Good Morning Future Whales,
This is the Ghostfi™ newsletter, keeping you updated about the Land of Crypto - where everyone is an expert trader and a fortune is just a meme coin away.

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Here’s what we have for you today:

• CPI comes in at 6% year after year

• Tether Market Cap Rises by 10% Following the USDC Meltdown – Will it Maintain the Lead?

• How The USDC Depeg May Impact DeFi

• Rep. Tom Emmer - Is the FDIC 'Weaponizing' Market Chaos to Kill Crypto?

• Rookies’ Corner: 

Fear & Greed Index

CPI comes in at 6% year after year

Who would have thought that inflation, that boring economic concept that people only used to read about in textbooks, would become the talk of the town? It's like suddenly everyone is a financial guru, throwing around terms like CPI and Fed rate adjustments.

But hey, it's not all bad news! If you're a crypto fan, you're probably doing a happy dance right now. Bitcoin and Ether are soaring, while traditional markets are stuck in neutral.

Maybe we've finally found the solution to inflation - just buy Bitcoin! Of course, I'm not a financial advisor, so please don't take that as actual advice. But hey, if you're feeling adventurous, maybe it's worth selling your house and putting all your money into crypto.

After all, according to the CPI data, it's the "shelter" basket that's causing the biggest price increase,  which includes necessities like food, household furnishings, and energy. So why bother with a house when you can have virtual coins? Who needs a roof over their head when you can sleep in a shiny new Tesla bought with Bitcoin? Just kidding, please don't do that. (Unless you want to invite us for a ride, in which case, we’re totally in! - Certainly not financial advice 😝)

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Tether Market Cap Rises by 10% Following the USDC Meltdown – Will it Maintain the Lead?

Oh, what great news! Tether's market capitalization is soaring while other stablecoins are struggling to maintain their pegs. Circle's USD coin and MakerDAO's DAI briefly lost their pegs over the weekend, which gave Tether a chance to shine.

As a result, Binance USD, USD coin, and other major stablecoins have seen their market share go down. Binance USD has lost almost half of its market cap and USD coin has fallen 11%. Meanwhile, Tether's market cap has risen 10% this year, making it almost twice as large as USD coin.

The de-peg of USDC happened as news broke that Circle had $3.3 billion out of $40 billion in reserves for USDC deposited in Silicon Valley Bank, which later collapsed. But don't worry, the US government bailed them out, and everything is back to normal. Phew!

Despite Tether's lack of regulation and transparency, it seems to be working in its favor. According to Steven Kelly, a researcher at Yale University's financial stability program, providing too much information makes you susceptible to runs. So, not knowing much about Tether makes it seem safer. Yay for ignorance!

How The USDC Depeg May Impact DeFi

The closure of Silicon Valley Bank caused the world's fifth-largest cryptocurrency, USD Coin, to plummet to an all-time low. Who could have predicted that putting billions of dollars in reserves in a traditional financial institution would cause problems for decentralized finance protocols? MakerDAO even had to issue an emergency proposal to prevent panic selling by investors.

Apparently, DeFi is built on USDC liquidity, but if it relies on centralized stablecoins and traditional financial systems, it's a "failure." The expert recommends rebranding it as On-chain Finance to retain some benefits like self-custody wallets and increased composability.

One protocol moving towards on-chain finance is FRAX, which aims to provide highly scalable, decentralized, and algorithmic money. It's embarrassing that the USDC crash was caused by a traditional bank, but at least it's now clear that DeFi isn't as decentralized as it pretends to be. Confidence in the DeFi sector remains shaken, and the consequences will continue to ripple in the coming months.

Rep. Tom Emmer: Is the FDIC 'Weaponizing' Market Chaos to Kill Crypto?

Take a look at Rep. Tom Emmer getting all concerned and asking if the FDIC is trying to destroy the crypto industry! In a letter to FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, Emmer accused regulators of causing "regulatory statement-driven fear" that led to a bank run on banks that provide legal crypto firms access to financial services. He also demanded answers about whether the FDIC instructed banks not to provide services to crypto firms and if they face harsher supervision for taking on new crypto clients. But, of course, Emmer isn't the only one in D.C. making noise about crypto regulation, with Senator Elizabeth Warren and others pressing regulators to take a firmer stance.

It does seems the industry is under attack, with California financial regulators shutting down Silicon Valley Bank and New York regulators taking control of Signature Bank. Good luck to those in the tech and crypto sectors!

Even Binance's Trending Altcoin list can't get enough of it. And if that's not enough to convince you, the team behind FLOKI is teaming up with the second-largest decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem on the BNB Chain. So, all you FLOKI holders out there, get ready to borrow other crypto assets using your coins as collateral. The possibilities are endless!

Rookies’ Corner

Terms you want to know

What is Mining, and Who are the Miners?

Mining is the process of creating new Bitcoins. Mining is done by ‘miners,’ who are solving complicated equations. The miner that solves the fastest will receive the reward (fee) for the transaction and add it to the block.

On average, every 10 minutes, a new block is added to the gigantic distributed public ledger of already existing transactions, which is the blockchain.

Bitcoin mining could be done using a personal computer (PC) in the early years of cryptocurrency. These days, the mining efforts are divided between giant companies such as the Chinese-based Bitmain.

Mining is not limited to Bitcoin only, but to PoW (Proof-Of-Work) type of cryptocurrencies.

Phantom Press

Cathie Wood’s Ark Raises $16.3M for New Private Crypto Fund 
SEC filings show fundraises for two versions of the ARK Crypto Revolutions fund.

Brian Brooks: U.S. Government Using Crisis to Choke Off Crypto Access to Banks Brian Brooks, former head of the OCC and now board member of blockchain technology company Bitfury, says the recent crackdown by regulators on three crypto-friendly banks appears to be a coordinated effort and what some are dubbing "Operation Choke Point 2.0"

Here’s Why Ripple XRP Price is Starting to Look Bullish 
The Ripple XRP price trades very close to a crucial resistance area and could soon break out from it.

Mysterious Institutional Investor Scoops Up Ethereum-Based Altcoin That Rallied 126% A mysterious investor is scooping up an Ethereum-based (ETH) altcoin that has more than doubled up in price so far this year.

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.