🔑CryptoKey Newsletter | State of the Industry

Welcome to another installment of the CryptoKey Newsletter! Below are some key updates and developments in the world of crypto, macro, TradFi and more!

Top Crypto Stories:

Hong Kong Expected to Lift Crypto Retail Trading Ban Next Month (Blockworks)

Bitcoin HODLing Has Never Been More Popular (CoinDesk)

An Inside Look at Visa’s Crypto Team (Blockworks)

Celebrating Bitcoin Pizza Day: the Time a Bitcoin User Bought 2 Pizzas for 10,000 BTC (CoinDesk)

RFK Jr’s Presidential Campaign Accepts Bitcoin, Like Dozens of Politicians Before (Blockworks)

DeSantis promises to protect bitcoin in presidential campaign launch event (The Block)

Like it or not, Bitcoin has become political

RFK Jr. Speech at Bitcoin Miami Conference

Bitcoin has officially become a bipartisan force for the next presidential election, regardless of who ends up winning. Candidates from both major political parties are running on pro-Bitcoin policies, 

Despite how you feel about RFK Jr. or where you fall on the political spectrum, a candidate that is knowledgeable and vocal about Bitcoin is a net positive for mass adoption of the entire crypto space. Kennedy spoke to self-custody, running a personal node, mining Bitcoin, as well as many other details that are crucial to a regulatory framework we need to advance Bitcoin & crypto further. 

Ron DeSantis also addressed his pro-Bitcoin stance during his Twitter spaces appearance hosted by Elon Musk that pulled in several millions of listeners on May 24th, almost crashing the Twitter servers. “The only reason these people in Washington don’t like it [Bitcoin] is because they don’t control it,” said DeSantis about his views on Bitcoin and why he opposes the forced adoption of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which is ultimately the exact opposite of Bitcoin in terms of state control and limiting citizens’ freedoms to transact. 

US debt ceiling shenanigans & Biden’s crypto remarks

As congress has been moving at a glacial pace (with pretty much everything they do) to get a deal done to raise the debt ceiling & avoid a catastrophic government default, President Biden stated that he wasn't looking to agree to a deal that protects 'wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders'.

As if the crypto industry could possibly have any significance whatsoever against the trillions of dollars the government adds to the deficit every single year. Unfortunately it is the job of politicians to point fingers and put blame elsewhere for the spending habits of a degenerate gambler.

If we confiscated all of the wealth and total assets from every single billionaire living in the US today, it would only fund the federal government for less than 1 year. Choose #Bitcoin so politicians can’t blame the rest of us for their overspending.

Ripple vs. The SEC - the battle continues

Emails from the SEC were released by the court that indicate that XRP might not be deemed a security after all due to insufficient fulfillment of a Howey test.

As Gary Gensler (who I’ve nicknamed the Rat Boy Regulator) and the SEC have been fighting Ripple in a lawsuit for the past several years, this development in the case bodes well for XRP holders.

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