Crypto's Tariff Spiral

1️⃣ Trump Threatens U.S. Allies with Tariffs

Trump's recent announcement that he planned to add an additional 25% tariff on imports into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico has triggered market pandemonium as investors bet on whether he's playing 5D chess or is in over his head. Mexico and Canada both responded by implementing tariffs on goods imported from the U.S., but Trump later agreed to 30-day pause on any action. The damage was already done in crypto – prices dropped across the board, with Bitcoin falling as low as $92K and Ethereum taking a drastic dive, wicking down just above $2.1K.

2️⃣ Trump Signs EO to Create Sovereign Wealth Fund

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order calling for the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund for the U.S.. While no official outline has been released on what will be invested in through the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of Commerce will allegedly put together a plan in the next 90 days for the formation of the fund. After signing the executive order, Trump hinted at big plans. "We're going to be doing something, perhaps with TikTok," he told reporters.

3️⃣ Alexey Pertsev on Conditional Release

Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev announced on his Twitter that he had been released from prison but will remain on house arrest. He was initially sentenced to 64 months in prison last year, but this week, a Dutch court opted to release him temporarily ahead of his appeal on the condition that he would be electronically monitored. While Pertsev leaving prison sets him up to prepare his appeal, the fight is far from over.

4️⃣ Berachain Finally Goes Live

Berachain went live this week after a handful of years teasing the release of the L1 chain. BERA, the gas token for Berachain is currently trading at a fully diluted value of $3.2 billion. The Berachain Foundation airdropped around 15% of the total token supply to the community, while around 50% of the token supply is allocated to core contributors and investors. While the launch seemed to have gone smoothly, concerns were raised over CT regarding tokenomics and token allocations.

Citizen DeFi Play: Berachain Mainnet on Bankless

The long-awaited L1 launch is full of opportunity.

BanklessJack Inabinet Feb 6, 2025 • 4 min read

5️⃣ Gemini Considering IPO

Gemini, the crypto exchange led by the Winklevoss twins, is considering going public as early as this year. Sources tell Bloomberg that the crypto firm is talking with advisors about a potential listing. While the crypto market has not sustained the pace of its post-election euphoria, it is no surprise to see crypto firms like Gemini and Circle wanting to go public, given the softened regulatory environment. Over the past year, Coinbase's stock is up around 125%, outperforming the majority of publicly traded companies.