Dear All,
Here’s a quick update for you on our latest happenings and developments.
At the moment we’re growing our social media presence, so if you’re not already following us on Twitter make sure to now by following the tweet below 😃
Creator of the Week 🧠
This weeks creator is Evan McGovern, a solicitor from Ireland who is new to investing and learning more every day through Zash (his words, not ours!)
What do you generally like to invest in?
Generally I like to invest in companies that I can ethically stand by from a sustainability perspective. I tend to shy away from vice stocks, either direct or indirect ones. Natural gas, oil and tobacco are all out, as well as the textile and agricultural industries which can be exploitative.
How would you describe your investing style?
I would describe myself as a measured and pragmatic investor. However, I do enjoy taking the odd risk on the advice of trusted advisors/friends. Which is something I’ll touch on later!
What industry/company’s future are you excited by and why?
I’m really excited by the expansion of wind farms, particularly in Ireland where these are interacting with Irish laws. There is a confluence point between private land rights and our countries commitment to the Paris agreement and its climate goals.
It’ll be interesting to see if private land rights will be trumped here for the good of the climate.
When did you start investing and what do you love about the Zash Community?
I’ve just recently started investing over the past year. So, I really enjoy having a place where I can get access to important, relevant news and share opinions with other investors, i.e. Zash. I’ve been open to taking a punt on a few cryptocurrencies - proof of stake only! - based on insight I’ve gained from the community.
Welcome to Zash
This week we’re welcoming a new member to the Zash team, Ivona Reiger has joined as our UX Designer! Ivona joins our rockstar team of 5, Parit (CEO), Efe (CTO), Efe no 2. (Full Stack Engineer), Hurkan (mobile), Adam (Community)
UX Designer
Ivona joins us after studying UX/UI design with Ironhack. Before this she worked as a freelance theatre director, working at various venues including the National Theatre in Serbia. Directing there twice as well as in other venues. Working on over 30 diverse live art projects as well as shaping visual identities and advertisements for these shows!
When we where chatting with Ivona about Zash we loved her take on the digital world. She describes digital creators as artists, in an ode to her favourite artist Joseph Beuys - who’s quote we’ve shared below 👇
Zash Learn 🤓
The public offering juggernaut continues to roll on with cryptocurrency app Circle announcing their plans to list on the NYSE last week. Interestingly, through a SPAC deal.
We’ve already discussed the difference between an IPO and a Direct Listing here, so where do SPACs fit into this?
A SPAC is a shell company that goes public with the express purpose of raising money to buy an actual company. Bringing the operating company public sooner than an IPO would.
While SPACs are by no means a new innovation, however, they have been attracting more big investments recently. For instance, it took just 3 months of 2021 for SPACs to raise $87.9 billion and exceed the $83.4 billion raised in the entirety of 2020!
Why are they so popular? Looking at Draft Kings SPAC raise from 2020 might help
Draft Kings
The American gambling company merged with a SPAC and hit the public markets at the end of April last year. On its first day of trading it opened at $9.80. Since then it has gained over 400% and trades around $48.
SPACs are chosen for the speed at which they can be carried out. Draft Kings announced in December 2019 it intended to go Public through a merger with Diamond Eagle, a SPAC, and by April 2020 they went public.
Taking just 4 months compared with upwards of 18 months for an IPO!
While short sellers like Jim Chanos and Hindenburg Research have raised concerns about SPACs, Draft Kings in particular, they show no sign of going away too soon.
Reading of the Week 💡
We wanted to take a moment to share this. The real tragedy Sunday night was the reaction of a few people afterwards. These people don’t represent English fans or even football.
Here at Zash we’re proud of the achievements of this squad. The summer they gave us in 2018 and again this year 💪
Stock Market 📈
Check out Rex Woodbury’s awesome newsletter from last week on why more Americans are buying stocks, and the different types of investments available to people as well as why we’re seeing this change ⬇️
Concerning inflation data out of the U.S. had a negative effect on stocks as the market dipped, with tech stocks giving up more than half of their recent gains.
Tech News 🖥️
Tesla’s Elon Musk announced that he rather hates being CEO of the tech behemoth. Whether or not you can take him on his word is up to you!
Crypto Market ₿
The Winklevoss twins are looking to outperform Binance by maintaining a strict adherence to regulation to become the “Fastest Tortoise” in the race
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director of the World Trade Organization, believes that blockchain technology can be particularly beneficial to women. Check out more on this story here!
Food for thought 🤔
Did Goldman Sachs jinx England? If there’s anyone we love to blame for things not working out, its the banks. So why not throw Sunday nights disappointment on the list!
Not enough time to catch up on reading? 🎧
If all that doesn’t whet your appetite sufficiently check out this video from The Banker on China’s CBDC
And here’s an awesome podcast from the Financial Times, the first of a five part series on AI
That’s all for now and we’ll see you next week,
Team Zash