Today Bitcoin climbs to start the week Just 3 days after the network completed Its latest having the binance executive On the run from Nigerian authorities is Reportedly found in Kenya and Nico Cordo CIO of Quant digital asset hedge fund Stricks Leviathan discusses bitcoin's Post having Rise welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm Jordan Smith crypto prices in the green To kick off the week 3 days after the Bitcoin Network completed its fourth Having the key technical event reduced The rewards earned by miners from 6.25 Bitcoin to 3.125 as of noon Eastern Bitcoin climbed 1.5% to 66,000 ether Rose less than 1% to just under $3,200 and salana jumped 2 and a qu% to 153 bucks ahead of the having the price Of Bitcoin had been volatile Mechanically the having itself shouldn't Affect the price of Bitcoin in the short Term but many investors are expecting Big gains in the months ahead that's Based on the cryptocurrency's Performance after previous having mining Stocks have also been volatile in the Days leading up to the having event with Some down by double digits for the year After rallying between 300 and 600% in 20123 Riot platforms for example is down More than 30% so far this year but it Surged 356 in
2023 all right let's talk about the top Stories Sam bakman freed has agreed to Turn over documents to FTX customers in Exchange for his dismissal from a class Action lawsuit according to a proposed Settlement filed on April 19th SPF Agreed to Aid inv victim recovery in a Pending class action lawsuit against FTX Promoters that would include testimony And any documents within his access like Information on his investment in AI firm Anthropic he must also produce Information on a list of people and Parties including Tom Brady Shaquille O'Neal Steph Curry the MLB and other Former promoters this comes after Sam Bakman fried was sentenced to 25 years In prison for fraud and conspiracy back In March he's appealing that sentence Next Grace scale's Bitcoin trust is Facing a steady March of outflows while Its competitors gain team the trust has Faced a 30% cut to its assets under Management since its conversion to a Spot ETF was approved from $28.6 billion On January 10th to 19.6 billion as of Friday at the same time black Rock's Ibit ETF has garnered soaring attention The ETF has ballooned to $17.5 billion Under management that's according to fax Set one of the biggest differentiators Of the two ETFs is the fee charged to Investors in the fund gr scale charges 1.2% compared to Black Rock's
.25% the other 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs Trading in the US have lower fees Similar to Black Rock's offering Grayscale is looking to combat this with Its upcoming mini Bitcoin ETF a spin-off Of gbtc which it announced back in March The asset manager proposed that that Fund could have fees as low as 0.15% Although that number could change Finally Nadim aneralla the binance Executive who escaped Nigerian custody Has reportedly been found in Kenya local News Outlet Daily Post reported last Week that law enforcement agencies in Both countries were working on Anar Walla's extradition the outlet cited a Source close to the Nigerian presidency Andre Walla was arrested alongside Another binance executive after the Country bought tax evasion charges back In March binance said at the time that Its primary focus was on the safety of Its employees and was working Collaboratively with Nigerian Authorities to resolve the issue we Reached out to the Nigerian police force About the story but haven't heard back Yet all right let's talk more about Markets for our main story I spoke with Niko Cordo the CIO of stricks Leviathan About bitcoin's performance post having And what likely will be the next Catalyst for the crypto Market in 2024 all right Nico the having is here
It's done and there was some discussion About just how it would affect markets Given that it seemed to be so priced in I mean JP Morgan said to expect some Declines because of that because Bitcoin Was over overbought um others told us That the price would hold or even go up Right as it is right now as of Monday Morning it seems like that seems to be True but but what are you seeing and What is your reaction to how Bitcoin has Performed in the immediate aftermath After the latest Havoc you know I think Price action has been much in line with How it normally behaves I mean the big Move that we saw over the last week and A half two weeks was really driven by The geopolitical instability with Iran And Israel um that had quite a negative Kickback on the market um but you know It's since recovered well and I think We're kind of continuing to be firm on Our thesis that the remainder of the Year is going to be pretty interesting And bullish for Cryptocurrencies yeah talk about your Thesis for the rest of the year I feel Like the big Catalyst that everybody was Expecting the having and the ETFs uh Have happened they're here um what are Your expectations now that we move past Those events into the rest of 2024 um Are there any expectations or things That people aren't talking about that we
Should be Watching well I think the industry has a Habit of kind of focusing on crypto Native narratives right so like you Mentioned the ETFs and and the having I Don't think those are not consequential They are they're important but our Thesis really starting from mid last Year was that the Federal Reserve was on A trajectory to lower rates uh despite Inflation being sticky despite fiscal Spending being at record levels um and That kind of sets up a good uh it is a Good setup for risk um both on the Technology side and on the Cryptocurrency side so you know there's There's a long-going debate of whether Bitcoin is a you know Safe Haven asset Or is it is it a high-risk High beta Asset and so we kind of view the latter And we just think generally speaking From a macro overview um it looks pretty Good for crypto well let's talk about Those macro pressures because Expectations for rate Cuts have been Pushed back on a daily basis it feels Like we're now looking at potentially 2025 before we see our first rate cut uh And in that environment and and with if We're are going back to macro pressures Being the focus for crypto how much are The expectations for rate Cuts if they Are getting delayed going to be a bad Thing for Bitcoin is that something
You're watching as a potential negative For Bitcoin Our view or my view is it's not Necessarily the what the rate is sitting At but it's the expect expectation of How they're going to change I think the Strong reaction we saw across really all Risk assets when the geopolitical Political instability started between Iran in Israel was was you know is the Price of oil going to Skyrocket is that Going to re-engage inflation higher and Is that going to change the expectation From eventually we're on a downward path To oh no now rates are getting raised Again and so that had a large impact as The dust has settled it seems like we're Now back to our base case where Eventually they're on a downward Trajectory and I don't think it matters Where we're at today for the rest of the Year 2025 it just matters that that's That's our Trajectory in terms of geopolitical Pressures I mean obviously there is Uncertainty about what's happening in The Middle East there's uncertainty About what's happening with Ukraine we Have these these foreign aid Bills going Through Congress right now is any of That political pressure uh especially With those those bills going through Congress something that crypto investors Are watching out for I mean if they pass
Is there going to be any sort of price Reflection in the price uh if they if And when they pass I don't I mean I Don't think there'd be a direct impact But it's just more along the thesis that Fiscal spending is at record levels um Inflation is sticky but we're going to Continue down this path to lowering Rates at some point over the next year Or two um I don't think any individual You know Bill passing is going to change That where the crypto Market really Reacts strongly is where expectations Change and so that's what we we saw last Week or two weeks ago um but you know Things have kind of realigned and Expectations are online I think we'll Continue to see risk perform well for The rest of the Year if I can go back to some of the Crypto specific catalysts uh we were Talking about ecfs earlier uh and Obviously one of the ones that people Are watching out for are The Ether ETFs And we could get an answer to those Starting next month and asset managers Aren't as optimistic about the approval Of those as they were about Bitcoin ETFs Um do you think that would be seen as a Setback for the market if those do get Shut down by the SC or will will Investors look past it uh I think that Would initially be a setback but uh Investors will look past it in my
Opinion I'm I'm kind of bullish there I Think the ETFs will get approved I don't Know the timeline um but I think that's The path we're on and I expect them to Be approved over the next call it nine Months at some point um so that's Another bullish Catalyst on the crypto Native uh side of things uh beyond that You know the industry just continues to Develop and and build what we've been Trying to build for the last you know 10 Plus years which is decentralized Financial economy today it's kind of a Joke we're trading meme coins on Solana Not us personally but that's generally The industry um and but all of that is You know the first use case the base Case the you know the beta for a larger Financial ecosystem um and we're seeing That happen on Bitcoin today too you Know with the launch of runes that they Have block um we've seen transaction Fees Spike there's Now activity on the Bitcoin blockchain those are all Exciting Developments yeah I want to ask about The the altcoin environment right now to To end um you know at the end of the Last cycle in the middle of crypto Winter people were talking about uh you Know we really focus on strategy on the Most important projects and now that Interest is back we are seeing meme Tokens trade again and and I'm curious
If this trading environment feels any Different now than it did last time are People still banking on fomo for some of These meme token trades or is there Something inherently different this time Around to me it all feels exactly the Same um it's like every cycle people Have to read discover like the wild side Of this industry right but you know um I've seen a slew probably in the last Month or two of you know very serious Industry people talking about how the Industry is all of a sudden a joke or It's mcoins this or mcoins that and I'm Like does nobody remember crypto kitties In 2017 or ether rocks which are still Some of the biggest nfts um in the space I mean this is just very typical of the Space um you know there's There's there's some really big Technological advances here in my Opinion from you know rebuilding the Financial ecosystem around the globe but At the end of the day the number one use Case today is gambling and we see that Every cycle when things start to get hot All right that's all for crypto world Today we'll be back again tomorrow and We'll see you then
