About
two
years
ago,
crypto
prices
topped
out.
Bitcoin
(BTC)
almost
got
to
$70,000.
Then
things
got
bad,
then
they
got
worse
and
then
they
got
cataclysmic.
BTC
sank
toward
$15,000
in
the
aftermath
of
FTX’s
blow-up.
You
probably
remember!
Prices
have
rebounded
for
most
of
2023,
but
these
felt
like
hard-won
gains
–
rallies
were
quickly
followed
by
setbacks.
By
mid-October,
bitcoin
was
around
$27,000.
And
then
the
market
caught
fire,
fueled
by
optimism
over
bitcoin
ETFs
and
sinking
interest
rates.
Bitcoin
just
hit
$45,000
on
Coinbase.
It
had
only
just
managed
to
surpass
$40,000
a
few
days
ago,
a
level
last
seen
in
early
2022.
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(CoinDesk)
A
crypto-skeptic
friend
texted
me
Tuesday
saying
he
was
about
to
buy
more
bitcoin.
A
colleague
says
he’s
hearing
from
people
wondering
about
crypto.
Will
this
last?
Is
crypto
making
a
move
toward
mainstream
territory
again?
To
the
disappointment
of
my
father,
who
has
asked
me
for
forecasts
throughout
my
two-decade
career
covering
markets
and
finance,
I
have
no
idea.
But
I
know
it’s
been
two
years
since
the
mood
in
crypto
markets
felt
this
ebullient
–
before
the
collapses
of
Celsius,
Voyager,
Three
Arrows
Capital,
FTX,
Genesis
…
FOMO
(you
know,
“fear
of
missing
out”)
maybe
mixed
with
a
dose
of
YOLO
(“you
only
live
one”)
seems
to
be
back.
Wall
Street
is
coming
to
crypto
How
things
got
this
enthusiastic
is
not
hard
to
fathom.
It
really
is
a
big
deal
that
Wall
Street
heavyweights
BlackRock,
Fidelity
and
Franklin
Templeton
are
trying
to
list
bitcoin
ETFs
in
the
U.S.
Click
here
to
read
CoinDesk’s
Most
Influential
list
for
2023,
a
series
of
50
profiles
of
key
people
in
crypto,
including
BlackRock’s
Larry
Fink
and
Franklin
Templeton’s
Jenny
Johnson.
Anyone
with
a
plain
vanilla
brokerage
account
should
be
able
to
buy
these
products,
if
they’re
approved
by
regulators
–
and
all
signs
point
to
approval
being
likely
soon.
That’s
easier
and
probably
more
realistic
for
regular
Americans
than
setting
up
a
Coinbase
account
or,
heaven
forbid,
figuring
out
how
a
decentralized
exchange
or
MetaMask
work.
So,
BlackRock,
Fidelity
and
Franklin
Templeton’s
sales
and
marketing
heft
looks
poised
to
be
behind
bitcoin
ETFs.
It’s
not
crazy
to
think
that
will
bring
a
lot
of
money
into
crypto.
Whether
that
creates
a
sustainable
rally
is
up
for
debate.
Here’s
what
else
is
on
my
mind:
-
A
ROCKY
DEBUT:
After
FTX
fell
apart,
many
folks
wondered
if
something
bad
was
going
to
happen
to
its
bigger
rival,
Binance.
U.S.
regulators
and
law
enforcement
seemed
to
be
circling.
We
got
our
answer
recently:
The
crypto
exchange
agreed
to
pay
$4.3
billion
to
settle
several
U.S.
investigations.
Changpeng
“CZ”
Zhao
stepped
down
as
CEO.
For
all
the
angst
in
the
run-up
to
this,
though,
the
industry
has
taken
it
in
stride.
Anyway,
CZ’s
replacement,
Richard
Teng,
just
had
his
first
big
public
interview,
and
it
was
not
a
smooth
debut,
according
to
CoinDesk’s
Helene
Braun.
He
came
across
as
evasive.
The
company
never
says
where
it’s
based,
and
Teng
was
opaque
about
that
and
other
issues.
The
question
is
whether
this
matters.
Maybe
traders
don’t
care
if
the
world’s
biggest
crypto
exchange
is
evasive? -
CRYPTO’S
BEST
CORRELATION:
It’s
become
a
cliché:
Elon
Musk
says
or
does
something,
and
it
moves
the
price
of
dogecoin
(DOGE),
the
meme
coin
he’s
long
loved.
It
just
happened
again.
A
regulatory
filing
shows
he’s
trying
to
raise
$1
billion
for
his
AI
efforts.
DOGE
immediately
surged.
One
of
the
strangest
correlations
in
markets
persists.