Coinbase sees spike in $1,200 crypto buys as IRS deposits stimulus checks

It goes without saying that COVID-19 has impacted the world economy. The unemployment numbers chart is perhaps the most striking statistical representation.

But so far, the stock market chart hasn’t exactly reflected — in the inverse way it theoretically should — the impending depression-like doom. Plenty of other charts have looked a lot like the unemployment chart, most notably Google searches for “good news”. That makes sense.

Another chart that looks like the unemployment numbers is the following, posted by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong today:

It shows the number of Coinbase purchases or fund deposits that perfectly match $1,200, the amount the IRS is depositing in the bank accounts of Americans this week as part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, otherwise known as the CARES Act.

Clearly, the number of people immediately converting their $1,200 into Bitcoin is substantial, reflecting a small — but probably growing — group of people that have more confidence in the long term prospects of the distributed blockchain-based cryptocurrency than Schrute Bu— I mean the US Dollar.

I’d be interested in seeing the spike of all probable stimulus check conversion amounts. $1200 for a single taxpayer, $2,400 for a jointly-filing couple, and amounts with multiples of $500 added to each of those (for the dependents).

I can’t help but wonder how Donald Trump — the guy who is making sure the physical stimulus checks have his name on them — would feel if he found out about the people immediately converting them to Bitcoin.