Crypto Currents: Bitcoin hits $100,000 after Atkins nomination

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week’s top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.

TRUMP APPOINTMENTS: Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump bitcoin hit $100,000 for the first time in the digital coin’s history. 

Meanwhile, the President-elect announced Friday that David O. Sacks will be named the “White House AI and Crypto Czar.” “In this important role, David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness,” Trump said. “David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas. He will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship. He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S. David will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology… David has the knowledge, business experience, intelligence, and pragmatism to MAKE AMERICA GREAT in these two critical technologies. Congratulations, David!”

INVESTORS FLOCK TO TURBOCHARGED ETFS: On Monday, the Wall Street Journal’s Jack Pitcher reported that investors have congregated to a pair of turbocharged exchange-traded funds, ETFs, to take advantage of bitcoin’s momentum, but the hidden risks of doing so aren’t widely understood. These ETFs seek to amplify the daily return of MicroStrategy (MSTR), doubling the daily return of the stock to the upside or downside. Funds from asset managers Tuttle Capital Management and Defiance ETFs are inherently risky, and some believe the recent swell in MicroStrategy’s market value is unsustainable. Additionally, the two 2X ETFs have not been working as intended recently, with some days the shares not fulling doubling the upside value of MicroStrategy and on others the stocks dropping more than double the decline in MicroStrategy, the report noted.

COINBASE DOWNGRADE: On Thursday, US Tiger analyst Bo Pei downgraded Coinbase (COIN) to Hold from Buy with an unchanged price target of $350 with Bitcoin reaching $100,000. The firm notes that in late October, when Bitcoin was trading below $70,000, it had assigned a 70% probability for the price to hit $100,000 by the second half of 2025. Now that this scenario has materialized, the firm still projects a cycle top of $120-$130,000, but acknowledges that downside risks have increased, and upside potential has diminished for Coinbase.

NOVEMBER PRODUCTION: A number of notable crypto miners reported November production numbers this week, with Bit Digital (BTBT) saying it had 266 servers actively generating revenue from its Bit Digital AI contracts, as of November 30. The company earned approximately $4.3M of total unaudited GPU Cloud revenue during the month of November 2024. Treasury holdings of BTC and ETH were 813.0 and 27,563.3 with a fair market value of approximately $78.4M and $102.1M, respectively, on November 30. The BTC equivalent of digital asset holdings as of November 30 was approximately 1,878.4 or approximately $181.2M. The company had cash and cash equivalents of $151.3M and total liquidity of approximately $332.5M in November. Had 13 customers actively generating revenue at its Tier-3 Enovum Data Center facility, as of November 30. The company’s HPC data center colocation revenue was approximately $503.5K in November. In November, the company produced 44.9 BTC, a 14.0% decrease compared to the prior month. In November, active hash rate was approximately 2.51 EH/s, a 3.3% increase compared to the prior month.

Meanwhile, IREN (IREN) increased its installed self-mining capacity by 33% to 28 EH/s. 31 EH/s expansion update: IREN has increased its installed capacity from 21 EH/s to 28 EH/s following the energization of its Childress Phase 3 substation. Childress Phase 3 construction is near complete and IREN expects to achieve 31 EH/s of installed capacity this month. Miner inventory: sufficient inventory on-site to achieve 31 EH/s: Construction:4 data center buildings complete, energized and hashing; 2 data center buildings remaining, finalization of internal fit-out and progressive completion expected this month IREN’s continued delivery against its 31 EH/s expansion target, best-in-class fleet efficiency and low electricity costs positions the business as a large scale, low-cost producer with an all-in cash cost per Bitcoin of ~$29k. Accelerating expansion to 50 EH/s in H1 2025: IREN continues to invest in accretive growth and is accelerating its growth trajectory to 50 EH/s and 810MW of data centers in H1 2025, underpinned by: Single site expansion at Childress, through Childress Phase 4 & 5 with earthworks and foundation works ongoing; Site teams and processes in place to continue cadence of constructing approximately 50MW of data centers per month; S21 Pro miners previously secured.

Mara Holdings (MARA) also said it mined 254 blocks in November, up 27% from October, while TeraWulf (WULF) said it self-mined 115 bitcoin last month. Additionally, Riot Platforms (RIOT) reported November bitcoin producction fell 10% year-over-year.

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital, Coinbase, Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Mara Holdings, MicroStrategy, Riot Platforms, Stronghold Digital Mining, and TeraWulf (WULF).