Plus: UK thinks crypto is bad for the economy (...ok then)

GM. We’re the banana bread of crypto - turning overripe market moments into something super good.

🤔 Can gold-backed stablecoins take over?

🍋 News drops: crypto taxes in the UK, Sonic brings back Terra-type PTSD + more

🍍 Market flavor today

Find out more about the Fear & Greed Index here.

Crypto Market Cap: $2.88T 3.31% (24H)
Name		Price	24H	7D
	Bitcoin BTC	$87,819.89	3.86%	5.39%
	Ethereum ETH	$2,074.42	4.22%	8.45%
	XRP XRP	$2.45	2.59%	4.74%
	BNB BNB	$627.61	1.77%	-0.31%
	Solana SOL	$142.07	8.14%	11.82%

After spending the weekend stress-eating in Fear, the market has calmed down enough to hit Neutral today.

And Bitcoin managed to find support at $84K over the weekend.

Source: @naiivememe

10x Research thinks BTC might be forming a bottom here - and it's not purely hopium-driven:

• Donald Trump seems to be softening up on the whole tariff thing. He’s now talking about targeting specific industries instead of the across-the-board tariffs he originally threatened;

• Also, the Fed didn't overreact to the recent US inflation report.

All that’s helped reduce uncertainty in the markets, which is usually a good thing for crypto.

10x noted that their technical indicators - which have predicted past rallies - are flashing bullish signals again.

BUT they believe there’s still no strong catalyst yet to send Bitcoin skyrocketing immediately.

Daan Crypto Trades says that things could turn more positive if BTC can climb back into its old price range between $90.8K and $108.4K - this would likely boost sentiment and open the door to new highs.

If not, we might see it fall back to the summer 2024 support zone - somewhere around $73K - $74K.

Still, he’s not too concerned unless Bitcoin starts closing below $70K without a clear reason. Until then, he remains bullish.

Source: BitDegree

In fact, Stockmoney Lizards say everyone yelling "bear market" right now is just noise, because the current dip looks totally normal.

BTC has a habit of going on big runs and then coming back to test its average price.

(It did it at $30K, again at $72K, and now it’s happening one more time.)

They estimate the bottom zone could be around $76K, give or take a few thousand. And even if things dip lower (worst case: $72K), it doesn’t break the bull trend.

So yeah, it’s mostly a waiting game for now... yesss, I know, that isn't exciting - but it's better than panic-selling at the bottom.

🥝 Memecoin harvest

From “who asked?” to “why didn’t I buy?” in 24 hours 📈

	Name		24H Change
	Chain Talk Daily CTD		▲ 3.7K%
	Shib2.0 SHIB2		▲ 104%
	Wink WINK		▲ 71%
	Morning Routine ROUTINE		▲ 67%

Data as of 07:30 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

🤔 Is gold gonna take over?

Everyone knows that the coldest dawg in the stablecoin yard is the US dollar. Just check the global top 10 stablecoins: they’re all riding the USD train.

Even Trump's noticed the power play here. One of his main missions is to keep the dollar king of global finance - and he’s planning to use stablecoins as the tool to make that happen.

But wait... Max Keiser has entered the chat.

(And he's not just some opinionated rando on X. He's actually the crypto advisor to President Nayib Bukele in El Salvador - aka the guy who made Bitcoin legal tender there.)

His spicy take: a gold-backed stablecoin might actually beat the USD-based one on world markets.

Let’s break down his thinking.

First off, the US dollar is constantly losing value because of inflation = you’re guaranteed to lose purchasing power.

Now, you might say, "What about Bitcoin then? Isn’t that deflationary?” Sure, but let’s be honest - it’s way too volatile for this use case.

Gold, tho'? According to Max, it's the happy middle ground:

• Doesn’t swing like Bitcoin;

• Doesn’t get slowly destroyed by inflation like the dollar;

• Usually rises when prices in the world go up - which makes it a solid inflation hedge.

And here’s where it gets geopolitical. Max says countries like Russia, China, Iran, or Saudi Arabia aren't likely to accept a USD-backed stablecoin - cuz it would just hand more power to the US.

They’d rather build something independent of US control, and gold fits the bill: it’s neutral, global, and sanction-proof.

Plus, Max claims China and Russia might secretly hold up to 50K tonnes of gold - way more than reported. If true, they’d have the power to launch a gold-backed stablecoin (...or at least scare the US by hinting at it).

Source: @GlobeEyeNews

While his argument does have legs, the logic gets a bit wobbly when you really think about it:

• Scaling a gold-backed stablecoin isn’t just about owning gold - you need massive infrastructure to store, audit, and prove it’s real. If people don’t trust it, it won’t work;

• Moving gold is slow and expensive. Tokenizing helps, but you still have to back every token with actual gold - and trust remains an issue;

• Even if Russia or China launches one, US allies prolly won’t touch it. And without wide adoption, it’s hard to become “the” global stablecoin.

But you know what's the fun part? Even if this theory does play out, it'd still be good for crypto 😎

Stablecoins are the bridge between crypto and TradFi - and right now, that bridge is owned by the US dollar (= you’re still locked into the US financial system, regulations, and policies).

But if countries start dropping their own gold-backed stablecoins, that could shake things up. Suddenly, we’ve got multiple bridges. More options. Less dependency on US systems. And fewer ways for governments to block, freeze, or control your funds.

It also opens up new markets. A lot of countries don’t vibe with the dollar (for political reasons, sanctions, or just beef) - so a gold-backed stablecoin could be their ticket to join crypto.

This opens doors for adoption - and more adoption = stronger ecosystem = more value in the long run.

So, are you team dollar or team gold? Honestly, doesn't matter - we're all team crypto here, and crypto's winning either way.

🍋 News drops

🇬🇧 Lisa Gordon, chair of investment bank Cavendish, thinks the UK should tax crypto purchases to push Brits toward investing in local stocks instead. Why? Because she says that crypto is basically useless for the economy - unlike stocks.

💰 US officials wanna return $7M to victims of a crypto scam. The scammers earned their trust and then pointed them to fake sites that looked like legit investment platforms.

🎬 Imagine watching a foreign movie, but the actors’ mouths move perfectly in English. That’s what’s happening in Watch the Skies - a Swedish film dubbed using AI to make it look like the cast is actually speaking English.

🤔 Sonic’s cooking up a new yield-generating algorithmic stablecoin with up to 23% APR. But the co-founder’s still traumatized from the Terra disaster and isn’t sure if they’re ready to unleash it.

⚖️ John Reed Stark, former SEC official, argues that digital assets should still count as securities under current laws. He said crypto buyers aren’t collectors - they’re investors, and that’s who the SEC is meant to protect.

🍌 Juicy memes

Source: @alancarroII

Source: @Trader_Theory

Source: @naiivememe