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This Week’s Top Stories

“Bitcoin hit $100’000. What’s next?” – Thursday, 5 December 2024

• On Thursday early morning our time, Bitcoin has reached the long-awaited price level of $100’000. What once seemed like a distant dream became a reality. Various newspapers reported on this historic milestone, among them the Financial Times with the above quote, but also The New York Times and pretty much every other big media outlet. Bitcoin is the talk of the town now. President-elect Donald Trump also congratulated "Bitcoiners" on reaching the $100’000 target on Truth Social.

“Jerome Powell: Bitcoin is just like gold, only it’s virtual, it’s digital.” – Wednesday, 4 December 2024

• This was probably not on many people’s bingo card for 2024, but Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, mentioned on Wednesday, that he believes Bitcoin is not a competitor to the U.S. dollar but that it’s really competitor for gold. As bitcoin was trading just below the $100’000 mark on Wednesday, Powell’s remarks helped fuel the rally past the psychological level during the night into Thursday.
• Powell was also asked about a potential national Bitcoin reserve, and he emphasized that the Fed’s goal is to keep the banking system safe and sound and that an interaction of cryptocurrency ecosystem and traditional finance should not threaten the latter’s health. He further pointed out that it isn’t the Federal Reserve’s responsibility to regulate the cryptocurrency industry. Asked whether he owns any Bitcoin himself, Powell said “he is not allowed” to own it.

“Putin: No one can prohibit Bitcoin.” – Wednesday, 4 December 2024

• But not only Jerome Powell and Donald Trump talked about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies this week. The Russian President Vladimir Putin talked about state reserves, the U.S. dollar and bitcoin. Putin said the current U.S. administration was undermining the role of the U.S dollar as the reserve currency in the global economy by using it for political purposes, forcing many countries to turn to alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies. He added that no one can prohibit Bitcoin, and that development of new payment technologies was inevitable, due to their lower costs and reliability.

“Trump nominates Paul Atkins as SEC Chair and appoints David O. Sacks as White House director of AI and Crypto.” – Wednesday and Friday, 4 and 6 December 2024

• On Wednesday, Donald Trump issued a statement confirming that Paul Atkins was nominated as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), "he also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before".
• Then on early this morning our time, Trump communicated that he will appoint David O. Sacks as White House director of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Trump said Sacks will work to develop a legal framework to provide the crypto industry with the clarity it has been seeking, allowing the industry to flourish in the United States. David Sacks has invested in multiple cryptocurrency projects through Craft Ventures.

A Quick Crypto Overview: Bitcoin Breaks 100k

As we have mentioned in last week’s Wrap, bitcoin was trading close to the magic level again, but this time with less euphoria. It was a matter of when, not if. And this week, it finally happened.

When looking at the Bitcoin chart, it doesn’t even look that spectacular – but it certainly was. Especially for a bitcoin whale on the OKX exchange, who was liquidated for roughly $20 million last night when Bitcoin dumped back below $100’000, bottoming out at $90’000 – a level we highlighted last week.

What’s really interesting is that altcoins didn’t move much during the liquidation hunt last night. While Bitcoin dumped more than 10 percent, altcoins such as ETH or SOL corrected less than 10 percent during the same period.

In the chart below, we are looking at Bitcoin’s price action on the 15-minute chart. Bitcoin is currently trading just above $98’000 at the time of writing.

Chart of the Week: Bitcoin’s $10k Breakout Vs. $100k Breakout

Of course, we have to take a closer look at bitcoin’s $100’000 break this week. Our colleague from K33 Research has published a nice chart comparing bitcoin’s $10’000 breakout from 2017 to yesterday’s $100’000 breakout. And who would have guessed – they are very similar to each other.

In November 2017, bitcoin pumped through the magic mark and put in a high at $11’485 before dumping to $8’596 on the same day. We all know what followed: bitcoin pumped up to $20’000 in a matter of days, topping out the 2016-2017 bull market in the middle of December.

If we follow the path of 2017, bitcoin should trade back above $100’000 fairly soon and continue its journey to the upside. However, it could also mean that the end of the bull market is closer than most would think.

What’s Happening On-Chain? DEX Transaction Volume ATH, Record Airdrop & NFTs

According to DeFiLlama, multi-chain DEX transaction volume reached $372 billion in November, a record high by a large margin. Of this, decentralized exchanges on Solana accounted for 34.85 percent of the market share, reaching $129.66 billion, while DEXs on Base achieved $45.74 billion—both setting new all-time highs. Ethereum contributed roughly $70 billion, placing it in second place after Solana, with a market share of around 19 percent.

Have you heard of Hyperliquid? It’s a new Layer 1 blockchain with a DEX where users can trade over 100 perpetual contracts and native spot assets. Early adopters of the DEX received an early Christmas present this week with one of the biggest airdrops in crypto history. On December 1, the HYPE token was trading at roughly $12, putting the total airdrop amount at $3.2 billion. The Hyperliquid Foundation stated that there was no allocation to private investors, centralized exchanges, or market makers. A total of 94,000 users received an airdrop, with an average drop of 2’800 HYPE tokens – equivalent to almost $34’000 at current prices.

In the world of NFTs, the NFT trading volume of EVM Chains reached $42.1 million on the first of December 1, 2024 – the second highest single-day trading volume this year, second only to March 4. Just yesterday, Pudgy Penguins announced that it will soon launch its official token, PENGU, which will be listed on Solana in 2024.

Digital Asset Fund Flows: Ethereum On The Rise & Microsoft Voting Next Week

As we already foresaw in last week’s wrap, Ethereum seems to be finally waking up and catching up to Bitcoin when it comes to institutional inflows. Digital asset investment products saw inflows totaling $270 million last week.

Catch this: last week, Bitcoin saw net weekly outflows of $450 million, while Ethereum saw net weekly inflows of $635 million. While Ethereum really stole the show last week, this week is a little more evened out. Bitcoin spot ETFs have so far seen $2.3 billion in net inflows this week, while Ethereum is sitting on $750 million in net inflows so far this week.

In the world of traditional economy, the day of the shareholder voting for Microsoft is approaching. On this coming Tuesday, December 10, 2024, Microsoft shareholders will vote on whether Microsoft should add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. The board of directors advises against it. Michael Saylor delivered a 3-minute speech to the Microsoft board, proposing that Bitcoin represents the core opportunity for the next wave of technological innovation and suggesting that Microsoft adopt Bitcoin as its core corporate strategy.

This shareholder voting is something to watch. Even though the chances are probably slim that they will vote in favor of adding Bitcoin to Microsoft’s balance sheet, it is already a positive sign that they are even considering it.

Market Sentiment: Crypto Market in Greed Territory, Down From Last Week

We were kind of surprised when we checked the crypto fear and greed index this morning. Of course, Bitcoin did wipe out quite a bit of leverage in the market last night, but it's still surprising, that we are down from extreme greed levels yesterday and are in greed (72) today. A total of almost $900 million in leveraged positions was liquidated during the last 24 hours. Bitcoin liquidations amount to more than half of it – also not something we see too often.

Other Relevant News

• Coinbase is integrating Apple Pay into its fiat-to-crypto payment solution, Coinbase Onramp, to streamline the cryptocurrency purchase process. – Link
• All Korean won trading pairs on Korean exchanges suddenly began to plummet. Bitcoin fell to as low as $66’500, and XRP fell to as low as $1.16. It was likely due to the news surrounding the Martial Law implementation by President Yoon. – Link
• ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said that incoming SEC Chairman Paul Atkins will untie Gary Gensler's shackles on digital assets. – Link
• According to The Street, Florida, the U.S. state, is expected to launch a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the upcoming legislative session in the first quarter of 2025. – Link
• MARA proposes $700 million convertible senior note offering to buy more Bitcoin. – Link
• MicroStrategy has acquired 15’400 BTC for ~$1.5 billion at ~$95’976 per Bitcoin. – Link

Looking Ahead: AI and Tokenization?

Bitcoin finally broke the $100’000 level this week. Now what? One could assume that if Bitcoin manages to go back above the magic level, it would likely continue its run to new heights over the coming weeks, maybe months. It’s probably a good idea to stay alert these days and watch Bitcoin closely. What’s also very interesting is the altcoin strength over the past 24 hours. While Ethereum has indicated that it wants to challenge Bitcoin a bit and hints at a possible macro bottom against Bitcoin, market participants are looking out for a possible alt rally over the coming days and weeks.

Over the past weeks, so-called “dino coins” have experienced large rallies. XRP, XLM, ADA, or IOTA, all quite popular coins from 2017, have outperformed their peers over the last few weeks. What’s next? Current price action shows interest in AI coins such as NEAR, GRT, or AKT, and the tokenization narrative could also be among the hot topics of 2025, with coins such as ONDO showing strength over the past days.

We are experiencing interesting times. Let’s keep a close eye on Microsoft’s voting and the U.S. inflation figures next week.

Below, you can find some of the key data releases and events to watch out for next week.

Sunday, 8 December 2024

• Japan – GDP
• China – CPI, PPI

Tuesday, 10 December 2024

• USA – Microsoft Voting
• Japan – PPI

Wednesday, 11 December 2024

• USA – CPI, Core CPI

Thursday, 12 December 2024

• Switzerland – SNB Interest Rate Decision
• Euro Zone – ECB Interest Rate Decision
• USA – PPI, Core PPI