Hi! Eric here. 

We’re so back. 

Anyone watching markets recently has many reasons to be bullish — though rising tensions in the Middle East last night may have dampened sentiment.

Investors have returned, the chances of altcoin exchange-traded funds being approved this summer are through the roof, Circle’s IPO was a roaring success, and analysts are falling over each other to predict new all-time highs for Bitcoin and XRP. 

Even Ethereum seems to have finally caught some momentum to the chagrin of short sellers.

This week, Stripe further fuelled excitement by announcing its acquisition of Privy, a crypto wallet provider. 

It’s striking that the world’s biggest fintech firm, which was recently valued at $91.5 billion, will acquire yet another crypto company after buying Bridge last year. 

Why? Because it marks how Wall Street is increasingly making crypto mainstream. 

PayPal, Santander, Société Générale, Wells Fargo, Revolut, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase are just some industry stalwarts who have either reportedly launched or are developing their own stablecoins.

Stripe’s latest acquisition also highlights how crypto M&As have skyrocketed of late, something industry insiders told us to expect after Donald Trump was elected president in November. 

The US President’s promises to relax crypto rules and end former Securities and Exchange Chair Gary Gensler’s crypto crackdown incentivised traditional and industry native players to scoop up smaller businesses. 

The number of M&As is set to hit levels not seen since 2021 with firms like Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood, and Kraken being among the bigger players that have gone on buying spree this year.

In short, there are activities aplenty for crypto to be excited about. 

But, there are also clouds on the horizon. 

US Democrats are leaping on every opportunity to use Trump’s sprawling crypto empire as a cudgel against their political opponents. 

Markets are also holding their collective breath in anticipation on what will happen on July 9, the date of Trump’s tariff deadline. 

Will POTUS slam about half of the world’s countries with eye-watering levies or will the White House find a middle ground? That uncertainty risks capping the growth, analysts warn.

Alleged crypto torturers plead not guilty after indictment on kidnapping, assault charges unsealed in New York

The insane case of two crypto executives accused of torturing a third executive continued this week when prosecutors unsealed indictments against them.

Berlin’s blockchain socialists decry memecoin greed and await a ‘post-capitalist world’

Vitalik Buterin caught a lot of flak when he quipped “make communism great again” in February. However, a group of Berlin Blockchain Week attendees say he may’ve been onto something.

Why Coinbase warn Saylor’s ‘attack of the clones’ Bitcoin strategy poses systemic risk

Over 220 firms are estimated to have copied Strategy’s crypto treasury strategy, but Coinbase warns that this could jeopardise the market.

Post of the Week

Bitcoin is holding over $100,000. The meme makers of Reddit aren’t missing out.

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