Ep 24 - October 16, 2024 - FBI creates cryptocurrency
Welcome to another episode of the weekly crypto check-in recorded on October 16th, 24. I'm your host, Robert Swartout. I'm enjoying my my co host, Andres Sendate. How is it going, Andres?
Andres Sandate:Hey, Robert. It's, it's good. I feel like we've both been crazy busy the last couple of weeks, so I'm, glad to be back on the air talking crypto.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. Should be, should be fun. But, yeah, it has been busy, and finally cooled off all at the same time. So it's I was outside this morning for a meeting, and, I did not dress appropriately. I should have had a jacket, not a pullover on.
Robert Swarthout:It was gold.
Andres Sandate:I, well, tomorrow, on the weather, tomorrow, I our schools the kids' school is having our annual, golf tournament. So tee time is 9, arrival is 8, and they're projecting, low forties
Robert Swarthout:Yes.
Andres Sandate:In the morning. And I think the high before we're done will probably reach, you know, low to maybe mid fifties, so it's gonna
Robert Swarthout:be cold. Yeah. Make sure you stretch before you swing because you'll already
Andres Sandate:Yeah. For sure. So, yeah, there's been a lot happening. We've gotten some good updates. Yeah.
Andres Sandate:Book end by the SEC and and politics at the end. So
Robert Swarthout:Well, it's it's so hard to get away from it these days.
Andres Sandate:Yeah. I look forward to a
Robert Swarthout:day where we we forget to even talk about it. But here we are. So the, the SEC, filed notice of appeal in the Ripple case. They did this basically going on 2 weeks ago.
Andres Sandate:Yeah.
Robert Swarthout:They have a deadline that they have to file, what they're actually appealing. That is actually today by the end of business, so we're super close. I checked right before we started, and I still haven't heard it. It's gonna it's probably late in the day. The SCC likes to drag this out as we've learned.
Robert Swarthout:And it'll be interesting to see. Are they appealing how much Ripple has to pay in a fine? Are they appealing, you know, the, institutional sales? Are they appealing everything? My guess is it's the whole kitchen sink just because that's the way that they seem to operate.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. But we, you know, I would I would I guess the optimistic side of me hopes it's only the penalty fee, right, that Ripple had to pay. Because that seems negotiable. That seems like we can get this done pretty quickly. All outside attorneys that are following this that I've read on Twitter are saying that this is a huge mistake for the SEC.
Robert Swarthout:At the appellate level that they're going to, only 10% cases get reversed. They they're they're potentially setting some serious precedents here for themselves. Maybe they know the time's running out anyways, so, you know, they might as well throw one more grenade into the room. But at the end of the day, it's, it's a challenge. If this goes the full length and, you know, all the way through the courts without some kind of settlement earlier, it's this is probably another couple of more years, in this case, unfortunately.
Robert Swarthout:So
Andres Sandate:Yeah. Any chance this gets all the way to the supreme court, you think?
Robert Swarthout:Ripple said that they're in it if it has to go that far. That's that. I don't realistically thinks it think it makes it there. There's some assumptions in this. Right?
Robert Swarthout:There's the assumption that, the SEC, becomes more realistic on how they approach crypto. We'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. But also just I think there's a different administration. I mean, the the polls are trending. It looks like Trump might be the one that gets reelected.
Robert Swarthout:I think that the Republicans are gonna have a totally different and more, I guess, a welcomed approach to crypto. I mean, heck, Trump said he would fire Gensler back in July. So I I think he's gone no matter what. Even if Kamala gets elected, I think he's gone. Yeah.
Robert Swarthout:So I don't know. I I think there's a lot of balls in the air that can land differently that affect this, but I would say less than 20% chance it makes it to the Supreme Court.
Andres Sandate:Mhmm.
Robert Swarthout:I would guess it kind of figures out its way one way or another. Congress could get its act together, put regulations in place that kinda make it moot. Right? So then it would kinda get dropped. That'd be my case.
Andres Sandate:Well and we are talking about XRP. Right? I think it's easy to get lost in all of the narrative of this case that it's going back and forth between judge Torres and Mhmm. The SEC and Yep. XRP's lawyers and counsel.
Andres Sandate:But at the end of the day, XRP made the news for some other reasons, which we'll get to here in a minute. But Yeah. Still nothing definitive. Maybe we'll have an update later today, I guess, to take away.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. And and the last thing I'll throw in on this, which is not in the notes. So there was a, a senate debate between Elizabeth Warren and John Deaton last night for Massachusetts. They're both running against each other. It's carried on local Boston, I think CBS or something.
Robert Swarthout:I watched it online. I'm not normally into these kind of debates. It was actually rather civil, which is good to see. But the point of bringing this up is is it was an hour long, and they spent 7 minutes fighting about crypto. And she's basically saying, oh, she's open to crypto if they have to follow the same rules that all the other companies and banks do.
Robert Swarthout:That has not been the way that she's acted. It's either she was disingenuous last night of the debate or something else is going on. But I I never would have guessed in an hour long debate among many other topics, health care, immigration, all the different things they talked about, that 7 minutes would be spin on the case.
Andres Sandate:Well, she couldn't sound too off message when Right. You know, vice president Harris comes out yesterday with her crypto policy. Yeah. So you don't wanna be rowing in the same direction, right, as the potential president of the United States. So, interesting timing and and, a unique I guess, a different take than probably what people would have expected.
Andres Sandate:I don't know if there's any connection, but you have to think, that that's not totally a coincidence.
Robert Swarthout:Agreed. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Our second topic here.
Robert Swarthout:So we we've talked about this in the past in the last month or so, but now it's officially happening. The judge has certainly certified the case. So FTX is paying out to its customers, for every dollar of value they had in their account as of, I believe, the middle of November of 2022, they're getting back a dollar 18. So an 18% increase, which is better than nothing, admittedly. Better than less than a dollar.
Robert Swarthout:But you have to keep in mind the context is had they had their own crypto or they got crypto back, it would be worth probably double.
Andres Sandate:Right. And this is net of fees.
Robert Swarthout:And the yeah. This is net of the attorney's fees, which I'm sure is a Yeah.
Andres Sandate:A small number. Yeah. The bankruptcy fees, the consulting, the banking, all the all the, or not banking, but, bankrupt rather, all the fees associated with this, this case, had to be exorbitant. I mean, there'll be a full accounting later, but Yeah. It it certainly would have put their return north of of, you know, 18%.
Andres Sandate:Mhmm. But, you know, at least, you know, for those that held on to their claims, you know, they're getting dollars back plus a little bit. Yep. They're just having lost out on that opportunity cost of what the dollar could have earned had it been invested in crypto in a legitimate, you know, exchange.
Robert Swarthout:And, I I think the exact number off hand, I think it's somewhere around $12,000,000,000 is being paid out. So that's a lot of, liquidity potentially that you would think makes it way back into crypto. So as we kinda start nudging up here in October and, you know, Bitcoin touched 68,000 today the first time since July, and it seems to wanting to try to break out. We'll see how that happens over the next week or so, but, it could be, an interesting q 4. In this FTX payout, they have 60 days to get it all done.
Robert Swarthout:So it will certainly be wrapped up before the end of the year. Some people forget it. Yeah. You some might say an early Christmas present. So
Andres Sandate:Right. Yeah. I think that everybody, you know, would like to see this chapter, behind crypto, and so getting folks, you know, quote, unquote whole, plus a little bit, all wrapped up before the end of the year in time for what it could be a new administration and a new, chapter amidst this backdrop of, you know, crypto, at least Bitcoin, which we're gonna talk about, you know, probably here shortly, but just big inflows here in recent days. And, you know, like you said, prices touching 68 with the potential, you know, some analysts predict to go, you know, much higher. Yep.
Andres Sandate:Yep.
Robert Swarthout:Yep. So, back to our true or false game. And I don't know if we're gonna work this in every time we do podcasts, but I've been enjoying these. They're they're kind of fun little, detour. So give me an answer true or false here.
Robert Swarthout:The SEC wants 3 plus years to fulfill a FOIA request in the Coinbase case.
Andres Sandate:Be and before
Robert Swarthout:you and before you answer, I probably should give a little clarity as fully Yeah. FOIA obviously, either trying to get information from the, SEC in this lawsuit that they're part of, about what the SEC how they deliberate on crypto. So that that's your background.
Andres Sandate:Yeah. Well, I I know a little bit about FOIA. Okay. I I I have done a lot of requests over the years, and I know how to navigate the system Mhmm. Better than probably the average person to get access to what are public records effectively.
Andres Sandate:You have access to most of them. So I know that the SEC wants an extra 3 years, and I know that they've backed themselves, basically, once again into a corner Mhmm. And tripped multiple times along the way in getting there. So I'm gonna say it's true that they would like 3 more years to fulfill a FOIA request.
Robert Swarthout:You are correct. And it is it's so sad. It's obscene. It's obscene. Like, so the first answer because they're kinda bickering about this in court, judge.
Robert Swarthout:The first time it was brought up, they said that they didn't feel like they needed to answer it. And the judge was kinda like nudging them along. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. Yeah. And then they said it would take a while, then it would take 3 plus years. So I was talking with Casey this morning about this particular topic. It's interesting to think about it in the context of the SEC is supposed to be suing people that they think of broken the law, broken regulations.
Robert Swarthout:Okay? And maybe Coinbase has here. I get you know that that will be decided. But you could make a very strong case that the SEC is the one that should be sued for breaking laws here. Because, like, they are not fulfilling what congress has put in place with the FOIA, and also just the way they're treating the crypto industry.
Robert Swarthout:So, like, maybe, you know, I wouldn't say the the pot is, meets the kettle black or whatever the
Andres Sandate:Calling the kettle black. Right? Yeah.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. Because I don't think Coinbase actually broke the law here, from what everything that I've said. So it just seems like yet another thing to slow down the industry. But,
Andres Sandate:Well, 3 years is an awful long time, and the, you know, the thing about FOIA is there are a lot of areas where entities, you know, government, entities or, you know, public pension plans, for example, will often cite, you know, privacy laws, confidentiality, and other, you know, related points, as to why they shouldn't have to fulfill a FOIA request. And so, oftentimes, in the context of the investment industry, what you hear are, the public pension plans saying, we're not gonna provide access to meeting minutes or Right. The the discussion points that the committee deliberated when making an investment decision. Mhmm. And the you know, oftentimes, it's because the venture firms or the private equity funds have said, if you meet those requests, we will no longer offer you the opportunity to invest in our funds.
Andres Sandate:And so it goes back and forth, and a lot of times it's, you know, the pension, somewhat fearful, I would say, at the end, even though they're much larger in some cases, of losing the opportunity to invest in certain investments and funds because they are being transparent. So what you get is a lot of redacted records, if you can get them at all. Right. And in certain states like California and New York and other places, you know, the laws are they tend to be more friendly to the requester. Right.
Andres Sandate:Other states like Georgia where we live, a little bit more conservative approach, they tend to say outright, no. You can access no records. You can access nothing, and you have no no rights to anything. So it's interesting how this has made its way into this case.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. It's,
Andres Sandate:And the second point, though, is that a former SEC chair says, ironically, what I think you've been trying to say, you know, on this sort of, like, podcast for now for 6 months, which is
Robert Swarthout:Yes. So it's, obviously, this one is true. He's, kind of lead leading the, the, the, jury here, but so Gray Wall is the, chair. He was on the day before the SEC filed its appeal in the Ripple case. I don't think there's a coincidences about a new thing, but here we are.
Robert Swarthout:And he it's just ironic. Like, literally, that was your job was to help come up with rules. You could have written the rules that have custom that have been customized for the industry, and then you could take a different approach. But now less than 3 weeks out of your job, you're saying this. It's like
Andres Sandate:Yeah. So he's basically saying we could we could, make this much easier on everybody if we had more tailored rules for the industry.
Robert Swarthout:If somebody would just make tailored rules, but he was the admin.
Andres Sandate:Yeah. When we're saying here in the industry, that's your job to work with congress to actually create legislation.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah.
Andres Sandate:We've been asking for specific things. You keep saying no no or keep pushing us off or don't wanna meet with us. So it's We're putting it. Yeah. Well, we all know where this individual ends up.
Andres Sandate:He's gonna end up in the crypto industry, you know, as a lobbyist or as an executive, like, within, you know, 3 months. So just that's just the eye roll Yeah. And the big sigh, but that's just the way it is. Yeah. So we're waiting on rules.
Andres Sandate:We're waiting on a ruling. XRP remains in the news, and, the SEC continues to
Robert Swarthout:Yep. Fall
Andres Sandate:you know, I would say, fall all over themselves or find ways to continue to, kick the can.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. And and create uncertainty. Right? Like, it's, can be a challenge. So, on the topic XRP, we when we last recorded 2 weeks ago, we had mentioned that Bitwise had filed an application for a, XRP ETF slash ETP.
Robert Swarthout:There is another issuer or smart accounts. They that is Canary Capital. Yeah. And they function file for the same thing. You know, it's early days for that application process.
Robert Swarthout:And the thing that I would add is what's interesting about canary is they have, as of yesterday, I didn't make in the notes here, but they filed for a Litecoin ETF as well. It's the first time there's ever been a Litecoin. I think the first time in the world there would be one, if approved. Litecoin's interesting. It is proof of works.
Robert Swarthout:It's very similar to Bitcoin. It's probably was one of the first, certainly dozen, maybe even half dozen tokens that existed before the huge explosion in the number over the years. It is largely a dormant project. People don't develop for it. Yeah.
Robert Swarthout:You're you're fine. To kinda see. I I don't know where the demand would come from for such a product, if there was an ETF for it. So we'll see. If it gets approved, I will I will be shocked.
Robert Swarthout:It doesn't feel like there's a, enough of a robust market to be able to support it, but we'll see.
Andres Sandate:Right. Well, we're gonna talk a little bit about, well, I think we get we get to it, but I I think what's interesting is the some of the flow data that's come out this week. Right? The inflow data. Yeah.
Andres Sandate:And we could talk about that now or maybe towards the end, but there's some significant differences in inflows too. You know, we could talk about the ETFs because we get those numbers, on a daily basis. But, you know, on Monday 14th, right, so we're recording on 16th Wednesday. Monday, there was over half a $1,000,000,000. I think 555,000,000 was the number of net inflows net inflows into, the Bitcoin ETFs, which clearly, you know, BlackRock, Fidelity kinda lead the pack.
Andres Sandate:I contrast that with the Ethereum ETFs, and I looked those numbers up before we went live. So same day, Bitcoin, 555,000,000 of net inflows across all the ETFs. Do you know what the number was for Ethereum to ETFs that same day?
Robert Swarthout:I'm really curious. No. Do you
Andres Sandate:wanna you wanna put a guess out there? When you talk about demand and a robust market and people understanding Yeah. These other alternative coins. Right?
Robert Swarthout:I'm gonna go with, 50,000,000.
Andres Sandate:Well, your guess is not bad in context of 555. Ethereum had 17,000,000. Oh my god. 17,000,000 of net inflows. So it it it begs a question to your point a minute ago around, you know, the demand and the understanding, and I think people that are in digital assets and crypto, and have been for some time probably understand, the XRP story and Ripple and what's going on.
Andres Sandate:But, you know, that universe is actually quite small in the context of what we're seeing happening with Bitcoin. I mean, it clearly is head and shoulders in terms of understanding whether or not we like it, agree with it, see the use case and utility. It's just far and away the the the bellwether, if you will, stock of of this entire market for now.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. And, you know, fast forward and assuming, say, the XRP one's approved in some number of months, 6 months or something. I I feel like and and I'm and I'm likely biased, I'll say upfront. But, like, I feel like there's an easier narrative around XRP than Ethereum if you're gonna contrast the 2 of those. They obviously both have baggage, and I think that it'll be interesting to see what the demand looks like.
Robert Swarthout:Ripples, you know, having their conference this week. There's I mean, Bloomberg is one of the sponsors down there that is the media sponsor. So, like, it's getting coverage. There's certainly a lot of talk around the ETF. I maybe we get it.
Robert Swarthout:I I I just don't know with this SEC, the same one that that they're fighting on the lawsuit. It just seems like bad timing. So
Andres Sandate:Yeah. Yeah. Well, so a second filing, I don't know a lot about Canary Capital.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. They're more boutique is my understanding.
Andres Sandate:Yeah. I beg your pardon?
Robert Swarthout:I think they're more boutique is my
Andres Sandate:More boutique asset manager. Yeah. Well, I I guess that's gonna keep them in the news, right, with these two filings. And, whether they get approved or not, I guess we'll have to see over the coming months, but, but interesting nevertheless. So, let's talk about this, this headline below, though, the XRP ETF filing, which is the FBI creates a cryptocurrency to catch criminals.
Andres Sandate:This is interesting.
Robert Swarthout:When I first read this, I was, like, shocked, Then I'm like, you know what? Nothing should shock me these days when it comes to, the FBI and then adding crypto in it. So they have, it it was unsealed in Boston that they allegedly, that 3 trading 3 crypto trading for, firms along with their Blaze Engaged and Wash Trading and, some other stuff. So the the FBI had created a cryptocurrency in an attempt to get them to do that. They did.
Robert Swarthout:They got in trouble. Mhmm. It just blows my mind that, like I mean, obviously, you know, you you always like, why would a criminal do that? Okay. They're motivated by money in this case, but, like, of all the tokens you can trade, why would you trade something that's probably so remotely esoteric that, like, nobody knows the name of it?
Robert Swarthout:I'm sure, like, there was no marketing behind this thing. It's like go wash trade something else that has a ton of volume. You actually can make some money on it, and you kinda just your volume just kinda goes away into the ether there. I I don't know. It just seems silly to me, that this even was able to happen, but we, but but ironically, you didn't have the SEC suing the FBI for creating a a, security.
Andres Sandate:That's right.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. Yeah. At least.
Andres Sandate:Well, you know, it we we know that there are a lot of crypto trading firms out there, and anything that they can trade and make a market in, they are I mean, because of the swings and the volatility and the fact that, you don't know necessarily who's behind some of these these these trades, and some of the the tokens have such thin liquidity. Yeah. In a one sense, it's like, yeah, I'm impressed that the FBI was able to go and create a, basically, a cryptocurrency, put it out there. Not all that surprised with this stage of where we're at in crypto. I guess it's your equivalent of, like, a hyped penny stock.
Andres Sandate:And, you know, there's probably some guy out there sitting and now, that's, like, looking to make a quick buck. And in this case, you know, somewhat of an entrapment with an interesting story.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So our next topic, I found pretty, in some ways shocking. So Schwab survey on investing.
Robert Swarthout:They obviously it's a much very broad, survey that they did and of asset classes ETF investors plan to invest in going forward. Equities was 55% response rate. The second most popular at 45% was cryptocurrency.
Andres Sandate:Yeah. Yeah. I saw that.
Robert Swarthout:Oh my gosh. Bonds came in bond excuse me. Bonds slash fixed income came in at 44%, so effectively the same as crypto. Real estate was at 40 and international equities at 27. And then alternatives, I guess, is a more broad basket, all the way down at 19%.
Robert Swarthout:To think that enough people I mean, maybe they're only thinking Bitcoin ETFs here. I can't imagine many people are thinking Ethereum ETFs. But to think that that high of a percentage of people, wanted to, give that answer was pretty crazy. So
Andres Sandate:Yeah. Number 1 for millennials, crypto. Yes. Number 2 for all investors was crypto.
Robert Swarthout:Mhmm.
Andres Sandate:And, yeah, other things that were 5 or 6, you know, you had US Equities, like you said, leading back and then real assets, right, for those that are investing in, real estate infrastructure, was higher than international equities and higher than even just general alternatives. So yeah.
Robert Swarthout:The, yeah, I I
Andres Sandate:Bloomberg said that.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. I actually, just noticed one of the comments on the on his tweet, response to him. You know, it's wild that Schwab has this data, but still yet hasn't launched crypto ETFs to its clients. Oh my gosh. Is something glaring me blowing me in the face here?
Robert Swarthout:Yes. Yeah. So
Andres Sandate:Well, I think it's I I think it's, a matter of more of of when. And Good thing. Like, maybe so much of this hinges on the outcome of the, you know, election. Right? It seems like about every 3rd or 4th email I get as an adviser is about election outcomes, prediction markets, or predictions about what's gonna happen in the market.
Andres Sandate:And, yeah, I mean, the the betting polls Oh my gosh. Are pointing more towards the Trump win.
Robert Swarthout:Like, the 60 40th point. Right. Yeah.
Andres Sandate:The national polls are pointing more towards a Harris win. So I you know, it early voting is underway here in Georgia. I happen to be driving by one of the polling locations. People are voting early in droves, so I think the turnout is gonna be real high.
Robert Swarthout:I, actually plan on doing that is when we're done recording here.
Andres Sandate:So There
Robert Swarthout:you go. I'm tired of getting all the text, so I figured I'd go get my name off the list by voting early. Yeah. Cool. So last topic actually ends up in the politics arena again.
Robert Swarthout:So Kamala announced her crypto policy, and I put policy in quotes. So, if you're listening, you don't really see it on our slide here. To call it a policy, it was super generous. It was it's it it it was when she was announcing, what, a day, 2 days ago, that she it was very focused. It was focused on black men because you could tell now she wants the black vote.
Robert Swarthout:Yeah. Yeah. Black men need, to feel safe in buying their crypto and building wealth. I'm like, okay. Crypto has never been a racist thing.
Robert Swarthout:Like Sure. Sure. It it maybe, old versus young or maybe Republican versus Democrat, but never any race in it. It's a rather diverse community. They think that she also whipped, race into it.
Robert Swarthout:Is this kinda, like, really, like, do we have to do this? And it's just like
Andres Sandate:I I heard that she had come out, and I just need to do a little bit more reading. But I heard she had come out and said that she was, going to do you know, give remarks and and basically announce some policies aimed at, helping reduce the unemployment level among, black males, increase economic opportunities. So you're what you're saying is when she did actually make the speech and announced that she layered in crypto policies within that? I mean, if you were to
Robert Swarthout:leave it or read it very literally, what she you know, if you were got a transcript of it, if like, as a white guy, I would think that she's not gonna have a policy for me, but it's gonna be for the black guys. Interesting. I don't know if she initially intends it to be that literal, but, like, it it's open for that kind of reading. And this is said in the same speech where she said that, for black entrepreneurs, there's a $20,000, forgivable loan. I don't know.
Robert Swarthout:To me, that feels like please, but for me, I'm gonna give you $20,000. Mhmm. I I don't know. It just I'm I'm exhausted with politics season, and obviously, we're at the tail end of it. But,
Andres Sandate:Yeah. We're, I mean, we're down to the final, yeah, we're down to the final weeks. I mean, I I didn't think I was gonna read that, you know, Trump was gonna go work a shift in McDonald's. I don't know if he's gonna work a shift in McDonald's, but, I mean, I I almost am at the point where I'm like, what can they think of next? Right?
Andres Sandate:Like Yeah. I I mean, how much can I prove Mhmm? To you that I get the plight of, you know, said group. Right? Right.
Andres Sandate:And it just calls into question for those politicians that I know because, I mean, god. That's that's just on a somewhat local level, and this is at a national level. And I'm thinking my goodness. Like, where are they gonna go next with these claims, to to try to appeal to the, I guess, to the base or to the to the the folks that are sort of, I guess, they say undecided. I think most people are decided at this point.
Andres Sandate:Right.
Robert Swarthout:Like yeah. I don't know. The 5 people that are undecided, I wish they would make a decision real quick so we can just have be all of them.
Andres Sandate:Yeah. I don't know. I mean, maybe there are a lot of crypto voters or or crypto voters with crypto that where it's, like, issue 1, 2, you know, or 2, 3, that are still on the fence, but it just I don't know. I I need to do a little bit more reading about what she said, but it just why wait until the final 2 weeks, I guess? Maybe that's when the polls and the experts say this is when people decide, this is when people buckle down, but it just Yeah.
Andres Sandate:It reeks of sort of a a desperation, Hail Mary, and come up with something that's, like you said, literally hard to even kind of put your arms around. Like Right. I mean, have we given away free money? I mean, I I I mean, where do I sign up? You know?
Andres Sandate:Like, where's the Latino, like, you know, constituency gonna get addressed in that conversation? Right? So Yep. I don't know. What what I do find interesting is is when you step back from, you know, the stuff I have seen and read is that I think the Democrats, not to talk politics, but when you talk about crypto, it has historically been, an asset class that's been pretty open Mhmm.
Andres Sandate:Historically. Now Absolutely. We can get into the weeds around where are the jobs and are more men or women employed in the industry, this and that. But in terms of the access to the space, it's it's a a much more Democratic. Democratic, like, freely, you know, somewhat obviously, a less regulated space.
Andres Sandate:Right? Mhmm. You can get in with fractions, of dollars. You don't have to be, you know, the quote unquote wealthy person that has to go buy a home or get a mortgage. You can just start investing, which is one of the reasons why I think a lot of younger people, have gotten into crypto in a in a bigger way.
Andres Sandate:Right? Yep. Their number might not be as big in terms of the amount of money they put in.
Robert Swarthout:Right. But
Andres Sandate:here's where I come full circle. I think where the Democrats, what I've been reading, where they have missed is that they kind of banked on or thought over these last 8 years that the minority voter was just by default a Democrat, and I think Trump is proving that's not the case.
Robert Swarthout:It's a 100%.
Andres Sandate:There's bigger percentages of Latinos, bigger percentages of blacks that are gonna vote for Trump, in this election than I think democrats, strategists, whoever Right. Would have predicted 8 years ago, and certainly, I think we're gonna find out in a few weeks, would have predicted, in 2024. So A 100%. Fix all of our problems? No.
Andres Sandate:Does it fix what's going on in our country? No. Does it address our national debt? No. Mhmm.
Andres Sandate:Do either candidates have the perfect policies? Probably not. Yeah. But I do think that Democrats probably missed a bit when, you know, thinking 6, 8, 10 years ago, you know, this is a base that we can sort of rely on. It's just changed.
Robert Swarthout:You
Andres Sandate:know? Politics is tricky in that way. And crypto within it, is, you know, you know, very, very different. But clearly, as the Schwab numbers say, younger people see a future in wealth building within the space. Yes.
Andres Sandate:Full stop. Right? I mean, it's their generation's opportunity to build wealth, I think they see. Mhmm. You know, right or wrong, good or bad, but that they're putting dollars there.
Andres Sandate:So if you're an adviser or you're somebody that is, I guess, trying to do more with that millennial, Gen z, Gen y. I mean, they grew up with this stuff. And, to think that, you know, they get super excited about international equities, I think, is somewhat of a, while the numbers prove out, it's it's it's that's gonna be a more difficult sell.
Robert Swarthout:Yep. Agreed. Well, that's a wrap. So thanks for joining us on this episode of the weekly crypto check-in. If you wanna stay updated on future episodes, you can find us in any podcast player by searching Teton Crypto Capital or the weekly crypto check-in.
Robert Swarthout:Take care. Take care.
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