Morning Minute | Trump Touts Bitcoin And New Strategic Reserve
TylerD's Market Summary
💰 A BTC Strategic Reserve Is Actually Coming
Trump talking about Bitcoin coherently at Bitcoin Nashville was likely a top outcome for most.
But Senator Lummis one-upped him.
The rumors were true - a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve policy for the United States is coming.
What Happened?
On Saturday almost immediately after the Trump BTC Nashville speech, Senator Cynthia Lummis announced a new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve policy.
The legislation would:
- Buy 1,000,000 BTC over "a set period of time" which was later confirmed to be 5 years
- Establish a network of secure BTC vaults
- Be funded by diversifying current Fed & Treasury funds
- Affirm self-custody rights
It's a huge fucking deal.
The United States has ~230k BTC right now.
This would mean no more selling, and 154,000 BTC per year of net buying for the next 5 years.
That's 420 BTC per day.
A lot still has to happen for this to be approved and implemented, but just the chance that it could happen should be enough to move the market significantly.
And it seems a Trump presidency would likely push this through.
Speaking of...
The Trump Speech Recap
"Never sell your Bitcoin."
Trump's speech at Bitcoin Nashville was very much like his classic campaign rally speeches, where he meanders around and covers a multitude of topics.
But he caught the crowd's attention after a somewhat rambling start when he dropped that tagline and described it as the U.S.'s mistake.
He then to his credit touched on all the key policies and topics the crowd wanted to hear:
- Promised to fire Gensler on Day 1 (to massive applause)
- Said stablecoins will increase U.S. dollar dominance and praised them
- Promised to end Operation Chokepoint and the war on crypto
- Mentioned creating a crypto committee to regulate it
- Committed to releasing Ross Ulbricht
- Offered up a new "strategic stockpile" for Bitcoin where the US would stop selling and hodl
Just an hour later, Lummis dropped her official strategic reserve proposal which went further into actual buying beyond holding.
I was very surprised Trump didn't go into that strategic reserve himself and wonder if he and Lummis are at odds or why she didn't share that with him to announce (perhaps it was timing, perhaps she wanted the limelight).
But that aside, his speech was a massive win for crypto. And one that will go down in the Bitcoin history books if he wins the election (and actually executes these talking points, something still up for debate).
My Takeaways from Bitcoin Nashville
I did a quick 2-day trip down to the Music City to see some of this conference for myself.
The trip was well worth it, and I'll likely look to go to this conference next year as well (and perhaps annually).
For starters, the conference itself was very well run and featured a pretty incredible speaker list.
My key takeaways from the conference itself, in order of importance:
- Trump beat expectations with his strategic reserve mention, operation chokepoint and general capture of all the primary pro-crypto Republican talking points; if he delivers on his promises, it's hard to argue that he's not clearly the best candidate for crypto specifically
- Crypto is becoming increasingly political and the right is leaning in hard - the Lummis / Tim Scott talk was effectively a campaign speech with just minor comments on crypto itself, and multiple R politicians spoke at the event; this does not feel like a positive thing (because politics change, parties in power change)
- Multiple CEOs and corporations announced major personal holdings and holding on company balance sheets; expect this trend to only get bigger with the strategic reserve policy
- Saylor is more bullish than anyone you know, laying out his incredible $280T base case for Bitcoin by 2045 along with a $1,030T bull case (and he made a pretty compelling supporting argument for putting 80%+ of one's wealth into Bitcoin)
- Mining and clean power were talked about frequently, and "mining onshore" talk was everywhere
- Bitcoiners feel like the ultimate cult in crypto; there's more of a sense of pride with this group than other crypto / NFT conferences and cohorts, and that makes it feel stronger
- Ordinals and runes feel dead with a few exceptions (Taproot Wizards had a very strong presence, Billy eyes were everywhere)
- Next to Bitcoin, Solana was the most talked about; very little ETH chatter in any of my personal conversations (small sample size)
- A lot of teams are pivoting / have pivoted, and this feels like a growing trend for crypto builders who haven’t “made it”
Overall I definitely came away from the conference feeling under-exposed to Bitcoin and will be actively thinking through ways to stack more.
I did not walk away with any desire for more Ordinals or Runes.
I did walk away with a desire for more SOL.
So my "crypto barbell" strategy of stacking BTC (safe) and SOL (risk) was confirmed. And I'll continue to make this my primary trading strategy.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
- Polygon led NFT trading volume with $4.1M on the day, then ETH with $3.7M; Solana was next with $2.7M, and then BTC with $1.9M
- ETH NFT leaders were down 2-3% after the ETH pump; Pudgy -3% at 10.1 ETH, Milady -4% to 5.2, Azuki -1% to 3.85 and BAYC -3% at 8.9
- Seedworld and Potatoz were notable top movers on the day, up 10-12%
- BTC NFT leaders were red and gave back recent gains; NodeMonkes -5% at 0.136 BTC, Puppets -9% at 0.092 BTC, Quantum Cats -8% at 0.283, OMB -3% at 0.185
- The Runes leaders were also red; DOG -2% at $420M mc, RSIC -2% at $66M mc, PUPS even at $45M
- Solana NFTs were mostly red; Mad Lads -2% at 65 SOL, SMB Gen 2 -2% at 25, DeGods -9% at 12.8
- XCOPY released 2 new Damage Control editions over the weekend, still open for minting for holders of Max Pain
- The Project Dragon event that took place on Saturday with mostly positive results and some bugs per Garga
- CyberKongz unveiled "Emaki," a storytelling experience that will reward users with physical and digital collectibles
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:
- Abstract's testnet went live, allowing devs to build and test applications prior to mainnet launch later this year
- Compound Finance was hit with a $25M governance attack where a user granted themselves 490,000 COMP ($25M) after accumulating 682,000 COMP to vote
- $PYUSD went live on Marginfi, with additional rewards and 3x points available on deposit
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- Crypto majors are very green this morning; BTC +3% at $69,650; ETH +4% at $3,380, SOL +3% at $191
- Memecoin majors are slightly green with DOGE +2%, PEPE +3%, WIF +1%, BONK +2%, MOG +14%
- Neiro tokens saw $1B in 24-hour trading volume from Saturday to Sunday after it was found out that the original Doge owner got a new dog (named Neiro)
- The University of Wyoming plans to launch a Bitcoin Research Institute in August, following Senator Lummis's pro-crypto stance
🚀 Memecoin Movers
- $ONG (+81%, $14M market cap, SOL)
- $MUMU (+57%, $266M market cap, SOL)
- $CATDOG (+51%, $59M market cap, SOL)
- $NEIRO (+46%, $45M market cap, SOL)
- $ZYN (+30%, $56M market cap, ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)
- Flyfish (130%, 2 ETH Floor)
- Bad Egg Co (13%, 0.34 ETH)
- Seedworld Vanguards (13%, 0.35 ETH)
- SchizoPosters (10%, 0.4 ETH)
- Sugartown Oras (9%, 0.17 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming Mints and Events
Today is a busier Monday for mints than usual.
The highlight is the Doodles Super Pass, launching on Base and providing access to Doodles TV and premiere events, onchain art and more.
See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
- John Artz - Serenity in Chaos (9:00 a.m. ET)
- Co-Museum - Golden Skateboard (10:00 a.m. ET)
- memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
- Doodles - Super Pass (12:00 p.m. ET)
- Mikes Woodbridge x Verse - This Was Presence (2:00 p.m. ET)
Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email to tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
