Don't Mind the Brewing Bitcoin Bubble, There's Still Room to Run

Bitcoin and the rest of crypto are still on a war path to end the year higher — but that doesn’t mean more alarm bells aren’t being raised as a levered bet only gets bigger and bigger.

For now, all signs are only showing growing confidence in Bitcoin’s break out — as it now spills into growing coverage (crypto made it to Primetime on 60 Minutes!) and confidence across the rest of crypto. Plus, Coinage NFT holders get one step closer to earning a patronage dividend.

Let’s dig into what’s new this week as crypto investment inflows hit a new weekly record! ⬇️

Record Crypto Inflows Hit $3.85 Billion

Sometimes the chart really does speak for itself — and this past week, inflows into crypto investment products hit a new record of $3.85 billion, according to CoinShares.

Interestingly, the climb was not as heavily driven by Bitcoin as it historically has been, with Ethereum inflows also surging. CoinShares also notes:

“Bitcoin saw inflows of $2.5 billion bringing YTD inflows to US$36.5 billon. Short bitcoin has seen tepid inflows of $6.2 million, historically we have seen much higher inflows after sharp price rises suggesting investors remain cautious on betting against the recent strong price momentum.”

Ethereum saw its largest weekly inflows on record of $1.2 billion, which was even more than when the ETFs launched back in July. Solana, however, saw outflows of $14 million, marking its second consecutive week of investor interest waning.

But as much as other cryptos beyond Bitcoin are just beginning to make some insane moves (Ripple is up 333% in a month, for example) — things are still being very much driven by Bitcoin and the buying there.

On Monday, tech company MicroStrategy revealed the company had bought another $2.1 billion in Bitcoin over the last week. As Coinage recently highlighted — the trade has become one of the more scrutinized on Wall Street as Michael Saylor is only just about a quarter of the way into raising $42 billion to buy the company more Bitcoin. As much as there is still room to run, people are beginning to wonder what happens when the music stops? Right now the bet is the U.S. will make good on Trump’s campaign promise to establish a Bitcoin reserve. If that doesn’t materialize, look out.

El Salvador Backs Down on Bitcoin Bet

Other than MicroStrategy, the other big Bitcoin buyer enjoying its run from $20,000 is the country of El Salvador. People doubted President Nayib Bukele and his Bitcoin purchases back then, but he’s now up about 118% since he started buying. That’s why it’s more interesting now to see the country taking its foot off the gas after meeting with the International Monetary Fund.

According to the Financial Times, the country will no longer require business to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. That would be a big shift, and a blow to the idea of Argentina potentially copying El Salvador’s positioning. Argentina, led by the firebrand President Javier Milei, is also in intense negotiations with the IMF. That could mean the country — which has seen massive crypto adoption — could be pressured to also lean out of promoting crypto to its masses.

Crypto on 60 Minutes

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was featured heavily on 60 Minutes as the news program dug into the crypto industry’s lobbying efforts and the impact on the election.

Garlinghouse mostly held his own as he was peppered with questions as to why that might be a bad thing. But as Coinage covered ahead of the election, it’s not entirely clear what the knock-on effects of de-regulation might be for retail investors — particularly given so many rules for price efficiencies in trading were never established. That is, crypto buyers and sellers don’t have the same assurances that they are getting the best pricing on trades.

Regardless, it’s clear that a lot of the older projects like Ripple have benefitted by mainstream crypto curiosity returning. That said, there are other projects that have made significant progress while not being the poster child of the SEC fight. While Ripple is benefitting from that pop now — it’s unclear what announcements they might have up their sleeve to keep that price momentum going.

🏆 The Real Best Projects in Crypto 🏆

Coinage’s NFT holders have voted — and we have results for Round 1 in our Crypto Project of the Year celebration (a couple votes remain open — if you have yet to vote, remember to use your NFT to become an official member here to vote and earn a potential patronage dividend at the end of the year!)

We are now one step closer to crowning Crypto’s Best Project of the Year. Historically, these are phenomenal performers. Last year, after we profiled Sui, it surged 600% as the project garnered significant attention.

If you don’t yet have a Coinage Caucus or Network NFT — feel free to join in the fun in having a say / co-owning Coinage with us by minting here.

Other Web3 Headlines:

• Trump’s SEC pick Paul Atkins wins cheers from crypto — and even industry critics

• First Microsoft, now Amazon: Here’s the real reason Big Tech’s suddenly talking about Bitcoin treasuries

• Total stablecoin market cap tops $200 billion as onchain lending yields surge

Catch all the biggest Web3 headlines and updates at Coinage.Media. Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll see you next week!

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