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Sound the Bitcoin Bell: It’s finally here, it’s finally happening!

If you keep your finger on the pulse of the crypto market, you already know what we’re talking about. But if you’re just checking in, we’ve got big news.

Bitcoin popped up to highs past $35,000 on Monday, a 1.5-year record.

But before we figure out if this is the long-heralded Great Bull Run, we have to ask one question: Why now?

Espresso Shots

☕️ Pepe Burns, Price Hikes

The PEPE Memecoin team just burned 6.9 trillion of their native token, worth an estimated $5.5 million, sending the price of PEPE up roughly 32% overnight.

This burn has also allayed concerns regarding a potential rug pull by members of PEPE’s internal team.

After the burn, the PEPE team currently holds 3.79 trillion tokens, and even a massive sell-off of those holdings would only mildly sting for outside investors.

This healthy, controlled burn — coupled with Bitcoin’s explosive activity this week — could signal big things for the memecoin’s future.

Personally, we feel spiritually vindicated, as a mountain of burning frogs was one of the most powerful visions we experienced during our ayahuasca-fueled company retreat.

☕️ SEC Attacks BlackRock

The SEC has charged BlackRock Advisors, LLC, with failing to properly disclose a significant portion of its publicly traded funds.

The omission in question concerns the Aviron Group, a company that provides print and advertising services within the entertainment industry.

According to the SEC filing, BlackRock wrongfully categorized Aviron as a financial services group and incorrectly reported the company’s interest rate.

BlackRock has already agreed to settle the charges and pay a $2.5 million penalty based on reporting from Watcher.Guru.

I personally related to BlackRock’s plight. My wife is currently furious that I failed to disclose my double life, particularly the secret family that I keep in Chicago.

☕️ Renewed Bidder Interest in FTX

FTX may have three serious bidders interested in reviving the firm, based on a report from Bloomberg.

There were initially more hats in the auction, as a September filing revealed that 75 bidders were interested in the purchase of FTX 2.0, and were given until September 24 to move forward with their offers.

Though the controversy surrounding the exchange may have wheedled out the less serious shoppers, this latest report indicates that FTX’s recovery of 90% of the lost customer assets may have reignited interest in at least three of the buyers.

The news also startled retired Texas auctioneer Buddy “Machine-Mouth” Wendell out of a nap on his front porch, with the inescapable feeling it was time for one last job.

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Polled Brew

Spilling the Beans

Here’s Why Bitcoin is Booming 🤯 📈

Bitcoin’s been long overdue for a bull run.

Crypto winter stayed around far longer than any of us imagined.

And on Monday, when Bitcoin suddenly blipped past the $34,000 mark to hit an 18-month high, we finally felt the warmth of the crypto spring we’d all been promised.

But why now? Is this just the latest burst of optimism for the Bitcoin Spot ETF approvals?

Well, there was one piece of ETF news that precipitated Bitcoin’s rise, and that’s BlackRock’s ETF joining the NASDAQ.

BlackRock’s iShares Spot ETF was listed on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s list of ETFs.

iShares’ inclusion in the clearing house, even though it’s largely a symbolic development, has driven the latest wave of speculation that a Bitcoin spot ETF approval is fast approaching.

But there’s another factor that may be driving Bitcoin’s bull run, and it lies in the very nature of crypto.

"We have seen recent geopolitical tensions drive demand for scarce assets, including both physical gold and bitcoin, which many investors view as digital gold," said Zach Pandl, managing director of research at Grayscale Investments, in a Reuters report.

In times of instability, people seek out financial assets that they can control. As Pandl said, many investors view Bitcoin as the gold of the digital age.

With the recent developments in the Middle East and the potential escalation of that conflict, a trend is emerging that has taken place for as long as conflict has existed.

And that’s the flight of investors from financial and governmental institutions into private assets that they can control.

Assets like Bitcoin.

Instability is frightening. And when things are unstable, people want to feel like their money is safe.

It’s the role of financial gurus and Wall Street traders to pretend like they can predict the future. And to some extent, they can. Crypto, much like the stock market, follows certain patterns and predictors that will repeat time and time again.

But nobody can predict the real macro impacts on the market. Even the most comprehensive spy networks can’t predict the next war, and no industry predicted the impact of a global pandemic on the supply chain.

When nothing seems certain, when the trusted, centralized institutions seem unstable, that’s when people turn to decentralization.

Life is unstable and unpredictable, and that’s the great promise of crypto. Money you control regardless of the life-changing uncertainties that can befall entire continents.

Yes, we’ll all be cheering for Bitcoin’s potential to shoot the moon, but it’s worth reflecting on the solemn, likely possibility that this upshot is being driven by human need, rather than investor greed.

You can’t control life. But you can control Bitcoin.

And life can get pretty crazy, just ask my second cousin Stephanie, who was described by the state of Maryland as “immune to tasers” and can’t seem to meet the right man.

Crypto 101

Ordinals: Usually applied to Bitcoin, an ordinal is a unique identifier that can be applied to satoshis, the small increment of Bitcoin.

This extra data helps users to determine when and where that satoshi is transacted.

Without an ordinal, satoshis are fungible and can’t be told apart, with the use of an ordinal, bitcoin is made non-fungible and has a unique, digital signature.

The Last Sip

The Last Sip: In addition to failing to disclose my secret family, my wife has urged me to inform our readers that the model trainset in our basement is not an investment opportunity, and even when I wear my conductor hat and shout “Choo-Choo,” I am not legally considered a transit authority.

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.

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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.