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  • 7/26/24: RFK Jr. Goes All In 🚀⚙️💰

7/26/24: RFK Jr. Goes All In 🚀⚙️💰

Author

Valko
July 26, 2024

Top News

  1. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he’s 'fully committed' to Bitcoin

  2. Google quietly launches blockchain-related cloud services

  3. New Jersey to allocate 2% of city pension fund to Bitcoin

Specs’ Breakdown

1. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he’s 'fully committed' to Bitcoin

⌐◪-◪ → Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says, "I put most of my wealth into Bitcoin. I am fully committed."

He calls Bitcoin an “honest currency” and wants to back U.S. Treasury bills with gold and Bitcoin.

If elected, he plans to have the U.S. buy enough Bitcoin to match its gold reserves. That means buying 9.4M Bitcoin (45% of total supply) to match the ~$615B worth of U.S. gold.

This would make the U.S. the biggest Bitcoin holder, far surpassing BlackRock and MicroStrategy.

RFK’s chances of becoming president are low (<1% on Polymarket), but his influence on other politicians, including Trump, is undeniable.

Gotta give credit to RFK Jr. for being one of the first candidates to jump on the crypto train.

2. Google quietly launches blockchain-related cloud services

⌐◪-◪ → Google Cloud is adding blockchain-native features to its services. Some features include:

  • Blockchain node engine

  • Blockchain RPC

  • Blockchain analytics

  • Partner applications & datasets

If you want to dig deeper check out their web3 ecosystem page for more details. I’ll be diving into their learning and community sections later just to see how robust their ecosystem really is.

This is incredibly bullish for web3, given Google’s vast developer ecosystem. Get ready for a massive influx of new developers in the space.

3. New Jersey to allocate 2% of city pension fund to Bitcoin

⌐◪-◪ → New Jersey plans to allocate up to 2% of its pension fund to Bitcoin, following Wisconsin’s decision to do the same in May.

Pension funds investing in Bitcoin is huge because:

  • They have long investment horizons, unlocking a new category of whale hodlers.

  • They’re risk-averse with lengthy due diligence processes, making this a top-tier “stamp of approval.”

It massively legitimizes the asset class in the eyes of the traditional wealth managment world.

Mayor Steven Fulop expects the move to happen by the end of summer. If anyone knows Mayor Fulop, tell him to set up an ENS subdomain like Bitwise did for their ETF.

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Bitcoin at $67K ahead of Trump’s upcoming keynote

  • TON gasless transactions go live following smart wallet standard

  • Arbitrum opens vote to deploy Orbit chains beyond Ethereum

  • Jito announces restaking infrastructure on Solana

  • Apechain announces largest Arbitrum DEX Camelot as its native DEX

  • StarkWare to integrate Cosmos IBC protocol to Starknet

  • EigenLayer sees $2.3B outflows, signaling restaking sector slide

  • Solend rebrands as ‘Save’ and launches new stablecoin and token

  • AAVE rises 20% after fee switch and token buybacks proposal

  • Palau to issue legal identities on Solana

  • Coinbase to list DYM, MKR and AAVE perpetual futures on August 1

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

  • Ethereum ETFs see $152M outflows on third day of trading

  • MicroStrategy and Bitcoin Magazine launch “Bitcoin for Corporations”

  • BlackRock's Head of Digital Assets: "Few crypto ETFs expected"

  • Grayscale sees $1.1B outflows in 2 days

  • Bitwise hangs ETH ETF banner over New York Stock Exchange

  • Kuru raises $2M for Monad-based on-chain orderbook exchange

  • Galaxy Asset Management secures $113M for crypto venture fund

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

🌎 Rest of the World

  • Franklin Templeton and SBI team up to bring BTC ETFs to Japan

  • Interpol issues Red Notice for Hong Kong's 'Coin Young Master

  • Metaplanet to launch Bitcoin Magazine Japan

  • BitFlyer, Japanese exchange, acquires 100% of FTX Japan

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

  • Chicago Bulls Scottie Pippen to tokenize Game 5 ball

  • Illuvium launches 3 interconnected Ethereum games on Epic Store

  • EPIK duck coin by Mando to list on MEXC

  • Drift teases pre-prediction market coming