SNB & CHF

Overview: There are three themes today. First, the sharp decline in US rates seen yesterday (-14 bp on the two-year yield) on the back disappointing economic data seemed a bit exaggerated and the two-year yield has bounced back to almost 3.90% from around 3.81%. This appears to be helping the dollar consolidate today. Second, bank shares are coming under renewed pressure. The US KBW bank index fell almost 2% yesterday after a 0.5% decline on Monday. Today, the Topix...

InCore Bank can now offer Ethereum staking capabilities that are fully compliant with Know-Your-Client (KYC) and Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) regulations to their clients. In this collaboration, InCore Bank provides crypto brokerage, banking operations and custody services, while SDX Web3 provides crypto custody and non-custodial-staking services. The Zurich-based private bank Maerki Baumann launched its crypto strategy in 2019. Apart from corporate accounts for...

PostFinance partners with Sygnum, the world’s first digital asset bank, to offer its customers a range of regulated digital asset banking services via Sygnum’s B2B banking platform. PostFinance’s partnership with Sygnum Bank enables the launch and ongoing expansion of regulated, bank-grade digital asset products and services for its customers PostFinance’s customers will be able to buy, store and sell leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum Sygnum’s B2B...

The challenge at hand is more than simply opposing the state. Rather, it is necessary to build up, reinforce, and sustain institutions that can offer alternatives to the state. Original Article: "To Fight the State, Build Alternatives to the State" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.  [embedded content]...

The Federal Reserve’s new report of its balance sheet shows that in the approximately six months ended March 29 it has racked up a remarkable $44 billion of cumulative operating losses. That exceeds its capital of $42 billion, so the capital of the Federal Reserve System has gone negative to the tune of $2 billion—just in time for April Fools’ Day. This event would certainly have surprised generations of Fed chairmen, governors, and, we’d have thought, newspapermen....

Last week, Fox News aired a segment discussing the possibility that the US dollar will cease to be the global reserve currency and what that would mean for Americans. The tone of the piece suggested that a “catastrophic” decline of the US dollar was not only possible, but perhaps even imminent. CNN last week also aired its own segment suggesting the US will face “a reckoning like none before” if the “dollar’s dominance” in the global economy falls significantly. Much...

Access to energy has long been taken for granted as society became quite used to relatively stable prices and the ample abundance of energy. Meanwhile, the business side of energy was relegated to industry insiders, policymakers, and market traders dealing with the matter as a profession. However, the perceptible rise in prices and the fear of supply shortages have pushed energy considerations to the forefront of societal consciousness. This crunch has largely...

Like the arsonist who then heroically fights the fire he set, the Fed is increasing its efforts to bail out banks both at home and abroad. This does not end well. Original Article: "Is the Fed Trying to Bail Out the World? Sure Looks Like It" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.  [embedded content]...

The panopticon is a hypothetical surveillance and control system first imagined by philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the eighteenth century. It’s envisioned as a tool to control the behavior of a large number of people with as little effort as possible. Here is one description: “The panopticon is a disciplinary concept brought to life in the form of a central observation tower placed within a circle of prison cells. From the tower, a guard can see every cell and inmate...

Recently, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a bank that was heavily involved in cryptocurrency, collapsed. Naturally, Democrats want to exploit the situation to rush through new regulations. But that will only make the problem worse. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, a forty-year old, $200 billion bank, has caused many to worry about the country’s economic stability. Among the concerned is Senator Elizabeth Warren, who wants to reinstate some of the defunct banking...