What happens when something pushes you over the edge and your mind just snaps?

Has all of Wall Street been brainwashed?

Why are some of the once-biggest crypto critics suddenly gung-ho about Bitcoin?

The answer isn’t the swinging pocket watch of a hypnotist or foreign power’s military reeducation camp.

No, unfortunately, the answer is much more simple than that.

A Word Foam Our Sponsor

Listen, I know we tease our traditional finance friends all the time. But we still stare at them with begrudging respect.

They’ve managed to dominate the entire world financial system for centuries, and even if we do plan on overthrowing them, we also have a lot to learn from them.

That’s why the Coffee & Crypto team also subscribes to Finance Homie.

Finance Homie is a fun and easy-to-read newsletter that completely demystifies traditional finance.

On top of that, they cut through all of the crazy financial news and tell you exactly what it is you should be paying attention to, including specific venture capital fundraising and major Wall Street deals.

So skip that Wall Street Journal subscription, turn off Jim Cramer’s CNBC BS, and stay plugged in with Finance Homie’s free weekly newsletter.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Fidelity Reapplies for ETF

Fidelity, after the SEC rejected its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF in 2021, is taking inspiration from BlackRock — and trying again.

After BlackRock, this application makes Fidelity the most recent firm to join the trend, including the likes of Valkyrie, Wisdom Tree, and Bitwise.

Fidelity feels the question of gaining a spot Bitcoin ETF — the most common type of Exchange Traded Product (ETP) — is actually about investor safety.

"To this point, the lack of a Spot Bitcoin ETP exposes U.S. investor assets to significant risk because investors that would otherwise seek crypto asset exposure through a Spot Bitcoin ETP are forced to find alternative exposure through generally riskier means," read the filing, according to a Decrypt report.

It’s a classic case of suburban mom logic. The kids are going to spot crypto trade anyway, so they might as well do it in my basement, where it’s safe.

☕️ Binance Denied License in Germany

Binance was denied a crypto custody license in Germany.

"While we are unable to share details of conversations with regulators, we continue to work to comply with BaFin‘s requirements. As expected, this is a detailed and ongoing process,” wrote a Binance spokesperson in an email to CoinDesk. “We are confident that we have the right team and measures in place to continue our discussions with regulators in Germany”.

Binance has yet to announce any plans to leave Germany as of writing, but this denial seems like part of a larger trend.

Binance was also denied MiCA licenses or registration, and subsequently left Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Cyprus.

We haven’t seen a string of rejections quite like this since my cousin tried using “street magic” to pick up women at bars.

☕️ FTX Sues Former Lawyer

FTX has filed a lawsuit against Daniel Friedberg, FTX’s former lawyer and chief compliance officer, for aiding SBF in fraud and silencing whistleblowers.

The lawsuit seeks the returns of millions of cryptocurrency that Friedberg received while working at FTX, in addition to Friedberg’s compensation and $3 million in bonuses.

Friedberg reportedly whitewashed complaints from inside FTX that raised concerns about the illegal activity taking place between FTX and Alameda.

Friedberg could not be reached for comment as he’s currently in the basement of Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents' home in Stanford, where he and SBF are working day and night on the first gaming computer that can deactivate ankle monitors.

Spilling the Beans

How Bitcoin Broke the Banks 🏦 🔥

There are a lot of reasons to change your mind.

Whether it’s an abundance of facts contrary to your opinion or the threat of government-sanctioned torture, it’s okay to change your perspective as needed.

Just look at flat-earthers, they’re still trucking despite countless documentaries making fun of them. Not to mention constantly being reminded of their ever-present enemy: the horizon.

But what made TradFi pull a total pivot on Bitcoin?

On one level, we’re not complaining. All this crypto enthusiasm from the likes of BlackRock, ARK Invest, and the emergence of a new Wall Street-backed exchange has been great for the price of Bitcoin.

But we can’t help but notice that the leaders of these institutions were a little less than enthusiastic about crypto… not that long ago.

CEO Larry Fink of BlackRock said that crypto was an “index of money laundering” in 2017.

But now, BlackRock is filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that crypto is “a waste of time and why you people waste any breath on it is totally beyond me.” He also said Bitcoin is just “hyped-up fraud” in an interview with CNBC.

And it wasn’t long before JPMorgan was the first American bank to offer Bitcoin.

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin once called crypto a “jihadist call” against the American dollar.

Yet, Citadel is now one of the largest backers of America’s newest crypto exchange: EDX Markets.

Need we go on? Or are you starting to see a trend here?

What could be the reason behind these ideological flips?

The answer is simple. It’s money.

We know that crypto is money. It’s in the damn name, cryptocurrency.

But money is just a concept. A way of ascribing value. And it’s the value system that makes crypto interesting.

As these larger institutions firmly plant their feet in crypto, it’s going to add legitimacy to the space.

But is that legitimacy worth the blow that’s being suffered at DeFi’s philosophical core?

Because TradFi isn’t really interested in crypto. They’re interested in trading fees.

These brokers want to sit back and relax, and hawk Bitcoin and other coins and tokens that they recognize while they take their bite out of individual investors assuming all the risk.

And look, we don’t want to be cynical about the big guys coming to play crypto.

But integrity doesn’t mean that your values change depending on which way the wind is blowing.

And maybe these institutions will offer appealing packages. But we have to question their integrity.

And you wouldn’t get on a submarine with questionable hull integrity, would you? Even if it was taking you to see the Titanic? Even if tickets were only $250,000?

Meme of the Day

Crypto 101

Trading Fees: This is different than the gas fees that keep DeFi a well-oiled machine.

Trading Fees are the money that a brokerage takes to pay their executives, secretaries, and everyone from the bottom of the cleaning staff to the exec in the biggest corner office.

It’s the cost of doing business with an “established” institution.

The Last Sip

The Last Sip: In honor of TradFi leaders’ 180-degree flips on crypto, we’ve compiled a list of the three greatest ideological flips of all time.

3. Vidkun Quisling. Defense Minister of Norway during WWII. Pledges to defend Norway from the Nazis. Sees how many Nazis there are… and immediately becomes a Nazi himself.

2. Darth Vader. Couldn’t be bothered to look for his son for like, twenty years. Tries to kill him for two movies. When Luke insists there’s “good” in him, Darth yeets his boss down a ventilation shaft and kills himself by discarding his asthma inhaler.

1. My father. Claims that crypto is a “Ponzi scheme wrapped in a pyramid scheme.” Accepts the slippers I got him for Father’s Day, purchased using my Coffee & Crypto paycheck, with glee.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

That's all for today! If this email got you hooked on our unhinged crypto takes, be sure to get a full dose on Twitter @GetCoffeeCrypto.

If you find yourself smiling at any of our dumb jokes, or even *learning* something - make sure to share this newsletter with your friends!

If you get 10 friends to sign up - or even enemies, we don't care - we'll send you a swag box with some epic Coffee & Crypto merch! Just hit the Click to Share button in the section below to get started!

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.