Bye Bye Gary! The Five Most Important Stories in Crypto This Week
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Welcome back to the breakdown with me and L W. It's a daily podcast that mro, bitcoin and the big picture powerless PS remaking our world. What's gone on, guys, this is friday, november twenty second, and that means it's time for the friday five before we get into that.

However, if you are enjoying the breakdown, please go sub ribe to give a view, or if you to have deep, you can find a look, the showers, you're going a bit that I sish breakdown. Pod, are my friends. Well, IT is another jam pact.

We can no shortage of things to talk about. We've got political appointments, political levings and all of that under the shadow of a hundred k without any further a do. Let's kick IT over to our conversation from this morning. Here we go.

No slowing in the new cycle this week. A lot going on.

Yeah, this this one we going to just send a eye to do for us. And IT would have been a fully capable men.

You're not a ee. I'm a ee. This guy, not nothing artificial about this baby.

We've got this guy, the gander. On january and twenty, twenty, twenty five, i'll be stepping down as S, C. Gave chair a thread, my instant response.

I couldn't help IT scared somewhere. I really know that i'm happy for the free to, or sorry, that happened. I mean, did anybody actually read the thread? Or did we all just read the headline and move on with our lives in celebration?

I definitely, one hundred percent just read the headline and moved on with my life.

I still do you consider IT I did the drink of reading yet. But I think obviously that this leads into sort of another topic, which is who's going to end up in all these positions, right? Because we're see a complete wholesale change in everything that's happening in government agencies, regulators.

We know that lutnick was being floated for department of treasury. He ended up as commerce secretary. Now that going back to the drawing board, but to me, the overwhelming truth is that we have a bunch of bit coiner ers literally everywhere. And we're likely to also see that at the S C C, S C F C eventually that .

seems to be the way that the uh, winter, or floating, uh or or blowing rather the treasury role, the S C C role, there is a difference between, you know, moderately good for cyp to and really good for crypto. So I think IT is you know that the attention that the industry is paying on those positions, I think actually, particularly the treasury, uh IT IT makes sense to me yeah that the .

treasury is obviously going to be a key position. But I don't think that we can lose to your point. I think we can just win bigger defending, defending on who they are point.

But we know that they have all these probe coiner's in positions of vacant, in, on must and R, F, K, of course. But I think there were some concern that we might have sort of a disjointed approach to cyp, to pro gypt, to people in all of these positions. But the agencies, because of government and efficiency, not necessarily talking to one another.

But we know now that trump team moves creating first ever White house crypto role, effectively a cabinet position inside the White house, to oversee all these agencies in their ecri pto policy in nature. He did say he was looking to create ecliptic council, basically advisers who understood the industry that would help but to have a single position. And someone like we've had seen a lot names floated. But like Christian carlo, who is the head of the cftc as a contender for crypto s are this is even more bullish. I think then all of the other news that we've gotten about who may up may end up in power, whether it's john carlo or not, the fact there could be somebody in this position, all of these agencies and giving us a coherent approach.

yeah, I think that the part of the reason that this is so would be so positive is that ultimately, each of these agencies has a million other things to deal with. crypto. I mean, gary gensler, his level best to make IT seem like the S C C S.

Only job was going after us. But the reality is that they're dealing with a tony issues. And so having someone who's thinking politically and coherently and specifically about cyp to in a position of actual authority and power would be huge, right?

I mean, it's leagues away from just a council who have the presidents here. Uh, no. Is a huge, hugely bullsh signal if IT actually comes to be right.

Defending was doubtful that he's actually listening to the industry and looking for advice, having meetings with quite a few people. But notably, we announce he was going to have a meeting with armstrong, the CEO of coin base, while been reported that now they did have a phone meeting rather than an in person meeting, and that they just flat out discuss who was going to be the next c chairman and who was going to head the cftc.

That was what armstrong was the most concerned about. But IT is very clear that Donald trump is actually taking the time to talk to the biggest names in the industry and get their opinions and back on who will end up in the positions of impact the industry. The most you can say is not doing IT. It's happened.

yeah. I mean, listen, the crypto industry is being treated like the broader financial sector. And well street has been treated for a long time in this particular ministration IT cares about the perspective of the business community.

Uh, crypt o is an important part of the business community, is one that happens to have been not only unrepresented but actively targeted for the last four years. And so it's great to see it's remove into the position that I should have. Today's episode is brought you by bit key, the hardware wallet built for bitcoin made by the team behind square and cash.

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Pivoting from the government, we have to talk about Michael sailor. And I feel like he is going to be a head topic every single week because the guy just can't stop. He keeps going.

And IT is getting a absurd. But here we go first story, uh, before we talk about microstrip gy Price in convertible notes and debt offerings, micros ragists microsecond or pitch bitcoin strategy to microsoft support. This actually really interesting because we know that there was basically activists even got be going on the docket for the microsoft meeting.

Now activist investor basically pitching to get Michael sailor some time to sell biton into microsoft. I get three minutes, right? Apparently he also sent a letter to the CEO that's not been responded to, you know, have a deeper conversation. Michael sale, I gets three minutes to sell bit point to microsoft to put on their ballot. Gy.

yeah, it's anything. So we don't know. I correct me from wrong, but we don't know who the activist investor is. So yeah, sounds like the multiple channels that were approached to try to get some face time between such an adella and sailor didn't work. And so you know go the activist, uh, investor out.

It's more a chance for analysts, another sort of shareholders to hear IT uh and to try to get the the sort of momentum behind the idea. I don't expect that we'll see any sort of big movement from microsoft in the short term on on big coin purchases. But you never know .

you you absolutely never know. But still interesting that IT is on the docket, and we know that, that will continue to be I didn't look too specifically, but I saw some tweet effectively saying that four or five smaller companies have added bit into their baLance sheet over the last week or two that we're just sort of under reported. But IT is happening.

I think behind the curtain, IT just hasn't been an apple or a microsoft yet. Someone with this huge cash stack. yeah.

I mean, one of the interesting things is there are certainly smaller companies who who are trying basically play the same, you know run this in playbook back. There are also other smaller companies who are sort of not trying to be microstrip gy two point o, they're just trying to sort of have a reasonable allocation.

Um I think that the big question will be what the model is for what the potential model is for those larger companies, given how much of the oxygen and bitcoin, in this case microstrip gy, is sucking out of the room. No, none of these companies can play back the strategy that that he's played. This is just about, you know what of putting putting some on the baLance sheet as as a sort of reserve as that so know be interest to see if you we don't have basically a big example of of that in a way that tesla was supposed to be, you know, forever ago. We haven't seen that sort of move yet. Anything that will be a notable moment when that happens.

There's only going to be a one mico sale is only going to be one microstrip gy. And Frankly, I don't think we'd want another one. Yeah.

he think that the company is now in the top one hundred by market cap, right?

But the top one hundred by market cap could be added to the queues, could be become a part, I guess, of the S M. P. Five hundred and all effectively because of his infinite money glitch.

Perhaps the three most dangerous words in my mind for crypto at this moment, but that we don't really need get into that. But I think what's a standing is that obviously, microstrip gies stock has been flying and a lot of that as a result of this huge bitcoin purchases. He had his biggest purchase ever, over four billion dollars.

And IT didn't even take a day for him to announce that he was raising more money to buy more bitcoin, even as he had just bought four billion, around eighty eight thousand a coin. And that's also while raising forty two billion in a separate offering to buy more bitcoin. So here we have, I think this started about a one point two billion dollar convertible and then went to one point seven five, I think, based on increased interest. And then by the time this came out on november, the two point six billion dollar aggregate, which means that there was just a half, a lot more demand than they originally intended. And then sailor tweet microscopic complete three billion dollar offering of convertible, see or do due twenty, twenty nine and zero eight percent coupon and fifty five percent conversion premium is enough ever enough?

Certainly never enough for sailor. I think what's more interesting in this particular cases, the markets huge e appetite for this. There's a lot of speculation to no single answer that everyone agrees on consensus answer when IT comes to why the market is so interested in this offering. But I think that the best that anyone can tell there is a brought sense of kind of waking up feeling massively under exposed to cyp tu right now that that's been happening basically since the election. And ah you know you hear you see IT reported um by investors who are in a position to sort of you know beyond receiving into those emails, a lot of folks who are completely non silly, like crisp niki talking about just how many people are hitting him up in his dms in his emails. Try to get exposure to the sector is clear that there is a scramble for for kind of cypher to exposure and the microstrip gy stock is sitting there as an easy way in even if you're planning is to sort of move to the underlying at some point.

Worth taking a look at the chart. Obviously, yesterday, IT topped IT about five hundred and forty two dollars, closed the day at four hundred. So was a wild drive. This was the most traded stock on all street over the past few days.

Highest volume when you talk about a move that basically to get from four seventy and open three market at five hundred or something like that went up to five forty and then dumped on tremendous volume, a lot of people pointing to this is could be a blow off top. Maybe, I don't think forever, but people say, you know, maybe this was enough of the ephori. You got to blow off top on huge volume, big down day by the end of the day, I guess we will see.

But we all know that nothing goes up forever. And a lot of people, people pointing to this micros ratee tumbles after six on research shots. The stock, this was the most polite shorting of a stock i've ever seen in history.

If you guys didn't see the tweet, how did this one age? Nearly four years ago to the date, cit um was the first to tell readers that microstrip was the ultimate way to invest in vito's, said a seven hundred dollar target. Fast forward today, mdr has skyrocket to over five thousand dollars.

Adjust that. There was a ten ten split who to Michael seller for a visionary bitcoin strake. Oh, and by the way, now with bitcoin investing easier than ever, etf coin hood microscopic volume has completely detach from bitcoin. Fundamental remains to blush up bitcoin. We've hedge with a sure microstrip position introspect of seller, but even he must know microstrip gy is overheated, like bowing and kissing the rain while having your friends stab and right in the back.

That's just markets though. You know if I look if if every market participant explain their actions in this way, be a much, much Better market. But you know, here we are.

Yeah, I have feeling that's not the catalyst. I think that anything that gets this overheated and there's that much action and there's that much options activity around that you're eventually gonna just get extreme volatile and flush something going to take advantage of all that long sentiment and make a lot of money.

And now you can do that and bit going to because we have options on the etf ebit options launch ched this week and had a massive day, historic day, one we all know, of course, that bit wise and art and gray scale also got options a day later. But we've long discuss what what options mean for the market. We can get into that a little more deeply.

But here from jeff park, I bit options trading recap today Marks the historic day. Want a bitcoin etf options? This was on the ninety did not disappoint with over one point eight six billion intosh traded.

I mean the the big one etf spot are about to pass all gold D T, fs. In volume where over a hundred billion blackrock got over forty billion. There's the most successful tf launch in history and now they've finally got options. What does this mean? And are you surprised at how successful these were the first day?

Not surprised. I think it's we've been telling the same story for the entire year, which is institutional acceptance of bitch coin, uh, financial products that allow IT to sort of fit in the existing system fully and uh A A context that surrounds IT politically and society, which sort of drives more activity towards IT. That's the the culture in that sort of just corsham ing right now. And so you're seeing basically, you know new product options that Better fit into the models that investors already have a long side, totally transformed sort of narrative and public opinion space. You're gonna get you know a lot of activity and that's what are seeing.

Yeah, I totally agree. And did this comes obviously with massive inflows and all the other metrics that we've been watching, it's really launching at the perfect time, I think getting these more complex ways to trade around bit point at a time on the ball on this sort of just starting, we're talking about one hundred thousand. It's really hipolito is lined up exactly well.

absolutely. IT also relieves these options of having the narrative duty of sort of explaining why there's excitement, right? This is the type of launch in the past that. Would have been good because IT creates more options than you know that the sort of availability of these options is going to make opportunity for particular categories, investors. But because there's so much going on, you don't have anyone sort of trying to claim that you because these options exist, that sort of the catalyst for this next huge, huge push action. And I that's it's a healthier space, understand that is part of just a larger shift.

And I did have James safe red on from bloem ber the day after these options launched. Point out in a few key facts. One was at the actual maximum contracts, twenty five thousand, which is very low.

I guess the cftc kind of getting their feet wet here, saying we don't want the underlying market to be manipulated, but Normally would see like two hundred thousand options. So institutions right now actually can't come in individually to these look, massive size. So the call to put ratio is like eighty eight percent calls, twelve percent puts.

This was literally people just taking massive directional bets that the Price of big way will be higher in the future because of those limits. IT really wasn't institutions doing the cash and Carry trade. They can get enough size actually to make a meaningful and earn that yelled. So these are people truly going long from institutions betting on much higher Prices.

Yeah, I mean, this also gets at another theme that we've been tracking, which is when do we say that retailers back? I'm not sure. I mean, what we've seen is applications are racing up the APP store rankings. You're seeing google searches go up across these different assets, these indicators that, uh, a broader set of buyers is coming back. You still don't really see IT in the discourse in the community, but that may be a disconnect between the pathways in for people to the conversation space of cyp to and cyndi twitter versus their availability to get access and exposure to the asset. Just a coin based or whatever you know, Robin hood that they are .

they're using you would share IT a great to actually tweet, read with me from any trade travel chill who's awesome. People are saying retail just arriving now because the search for bitcoin google trend is now waking up.

But what if we've all been searching for the wrong thing? So first of all, as context, I think the bitcoin search, specifically as kind of nonsense called at this point, because most people know what big coin is right, just become a mainstream term, even if you don't know deeply what IT is. I would just imagine most people have to google lift for the basic information on what is bitcoin.

Actually, salona searches all time high. Mean coin searches all time high. And of course, uh, I theory am not there yet. So SHE kind of jokes about that, but her conclusion here maybe retail rive months ago, but there are just not looking for bitcoin until now. It's a really interesting take on this conversation.

Retail also might be disinterested in hanging out with us, encrypt twitter, which honey I can involve them .

for a huge part of.

I do feel like a huge part of our perception of retail being back or not is dictated by two things. One of the very impressionistic, limited window we have around friends, colleagues, peers, uber drivers talking about the asset class or changes in the voices on on crypto twitter. And we haven't seen that much, but there's a lot of reasons that people are turning away from twitter at the moment. So who knows if that hold up as a as a meaningful signal, the community might get more and more fractured as threads and blue sky and all these other channels become more of a place for people are finding time.

IT may become more fractured. Kind of makes me think about the conversation I had recently with a number of script lobby's, and they were saying it's already getting factory in washington, even the way that we love politicians because every pack or company that's coming into lobby now has their own agenda and are not here on the same page. So I think fracturing comes with size. And yes.

at one thing that was interesting and will be interesting to see if there are new communities that emerge this time around, by the end of the last cycle, there were so many people in the N. F, T. Space who didn't give a crap about anything else happening in cypher.

IT had this whole new classic influences and key opinion leaders, although we didn't call them by that stupid term yet. Uh, back then. And you know, people with hundreds of thousands of followers who who couldn't pick the the the, the famous cotton, coco pto twitter people out of out of a lineup. So IT just is the industry is getting sufficiently large where everyone is not going to know everyone and just feels weird. If you ve been here for go on a decade now.

i'm sure that happens to you. But almost on a daily basis, I see something come up in my feet and it's a person who's encysted with like a million followers that i've never seen before. Yeah OK.

I think I mean, people forget that N B A top shot was what set off the entire N F T trend last time. I don't know a single person that was like deeply involved in trading N F T of the six men off the bench for the bull dunking, right. And I and I certainly never got too deep in the nf t communities. And and I do think that that's coming back and also reminds you that the last born was not driven by bitcoin, as that thread would tell you, even with interest IT was driven by nfs and people trading dosh one hundred percent.

absolutely. It's the pattern has pretty historical been bitcoin gets a cooking and then something new captures energy and attention that makes people feel like they're on the ground floor rather than in on the thing that's been around for a while. There is a of there's a lot of human psychology that the question is whether meme coins can actually play that role on mass.

There are certainly doing a little bit of playing in that role. I think we saw some mean point fun start this week. Can expect that so far IT doesn't appear that they have the same power to draw in new people that I C O S did in 0 or nfs did in twenty twenty one， which I don't think is a bad thing. I'm not sure that we we want people to come in through through .

that chance and coming just going to be that yeah, we will find our way to rope and retail one way another into something completely stupid that we shake our heads at four years later. And you're talking about on the show, I think we still have to talk about Price action, of course, IT twenty years one hundred thousand with script on market cap, a record three point four trillion. So it's prety remarkable.

Obviously, they going got to about ninety nine thousand two hundred, depending on the exchange of looks. Yet it's been a rocket ship, as we all know since the election. The egypt to market cap number is very interesting to me because IT top at three trillion in the last bull market.

We have just had a huge move on bitcoin, which is obviously contributor massively to this. But when you would take a look at bitcoin dominant and outcoached ts, they're largely just absolutely destroyed. And we're just now breaking in the blue eye territory for crypt of market cap. I mean, imagine if the market cap sees the sort of move at at last time when it's already sitting at all time highs. To me, this just shows the massive potential if that retail comes on, what market cap can do and where that money is, is going to flow, which would obviously have to be all coins for this to happen.

The next big question right now, we're all focused on what's trump and the trust administration gonna be big coin is in the coin. Err, what the policy going to be from a market moving perspective? The big question is going to be what new legal space is created for all coins, for tokens? Are things allowed to be security? Like is there a sandbox like castle purses? Push for as they're just an openness to different assets.

You're certainly seeing market participants position for this. I mean, the etf being proposed left and right, there is a huge competition for salona etfs. T the other all coins are getting in there as well.

There is an anticipation that perhaps part of the way that this goes is a bigger legal opening for those assets. That is the catalyst that would actually trigger, I think, a huge, huge transformational change in in the size of the market. Is the actual Green light, not just the not red light of to dig in to the the tokens beyond bitcoin and and those at the top as we move .

towards the last stories, you are anyone who's been around crypt up for a wild knows that we have some garden varieties of fun that come around in every single cycle, right? If you thought about IT in the past, we always had boiling the oceans and the environmental impact of mining. We had chinese new year remember that ah we had wall street traders, you're going to use their bonuses to buy IT.

We have institutions are here, not on but perhaps the single biggest piece of cyclical news and food in crypto is whether china is banning or on banning crypto. And here we are guys bit point nears one hundred thousand as china clarifies personal cyp do rights. You allowed to own bitcoin in china, its property.

You're good to go. No more bands. Wow or so back in china, baby.

we'll see. I mean, it's this is one where the the at least there is a supposed, for example, the wall street bonuses, which is always just really polite, strives this one. If if if if this huge global market comes back online, I mean, never really leaves.

That's the secret when IT comes to china investment. But if IT becomes easy again and reasonable, IT is a huge amount of capital that gets unlock. So this one is maybe worth paying a little bit more attention to, to see how IT actually .

plays out at least. I mean, the people points at the top of the last world market being when china and mining and then sort of double down and got very gressier in their position against the industry. I would argue that ended up being in that positive because seventy percent of cash rate was in china.

And then I moved to a places like cosa and and largely the united states and decentralized the network further. So I think china even know hurt Price that the time did as a favor. Now them coming back when dick city in one hundred thousand dollars would be happy.

Totally epic.

I have to give you one honorable mention. Justice on both. The banana for six million dollars .

got if there are a bunch of people on twitter ask what the health was. And I just decided not to try to explain IT.

So I watched the video. This was, if you guys don't remember, I just have to talk about IT. But from art bozzle, somebody tape the duct taped to piana to a wall. And IT was the viral hit of our true modern art while that went on auction at sathers is, and just in sun, bought for six point two million dollars and is going to eat IT. Didn't know if you saw that part, but a years old is going to eat IT.

It's like that bank sey that as soon as the auction closed itself destructed IT. Maybe IT gets more valuable if it's just appeal, who knows?

I wonder if Justin son is going to self destructive. He keeps doing these things. He also wasn't he, I don't know. He ended up getting up.

But didn't he buy the sixty nine million dollar people? Or was he like the last bitter before IT went to sixty nine? Either way, he was in there into the sixties.

That sounds right, but I can say that I over sure must be nice.

must be nice that there are six point two billion at a banana for a laughter. Guys, that's all we've got for you today. Probably off next week, thanksgiving in the united states, going to be an epic week.

I am sure that we will not be unpacking, but follow N, L, W. And the breakdown as always. Guys, thank you for listening to the friday five. Have a good woman. cheers.