The Degenerate Economy - You Can't Escape It... Even In Venice

Good morning and hello from Venice.

I arrived last night and went straight for the pasta and pizza combo because that is what I do all day everyday in Italy when not cycling. The carbonara and truffle sauce on the linguine was insanely good as was the view last night at The St. Regis …

Tomorrow I head into the northern Alps of Italy for some cycling with friends.

I can’t escape the ‘degenerate economy’ - even in Venice - where nothing much changes (thank goodness) but everything has definitely changed.

My ‘degenerate economy’ theme has caught on to the point where I get ten to twenty daily texts and links to what friends/family think are new signs of said ‘degenerate economy’. I love that people are seeing the world like I do. Not judging it, but recognizing it and riding the trend.

A couple of my way out/long term predictions for the degenerate economy are:

1. Squawk Box will evolve into a global Netflix pheneomenon (yo Ted Sarandos…call Howie)

2. The Vegas sports book will morph into ‘degenerate economy’ clubs (I am working on this for the last year). I have pitched Fred Wilson this in a ‘spite’ form and he likes it.

One thing CNBC got right and were first - even though it was just a cover for the 50 plus percent of the time Cramer, the hosts and guests were wrong - was call themselves entertainment.

The internet was slow to evolve and improve this mainly because cat videos were more entertaining than CNBC and retail was not really big enough to care. Even if ‘we’ cared, as I did when I started Wallstrip in 2006 with the vision to ‘create a CNBC on YouTube’, the capital needed would have been staggering and the tools inadequate (why I was eager to sell to CBS).

That has changed in 2025. People are finally starting to see that ‘speculation is entertainment’ and I believe a massively large lifestyle trend.

We can thank the internet, the cloud, Etrade, Robinhood, Solana, Bitcoin, Coinbase, sure CNBC, COVID, Twitter, Reddit, Stocktwits, Discord, YouTube, Alpaca.markets , Android, iPhone, Pump.fun, parti.com (a new Social Leverage investment) and on and on for the real boom that is now underway in the lifestyle of trading and investing.

One of the least talked about and MAJOR reasons retail just has it’s ears pinned back and all in speculating not just HODL’ing is that the Magnificent Seven are doing the same. Just this week Zuck and Larry Page said out loud…’what’s $200 billion or a trillion' ?

This morning my friend Cole Wilcox who loves markets like me and someone i’ve shared ideas with for over 30 years (Cole will be with me on stage at Stocktoberfest next month discussing some fresh ideas and the degenerate economy) sent me this link..

The South Koreans have embraced what I call T-POP which is K-POP for trading or what Cole tells me is perp trading and the ultimate degenerate economy.

What is ‘perp trading’/perpetual forwards/futures?

Perpetuals (Crypto Futures) Definition: A perpetual futures contract, or "perp," is a type of cryptocurrency derivative that does not have an expiration date, allowing traders to hold positions indefinitely. How They Work: To keep the perpetual price aligned with the spot price of the underlying asset, there is a mechanism called the funding rate. Key Features: No Expiration: Traders can maintain positions for as long as they want. Leverage: Traders can control larger positions with less capital, amplifying both potential profits and losses. Funding Payments: Periodic payments are made between traders holding opposite positions to keep the perpetual price near the spot price.

You can measure this popularity by following the token of ‘Hyperliquid’ ( $HYPE.X ( ▼ 7.14% ) ) now a $13 billion chain. Shame on me for not owning this in my degenerate economy index.

Long story short, the South Koreans are upping the degeneracy lifestyle and we know how much Netflix and YouTube like and look to South Korea for hits.

This ‘investing as a lifestyle and entertainment’ took forever in ‘Howie time’ and is all now happening much faster than I could ever keep up with.

Obviously we are running full speed into this at Stocktwits and some of our portfolio companies so if you think you can help and want to be in this world full speed hit me up.

Have a great day and Shana Tova to all.