Ten31 Timestamp 785,723
Several more data points this week suggested global central banks are likely nearing the end of recent tightening cycles. In the US, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – a key, if highly flawed, measure of inflation monitored by policymakers – increased at its slowest rate since May 2021, while the President of the Chicago Fed publicly suggested the central bank should be “prudent and patient” with any additional rate hikes from here. Meanwhile, bitcoin’s accelerating penetration into emerging markets continued at a steady clip this week, as Strike announced that five more countries in Africa now have access to its Send Globally remittance feature, and Bitnob launched a new integration with gaming platform Zebedee for users in Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda.
Portfolio Company Spotlight
Statmuse is a platform for online search powered by proprietary natural language processing (NLP) technology purpose-built to answer trillions of conversationally phrased queries. Users can query Statmuse with highly specific, conversational searches and receive instant answers rather than scrolling through databases or parsing through less relevant articles produced by traditional search tools. Statmuse was well ahead of the curve in its approach to natural language search, integrating this model years ahead of Google, and now offers an unmatched repository of sports data on the NBA, NFL, MLB, and more. The site also offers a growing data set for bitcoin queries and will add exciting new bitcoin-oriented tools in the near- and medium-term. Statmuse has achieved explosive organic engagement, with over 100 million searches in just the first quarter of this year and many more to come as the platform expands into other search verticals and new applications.
Selected Portfolio News
Strike’s Send Globally feature is now available in five additional African countries
Fold rolled out a new rewards program, with changes including a guaranteed 1% back on every card transaction, 1 spin per $10 spent on the platform, and more:
Bitcoin gaming platform Zebedee announced a new integration with Bitnob for users in Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda:
Unchained implemented several UI improvements and new security features:
Media
Matt Odell wrote a piece highlighting the benefits and promise of decentralized communications protocol Nostr.
Ten31 Partner Michael Tanguma, along with Jesse Myers, launched Onramp, a spot bitcoin fund vehicle for institutions and individuals seeking bitcoin exposure without direct private key management or the drawbacks of products like GBTC.
Market Updates
Official inflation data for March showed 0.1% M/M and 5.0% Y/Y increases in the CPI, with CPI ex-food and energy up 0.4% and 5.6%, all roughly in line with expectations. The Producer Price Index (PPI) grew less than 3% Y/Y, its smallest increase since January 2021.
Minutes from the March meeting of the FOMC suggested Fed officials expect a “mild” recession to begin later this year.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee indicated the Fed should be “prudent and patient” in raising rates further due to recent turmoil in the banking sector.
Strategists at Blackrock suggested rate hikes are likely to stop before CPI returns to the Fed’s ostensible 2% target.
The average interest rate on US credit card balances pushed above 20% (vs <15% one year ago), marking at least a 30 year high. Meanwhile, US retail sales data showed consumer spending declined 1% sequentially in March vs 0.2% in February.
Regulatory Update
The IMF published a paper and handbook outlining strategies and considerations for Central Bank Digital Currency development.
The Montana state legislature passed a “Right to Mine” bill to prohibit discriminatory utility rates or taxation on bitcoin mining.The bill also characterizes digital assets as personal property.
The US House Financial Services Committee published a draft version of a new stablecoin bill. The draft includes a proposed moratorium on new stablecoins backed by other cryptocurrencies (such as the ill-fated UST of the TerraLuna project).
A report from the French central bank highlighted an appetite for increased regulation and oversight of “DeFi” platforms in Europe.
Noteworthy
Stratum v2 developers released a new reference implementation of the protocol for testing.
Pierre Rochard and Riot Platforms performed a rigorous, groundbreaking analysis of bitcoin’s carbon emissions.
Nicholas Gregory, Ray Youssef, and Antoine Riard released a whitepaper for Civ Kit, a P2P marketplace for bitcoin trading leveraging the Nostr protocol.
Lightspark released a new enterprise API aimed at improving lightning routing and channel balancing.
The Wall Street Journal published an article highlighting federal authorities’ recent use of bitcoin blockchain analysis for criminal investigations, despite such data’s dubious accuracy.
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel both called for more European autonomy from American decisionmaking this week, the latest signals of growing global dissatisfaction with a unipolar order dominated by the US.
CNBC reported on growing concerns about the European commercial real estate sector among analysts and capital allocators.
Travel
Austin BitDevs, April 20
Bitcoin 2023, May 18-20
Nashville Ten31 Tribe event, June 14
Nashville Lightning Summit, July 13-14