28th January 2025 > > New Treasury Secretary and some ridiculous ETFs.
tl;dr
Senior pro-crypto appointments in the US bode well for us. There needs to be limits to the world of crypto ETFs.
Market Snap

Market Wrap
On Sunday morning, the CCC commented “BTC looks to be holding firm above $100k, less than 4% shy of making new ATHs.” At the time, I was acutely aware of the risk of incurring the wrath of the crypto gods, but I thought that the comment was factual, non-controversial, and wouldn’t attract their attention, let alone their ire.
How wrong I was.
The announcement of a more powerful A.I. tool out of China tanked tech stocks and cryptos, with a low of $97.8k for BTC.
So, that one was on me. I promise to be even more careful in my choice of words for the Market Wrap going forward.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Scott Bessent
Scott has been confirmed by the Senate as the new Treasury Secretary, replacing the ineffectual and anti-crypto Janet Yellen.
Scott’s suitability for this role is made plain during his nomination hearing:
"I see no reason for the U.S. to have a central bank digital currency. In my mind, a central bank digital currency is for countries who have no other investment alternatives."
Colin McLaren, Engagement Director at Cedar Innovation Foundation (a pro-crypto advocacy group) approves of Scott:
"Scott Bessent is an exceptionally qualified leader ready to implement the pro-crypto mandate voters delivered last November. As Secretary of the Treasury, he will play a critical role in shaping and implementing a regulatory framework for crypto that will lay the foundation for American leadership, innovation and growth."
Scott is also part of the new "Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets tasked with looking at the possibility of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve with a deadline of reporting to Trump by July 23rd, an important date for our diaries, whichever way the decision goes.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Crypto ETFs
There has been a flurry of new filings for crypto ETFs. Currently, they only track BTC and ETH, the latter without staking rewards.
Last week saw filings for SOL, DOGE, TRUMP, amongst others.
Though the SEC no longer has its computer says no mentality towards cryptos, that does not mean it has now become a free-for-all. One of the SEC’s major concerns when reviewing ETF applications of any sort is the scope for market manipulation. In the cases of BTC and ETH, futures ETFs had already been trading for a number of years, the market caps are significant, and (retail) price disclosure is robust.
Leaked documents from the CTFC suggested that preparations are underway for SOL futures ETFs, paving the way for a spot SOL ETF. I seriously doubt any of the others have much chance of approval. James Seyffart calls it correctly:

Tuttle Capital Management is certainly testing the limits by filing for leveraged ETFs across a range of coins including the recently issued TRUMP and MELANIA. Matthew Tuttle inadvertently explains the unsuitability of these products when trying to justify the proposal:
“We definitely think there is a demand for it. There's a whole bunch of degens out there who love to trade this stuff.”
The firm has previously received approval for long and short 2x ETFs on MicroStrategy. There is no call for encouraging even more leverage within the crypto investing world.
…
What would be really valuable is to add staking functionality to the spot ETH ETFs and the likely spot SOL ETFs. This was previously denied under Gensler’s tenure as it makes the ETF far less attractive to investors, cramping their success, by effectively adding a 3-4% charge on the assets held within the ETF.
I am very confident that under Hester’s and Scott’s guidance this obstacle will soon be removed.
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