The waiting game

Who’s going to blink first? You’ve probably read that phrase a few times by now about the Trump vs. China tariff standoff. For Bitcoiners, who expected ‘more winning,’ the recent pullback has been an unwelcome development.

Of course, we did hit $100K last fall, and it held steady through January. But with a new global order taking place — or at least an earnest attempt to shake the system up — it might be time to toss the models.

As research broadcast QCP put it in this morning’s note to investors, “BTC risk reversals remain skewed in favour of puts until June, suggesting that markets are still mildly cautious in the near term . . . BTC continues to consolidate within the $80K–$90K range and could continue trading sideways, adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach to the tariff situation.”

Of course, there are other places to look for interesting news: developer consensus seems to be forming around a possible Bitcoin soft fork (more on that tomorrow), the stablecoin market continues to go from strength to strength, and CZ from Binance is now globetrotting with political elites advocating for the industry. All highly bullish.

P.S Gold broke another record high this morning, now over $3,200 per ounce.

-WF

Binance seeks U.S. oversight rollback while courting Trump-linked crypto firm

Binance execs met with Treasury to remove a compliance monitor while in talks with a Trump-affiliated venture – link

NVIDIA to Manufacture American-Made AI Supercomputers in US for First Time

NVIDIA Blackwell chip production starts in Arizona — NVIDIA opens first US factories - link

MicroStrategy buys another 3,459 BTC for $286M

The company now holds over 531,000 BTC, averaging a $67.5K purchase price – link

Tether dominates CeFi lending, now a top liquidity source

Tether now controls 70% of centralized lending after crypto’s credit collapse – link

Visa joins Paxos-led stablecoin consortium with Robinhood, Kraken

Visa is the first TradFi giant to join USDG, aiming to help build stablecoin liquidity rails – link

Digital asset funds bleed $795M, third straight week of outflows

Bitcoin led the drop; XRP saw minor inflows. Total YTD inflows nearly erased – link

CryptoPunk whale pleads guilty to hiding $13M in NFT profits from IRS

Waylon Wilcox sold 97 CryptoPunks but failed to report nearly $3.3M in taxes; faces up to 6 years – link

Staying One Step Ahead of The Game

Luxor Pool miners instantly convert hashrate into financing for fleet expansion. Unlock the next phase of growth for your operations today - link

Closing thoughts: running a conference is exhausting, but so worth it.