Newsletter

CCM Blockchain Newsletter (January 20, 2025)

Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $109,000 the day of Trump's inauguration.

Christian Lopez

20 Jan 2025 — 6 min read

Happy Monday, all, and welcome back to this week’s market newsletter. Please see below this week’s market data.

CCM Digital Weekly Market Update (2025.01.17)

CCM Digital Weekly Market Update (2025.01.17) (2).pdf

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Bitcoin Market Update and News

Bitcoin hits an all-time high: Bitcoin surged to ~$104,000 last week by market close on Friday, and it retraced momentarily on Sunday to ~$99,700 before surging to a new all-time high of ~$109,000 in the early hours of Monday morning.
With Trump set to take office, crypto industry awaits delivery on promises: President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term as president of the United States today. The 47th president has made a number of policy promises to take a more supportive stance on Bitcoin and crypto than prior administrations. Some of his policy promises include:
- Crypto advisory council: Trump has signaled that he wants to establish an advisory council to create a lucid regulatory framework for the crypto industry. He appointed entrepreneur and investor David Sacks as the so-called crypto czar and tapped North Carolina congressional candidate Bo Hines as the executive director of the “Presidential Council of Advisor for Digital Assets.”
- Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: Perhaps the most discussed of any of Trump’s crypto-related promises, the incoming president announced in his keynote at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville that he would establish a strategic bitcoin stockpile by issuing an executive order forbidding the government from selling BTC it has accumulated from asset seizures. In addition to this executive order, some policy wonks have postulated that Trump could use the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund to acquire bitcoin on behalf of the United States.

Interesting Reads and Videos

Bitcoin Mining Market News and Trends

Top U.S.-listed bitcoin miners now account for roughly a third of Bitcoin’s hashrate: Publicly traded bitcoin miners heaped on hashrate last year, and they now represent nearly one third of the entire Bitcoin network’s computing power. According to a recent report from J.P. Morgan, 14 of the top bitcoin mining companies listed on U.S. markets account for 30% of Bitcoin’s network hashrate as of the end of December 2024. Moreover, the aggregate market cap of these miners has grown 16% in the opening weeks of 2025, and U.S. public miners collectively hold nearly 100,000 BTC on their balance sheets.
Bitmain attempts to clear Antminer XP Hydro inventory as S21 series proliferates: The largest ASIC manufacturer in the game is trying to shed its inventory of Antminer S19 XPs – a series it introduced in 2021 – as it churns out its S21 series. Bitmain is publicizing a hosting deal for its S19 XP Hydros, selling hosting contracts for $2,313 a unit with a $0.10/kWh hosting fee. The promotion is an ostensible attempt to clear inventory for the outdated model amid production of the more powerful and efficient S21 series.
Public market hopeful Ionic Digital is operating 8.56 EH/s: In an investor letter sent last week, Ionic Digital – a private bitcoin miner – revealed that it is operating 8.56 EH/s, producing 162 bitcoin in December 2024. The company said that it hopes to complete an audit in 2025, ostensibly with the aim of going public, a goal the company has discussed in the past.
Stablecoin juggernaut Tether sues Swan Bitcoin over joint-venture dispute: Tether is suing bitcoin financial services company Swan Bitcoin in the High Court of England and Wales, escalating a court battle that centers on 2040 Energy, the companies’ bitcoin mining joint venture. Swan kicked off legal proceedings last September when it sued former employees and contractors after they departed from Swan to start a new company, Proton Management, at Tether’s request. Swan did not name Tether in its original suit, so the new legal action is the first time the stablecoin company has entered into a legal dispute with Swan over the mining venture.

Market Overview

Equities bounce back after two weeks of consecutive decline: After two consecutive weeks in the dumps, equities rallied hard last week. The Dow rose 3.73% to 43,487.83, the S&P 500 rose 3.71% to 5,996.66 (just a couple percentage points shy of its all-time high), the Nasdaq rose 3.84% to 19,630.20, and the Russell 2000 rose 4.57% to 2,275.88.
Banks report record-breaking earnings for 2024: The market was buoyed last week in part thanks to eye-popping earnings from some of the nation’s largest banks. JPMorgan Chase, for instance, earned a record $58.8 billion in 2024, $14 billion of which came in Q4, and Bank of America posted $27.1 billion in profit for the year. For Q4, Goldman Sachs reported $4.11 billion in profit, Citi $2.9 billion, and Wells Fargo $3.4 billion. Blackrock’s Q4 profit was $1.67 billion, and the world’s premier asset manager reported that its assets under management grew 15% to a record $11.55 trillion in 2024 (as of December 31, 2024, $50.34 billion of this total AUM belonged to Blackrock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF). Some analysts believe 2025 will be another banner year for investment banks on account of a boom in AI M&A and IPOs, and others expect S&P 500 earnings to increase 14.5%.

Oil, natural gas surge:
- Oil prices were essentially flat last week after rising sharply the week before. Brent Crude closed Friday down 0.20% week-over-week to $81.05/barrel.
- Henry Hub also fell last week, the first time in two weeks. The natural gas index declined 1% week-over-week and closed at $3.95/MMBtu last Friday.
Treasury yield volatility continues: U.S. Treasury yields have been seesawing. Reacting to encouraging inflation data for December, yields tumbled last week, completely retracing the prior week’s spike upward. After briefly skimming an 18-month high at 4.8%, the 10-year ended the week at 4.62%, a decrease of 15 bps week-over-week and increase of 10 bps month-over-month; the 5-year at 4.43%, a decrease of 15 bps WoW and an increase of 5 bps MoM; and the 2-year at 4.28%, a decrease of 10 bps WoW and 1 MoM.
Inflation and retail sales cooled marginally in December: December’s inflation print was lower than November’s, if only barely. Core CPI fell from 3.3% to 3.2%, the first decrease since last July. Retail sales increased by 0.4% in December versus 0.8% in November, which fell short of general estimates for a 0.6% rise.

Jobless claims were up in the second week of the new year: For the week of January 5-11, unemployment claims rose to 217,000 from 203,000 the week before, but continuing claims fell from 1.88 to 1.86 million.

China’s GDP rises in Q4: China’s GDP rose 1.6% in Q4, the tenth consecutive quarter of growth for the world's second-biggest economy. Over the course of 2024, China’s GDP grew by 5%. The World Bank and Goldman Sachs forecast 4.5% GDP growth for China in 2025, while UBS forecasts 4%.