Two weeks ago, bitcoin’s march toward $100K hit a temporary pause, while Pump.fun showed us the unsettling side of financialization coupled with livestreaming.
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Bitcoin, ETH Capitulation, and Pump.fun Craziness
Bitcoin backed off $100K this week, although it is now pushing within striking distance once again as the weekend approaches. Earlier in the week, some were questioning if indeed $100K would happen before the end of the year. I thought the more interesting question was if it would be better in the long run if bitcoin took a breather here. I think the chances of an alt season would be high if bitcoin did us the favor of consolidating.
Last week I couldn’t attend Token Narratives, but I did make an embarrassing video aired on the podcast admitting that I had finally capitulated and sold around a quarter of my long-term ETH bag for SOL. That and Ansem publicly shorting Ethereum seemed to have marked the bottom of the ETHBTC chart. You’re welcome. As Ethereum rallied, OG X account Cobie replied to Ansem, “oops!” I felt like he was talking to all of us Ethereum bottom sellers.
This week also saw Pump.fun get completely out of control. People desperate to out-do each other for attention, which on Pump.fun directly translates into money, began doing more and more depraved things. The following is a compilation of those things, but be warned it isn’t for the faint of heart. Once the snowball of attention seeking depravity really started rolling Pump.fun turned off their livestreaming feature and released a Community Notice. This isn’t simply the dark side of enabling the finalization of anything by everyone. The relatively unbridled livestreaming feature plus the financialization allows for the most seamless and direct transfer of attention into money. That is the problem. I’m curious to see how Pump.fun resurrects the livestreaming feature.
Finally, Marc Andreessen’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience is well worth a listen. In it Andreessen talked about Operation Choke Point 2.0, something anyone who follows crypto closely will already be aware of. A new revelation he spoke about were the meetings with government officials where they insisted on exerting control over AI companies, effectively discouraging new startups by implying that success would be unattainable under their regime.
