Larry Fink Comes out as Bullish, CFTC Intervenes With Kalshi, and More
This week’s crypto storylines mixed balance-sheet stress, regulation, venture hindsight, geopolitics, and macro sentiment. Michael Saylor built a $3 billion cash buffer around Strategy’s bitcoin stack, the CFTC backed Kalshi in its Michigan fight, and Tim Draper reflected on missing Coinbase before later joining the ride. Trump’s Iran remarks rattled oil and bitcoin, while Larry Fink struck a bullish tone on markets and said crypto looks more stable after the leverage washout.
Strategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR) now pairs a $3 billion U.S. dollar reserve with 843,775 BTC worth roughly $55 billion, a barbell structure that has seen its bitcoin position sink $9.9 billion underwater. The scale of Saylor’s bet means he will either be one of the wealthiest men who ever lived or a disgraced gambler. With Strategy now including selling BTC as part of its management system, it’s likely we will see less of Saylor and the firm in the headlines.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has stopped Kalshi from liquidating sports event contracts that a Michigan court ordered voided. Michigan is the second state, after Nevada, to obtain an order requiring Kalshi to restrict access through geolocation. Nevada regulators separately alleged that Kalshi’s IP geofence allowed residents to continue buying prohibited contracts despite a court order.
Tim Draper says he passed on Coinbase after underestimating how quickly retail crypto adoption would arrive, but his son invested early. Today, Coinbase is worth over $44 billion.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared a June ceasefire with Iran “over” this week after U.S. Central Command carried out fresh strikes. The flip-flopping on Hormuz has been a bane on markets, yet stock markets are still basically at all-time highs. Bitcoin, which should theoretically do better in times of geopolitical uncertainty, has suffered. A smooth conclusion to this situation could be what BTC needs to finally kick off a new cycle.
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink said he is bullish on markets, citing early gains from technology-driven margin expansion. With the world’s biggest Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), Fink has good reason to want Bitcoin to recover. Public bullish sentiment from the largest asset manager in the world is a much-welcomed catalyst for BTC, especially when price is at a discount rather than soaring to new all-time highs.