Monday Market Madness – Bitcoin Hits $120,000 to Kick Off Congress’ “Crypto Week”

This is a very big deal so I asked Boaty to give us unbiased summary of what’s happening: 

Let me (Phil) translate Boaty’s diplomatic assessment into plain English for our PSW members who prefer their analysis without the sugar coating:

What we’re witnessing isn’t innovation or progress – it’s the most brazen act of Presidential self-dealing since… well, since Trump’s last term. But this time he’s not just steering government contracts to his hotels. He’s literally CREATING A CURRENCY, pumping it with Presidential power, and cashing out while you hold the bag.

And here is the truly insidious part: It’s not just the crypto speculators getting screwed. When the President of the United States declares crypto superior to the Dollar, he’s devaluing YOUR savings, YOUR paycheck, and YOUR retirement.

Think about it: Every American holding dollars – which is EVERY ONE OF US who works for a living, saves for retirement, or keeps emergency funds – is watching their purchasing power get torched while Trump proclaims crypto the future. Your Grandmother’s savings? Worth LESS. Your 401k denominated in dollars? DEvalued. That raise you worked for? Already Eroded…

This is a WEALTH TAX on every American who plays/played by the rules and saves/saved in the currency their own Government issues. While Trump pumps his family’s crypto holdings, he’s essentially saying “Those green pieces of paper you’ve trusted your whole life? They’re obsolete. Better convert to my digital tokens!” And the conversion itself creates MORE demand for Trump’s tokens and LESS demand for your Dollars.  

It’s the ultimate betrayal: The President is supposed to protect the value of the Dollar, not undermine it to pump up his personal investments!

Let’s break down this scam:

1. 1. Create worthless tokens ($TRUMP, $MELANIA) – basically digital baseball cards with their faces on them
   2. Use the presidency to pump them – Proclaim: “I’m the Crypto President!“
   3. Cash out Billions while supporters buy the top
   4. Write laws to protect themselves from the SEC
   5. Rinse and repeat

This isn’t Investing – it’s a Pyramid Scheme nuclear codes. The Trump family now owns 40% of their wealth in crypto? OF COURSE THEY DO! They are writing the laws that will help to determine its future value! Bitcoin hitting $120K+ isn’t a sign of adoption or innovation – it’s a sign that speculation has COMPLETELY detached from reality.

Let’s do basic math:

• • Bitcoin processes 10 transactions per second (GLOBALLY)
  • Visa processes 65,000 Dollar transactions per second (and then there’s MA, AXP…)
  • Bitcoin uses more electricity than Argentina
  • It has ZERO intrinsic value
  • You can’t eat it, live in it, or use it for anything except selling to a greater fool

What does “7 transactions per second” actually mean? It means if everyone in Manhattan tried to buy coffee with Bitcoin on the same morning, the line would stretch to 2027. This isn’t a lack of adoption – it’s a fundamental design flaw. Bitcoin’s blockchain is like a highway with only one lane while claiming to be the future of transportation.

The Dollar System, on the other hand, handles BILLIONS of transactions DAILY without breaking a sweat (or being hacked). Your coffee costs roughly the same today as yesterday (not 10% more or less) and, if someone does steal your dollars? There’s recourse – especially if you use credit cards. With Bitcoin? “Sorry about your life savings – better luck next time!” Also , it doesn’t require burning a coal mine to buy a pack of gum!  

Every “faster” crypto achieves speed by sacrificing decentralization – meaning you’re just using a slower, more expensive, less regulated version of PayPal run by anonymous people in unknown jurisdictions. Ethereum handles 15 transactions per second (again, GLOBALLY) – still useless as a real currency. Solana CLAIMS it can handle more but crashes every few months when people actually try to use it in test beds and USDT (Tether) is not even a real cryptocurrency (we discussed this recently) – it’s just an IOU for a Dollar from a company that won’t show its books…

At $120,000, Bitcoin’s market cap is $2.38 TRILLION. For what? A distributed database that’s slower than 1990s technology? This isn’t innovation – it’s collective insanity.

The GENIUS Act (and they actually named it that – DOUBLESPEAK!) is about to “legitimize” stablecoins. Stablecoins are SUPPOSED to be digital dollars backed 1:1 with real dollars BUT they are ACTUALLY Fractional Reserve Banking without any of the regulations, insurance, or oversight. Tether, the largest stablecoin, has NEVER had a full audit. They claim to have $100+ billion in reserves. Where? Show us the money! Now Trump wants to make these shadow banks official while his family runs one. What could possibly go wrong?

“Crypto Week” in Congress is brought to you by:

• • $300 million in crypto lobbying money
  • Campaign contributions to key committee members
  • The promise of cushy board seats after they leave office

These aren’t public servants crafting thoughtful policy. They’re future crypto executives writing their own job descriptions and YOU are competing against insiders who know when the regulations will drop and The President’s family is front-running you with inside information. When this crashes (and all bubbles do crash), they will have cashed out and YOUR tax dollars will bail out the now “too big to fail” crypto firms because – “who could have seen it coming?”  

This isn’t about making America the “Crypto Capital,” it’s about extracting wealth from retail investors, avoiding traditional financial regulations, creating untraceable political slush funds and enabling (even blessing) money laundering on an industrialized scale.  

What You Should Do

1. 1. If you’re in crypto, have an exit plan – When the president’s family is all-in, the top is near
   2. Don’t buy the “innovation” narrative – This is speculation, not investment
   3. Watch for the rug pull – When Trump starts tweeting negatively about crypto, RUN
   4. Focus on real assets – Companies that make things, own things, or provide actual services

We are watching the greatest transfer of wealth from the gullible to the corrupt in American history. The Trump family isn’t just benefiting from crypto’s rise – they’re ENGINEERING it through legislative capture. When a President can create money out of thin air, pump it with the power of his office, and cash out Billions while writing laws to protect himself from prosecution, we’re not in a free market anymore. We’re in a Kleptocracy with better PR.

Remember: In a gold rush, you sell shovels and, in a crypto rush, we sell to the idiots buying digital shovels… The madness isn’t that Bitcoin hit $120,000, the madness is that anyone thinks this can end well for anyone except the Trump family and their enablers. Don’t be the last one holding the bag when this house of cards collapses…

Q2 Earnings kick off in earnest this week starting tomorrow with some Big Banks:

And this week’s Economic Calendar is packed with high-impact releases that will provide a comprehensive look at the state of Inflation, Consumer Spending, and the Housing Market. Here are the key data points and what to watch for:

Inflation Data:

• • Consumer Price Index (CPI): To be released on Tuesday at 8:30 AM ET, the CPI for June is expected to show a modest increase of 0.2%, the same as the Briefing.com consensus and up slightly from May’s 0.1% rise. The Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is also anticipated to increase by 0.2%. This is a critical indicator of inflation that the Federal Reserve watches closely when considering interest rate policy.

  • Producer Price Index (PPI): Scheduled for release on Wednesday at 8:30 AM ET, the PPI for June is forecast to have risen by 0.1%, with the consensus at 0.2%. The Core PPI is also expected to be up 0.1%. The PPI measures inflation at the wholesale level and can be a leading indicator of future consumer price inflation.

Consumer and Labor Market Health:

• • Retail Sales: Coming out on Thursday at 8:30 AM ET, June’s retail sales are projected to have rebounded by 0.4% after a 0.9% drop in May. Excluding autos, sales are expected to have increased by 0.2%. This data is a direct measure of consumer spending, a key driver of the U.S. economy.

  • Jobless Claims: Also on Thursday at 8:30 AM ET, initial jobless claims for the week ending July 12 are forecasted to be 235,000. This will be watched to see if the labor market is showing any signs of cooling.

  • University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment: The preliminary reading for July, due on Friday at 10:00 AM ET, is expected to come in at 61.5, a slight improvement from the prior reading of 60.7. This report gauges consumer confidence, which can influence future spending.

Housing Market Indicators:

• • Housing Starts and Building Permits: On Friday at 8:30 AM ET, June’s housing starts are expected to rise to 1.31 million units, while building permits are forecasted at 1.38 million. These figures will offer insight into the health of the construction sector and the broader housing market.

And Trump and his cronies are still trying to manufacture a reason to impeach Powell and we will hear from many of his potential replacements as 13 Fed Speakers vie for the President’s attention and doveish Fed language could give us a boost – despite Trump’s new tariff threats and the prospect of a Fed that’s also ruled by Trump in the near future.  

Meanwhile, Bitcoin alone has created $467Bn of additional “wealth” in the past 30 days and, just like you consider diversifying your holdings INTO crypto – the Crypto Bros are diversifying their holdings into stocks – so we have constant inflows (Zombie Buyers) that are blowing their own bubble in the equities market.  

Let’s be very careful out there – a lot of cross-currents are forming and the market is still very toppy at the moment.