← Coin Stories with Natalie Brunell
Coin Stories with Natalie Brunell
News Block: JPMorgan's Dimon Rips Coinbase CEO, U.S. Seizes $1B in Iranian Crypto, Who's Buying and Who's Selling
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A
Welcome to the Coinsories news block, powered exclusively by LEDN. I'm Natalie Brunel, and in about 10 minutes or less, I'll provide you with insightful updates on Bitcoin, financial markets and the global economy. Everything you need to know in one block. Let's go. One of the biggest pieces of unfinished business in Washington is back in the news this week. The Clarity Act. Now, quick recap on where things stand. The Clarity act cleared the Senate banking committee on May 14 in a 15, 9 bipartisan vote. The Senate Agriculture Committee cleared its version earlier this year. So those two now have to be merged and the full Senate has to vote. Then the bill has to be reconciled with the version the House already passed last year and sent to the president's desk. So a lot has already happened. The momentum is real, but there's a problem. The problem is the banking lobby and its main voice box. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Just listen to what he had to say when he went on Fox Business last week.
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B
Not worried about stablecoin, but if it happened, I'm telling you, I would have nothing to do with it. And it would eventually blow up on its own. Okay, but that's my personal thing. But I do understand the concern of all the other banks. So.
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C
Well, the markup is coming. I mean, what are you going to do about it?
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B
It is. We'll fight it. If we lose, we lose and we'll live.
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C
Okay.
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B
But it will be fought. This will not be. No, no. Is going to bow down to this guy, okay. Or that company. But he's the only one. And he's spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Washington.
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C
This thing he said he's, he's representing the whole.
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B
He's full of.
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C
Well, we're going to watch that one.
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B
Yeah.
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C
Wow. Well, I mean, this is turning into a big fight between the whole, you know, each industry.
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So in one sentence, Dimon claims he isn't afraid of stablecoins, but in the next, he says the whole system will blow up if crypto firms are allowed to pay yield and that the banks will continue to fight this. And if you're wondering who the he is who Dimon accused of paying hundreds of millions in Washington, well, that's Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. This is not the first time Dimon has gone after Armstrong. At Davos earlier this year, according to the Wall Street Journal, Dimon reportedly said to Armstrong face that he was, quote, full of blank. Bank of America CEO told Armstrong, if you want to be a bank, just be a bank. Wells Fargo's CEO wouldn't even engage and Citigroup's Jane Fraser gave him less than a minute. The heads of the four largest banks in America have basically shut the door on the crypto industry. But the other side is not sitting back. President Trump went on Truth Social this week and made it crystal clear which side he's on. He blamed Gary Gensler and the anti crypto army for nearly destroying the industry, declared America the crypto capital of the world and promised to codify a future proof digital asset market structure that cannot be undone by crypto haters. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said this week, quote, I have confidence that Congress will adopt the Clarity act and that the President will be able to sign it. And Senator Cynthia Lummis warned that if the Clarity act does not pass this session, it may not come back around until 2030. And obviously the Clarity act mostly relates to crypto and benefits crypto. But it does matter for bitcoin. When Jamie Dimon warns that letting Americans earn yield outside the banking system will blow everything up. What he's really defending is the bank's monopoly on customer deposits. Bitcoin and the open monetary rails being built around it. Is the competition coming for that monopoly and the banks obviously don't like it. LEDN just introduced their lowest rates ever. The larger the loan, the lower the rate. These new rates apply to all new loans, refinances and renewals. With LEDN's gold standard protection, your bitcoin stays custodied, never lent out. You can activate auto top ups and alerts so you're never caught off guard and you can repay anytime with zero penalties. Don't choose between a great rate and the safety of your bitcoin. Get both at Leaden and a quarter percentage point off your first loan at Leden IO Natalie. Now to another story that made waves in Washington this past week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum revealed that the U.S. has seized about $1 billion in cryptocurrency tied to Iran as part of Operation Economic Fury. He said, quote, I believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto, just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and might not realize that their wallet has been grabbed. Now almost immediately, bitcoin critics claimed that this proves bitcoin can be seized by governments. But once again, they were wrong. The United States did not seize any Bitcoin related to Iran. They seized Iran's stablecoins. The largest single action came in April when tether froze. $344 million in USDT was linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Stablecoins are centralized. There's a company sitting at the top, in this case tether. And the US government can order them to freeze an address at any moment. And that's exactly what happened. Bitcoin does not work that way. If you hold your own private keys, no government, no company and no central authority can freeze your bitcoin. There's no issuer, no CEO to subpoena, no headquarters to raid. And that's the entire point. This is likely why Iran pivoted to Bitcoin after its stablecoins started to get frozen. Earlier this month it's been reported that Iran launched a Bitcoin backed shipping insurance program called Hormuz Safe settling payments in Bitcoin. Even a sanctioned regime knows the difference between money somebody else can freeze and money nobody can freeze. So when critics say bitcoin failed because the US seized crypto, they're showing you they don't understand Bitcoin versus crypto. A billion in centralized crypto stablecoins did get frozen. Not a single satoshi held in self custody was touched. And that's what makes Bitcoin different. All right, let's close with a quick look at who's buying and who's selling. First the sellers. Saquon's Communications, a Paris based semiconductor company, officially abandoned its Bitcoin treasury strategy this week. The company once held over 3200 Bitcoin and had an ambitious plan to acquire 100,000 by the end of the decade. Today they hold just 658. Most of the stack was sold to pay down debt as the price of the stock came down and the company plans to sell the rest. Now of course, not every corporation showing that kind of weakness. Strive just announced another major buy, 1,109 bitcoin for about 85 million, bringing total holdings to 16,500 bitcoin. That makes Strive the seventh largest corporate bitcoin holder in the world, leapfrogging both Coinbase and Riot. These purchases are being funded by the success of Strive's preferred stock SATA, which has maintained its value around par despite bitcoin's volatility. Starting June 16, SATA will become the first U.S. listed security in stock market history to pay shareholders a cash dividend every single business day at a current rate of 13% annualized. I sat down with Strive's Chief Risk Officer Jeff Walton on Coin stories last week. Give it a listen if you want to understand what Strive is building and what exactly SATA is, especially compared to similar products like Stretch. And also check out my conversation this week with Ben Honeywell, CFO of Prevalon Energy, the first corporation to publicly announce holding Stretch on its balance sheet. That talk is a great window into why companies are starting to use these new digital credit instruments as part of their treasury strategies. So here's the bigger picture. Bitcoin markets are for building, right? Holders with conviction are still accumulating despite the price choppiness. And every time this part of the cycle plays out, the holder base gets so much stronger. More supply ends up locked away with long term holders who know exactly what they own and what Bitcoin has the potential to become. Until next week, keep Stacking. That's it for the news block. Your weekly Bitcoin and Economic news update. Powered exclusively by ledn. I'm Natalie Brunel. Make sure you're subscribed to Coinstory so you never miss an episode. This show is for educational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. Until next time, keep stacking.