The Breakdown First Five - Tuesday, October 29, 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. Hong Kong Prepares

A slew of headlines suggest Hong Kong is gearing up for crypto adoption. Up to 11 exchanges will be granted licenses by end of year. Stablecoin regulations expected by March. New local Bitcoin and Ethereum indices to help guide the market. Expanding tax exemptions for family offices to cover crypto investments. The island city is pushing full force to establish itself as a crypto hub and recover its lost status in global finance.

4. Mining Stocks Surge

Bitcoin mining stocks are surging, but not just because of Bitcoin. Mining stocks saw a huge pop across the board on Monday, but some of the leaders have pivoted to AI. Core Scientific stood out with its 6% and a buy signal from Jeffries. They believe that a lack of supply for AI training data centers will allow Bitcoin miners to rake in profits in designing and managing facilities. 

3. ETFs Shrug Off FUD

Tether FUD and escalation in the middle east was no match for Bitcoin ETF buyers, who sunk another $479M into the funds on Monday. The ETFs have had two extremely hot weeks back to back for the first time since June. The ETFs have been voracious, now holding around 5% of total Bitcoin supply and buying 5 times the daily mining reward.

2. Bitcoin University

Emory University in Atlanta has become the first college endowment to purchase Bitcoin. They made a $15.8M investment into the Grayscale mini trust and added a $1M allocation to Coinbase stock. The total allocation is just a toe in the water, 0.14% of the total endowment. Still it plays a powerful symbolic role in making Bitcoin an acceptable investment for colleges. Emory isn’t up there with the Ivy league funds, but it’s still the 13th largest endowment in the country.  

1. $70,000

Bitcoin is back above $70,000 and taking another run at new highs. Analysts have formed a consensus that expectations of rate cuts and a Trump victory are driving the price higher. Momentum was pretty spectacular, vaporizing the order book on the way through. However it stalled out overnight, with Bitcoin balanced in a tight range around $71,000. Is today the day for a fresh all time high?