  Tonight, the best explanation of dogecoin I've ever read: "Humans get excited about dog coins. That's just a thing that humans get excited about." I couldn't agree more. Let's get into it. 💰 IN POWELL WE TRUST  Readers, we are back with another edition of I Wonder if the Chief of the Federal Reserve Reads Nightcap, starring everyone's favorite Trump appointee, Jerome Hayden Powell — also known in some circles (OK literally just the circle of this newsletter) as Jay Money, the Commander in Coin, DJ Dinero, the Fiscal Fox, and Fed Savage.
TODAY'S TOPIC: 'TRANSITORY' INFLATION Your boy JP loves to use the word "transitory" to describe the threat of inflation. Transitory, as in "here today, gone tomorrow, fuhgettaboutit."
But, as my colleague Paul La Monica writes, use of the word "transitory" could very well turn out to be, um, transitory. The Jay-Man may need to consult a thesaurus for a new way to describe inflation, which has become a thornier problem than the Fed predicted.
Prices are going up across the board as the economy emerges from the trash tornado that was 2020. Wages are rising. So are bond yields. The housing market is on fire. That's all good news — as long as the increases are in fact "transitory" and not — what's the word? — barreling on like a freight train from hell.
Powell's devotion to the "transitory" narrative signals to some analysts that the central bank is underestimating the strength of the rebound and the potential for the kind of sky-high inflation the US hasn't seen since the late 1970s and early 1980s.
THE TAKEAWAY Although inflation concerns are real, for now investors are mostly keeping the faith in Pastor Powell. He's promised not to tighten the spigot of easy money that's been propping up stocks anytime soon.
Despite the occasional fits they're throwing in the stock and bond markets, investors are pricing in only about an 11% chance of a rate hike by the end of the year.
💀 NUMBER OF THE DAY 95% Internet Explorer debuted 26 years ago, in 1995, as part of Windows 95 and became an instant hit. At its 2002 peak, Internet Explorer commanded 95% of the browser market. It now sits at about 5%, according to browser usage tracker NetMarketShare.
But the end is coming for Internet Explorer, inimitable Nightcap contributor David Goldman writes. Microsoft is officially killing off Internet Explorer 11 on June 15, 2022. In its death announcement, Microsoft said Internet Explorer is now slow, no longer practical for or compatible with many modern web tasks, and is far less secure than modern browsers.
📈 CRYPTO WUNDERKIND  Vitalik Buterin is a borderline billionaire. His wealth is wrapped up in ethereum, the cryptocurrency he co-created, which is so volatile it's shot Buterin into the billionaire class and then almost immediately back down to a mere multi-millionaire. Oh, and he's only 27.
Just over a week ago, ether hit a record high above $4,300. On Wednesday, it crashed to below $1,900. That nosedive brought the value of ether in Buterin's closely watched public wallet down to approximately $870 million Thursday morning, from around $1.1 billion the morning before.
For a guy with lots to lose, Buterin is extremely chill about all the booms and busts that make crypto markets fun/terrifying. Here are some of the highlights from his conversation with my colleague Matt Egan.
Are we in a crypto bubble? Yes. But it is "notoriously hard to predict" when bubbles will pop. "We've had at least three of these big crypto bubbles so far…and often enough, the reason the bubbles end up stopping is because some event happens that just makes it clear that the technology isn't there yet."
"It feels like crypto is close to ready for the mainstream in a way that it wasn't even four years ago," Buterin said. "Crypto isn't just a toy anymore." It's a "possibility."
On Elon Musk... "Elon Musk tweeting is something that the crypto space has only been introduced to for the first time literally last year and this year," Buterin said. "I think it's reasonable to expect a bit of craziness. But I do think that the markets will learn. Elon is not going to have this influence forever."
"The challenge with these dog coins is that the markets for them are still fairly thin. There is not actually a way to sell a billion dollars of shiba coin and get more than a couple of million dollars out of it."
RELATED: The cryptocurrency market stabilized Thursday, with bitcoin climbing back above $40,000. Even so, the world's largest digital currency has lost more than 30% in market capitalization since its peak in mid-April.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON? 🚗 Tesla is finally bringing back the Model S, which has been held up because of a global computer chip shortage and a redesign. The news came via tweet, of course, from CEO Elon Musk, saying a "delivery event" would be held June 3.
🍏 Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to take the stand Friday morning as the company's high-profile antitrust trial with Epic Games nears an end. Cook has fielded questions from Congress about Apple's market power, but this is his first time being grilled on it in federal court.
😷 A patchwork system of mask policies has emerged at retail chains in the United States, creating confusion and policies that are nearly impossible to enforce. All CNN Newsletters | Manage Profile
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