Upgrade “the rally on El Salvador bonds almost defies gravity”. So says Santander, which is quite something given the disastrous year bonds are having almost everywhere else. In truth, the bonds still have a junk rating, but through bitcoin, El Salvador has found a way to put itself on the map globally, attract significant inbound

Narcos Those of you who haven’t watched Narcos are missing a treat. Released in 2015, the final series aired three years ago later to great acclaim. It was visually pleasing, atmospheric and unsurprisingly, given the product they were shifting, highly addictive. The story depicts the progression of Pablo Escobar’s cartel in Medellín, Colombia and his

A loser “We agree. The denial of the Grayscale proposal was arbitrary and capricious because the Commission failed to explain its different treatment of similar products.” So said the U.S. District of Columbia Court of Appeals. The SEC now has 45 days to appeal; but the next stop is the United States Supreme Court. Tight

Do it and do it fast The starting gun has fired in the US elections with the first Republican primary debates last night. Here’s a guess at how things roll out from here: The US election is next year. Very hard to win if unemployment is rising and inflation is high The job must be

Passive investment My new favourite account on Twitter is StripMallGuy. He buys and sells small shopping centres in New York. If you are interested in commercial property in particular, he is a must-follow. This particular tweet struck me because where do you find truly passive investments? People will tell you property is set and forget

Sunday looms The saga of ‘will they, won’t they’ for US bitcoin ETFs reaches its next major milestone this Sunday. Back in April, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest submitted their ETF application. We are now at the second Approve/Deny/Extend stage for the SEC. The situation is rather complicated by the SEC being in court against Grayscale

Everything’s a fine I assumed they were dead. Somehow though, the corpse of Credit Suisse managed to get fined by both the Bank of England (£87m) and the Federal Reserve ($269m) for their dealings with defunct hedge fund Archegos. Credit Suisse lost $5.1bn (£4bn) when the hedge fund defaulted in March 2021. It ultimately led

1984 A light start for you. We have a tendency to be histrionic about privacy and the State and all manner of things here. Presumably with that in mind I was sent an alternative view of the Orwell classic 1984. Reasonable to suggest that had Orwell included Def Leppard, the book’s reach would have been

Lowe Down As you rise through the ranks of the civil service (or anywhere really) it becomes less and less about talent and more and more about politics. In the case of Australian Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, his time has come. His contract coincides with a difficult economic situation, rising rates, rising prices and

Big enough to control “Instead of investing in gold as a hedge against inflation, a hedge against the onerous problems of any one country, or the devaluation of your currency whatever country you’re in – let’s be clear, bitcoin is an international asset, it’s not based on any one currency and so it can represent