“The British are coming! The British are coming!”

Well, actually it would seem that they’re already here. And what’s that they’ve got? It’s not tea and crumpets, it’s a new development that may change the face of crypto!

What is it? Don’t worry. Keep calm, carry on, and we’ll fill you in by the end of the newsletter.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Dell Joins Hedera Council 💻 🗳️

Dell has officially become a member of the Hedera Governing Council, joining Hedera’s ongoing effort to develop decentralized apps that run on their blazing fast network.

Hedera, which uses the native currency HBAR, describes itself as an alternative to a blockchain. In addition to being faster and far more energy efficient, it’s also proven to be a favorite among those building corporate applications in web3.

Dell brings Hedera’s governing council up to 28 members, a body that already includes notable members such as Google, IBM, LG, Deutsche Telekom, and Boeing.

Dell will focus on creating decentralized environments such as edge computing, a paradigm that processes using far faster processing speeds.

At news of Dell’s joining, HBAR ticked up about 10%, now trading at about seven and a half cents per token.

Though it’s a somewhat controversial move, Hedera has given Dell a seat on the council but will not grant them the rank of Jedi master.

☕️ Insider Trading at Coinbase 🚔 📉

Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at crypto exchange, Coinbase, is pleading guilty to charges of insider trading.

The house of cards began to tumble when Ishan’s brother pled guilty to 14 separate instances where he benefited from insider information Ishan provided to him.

It appears the nature of the information he received was advanced warning about tokens that Coinbase was about to list on its exchange.

This case has also entered some muddled legal territory - which is not new for crypto.

Essentially, the SEC is insisting that the brothers are guilty of securities fraud, but the tokens they invested in have some utility, and therefore they’re hard to classify as a “security.”

Regardless, friends and family are shocked by the brothers actions, causing many to say they must be a result of “insecurities fraud.”

☕️ Bed, Bath, and the Great Beyond 🛌 🛁

Bed, Bath, and Beyond narrowly avoided bankruptcy this week.

The retailer was forced to quickly ink a deal that resulted in the company selling off $1 billion in equity.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond still owes an additional $1 billion in debt, and has recently been forced to close 150 stores.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond is among a few “meme stocks” that benefited from wild trading last year. Meme stocks have been incredibly popular among some crypto traders.

In a fascinating twist of fate, the meme stock phenomenon ended up breathing new life into those companies: AMC, GameStop and Bed Bath, Bath, and Beyond all were given another chance to survive when many had counted them out.

Investors believe Bed, Bath, and Beyond may be able to get out of debt by selling a remote that controls time and teaches you to prioritize family over work.

Spilling the Beans

Let's Talk About Britcoin 🇬🇧 💷

We’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the British Empire.

Sure they burned down the White House that time but hey, they make great spy movies!

And without them, we never would have discarded tea in favor of coffee. And our nation would have never been captivated by the scandalous happenings of Downton Abbey.

But, what happens when the once-sprawling British empire turns its imperialistic eyes to crypto?

Will it mean the end of Bitcoin? Will the blockchain be validated by frilly governors wearing tri-corner hats?

Before we start alarming ourselves, let’s get down to the facts:

Great Britain has announced plans to release a digital version of the Great Britain Pound sometime over the next few years.

Now, let’s be clear, this is a very big deal, but not for all the reasons you might be thinking. In fact, the digital Pound is not likely to be a crypto currency at all.

"The digital Pound can be confused in peoples' minds with crypto assets such as bitcoin. I should take this opportunity to correct this misapprehension. Indeed, nothing could be further from the truth,"

That was what the Bank of England’s Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe had to say on Tuesday.

In short, the digital Pound, or as many are quasi-affectionately calling it, “Britcoin,” is a CBDC, not a cryptocurrency.

A CBDC is a Central Bank Digital Currency. The operative word there being central.

CBDCs, unlike crypto, are about as centralized as you can get. They’re backed by a centralized government or bank and they come with all of the pitfalls of centralization.

Here’s a quick refresher course on why many use (and like) crypto:

• Crypto is decentralized, meaning you don’t need to trust a bank or government.

• There will only ever be 21 Million Bitcoin. Government currencies are infinite, they can just print more.

• Crypto allows for self custody. You don’t need a bank to hold it for you. You can’t be held up by withdrawals and deposit limits, you’re the boss.

• Crypto allows for total transparency. You can check the ledger and verify transactions in real time.

• Crypto allows for independence. You don’t need a third party to help you send and receive money.

In truth, the only thing that “Britcoin’ will have in common with Bitcoin is that they’re both digitized and share a rhyme scheme.

Yes, the digital British Pound will be… digital. But for now, we can’t expect any of crypto’s utilization.

“While cash is here to stay, a digital Pound issued and backed by the Bank of England could be a new way to pay that’s trusted, accessible, and easy to use,” said Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Chief Financial Minister.

This sentiment was echoed by Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England.

“A digital Pound would provide a new way to pay, help businesses, maintain trust in money, and better protect financial stability.”

Financial stability? Maintaining trust? These sound a lot like crypto’s aspirations but without any of the transparency and freedom of crypto.

There’s a lot of fanfare surrounding this announcement, but in truth, Britcoin may prove to be no more groundbreaking than paying for your groceries with a debit card.

If anything, it seems like crypto is more likely to get a bad rap from being associated with Britcoin than the other way around.

After digging into all of this, we’re not really confident in Britcoin. But we do hope they televise someone trying to explain it to King Charles. We’re sure that’ll go great.

Meme of the Day

Like? Can't you just rewind? Or sell the remote for billions? We don't get it.

Crypto 101

Gas Fee: A gas fee is the cost of crypto transactions on the blockchain. This fee goes to network validators to pay them for their service. Without gas fees, there would be no incentive for these validators to ensure the security and validity of the blockchain.

The Last Sip

Here are five British inventions that will ultimately prove to be far more groundbreaking than Britcoin:

• The Vaccine

• The Light Switch

• Sheep

• Colonialism

• Imperialism

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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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.