Bitcoin – New Record this Week Thanks to Trump?

full version at cointribune

The impact of Mt. Gox might be less significant than many fear. The Bitcoin conference in Nashville also allows for optimism.

The Mt. Gox Scarecrow

The entity in charge of the bankruptcy Mt. Gox transferred 48,600 bitcoins (equivalent to $3 billion) to a new address belonging to the exchange Kraken last week. Kraken and the exchanges Bitstamp, BitGo, Bitbank, and SBI VC Trade have been tasked with the final repayment of creditors.

Kraken recently assured that the distribution process will be completed within 7 to 14 days. The distribution should therefore be completed this week, alleviating fears that weighed on the market in June.

According to NYDIG, sales worth $1.5 billion are to be expected. Although this is a significant amount, it is small compared to the daily trading volume of bitcoin, which varies between $10 and $20 billion.

Moreover, the distribution of over $2 billion worth of bitcoin at the beginning of the year by Gemini did not cause bitcoin to drop. The impact of Mt. Gox distributions might be less than feared.

According to NYDIG, only 22,000 bitcoins will be sold out of the approximately 90,000 bitcoins still to be distributed. On this subject, it should be noted that Mt. Gox has transferred 0.021 BTC ($1400) to a new address belonging to the exchange Bitstamp this Monday. This test transaction suggests that part of the 90,000 BTC will also be distributed soon.

However, the recent substantial net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs suggest that the FUD no longer works. The month of July is already the third best month since the launch of ETFs. The market seems to be betting on strong announcements from Donald Trump at the end of the week.

“American Bitcoin ETFs have absorbed 41,158 BTC since the beginning of the month.”

Trump the Bitcoiner

All eyes will turn to Tennessee this week. Nashville will host the Bitcoin 2024 conference and Donald Trump. Excitement has been at its peak since the assassination attempt.

Speculation is rife about the nature of his speech scheduled for 9 p.m. on July 27. It is rumored that he will announce the creation of a “strategic bitcoin reserve” in case of election.

This is one of the two proposals put forward by his rival Robert Kennedy last year. Mr. Kennedy promised “to back the dollar with assets such as gold and bitcoin, the most liquid and rarest asset in the world. This will strengthen the dollar and ensure its continued success as the world’s reserve currency.”

From a foreign perspective, entirely replacing the international reserve currency that is the dollar with bitcoin would be preferable. Do not miss our article: “Russia advocates in New York for the end of the dollar monopoly.”

In addition, Mr. Kennedy has promised to abolish the capital gains tax realized when converting from bitcoin to dollars. Can anyone do better? Donald Trump?

In any case, let’s remember that the American government transferred 30,000 BTC ($2 billion) in April to Coinbase. With bitcoin entering the presidential election, it is likely that the democrats will cancel this sale to avoid making waves.

In total, the US government holds 213,000 BTC following several seizures made by the American Justice. This is a significant strategic reserve. It is about four times larger than the reserve that the German government held just a week ago…

“CNBC wonders if Trump is open to the idea of the US holding a strategic reserve of Bitcoin.”

A pro-bitcoin administration?

If D. Trump wins in November, the head of JP Morgan could become his Treasury Secretary. Problem, Mr. Dimon is not a fan of bitcoin. Here are a few jabs he has taken over the past five years:

– “It’s worse than tulip bulbs. It’s going to end badly.”

–“It will end up being banned.”

–“It’s a terrible store of value. It can be replicated infinitely. It does not benefit from the signature of a government.”

–“I have always been deeply opposed to bitcoin. It only serves criminals, drug traffickers, money laundering, tax evasion…”

However, Donald Trump assures that the banker has softened his stance. Jamie Dimon no longer seems to see bitcoin as an existential threat.

The CEO of BlackRock Larry Fink is also rumored to join the government. Initially hostile to bitcoin, he has since completely changed his mind:

“I did my homework. The opinion I had of bitcoin five years ago was not the right one. I now think that bitcoin is legitimate […]. It is a legitimate financial instrument […] It allows investing in something outside the control of governments. I firmly believe that bitcoin has its place in a financial portfolio. […] I see bitcoin as digital gold.”