The BioMedWire Podcast

Jonathan Keim, communications director of CryptoCurrencyWire (“CCW”), tuned in for his regular weekly news update, which kicked off with the intriguing headline: “Bloomberg: Americans Trade Depreciating Dollars for Bitcoin” (http://ccw.fm/pSNhF). Fearing an inflation-driven devaluation of the dollar, investors are shunning savings accounts, money market funds, and treasuries, and placing their cash in speculative assets such as stocks, gold and Bitcoin. This has pushed prices to record levels. In the last several months, the stock market has regained the lofty levels it had reached in late February while Bitcoin has appreciated by 55% and gold has climbed 29% to a level not seen since 2011.

Keim’s second headline looked at how one company is responding to inflation expectations: “Nasdaq-Listed MicroStrategy, Wary of Looming Dollar Inflation, Turns to Bitcoin and Gold” (http://ccw.fm/gSqL9). MicroStrategy, a Nasdaq-listed provider of business intelligence, mobile software and cloud-based services, plans to invest $250 million of its cash reserves in Bitcoin, gold and other alternative assets over the next 12 months as a hedge against U.S. dollar inflation. The company’s CEO says it makes sense to “shift our treasury assets into some investments that can’t be inflated away.”

Finally, the news that a basic “banking product” will soon be available should bring cheer to the crypto community; this headline read “Genesis Partners with Luno to Create Alternative Savings Products, Extending Institutional Crypto Interest Rates to 4 Million Global Consumers” (http://ccw.fm/zICVV). Genesis, which provides digital-currency, prime-brokerage services, is joining forces with cryptocurrency exchange Luno to offer customers of the latter opportunities to earn interest on their crypto holdings. Earning interest on deposits is a defining characteristic of the established banking system. With this development, crypto has moved closer to convention.

To view the most recent episode of the Wild West Crypto Show, now on TV in 45 cities across the nation, including its ongoing segment from CryptoCurrencyWire featuring the latest news from around the world, visit http://ccw.fm/cG3Oz