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Crypto Gist brings you insights into the evolving world of cryptocurrency with straightforward and engaging discussions. Hosts Sam and Timi dive into the latest trends, debates, and innovations shaping digital finance—from stablecoins and NFTs to decentralized finance and blockchain technology. Whether you’re a newcomer or a crypto enthusiast, Crypto Gist keeps you informed on the key topics driving the future of finance.
Timi: Hello everyone, welcome back
to Crypto Gist, my name is Timi
your guide through the fascinating
and sometimes chaotic, but
always exciting world of crypto.
Joining me as always is my brilliant
co-host Sam today's episode is packed
with insights, surprises and maybe
even a few bold predictions, right?
Sam.
Sam: Oh, certainly.
Hello everyone.
It's good to be back after a short hiatus.
I'm looking forward to the conversation.
It's been a while since we got
to talk about what's happening
in the crypto industry.
Timi: Yeah, it sure is, I still remember,
when we're just at the beginning of
this entire crypto thing, you know with
BTC hitting say about a $1,000 and a
number of new ideas springing up here
and there, those were very interesting
times, but today we're going to be
looking into a number of things and just
sit back relax and carry on with us.
Sam: Yeah, definitely.
What is the most exciting thing right now?
Bitcoin is finally at 100k.
I remember the excitement in 2021 when
everyone was talking about Bitcoin
getting to a 100K by December and it has
happened finally, only three years later.
I don't know if I'm feeling
as excited as I was in 2021.
It happened when I was asleep and
I was a bit annoyed about that.
Like I woke up to the notification
that Bitcoin passed a 100K it would
have been nice if it had done us the
courtesy of, doing it at night or
something where you can have that
sort of vibe, the excitement uh, that,
Bitcoin has finally hit six figures.
So, it's exciting times, recently
we've just had a bunch of people
making like really crazy predictions.
Today I saw that the OKX CEO said that
Bitcoin is going to hit a million dollars.
I guess nobody thinks about market cap
when they make these sort of predictions.
It's just whatever comes to their
head that you just start throwing out
figures, Bitcoin is going to be a hundred
million, whatever you just throw some
figures, don't consider market cap that
if it's at 1 million dollars that's
going to be the highest ever market
cap, gold is right now, 17 trillion,
and then Bitcoin would be 21 trillion.
If it hit a million dollars,
nobody thinks about these things.
But yeah, let me know what
you think about Bitcoin.
Are you excited?
How are you feeling?
I thought I'd be more excited.
I don't know why it's a bit
lethargic on my end, but how
are you feeling about this?
Timi: It's a bit
Sam: of a
Timi: mixed feeling for me for one reason.
So I and my friend, my very good
friend, we had a bet on this where
we're saying, okay, so Bitcoin is not
gonna hit a 100K before, the new year.
And then he was also,
that was his prediction.
Mine was that, okay.
The change that we currently
are experiencing now is
not what it used to be.
Like what you said before.
The excitement now is not like
what it used to be in 2021,
and the year before that.
And that is solely because in all
of those times the majority of the
move was coming from the retailers,
mostly, small buys here and there.
But now we have the big guys basically
doing the heavy moving for the price.
So it's removes the fun personally,
for me to just watch BTC do
whatever it is it wants to do.
At this point, it basically can just
do anything because knowing that
the deep pocket guys are also, you
know back here in the game with us.
I still remember when bitcoin
first hit $1,000 it seemed like an
incredible achievement at the time.
Now, a 100K it even peaked that 103 K.
It's hard to wrap your head
around, something like that.
You start wondering what's driving
this surge, as someone who's just
coming into the market newly.
But yeah, speaking in terms
of also the prediction aspect
that you said from OKX CEO.
I think majority of those figures that
are being thrown out there is just to
drive the excitement and then maybe
feed into the greed and hope of a
lot of people because one thing most
people in crypto don't do is math.
People don't do the math.
The only math people do is
the 10x, 100x, 1000x math.
So nobody really do the math when it comes
to like market capitalization and the
number of all of those kinds of stuff.
And maybe some other economic
factors as well that would probably
impact the price or whatsoever.
But here's an interesting thought, Could
this be the tipping point where Bitcoin
becomes a true edge against inflation,
like gold, which you mentioned before.
Or is it just maybe another speculative
bubble, because history has showed
us that Bitcoin has always been a
rollercoaster, like take 2017, for
example, when it skyrocketed to $19,000
only to crash a year later, so are
we destined to repeat the same cycle
or is the market more mature now?
And let's not also forget about
Altcoins here, Terra and Solana,
for instance, that have also shown
resilience during this Bitcoin climb.
It's almost like we're seeing this
synchronized dance between this
major players in the crypto space.
But what do you think, what do you
think about this thought process?
Sam: Yeah, it's institutional
players that kind of helped push it.
Then the results of the
presidential election.
And then I think what really pushed it
over 100K because it was like bubbling
between $95,000 and $99.5K for a couple
of days, and then once Jerome Powell
came out and said that people are
using Bitcoin, it's like digital gold.
I think that really was what
pushed it over the edge.
And of course, how Bitcoin
goes, the market goes.
So we've seen it pulling all
these other altcoins, altcoin
season is about to start.
Just yesterday, I think it was that
Ethereum touched over 4k and people
are getting excited about $5,000
Ethereum again, XRP is almost at
$3 I never thought I would see this
day, but shocker of them all, XRP.
We have Cardano doing its thing.
So there are so many altcoins that
are doing crazy numbers right now.
Of course, Dogecoin because of the
department that Elon have, exactly.
So all of these altcoins are starting to
pump even the scam coins, just a couple
of days ago, we saw that the Hawk Tuah
girl or however, her name is pronounced.
I doubt she's the one that
actually did the rug pull.
I heard that the Pauls were
involved, they are known as scammers.
But there are so many things
to be cautious about right now.
So yeah, we're excited that Bitcoin
is over a 100K we're feeling the vibe,
but we also have to keep our head
on a swivel because there's going
to be so many swindlers out there.
There are gonna be so many people
that are trying to scam people.
If this girl is able to scam people
so easily in 10 minutes, the thing
tanked over 90%, then imagine what is
coming for the industry at the moment.
So it's good, but I'm also cautiously
optimistic because I know whenever
the number goes up, what we're
gonna expect to be seeing with that.
Right now we're looking at our
favorite guy, Michael Saylor
is still buying Bitcoin.
I am not a fan of anyone
owning 2% of Bitcoin.
I don't know how you feel about
it, but I'm not the biggest fan
of Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy
owning 2% of the total allocation
of Bitcoin, that's not the vision.
If you put Satoshi on a lie detector
test, he would not be happy about
this as well, I'm pretty sure, but
let me know what you think about this.
Timi: Yeah, the move from MicroStrategy
is nothing short of a jaw dropping
move, like buying $2.1 billion worth of
Bitcoin, bringing their total holding to
a staggering four about four over 400K.
I think precisely 423,650 coins.
For an asset of the value of
Bitcoin, that's really a lot.
It's bothering actually also because the
future of Bitcoin is supposed to be for
payment solution and if somebody is having
the bulk of, like the major point, it's
something that, the public should really
give some attention to but so far, so
good, the space is still taking shape.
Even a little bit digression
back to the hawktuah girl.
The thing with that is that, which
is where I also think influencers
or people with influence in the
space really need to be very careful
with their involvement with tokens.
She likely might not be the major
person that actually rugged the
project, but the fact that she's
a major person on that particular
project, she gets to be, the name
behind whatever happens to the project,
which in this case is a terrible thing.
So she would definitely go down in
history as someone who rugged the project.
But back to Saylor, I don't feel
particularly good about it either.
I like the fact that the adoption for
Bitcoin is growing, but while it is
also growing, what I don't like about
it is that, we now have people who are
looking to gather a large chunk of this.
In the future of what Bitcoin promises
we're still gonna have problem.
We're going to be going back to the
very same problem that this particular
technology was created to solve.
The control is still going to move over
to one particular side, it's really wild.
But to put it into perspective,
MicroStrategy now controls roughly
2% of the entire Bitcoin supply.
It's almost like they've become
a Bitcoin hedge fund instead of a
software company but this is the kicker
for me and it's that what happens if
Bitcoin price starts dipping, are they
also prepared for that kind of risk?
Although over time we've seen
MicroStrategy always every new move
Bitcoin does even if it's a new low,
he just keeps buying more, which tells
you there's something about that.
But if you look at it also in line of
other hedge funds who are also big players
in the industry doing the same thing.
Are they also going to be prepared
for when, there's a large retracement
on the current price of the assets.
This this is some of the
things we have to look at.
I see how it might be inspiring,
but then also it's also terrifying
even for other corporations.
Because if Bitcoin truly becomes a
global reserve asset, then it means that
MicroStrategy could look like visionaries.
But on the flip side, their shareholders
might be biting their nails.
This is just the bet that
is as bold as it gets.
It's really a dicey situation.
This is even a funny part for me
to wrap this particular part up.
Did you know that Michael Saylor,
used to be a skeptic of Bitcoin.
Back in 2013, this guy used to call
Bitcoin a bubble, and fast forward to a
few years, he's now one of the biggest
advocates, talk about 180 degree turn.
That's some serious turn, but then he's
not the only person who've seen done that.
His move is both visionary and
then also terrifying for the
future that Bitcoin promises.
Sam: Yeah, I definitely think that
Michael Saylor is a true believer.
I didn't know that he was originally
a skeptic, but you have to respect
anyone that can see that their point
of view is wrong and change it.
I really don't respect people that are
so entrenched that no matter how much
they're proven that they're wrong they
never accept it and they never change.
They just double down.
Those are the type of people that
spend time on r/buttcoin that will
tell you that Bitcoin is a scam.
It's a bubble, it's a Ponzi scheme.
And every time the number goes up
or it goes to a new all time high,
they're just there, telling you all
kinds of different reasons why they
still believe what they believe.
Respect to him, I do believe
he's a true believer.
What if one day he just decides that
there are certain things that he
doesn't like and he decides to sell
a hundred thousand of these Bitcoins.
That is gonna affect the market,
because you have 400,000 selling
100,000 is definitely going to
affect the liquidity in the market.
There's this sort of balancing
act that we have when we have
institutional players in the market.
These institutional players,
especially the hedge funds, they're
coming in because their clients are
calling them, asking them am I going
to have Bitcoin in my portfolio?
I want some exposure to Bitcoin.
So they are all getting in but what
happens if Bitcoin starts dropping again?
And then these very same people
are going to call "get it out!
I don't want it my portfolio anymore."
What's gonna happen?
Are they going to dump on us?
So, it's this weird balancing
act that we have when we have
institutional players coming in.
Yes, we're happy.
The only way that the industry can grow
and expand is if institutional players
are here and they're here to stay.
But also what happens if they
decide to sell in large trunk,
because we know that the market
is not as liquid as it should be.
And it's been propped up a
lot by tether, which keeps
printing money out of thin air.
Every few days you see, that tether
has printed like 2 Billion USDT.
So It's a weird balancing
act that we're having.
I don't like that Michael Saylor
has 2% of the total Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy, Michael
Saylor, he's one in the same.
It's good that he's very
much believing in Bitcoin.
He's firm in his stance, but I don't
think any one individual should control
this much of the supply because then they
can control what happens in the market.
And they can easily just dump on
us and Bitcoin can drop from a 100K
to 60K and then there are going to
be a lot of tears in the market.
And this is what makes us nervous.
Timi: Oh, yeah.
So to balance up to what you've
said, before we move to the other
point it's a good thing when we have
institutional, players in the game,
but then it's also a thing where you
cannot particularly trust institutions
to do exactly what they say, because as
far as they're concerned, every move,
everything that they do must make money.
So who knows what would catch the eye of
the institutional guys tomorrow and the
direction they would choose to go and
then they start to dump on the people.
But then I think a very good balance
would be a situation where we have
the retailers, a kind of equilibrium
if possible, even more control on
the retailer side, than we would
have on the institutional side.
But then Trump's reelection has been
causing a little bit of, bubble and stuff.
We've been seeing a lot of price movement
since his election and all of that.
But then let's see how this balances out.
Hopefully, these big players are here
to stay and they are really here for
the adoption and not for the quick
money that they can make out of
this and then probably dump on the
market and then reverse this entire
progress that we've made and take us
back to the early days of Bitcoin.
Sam: Yeah, definitely.
We all hope that they are here to
stay, it's all about money for them.
So as long as it's making them money
they're going to continue doing it.
This is why Grayscale has decided
to launch an AI crypto fund.
This is how you know that Bitcoin
is in a bull market, because now
the AI projects are coming out
the woodwork from everywhere.
Earlier this year when people weren't
really sure whether the crypto
industry was in a bull market or not.
All the AI projects were tanking,
even uh bittensor, all of them RNDR.
They were just going down,
but now we have grayscale here
launching this new AI crypto fund.
Of course, it's another bullish move.
What do you think about this new
fund that grayscale has launched?
Timi: One would say Grayscale is stepping
into uncharted territory, with their
new AI focused cryptocurrency fund.
It's a bold move, the one that aims
to combine blockchain technology
with artificial intelligence.
And as we also know, anyone who's been
present or given attention to the space
or to the tech space generally, one
of the bubbling thing or one of the
things you probably find on almost every
news page or every information page
is t he growing demand for artificial
intelligence, which personally, for
me, I think it will wear out very soon.
But it's still at the early stage,
just like when crypto came itself,
but then back to Grayscale it's a
fascinating intersection, looking at
AI and blockchain this might seem,
like a buzzword, but there's a real
potential here in the sense that.
Imagine predictive algorithms or AI
algorithms that can identify the next
big crypto trend before it happens.
it's going to be a very big innovation.
As it is currently, there are also
a number of innovations where people
don't even take their own trades.
The concept of technical analysis
is actually even gradually
eroding because certain people are
starting to use more of artificial
intelligence for their predictions.
They get entry, the price predictions,
they get their stop losses and whatever,
basically all done by AI, and the
thing there though is that, why this
might give an edge, I think the edge
is only going to be in the beginning.
The continuous edge for that
is going to be with the guys
with the best guys on the team.
Because whatever I have, someone
has to do something to beat that and
then the competition keeps growing.
But isn't this also a double-edged sword
because couldn't it also amplify market
manipulation, if used unethically?
We're talking about AI here someone
basically just tweaking something to do
something that they think it should do.
And I personally have my
reservation for AI as much as
I think it's a good invention.
But just like every other form of
technology, nothing is good or bad.
It's just the people who are actually
using it that makes it whatever it is.
From an adoption standpoint, it could be a
game changer for tech savvy investors but
what about the average crypto enthusiasts?
Grayscale, will need to make this concept
approachable if they want any widespread
adoption, because interestingly the idea
is combining AI and blockchain which are
not entirely new concepts because back in
2017 startups like Singularity, started
exploring the space and they've been
doing basically all of this since then.
So what has changed now is the share
scale and the resources that companies
like Grayscale bring to the table.
But I do think balance again is
what is actually needed in any
particular innovation that is been
introduced into this particular space.
If Grayscale can do this concept
very well, it could contribute a
whole lot positively to the market.
But if things are not properly
overseen we might see heavy
manipulations in the market, because
again, Greyscale is an institutional
company and these guys don't play.
They look out for their money
first before they look out for you.
So yeah, let's see how this unfold.
It's a good initiative, but
let's see how it unfolds.
Sam: Yeah, definitely.
When it comes to AI, I want to see
when we're in a bear market and
Bitcoin is hovering around 60K.
If the AI projects will still be there.
That's when I will know that they're
serious, but there were so many
interesting things that happened recently.
Some of the small snippets.
Did you hear what Justin
Sun did a couple weeks ago?
Did you hear about a story?
Timi: Oh, you mean the one where he bought
a piece of banana for a couple of millions
and then finally ate the banana because
the guiding rule for his purchase says as
long as he can replace the banana, the NFT
or whatever art he bought is still valid.
Billionaires are crazy.
Sam: Justin Sun.
Is there no one in China starving?
Is this the best use of $6.5 million?
Justin Sun gives the crypto
industry a really bad name.
He's the worst of the worst crypto bros.
When someone talks about crypto
bros, he's the embodiment of that.
These are the types of
stories that Reuters and the
Guardian and the BBC picks up.
It doesn't pick up someone that
is actually building something
that is beneficial to humanity,
especially in developing countries.
It picks up a story about a
billionaire, eating a banana that
he paid 6.5 million dollars for.
This is the ridiculousness.
He is the epitome of the crypto bro.
And what people think is
wrong with our industry.
There are so many things that
are happening, as I said, your
head has to be on a swivel.
NFTs are making a comeback.
I thought they were dead in 2021,
but they're making a comeback now.
It's just so many things are about to make
a comeback with Bitcoin being at a 100K.
So everyone just really
have to be careful.
If somebody is promising you
big returns, just give the
star Wars thing 'it's a trap!"
and walk away slowly.
Just keep eye contact and just back
away because now is when people are
going to start parting you from your
money, and this is what we do not want.
So definitely it's been a fun week.
I'm looking to see where Bitcoin.
You know, I thought it would pump
a little bit until about 120 before
it had to pull back, but it's really
seeming to struggle over the 100K.
So, let's see what happens
for the rest of the month.
Where do you think it will be going?
is it going to go to a million dollars
like The OKX CEO said, or all these
weird ass predictions that we've been
seeing lately, where do you think
it's going to go in the short term?
Timi: In the short term, I think
the 100K itself is actually a
very huge milestone personally.
And I don't particularly see Bitcoin
doing anything outrageous or anything
mind blowing other than what it has done
because the move from 63 to where we
currently are is mind blowing enough.
I don't think anything mind blowing
is going to happen from here.
Now, the concept of a million for each
one of it, is wild, it's not bad to
dream, but this is a very wild dream.
You're going to be looking at
massive kind of adoption, or you're
going to be looking at a number of
things for that to really happen.
But in the nearest time, I think we
might just maintain a range, between
110 downwards, I don't think we can do
something really crazy other than that,
but then, this is the market, right?
This is crypto market.
One minute you're predicting
the next minute someone else
is doing something else.
But personally, I don't think
we'll do more than a 110 - 120K
between now and the end of the year.
But then we have the big guys and
their pockets are pretty deep.
So you never can tell they
could send it further.
I would just personally also, hope that
they just allow this particular milestone
victory to just settle in and then
allow the alt guys to take on the show,
because that's about the only part that
really interests me in this entire thing.
Let's just see what the market
can actually bring home this time
around for the alt season, but
I don't see anything mind blowing
happening anytime soon between now
and the end of the year for Bitcoin.
Sam: Yeah, so let us just watch
what happens over the coming days.
I'm looking forward to see what
bitcoin does will it hold 100k
will it push on to 120 or will
it just hover around 95 to 99K.
It's an interesting watch.
And of course, as you said alt season
is another thing I really want to see.
People think that Ethereum
is going to finally hit 5k.
I'm very curious to see
if that will happen.
And maybe our little friend
XRP will hit 3 dollars again.
So it's what it is.
Crypto is still fascinating.
It still has so much more room
to grow and we're here for it.
Timi: Yeah, definitely.
XRP can really do crazy numbers.
I personally have, very positive
observation for XRP in the sense that
for every time, XRP, I think they've
had the longest court case that
I've known of any crypto projects.
And for every time they keep coming out
good and better out of each of those.
The entire thing with the legal
process took them through the mud
and somehow they're still standing.
And the way they flipped the market
cap for Solana is really interesting.
And they're starting to get more should
I say more influence or more popularity?
Yeah, it's a popular token, but it's
starting to get more popularity and you
never can tell it could really do way
more than 3 dollar but I'm very positive.
Whatever XRP does, it's acceptable by me
in terms of a new height and all of that.
But yeah, there's a bright future
for XRP from my own observation.
Let's see how it goes.
I don't think Ethereum might
touch 5k, again, this is
crypto, anything can happen.
We'll see how this particular
alt season will turn out.
We're here for it.
Sam: Yeah, definitely.
So, that's it from us today,
if you like this podcast, don't
forget to like and subscribe.
Definitely we see a lot of growth
coming up for the crypto industry.
Timi, do you have any final words?
Timi: Yeah, it's been a
very good ride today, Sam.
From Bitcoin smashing records to
the audacious move by MicroStrategy.
And then the Grayscale Innovation Fund,
this crypto world just never dies.
It never fails to surprise you.
It just keeps bringing you
loads and loads of surprises.
But then this is the point where we've
driven the particular ship of this
segment to and now we're handling
it over to you guys âthe audience.
We want to know your
thoughts on this milestone.
Are you bullish on
bitcoin's continued rise?
Or do you think the market
needs to like calm down.
Do you think AI in crypto is
revolutionary or do you think it's risky?
Basically, submit your thought.
Join the conversation on our social
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and share this episode with anyone
curious about the future of finance.
We'd like to hear your thoughts.
And on this particular note,
we will see you next time.