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FILE – Montenegrin police officers escort South Korean citizen, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, center, in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, March 23, 2024. A Montenegrin appeals court on Thursday, Aug. 1, upheld a ruling by a lower court to hand over the South Korean mogul known as “the cryptocurrency king” to his native country, rejecting a bid to extradite him to the United States. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic, File)
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FILE – Montenegrin police officers escort South Korean citizen, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, center, in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, March 23, 2024. A Montenegrin appeals court on Thursday, Aug. 1, upheld a ruling by a lower court to hand over the South Korean mogul known as “the cryptocurrency king” to his native country, rejecting a bid to extradite him to the United States. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic, File)
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Former President Donald Trump, who once called bitcoin “a scam,” is now pitching himself as the pro-crypto presidential candidate. “You’re going to be very happy with me,” Trump said at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday.
“If crypto is going to define the future, I want [it] to be mined, minted and made in the USA,” he told a room full of bitcoin enthusiasts. “If bitcoin is going to the moon … I want America to be the nation that leads the way.”
Trump used his keynote address at the conference to announce that if elected, “it will be the policy of my administration, the United States of America, to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future.”
The speech was an about-face for Trump, who tweeted in 2019 that cryptocurrency “is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity….”
But in the past two years, Trump has bought and sold millions of dollars in digital assets.
The former president’s courting of the cryptocurrency industry is the latest step in his post-term pivot on digital assets.
Over the last two years, he appears to have made a substantial amount of money buying and selling them. He sold NFTs featuring cartoon pictures of himself in various costumes – muscled superhero outfits, on the moon, in an all-leather rock n’ roll getup – personally earning between $100,001 and $1 million in income from them, according to his 2022 financial disclosure form.
In May, Trump became the first major-party presidential candidate to accept crypto donations. The Wall Street Journal recently reported he had raised about $3 million via 100 cryptocurrency donations through the end of June.
He also appears to own a cryptocurrency portfolio worth nearly $8 million as of July 29, based on research from the blockchain data tracking group Arkham Intelligence. Of that, $3 million is in TrumpCoin, a Trump-branded digital token described on Crypto.com as “supporting the Trump administration and its conservative followers and Patriots.”
Trump even announced a limited edition run of “Trump Crypto President” Bitcoin-branded sneakers, just days after the Bitcoin Conference. High tops in the color “Bitcoin Orange,” priced at $499, quickly sold out.
Trump shored up his connection to the tech industry — and their money — by picking JD Vance as his vice presidential nominee. Vance has deep ties in Silicon Valley which have already paid dividends. He formerly worked for billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who donated $15 million to Vance’s 2022 campaign for Ohio’s Senate seat.
In June of this year, one month before Vance was announced as the VP pick, he helped organize a $12 million fundraiser for Trump, attended by mega-donors in the tech space. Venture capitalist Chamath Paldihapitiya, an early senior executive at Facebook, was there, as was David Sacks, a member of the so-called PayPal Mafia, which also includes Thiel and Elon Musk.
America PAC, a Trump-supporting political fundraising group, has also been flooded with money from Silicon Valley leaders like Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Douglas Leone of Sequoia Capital, and crypto billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss. On July 15, The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk promised to donate $45 million per month to the super PAC, but Musk has since disputed that claim.
Investors indicate they are donating to Trump based on their belief his presidency would result in looser regulation and much higher growth for their assets, according to a recent survey by AMBCrypto. That survey showed 80% out of nearly 10,000 investors said they believed bitcoin would hit an $80,000 valuation if Trump wins the presidency. As of July 31, a bitcoin is worth nearly $66,500.
“It’s becoming an interest group,” said Alex Gladstein, coauthor of “The Little Bitcoin Book: Why Bitcoin Matters for Your Freedom, Finances, and Future” and one of Bitcoin 2024’s speakers. “You have the agricultural lobby, you’ve got the Israel lobby, you’ve got the oil lobby, you’re going to have the bitcoin lobby. Welcome to the future.”
Trump made big promises for his potential future administration during his keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. He told the crowd he would establish a crypto and bitcoin presidential advisory council and pledged to make America a “bitcoin mining powerhouse.”
Trump also said he’d create a “strategic bitcoin stockpile,” which would be filled with some of the reportedly $5 billion worth of bitcoin the U.S. government is currently sitting on. The government acquired it through legal seizures from hackers and users of Silk Road, a black market on the dark web that sold everything from jewelry and books to hard drugs and pornography.
“I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world,” Trump said to applause.
The former president received a standing ovation when he promised to fire Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with a fervor that surprised even Trump.
“On Day One, I will fire Gary Gensler and appoint a new SEC chairman,” Trump told the crowd. “I didn’t know he was that unpopular. Well, I— wow, I didn’t know he was that unpopular. Let me say it again. On Day One, I will fire Gary Gensler!”
Gensler has argued that trading digital assets should be held to the same rules and standards as stock and bond trading, which crypto fans vehemently oppose.
“The crypto industry’s record of failures, frauds, and bankruptcies is not because we don’t have rules or because the rules are unclear,” Gensler wrote in a May letter to Congress. “It’s because many players in the crypto industry don’t play by the rules.”
“Crypto people don’t like Gensler,” Gladstein said. “I don’t think he likes all these people printing free money and then not paying taxes or not being subject to regulation.”
Crypto investor Adam Patterson, who also goes by the name Loudmouth, said Trump’s comments on Gensler struck a nerve, “because he knew that is something that really irritates and has really lagged the crypto community. [Gensler] was teaching bitcoin back at MIT, and then it’s like he became the number one combative source against it.”
It is unclear based on previous court cases whether a future President Trump would legally be permitted to remove Gensler from his position. Gensler’s current five-year term ends in 2026.
When Trump promised to commute the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road and an icon in the bitcoin community, the crowd began loudly chanting: “Free Ross! Free Ross! Free Ross!”
Silk Road was the first major marketplace to use a bitcoin-based payment system. The Justice Department said the website was “used by thousands of drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services to more than 100,000 buyers, and to launder hundreds of millions of dollars deriving from these unlawful transactions.” But his conviction on charges of narcotics trafficking, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiring to commit computer hacking and conspiring to commit money laundering have turned him into a crypto-martyr to some.
Many of the event’s attendees wore black T-shirts with white letters that read: “Free Ross Day One.”
While Trump appears to be saying all the right things for the crypto industry, some investors still sound cautious.
The price of bitcoin dipped slightly while Trump was on stage Saturday but, following his speech, it rose to a near record-high, surpassing $70,000. By Tuesday, though, it had dropped more than 4%. That drop, according to crypto trackers, might have been because the U.S. government’s transfer of over $2 billion of bitcoin, which appear to be from the Silk Road seizures, to a new wallet.
“For most people this is our number one source of income,” said Leslie Motta, chief operating officer of Gokhshtein Media, who attended Bitcoin 2024. “We want politicians, we want people to tap into this realm that we’re in and continue to build it and expand it. I think he [Trump] resonates in that way because, you know, he’s strong.”
Major crypto donors seem to agree. The gold mask-wearing “Shibtoshi,” an anonymous crypto billionaire and the CEO and founder of SquidGrow, was ushered by the Secret Service into the front row of the conference right before Trump’s keynote.
“Because of who I am in the space … the money that I’m known to possess, I feel that I need to protect my identity to protect my family,” he told CBS from behind his geometric gold mask. “Crypto is still the wild wild west.”
While Shibtoshi may have been cautious about his identity, he was fully transparent about his reaction to Trump.
“I love every word that he had to say,” he said. “When it comes to cryptocurrency, I mean everything that he was saying, as far as bringing crypto mining back here, freeing Ross. I mean that all resonates with me and everyone else in the space. He’s a businessman. He understands that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are a business, and it could be very lucrative to the United States if they are involved in it, maybe adopt it as a currency. There are ways that we can bring liquidity back to the United States, instead of losing liquidity to foreign nations.”
Others admitted that after hearing his speech, they were left with some hesitation about the promises Trump laid out.
Julie Kennis, who hosts an NFTs podcast and works with Motta at Gokhshtein Media, said she liked Trump’s clear policy for easing regulations on the crypto industry but expressed ambivalence about his more “racially charged” comments. For example, during his speech Trump was dismissive about his grandchild speaking Chinese and mocked Elizabeth Warren for claiming Native American heritage, something he’s done many times before. Kennis called the statements “completely wrong.”
“I would love to hear [Vice President Kamala Harris’s] policy because I feel like crypto should have bipartisan support. It’s a huge industry, it’s a growing industry and people are working really hard to create fantastic businesses and ways to create wealth,” said Kennis, who voted for Trump in the last two elections.
Harris has yet to make a definitive statement on cryptocurrency in her role as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Some believe she would continue Biden-era policies of crackdowns and increased regulation. However, even the Biden administration seems to be more open to discussions with the industry — in July, senior Biden adviser Anita Dunn met with crypto leaders in a meeting that was called “productive.”
While it remains to be seen whether Trump will get the crypto vote in November, he’s raking in their money now. A cryptocurrency fundraiser held after Trump’s speech in Nashville is said to have raised $25 million, according to David Bailey, who organized the Bitcoin conference and is the CEO of BTC Inc.
“I think the big picture here is the increasing normalization of bitcoin in the world, on Wall Street, in Washington, at home,” said Gladstein. “It’s no longer some niche thing on the internet.”
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For the crypto and broader financial market, FOMC day is upon us once again today. And analysts agree that today’s meeting will be one of the most important in recent years. Kurt S. Altrichter, a financial advisor and founder of Ivory Hill, even describes today’s FOMC meeting as the “most important of your life.” In a new post on X, Altrichter explains why.
Central to today’s FOMC meeting is the Federal Reserve’s potential indication of a September rate cut. According to Altrichter, the financial markets are almost unanimously anticipating this move, with Fed fund futures indicating a near-certain likelihood of such an outcome. “Market expectation is a strong signal for a September rate cut,” Altrichter points out, marking today’s update as a pivotal moment for financial markets.
The key question for today is: “How strongly does the Fed signal a September rate cut?” the expert explains. Investors are directed to pay close attention to the FOMC’s statement at 2:00 pm ET, especially the third paragraph, which could subtly signal the Fed’s confidence in reaching its inflation targets.
Altrichter advises, “Look at the 3rd paragraph for this key sentence: The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.” Any modification in this wording would be a clear signal that the Fed is nearing its inflation control goals, potentially paving the way for rate adjustments.
Altrichter outlines several potential outcomes from the meeting, each associated with specific market reactions. In a dovish scenario, the Fed signals a rate cut for September. Then, Altrichter expects a broad market rally, especially in sectors less sensitive to interest rates. “Yields and the dollar should fall modestly with a modest rally in commodities,” Altrichter predicts, suggesting significant movements in standard and sector-specific indexes.
In a hawkish scenario, there will be no change in the forward guidance by the US central bank. If the Fed maintains its current stance without hinting at future cuts, the markets might experience a downturn. “Look out below and expect a sharp decline. SPX should fall by 1-2%,” he warns, noting that tech and growth sectors might relatively outperform due to their appeal during higher yield periods.
The potential adjustments in US monetary policy bear direct consequences for the Bitcoin and crypto markets. Crypto, often viewed as alternative investments, reacts sensitively to shifts in monetary policy, particularly regarding interest rates.
If the dovish scenario materializes, this could make Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies more appealing. A signal of lower future rates could drive increased investment into the crypto market, potentially leading to price increases as investors seek higher returns in alternative assets.
Conversely, should the Fed signal reluctance to cut rates, indicating a stronger economic outlook or concerns about inflation, this could strengthen the US dollar and increase yields on traditional financial instruments. Such an environment might lead to a pullback in the crypto markets, as the comparative advantage of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies diminishes against strengthening traditional yields.
Max Schwartzman, CEO of Because Bitcoin Inc, commented via X: “FOMC is [today] & its incredibly important as we get into the end of this fed cycle… Here is how the last 11 meetings have gone for Bitcoin…”
Thus, today’s FOMC meeting is a watershed moment for financial markets globally, with significant implications for both traditional and crypto markets. As Altrichter succinctly puts it, “A Sept Fed rate cut has driven the 2024 bull market. Tomorrow’s meeting will either reinforce that tailwind or refute it. If the Fed signals a cut, the rally continues. No signal: markets could get ugly.”
At press time, BTC traded at $66,462.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
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Jake Simmons
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On July 13, as word spread that a would-be assassin had narrowly missed killing Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a trading frenzy began. Within an hour of the shooting, the price of TRUMP, a cryptocurrency inspired by the former president, had jumped up by more than a third, from $6.34 to $8.69. The memecoin was, in effect, a bellwether for the upcoming US election.
Tens of political memecoins have been created within the past year; there also are coins modeled after high-profile politicians such as Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They share an iconography and naming convention: The politicians are typically represented by unflattering caricatures and their names are deliberately misspelled (instead of Joe Biden, it’s “Jeo Boden”), in homage to an influential meme comic from the 2010s.
Beyond financial speculation, the coins serve no purpose and promise no utility, but over the course of the US presidential election campaign, their market performance has correlated with the political fortunes of the individuals they depict.
Just as the price of TRUMP rose in the wake of the assassination attempt, an event that commentators had predicted would bolster his chances of reelection, the price of KAMA, the Harris-themed coin, more than tripled after Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the race, paving the way for the vice president to become the Democratic nominee. Likewise, on June 27, the day of Biden’s disastrous CNN debate performance, the price of BODEN fell by half.
In the US, the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a financial regulator, has refused to allow gambling platforms to offer bets on election results. It is explicitly illegal under the laws of numerous states for residents to place those kinds of bets, too. But buying into political memecoins has become a loose proxy—one that comes, courtesy of the violent swings in price typical of crypto markets, with both increased risk and potential reward. In aggregate, hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of political memecoins are currently changing hands every day.
“An investment in a political memecoin isn’t an endorsement or badge of support,” says Rennick Palley, founding partner at investment firm Stratos, whose hedge fund holds memecoins in its portfolio. “The majority of people look at it as a fun way to bet on what is going to happen. If I wanted to speculate on who is going to win, memecoins are clearly the way to do it for maximum risk and maximum upside.”
The debate over whether betting on elections should be legalized in the US extends back decades, but is currently playing out in the US court system. In September, the CFTC denied an application by Kalshi, a New York–based company that runs a market for betting on the outcome of events, to let customers wager on which party would control the two chambers of Congress, which the regulator described as “contrary to the public interest.”
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Joel Khalili
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Trump’s speech is an hour behind. A half hour into the wait, restless attendees start chanting “Trump.” The woman sitting in front of me murmurs her own chant:
“Bitcoin, bitcoin—that’s what they should be chanting.” She must have gotten the memo: It’s not a Trump rally; it’s a bitcoin rally.
When Trump finally takes the stage to “God Bless the USA,” he basks in the glory of his standing ovation, “thrilled…to become the first American president ever to address a bitcoin event.” His next step is to pander to his supporters in the audience. “This is the kind of spirit that will help us make America great again. I stand before you today filled with respect and admiration,” for what he later calls all the “high IQ individuals” in the room. He reiterates past promises (freeing Ross on day one, never creating a Central Bank Digital Currency) and tacks on some new ones (the plan for a US strategic bitcoin reserve, which senator Lummis details in a brief speech after Trump’s; the firing of SEC chairman Gary Gensler, a crypto industry nemesis). He promises no one in the industry will have to move to China for jobs and says we’ll continue to use fossil fuels. We’ll have so much electricity, he says, “you’ll say please, please Mr. President … no more electricity, sir, we have enough!”
He disses his political opponents, as per usual, and promises no one in his administration will “go woke,” a sentiment he maybe knows will resonate with the bitcoin crowd. But he shows an even better understanding with a basic appeal to audience’s wallets: Under his leadership, “bitcoin and crypto will skyrocket like never before.” The crowd goes wild.
Exiting the conference center after the speech, I spot a dollop of side-swept orange hair disappearing down the escalator. I follow him.
“It was a very orange talk,” the Trump impersonator, Atlanta-based comedian Josh Warren says when I ask how the keynote went, immediately pretending to be Trump. “We’ve been asking people who’s more orange, RFK or me, and it’s coming astoundingly that I’m still the orange man.”
Warren’s not a bitcoin guy, but his shtick got a better reception here than at the Libertarian National convention in DC. When I ask about his vote, he says it’ll be “for comedy.”
“We’re just here to disrupt the status quo. Humanity is killing comedy,” he says, seriously, before jumping back into the Trump act to add how the “deep state doesn’t want you talking about things that make you think anymore.”
In his introduction to Trump’s keynote, Bailey had called bitcoin “not a red party thing. It’s not a blue party thing. It’s an orange party thing [referencing the color of the bitcoin logo].” Before he joked that an orange party should be run by an orange man, he had a point. Bitcoin 2024 ticketholders aren’t necessarily people who would define themselves as Trump enthusiasts, though the majority that spoke to WIRED seemingly plan to vote for him. Moreso, they’re people who have traditionally distrusted the government, an opinion that more mainstream swathes of society now share.
“I was born conservative, went to liberalism. Now, going back to conservativism, mainly because of what I’ve seen in our country recently,” says Andrew Campbell, who drove in from Texas and sports a bitcoin pin along with his naturally bitcoin-orange hair. “I think we’ve gone too far left, and we need to snap back a little and recenter.”
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Jessica Klein
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Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump walks off stage after speaking at a campaign rally at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump said that if he were returned to the White House, he would ensure that the federal government never sells off its bitcoin holdings. But he stopped short of proposing a formal federal reserve of digital currency.
“For too long our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: Never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said during his keynote speech at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, the biggest bitcoin conference of the year.
The former president’s remarks came as the race to capture the votes and the campaign cash of America’s frontline fintech adopters takes center stage in the 2024 presidential contest.
“This afternoon I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world and we’ll get it done,” Trump said.
But Trump’s pledge to simply maintain the U.S. government’s current bitcoin holdings was a less radical pitch to the crypto crowd relative to other proposals at the conference.
Third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for instance, during his Friday Bitcoin Conference speech promised to launch a reserve of 4 million bitcoin, starting with the bitcoin holdings that the U.S. government already has stockpiled from criminal seizures. Kennedy said he would mandate the government purchase 550 bitcoin a day until the reserve reached 4 million.
Shortly after Trump’s speech, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy., read out her own legislative proposal to amass an official U.S. federal reserve of 1 million bitcoin over five years.
“It will be held for a minimum of 20 years and can be used for one purpose: Reduce our debt,” Lummis said.
The price of bitcoin briefly dipped during Trump’s speech, but recovered and was up slightly for the day, as of 5:15 p.m. E.T.
Throughout his remarks, the former president worked to draw contrasts between the Republican Party’s growing embrace of crypto versus the hardline regulatory approach that has characterized the Biden administration.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of crypto and bitcoin is wrong and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said. “Let me tell you if they win this election, every one of you will be gone. They will be vicious. They will be ruthless. They will do things that you wouldn’t believe.”
Trump went on to list a series of crypto-friendly promises to a crowd of cheering bitcoin supporters, promising to dismantle what he called the “anti-crypto crusade” of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler,” Trump said, referencing the Biden-appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who has taken an aggressive approach to crypto regulation.
The president does not have the power to fire appointed commissioners. Even if Trump were to appoint a new SEC chairman, Gensler would remain a commissioner on the independent agency.
The former president also pledged to create a “bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council.”
“The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” Trump said.
The Republican presidential nominee also held an accompanying fundraiser in Nashville, with tickets topping out at $844,600. In June, BTC Inc. CEO David Bailey, who organized the conference, pledged to raise $100 million and turn out more than 5,000,000 voters for the Trump re-election effort, as the bitcoin sector increasingly turns to the Trump camp for support.
Trump taking the main stage to directly address the bitcoin community is the latest in a months-long campaign to appeal to the crypto contingent, including accepting donations in virtual tokens, pledging to end President Joe Biden’s “war on crypto,” and advocating that all future bitcoin be made in America. It is also quite the about-face by the Republican presidential nominee.
Trump very publicly dismissed bitcoin when he was in the White House. In July 2019, he said he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He said that tokens aren’t money, that their value was “based on thin air,” and warned that unregulated crypto assets could help facilitate the drug trade, among “other illegal activity.”
“Bitcoin just seems like a scam,” he told Fox in a phone interview in 2021. “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar.”
“I want the dollar to be the currency of the world, that’s what I’ve always said,” continued Trump in his conversation with Fox.
But five years, a lost presidential election, and millions of dollars from the crypto lobby later, the Republican presidential nominee sung the praises of the digital currency at the biggest bitcoin conference of the year in Nashville, which kicked off on Thursday.
“Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty and independence from government coercion and control,” Trump said during his keynote speech.
Trump’s shift on bitcoin comes as the Republican Party pledges to lift the red tape of the Biden-Harris administration, working to turn crypto regulation into a voting issue for November, especially as inflation consistently ranks as a top voter priority in polls.
As crypto lobbyists and supporters become more of a presence in Washington, it raises questions on whether the Democratic Party will dig into the hardline regulatory approach of the past several years or ease its position.
“Every presidential candidate needs to understand, digital asset, pro-innovation voters are here to stay,” Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told CNBC in an interview, adding that crypto regulation should not become a “partisan political football.”
“I want to keep this as a bipartisan issue. I don’t want Donald Trump to politicize this issue,” Rep. Nickel said.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Ca., echoed Rep. Nickel’s sentiment, saying that crypto should not turn into a partisan talking point but will require regulation like any technology.
“I don’t really see why it’s partisan. Being against bitcoin is like being against cell phones. It’s like being against AI. It’s like being against laptops,” Khanna told CNBC. “It’s a technology. Have thoughtful regulation on the technology, but it’s a technology that has appreciated from about $10,000 to $80,000.”
Reps. Khanna and Nickel were two of the only Democrats to attend the Bitcoin Conference.
Bitcoin 2024 conference organizers say they were briefly in talks to have Vice President Kamala Harris appear at the conference, though she ultimately declined. But billionaire businessman Mark Cuban posted on X that the Harris campaign had reached out with questions about crypto, so it appears the vice president is looking into this space and potentially figuring out where her policies, if elected president, could land.
“I think we’re going to hear from Vice President Harris soon on this. And I’m very optimistic we’re gonna get a reset. And that I think, will matter in a major way,” Rep. Nickel said. “This issue isn’t going anywhere. And we’ve got to make sure we continue to embrace this in bipartisan way.”
Harris’ team has already begun to reach out to people close to crypto companies to set up meetings, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
The recent thaw in Trump’s sentiment for the digital asset space has coincided with a sudden influx of interest and cash from the country’s top tech talent.
He has raised more than $4 million in a mix of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, the U.S. dollar pegged stablecoin USDC, and various memecoins, with contributors hailing from 12 states, including a few battlegrounds.
Crypto billionaire twins and venture investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss led the charge, each contributing 15.57 bitcoin, or just over $1 million at the time of their donation, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission — though they received a partial refund, because contributions surpassed the $844,600 limit.
There are a number of other venture capitalists who are pro-crypto, and they’ve pledged millions to the Trump campaign, as well.
Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz told employees of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) that they plan to make significant donations to political action committees supporting Trump’s campaign. The partners of Sequoia Capital are backing Trump, as is venture investor David Sacks, who helped the former president raise $12 million at a fundraiser he hosted in his San Francisco home. The chief legal officers for centralized crypto exchange Coinbase and blockchain giant Ripple were both there.
These members of the tech elite are also heavily contributing to pro-crypto super PACs like Fairshake, which has raised more than $200 million dollars to elect pro-crypto candidates up and down the ballot, and on both sides of the aisle.
But reporting from NBC News finds that the vice president’s team is looking to win over support from some of big tech’s undecided donors, many of whom remained on the sidelines while President Joe Biden remained in the race. Their tune may be changing now that the vice president is the de facto nominee for the party.
It helps that Harris has a long track record in California.
She has been fundraising in the tech community for years, including from those working at Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Apple.
“The pivot that has occurred in the last three days is dramatic,” Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and one-time gubernatorial candidate for California, told NBC News. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a surge of enthusiasm in any campaign I’ve been involved with.”
This comes as Trump’s running mate for vice president, JD Vance, is set to hold a fundraiser of his own in Palo Alto on Monday.
— CNBC’s Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — The 2024 election turned on its head this week, as a galvanized former President Donald Trump, bandaged ear from a failed assassination attempt, officially accepted the Republican nomination for the presidency.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, retreated into his Rehoboth beach, Del., home on Thursday, isolating with a recent Covid diagnosis as political pressure mounted for him to step aside amid concerns from his own party about his mental and physical ability to withstand another four years of political service.
The dramatic events of the week bolstered the Republican ticket, where Trump is now
Here’s four takeaways from the week and what it bankers should glean from it:
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Claire Williams
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Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., June 22, 2024.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump will headline a campaign fundraiser in Nashville on the sidelines of the Bitcoin Conference, where the top ticket is going for $844,600 per person.
According to an invitation shared with CNBC, the July 27 event will coincide with Trump’s expected keynote speech at the conference, the country’s biggest gathering of cryptocurrency fans.
The top-tier tickets, which include a seat at a roundtable with Trump, are priced at the maximum donation amount permitted for individuals to give to Trump and the Republican party’s largest joint fundraising committee, known as the Trump 47 Committee.
A next level down includes a photo with the former president at $60,000 per person or $100,000 per couple, according to the invitation.
Trump signed on to headline the Music City Center gathering shortly before he survived an attempted assassination on July 13.
A spokesman for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on his Nashville appearances.
In recent months, Trump has positioned himself as the pro-crypto candidate for president, a reversal from his previous stance during his time in the White House.
In April, Trump launched his latest non-fungible token collection on the solana blockchain in April and has been making increasingly bullish comments on crypto since then.
The Trump campaign team is accepting digital currency donations, and he has personally pledged to defend the rights of those who choose to self-custody their coins, meaning that they don’t rely on a centralized entity like Coinbase to hold their tokens and instead, do it themselves in personal crypto wallets, which are sometimes outside the reach of the Internal Revenue Service.
Trump also vowed at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington in May to keep Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and “her goons” away from bitcoin holders.
Meanwhile, following a meeting at Mar-a-Lago with about a dozen bitcoin mining executives who pledged cash and votes to him, Trump declared that all future bitcoin will be minted in the U.S., should he return to the White House.
On Monday, the Republican presidential nominee named Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate — a move viewed by many as a net win for the crypto sector. Vance has advocated for looser regulation of crypto and disclosed in 2022 that he personally holds bitcoin.
It comes in stark contrast to the Biden White House, which has taken a consistently skeptical approach to crypto regulation. Under Biden, the Securities and Exchange Commission has dialed up actions on the sector.
In the absence of hard-and-fast rules from Congress, the U.S. has proven to be one of the most active enforcers of penalties and legal challenges against crypto companies.
This election cycle, the crypto contingent has become a key pipeline for cash — and votes.
One day after Trump named Vance to his ticket, venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz told employees of Andreessen Horowitz that they plan to make significant donations to political action committees supporting Trump’s campaign.
“They’ve sued I think over 30 of our companies,” Horowitz said on an episode of “The Ben & Marc Show,” which features the a16z co-founders.
“They’re losing almost all these lawsuits, but the problem is that when you’re a startup, you don’t have the money to fight the U.S. government. And so they’re kind of nuking the industry in that way,” he said.
Fairshake, a super PAC backed by crypto’s top companies is now one of the top-spending PACs in this election cycle. Of the $160 million in total contributions it has raised, 94% can be traced back to just four companies: Ripple, Andreesen Horowitz, Coinbase and Jump Crypto.
In early June in San Francisco, technologists, crypto executives, and venture capitalists paid up to $300,000 per ticket to join a Trump fundraiser that ultimately raised more than $12 million.
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Coinbase Global Inc., based in the U.S., is a publicly traded company that has more than eight million users and operates in over 100 countries. Coinbase formally launched in Canada in August 2023, though it has offered services here since 2015. For the past few years, the company has been working with Canadian securities regulators to develop a crypto regulatory framework, and to ensure its platform is compliant with strict rules around investment limits, segregating customer assets, trading on margin, and more.
Coinbase’s successful registration in Canada contrasts sharply with its ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the U.S. In July 2022, Coinbase petitioned the commission to propose rules to identify which digital assets are securities, and to govern the regulation of securities offered and traded using digital channels. The SEC has said that existing securities law is sufficient, but Coinbase called it “ill-fitting.” (Catch up on the Coinbase-vs.-SEC timeline.)
The conflict hasn’t halted Coinbase’s expansion—in 2023, it became licensed and/or registered in Bermuda, Spain, France and Singapore and launched in Canada and Brazil.
Coinbase Canada’s CEO, Lucas Matheson, was in Toronto recently as a keynote speaker at the Collision tech conference. Before joining Coinbase in 2022, he was at Shopify for five years, most recently as senior director of operations, and he co-founded Pinshape, a marketplace for 3D-printed products, along with other roles in finance and investing.
We talked to Matheson about what crypto regulation means for investors, Coinbase’s growing presence in Canada, the future of Web3 and more.
Jaclyn Law: In April, Coinbase became a restricted dealer in Canada. What does that mean for the business?
Lucas Matheson: The most important thing is that we have regulatory clarity and that we’re registered. That means we’ve gone through a series of submissions with our regulators to explain: How does our business work? How do our operations work? How do we service our clients, and how do we ensure that conflicts of interest are managed and that our customers are informed?
Interestingly, for me as somebody who’s been in tech for quite some time but never had the chance to work with the government, we’re very much aligned with our regulators, in terms of what we want to accomplish. How we get there is something we’re still working on, but generally, it’s an opportunity for us to collaborate and build strong regulatory frameworks.
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Jaclyn Law
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When Tigran Gambaryan was first invited in February to meet with the Nigerian government in order to settle a dispute with his employer, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Nigerian officials detained him against his will, stripped him of his passport, and told him he was a “guest” of the state. He’s since been charged with financial crimes and jailed for months as a criminal suspect.
Pressure is now mounting within the US Congress for the Biden administration to treat him as what his supporters argue he has been all along: a hostage, held illegally by an unaccountable foreign country.
On Wednesday, US congressman Rich McCormick, who represents Gambaryan’s district in his home state of Georgia, submitted a resolution to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that both urges the Nigerian government to release Gambaryan and calls on the US government to recognize that Gambaryan is being illegally detained as a hostage in an effort to extort his employer, Binance. That resolution represents the latest in a series of growing calls from Congress for the White House to step up its pressure on Nigeria to release Gambaryan, a former federal agent who led many of the most significant cryptocurrency-related criminal cases of the last decade during his time as an IRS criminal investigator.
“The continued detention of Tigran Gambaryan in Nigeria is a clear violation of his rights, and he is simply being used as a means of extortion by the Nigerian government,” McCormick wrote in a statement. “We urge Nigeria to immediately release Tigran and provide him with the necessary medical care and due process. The United States Government must do everything in its power to secure the release of Tigran Gambaryan, and all of our citizens wrongfully detained abroad.”
McCormick’s resolution to push for Gambaryan’s release follows an earlier open letter from 16 members of Congress calling on the White House to transfer Gambaryan’s case to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage affairs. That letter noted that Gambaryan has suffered from malaria and pneumonia, collapsing in court during one day of his trial, yet has been denied proper care in a hospital. “Gambaryan’s health and wellbeing are in danger, and we fear for his life,” the letter read. “Immediate action is essential to ensure his safety and preserve his life. We must act swiftly before it is too late.” Two House members, French Hill and Chrissy Houlahan, visited Gambaryan in jail last month and have also called for his release.
Gambaryan and another Binance staffer, Nadeem Anjarwalla, flew to Abuja in late February at the invitation of the Nigerian government after the country’s officials accused Binance, where Gambaryan works as head of its investigations and financial crime compliance, of money laundering and contributing to the devaluation of the country’s national currency, the naira. But just days into that negotiation, the two men were detained in a government-run “guest house” against their will.
The situation escalated further when Anjarwalla, who is based in Kenya, escaped during a visit to a mosque for Ramadan prayers. Gambaryan was then criminally charged with tax evasion and money laundering—all signs suggest those charges relate to the behavior of Binance, not Gambaryan personally—and moved to Kuje prison, where he has since been held.
The charges against Gambaryan are particularly ironic given his track record as a federal agent. Prior to being hired by Binance, which was widely seen as part of the exchange’s efforts to clean up its operations’ lax compliance and years of alleged money laundering documented in a $4.3 billion settlement with the US government last year, Gambaryan spent a decade leading many of the most significant crypto crime investigations in history. From 2014 to 2017 alone, for instance, Gambaryan identified two corrupt federal agents who had enriched themselves with cryptocurrency from the Silk Road dark-web drug market, helped to track down half a billion dollars worth of bitcoins stolen from early crypto exchange Mt. Gox, helped develop a secret crypto tracing method that located the server hosting the massive AlphaBay dark web crime market, and helped to achieve the takedown of the Welcome to Video crypto-funded child sexual abuse video network.
Gambaryan’s supporters point out that his work for the IRS led to the seizure of more than $4 billion dollars, including several of the largest monetary seizures in the history of US criminal justice. “He’s done so much good for this country throughout his career,” Gambaryan’s wife Yuki told WIRED in March. “I believe it’s his turn to get the same amount of support from his country.”
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Andy Greenberg
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Free is free. I just do these and hope the crypto is worth a lot in the future.
Hat tip to Christopher T.
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William Charles
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That public nature of the criminal transactions is all the more shocking given that Huione Guarantee is operated by Huione Group, a Cambodian financial conglomerate that includes a company linked to the family of Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Manet. One of the companies’ directors, in fact, is Hun To, the prime minister’s cousin, who has been linked in an Al Jazeera investigation to an alleged scam compound reportedly owned by Heng He, a Cambodian conglomerate owned by two Chinese nationals.
Crypto scam researchers say that Huione Guarantee, despite its size, is just one of many money laundering methods that pig butcherers use. Given that much of the pig butchering ecosystem has ties to Chinese organized crime, pig butchering revenue is often laundered in a decentralized way by convincing individual Chinese citizens to accept and hand off cryptocurrency through their personal Alipay accounts for a small fee, notes Gary Warner, director of intelligence at cybersecurity firm DarkTower. Markets like Huione Guarantee, however, offer a path for scammers who don’t already have a laundering network they can rely on or who need to diversify their options for liquidating funds.
It’s perhaps no surprise that Huione Guarantee began operating in 2021, given that crypto scams surged during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sophos’ Gallagher notes that in Cambodia, pig butchering operations are largely run out of hotels and resorts that struggled with plummeting tourism in 2020 and 2021. “They were financed heavily or outright owned by Chinese companies in connection with special economic zones and other development tied to Belt and Road,” he says. Gallagher’s research indicates that laborers working on pig butchering in Cambodia—often against their will—are typically not citizens but have come from the surrounding region. “These facilities follow the same playbook as far as taking people’s passports and then using electrical shocks, cattle prods, and other physical punishment for not following the rules.”
As disturbing as it may be that a service enabling billions of dollars annually in crypto scam industry transactions is being run in the open—and with links to one of Cambodia’s most powerful families—Elliptic’s Robinson suggests that brazenness offers an opportunity to disrupt a keystone of that criminal industry: He proposes international sanctions targeting Huione’s leadership.
“This has the hallmarks of a darknet marketplace, but it’s run by a large Cambodian conglomerate, which has documented links to the ruling family there,” Robinson argues. “There is surely scope to impose sanctions on a business such as this, to hinder this type of marketplace from operating.”
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Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman
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Raoul Pal, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Real Vision Group, has predicted that the global crypto market will reach a market capitalization of $100 trillion. The financial expert has maintained a strong bullish position for the future of the industry, outlining several reasons why he believes the market will jump 44X from its current market capitalization.
In a recent YouTube interview on the Blockworks Macro channel, Pal predicted that the total market capitalization of the crypto industry could jump from $2.5 trillion to $100 trillion in less than a decade. The financial expert disclosed that if the market maintains a steady growth rate and continues to evolve at a rapid pace, then it could see its market capitalization surging by up to 44X.
In an earlier post on X (formerly Twitter), Pal disclosed that assets like cryptocurrency and technology perform extremely well during secular trends based on adoption. He highlighted that this growth rate was twice the speed of the internet’s adoption when comparing active wallets and IP addresses.
The analyst has based his $100 trillion crypto market capitalization on the rate of adoption of the crypto industry, highlighting that the increasing number of cryptocurrency users will have a massive impact on the market’s value. Additionally, in the interview, Pal advised against taking unnecessary investment risks when engaging in cryptocurrencies.
He disclosed that the goal should be to maximize investment opportunities without getting caught up in tribal or philosophical debates. He emphasized that with the cryptocurrency market potentially reaching a $100 trillion market capitalization, it’s unnecessary to take excessive investment risks. Instead, investors should balance risk and opportunity, utilizing the right portfolio management strategies to effectively capture the majority of the market gains.
During the YouTube interview, Pal forecasted that the current market liquidity cycle could extend into 2025. The Real Vision CEO disclosed that since 2008, there has been a notable cyclicality in global liquidity. Diving into the nuances of what he calls “The Everything Code,” Pal revealed that the current market cycle is significantly driven by the growth of market assets such as stocks, cryptocurrency and technology.
He noted that the market was shifting towards a “Macro Summer,” marked by liquidity growth and often associated with the “Banana Zone.” According to Pal, the banana zone is a period of significant upward price movements where market indicators turn bullish signaling the start of a new bull run.
The financial expert emphasized that the global liquidity cycle tends to have a predictable pattern which influences economic activities. He highlighted several factors that could also impact the cryptocurrency market cycle including the upcoming US Presidential elections and a potential rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
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Scott Matherson
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In late February 2014, Daniel was at his computer trading bitcoin on Tokyo-based crypto exchange Mt. Gox. Suddenly, the website flashed white and became unresponsive. In a panic, Daniel turned for answers to internet forum Bitcoin Talk, where speculation had already begun: Mt. Gox was in trouble.
Daniel, who lives in Europe, was a university student at the time. After making a bit of money trading bitcoin on Mt. Gox, he had posted almost all of his wealth to the exchange. When Mt. Gox fell offline, Daniel says, he went into “full crisis mode.” He needed that money to fund the remainder of his time in school.
On February 28 of that year, Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy. Hundreds of thousands of bitcoin—back then worth around $400 million, now $45 billion—had been stolen in an elaborate heist, the company said. It had practically no remaining funds with which to process withdrawals.
Thus began a Kafkaesque ordeal for Mt. Gox customers, who for the last decade have wrestled through a winding and bureaucratic corporate reorganization process in hope of recovering the bitcoin they lost. WIRED spoke to eight former Mt. Gox customers, all but one of whom, like Daniel, asked to appear under a pseudonym to protect their financial privacy. They each told a similar story, characterized by confusion, repeated delays and a maddening lack of control.
“The first few weeks were the worst,” says Daniel, who fell into a depression in this period and began to drink. Though he later secured a loan to finish college, Daniel resorted for a time to credit card fraud to replace the stolen funds, telling himself that no harm would come to the individual card owners, who were insured. After nearly being caught, he sought out a stable job, but at the time “I had pretty much given up on life,” says Daniel.
Ten years later, Mt. Gox customers are about to be reunited with their bitcoin. On June 24, the trustee responsible for managing the estate, veteran bankruptcy lawyer Nobuaki Kobayashi, announced that crypto repayments would begin to filter through from July onwards. On Friday, the coins began to move.
In a highly atypical turn of events, Mt. Gox customers actually stand to profit financially from their involvement in the bankruptcy. Because only a limited amount of bitcoin was recovered, customers will receive only roughly 15 percent of the bitcoin they held on the exchange. However, the hundredfold increase in price in the intervening period means the dollar-value of the coins will far exceed the worth of their original pile. In all, around $9 billion worth of bitcoin will be returned. “I’ve seen the crypto universe rise, die and rise again,” says Daniel. “I’m watching the bitcoin charts daily.”
Mt. Gox was started in 2010 by Jed McCaleb, an early bitcoiner from the US. McCaleb sold the exchange in 2011 to Mark Karpeles, a young French developer, under whom it became the largest in the world. In 2013, three quarters of global bitcoin trades were reportedly passing through Mt. Gox.
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Joel Khalili
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Andreessen Horowitz is betting the house on crypto. (Yes, really.) This spring, the VC firm schooled a new batch of founders that it hopes can prove the technology is good for more than scams and speculation.
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Joel Khalili
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Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler belied impatience upon fielding questions from reporters about crypto, including his agency’s handling of applications to launch Ethereum ETFs. In speaking with journalist Annmarie Hordern at the Bloomberg Invest event in New York on Tuesday, Gensler accused his interviewer of going after “clicks” after she asked him several questions related to crypto policy.
The issue of cryptocurrency ETFs has been a contentious one during Gensler’s SEC tenure, most notably when a federal appeals court last year rejected the agency’s decision to refuse applications for a Bitcoin ETF. The court ruling led the SEC to approve those Bitcoin applications in January and, despite initial signals from Gensler that the Ethereum petitions would be rebuffed, the agency more recently indicated it would grant them.
The agency’s apparent change of heart has led to ongoing speculation about how long the process will take. Despite his grumblings, Gensler—a noted crypto opponent—offered a few details.
“I don’t know the timing, but it’s going smoothly.” He elaborated that his team is waiting for asset managers to make “proper disclosures.”
Gensler’s comments came after SEC filings from this spring suggested that the agency may have adopted the position that Ethereum was a security for more than a year.
Gensler also made a point to clarify that an ETF trading Ethereum futures has already been approved. Last October, the SEC approved futures ETF applications for Valkyrie Investments, VanEck Funds, Proshares, Bitwise Asset Management, and five others. The pending spot ETF applications would give investors direct exposure to the asset via regulated exchanges.
Once heralded as a supporter of crypto by many who saw his tenure teaching a course on the subject at MIT as an endorsement, Gensler has come down hard on the industry over the past few years. Last year alone, the regulator brought 46 enforcements against crypto-related firms, according to a Bloomberg report.
Gensler juxtaposed the 11 bitcoin ETFs the SEC approved this year, which are currently trading on regulated markets, with what he called the “non-compliant model,” or exchanges that also knowingly trade non-compliant securities. “It’s about real protections for investors and for other people that want to access the capital markets,” said Gensler. It’s about trust in those markets.”
Gensler declined to answer a question about reports that his stance on crypto might cost Joe Biden, who appointed him, the election. “My number one priority is the American public,” said Gensler. “That’s the client, and so that’s who we represent.”
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Michael del Castillo
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Ronaldo is an experienced crypto enthusiast dedicated to the nascent and ever-evolving industry. With over five years of extensive research and unwavering dedication, he has cultivated a profound interest in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Ronaldo’s journey began with a spark of curiosity, which soon transformed into a deep passion for understanding the intricacies of this groundbreaking technology.
Driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, Ronaldo has delved into the depths of the crypto space, exploring its various facets, from blockchain fundamentals to market trends and investment strategies. His tireless exploration and commitment to staying up-to-date with the latest developments have granted him a unique perspective on the industry.
One of Ronaldo’s defining areas of expertise lies in technical analysis. He firmly believes that studying charts and deciphering price movements provides valuable insights into the market. Ronaldo recognizes that patterns exist within the chaos of crypto charts, and by utilizing technical analysis tools and indicators, he can unlock hidden opportunities and make informed investment decisions. His dedication to mastering this analytical approach has allowed him to navigate the volatile crypto market with confidence and precision.
Ronaldo’s commitment to his craft goes beyond personal gain. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and insights with others, empowering them to make well-informed decisions in the crypto space. Ronaldo’s writing is a testament to his dedication, providing readers with meaningful analysis and up-to-date news. He strives to offer a comprehensive understanding of the crypto industry, helping readers navigate its complexities and seize opportunities.
Outside of the crypto realm, Ronaldo enjoys indulging in other passions. As an avid sports fan, he finds joy in watching exhilarating sporting events, witnessing the triumphs and challenges of athletes pushing their limits. Furthermore, His passion for languages extends beyond mere communication; he aspires to master German, French, Italian, and Portuguese, in addition to his native Spanish. Recognizing the value of linguistic proficiency, Ronaldo aims to enhance his work prospects, personal relationships, and overall growth.
However, Ronaldo’s aspirations extend far beyond language acquisition. He believes that the future of the crypto industry holds immense potential as a groundbreaking force in history. With unwavering conviction, he envisions a world where cryptocurrencies unlock financial freedom for all and become catalysts for societal development and growth. Ronaldo is determined to prepare himself for this transformative era, ensuring he is well-equipped to navigate the crypto landscape.
Ronaldo also recognizes the importance of maintaining a healthy body and mind, regularly hitting the gym to stay physically fit. He immerses himself in books and podcasts that inspire him to become the best version of himself, constantly seeking new ways to expand his horizons and knowledge.
With a genuine desire to become the best version of himself, Ronaldo is committed to continuous improvement. He sets personal goals, embraces challenges, and seeks opportunities for growth and self-reflection. Ultimately, combining his passion for cryptocurrencies, dedication to learning, and commitment to personal development, Ronaldo aims to go hand-in-hand with the exciting new era that the emerging crypto technology is bringing to the world and societies.
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Ronaldo Marquez
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There is a generational divide among wealthy Americans when it comes to investing. According to a survey published today by Bank of America Private Bank of over 1,000 high-net-worth individuals, 72% of younger generations (millennials and Gen Z) believe it’s no longer possible to achieve above average returns by investing solely in traditional stocks and bonds, which is more than double the number of older investors (Gen X, baby boomers, and the silent generation) who share that sentiment.
The survey found that Gen Z and millennials are exploring opportunities away from traditional markets, with about one-third of their portfolios dedicated to alternative investments and cryptocurrencies; the older generations said they’re putting just 6% into these categories. It’s then perhaps unsurprising that, on average, three-quarters of portfolio allocations among the 44-and-over crowd are in stocks and bonds, with this number dropping to 47% for the younger group.
“While the majority of high-net-worth individuals are optimistic about stock market growth, millennials and Gen Z investors are looking beyond traditional stocks and bonds,” Jeff Busconi, head of wealth management strategy at Bank of America Private Bank, said in a video accompanying the report.
Zooming in further, the younger generations surveyed are allocating 14% of their portfolios specifically to crypto, while around half of this demographic owns at least some crypto. By contrast, the older groups have allocated just 1% of their portfolios to crypto. Moreover, when it comes to the greatest opportunities for growth, 28% of the younger group ranked crypto and digital assets second—behind only real estate—compared with just 4% of the older generations, which ranked those assets eleventh, tied with private debt.
The younger investors also reported that they’re allocating three times as much of their portfolios to alternative investments (17%) compared with those of respondents 44 and up (5%). Unlike stocks and bonds, alternative investments include hedge funds, private equity, and real estate, and “often employ more sophisticated strategies, such as hedging, leverage, and investment concentration,” according to Bank of America. The vast majority of younger generations said they plan to allocate more of their portfolio to these alternative investments in the future, and the survey also found social media to be the primary source of financial content for about half of Gen Z and millennials, compared with just 6% of the older generations.
“These generational differences amid the great wealth transfer, already in motion, makes preparing and planning all that more critical,” Busconi added.
The Great Wealth Transfer refers to an intergenerational transfer of assets underway in the U.S., as Gen X, baby boomers, and the silent generation (77 and up) pass along their significant holdings over the next two decades. This transfer could be worth as much as $84 trillion, with $72 trillion of that going to heirs and the rest to charities, according to the consulting firm Cerulli Associates.
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Niamh Rowe
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Solana (SOL) finds itself stuck in neutral. Once a frontrunner in the 2023 crypto bull run, SOL’s price has been range-bound between $155 and $170 for the past few days, leaving investors cautiously optimistic but undeniably perplexed.
Technical indicators paint a conflicting picture for the high-speed blockchain darling. The dreaded “death cross” – a bearish signal formed when the 50-day moving average dips below the 200-day average – has materialized, suggesting a potential short-term price decline. However, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains neutral, hinting at some underlying buying pressure, albeit weak.
The social media front isn’t much clearer. Mentions and discussions surrounding Solana have dipped, indicating a decline in public interest. Additionally, trading activity has plummeted by over 50%, mirroring the community’s lukewarm engagement.
Despite the prevailing uncertainty, there are glimmers of potential for bullish surges. The derivatives market reveals an interesting dynamic. While the overall long/short ratio suggests investor indecision, some major exchanges like Binance and OKX see a more optimistic outlook with higher long positions.
Furthermore, recent price spikes have triggered short liquidations, indicating that short-sellers might be getting squeezed out, potentially paving the way for a short-term rally. This phenomenon highlights the inherent volatility of the crypto market, where sudden bursts of bullish momentum can catch bears off guard.
Solana Price Projection
Looking ahead, analysts offer a mixed bag of predictions. Some, like the report from CoinCodex, predict a bullish surge to $185 by July 10th. However, this optimism clashes with the bearish technical indicators and the “greed” reading on the Fear and Greed Index, which could signal overvaluation.
The path forward for Solana hinges on several factors. External influences, like regulatory decisions or broader market trends, could significantly impact its price. Additionally, the success of upcoming projects on the Solana blockchain could reignite investor interest and propel the token value upwards.
Solana’s current predicament is a microcosm of the broader cryptocurrency market. While innovation and potential abound, uncertainty and volatility remain constant companions. Investors in the Solana ecosystem, along with the rest of the crypto world, are left in a wait-and-see mode, eagerly awaiting the next move in this intricate game of digital value.
Featured image from Live Wallpaper, chart from TradingView
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Christian Encila
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