“Should Have Bought” is a news podcast by the ForkLog editorial team covering the week’s major industry events and the hottest tokens.
Topics: new ATH above $100,000, expert opinions and forecasts, Atkins as the future head of the SEC, and martial law in South Korea.
Special guest: Timur Sevostyanov, head of DeFi at UNION.
Participants: ForkLog authors Vasily Smirnov and Alex K.
$100,000
On the night of December 4-5, Bitcoin confidently broke the $100,000 mark, reaching a peak of $104,088 on the Binance exchange. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump congratulated the crypto community on this significant milestone.
According to CryptoQuant, the rise in Bitcoin is driven by institutional demand from American investors, as evidenced by the increasing premium on Coinbase. The head of the analytics company, Ki Young Ju, noted that despite the current surge, the price of digital gold remains 43% below the levels typical of a “bubble.”
On December 6, Bitcoin corrected to $90,500, causing widespread liquidations of long positions. Later, the asset partially recovered to around $98,000.
Funds Flow into Bitcoin
The market’s growth is occurring amid high activity from institutions and other whales. For instance, in the past five days alone, investors have directed over $2 billion into spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The total inflow since the approval of BTC-ETFs in January has reached $32.3 billion. The AUM of these products has increased to $103.9 billion.
Ethereum ETFs are also seeing increased inflows. The AUM of these instruments has exceeded $12 billion.
Gensler’s Replacement
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Paul Atkins, a proponent of transparency and innovation, as the chairman of the SEC. Atkins actively supports blockchain and cryptocurrencies, serving on the board of The Digital Chamber.
The appointment was welcomed by industry leaders, including Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss, who praised his sensible approach to regulation. Atkins’ main task will be to reorganize the SEC following Gary Gensler’s stringent policies.
The nomination requires Senate approval, where Republicans hold the majority. The community hopes the new leader will foster innovation and alleviate excessive market pressure.
A Risky Game
Meme coins are heavily dependent on the state of the global economy and the cryptocurrency market, making traditional valuation methods ineffective. Expert Murad Mahmudov believes this unpredictability makes such assets appealing: their growth is hard to forecast, yet their potential is virtually limitless.
The former Bitcoin maximalist emphasized that the success of meme coins relies on global liquidity. Should a recession occur, a downturn in the sector is inevitable.
Sfyftx analyst Pav Hundal also believes that “coins that appeared out of nowhere” follow global trends. In his view, this asset class is “nothing more than a risky play on the rest of the industry.”
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