1.) E-Z Money - The BIG Story
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions of Ukraine after recognizing their independence. The U.S. immediately imposed sanctions on the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, barring “new investment, trade, and financing.” The United Kingdom also plans to announce economic sanctions on Russia Tuesday and noted that the European Union will do the same. Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P futures all plummeted on the news with Japan’s Nikkei also falling dramatically in overnight trading.
2.) “To the Moon” — Retail Investing
Tesla ($TSLA) CEO Elon Musk accused the SEC of leaking information from a federal probe. The accusation, which came from Musk via his attorney, said that the Securities and Exchange Commission released the information to retaliate against him for public criticism of financial regulators. $TSLA shares dipped below $900/share last week after news that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened up an investigation into “phantom braking.” The NHTSA probe will investigate if vehicles are unexpectedly decelerating while using Tesla’s ‘Autopilot’ system.
3.) “The Cypher” — Crypto Investing
One of the leaders of a cryptocurrency exchange is very worried about a bear market in the next few years. Huobi co-founder Du Jun believes that Bitcoin ($BTC) is on the verge of falling dramatically due to trends around ‘halving.’ ‘Halving’ is a key feature of Bitcoin and refers to the cutting in half the amount of cryptocurrency that miners receive as a reward for validating transactions. The last ‘halvings’ happened in 2016 and 2020 and experts expect the next one to occur in 2024. Du Jun believes crypto markets will sell before the ‘halving’ with a “crypto winter” possible. BTC’s price has fallen below $38K from its all-time high of $69K in November.
4.) “Straight Cash” — Sports Betting
L was so mad about the Super Bowl LVI that he didn’t even realize one of his bets covered. The Bengals +4 was indeed a winner, meaning that he went 1-2 instead of 0-3. This past week was pretty empty in terms of betting opportunities with the NBA on break for All Star Weekend and no NFL on Sunday. But don’t despair, this week there is English Premier League action. L likes two favorites Tottenham (-125) vs. Burnley and Arsenal (-160) vs. Wolves. Happy betting.
5.) “The Alternatives” — NFTs, ESGs, & More!
We’re once again in the midst of an NFT heist. On Saturday thieves stole hundreds of non-fungible tokens from OpenSea users in an apparent phishing attack. The estimated value of the NFTs is more than $1.7 million. The attack had targets sign a partial contract with a general authorization that had large parts left blank. Then, once signed, attackers would transfer ownership to themselves without payment. OpenSea has become one of the most valuable companies of the NFT boom, now valued over $13 billion after a recent funding round.
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