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NLW
Bitcoin made a new all time high this week. Ethereum is outperforming calling for alt season for many pundits. We have the genius, clarity and of course anti CBDC acts all passing at various levels of becoming law. And of course President Trump saying you might unlock $9 trillion worth of retirement money for our sweet, sweet bitcoin and crypto. We've got a lot to unpack today on the Friday 5. You've got NLW and I here and I to go through all of it. Thanks. That's dope. That's dope. We have yet another monster week in crypto news and a lot to unpack here on the Friday 5. You know the summer has not been boring.
Unknown Crypto Expert
It's, I think that we can officially say this is the most eventful summer we've had in at least the last, I don't know, in the 2000s. For, for, for crypto.
NLW
It's the Friday 500. I think we've got these sort of honorable mention stories that weren't even going to be included that sort of started breaking over the past few days. Bitcoin topped 120k on report of Trump approving crypto investments for retirement accounts. So he's basically trying to sign an executive order here that will unlock many, many trillions in 401ks and such for people to directly buy crypto. This wasn't even on our docket.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, so this is, this is the pump my bags executive order of 2025. It's. So this is not just about crypto. It's about basically making it like, you know, turn a whole slew of different types of alternative assets, making them appropriate for 401ks. My guess is that that will kick up a lot of conversation. The asset managers are going to be pretty into it, you would assume, because it unlocks a lot of their products that aren't available right now. So I don't know, I mean I think that this one, it will get caught up in the dragnet of controversy around crypto even though it's about more than crypto. But at core it's going to be a question of, you know, the, the, the, the never ending battle between personal freedom to make your own financial decisions on the one hand and you know, the regime of consumer protection on the other. So pretty interesting stuff. And yeah, I think notable that it didn't even really crack.
NLW
The top five self directed IRA companies would be so wrecked. Yeah, yeah, that's been one of the biggest sort of trends. It's been actually really exciting when people could take their IRA out of these major platforms, go to a self directed ira, buy farmland, cows and bitcoin and put it into their retirement account. But it seems like you might just be able to do that on E Trade now. So we'll be interesting to see if this actually passes or what happens. Even if he does an executive order, if it actually goes into law or happens.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, yeah, it's good, it's. I mean, look, you know, any, any time that you're building a company around regulatory arbitrage, you know, there's a risk that the things go in the other direction, you know.
NLW
Yeah. And sort of our hint here on the next story, that was also an honorable mention. Crypto market cap tops 4 trillion for first time solidifying major asset class position. I think the story here obviously goes back to one we've repeated over and over again, is when will we see bitcoin go up, consolidate and then see altcoins actually perform. And I think we can thank Tom Lee and friends for that being the case. Right now, obviously the interest in Ethereum, treasury companies and Ethereum catching a huge bid, having half billion dollar days in ETF inflows. Actually I believe yesterday BlackRock's ETH ETF outperformed its Bitcoin ETF, which is pretty astounding. Clearly though, right now we're getting early iterations or some hints of an alt season and 4 trillion in total market cap shows that.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, I mean the other, the other piece which we didn't talk about and maybe should have been sort of somewhere buried in here, Coinbase went from in the monthly app rankings went from I think like 465 to 164. So you know, I'm sure I'm wrong on the exact numbers, but that sort of order of magnitude, which is another indicator that there's some early. Yeah, there you go. Good indicator that, that retail is finally coming back. I mean one of the things that's been interesting about this cycle is, you know, let's put it this way, institutions got over Luna and FTX a lot faster than retail did, you know, or has. I think that there's still a lot of lingering like thanks but no thanks even now. But you know, we are seeing some signals that maybe people are getting interested again and you know, that it seems to be coming to, to, to bear finally.
NLW
It's interesting we kind of look at these signals from previous cycles as reliable now, but I would say that they diminish with time as well. We always talk about Google searches for Bitcoin. But at this point, who the hell needs to Google search Bitcoin? Yep. Right. So it's like, yes, Google searches aren't back. That doesn't mean retail's here. It just means that everybody knows about bitcoin. I would also imagine that there's a lot of people who are now coming back after many years to crypto who have a Coinbase account. Right. So I don't expect Coinbase to rocket to number one to be the final signal that we've got all season.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah. Although I don't know that, that, that one's always interesting because just, you know, the. I think that what pushes things up. Apple is very attuned to Velocity, so I wouldn't surprise me if a relatively small number of, of sort of new subscribers could drive it up. But in any case, certainly going up, you know, 300 positions or whatever it was is, is a, is a pretty good indicator.
NLW
So we've entitled the official first section, which is a funny title for us, as Crypto Week Show Genius and Clarity Pass. And what a show it was. But we actually, I think, got what we wanted. Here you see Eleanor Terren, who I actually had on yesterday or two days ago. All three crypto bills just passed the House, and the Genius act is now headed to real Donald Trump's desk to become the first major piece of crypto legislation signed into law. I think what's most notable here is the numbers with which the Clarity act specifically passed. I think we knew the Genius act, once the Freedom Caucus got out of the way, was going to happen. Donald Trump literally had his signing for today scheduled on the docket Monday as a total foregone conclusion that this was going to happen. But the Clarity act, which is more market structure, 294 to 134, with 78 Democrats voting in favor, more than double the 35 expected and more than the 71 who voted to pass fit 21 last year. That is a massive number. And you never see this level of bipartisan support for literally anything. This could be like don't give Cancer to Unicorns and Puppies act and it wouldn't have had this much biased partisan support.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, I mean, man, the absurdity of the path that it took to get here this week is, and I probably shouldn't say this out loud given that we both have daily content, but there is a lot to be said for just, you know, just tuning into this show every week because it looked just absolutely insane for three days. So much so that the anti crypto Democrats were just sitting on their hands, you know, kind of joyously watching. They didn't even have to get involved in this one. It was just an, an internal frequency for completeness for anyone who wasn't paying attention. The central question was whether the Genius act was enabled sort of a backdoor way to get CBDCs into America. So this is the Freedom Caucus's problem is despite the fact that there was another anti CBDC act, they were concerned that the Genius act itself didn't, didn't cut that off. When all was said and done, Marjorie Taylor Greene still wouldn't change her vote because of the Mark of the Beast system, which was the exact wording that she put in her tweet. But Trump had to haul their asses into the White House on Tuesday night to get him on board. And, and finally it all came together. But, you know, push comes to shove, it didn't matter. Right. Like all three things that were supposed to move forward in Crypto week moved forward in Crypto week. And I think it's absolutely accurate and you're absolutely correct to, to, to, to suggest that the most notable part of this was the overwhelming majority for this market structure bill for the Clarity Act. You know, I haven't read yet, maybe because it's still fresh, like any sort of, of the, of the policy wonk explanations of how, how sort of how much support it had. You know, I don't know whether it's. So from here we have to go to the Senate. The Senate isn't just voting on this bill. They have to sort of, they're going to take pieces of this, combine it with things that Senator Gillibrand Lummis had, had done in the past. So maybe part of the, the sort of like the overwhelmingness is a signal that, yes, they want this done, but they know there's going to be a process where they get to dig into specifics more, you know, but still it's, it's extremely notable to have over 300 votes in favor of this thing.
NLW
Yeah, Market Clarity is going to be difficult, and it should be because it's actually relatively complex. It requires a deep understanding of this industry and they have to absolutely get it right to not have major unintended consequences in the future. So I would actually hope that there's a lot of debate and amendments to Clarity as it goes through. But clearly the House said, hey, let's get this done and throw it to the Senate to figure that out.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yep, yep, pretty much.
NLW
I think everybody's here for that. And you know, at the end of the day today we're going to have our first major piece of legislation. The Genius act will be signed into law. And I think that the market has reflected the excitement around that. The next story, which you did a great breakdown on so I'm just going to let you run with this because I, I listened to it in the car, I think yesterday. Dormant Satoshi era bitcoin whale moves 4 billion but it may not be a sell off indicator. Dormant bitcoin whale from 2011 awakens moving 4.7 billion to exchanges we got kind of a lot going on with this. Everybody's talking about it, but is this somebody that's intending to sell or is there another story? Maybe I'll leave the next article for, for as we continue into the conversation about it.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, I mean so, so obviously, you know, this is a, a fun sort of crypto archaeology story initially, you know, 80,000 BTC move for the first time in, you know, 14 years. We talked last week, I think about the weirdness that it was already organized in these ten thousand dollar, you know, chunks. And it wasn't clear if it was, you know, movement from you know, old wallets which you, the generously called wallets to new infrastructure. It wasn't clear if it was maybe about a potential sale. I think that's sort of the, the most obvious conclusion now that we've got these things moving to Galaxy. I think that people are more of the mindset that this is probably a sale, at least in part. But there are other reasons that you could move this to Galaxy. Let's basically it's, it's not as definitive as moving it to finance.
NLW
Right.
Unknown Crypto Expert
To, to, to, to just, you know, unload. But it's, it's hard to say, you know, exactly what's going on. If it was, if it was a sale, the market ate it with no problem, you know.
NLW
Yeah, that might have been our dip to 115. Yay. Yeah, right. Which is, it's just a Saudi that we're trading right back. I haven't looked but I'm assuming right around 118, 119 already today, if not 120. But, but there's some other theories here. Maybe that these aren't specifically those coins, but I've heard that a lot of people think it's Roger Veer. That was one of the, that was the initial.
Unknown Crypto Expert
That was the initial, the leading contender.
NLW
And then obviously we have at the same time as a similar amount of tokens coins are moving. We have the announcement of atom backs bitcoin standard treasury company. This was first reported in a strange way, actually, because my impression from the initial reporting was that because Cantor Fitzgerald's already involved in 21 with tether and Jack Mahlers and such, that this was part of that. But it seems that Cantor Fitzgerald was backing an entirely new bitcoin standard treasury company. It was labeled as a sale of bitcoin by Adam back to these, but it seems like it's more of a transfer of his tokens into a bitcoin treasury company. Maybe you can unpack this better than me because it feels like, hey, the part I find astounding is that these guys like Adam Back and Roger Veer, we could. They just have hundreds of thousands of coins.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Well, couple. Couple interesting things here. The way that it was reported was Adam Back rolled over, woke up, stretched, and decided to sell 30,000 bitcoin today. You know, that's kind of like the vibe now. Adam, for his part, has aggressively maintained over, over the years that, you know, whatever his stack was, it wasn't. It wasn't billionaire status. But it's not exactly clear like, how much of this is block streams. Bitcoin versus Adam.
NLW
That was the other one that I missed. I like it.
Unknown Crypto Expert
It's. It's. It's very weird. One thing that is interesting that's maybe a not. Not tinfoil Hattie, but just sort of is. It's something that's sort of vaguely talked about behind the scenes is if you are a bitcoin OG who's looking for some amount of liquidity in. In your stack, but who also is still firmly committed to bitcoin, moving it into a bitcoin treasury play is one of the better options that has become available as a way to get some liquidity on that. On that stack. And this, you know, again, we don't even know how much of this is actually backs Bitcoin versus blockstreams, bitcoin versus, you know, whatever. However, it has sort of been, you know, noted behind closed doors that this is something that some of the, you know, the early classes are doing as a way to, you know, get liquidity without moving out of their bitcoin, which I think is fine. You know, like, it's unrealistic to expect people who have, you know, billions of dollars to just sit it there planted forever. So finding ways for them to get access to it is good.
NLW
Yeah, you can take the cynical view or the positive view. It doesn't really matter. What's happening here is that we have a way for bitcoin billionaires to insert themselves into the normal billionaire playbook of buy, borrow, die. Right? You send your billion dollars worth of bitcoin to a treasury company, you haven't sold it, so you don't have the taxable transaction. You basically are exchanging that bitcoin for stock in a publicly traded company that's trading at a multiple. So even if it was one to one, this is a good deal for them. But if it's 2 or 3 to 1, you're getting a lot more. And then you can borrow against that stock until the day you die and never sell anything, never pay taxes and you get to keep the street cred like you invested in a bitcoin treasury company rather than saying, hey yeah dude, it's 120 grand, I'm selling some of this.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, I mean honestly, this is, I think one of the best uses for these bitcoin treasury companies that we've had. It's an alternative approach to blockfi, basically at scale and at size.
NLW
Yeah, listen, for these guys, I can tell you that I privately have had conversations with the number of the bigger ones and this kind of liquidity is drying up. I think most of the guys who are going to do it have done it or have looked at it or have a plan. So these multi billion dollar raises I think are going to become fewer and far between, which is fine. I mean even Bloomberg here, everyone wants a bitcoin treasury, right? And you'll see we're getting ethereum treasury companies. Thomas Lee, obviously the new Michael Saylor of Ethereum, I wrote about that in my newsletter this morning. But you know, hyper liquid treasury companies, next RP treasury companies, these are all the same thing. Nobody like. A hyper liquid treasury company is not a deep belief that hyper liquid is the greatest balance sheet asset of all time. It's a way to, for people who are holding a shit ton of a coin to transfer it somewhere and get some liquidity when they couldn't go sell that on the open market if their lives depended on it.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, I mean, look, you know, I think that it's totally reasonable to be to see these things as signals of hype growing and mania growing. But at the same time, you know, the, the reality of financial markets of all stripes is that there's a weird melange of traders, you know, short term, long term and everything in between. And you know, free markets are going to evolve lots and lots of different options. So it's kind of just everyone's along for the ride and people are going to make money where they can.
NLW
I will say, I've been critical of these. I think your take is the best. I think it's reasonable that these people would do this. I do think a lot of retail will once again get wrecked when they buy the stock at the top. But I will say that one thing I like from the pitches I'm hearing is that people are realizing that simply sending coins to a Treasury company is not going to cut it now that so many people have done it. And I do think they're finding novel ways now, the new pitches that I'm seeing to actually make these meaningful companies that do something differentiated from the others. So I think this will advance the ball on much more compelling ways for public companies to hold crypto.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yep, yep. Look, there's. There's always, always learnings in the wreckage. The, the, the hope is that, God, it's, it's so optimistic, I don't even want to air it. But maybe the interaction of the public markets, like, creates some speed bumps that, that slow down the, you know, the full insanity of, of liquid crypto. But we'll just have to wait and see.
NLW
Okay, so the next story, which is another absolutely wild one that the forensic cryptologists have been going nuts over, obviously, is the story that the United States Marshals. Here you go. Did the US sell 85% of its Bitcoin holdings. Marshalls FoA FoIA report sparks debate. So David Bailey, I believe in March said, right here, I'll pay $10,000 to the first journalist who can get U.S. marshals to confirm the quantity of bitcoin and crypto they're currently holding. We had a Freedom of Information act where a journalist, this person right here, not even going to try to pronounce that, went out and said, yeah, they got about 29,000 bitcoin. This leads down so many paths with so many questions. A, is the U.S. marshal the only holder of United States bitcoin? I don't know that, but that seems to be the assumption by people. Actually, she went ahead and unpacked that and said, this is only forfeited and not seized. So I think there might be some differentiation there. Also, we have the executive order from Trump on the strategic bitcoin reserve that basically said, I believe he had 90 days or 6, 180 days, whatever it was, to get a report and get an audit. And this sort of preempted that. But that is within a week. That date is coming up. So we're supposed to get answers on this as well. Maybe you can unpack this more because I'm Seeing so many takes that are so inconsistent.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Well, I. I think that first of all, a whole bunch of people realized that all of their thoughts about this were just based on whatever some other person had said. Right. You know, like, where these numbers of estimates had come from and things like that. Like, you know, I looked credit to. To. To David Bailey for. For creating a mechanism to have someone go out and do the thing. Now, Lola literally just filed an FOAI request like, you know, a week ago or something like that. And they, to their credit, they got right back to her, you know, pretty quickly. I think that it brings up all the questions that you just articulated. Where does bitcoin in the US Government live? Are there other pockets? You know, were people just assuming it was all in this one spot, but it's actually spread over? But really what it highlights is the need for a thing that was already requested, you know, as you just discussed, which is an audit for where this is. You better believe that this is going to create a whole lot of buzz. I think we saw Senator Lummis tweeting about this yesterday. There's, you know, there's gonna be a lot of pressure to actually get that report done. I think there was probably someone who had it. Who's had it at the bottom of their to do list for, you know, three months now, who's gonna be working this weekend. You know, that's. That's the. The big implication of this, I think.
NLW
Yeah. I mean, listen, if this is entirely true, it's wildly disappointing that the United States strategic bitcoin reserve is now effectively a rounding error versus someone like China. Right. I mean, I'm not saying that 30,000 Bitcoin is something to sneeze at, but when you're talking about the central bank of the world's largest economy, that's literally like an hour of our national debt. Right. So it's not a big deal there. I guess the positive view is, hey, we have to buy a lot more bitcoin. That's what people are saying. I don't really take that view. I think we need a lot more information to figure out exactly what's going on here. It definitely shows what an absolute nightmare even doing a simple financial audit of our bitcoin holdings is. Also, by the way, if we only have 30,000 bitcoin left, that means that the United States had to have sold off Bitfinex bitcoin, which I think everybody with a rational brain agrees should have been Bitfinex's bitcoin.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, if I were a betting Man, I would say that this is a matter of a very specific request asking for one group's bitcoin holdings that got the information that they, you know, asked for in a very specific way. You know, I, I, I'm definitely not getting all, all flustered until we have way more information.
NLW
Yeah, I, I agree with that. I love that we can even have conversations like this about bitcoin in the United states government in 2025, though. Yeah. You know, I actually just really quickly, as an addition, I asked Perry and Boring basically about this, I think, two days ago on Spaces. Obviously, she's relatively close to everything happening in Washington, and she had a take that was super surprising, and she said was a maybe. But she basically said that when Trump wrote the executive order, there's a lot of rumors that these agencies were told in the executive order to send all of their bitcoin to Treasury. Right. So we don't have an audit at all of Treasury. And she said that a lot of them, rather than send their bitcoin to treasury, said this money is ours, and basically sold it so that they would continue to have that money within their agency rather than having to transfer it out. And she said that explains why we had such muted price action when there was so much excitement about Trump earlier in the year. Because after the executive order, it was very possible that there was massive selling from different agencies in the United States government who didn't want to take that bitcoin balance and transfer it to Treasury.
Unknown Crypto Expert
That sounds like something for the, for the sleuths to dig into.
NLW
No idea if it's true, but I have never heard Perry Ann tell me something that seemed like a wild tinfoil hat theory. Right? I mean, she's about as, like, conservative and honest as it gets, so definitely something. I'm just gonna kind of have a mental note on. Our final story here today is macro US Core CPI rises less than expected again, despite tariff impact. Okay, but let's actually just talk about Pal. Markets rattled by credible threat of Trump trying to fire Pal. So we had a story that he had written up a letter to fire Pal. Then he denied that he had written up a letter to fire Pal. Everyone in the right mind knows that he can't actually fire Pal unless he basically goes so far out on the borderline of dancing with violating the Constitution and what the hell's going on here, man?
Unknown Crypto Expert
Oh, my God. Powell's nerves, man. That's just like. So, okay, so he says he's got a, you know, rumors that he's got a gonna Fire Powell. He walks it back, but the way that he walks it back is saying, no, I'm. I'm probably not gonna fire Powell. Market says they wouldn't like it unless there's some big fraud that's happening. Like, I don't know, some people are saying that the buildings that they're renovating is, you know, it's like. And then he goes on to articulate a case that the, The. The renovations of Fed buildings are fraudulent. It's like, oh, my God, who knows?
NLW
Yeah, look, the market, in my mind really quickly is that we've seen there's, like, the clearest playbook of the Trump administration when he wants to get something done or spread a narrative. He's so good at this. He takes one of his cabinet members and he's like, your job is to make noise about this thing. Like, it was Lutnick with tariffs at the very beginning, talking the narrative that obviously never came to fruition, that we're going to get the Internal Revenue Service would be the External Revenue Service and all these. And now he's got Pulte just attacking Powell relentlessly all day, every day.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Yeah, yeah. Well, it is also that the construction of some people say, is a very, very useful one. You know, means. Means nothing and everything all at once, depending on what you want to hear. Look, I think that markets have been clear. It's like a, you know, it's a. It's a standoff. Every time he talks about this, markets show that they don't want it. You know, it's a battle. But I, I think it's. I think that mostly, even for someone who, you know, kind of decides mostly to pick all the battles rather than picking their battles carefully, it feels to me like Trump has decided somewhere along the way that. That he's going to get in his digs, but this is a battle that he's not going to pick, that it's, you know, the, the end of the line of sight is close enough on the horizon that he's mostly interested in. In sort of diminishing credibility more than. Than actually getting him out. I think what might be actually more interesting to watch is how the contenders who are kind of like, using their public statements to basically audition for this role, how they're threading the needle between Fed independence but also saying what Trump wants to hear. Right. So if you look at Kevin Warsh's statements recently, how he's been articulating, you know, a need for a better relationship between treasury and the. And the. And the Fed, but that's not about losing Fed independence but you know, there being limited independence like it's, it's fascinating to watch that sort of narrative jockeying because they're all trying to anticipate what's going to, you know, kind of pass muster for both, you know, Congress as well as, as well as Trump.
NLW
Yeah, man, they give us something to talk about every day. They give the financial media something to talk about every day. It is absolutely peak entertainment. I'm going to be honest. I don't like the Fed, obviously. I'm a bitcoiner. I don't love Jerome Powell. I think he's been wrong more than right, certainly on the way up with transitory inflation. But right now we've got incredibly strong economic data, if you believe it, and markets at all time highs. That is not an environment where you cut rates. I just don't see where the bullying comes from. Given I think mortgages, it would be nice if they were down below 6.5% or wherever they continue to, to hold up to. So that would be nice. But last I checked when they actually did pivot and lower rates, interest rates on houses and mortgages went up. So yeah, that didn't work.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Anyways, look, you know, here, here's a weird, weird optimism. One of the things that, that Trump does for markets. You know, markets are addicted to the, to the news drip, right? They're addicted to what, whatever latest signal might provide some alpha and some insight into what's going to happen next to a degree that like might be problematic. Right. It's extremely, creates extreme short termism rather than sort of like big long term fundamental thinking. We have to talk about this sort of divide all the time. Trump is in some ways retraining markets to be a little less, you know, freaked in the moment or at least be really willing to walk back their freaked outness because it's just so, so volatile about, you know, what comes out that there's less signal in the signal, you know, and I don't necessarily think it's that bad for markets if at the end of all of this they just didn't stress out quite as much about every single new thing that was reported by, you know, Walter Bloomberg. But you know, who knows, maybe that's overly optimistic.
NLW
Well, gives us a job, as I said. So I can't, I can't be mad. This has been a very entertaining summer when usually we would have been out talking about touching grass and we're getting real movement here. I think that the promises of this administration are largely being filled Whatever you think of Donald Trump, if we're just zooming in on this being a crypto show and how it's affected our industry, just go back a year, man, and think about how miserable we were.
Unknown Crypto Expert
I mean, this week was a perfect example of this, like, absolute chaos to get there. But all three things that were supposed to be signed were, you know, we're. We're passed. We're past. And so if you're kind of outcomes oriented and focused on results more than process, you know, it's hard to. It's hard to have too many complaints right now.
NLW
Well, guys, I highly recommend you listen to the Breakdown every day like I do. As I've said to you a thousand times on the show, besides listening to the all in podcast for, like, seven minutes once every six months, the Breakdown is the only thing that I regularly listen to. And you go into much more depth on most of these same topics throughout the week. And it's just. Just incredibly comprehensive and powerful and everybody should be listening to it. So I highly recommend that you guys all listen to the Breakdown. Otherwise, give NLW a follow. And I think we'll see you guys next Friday, right?
Unknown Crypto Expert
I'll be here.
NLW
Thank you, everybody. See you next.
Unknown Crypto Expert
Bye, guys.
NLW
Let's do that's Dope.
Podcast Summary: The Wolf Of All Streets – "Bitcoin's New All-Time High, Altcoin Season, Crypto Week & $9 Trillion For Bitcoin"
Release Date: July 18, 2025
Host: Scott Melker (NLW)
In this episode of "The Wolf Of All Streets," host Scott Melker delves deep into a whirlwind week of significant developments in the cryptocurrency landscape. Joined by an unnamed crypto expert, the discussion spans Bitcoin's latest milestones, legislative breakthroughs, market movements, and intriguing actions from prominent figures influencing the crypto market. Below is a comprehensive summary structured into clear sections, capturing all key points, notable quotes with timestamps, and insightful analyses.
Bitcoin's Surge to $120K
The episode kicks off with the announcement of Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high of $120,000, buoyed by rumors that former President Donald Trump plans to approve crypto investments within retirement accounts.
Trump’s Potential Executive Order
Scott Melker (NLW) highlights the speculative yet impactful potential of Trump's executive order:
"Bitcoin topped 120k on report of Trump approving crypto investments for retirement accounts." [01:07]
Implications for 401(k)s and Alternative Assets
The crypto expert elaborates on the broader implications:
"This is not just about crypto. It's about making a slew of alternative assets appropriate for 401ks." [01:33]
This move could revolutionize how individuals invest their retirement funds, allowing direct purchases of cryptocurrencies and other assets.
Market Reactions and Regulatory Considerations
The discussion touches on possible market volatility and the ongoing debate between personal financial freedom and consumer protection:
"It's the never-ending battle between personal freedom to make your own financial decisions on the one hand and the regime of consumer protection on the other." [01:58]
Ethereum Leading the Charge
With Bitcoin's ascent, Ethereum is outpacing expectations, signaling the onset of an altcoin season.
"Ethereum catching a huge bid, having half billion dollar days in ETF inflows." [03:50]
Market Capitalization Milestone
The total crypto market cap has surpassed $4 trillion, underscoring its establishment as a major asset class.
"Crypto market cap tops 4 trillion for first time solidifying major asset class position." [02:55]
Coinbase’s Surge in App Rankings
A notable indicator of retail interest resurgence is Coinbase climbing in app rankings, suggesting increased user engagement:
"Coinbase went from in the monthly app rankings went from I think like 465 to 164." [03:50]
Retail vs. Institutional Interest
While institutional interest remained robust post-Luna and FTX crises, retail confidence appears to be recovering:
"This is another indicator that there's some early... retail is finally coming back." [03:57]
Passage in the House
Three significant crypto bills, including the Genius and Clarity Acts, have passed the House, with anticipation of Trump signing them into law.
Clarity Act’s Bipartisan Support
The Clarity Act, focusing on market structure, received overwhelming bipartisan support:
"Clarity act... passed... 294 to 134, with 78 Democrats voting in favor." [06:55]
This level of support is unprecedented, indicating strong cross-party consensus on crypto regulation.
Implications for Market Structure
The Crypto expert discusses the complexities and the need for meticulous implementation to avoid unintended consequences:
"Market Clarity is going to be difficult, and it should be because it's actually relatively complex." [09:04]
Path Forward to the Senate
With the House approval, the bills now move to the Senate, where further scrutiny and amendments are expected:
"We have to go to the Senate... they have to dig into specifics more." [08:00]
Significant Bitcoin Movement
A longstanding Bitcoin holder from 2011 has moved approximately $4.7 billion worth of Bitcoin to exchanges, sparking speculation about potential sales:
"Dormant bitcoin whale from 2011 awakens moving 4.7 billion to exchanges." [10:15]
Possible Sale or Strategic Move
While some believe this signifies an impending sell-off, others suggest strategic repositioning within the crypto infrastructure:
"It probably is a sale, at least in part... but there are other reasons that you could move this to Galaxy." [10:15]
Bitcoin Treasury Companies as Liquidity Solutions
The discussion delves into the rise of Bitcoin treasury companies, offering liquidity without selling assets:
"A way for them to get some liquidity on that stack without moving out of their bitcoin." [13:07]
Market Impact and Future Trends
The movement indicates a maturation of the market, with high-net-worth individuals leveraging treasury companies for financial flexibility:
"It's a way to... get access to it is good." [13:48]
FOIA Report Sparks Controversy
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed that the U.S. Marshals hold around 29,000 Bitcoin, less than anticipated:
"They got right back to her, got about 29,000 bitcoin." [19:02]
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Concerns
The limited Bitcoin holdings raise questions about the U.S. government's strategic reserves compared to other nations:
"If this is entirely true, it's wildly disappointing that the United States strategic bitcoin reserve is now effectively a rounding error versus someone like China." [20:19]
Call for Comprehensive Audit
The need for an extensive audit of all government-held Bitcoin is emphasized to clarify holdings and strategies:
"This highlights the need for... an audit for where this is." [19:50]
Expert Insights and Theories
Speculations include the possibility of different agencies retaining Bitcoin independently, complicating the audit process:
"Other pockets? It’s spread over?" [20:00]
Trump’s Unverified Claims
Trump reportedly wrote a letter to fire Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, although he later denied it, causing market jitters:
"He had to haul their asses into the White House to get him on board." [06:55 – Context]
Market Reactions and Fed Independence
The markets reflect uncertainty, emphasizing the importance of Fed independence for economic stability:
"Markets say they wouldn't like it unless there's some big fraud that's happening." [23:31]
Potential Long-Term Implications
The episode discusses how such maneuvers could influence future interactions between the government and the Federal Reserve:
"Contenders... audition for this role, threading the needle between Fed independence and Trump’s desires." [25:30]
Listener’s Perspective on Fed Policies
Scott Melker shares his views on the Federal Reserve's policies, expressing skepticism about rate cuts amid strong economic indicators:
"We have incredibly strong economic data... I don't see where the bullying comes from." [26:30]
US Core CPI Data
The discussion briefly touches on the US Core Consumer Price Index (CPI), which rose less than expected despite tariff impacts, indicating resilient economic conditions.
Interest Rates and Mortgage Markets
With markets at all-time highs and robust economic data, there is skepticism about potential rate cuts, although hopes remain for favorable mortgage rates:
"Interest rates on houses and mortgages went up when they actually did pivot and lower rates." [26:50]
This episode of "The Wolf Of All Streets" captures a dynamic and transformative period in the cryptocurrency world. From Bitcoin’s impressive surge and significant legislative advancements to the intricate movements of Bitcoin whales and the complexities of government-held crypto assets, Scott Melker and his guest provide listeners with a thorough and insightful analysis. The interplay between market forces, regulatory changes, and political maneuvers underscores the evolving landscape of digital finance.
Notable Quotes:
"It's the never-ending battle between personal freedom to make your own financial decisions on the one hand and the regime of consumer protection on the other." – Unknown Crypto Expert [01:58]
"Clarity act... passed... 294 to 134, with 78 Democrats voting in favor." – NLW [06:55]
"A way to get access to it is good." – Unknown Crypto Expert [13:48]
"Markets say they wouldn't like it unless there's some big fraud that's happening." – Unknown Crypto Expert [23:31]
For those keen on staying abreast of crypto developments, this episode serves as an essential listen, encapsulating the rapid changes and strategic shifts shaping the future of digital currencies.