🚨 Evening Brief: Bitcoin Wobbles, Institutions Double Down
A day of liquidations and volatility, but corporate treasuries and lawmakers signal Bitcoin’s next big chapter
💬 Quote of the Day
"Gold is just Bitcoin that can’t be sent over the internet." — Edward Snowden
Bitcoin slid to $112K, sparking $277M in liquidations and renewed talk of “cycle exhaustion.” Analysts note the drop fits late-stage bull cycle patterns, though others still eye a retest of $120K and even $145K by year-end on Fed rate-cut tailwinds. Mining fundamentals remain unshaken: difficulty hit a fresh all-time high, showing network resilience even as miners feel the squeeze.
But while retail traders faced turbulence, institutions kept buying. Strive Asset Management (Vivek Ramaswamy’s firm) snapped up 5,816 BTC ($675M). ZOOZ Power earmarked $180M (95% into Bitcoin), Metaplanet’s portfolio swelled to $2.71B, and Strategy quietly stacked another 850 BTC (~$100M). Even Deutsche Bank projected Bitcoin will join gold on central bank reserve sheets by 2030.
Ethereum faced its own push-pull: Grayscale plans to stake 40K ETH while whales and futures bets delayed its $5K breakout. Still, BitMine’s $70M ETH buy and the largest accumulation wave since 2018 hint at brewing upside. Altcoins weren’t spared in the washout: $1.7B liquidations swept markets, XRP saw a 903% imbalance, and Solana charts a $1,000 target on technicals. Meanwhile, Tether minted $5B USDT after the Fed cut — expanding stablecoin liquidity.
Policy momentum picked up, too: the Senate wants to fast-track a market structure bill, while lawmakers pressed the SEC to open 401k retirement plans (worth $9T+) to Bitcoin allocations. The Treasury pushed GENIUS Act stablecoin regs forward, and the FTX Recovery Trust readies a $1.6B payout in September.
The voices were just as loud: Michael Saylor promised Bitcoin will beat the S&P “forever,” Anthony Scaramucciargued $200K is “too low,” Edward Snowden quipped gold is “Bitcoin you can’t send,” and Sen. Cynthia Lummis floated a 1M BTC U.S. reserve to cut national debt. Bears like Gundlach and Cramer scoffed, but as Adam Back reminded: dips are just Bitcoin shifting from weak hands to strong.
❓ Question of the Day
With corporations and even lawmakers doubling down while retail gets shaken out, are we witnessing the true institutionalization of Bitcoin — or just another round of hype before the next leg up?
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