Welcome back to the Thinking Crypto Podcast, your home for cryptocurrency news and interviews. If you are new here, please hit that subscribe button as well as the thumbs up button and leave a comment below. If you're listening on a podcast platform such as Spotify, Apple or Google, please leave a five star rating and review. It supports the podcast and it doesn't cost you anything. Well, folks, I want to start off by giving you some perspective about all markets and bad actors and good actors. You know, quite often we hear Gary Gensler say there's a lot of scammers and hucksters and whatever else in the crypto market, right? He's painting the whole industry and asset class with broad strokes. But we know that's a lie and he's just gaslighting, right? But if you look at all markets, there are bad actors there. For example, UBS, one of the largest banks to pay $1 .4 billion for fraud in mortgage backed securities. So great example that even a established, fully regulated industry still has fraud happening, JP Morgan and all these banks, Wells Fargo, they all get billions of dollars in fines almost every year because they're doing something shady. And that is because in civilization and humanity, there are bad people looking to do bad things. So it's not that the technology or the asset class is bad, but rather there needs to be proper regulations and we have to weed out the bad actors. Now one could argue it's not possible to weed out every bad actor because we don't know what's happening in the minds of people. We're not mind readers, but we at least have to have proper regulations. So when you see the likes of Gary Gensler and others who are anti -crypto, gaslighting and putting out sensationalized headlines, don't be dismayed and realize what's happening. They're trying to put out a narrative. And we know crypto is here to stay. There are a lot of folks building with the technology. Are there bad actors? Of course, just look at Sandbank -Meerfried, right? But Sandbank -Meerfried is crypto's Bernie Madoff. So you just see these things when you line up all markets, you see the bad actors and of course the good actors. So a great example here. Now folks, Michael Burry, the big short Michael Burry, apparently he is running some shorts here and it's at a market value of $1 .6 billion. Apparently he bought $890 million of the SPY puts, bought $740 million of the QQQ puts Now, we don't know what the expiration dates are on these. So we don't know what the timeline is here, but he's looking to short the stock market and we'll see how that works out because look, he was right with the 2008 mortgage backed security situation and everything that took place there. He was absolutely right, but he hasn't been right every time. And we'll see where this goes. But I think he's seeing something on the horizon that what many of us have been tracking, many analysts is that the stock market is retracing. I don't know if this is a move to all time highs. I honestly don't know. I took some profits recently because I'm like, I don't know. I'll walk away with some money on my stocks, but we'll see what happens. And, you know, as far as the stock market and we know Bitcoin and crypto has been correlated to it, you know, Bitcoin is at a pivotal moment right now. So one of analysts tweeted out sideways at $29K has run its course. So it's decision time for Bitcoin this week. Is our next significant move up or down? You all know. I'm hoping it's upwards. Right. I've been sharing a chart with you guys for over a year now where we've been following Bitcoin's retracement. You know, certainly it's going to be a roller coaster ride upwards, just like it was in 2019. Nothing goes up in a straight line. But boy, I hope there's another leg up that takes us to, you know, 40K plus. And that will be a nice retracement move, at which point I'll take some profits. But there's no guarantee of that. And right now, Bitcoin is still holding support here with this trend line. But boy, like I said, guys, I'm hoping for another move up. We'll see what the catalyst may be, maybe some bullish news, some other big player entered in the crypto market. But let's keep our eyes on this. Hopefully it's not a dump. All right, folks, we got some very huge Hedera HBAR news. You all know I hold HBAR in my portfolio. I am bullish on it. I continue to dollar cost average, you know, not financial advice. Please do your own research. So here's the headline. FedNow showcases DLT powered payment system as service provider. The United States Federal Reserve's instant payment system FedNow has added a company powered by the distributed ledger technology platform Hedera Hashgraph to its showcasing service providers. On August 14, FedNow's official website added DROPP, a micro payments platform built on Hedera to its FedNow service provider showcase section. The section aims to connect financial institutions and businesses with service providers that can help them innovate and implement instant payment products using the FedNow service. Folks, this is really huge. I mean, the Fed endorsing micro payments provider that is built on the Hedera blockchain. That is huge news. If you hold HBAR, remember, they don't necessarily have to be using the HBAR token, but we're talking about Metcalfe's law, network effects, right? The more building on a network, the more adoption, the more participants, the stronger the network becomes, the more valuable it also becomes. And of course, in this digital realm that we live in, in the token economy, the native token will increase in value, folks, because the tokens grease the blockchain, right, help to process and fund the blockchain. So this is huge news. I'm very, very bullish on HBAR. Once again, not financial advice. Please do your own research. According to the FedNow site, DROPP is a digital solution that was made so that merchants can accept payments at low cost. The company uses DLT and regulated banking tech to build its solution that allows merchants to accept payments without paying huge transaction fees. While the new updates seem like the Federal Reserve is warming up to the DLTs, the FedNow service also wrote on its website that materials are only presented as convenience to potential FedNow service participants. So huge news, folks. And remember, the folks who are part of the governing council for Hedera, their global governing council includes Boeing, Dell, Google, IBM, LG, ServiceNow, Standard Bank, much more huge, huge brands. This is one of the projects I think will come out of the whole speculation bubble and enter the utility phase and be one of the crypto blockchains that have lasting potential. So I'm very bullish on this. All right, let's move ahead. We got some updates here from Eric Balcones of Bloomberg around Cathie Wood's ARK Invest crypto ETFs. So he said new filing from ARK for a digital asset and blockchain thematic ETF will hold equities. So this is interesting. Cathie, we know she's trying to get a Bitcoin spot ETF. She's in line with BlackRock and the others, but they're also looking to build new ETFs, too. So here, Nate Geraci of the ETF store said, odd filing, given how saturated this space is. He's talking about the equity ETFs. Wonder if there is anything to read into here regarding ARK's confidence around spot Bitcoin approval, which if it happens, these blockchain ETFs would face an additional headwind in terms of competition. So maybe ARK is not that confident. So we shall see. Look, I think it's certainly almost guaranteed that BlackRock is going to get approved because of their record and because they pretty much run the world for the most part. But let's see what happens. There's no guarantees here, folks. And look, there could be a buy the rumor, sell the news event around these ETF approvals. So just be prepared for that. If an ETF is approved, that doesn't mean billions of dollars are coming in overnight. They have to set up the marketing, the structures. They have to get the RIA's onboarded, right? It doesn't happen overnight. They'll probably need a few months. If you look at the when the gold ETFs were approved, it didn't pump instantaneously. It pumped maybe like six months later the gold market. So something to keep in mind, folks, and, you know, know how to strategize. So I think there will be, once again, a buy the rumor, sell the news event. Now, quick word from our sponsor, and that is Uphold, which makes crypto investing easy. I've been using Uphold since twenty eighteen, one of my go to exchanges, so I can vouch for this platform. They have ten plus million users, two hundred and fifty plus crypto currencies, and they're available in one hundred and fifty countries. You can also trade precious metals and equities on this platform. If you'd like to learn more about Uphold, please visit the link in the description. All right, folks, let's move ahead because we got Jay Coward Clayton. Yes, former SEC chairman that I call a coward because he's the one who filed a lawsuit against Ripple and ran out the door the next day. He did not approve a Bitcoin spot ETF. And of course, we know he was doing some corruption in the back room with Bill Hinman and Ethereum to get them the free pass, nothing against Ethereum, but rather the SEC corruption, because guess what? These are the people who are supposed to have integrity. They're funded off our tax dollars and they're supposed to be stopping the bad guys, but they themselves are the bad guys doing fishy corruption in the back room, getting paid millions of dollars. So Jay, of course, making his biweekly appearance on CNBC Squawk Box this time, he was talking about Sandbag Refreed and of course, the Bitcoin spot ETF. And of course, the Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, Andrew Ross Sorkin and these folks failed to do their job. No questions about the Ripple ruling. Of course, there was no question when he came on the show, I think last week or the week before, because they're clearly and probably Jay doesn't want to answer anything and they're kowtowing to that. So it's pathetic. It is not how a journalist does their job trying to bury a story when the man who filed a lawsuit is sitting right in front of you. Right. And this ruling, we know how huge it is. Members of Congress are using it as a president to push their crypto bills through and much more so pathetic. Jay's a coward. And of course, he doesn't want to talk about it. Pathetic. They won't even ask him the question. It's not like they ask him the question. He's like, you know what? Good for Ripple, but I don't want to talk anymore. You know, it could have been that much. But guess what? No questions. Zero, zero questions. So, you know, there's a big cover up. There's a big Jay is just a coward. Like, don't even ask me that question. So screw Jay Clayton. He's a coward. Let's move ahead. Coinbase launches nonprofit to advance crypto legislation to stand with Crypto Alliance will prioritize supporting and advancing legislation in the US that supports the industry and investors. The stand with Crypto Alliance is something Coinbase obviously is trying to get going and they want you to participate and sign up. This is great, guys. We need need more of this, more advocacy, more education, more getting the word out there so that we can bring more folks together and unite against folks like Gary Gensler and corrupt bureaucrats and regulators like Gary Gensler. So the alliance is a 501 C for organization under the internal revenue service, meaning it is an exempt social welfare group. The current discussion around crypto policy in Washington, D .C., between centralized players and other big groups. Kara Calvert, Coinbase's head of US policy, said Monday during a Twitter Spaces event, but the stand with Crypto Alliance hopes to bring new voices into the picture. Here's a quote. The alliance completely embodies exactly what the crypto industry is all about. Calvert said it's all about decentralized efforts, decentralized power, decentralized access. And that's, I think, really what the stand with crypto movement is about. So this is great. I love it. I wish more crypto companies would unite and do this. And get the once again, the word out there. Education is a big key in D .C., getting our representatives educated about blockchain and crypto. We're seeing more and more bipartisan support for crypto. So our efforts are paying off, but we need to do more, of course. Now, folks, there's some interesting news coming out of Argentina. So pro Bitcoin candidate Triumph sees Bitcoin reach historic high against Argentinian peso. So we got a presidential candidate. I honestly don't know much about this person, but, you know, a lot of people are bullish on this because his name is Javier Mele, if I'm saying that right, won the country's primary presidential race. He's pro Bitcoin. And we know the folks there are dealing with insane inflation. Many have been moving to Bitcoin as a store of value, as well as stable coins. So hopefully, you know, some things could happen here where they can maybe make Bitcoin a legal tender, something along those lines like El Salvador. But there is something else happening in the mix here. So Mele's unexpected triumph is seen as a rejection of Argentina's entrenched political establishment. The pro Bitcoin candidate became anti establishment after proposing the dollarization of the economy and call for the abolishment of the central bank due to the country's economic woes. So they want to certainly use the US dollar over the Argentinian peso. And I don't blame them. So this could be a really big move. And once again, this guy's pro Bitcoin. So let's see where it goes. Moving ahead, new indictment alleges Sam Bankman -Fried gave more than $100 million to politicians. Bankman -Fried and his associates donated across party lines to various candidates and political action committees. Boy, look, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but man, this guy donated a lot of money and it's probably why he's been getting the easy path, right? Being able to stay at home in his parents' house. And obviously recently they were like, no, dude, you're trying to, you know, game the system. He released Caroline Ellison's diary. So witness tampering and all that. And they were like, all right, we're going to put you in jail. So that's a good thing. He's in jail. But look, there are some people saying he could have an Jeffrey Epstein situation, if you know what I mean. And that wouldn't surprise me, folks. This man has a lot of dirt on politicians. He made them all look like fools, right? And that's, I've often talked about it. Optics is a big thing in politics. It's narratives and optics. So right now he's not making a lot of people look good and they want him gone. As you can imagine, like get the hell out of here, whether it be in jail or you know what else. So it looks like they may try to bring back some of the campaigns, finance charges that had been previously dropped, but we shall see what happens. And hopefully, you know, he sits in jail for a long time because he committed the crime folks. He's the one that was committing fraud. He's the one that was okaying funds, leaving FTX and going to Alameda, which was his firm. They were trading that money and losing it. So straight up fraud, as I said earlier in the podcast, he's the Bernie Madoff of crypto. But let's hope justice is served here and we'll follow this as it continues. Now, here's some not so good news. Coindesk lays off 45 % of editorial staff as an eyes deal to sell company. Look, it's not so much that they laid people off, but it's in conjunction with what else has been happening with Digital Currency Group. So Digital Currency Group owns Grayscale, Coindesk, Genesis Trading and much more. And we all know what has been happening with the Genesis Trading and Gemini situation. So Barry Silbert and these guys, it's not looking good. And I would not be invested or involved in anything Digital Currency Group, guys. If you're holding Grayscale shares, just be careful. I don't know what's happening here with this whole parent group and they could be in big trouble. So especially with the Genesis Trading situation and who knows if there's going to be cross contamination, the fact that Genesis Trading is in a hole and they are going to have to pull money and sell Coindesk and all these things, it's just a mess. So I don't think these guys are running the business well. Once again, it doesn't have anything specific to do with the blockchains or the crypto currencies, but rather, you know, the risks that you take and how you run your business. So we shall see. Finally, guys, our partner, Quorium, and I highly recommend you check out this blockchain. It is a third generation blockchain. They announced here new wallet integration. Frontier is now supporting the Quorium mainnet, prioritizing security through real time fraud prevention. It says Frontier Wallet offers a swap aggregator and cross chain bridges, a key partner to manage Quorium assets effectively. So once again, guys, check out Quorium. They're doing some great things and they got a new wallet support here. And I personally hold a Quorium tokens, not financial advice. Please do your own research. As always, don't blindly invest because you hear me holding a token or somebody else, any influencer or any YouTube or a podcast or whatever it may be, always do your research. So definitely check out Quorium. They're doing some great things. All right, folks, that's the news. Let me know what you think. Leave your thoughts and comments below, hit the thumbs up button and leave a five star rating on the podcast platforms. And I'll talk to you all later. Bye.