Digital assets had a week of near-unprecedented bullishness, as Bitcoin broke numerous new record highs, including its best-ever trading day.
Bitcoin dominated headlines with another record-setting week, entering the $80,000 levels for the first time, before continuing on unopposed into above $90,000
Bitcoin reached a new record high of $93,430 on Wednesday, fuelled by continued optimism regarding a more positive regulatory regime under Republicans
This was achieved through a steady upward trajectory from a Saturday low of $75,900
Even after pulling back and consolidating from its new record, Bitcoin remains more than $10,000 above last week’s levels
ETFs contributed substantially to the positive momentum, as spot Bitcoin products recorded their second-ever day of net inflows above the $1bn mark
Bitcoin’s record run included its largest daily gain ever in dollar terms
Ether also performed positively, albeit pulling back harder from its weekly apex than Bitcoin
Ether grew from a Friday low of $2,898 to a Wednesday peak of $3,439—its best performance since July
Increased activity across the Ethereum blockchain also led to a steep rise in Ether burned from supply via transaction fees, bringing the asset’s annual supply growth (based on the last seven days) to effectively zero
According to industry monitoring site DeFi Llama, total value locked in DeFi gained rose above $100bn for the first time since June, at $104bn
Digital assets followed up last week’s unprecedented performance with even more bullish momentum, as Bitcoin broke through record after record after record. ETFs showcased sterling performances as the presumed political and regulatory consequences of the US elections continued to unfold. News poured in across the world elsewhere, in the form of tokenisation efforts, analyst reports, stablecoin adoption, proposed strategic crypto reserves, a $2bn Bitcoin purchase, and much, much more.
What happened: Bitcoin goes on record-breaking run
How is this significant?
Bitcoin bullishness went ballistic this week, as the world’s leading digital asset followed up last week’s new record levels above $75,000 by breaking through $80,000 for the first time
After a new record on Wednesday, Bitcoin had to cool down and consolidate a bit, as it topped 20% weekly growth at one point
This week’s growth also took Bitcoin above 100% year-to-date growth, after ringing in the New Year at approximately $42,280
Bitcoin overtook silver by market capitalisation to make it the 8th-most valuable asset in the world this week—and at its peak on Wednesday it also leapfrogged petroleum giant Saudi Aramco to 7th place
On Monday, Bitcoin experienced its biggest daily gain ever (denominated in dollar terms), increasing by over $8,300 as it surged above $88,000
What happened: ETF News
How is this significant?
Digital asset ETFs experienced strong performances and volumes, although pre-election de-risking and profit-taking meant lower overall inflows than last week
According to CoinShares data, digital asset investment products had another week of inflows around the $2bn mark, adding $1.98bn in the trading week ending November 8th
The majority of these inflows predictably came from the US via spot ETFs (accounting for $1.8bn), followed by Switzerland and Germany
Spot Ether ETFs also benefited from renewed political optimism in that period, adding $157m
This brought global AUM to a new record of $116bn
Spot Bitcoin ETFs further increased their volume substantially, reaching $8.07bn on Wednesday, and $7.3bn on Monday—bested only by a few trading days in March
Although a few days in March exceeded current volumes, the ETFs posted their best-ever weekly trading volumes by Wednesday—with two days’ trading left to go
Fidelity’s FBTC also experienced a boost in trading, topping $1bn volumes for the first time since March
Inflows remained near last week’s new records, buoyed by Bitcoin’s bullish behaviour
On Monday, inflows exceeded $1.1bn (the second-best performance ever after last week’s $1.37bn) as traders caught up to a significant weekend rise for the 24/7/365 asset, followed by $818m and $510m
However, this momentum couldn’t be sustained forever, leading to a nine-figure pullback on Thursday as Bitcoin pulled back and consolidated following extended explosive growth
No funds saw outflows on Monday and Wednesday, with Tuesday only posting minor losses for Grayscale’s GBTC and ARK Invest’s ARKB
BlackRock once again led the way in net flows, adding over $1.5bn cumulatively to IBIT across the first two trading days of the week, and comfortably clearing nine figures once more on Wednesday and Thursday at $231m and $127m
Other big winners included second-placed FBTC from Fidelity, and ARKB, both of which showcased daily inflows above nine figures
Bloomberg’s chief ETF analyst Eric Balchunas was effusive in his praise of the “Bitcoin industrial complex” (i.e. Bitcoin ETFs, plus shares from crypto proxies Coinbase and MicroStrategy), noting “lifetime records” in combined volumes
He also noted the unprecedented performance of IBIT, stating “JUGGERNAUT: $IBIT has hit the $40bn asset mark (a mere two weeks after hitting $30bn) in a record 211 days, annihilating prev record of 1,253 days held by $IEMG. It's now in Top 1% of all ETFs by assets and at 10 months old it is bigger than all 2,800 ETFs launched in the past TEN years”
Recent SEC filings indicate BlackRock is quite keen on IBIT as well, reporting around $92m of exposure to its own ETF
By Wednesday, cumulative net flows turned positive for the first time since launch day on July 23rd, as inflows finally superseded the significant and consistent outflows from Grayscale’s converted 2.5% fee ETHE fund
Volumes and inflows were dominated by BlackRock’s ETHA and Fidelity’s FETH, which both posted several days in excess of $100m inflows this week
Another impressive performance came from Grayscale’s 0.15% fee mini-ETF, which added over $63m on Monday, continuing a string of inflows in stark contrast to its larger sibling
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley stated “We are now entering a new chapter of the maturation of this space. I think in this chapter to be most useful for clients they want you to be at a certain scale and to offer broad capabilities”
On Tuesday, the company indeed launched staking; albeit for its European ETPs holding APTOS, a crypto asset ranked 22nd in market capitalisation
Elsewhere in ETFs, MicroStrategy shares bested their record trading volume by nearly 50% with a $12bn day on Monday; “about six times what JP Morgan and GE traded, for some context”
Its 2x ETF also experienced record volume, at over $1bn
Bloomberg identified “expectations of further interest-rate reductions by the Federal Reserve added to the impetus from President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance” as the catalyst for Bitcoin’s record surge above $93,000
Several august publications commented on the (expected) new political reality, as the Economist wrote “Donald Trump’s victory tastes of revenge… for crypto bros and their assets of choice”, whilst the Financial Times acknowledged “the [crypto] rally since the re-election of Donald Trump as US president is something special—a big bang moment that is impossible to ignore”
The FT added that “The broader vision is that Trump 2.0 could treat crypto not just as a speculative wheeze but as a strategic imperative… it’s getting harder every day to fight against the crypto revolution”
Hedge fund billionaire Scott Bessent was initially identified as the most likely pick, before late reports that Cantor Fitzgerald chief Howard Lutnick was aggressively campaigning for the role
Bessent recently stated “I have been excited about the president’s embrace of crypto…, crypto is about freedom and the crypto economy is here to stay… I think everything is on the table with Bitcoin”
Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald acts as a custodian for stablecoin giants Tether, and recently announced plans for a Bitcoin lending service
In an interview, former Trump press secretary Anthony Scaramucci opined that “It’s really Elizabeth Warren and Gary Gensler that weightily contributed to [the Democrats] losing the House and Senate, because the crypto people got involved; they were looking for fair regulation, rules-based guidance. I think we’re going to get that, the market is now looking for a level of fair pricing had Gensler just complied with the law”
The suit contends that “the SEC’s assertion of sweeping jurisdiction without congressional authorization deprives States of their proper sovereign role and chills the development of innovative regulatory frameworks for the digital asset industry”
It adds “Still worse, by attempting to shoehorn digital assets into ill-fitting federal securities laws and inapt disclosure regimes, the SEC is harming the very citizens it purports to protect”
This led to allegations of “grand political theatre”, although a Justice Department source indicated the investigation centred around US individuals using the platform, rather than any specific political retribution
El Salvador—the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender—saw its national Bitcoin holdings climb above $500m in value
This led president Nayib Bukele to triumphantly tweet “I told you so”, as the country’s stockpile (and habit of one Bitcoin buy per day) surpassed $100m profit, at a near-20% profit margin
This equates to around one-third of the country’s GDP, and the country reportedly took advantage of recent price rises on Thursday, selling $33m worth
Additionally, sources told Bloomberg that the UK treasury is moving swiftly on legislation to ensure it remains an attractive digital asset proposition ahead of US reforms, with a particular focus on stablecoins and staking services
Following UBS' entry into the tokenisation space last week, Franklin Templeton increased its footprint in the category via an expansion of its established $400m on-chain money market fund
Whilst some ambiguity remains around what exactly UBS’ uMINT “built on Ethereum distributed ledger technology” claim entails, there’s no such ambiguity regarding the next destination for Franklin’s BENJI token; it’s gone live on mainnet Ethereum
The firm’s digital asset chief Sandy Kaul told industry publication Blockworks “The launch of our Benji platform on the Ethereum network represents an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to develop new and innovative blockchain solutions for our clients. We look forward to further exploring ways in which we can utilise… smart contract functionality to unlock new capabilities for our tokenised funds”
Although Ethereum is by far the leading blockchain for tokenised funds, and BENJI was the first tokenised fund from a major institution, it had thus far only traded on smaller chains and Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solutions, including Avalanche, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Base
Franklin may have previously avoided deployment on mainnet Ethereum due to higher fees, but recent technological improvements and the adoption of Layer-2s has improved the network’s scalability and speed
Company CEO Jenny Johnson is a noted advocate of blockchain and tokenisation, calling it “securitisation on steroids” and “the greatest disruption coming to financial services”
In adjacent news, crypto custodians Copper announced they can now hold tokenised money market funds such as BENJI and Blackrock’s BUIDL on behalf of clients
CEO Amar Kuchinad told industry publication Coindesk “If the Fed does end up keeping rates higher for longer, these tokenized money market funds could enhance returns for derivative market participants, who would be earning income from the collateral they post to counterparties”
Digital asset lead Gautam Chhugani told clients “Don’t fight this… Welcome to the crypto bull market—buy everything you can”
They said that investors should “invert their mental model” if they previously avoided digital asset exposure due to regulatory concerns, as they anticipate a Republican administration will be far less restrictive
Bernstein’s report included several bullish price predictions, positing that “Even at $81,000 Bitcoin, we believe risk-reward is favourable over the next 12 months”, forecasting a potential $200,000 price point by the end of 2025
Despite these optimistic prognostications, Bernstein believes that other digital assets could do even better, writing “Going forward, as the regulatory environment around tokens eases out, we expect Ethereum, Solana, and other digital assets [including scaling solutions Arbitrum, Optimism, and Polygon] to outperform Bitcoin over the next 12 months”
Another report, published by institutional Bitcoin firm NYDIG, unsurprisingly backed the bullish Bitcoin case, as research head Greg Cipolaro stated “there are no excuses now [for zero Bitcoin allocation… Investors who may have found it easy to dismiss or ignore the asset for various reasons will continue to do so at their financial peril”
VanEck research lead Matthew Sigel made a similarly bombastic case on CNBC, proffering “We’re now in blue sky territory, no technical resistance, and we think we’re likely to make repeated all-time highs over the next two quarters…Our price target for this cycle is $180,000. We think we can reach that next year… That would be 1,000% return from the bottom to the peak this cycle. That’s still the smallest Bitcoin cycle by far”
What happened: Stablecoin news
How is this significant?
Leading stablecoin issuer Tether this week continued its recent strategy of diversification, announcing the tokenisation of bonds, funds, stocks, and commodities
The new Hadron by Tether platform will enable users to “convert assets into products ranging from stablecoins that are pegged to fiat to digital tokens backed by commodities or other forms of collateral”
Even loyalty points could be tokenised via the platform, allowing people to trade and liquidate the value of assets previously tied to an individual and gated within a company
CEO Paolo Ardoino stated “We believe 'Hadron by Tether' will significantly improve the financial industry. Our goal is to create new opportunities for businesses and governments, while also making the digital asset space more accessible and transparent”
Last Friday, Tether revealed another new string to its bow, as the company’s investment division entered trade finance through a $45m stablecoin crude oil transaction
Ardoino explained “This transaction marks the beginning, as we look to support a broader range of commodities and industries. With USDT, we’re bringing efficiency and speed to markets that have historically relied on slower, more costly payment structures”
Elsewhere in stablecoins, Societe Generale announced a multichain strategy, moving its Euro-pegged EURCV coin onto the XRP ledger from next year onwards
SG Forge chief revenue officer Guillaume Chatain stated “This is just the beginning. We look forward to further innovation and expanding the reach of our portfolio of digital solutions”
In a statement, the firm said “The integration eliminates liquidity fragmentation and ensures fast, secure, and cost-effective transactions for both users and businesses… By using LayerZero, PYUSD can move seamlessly between Ethereum and Solana, helping holders move their tokens between chains to use how they want and when they need to”
What happened: Reports suggest plans for US strategic Bitcoin reserve
How is this significant?
A specific policy point—as yet unrealised—as a potential catalyst for Bitcoin’s rise this week was the idea of a US strategic Bitcoin reserve, as championed by Donald Trump and Senator Cynthia Lummis
Speaking at a Bitcoin conference before his election, Trump floated the idea of “national crypto stockpile”, although it’s not clear whether this plan entails the active acquisition of crypto, or just holding onto crypto already owned via asset seizures
Lummis’ bill for a strategic reserve is rather more fleshed out, and she proposed this week that the US could increase its “digital gold” holdings without building debt by selling off some of its physical gold
She told Bloomberg “We already have the financial assets in the form of gold certificates to convert to Bitcoin. So the effect on the US balance sheet is pretty neutral”
She aims for the US to gradually purchase Bitcoin over the next three years, until it holds one million in total, equal to around 5% of the total “active” supply
Lummis added that she expects the incoming Congress will be far better informed on crypto than currently; “New members are coming in, including Bernie Moreno from Ohio and Tim Sheehy from Montana, who understand digital assets. The cavalry is arriving in Washington”
Speaking on CNBC, R360 managing partner Barbara Goodstein represented the views of centi-millionaires, opining “We are very high on Bitcoin.. We think that Bitcoin could become the next strategic reserve asset, we think that Trump could bump [national Bitcoin holdings] up to a million”
However, the wisdom of crowds currently deems such a reserve unlikely; online prediction platform Polymarket currently signals 32% confidence in such a policy within Trump’s first 100 days
Tech billionaire Mike Novogratz is among those doubtful on the chances; “I still think it’s a low probability. While the Republicans control the Senate, they don’t have close to 60 seats... I don’t necessarily think that the dollar needs anything to back it up”
However, he cheekily added “If we get the Bitcoin reserve, as a guy who owns a lot of Bitcoin, I won’t cry. I think [if that happens] Bitcoin heads to $500,000. It is a different paradigm because it forces every other country in”
The Bitcoin Policy Institute recently published a report titled “The Case for Bitcoin as a Reserve Asset”, in which economist Matthew Ferranti identified it (much like BlackRock did) as “an effective diversifier” against a variety of scenarios including inflation, geopolitical risks, bank failures, and sovereign defaults
FOX Business interviewed representative Mike Cabell (the bill’s co-author, alongside Mike Kaufer), who said “The Pennsylvania Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Act is a visionary step toward securing our state’s financial future. By integrating Bitcoin into our reserves, we’re not only protecting Pennsylvania from inflation’s relentless impact but also positioning our state as a leader in financial resilience and innovation”
This followed directly on from a Bitcoin Rights Bill in the same state, codifying rights to self-custody
Bitcoin reserves are also gaining popularity in business globally; Singaporean A.I. firm Genius Group saw its shares soar 50% after a press release committing 90% of present and future reserves to Bitcoin, with an initial $120m acquisition
Top fintech firm Revolut, one of the world’s leading e-banks, further deepened its digital asset involvement this week, rolling out its Revolut X crypto exchange across the EU following a successful UK launch
Revolut X stands separate from the crypto trading functionalities within the main Revolut banking app, and will enable traders in 30 countries access to over 200 tokens at lower fees than most other platforms
A press release touted that “Revolut X’s expansion is a key milestone in the global financial app’s ambition to become the go-to trading platform for crypto beginners and pros alike”, whilst head of product Leonid Bashlykoc claimed “The feedback from experienced traders has been very positive, with many already taking advantage of our near-zero fees, wide range of available assets, and seamless integration with their Revolut accounts”
Another leading fintech, trading app Robinhood, added several tokens to its trading roster—including ones it previously delisted following concerns over possible SEC enforcement actions
This brings the total number of assets available to US customers to 19, as Robinhood Crypto VP Johann Kerbrat stated “We’ve consistently heard from our customers that they want access to more digital assets, and we’re excited to continue expanding our crypto offering”
Block (formerly Square), a major payment processor owned by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, increased its focus on Bitcoin mining operations this week, seeking to concentrate on more of its Bitcoin business divisions
A Thursday shareholder letter revealed the firm would scale back investments including music streaming platform TIDAL; “This gives us room to invest in our Bitcoin mining initiative, which has strong product market fit and a healthy pipeline of demand, and Bitkey, our self-custody wallet for Bitcoin”
In other mining news, German corporate giant Deutsche Telekom confirmed efforts to undertake Bitcoin mining via surplus energy
Oliver Nyderle of Deutsche Telekom MMS outlined the relevance of Bitcoin in evolving energy grids; “With the growing number of renewable energy sources and the resulting fluctuations in available energy, the need for quickly available regulating power increases…. we are taking a step in this direction to test the regulatory effect of Bitcoin miners in the energy grid. Surplus energy is converted into digital values through the miners. We call this digital monetary photosynthesis”
The enterprise software firm acquired 27,200 Bitcoins for $2.03bn, at an average price of just under $74,500 each
This brings its total holdings to 279,420 Bitcoins with a total value of $24.7bn (at the time of writing) and an average purchase price of $42,692, representing more than 100% (unrealised) profit
MicroStrategy shares jumped 25% on Monday when markets reopened following a significant weekend rise for Bitcoin, bringing the firm’s share price to an all-time high of $340, further increased to $383 on Wednesday
In a client note on Monday, Verde Asset Management—one of Brazil’s top hedge funds—revealed that it secured Bitcoin exposure ahead of the US presidential elections, reaping considerable rewards from the strategy
At the time of the note, a pre-election Bitcoin investment had already increased by 25%, and gains would reach over 30% within a week as of Wednesday’s peak above $93,000
Ravi Doshi, head of markets at prime broker FalconX explained “Market participants are eager to enter long bets on a further rally via leverage in both futures and options. The basis curve has increased to 18%+ annualized for the November expiry, highlighting the insatiable demand for margin during crypto market breakouts”
He added “At these levels, traditional financial institutions will synthetically lend dollars into the crypto market by shorting basis to earn the 18% annualised yield through the end of November. FalconX’s derivatives desk has seen heightened interest in this trade as yields continue to swell”
CEO Paola Origel told industry publication Coindesk “The value of a fund of funds is access. We’re jurisdiction agnostic and each manager has their own strategy. For example, some funds are fully dedicated to the development of Layer 2s on Bitcoin”
Institutional Investor reported on the launch of a new digital asset hedge fund, Ammanite Capital, founded by Citadel and UBS alumnus Tom Geary
He told the publication “Digital asset markets are much less efficient than traditional markets and are characterised by a large retail-dominated investor base, high asset volatility, wide spreads, and fragmented liquidity”
Former Millennium portfolio manager Benoit Bosc and ex-Pimco EVP Michael Bressler announced the launch of a new digital asset advisory this week
The firm, x2B, offers a variety of consultancy services to firms in the cryptosphere, including “fundraising, token launches, treasury management and market-making arrangements”
Token launches are a particular area of interest to Bressler and Bosc, representing a dynamic means for projects in the industry to raise capital
Bressler told Bloomberg that they wished to leverage their TradFi experience to help firms in DeFi run more efficiently; “There are very few people that have been at the intersection of high-level traditional finance and digital finance and understand the intricate dynamics of token launches”
Coinbase, the largest American digital asset exchange, soared to the top of Apple’s App Store finance category, indicating widespread retail interest in the sector as Bitcoin reached new heights
It also entered the US App Store’s overall top ten; a meteoric rise from a rank of 453 prior to the recent US election
In other Coinbase news, the so-called “Coinbase premium” recently turned positive; a metric indicating increased investor interest amongst American platform users
CryptoQuant head of Research Julio Moreno told industry publication TheBlock “Trump's victory brought back U.S. investor Bitcoin demand, and the Coinbase premium turned positive for the first time since October 18th”
Investors outside of the US will also be able to buy Coin50 in order to track the market, although its primary purpose is posited as price discovery and market trend identification
Head of Institutional Products Greg Tousar told Fortune “What we’re trying to do is establish a benchmark that is not specific to any asset, that’s trying to give what is the broad basket of crypto assets doing, the same way that you gauge the performance of the equity markets through the S&P 500”