The Breakdown First Five - Thursday, October 17, 2024

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

5. Efficiency Elon

Technoking Elon Musk wants to fix government spending by heading up a Department of Government Efficiency. The pitch was so convincing that Trump is beginning to talk about it on the campaign trail. Whether Elon actually has the attention span for government work remains to be seen, but for now the DOGE is being memed into existence, and Dogecoin is ripping right alongside. 

4. Deaton v Warren

Beloved crypto lawyer and Republican candidate John Deaton took on Elizabeth Warren in a televised debate. Warren claimed she isn’t working towards a crypto ban, her ‘anti-bitcoin army’ is merely pushing for the industry to ‘follow the same rules’. Deaton explained why he cares about Bitcoin, the ability to disintermediate predatory financial services companies. He called on Warren to prioritize the people she represents, rather than fighting against the crypto industry. 

3. State of Crypto

A16Z have published their annual state of crypto report, highlighting record numbers of monthly active wallets. By their count, there are now 220 million active crypto users, although 100 million of them are trading memecoins on Solana. Bitcoin has 11 million monthly active users, dispelling the myth that no one uses the chain. The report also focused on the rise of stablecoin adoption and mobile wallets centered on the global south. 

2. US Winning Hashwars

Publicly listed Bitcoin miners have reached record high dominance of hashrate. They now control 28.9% of global hashing power. Most notable was a sharp divergence following the halving, with US miners adding 70% to their hashrate while weaker miners folded. Miner profitability is ticking up, we’re seeing a rise in on-chain activity, it seems US miners are poised to dominate this epoch. 

1. Bitcoin’s Window

Uptober is finally kicking into gear with Bitcoin taking another run at a breakout, touching $68,000 yesterday. Views are numerous. Bitcoin dominance is at cycle highs on this move. Short term holders are cashing out at rates not seen since March. The dollar is poised to move higher. With the fourth touch of range highs, this is clearly a make or break moment for Bitcoin. Will we get an Uptober surprise?