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Larry Fink Says BTC Will Transcend Other Currencies

Plus thousands of layoffs at Binance?

Author

Nathaniel Whittemore
July 17, 2023

The Breakdown First Five - Monday, July 17 2023

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

/imagine prompt illustration of blackrock CEO larry fink maniacally laughing with flames in the background

5. Good start for Coinbase

The transcript of the first meeting between the SEC and Coinbase has been released and it does not look good for the regulators. The Judge had a major problem with the firm being approved for IPO and then sued shortly afterwards. She questioned the lack of direction provided to the market about which assets are securities. Reading between the lines, the Judge seemed to imply the SEC has some thinking to do about how they want to proceed.

4. Binance Lays off thousands

According to reporting, Binance recently laid off 1000 of its 8000 global staff and is planning on more cuts. Insiders say this is a response to pressure on the business from a DOJ investigation. Binance says they’re focusing on “talent density” to make sure they’re “nimble and dynamic” for the next bull run. CZ’s Twitter account went uncharacteristically silent on Sunday, but he’s back now. Is the Binance empire teetering on the brink, or is this all just FUD?

3. Fir Tree Reloading

Notoriously Crypto bearish hedge fund Fir Tree are reloading with a new fund. The firm said that opportunities in digital assets are currently “mispriced, dislocated or complex.” The $4B hedge fund notoriously tried to short Tether last March while literally every other Crypto asset collapsed. The new fund will explore opportunities arising from numerous Crypto bankruptcies, claiming that other distressed investors will struggle to understand the asset class.

2. Institutional Interest

Daily GBTC volumes continue to surge, hitting a yearly high last week. On Friday, the trust saw $183M in volume, with the GBTC discount now back below 30% after blowing out to 44% in June. CME futures also put in a yearly high with the ratio between institutional futures open interest and Crypto native open interest continuing to gap higher. The institutions are back in the game while anons remain skeptical.

1. Transcendental Assets

Laser eyes Larry Fink was at it again on Friday, giving Bitcoin’s marketing pitch on CNBC. The Blackrock CEO called Crypto an international asset class, pointed out its ability to protect against fiat debasement and said “it’s going to transcend any one currency”. Fink noted that his firm had been receiving increasing enquiries from “more and more international investors” over the past 5 years.

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Thanks for reading -NLW