Top Stories of The Week
Bitcoin plummets to $102K on Binance as Trump announces 100% tariffs on China
US President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on China on Friday, sending the price of Bitcoin reeling below $110,000 at the time of writing.
Trump said the tariffs were in response to China attempting to place export restrictions on rare earth minerals, which are crucial for creating computer chips. Trump wrote on Truth Social:
“It has just been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade in sending an extremely hostile letter to the World, stating that they were going to, effective November 1, 2025, impose large-scale Export Controls on virtually every product they make.”
‘Debasement trade’ is no longer a debate, and TradFi knows it: Execs
Financial institutions are quickly waking up to the “debasement trade,” according to commentators, which could be a boon for assets such as gold and Bitcoin.
Institutions have a new concept to cling to called the “debasement trade,” which will be the thing that protects them, said entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano in a podcast on Thursday.
It’s the same thing that goldbugs and Bitcoiners have been talking about for years, and now institutions have just realized that “no one is ever going to stop printing money,” he added. “This now feels like there is no longer a debate about this. People realize the dollar and bonds are going to have a lot of trouble moving forward, and therefore Bitcoin and gold are definitely benefiting.”
Polymarket founder Coplan joins billionaire club after NYSE parent investment: Report
Shayne Coplan, the founder of prediction market Polymarket, is once again in the limelight, as prediction markets shift from regulatory bans in the United States to legitimate financial markets with institutional backing.
Bloomberg named Coplan among the world’s billionaires following a $2 billion investment in Polymarket by New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange.
Coplan launched the platform in 2020 when he was 21 after dropping out of New York University. He often worked on the platform from the bathroom in his New York apartment, he said.
Ethereum DATs are the next Berkshire Hathaway: Consensys founder
Inspired by Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin playbook, Joseph Lubin says Ethereum treasury companies can provide outsized returns on yield and investment opportunities to their Bitcoin counterparts.
Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore, the Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO unpacked his thesis for why Ether digital asset treasuries (DATs) present superior opportunities to the Bitcoin treasury movement popularized by Saylor’s Strategy Bitcoin play.
“I’d much rather have something that potentially has more impact. It certainly is as solid as Bitcoin, and I would argue more solid because of the functionality and the organic demand for it to pay for transactions and storage,” Lubin said.
US Bitcoin reserve funding ‘can start anytime’ — Senator Lummis
Crypto-friendly US Senator Cynthia Lummis has confirmed that acquiring funds for the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) can “start anytime” now, though legislative red tape is holding it back.
In an X post on Monday, Lummis said that while it remains a “slog” on the legislative side of things, thanks to “President Trump, the acquisition of funds for an SBR can start anytime.”
Lummis made the comments in response to a post from ProCap BTC chief investment officer Jeff Park, who shared a video of himself and Bitcoin bull Anthony Pompliano discussing the potential of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Park was hypothesizing what would happen if the government were able to utilize its $1 trillion worth of paper gains from gold to reinvest into Bitcoin.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $117,676 Ether (ETH) at $4,090 and XRP at $2.72. The total market cap is at $4.00 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are ZCash (ZEC) at 75.21%, Bittensor (TAO) at 14.97% and Aethir (ATH) at 11.07%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are MYX Finance (MYX) at 46.96%, DoubleZero (2Z) at 40.92% and Pump.fun (PUMP) at 25.27%.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
“What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control.”
Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram
“We want Bitcoin to be everyday money ASAP.”
Jack Dorsey, founder of Square
“You can kind of start lifting some of your targets and saying, ‘Well, because we’ve proven 110, that’s the floor, where do we go from here?’”
James Check, Bitcoin analyst
“Betting…
cointelegraph.com