Banks Are Terrified of Stablecoins

Who Really Wins in the SpaceX IPO?

A $1.75 trillion IPO is about to hit the market, and the mechanics behind it could leave retail investors holding the bag. In this episode of Through the Noise, Cam Harvey breaks down how SpaceX's Nasdaq debut triggers a wave of forced index-fund rebalancing, and why recently waived listing rules amplify the distortion. With only 4% of shares trading freely, a little-known Nasdaq provision counts SpaceX at three times that weight, pushing demand and the price artificially higher. Drawing on his research into the unintended consequences of rebalancing, Cam explains why the spike is only temporary, how the correction unfolds, and the asymmetric information gap that leaves everyday investors dangerously exposed. If you are tempted to buy into the hype, understand the mechanics first.

The SpaceX IPO Trap for Retail Investors

In this episode of Through the Noise, Cam Harvey unpacks his newly published Financial Analysts Journal paper, "Fundamental Growth," and applies its lessons to the most anticipated IPO of the year: SpaceX. Cam explains why traditional value and growth indices misclassify stocks, leaving investors exposed to expensive, low-growth names. He then turns to the mechanics of the SpaceX offering, a $1.75 trillion market cap with only 4 percent float, and reveals how accelerated inclusion rules at Nasdaq, S&P, and Russell will force passive funds to chase a tiny pool of shares. The result is a predictable price surge that benefits insiders while leaving retail investors holding the bag. A timely, analytic-driven look at the structural forces shaping modern markets.

What’s Going on with World Liberty Financial

In this episode of Through the Noise, Cam Harvey returns to dive deeper into the rapidly expanding stablecoin landscape. Building on the previous discussion of Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), Cam unpacks USD1 - the World Liberty Financial stablecoin connected to the Trump family. He explores why nearly every major financial institution is launching a stablecoin, the critical distinction between centralized and decentralized tokens, and the long history of family conflicts of interest in politics from Billy Carter to Hunter Biden. The conversation then turns to the Justin Sun lawsuit involving 800 million locked WLF governance tokens, the surprising 60% Trump-family voting control, and the 75% revenue split flowing to a related entity.

Banks Are Terrified of Stablecoins

While bitcoin and dogecoin grab headlines, a far less flashy corner of crypto has quietly overtaken Visa and Mastercard in annual transaction volume. In this episode of Through the Noise, Cam Harvey walks Robert Olinger through stablecoins - dollar-pegged tokens that settle in seconds for pennies instead of days for dollars. Cam unpacks how Circle's USDC actually works, why the model is structurally safer than fractional-reserve banking, and how the GENIUS Act now puts token holders first in line if an issuer fails. He revisits the brief 2023 USDC depeg tied to Silicon Valley Bank, explains why Tether earns a staggering $33 million in profit per employee, and lays out the brewing fight over the Clarity Act - where stablecoin issuers want to pay interest, and the bank lobby is fighting hard to stop them.

The END of Banking and Why Your Savings Account Earns NOTHING

Why does your savings account earn essentially zero while money market funds pay nearly 4%? In this episode of Through the Noise, host Robert Ollinger sits down with Duke finance professor Cam Harvey to unpack the massive gap between bank deposit rates and market yields - and why giants like Chase pay just 0.01% APR on savings deposits. Harvey explains how large banks exploit market power to maximize their funding spread at the expense of smaller depositors, then lays out four powerful forces disrupting traditional banking: fintech, private credit, stablecoins, and AI. The conversation turns to regulatory failures from the global financial crisis to Silicon Valley Bank, the case for narrow banks, and why the Clarity Act's stablecoin interest provisions could transform the entire financial system.