A news wrap of everything that happened in bitcoin and markets this week.
The regulatory Overton window continued to shift toward an embrace of bitcoin this week, as leading Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump held a roundtable with US bitcoin miners and came away enthusiastically declaring his intent for “all remaining bitcoin” to be mined in the US. Putting aside the desirability and likelihood of such an outcome, it’s undoubtedly notable that the bitcoin lobby has gained such significant mindshare in the upcoming US Presidential race with the country less than five months from election day. We take no view on any candidate and remain skeptical of the legitimacy of all campaign promises from any side, but the more important takeaway from the last few weeks is that those bitcoin-friendly promises are being made at all (and being made quite vocally and consistently). The term “game theory” is often overused and sloppily applied within the bitcoin ecosystem, but there’s no denying that bitcoin’s incentives – for individuals, corporations, and sovereign nations – seem to be playing out roughly along the lines that many advocates have long predicted. We would only expect this trend to accelerate over the coming decade, particularly as public debt and interest continue to go parabolic and traditional asset classes like commercial real estate grow more and more tenuous.
Zaprite is a bitcoin-native payments gateway and invoicing platform providing sleek, non-custodial solutions for checkouts and payments flows denominated in both bitcoin and fiat. Zaprite’s software tools allow for seamless payments experiences for end users while providing critical reporting and accounting infrastructure to merchants using the platform. The company currently offers integrations with Strike, Unchained, IBEX, and more, as well as popular fiat-native payment options including Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Cash App.
Mutiny introduced a new Chief Product Officer, a former Apple product manager and longtime bitcoiner:
Strike introduced new pricing tiers for European users:
Zaprite opened its API and webhooks features to a new cohort of users:
Ten31 Managing Partner Marty Bent appeared on the What Bitcoin Did podcast to discuss bitcoin adoption at the national level, several Ten31 portfolio companies, and more.
Coinkite Co-Founder and CEO Rodolfo Novak joined the Stephan Livera Podcast to discuss the bitcoin development process and the path for potential future changes to bitcoin.
Mutiny Co-Founder and CEO Tony Giorgio wrote a case study on using Mutiny’s fedimint capabilities to smoothly make a large real-world purchase.
The latest CPI reading for the month of May came in flat on the month and up 3.3% Y/Y, both slightly below consensus. The metric has stalled out in this low 3% band – well above the Fed’s ostensible 2% target – since last June, but the below consensus print was enough to drive yet another new all-time high in equity indices.
For the latest iteration of central bank tea leaves reading, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell largely didn’t offer many surprises in his address to the public, as the FOMC held benchmark interest rates steady once again.
However, the closely watched “dot plot” of FOMC members’ interest rate forecasts now points to only one 25bps cut this year (rather than the 75bps in Fed projections from March), with projections for 2025 also moving 25bps higher.
We have no word yet on how Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jacky Rosen – who penned an open letter to Powell insisting he cut rates – are processing the news.
Notably, after growing investor and media skepticism surrounding recent employment data (highlighted in last week’s Timestamp), Powell took a moment in his speech to acknowledge that the latest jobs data “may be a bit overstated.”
The health of the US’s regional banking system has remained an open question in the face of sustained high rates and pressure on commercial real estate, and ratings agency Moody’s amplified those concerns this week with a new downgrade watch for six such banks with ~$180 billion in total assets.
Fixed income giant PIMCO echoed similar concerns this week, noting it expects more US regional bank failures on the back of “very high” exposure to troubled commercial real estate. PIMCO’s head of commercial real estate suggested “the real wave of distress is just starting.”
After a busy few weeks that saw presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump vocally embrace bitcoin and begin accepting campaign donations in bitcoin, the former President hosted a roundtable with some of the US’s largest bitcoin mining operators.
Trump later took to his Truth Social platform to show his new support for the industry, declaring that he wants “all the remaining bitcoin” to be made in America. He echoed similar sentiments in his latest stump speech.
The campaign for incumbent President Joe Biden is now reportedly also exploring accepting donations in bitcoin.
While various corners of the bitcoin ecosystem debated the merits of Trump’s comments, the US Senate was working on an intelligence funding bill that includes questionable language related to new surveillance requirements and sanctions exposure for users of cryptocurrencies.
More than two years after freezing hundreds of billions in Russian assets, the US moved to broaden sanctions on Russia with a new crackdown on banks deemed to be abetting the country. The sanctions package also extended to the Moscow stock exchange, leading to suspension of USD and EUR trading.
Meanwhile, the G7 approved a new $50 billion loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets, a culmination of President Biden’s multi-year attempt to mobilize those assets for Western use.
Mastercard launched its first biometric checkout systems in Europe, a totally not dystopian technology allowing users to perform payment authentications with a “palm, face, or iris scan.”
The developer behind the Ark project introduced a second version of the protocol that aims to provide a more liquidity-efficient design.
Learn more about Ten31 and our funds here.
