Bitcoin narrowly stayed above the $100,000 level as the online spat between Elon Musk and President Trump spilled over from traditional markets last week.
In what had been a fairly muted week for cryptoasset price movements beforehand, as the ‘feud’ between Trump and Musk escalated on social media on Thursday, bitcoin then fell as much as 4% before finding some support at $100,400, writes Simon Peters, cryptoasset market analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro.
As news started to spread that the two could reconcile, the bitcoin price rebounded, currently trading at over $109,000. Friday’s better-than-expected non-farm payrolls report also provided a further tailwind to the bitcoin price.
Looking forward to this week, inflation data in the form of CPI consumer price index and PPI producer price index could provide some volatility.
BIGGEST MOVERS
$ICP was one of the biggest movers last week, up 16% as the DFINITY Foundation (a major contributor to the Internet Computer blockchain) announced the launch of Caffeine.ai at the World Computer Summit in Zurich.
Caffeine.ai is an AI-driven platform enabling blockchain applications to be built on the ICP Internet Computer blockchain using natural language rather than traditional programming skills.
This new AI platform could attract new developers and users to ICP, boosting the ecosystem’s activity and utility.
$TRUMP was one of the worst performers last week, down 9%, following President Trump’s online spat with Elon Musk. At its lowest $TRUMP was down 17.5% but has slightly recovered as tensions between the two have calmed.
EYE-CATCHING STORIES
South Korea elects crypto-friendly president
South Korea elected crypto-friendly Lee Jae-myung as its new president last week following a snap election in the country after former president Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office following his impeachment.
During the election campaign Lee made a number of promises to South Korea’s crypto industry, including legalising spot crypto ETFs to make crypto more accessible to everyday investors, allowing the National Pension Fund (currently over $800 billion in assets) to invest into crypto and establish on won-backed stablecoin which could radically change how money moves in and out of South Korea.
South Korea is already known as one of the most popular countries for trading crypto with more than a third of the population holding accounts with domestic crypto exchanges.
With the country now having a pro-crypto president, South Korea could have an even greater influence or impact on global crypto markets if President Lee Jae-myung’s proposed initiatives get implemented.
Japan’s Metaplanet announces $5.4 billion equity raise to purchase more bitcoin
Metaplanet announced Asia’s largest ever bitcoin-focused equity raise last week, specifically selling 555 million shares via moving strike warrants over the next two years and using the estimated $5.4 billion (based on the initial exercise price) proceeds to buy more bitcoin.
Posting on X, Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich stated that the company’s new target is to hold 210,000 bitcoin by the end of 2027 and own 1% of all bitcoin that will ever exist. Metaplanet currently holds 8,888 bitcoin.
If Metaplanet were to reach 210,000 in bitcoin holdings, and providing no other companies significantly increased their own bitcoin reserves, it would put Metaplanet second, only to Strategy (Microstrategy), whose current bitcoin holdings are just over 580,000 or 2.76% of the 21 million bitcoin that will ever exist.
Romanian man pleads guilty to ‘swatting’ conspiracy targeting US officials
