Blockchain, artificial intelligence, and online platforms are the future of commerce as the world moves to an internet-first economy. The traditional economy is being phased out in advanced countries that are transitioning to an internet-first economy dominated by the tech industry and digital platforms, according to Balaji Srinivasan, a former executive at crypto exchange Coinbase and the author of “The Network State.” “The legacy economy is being sunset in favor of the Internet economy,” Srinivasan said in an X post on Saturday. He shared a chart showing the price divergence between the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks, which are enjoying meteoric growth, and the remainder of companies in the S&P 500 index, which have remained fairly flat since 2005. Read more
Governments around the world are exploring and launching stablecoins to remain competitive against dollar-pegged digital fiat tokens. The first regulated stablecoin tied to the international version of the Chinese yuan (CNH) meant for foreign exchange markets, and a South Korean won (KRW) stablecoin launched this week as the global stablecoin race heats up. Financial technology company AnchorX debuted its AxCNH yuan-pegged stablecoin on Wednesday at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong, according to Reuters, following a regulatory pivot in China embracing stablecoins for international markets. The stablecoin is meant to facilitate cross-border transactions with countries in the Belt and Road initiative, an infrastructure project building physical roads linking China to the Middle East and Europe, and establishing maritime trade routes with other regions. Read more
Bitcoin market participants saw the area at $117,200 and above as particularly important heading into the weekly close and fresh US macro data. Key points: Key Bitcoin price levels above and below spot price are here as BTC is about to start a new week. A quiet weekend is slated to give way to volatility as fresh macro catalysts appear. Read more