US Land Purchases Special: EI Weekend 3261
Fun fact: fully 40% of US territory was actually bought.
Exchange Invest is a unique information resource combining the day’s stories in a newsletter for investors in exchanges/financial markets infrastructure.
Exchange Invest was founded by former exchange CEO and author of the first bestselling book of fintech (“Capital Market Revolution!” FT 1999) Patrick Young. Monday through Friday our daily paid subscriber email discusses the business of bourses of all kinds across the world.
On this day in 1913, Clorox, a maker of cleaning supplies, was founded in Oakland, Ca. Entrepreneurs Archibald Taft, a banker; Edward Hughes, a purveyor of wood and coal; Charles Husband, a bookkeeper; Rufus Myers, a lawyer; and William Hussey, a miner, invested $100 each to set up the first commercial-scale liquid bleach factory in the United States.
SPONSORED BY:
MACRO THOUGHTS
In an era when President Trump is displaying ambitions of acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal for the USA, it's worth remembering fully 40% of US territory was actually bought.
United States Territorial Acquisitions Table
Wikipedia
(& No Gen-Z, none of it was acquired on eBay).
IPO-VID LIVESTREAM: NEXT TUESDAY
"The Benefits of Financial Inclusion"
Guests: Alessandro Hatami
& Meaghan Johnson
May 6th, 2025
1700 UK, 1800 CET, 1200 EST
Alessandro Hatami is a financial transformation strategist, author, and a leading voice in the digital transformation of banking, payments, and finance. He is the co-author of Reinventing Banking and Finance — Best Banking Book of 2021 by Investopedia.
Alessandro was previously on IPO-VID #084: Reinventing Banking.
Co-author of Inclusive Finance, Meaghan Johnson is a seasoned fintech researcher and consultant passionate about using emerging technologies and business models to increase financial inclusion, improve banking and create the best possible customer experiences.
Meaghan is a Senior Lecturer at CFTE and leads a Digital Finance online course at Manchester Business School.
IN BIGWORLD
From Exchange Invest 3257: April 28th:
The USA alone amounts to about 26% of global GDP.
US cargo ships, last time there were stats (2019), amounted to 0.4% of the world’s merchant shipping capacity.*
Therein lies a key MAGA choke point.
*Oceangoing Self-Propelled, Cargo-Carrying Vessels of 1,000 Gross Tons.
PLY: Market Movers On Fintech TV
Catch me on Market Movers On Fintech TV every Monday at 0920 AM for the latest insights in finance, technology, impact investing, and market trends. Fintech TV is on the web (Fintech.TV), in a multitude of airports across the USA and other channels.
BITCARNAGE
GG Speaks Out
In the week when Paul Atkins is the new SEC crypto messiah, it’s important to put in perspective the remarks of his predecessor Gary Gensler. For GG when he became SEC boss was also seen as a crypto messiah. After all he championed the underlying tech in an MIT course during his CFTC — SEC interregnum. In the end things went sour because inside the temple GG didn’t like the moneylender, to borrow a biblical turn of phrase. Now out of office GG is speaking out… Gary Gensler Takes A Shot At Crypto, Says Market Is Built On 99% Sentiments (TradingView) / Gensler Warned Of Crypto Crash Week Before Paul Atkins Takes SEC Helm (Crypto Times).
…The bit which will probably most upset the crypto bros is, GG’s headline prognosis is absolutely correct. There are some wondrous tokens out there with inherent value but the vast majority are at best foolish if not utterly misguided on a range through to utterly sleazy beyond belief.
There are grounds to criticize GG as SEC Chairman but actually in seeking to crack down on a wild west crypto market, he was frankly not far wrong…
If you enjoyed this excerpt you may be interested to know that you can read Bitcarnage every day in Exchange Invest.
Alternatively, if you want to follow Bitcarnage — the daily update on happenings in the world of crypto and digital assets, then you can find Bitcarnage as a standalone on Substack.
EXCHANGE INVEST WEEKLY PODCAST
A Week of Broadly Poor Results as Shanghai Plans Expanded Warehouse Network,
NASDAQ Goes Great Guns With AWS,
And LSEG Also Extends.
OF INTEREST
As always, a review of interesting reading to provoke thoughts and consideration… Not sure we agree with much of it….but it’s thought-provoking!
How The Louisiana Purchase Changed The World
Smithsonian Magazine
PLY: All or part of what would become 15 US states. In equivalent terms, more than modern day France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and the British Isles combined…
The Alaska Deal:
Seward’s Bargain: The Alaska Purchase From RussiaCheck For The Purchase Of Alaska (1868)National Archives
The Philippines:
Islands Under Siege . A Conflicted Land: Rebellions, Wars And Insurgencies In The Philippines — 1898–1933: America’s Colony
PBS
PLY: One ugly lasting issue for the Philippines was that their tax code is a replica of the IRS, hence even expat Filipinos are (at least theoretically) obliged to pay tax on worldwide income.
The Philippines Gained Independence From The United States
The National WWII Museum
Florida:
How Did The United States Acquire Florida
Daily History
PLY: Fortunately for the Biden Presidency otherwise he might have had difficulty finding somewhere to relax on holiday after the pressure of the White House:
The U.S. Bought 3 Virgin Islands from Denmark. The Deal Took 50 Years
History
…the fun bit is the negotiation took 50 years (AKA longer than the Trump attention span by some distance). The US would acquire the remaining Danish Virgin Island Water Island in a separate 1944 purchase — the last US trade on land at a cost of $10,000.
Then again at 491.5 acres (1.989 km2), I reckon that is less of an area than the Trump casinos in Atlantic City alone 30 years ago…
Books worth reading:
Finance Book Of The Week
“The Alchemy of Finance” by George Soros presents his "theory of reflexivity.”
Get the book here.
*Paid link, as an Amazon Associate, Exchange Invest earns from qualifying purchases.
Suggestions welcome if you would like to nominate a book for us to cover!
Our next Book of the week will be unveiled Saturday in the EI Weekend Edition.
& don’t forget if you want all the news on the bourse business sent daily to your Inbox subscribe to Exchange Invest — via Exchange Invest.com — it’s only $499 per annum to join “The Exchange of Information.
Capital Market Revolution
First published in 1999, “Capital Market Revolution!” offered a clear, concise roadmap for navigating the financial revolution fueled by technology. And 25 years later, as the world of fintech continues to evolve, the core principles laid out in the book remain surprisingly sharp
This new edition was produced to celebrate PLY ringing the NYSE Closing Bell July 5th, 2024. There are several new sections of PLY pith to add 10,000 more words of context and the original book which is remarkably prescient and elegantly dated all at once! It’s only $9.99 on Kindle, a fraction of the original price in 1999 to encourage revolutionaries with any budget!
Get the book here.
*Paid link, as an Amazon Associate, Exchange Invest earns from qualifying purchases.
IPO-VID LIVESTREAM: NOW ONLINE
“The Future of Research”
Guest: Matthew Ringgenberg
April 29th, 2025
1700 UK, 1800 CET, 1200 EST
Matthew Ringgenberg is a Professor of Finance at the University of Utah whose research focuses on the role of institutional investors in financial markets.
Specifically, he has examined how the actions of short-sellers, hedge funds, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds interact with various frictions to affect real economic activity and the formation of asset prices.
IPO-VID LIVESTREAM PODCAST
In the latest episode of the IPO-VID podcast, we catch up with Max Cunningham, now leading the charge at NSX Australia. After making waves as ASX’s listings boss — where he helped set a record for new listings — Max is now focused on building a dynamic alternative for micro-caps at the National Stock Exchange of Australia. With deep experience across global markets, he shares insights into the future of Australian capital markets and the unique opportunity NSX presents for issuers and investors alike.
🎧 Catch up now and stay ahead in the world of markets!
EI Website | Spotify | Apple Podcast | Anchor
LAST WORD
The future continues in the water cooler of the bourse business.
…If you want to stay abreast of the world of exchanges then please Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter — free 7-day trial.
Or Subscribe to our Weekend Edition — it’s free.
You can also check out the “Reflections From Young’s Pyramid”, it illustrates the relative value of exchanges around the world.
Or the “ICE Cost of Borrowing 2020–2022” An Interest Rate Comparison, which illustrates the end of the funny money era of QE and how interest rates have already had a major lurch up from their previous region of zero to, even negative, levels.
At the least can you like this article, or leave us a comment, we welcome your feedback.
If you enjoy our multimedia, then please Like / Subscribe to our video channel: IPO-VID In Patrick’s Opinion.