Bitcoin Continues It's Rise

Bitcoin reached a new all time high this week, surging to $109,000 in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration. Speculation was rising around a potential announcement of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on day one, despite the anticipation, President Trump did not address cryptocurrencies in his inaugural speech, leading to a slight market correction in Bitcoin and other digital assets. Adding to the frenzy, Trump launched his own meme coin, which absorbed a lot of liquidity from the market and triggered sharp declines in many altcoins.

Solana, however, stood out as the week’s biggest winner, breaking records in both price and network metrics. In contrast, it was another underwhelming week for Ethereum. Let’s dive into the details.

Weekly Price Update

Solana Closes The Gap

Solana continues to shine as a blockchain leader, recently breaking its all-time high by reaching $294 per token this week. It currently boasts over 8.1 million active users, which is a testament to its vibrant and engaged ecosystem. Bullish catalysts, such as the odds of a Solana ETF in 2025 rising to 92% on Polymarket, further highlight the growing confidence in its long-term potential.

From a technological perspective, Solana’s efficiency and performance gives it its edge. With a theoretical capacity of 65,000 transactions per second (TPS), it far outpaces many competing layer 1s in scalability, making it ideal for global adoption. Its transaction costs are among the lowest in the industry, and transaction confirmations are lightning-fast, ensuring a seamless user and developer experience.

Furthermore, the decentralised exchange (DEX) volume on Solana has experienced a significant surge this week, coinciding with the launch of Donald Trumps memecoin. This launch acted as a major catalyst, pushing trading activity to new heights.

DEX VOLUME ON SOLANA

Additionally, the volume growth aligns with a broader trend throughout 2024, where Solana has seen a steady rise in DEX activity. This growth has been fueled by emerging narratives around memecoins, innovative AI agents, and the rapid development of new DeFi protocols on the network. Together, these trends are driving user engagement and liquidity, solidifying Solana’s position as a thriving blockchain ecosystem.

In our UpTrade Alpha channel, we highlighted the stark comparison between Solana and XRP. Solana boasts 8.1 million active users, an incredible 143 times more than XRP. Despite this, XRP’s market cap remains 50% higher than that of Solana’s. If Solana’s valuation matched XRP’s, its price would soar to approximately $380 per token, emphasising the significant upside potential as Solana continues to gain traction with its record-breaking performance and growing institutional interest.

Official Trump Memecoin

The crypto space was turned on it’s head this weekend as President Trump unveiled his own meme coin, Official Trump. While the launch sparked concerns over potential compromises, these fears did little to halt the coin's rise. It added an astonishing $17 billion to its circulating market cap, briefly peaking at #15 among all cryptocurrencies. Let’s break down the pro’s and con’s from this.

Official Trump (TRUMP) Chart

The Pro's

Pro-crypto policies: This move shows promise for future alignment with pro-crypto policies and could pave the way for greater support of blockchain innovation, and the odds of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve may be higher.

New user inflows: Over 400,000 new sign-ups were reported on Moonshoot, indicating a surge of interest from retail investors.

Boost for Solana: The development has positioned Solana as the dominant "blockchain for America," further strengthening its ecosystem and growth potential

The Con's

Liquidity: The coin’s rapid rise triggered a liquidity drain across the market, as funds poured into Trump’s new token at the expense of existing altcoins. This sudden shift left many on-chain projects struggling, with selling pressure surging and buy-side support evaporating. Meme coins took the hardest hit, largely because many of them operate on Solana, where the network's speed and low fees made it effortless for users to swap into Trump's coin.

Celebrity-driven markets: The launch could fuel a trend of celebrity backed tokens which nobody wants and it often signals a local market top.

United States of Bitcoin

The momentum for Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset continues to gain traction, with twelve states are now exploring proposals to establish Bitcoin reserves. An example is Texas, where a proposed bill outlines the creation of a Bitcoin stockpile to be held in cold storage for a minimum of five years. The bill also states that these reserves cannot be used for transactions outside of the state.

States have the ability to act more swiftly and flexibly than federal governments, giving them a head start in establishing Bitcoin reserves ahead of national initiatives. With Bitcoin's finite supply and exchange-held reserves at historic lows, the growing demand from states and nations makes a supply shock almost inevitable. This dynamic is poised to drive Bitcoin into uncharted price territory, with potential for unprecedented gains.

Last week, we shared a graphic showing two states with Bitcoin Reserve proposals. Fast forward to today, and that number has skyrocketed to 12 outpacing this recent graphic, with Arizona being the latest to join the movement. The question now is: how much bigger will this grow by next week?

Ross Ulbricht Free

It's only day two, but President Trump has already made headlines by fulfilling an early promise to pardon Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, who was serving a life sentence without parole. Trump took to social media, stating, “I just called the mother of Ross Ulbricht to let her know it’s my pleasure to have just signed a full unconditional pardon of her son.”

Silk Road was an online black market that allowed users to anonymously trade goods, including illegal drugs and weapons, sparking significant controversy and leading to Ulbricht's arrest and conviction.

Without condoning Ross’s actions, his freedom marks a massive win for the crypto space, reflecting Trump's apparent commitment to fostering crypto adoption. It also signals his willingness to follow through on promises, a development that could have far-reaching implications for the industry.

SEC Launches Crypto Task Force

Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler has stepped down, and President Trump has appointed Mark Uyeda as the acting SEC Chair. Within 24 hours of assuming the role, Uyeda and the SEC announced the formation of a new crypto task force, signalling a shift in regulatory priorities. In a critique of previous approaches, Uyeda noted that past efforts had overly focused on enforcement rather than advancement, stating, "We can do better."

The task force aims to develop a comprehensive and transparent regulatory framework for crypto assets. It will be led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who is well-known for her pro-crypto stance, with input from commission staff and the public. This marks a significant step toward clarity and innovation in the U.S. crypto landscape.

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