Hodler’s Digest, September 15 – 21 – Cointelegraph Magazine

The main news of the week

Donald Trump uses Bitcoin to buy a burger at a NYC bar

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been spotted at Pubki, a popular New York City bar and restaurant, to accept bitcoin, becoming the first former US president to do so during the transaction.

According to a September 18 post by PubKi on X, Trump used Bitcoin to buy hamburgers at a NYC bar. BTC activist and Professional Capital Management CEO Anthony Pompliano attended the campaign stop, which was also reported on the Trump Truth Social account.

The incident comes less than two days after the Republican candidate announced the launch of a token through World Freedom Financial, a cryptocurrency platform run by members of his family. Although he once called Bitcoin a “fraud” and “based on thin air”, Trump advocated for BTC miners as part of his 2024 campaign and spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

US lawmaker accuses SEC of ‘mandatory abuse' against crypto companies

The Republican lawmaker who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees digital assets has slammed the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its chairman, Gary Gensler, for “entering.”[ing] Politics” regulating crypto companies.

At a Sept. 18 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion, Arkansas Rep. French Hill said Gensler's approach to digital assets has created “confusion and uncertainty” in markets.

In A Time of Shock and Confusion: Debunking the SEC's Politicized Approach to Digital Assets Hearings, the subcommittee's chairman suggested alternative regulatory avenues for crypto, such as the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology (FIT21) Act currently passing through Congress.

Rep. Hill said, “The pro-FIT21 and pro-regulatory framework views of the majority and bipartisanship do not mean we oppose the SEC going after bad actors or updating existing rules.” “We oppose the abuse of SEC enforcement and will work hard for legitimate actors trying to follow the rules to do a good job and bring innovation and technology to our markets.”

The Fed's rate cuts may be politically motivated, increasing inflation – Arthur Hayes

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, believes that the US Federal Reserve's recent rate cuts may be politically motivated and have an impact on the market and inflation.

Speaking to Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore on September 18, Hayes shared his thoughts on the Fed's latest actions, speculating that it could be part of an effort to shore up support for the Democratic Party:

“I have a macro view called Jerome Powell [Federal Reserve chair] and Janet Yellen [Treasury secretary] They want to manipulate the financial markets so that Kamala Harris can win the election.

On September 18, the Fed cut US interest rates by 50 basis points in a move widely expected by investors and analysts. Hayes said this could have significant implications for both traditional and crypto markets and long-term consequences for inflation and economic stability.

He noted that the US economy is showing strong gross domestic product growth and unemployment is at historically low levels, pointing to a disconnect between current economic indicators and the rate cuts.

The CEO of Binance has said that the task force is working ‘around the clock' to free the executive in Nigeria

Binance CEO Richard Teng said his team is working around the clock to bring Tigran Gambarian to the United States as the executive's health continues to deteriorate daily.

“We have repeatedly asked the Nigerian government to release Tigray. […] “Let him go home and get proper treatment,” he said.

“There is no need to arrest our staff. It is treated unfairly, it is unfair,” Teng told Cointelegraph on September 19 at the Token2049 conference in Singapore.

“It's sad for all of us,” Teng said. “Especially for the family. For us at Binance, this is a priority for us. We have a task force working around the clock looking at various avenues, from legal to political.

Binance's CEO, the United States may designate Gambian as an extrajudicial arrestee to speed up that process. He added that Binance tried to appeal to the Nigerian government to release Gambia on humanitarian grounds.

Solana unveils the new tracking device, says it's not just a ‘memecoin phone'

Solana introduced the new and shiny smartphone to the seeker – it is half the price of its predecessor and according to the team it is not only supported on free memecoins.

The smartphone's predecessor, the Saga, went viral in May last year. Initially plagued by poor reviews from technologists and crypto users, the saga was arguably saved by a 1,000% rally in the price of the memecoin Bonk in December, which led to the device being sold on December 16.

And it seems Solana hasn't forgotten about it.

For the new version of Solana, Finder wants to offer the same rewards to the 140,000 users who have already paid between $450 and $500.

Speaking to Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore, Solana Labs CEO Emmett Hollier stressed that Finder will be a “reward magnet” for users, but not just a “memecoin phone.”

“Seeker, like Saga, will be a rewards magnet, but also, a huge opportunity for teams to build completely new experiences,” Hollier said.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $63,127, Ether (ETH) at $2,559 and XRP at $0.58. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $2.20 trillion.

Among the largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were Sui (SUI) at 44.76%, Celestia (TIA) at 33.66% and Fantom (FTM) at 29.04%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were Helium (HNT) at 10.67%, KuCoin Token (KCS) at 9.04% and SATS (1000SATS) at 8.71%. Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

“Trump winning is stupid for America. If Harris wins, it could be a short-term lull for everyone.” […] If you're not American, you support Harris because you have a lot of crypto business outside of America.”

Alex Svanević, CEO of Nansen

“We have repeatedly asked the Nigerian government to release Tigray. […] “Let him go home and get proper treatment,” he said.

Binance CEO Richard Teng

“I think a lot of people are anticipating a rate cut, which means the stock market and other things are going to be bullish. I think the markets are going to fall a few days after the Fed rates.” “

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX

“The style and approach taken reflect the traditional challenges of effectively regulating market participants in older states such as the UK that value decentralization and autonomy.”

Ali Khan, Head of Technology at AS Legal Consultants

“Crypto is behaving like any risk asset right now, which is a sign of the maturity of this market from a year ago, even two years ago.”

Bobby Zagotta, CEO of Bitstamp

“Bitcoin basically rejects inflation, and I basically reject obsolescence. We basically accept these slow-boiling deaths and we both reject slow-boiling deaths.”

Brian Johnson, founder of Blueprint

Forecast of the week

Ethereum is a ‘contrarian bet' in 2025, says Bitwise exec

Since the beginning of 2024, the price of Ether has struggled to rise. Is Ether really a contrarian bet for 2024 or could it still make an inverted rally?

According to Matt Hogan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management, Ethereum could be the underdog heading into 2025.

Hugan said Ether is struggling, especially after ETH hit a more than 42-month low against Bitcoin on September 16.

Despite his optimism on Ether, he noted that price action is likely to last for the rest of the year. Hugan wrote in a September 17 blog post:

“From my seat, none of Ethereum's challenges seem to exist, and the opportunities are many. As we get closer to the November elections and any regulatory clarity, I suspect the market will reevaluate Ethereum. For now, it looks like a contrarian bet at the end of the year.

FUD of the week

Supreme Court of India's YouTube channel hacked to shill XRP

Cryptocurrency hackers have taken over the official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India to carry out Ripple and XRP scams.

On September 20, the official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India, with over 217,000 followers, turned into a Ripple-themed account for running a cryptocurrency scam.

The hackers used the channel to play a fake live streaming video featuring Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse. He also urged victims to invest in the scam, promising unrealistic returns.

The hackers also changed the name of the channel, changed the URL and deleted all the videos uploaded by the original account owner.

However, YouTube later had to delete the offending channel, saying, “This channel has been removed for violating our Community Guidelines.”

The SEC seeks sanctions against Elon Musk in the Twitter investigation

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it will seek financial and legal sanctions to compel billionaire Elon Musk to testify after the entrepreneur failed to appear and testify about a $44 billion acquisition by the financial regulator. Twitter platform in 2022.

Separately, the SEC intends to impose sanctions on Musk, saying, “Show cause [for] Why is he not held in civil contempt? He confirmed the affidavit on September 19 by violating the main terms of the agreement stipulated in May 2024.

In addition, the SEC seeks monetary relief to compensate for travel expenses lost by canceling meetings and “other relief” the court may award the SEC.

According to court documents, the meeting was originally scheduled for September 19, 2024, and Musk's representatives wanted to change the date several times.

The issue of extradition of Do Kou will be returned to the Montenegrin Minister of Justice

Montenegro's Justice Ministry may decide whether to extradite Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon to the US or South Korea after the country's Supreme Court's decision.

In a September 20 announcement, he said he had submitted Kuon's case to the justice minister after the Supreme Court of Montenegro ruled on the legality protection claim. According to the Supreme Court, South Korea and the US have met the conditions for Kwon to apply for criminal prosecution from Montenegro.

The Terra ecosystem collapsed in 2022, one of the first dominoes to fall in a series of bankruptcies affecting crypto companies including Celsius, FTX and Blockchain. U.S. and South Korean authorities have indicted Kwon and some of his associates over alleged involvement in the platform's collapse, but the Terraform founder's whereabouts were unknown until he appeared in Montenegro in 2023.

The best magazine stories of the week

Solana's critics get it right…and get it wrong.

Is Solana printing too many signs? Separating myths from facts about bots and subsidies.

Home of the Chinese Tether laundry, Bhutan enjoys the latest Bitcoin boost: Asia Express

Chinese counterfeiters offer Tether on Telegram, the tiny country of Bhutan is a Bitcoin whale, and more on Cambodian pork.

VonMises bought 60 CryptoPunks in one month before the price went up: NFT collector

Former tradfi man VonMises has built one of the best NFT portfolios on the planet by selling when he can, not when he should.

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Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.