The Breakdown First Five - Friday, October 25, 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. Kraken’s To Add Co-CEO

The Information reports Kraken is expected to name a new co-CEO. Arjun Sethi, the co-founder of Tribe Capital is expected to be appointed alongside existing CEO Dave Ripley. The top job at Kraken shifted to Ripley in 2023 as founder Jesse Powell resigned to a board position. Sethi is an investor and currently holds a board seat. The Information suggests this could be a move to prepare the company to go public. 

4. Polymarket Whale Identified

The Polymarket whale accused of market manipulation was just a French gambler extremely bullish on a Trump victory. Internal investigations revealed no evidence of market manipulation and in fact noted the bets were spread out to minimize market impact. With polls converging on Polymarket odds and no major divergence xbetween prediction market platforms, it seems the market manipulation theory is dead in the water. 

3. Whales Accumulating 

Despite soft price action, Bitcoin whales are accumulating at a rapid clip. According to Cryptoquant, large wallets hit fresh all time highs during the recent drawdown. They wrote, “this accumulation phase can be characterized as calm before the storm in the medium and long term.” The activity is strikingly similar to mid-2020. 

2. Hackers Hit Government Crypto

According to Arkham Intelligence, someone just stole $20M worth of cryptocurrency from the US Government. The assets were stablecoins and ETH on deposit in Aave and hadn’t been moved in eight months. The withdrawal was immediately followed by what appeared to be a money laundering attempt through sketchy exchanges, suggesting malicious activity. It’s unclear how the government’s crypto operations were compromised and no suspect has been identified.

1. Microsoft Mulls Bitcoin

Microsoft is putting Bitcoin investment to a vote. According to SEC filings, the company is set to put the topic as a voting item for shareholders at their December meeting. The agenda item was proposed by a conservative think tank. The board has recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal, deeming it “unnecessary”. They note the firm’s management already evaluates investment opportunities, noting that “past evaluations have included Bitcoin.”