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Quote of the week: “Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement, and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value.” - Eric Schmidt, former CEO and executive chairman of Google. Back in December of last year, we mentioned how institutional adoption of Bitcoin could change the narrative. It seems that the narrative is playing out. Since we wrote that piece, we now have endowments, corporations, and the U.S. government openly allocating capital to bitcoin (or at least planning to). So this week, we’re going to look at the regulatory changes, how adoption has...

Harvard Management Company made substantial new investments in exchange-traded funds tracking the value of gold and Bitcoin during the second quarter of 2025, marking a sharp shift in its directly held public equities portfolio after it backed out of many Big Tech positions last quarter. The endowment purchased 1.9 million shares of iShares Bitcoin Trust, valued at $116.7 million, and 333,000 shares of SPDR Gold Trust, valued at $101.5 million, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. SPDR Gold Trust — one of the world’s largest gold ETFs — is backed by physical gold stored in...

The Trump family’s crypto venture has generated more wealth since the election—some $4.5 billion—than any other part of the president’s business empire. A major reason for the success is a partnership with an under-the-radar trading platform quietly administered by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, whose founder is seeking a pardon from President Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. The online trading platform, PancakeSwap, serves as an incubator of sorts, drumming up interest among traders to use coins issued by the Trump family’s main crypto company, World Liberty Financial. The more World Liberty’s flagship coin, USD1, is used,...

Last week, I wrote about what I believe is one of the most significant developments in Bitcoin’s history — and possibly one of the most underappreciated risks in modern finance. The Trump administration has now formally approved a framework that allows Bitcoin to be offered as an investment option in select 401(k) retirement plans, while at the same time stablecoins are making up an increasingly larger bid for U.S. Treasuries, both of which are weaving crypto the furthest it’s ever been to the U.S. economy. That’s not just “more adoption.” It’s the infiltration of Bitcoin into the cornerstone of American...

Since returning to office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has shown a marked shift in his approach to South Asian geopolitics, displaying what analysts describe as a more favorable stance toward Pakistan while simultaneously straining relations with India. This represents a significant departure from decades of U.S. foreign policy that had increasingly favored New Delhi as a strategic counterweight to China. The most striking aspect of this policy shift appears to be intertwined with the Trump family’s business ventures. World Liberty Financial (WLF), founded in 2024, is no ordinary fintech startup. The company is 60% owned by Donald Trump’s...

A 300‑billion‑dollar manager has forecast what could become the largest institutional inflow in crypto history. Mark Yusko, CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, expects roughly $300 billion to pour into Bitcoin and crypto markets over the next 12 months, driven in part by baby boomers entering via retirement accounts and ETFs. Mark Yusko believes that within 12 months, $300 billion will flow into the crypto sphere – this is 1% of $30 trillion. He linked the potential surge to spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in the U.S., which he sees as a key on-ramp for institutional capital previously excluded by custody...

Less than a year after President Trump won over the cryptocurrency crowd, some Democrats are trying to reclaim those voters — and the hundreds of millions they pour into elections — ahead of the midterm elections. They believe backing crypto-friendly Republican-led bills — namely the Genius Act, which passed earlier this month, and the Clarity Act, which is still awaiting final passage — as a critical step to rebuild trust with the digital asset community. “I’ve watched optimistically as American Democrats begin to tiptoe toward crypto,” Alex Konanykhin, founder and CEO of Unicoin, an equity-backed cryptocurrency, told me. He noted,...

Key points:* Bitcoin ditches its latest dip as strategic reserve hopes replace nerves over Federal Reserve policy. * BTC price aims for $119,000, gaining nearly 3% versus FOMC meeting lows. * Corporate Bitcoin treasuries add almost 30,000 BTC of exposure in just 48 hours despite market volatility. Bitcoin saw a snap rebound Thursday as markets swapped Federal Reserve angst for strategic reserve excitement. Bitcoin traders eye strategic reserve as rate cut bets dive Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD bouncing nearly 3% from Wednesday’s local lows. These had accompanied a more hawkish than expected Federal Reserve meeting...

With the Trump Administration headed down the road to higher inflation and the political chaos that results, it is worth asking why there are “only” $4 trillion in notional crypto tokens, this according to the Financial Times. The rise of bitcoin and other ethereal instruments evidences a strong desire on the part of many Americans to escape a sinking ship, but also confirms the love for creating new games to enable speculation. Are the crypto tokens really a way to avoid the demise of fiat dollars? As we noted in a recent comment in The Institutional Risk Analyst, the best...

While the world was distracted by the Epstein debacle, legislators introduced the GENUIS Act that would permit the US government to regulate stablecoins. The GENUIS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act), primarily sponsored by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), permits the government to oversee, regulate, and define the $250 billion stablecoin market. Now, stablecoins differ from cryptocurrencies as they are pegged to a stable asset such as a fiat currency or commodity. Cryptocurrencies are allegedly allowed to freely operate on the market based on supply and demand. The GENIUS Act will peg stablecoins to the US dollar and...

Despite having called Bitcoin BTC +0.59% an "immature asset class" that is inappropriate for long-term investors, Vanguard Group has become the largest shareholder in Strategy, according to a report from Bloomberg. Through its funds, the $10-trillion money manager owns 20 million Strategy shares or 8% of the outstanding common stock, according to a Bloomberg chart. Vanguard most likely passed Capital Group Cos. to become the top shareholder of Strategy shares during the fourth quarter, the report said. Strategy (ticker MSTR), formerly known as MicroStrategy, has become a proxy bet for Bitcoin as the company's chief business proposition has been acquiring...

Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said her office has seized more than $225.3 million in cryptocurrency linked to a sprawling international fraud and money laundering network responsible for defrauding hundreds of victims through online investment scams.Pirro announced at a June 18 news conference in Washington that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has filed a civil forfeiture complaint in federal court.The action targets the proceeds of a vast international fraud operation with ties to organized crime syndicates and human trafficking networks operating out of scam compounds in Southeast Asia.The $225.3 million seizure,...

There is currently MAJOR legislation being worked on in Washington D.C. pertaining to crypto/stable coin and digital assets.Two bills in the works are the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stable Coins of 2025), and the CLARITY Act (Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act of 2025)The MSM is ignoring both of them. Big flag.Full bills are available at the congressional website.

Catherine Austin Fitts explains the dangers of a completely digitized financial system. (just over 4 minutes)"It’s called programmable money, some people call it smart contracts. I call it very stupid contracts, but it gives you the ability to issue programmable money and do complete surveillance and control of where and how people use their money." "The thing to understand is if we go to an all digital transaction system - financial transaction system with a digital ID - so I can tell you're you and I'm me with great precision. Then suddenly all those different digitized items and equipments and...

Iran-based cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex has reportedly suffered a major security breach, resulting in the theft of over $81 million in digital assets by a hacker group claiming ties to Israel. CoinTelegraph reports that the Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex has fallen victim to a devastating hack, resulting in the loss of more than $81 million in digital assets. The attack, disclosed in a Telegram post on Wednesday, drained funds across the Tron network and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchains. According to noted crypto investigator ZachXBT, the attackers exploited the protocol using “vanity addresses,” which led to suspicious outflows from multiple Nobitex-linked...

On May 29, 2025, a bipartisan group of members in the House of Representatives from the Financial Services and Agriculture Committees introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The bill seeks to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States, with regulatory jurisdiction primarily split between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The U.S. Congress is in the thick of its crypto efforts this week, with the Senate starting on final votes to approve its first-ever crypto bill. The U.S. Senate has easily passed its first significant vote 68-30 toward final approval of the GENIUS Act to regulate U.S. stablecoin issuers. The vote makes final passage of the bill a near certainty, marking the first major crypto bill to pass in the U.S. Senate, which had been the bottleneck for crypto efforts in past years. The House of Representatives has also made significant strides in advancing a crypto market structure bill, with...

The Trump White House has repeatedly sounded an alarm about visitors with ties to China’s Communist Party coming to the United States, arguing that they are a potential security threat. But the administration appears to have literally left the door open to a member of a Chinese government group when it went along with a plan to give the biggest purchasers of President Trump’s digital currency access to the president and the White House. Mr. Trump launched a so-called memecoin, a type of cryptocurrency, just days before his inauguration. To bolster sales, the president’s business partners created a contest in...

Forfeiture Action is the Latest Disruption of an Indicted North Korean Official’s Efforts to Generate Revenue for North Korea and its Weapons Program Through Illegal IT Worker Schemes and Cryptocurrency Theft The Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that North Korean information technology (IT) workers obtained illegal employment and amassed millions in cryptocurrency for the benefit of the North Korean government, all as a means of evading U.S. sanctions placed on North Korea. The funds were initially restrained in connection with an April 2023 indictment against...

At Bitcoin 2025, economist and author Saifedean Ammous laid out a bold vision for the future of global finance, asserting that Bitcoin - not the U.S. dollar - will anchor tomorrow’s economy, with Tether as the bridge...Saifedean Ammous, CEO of Saifedean.com and author of The Bitcoin Standard, delivered a data-driven keynote at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference, warning of inevitable U.S. dollar decline and positioning Bitcoin as the only rational hedge.“Default, devaluation, or default by devaluation are inevitable,” Ammous declared, adding pointedly, “Tether can’t fix what a century of fiat democracy ruined.”Using projections and flow charts, Ammous argued that Tether’s Bitcoin...