bab al-Mandab Strait due to Houthi attacks on shipping, several actors in East Africa have carried out notable actions from under the noses of international scrutiny. Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates are making big plays in the region, while Egypt, which should be furious, continues to sleep.

🤝 Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, hosted a series of important meetings.

⬛️ Muse Bihi Abdi, the President of Somaliland, a breakaway Republic in Somalia seeking state recognition, met with Prime Minister Abiy. They agreed to lend port access to the Red Sea for landlocked Ethiopia. This comes days after the President of Djibouti mediated an attempted reconciliation between the governments of Somaliland and Somalia in Mogadishu.

⬛️ Commander Dagalo of the RSF, a rebel group in Sudan attempting to install a new Junta government, met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Demeke Mekonnen and then Abdalla Hamdok, the ex Prime Minister of Sudan. This is part of Commander Dagalo's tour of East Africa, in which he seeks to gain legitimacy from neighboring countries while masquerading as peace talks. He has also been recently received by leaders in Uganda and Djibouti. Notably, Eritrea is absent on his tour.

🇪🇷 Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the recent ally of Ethiopia in the Tigrayan War, have soured. The border has been re-closed, Ethiopian troops have amassed 100 miles from the Eritrean capital, and Ethiopia has vowed to regain access to the Red Sea, as it once held prior to the Eritrean War of Independence.

🇦🇪 The United Arab Emirates heavily finances Ethiopia and Somaliland and is a key supplier of armaments for the RSF and Dagalo's ally, Marshal Haftar, the strongman of Eastern Libya. Leaving them at odds with Egypt in some spheres, save for cooperation in Libya.

🇪🇬 What will Egypt do? Situated in a rough neighborhood involving an uneasy cold war with Ethiopia, they risk losing their water supply to ambitious Abyssinians quickly gaining hegemony over East Africa. However, their allies such as Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti hold Red Sea ports, containing Ethiopia as a landlocked power until recently. Ethiopia's main port access to the Red Sea was Djibouti. Soon, it will be Berbera of Somaliland. Ethiopia also holds interest in Sudan's Kassala region, on the road to Port Sudan, and revanchist attitudes towards Eritrea. This would cut Djibouti's trade flows from Ethiopia as it seeks to operate in ports along their flanks. Egypt will have to respond to Ethiopia soon or risk losing drinking water and their neighborhood friends on a kill avenue.

🇮🇷 🇨🇳 Where there are opportunities, there are investments. This decade may see near-future changes to the Red Sea. Iran, which holds good relations with Ethiopia, may find itself directly trading with Ethiopian ports and granted naval access to project into the Bab al-Mandab Strait. China, which finances and constructs ports across Africa, may find itself in high demand to renovate future infrastructure. Of course, all of this depends on whether Egypt or Ethiopia can find a manageable resolution to their regional competition, or a new order emerges in an increasingly deglobalized world.

https://telegra.ph/Geopolitics-of-the-Red-Sea--East-Africa-01-02

US 1 month T-bills yield has skyrocketed 13% in a day

Just as Bitcoin prices have shot up at the same time

Short term T-bills yield spikes usually a sign of a financial entity of systemic size blowing up

https://twitter.com/DumpWatcher/status/1742004148357484617

NOW - Democratic South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung stabbed in neck during press conference in Busan.

The attacker was wrestled to the ground and restrained.

https://www.disclose.tv/id/a2oluh7132/

@disclosetv

🏴‍☠️ 🇸🇴 🇪🇹 Somaliland official confirmation:

🔶️ In Exchange for 20km sea access for Ethiopia naval forces, leased for a period of 50 years, Ethiopia will formally recognise Somaliland - statement

📎 MFA Somaliland

Imagine practically giving up 20km of your country's land just to get recognized, that is a low move.

The Ethiopians, since the independence of Eritrea, have always wished for sea access, and they just got that

The Abyssinian is becoming more and more proud of himself, and I almost do not blame him for this, the meekness of our Political Command in its, perhaps now, naïve wish for peaceful dialogue, has been misplaced in regards to the GERD, now Ethiopia has just violated the territorial integrity of Somalia - and if anything, the Ethiopian does not seem to be concerned with the fact that creditors are basically going to lynch him if they do not pay their debt (they already missed around 30 million dollars, actually, they "REFUSED" to pay it.)

Tensions will rise in the Horn of Africa, and they will not be pretty.

🌎🗳 Elections in Latin America in 2024

2024 will be a historic election year, with elections planned in almost 50 countries across the globe. Here's a timeline of the upcoming elections in North and South America.

🇸🇻 4 February: El Salvador, President and Parliament.

🇵🇦 5 May: Panama, President and Parliament.

🇩🇴 19 May: Dominican Republic, President and Parliament.

🇲🇽 2 June: Mexico, President, Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

🇺🇾 27 October: Uruguay, President and Parliament.

🇺🇸 5 November: United States, President, Senate and House of Representatives.

🇻🇪 date unknown, Venezuela, President.

#LatAm #election

☠️ Blood Meridian

🚗 🇨🇳 🇺🇸 China’s BYD is selling more electric cars than Tesla

🔶️ BYD overtook Tesla to become the world’s biggest electric car company in the final quarter of 2023.

🔶️ The Chinese company sold a record number of cars last year, including 525,409 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the three-month period to December 31, according to a stock exchange filing. Tesla said Tuesday it delivered 484,507 — also a record— during the quarter.

🔶️ The rapid growth of BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett, is a symbol of China’s rising EV industry.

🔶️ Beijing has set a target that at least 20% of new cars sold annually by 2025 should be new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include BEVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. By 2035, the government says, NEVs should become the “mainstream” of new car sales.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/02/cars/china-byd-ev-sales-increase-tesla-intl-hnk/index.html