The Big Analysis
Central banks have turned hawkish again. The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 1% in June, and the ECB lifted its deposit rate to 2.25% before pausing in July. The Federal Reserve is holding between 3.50% and 3.75%, with markets debating another move into year-
The Big Analysis
Bitcoin enters the week heavy and range-bound. It opened last week near $65,100, was driven to a $62,470 low by a wave of liquidations, and now trades around $63,000, roughly 50% below its all-time high. The $62,000–$66,000 band has held for five
The Big Analysis
Both firms reported this week, and both watched crypto revenue fall in the same market. What separates them is the shape of the business around that decline. One built downward, into the plumbing. The other built sideways, across products. Two shapes, one market Coinbase is a vertical business. It goes
The Big Talk
BitGo started as a multi-sig wallet pioneer. When did you realize that custody on its own wasn't enough as a standalone product? There wasn't a specific moment. It was an evolution. Mike Belshe built the company from the ground up as a wallet infrastructure play,
The Big Analysis
Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market corrected into the end of last week before recovering through the weekend. BTC went down 3.8% while TOTAL2ES mimicked the move with 3.5% correction, only to erase all losses during the weekend. The move down had two drivers. A fresh spike
The Big Analysis
On 22 July, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce published “Headstands and Summervaults,” her clearest signal yet that DeFi vaults and onchain lending strategies do not sit outside US securities law simply because they run on smart contracts. The statement names no firm. It targets a function. Where a curator selects yield-
The Big Talk
Custody was Fireblocks' original wedge. When did you realize it wasn't defensible on its own? From day one, actually. Custody was always a means to an end. Our mission is to enable every enterprise to support digital assets, and when we started, custody was simply the biggest
The Big Analysis
Macro Thesis Two exogenous forces dominated the weekend: energy and rates. The Iran ceasefire collapsed again. US strikes and Hormuz risk pushed Brent above $80 (up roughly 30% in two weeks), amplified by a new 20% maritime security tariff. Fed Chair Warsh’s testimony dismissed recent CPI softening, and Polymarket
The Big Analysis
$53 billion. That is what Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have put on the table to acquire PayPal in an unsolicited bid. Should it go through, two of the biggest crypto bets ever made by traditional payment players would end up under the same roof: Bridge's
The Big Talk
Germany is often cited as one of the most advanced markets in Europe for digital assets. How do you view the German ecosystem today? It's a very healthy market, and that's down to several factors. First, there was a dynamic retail crypto market well before the
The Big Analysis
Circle received final OCC approval to charter First National Digital Currency Bank, which will operate as Circle National Trust. The application was filed in June 2025 with conditional approval in December 2025. The entity falls under direct federal supervision, replacing Circle’s prior patchwork of state money transmitter licenses. At
The Big Analysis
Relief from Japan The main trigger for the rebound is macroeconomic. For nine consecutive days, Japanese government bond (JGB) yields climbed, threatening to trigger a massive unwinding of the "yen carry trade." In plain terms: billions of dollars borrowed cheaply in Japan and invested abroad (including in crypto)