gm Bankless Nation, Bitcoin flirted with new heights this week, but with a razor-thin U.S. election this week, further volatility is almost guaranteed.
Up 4% over the last seven days, Bitcoin came within $500 of breaking its all-time high this week, though it has since fallen back down below the $70K level. At the same time, we’ve seen enormous ETF flows, topping out at $893M on Wednesday.
But the past couple days have seen corrections across the board after market sentiment reached “extreme greed” on Thursday. With the election right around the corner, it makes sense that the market would take a break and look to derisk, especially given how tight the race remains.
2️⃣ Earnings Misses, More Layoffs
Not everyone is riding Bitcoin’s recent high, with Coinbase and Robinhood both missing earnings expectations for Q3, leading HOOD and COIN to each fall double digits. Coinbase missed revenue targets by 4%, despite a 55% transaction rise on Base, while Robinhood's growth also fell short, though it has achieved a 17.8% year-to-date return.
These misses seemed part of a broader trend as ConsenSys, dYdX, and Kraken announced layoffs this week — laying off 20%, 35%, and 15% of their teams, respectively. ConsenSys cited economic pressures and mounting costs from lawsuits. dYdX claimed it was part of a strategy shift, and Kraken followed a similar line of cost-cutting measures.
Trump’s World Liberty Financial reduced its fundraising target by 90% (ouch) on Thursday, now aiming for $30M instead of $300M, as demand for its WLFI token remains low.
Since its mid-October launch, the wallet has only received $14.5M — an incredibly lackluster sale that might be a blessing to those worried about the target it could put on crypto’s back during election season. Additionally, documents reveal that Trump’s corporate entity, DT Marks DEFI LLC, will receive 75% of revenues only if World Liberty raises enough to sustain operations.
This week, Vitalik Buterin published his final two articles on the “Possible Futures of the Ethereum Protocol,” discussing the last two stages — the Purge and the Splurge. Previous articles, all published in the last few weeks, have detailed all six major upgrade phases:
The Merge, which shifted Ethereum to Proof-of-Stake in 2022, slashing energy use by 99%, now also plans to lower staking to 1 ETH.
The Surge aims to boost Ethereum's scalability to 100K+ transactions per second via Layer 2 and EIP-4844 upgrades and looks to improve bandwidth and cost reduction.
The Scourge focuses on decentralizing block-building by dividing tasks while using advanced tactics to reduce transaction manipulation.
The Verge will look to use stateless clients to lower node requirements, allowing basic devices to verify Ethereum.
The Purge looks to streamline the network by removing old data and archiving transaction history, reducing storage needs.
The Splurge will enhance user experience, EVM efficiency, and security with flexible accounts and stable fees, readying Ethereum for future tech like quantum computing.
For a deeper analysis of the nuances behind Vitalik’s updates and discussion of the roadmap for these phases, you can read our article below.
Despite missing quarterly revenue expectations, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy announced its plan to raise $42B over the next three years to buy more Bitcoin.
The “21/21 Plan” will include a $21B equity raise and $21B in fixed-income securities. MicroStrategy currently holds 252,220 BTC ($16B), which it reported a 17.8% yield on year-to-date. While MicroStrategy’s market cap remains strong at $50B, this move has already triggered plenty of conversations about top signals for MSTR, which has been heavily outperforming Bitcoin lately.
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In this episode, we dive into the rise of AI agents in crypto, a surge in Bitcoin inflows ahead of a razor-thin election, Ethereum “blobs” entering price discovery, and speculation around Microsoft potentially buying Bitcoin.
Not financial or tax advice. Bankless content is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
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