Bullish continuation from last week

This week it felt like the entirety of the crypto industry descended upon the city-state of Singapore for Token2049, Solana Breakpoint, and the spectacle of F1. I only stayed long enough to attend Token. As I walked the floor with a prominent crypto investor, he suddenly shared his surprise at the scale and high attendance of the event, remarking it reminded him of past conferences just before bull runs properly commenced. "Pre-bull," is the phrase he used. He then predicted next year's Token would be bigger and more extravagant, occurring in the exuberance of the bull, while the year after would be quite a bit smaller and tamer.

Speaking of bullishness, the crypto markets, still beholden to the monetary policy of the Fed, reacted positively to the 50 basis point rate cut along with Chair Powell's' statement afterwards. Bitcoin's price has pushed above $62k, but as I stated in earlier newsletters, it is premature to become bullish until Bitcoin breaks and stays above 65k. Put another way, under $65k is pre-bull.

One of the most humorous and interesting stories to come out of Token2049 was Vitalik Buterin breaking out into song. The humor speaks for itself, but to me the most interesting part of the whole thing was the community's divisive reaction.

I go the distinct impression that people's feelings about Ethereum largely determined their reaction to his performance. Vitalik's was cringe and out of touch if you were already feeling negative about Ethereum, and he was wholesome and earnest if you were positive.

In a similar vein, Iggy Azalea canceled her debate with Eric Wall last-minute. Like with Vitalik, people's approval or disapporval of Iggy's cancelation seemed to hinge on their feelings about memecoins versus "serious coins" I appreciated both the Vitalik and Iggy stories because at their core they were light-hearted, a welcome change from much of the price-based despair recently. Dare I say, pre-bullish?

-David Sencil

Read more

Sponsored by Bitcoin.com

Bitcoin.com's V-Card is now available!

If you've been looking for a seamless way to spend your cryptocurrency, look no further. V-Card, lets you spend your crypto anywhere Mastercard® is accepted—making your digital currency more versatile and useful than ever.

Get V-Card

In the news

BNY Mellon to offer crypto custody services 'at scale'

BNY Mellon, one of the world's largest custodian banks, is seeking to offer custody services for bitcoin and ether to exchange-traded product (ETP) clients.

The bank is also eyeing large-scale growth in the crypto space, with plans to seek more regulatory approvals to capitalize on the lucrative crypto custody market.

Editor's Comment: Auspicious that such a reputable tradfi bank is getting into the crypto custodial business.

Microstrategy announces plans to buy more bitcoin

Digital asset investment products recorded inflows of $321 million in the second consecutive week of positive activity, according to a report by Coinshares.

The surge in inflows is largely attributed to the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points (bps).

Editor's Comment: As the Fed gets further into a rate cutting cycle, it encourages money to flow out of sovereign bonds into riskier assets like crypto.

Kiyosaki predicts bitcoin could hit $500K by 2025, $1M by 2030

Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has shared his expectation that the price of bitcoin could skyrocket to $500,000 by next year and $1 million by 2030.

He referenced Jim Rickards' upcoming book, which warns about the risks AI poses to the global financial system, potentially increasing economic instability.

Editor's Comment: Prominent prognosticators like Kiyosaki see bitcoin as safe haven against fiat debasement.

Hamster Kombat takes season 1 snapshot, reveals post-airdrop direction

Amidst generalized complaints from users who suffered token slashes for being labeled as cheaters, Hamster Kombat has announced that it has taken a snapshot for its season 1.

With this move, the project has already closed the upcoming distribution of tokens, revealing the game's future steps after the token generation event.

Editor's Comment: If this year has taught us anything, it's that no project has figured out airdrops yet.

Former Monero developer launches new crypto mining app

Riccardo "Fluffypony" Spagni, a former Monero developer, has launched a new mining app called Tari Universe. The app aims to make mining accessible to everyone using a user-friendly interface.

However, Spagni faces legal troubles related to fraud and forgery charges. Despite the alleged crimes occurring over a decade ago, South African authorities only took action in 2021.

Editor's Comment: It's still an open question whether governments will ultimately tolerate privacy coins.

Read more