Trump Wants $150,000 BTC

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Good Morning.

We saw $300M in liquidation, Bitcoin is still around $98,000, but some of you got liquidated because of a 10x meme trading position. Stay relaxed, touch grass over the NYE, and look forward to a new high as institutional capital FOMO in 2025 (NFA).

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In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Trump Eyes $150K BTC, MicroStrategy Buys $2.1B BTC 📈 

• Case Study: Ethereum Researcher Max Resnick Joins Solana 👀 

• Governance & Features: Movement Launches Mainnet Beta and $MOVE 🟡 

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WHAT MATTERS

Trump Eyes $150K Bitcoin, MSTR Buys $2.1B BTC

State of play: Donald Trump, preparing for his return to the White House in January, reportedly hopes to see Bitcoin reach $150,000 during his presidency.

• An anonymous source from Trump’s transition team revealed that he is “very focused” on Bitcoin's price, viewing it as “another stock market.”

• Bitcoin has surged since his election victory, rising from $68,000 to $103,000 before recently stabilizing at $95,205.

• Trump has praised Bitcoin’s milestone of surpassing $100,000.

• Recently, Trump nominated Paul Atkins to be SEC chair.

• Atkins is known for his work with crypto exchanges and DeFi platforms.

At the same time, MicroStrategy has made another massive Bitcoin investment, acquiring 21,550 BTC for approximately $2.1B at an average price of $98,783.

• Funded by the issuance of over 5.4M company shares, this purchase brings MicroStrategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 423,650 BTC.

• With Bitcoin appreciating 40% in the past month and MicroStrategy's stock soaring 480% year-to-date.

• Michael Saylor’s aggressive Bitcoin strategy has drawn both skepticism and praise.

What’s next: Bitcoin’s price could see further volatility as both institutions FOMO post 2025 and inauguration. Or will we see a setback first?

Why it matters: Trump’s focus on Bitcoin aligns with his stock-market-centric economic outlook, signaling potential support for innovation in digital assets.

Our take: Trump’s endorsement and regulatory shifts significantly bolster crypto’s legitimacy in the financial system — we’re still underestimating this.

For builders and investors: Stay focused and strategize how macro events can impact your product or GTM strategy.

CASE STUDY

Ethereum Researcher Max Resnick Joins Solana

Max Resnick, a well-known Ethereum researcher, has joined Solana’s core development team at Anza, citing the platform’s openness to unconventional ideas.

• Resnick criticized Ethereum’s culture as politically restrictive, contrasting it with Solana’s supportive environment for innovation.

• Resnick gained recognition for challenging Ethereum’s reliance on L2 scaling, advocating instead for improving the base layer.

• His decision to join Anza was influenced by Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko after considering roles with Ethereum L2 projects and alternative crypto wallets.

Resnick sees his move as a chance to implement bold ideas and push blockchain scalability forward, with his transition viewed as a significant gain for Solana.

• At Anza, Resnick’s initial focus will be on fee markets and consensus, exploring his “moonshot” vision of introducing multiple block leaders to Solana’s protocol.

• This approach aims to reduce economic inefficiencies by fostering competition among leaders and minimizing validator value extraction.

• Experts suggest his departure from Ethereum could raise concerns about talent retention and innovation within the Ethereum ecosystem.

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INSIGHTS

Bernstein on BTC Quantum Threat

Bernstein analysts see quantum threats to Bitcoin as decades away despite Google’s progress with its Willow quantum chip.

• Upgrading to quantum-resistant encryption would require major trade-offs, including potential network splits or costly migrations.

• Some experts, like Capriole Investments’ Charles Edwards, warn of risks within 5-10 years, urging immediate action.

• Bitcoin’s recent dip was attributed to excessive leverage, not quantum fears.

• Bernstein maintains a bullish 12-month price target of $200K, citing strong ETF demand and corporate adoption.

• Investors are advised to buy during the $95K-$98K range for long-term gains.

FEATURES & GOVERNANCE UPDATE

Movement Launches Mainnet Beta and $MOVE

Movement has launched its mainnet beta and native token. The beta phase focuses on deploying core infrastructure like RPC nodes and indexers, with an emphasis on security and fast transaction finality using post-confirmation technology.

• Movement, developed by Movement Labs, is the first blockchain built with the Move programming language that settles on Ethereum.

• This architecture enhances security and transaction speed.

• Co-founder Rushi Manche described it as more than an L2, positioning it as a fast finality rollup or sidechain, enabling developers to integrate seamlessly with Ethereum.

• The Movement Network Foundation will distribute 10B tokens, allocating 40% to community initiatives, 17.5% to early contributors, 22.5% to backers, and 10% to airdrops via the MoveDrop campaign.

• In April, Movement Labs raised $38M in a Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital and Binance Labs.

Other notable feature updates:

• Avalon Labs launches $USDa.

• Kamino launches Kamino Swap.

• Particle Network unveils UniversalX.

• Sonic has unveiled Testnet 2.0 Blaze.

• Orderly Network is now live on Solana.

• Coinbase integrates Apple Pay with Coinbase Onramp.

QUICK BITES

• Ripple’s RLUSD gains NYDFS approval.

• Marinade proposes to democratize Solana MEV.

• Synthetix acquires leveraged token platform TLX.

• Trump wants Bitcoin to hit $150,000 during his presidency.

• Hong Kong plans to speed up the crypto licensing process.

• ETH Researcher Max Resnick moves to join Solana firm Anza.

• Microsoft shareholders reject proposal to add Bitcoin to reserves.

• Bernstein says the quantum threat to Bitcoin seems ‘decades away.’

• Jupiter gets the go-ahead for airdrops after a failed $1.7B proposal.

• Coincheck becomes the 2nd crypto exchange to go public on Nasdaq.

• Goldman Sachs CEO says the firm could consider BTC and ETH trading.

• MicroStrategy buys Bitcoin yet again and now holds $42B worth of BTC.

• Ray Dalio recommends Bitcoin as hard money amid national debt increases.

• Circle and Binance announced a partnership to boost USDC's global adoption.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• Jiraiya’s read on onboarding the next 100M users.

• Coinmetrics’ read on where in the world is crypto trading.

• Wublockchain’s read on 10 sets of data to understand Hyperliquid.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.