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Good morning and welcome to the Hodl Report
Turns out the SEC just morphed from bouncer to hype-man: Project Crypto is poised to fling the club doors open for a fresh tsunami of ICOs and airdrops—yes, normies included. Meanwhile, Bitcoin just shrugged past Amazon on its way to the asset big-boy table, fueled by blockbuster ETF inflows. Buckle up—this issue unpacks how D.C.’s pivot and BTC’s new institutional swagger might redraw the entire market map.
Today’s Report
Two BTC Futures: Panic or Pivot
Every doom-poster on Crypto Twitter is drooling over a Mad Max scenario where the dollar flames out and we all trade sats for canned beans. They’re calling it The Big Print. That’s Vision A:
Full-tilt banking collapse
USD goes Venezuela-mode
Bitcoiners rise from the rubble to build a “purer” world
Fun bedtime story, but the math is flimsy.
Then there’s Vision B:
System eats Bitcoin rather than chokes on it
Persistent-but-manageable inflation while some banks croak
AI’s deflationary boost offsets the debt bloat
Wall Street learns to love the orange coin (ETF flows say hi)
Why am I batting for B? Power-law dynamics. Leviathans adapt; they don’t detonate. Rock-and-roll got sanitized into top-40 pop; the hippie movement morphed into Whole Foods. Bitcoin will slide into the same assimilation conveyor belt—20-year runway, tops.
Strategic takeaway for us Hodlers:
Own BTC, but hedge the apocalypse fantasy. If Vision A actually hits, we’ll have bigger problems than portfolio allocation.
Play the integration trade. Think custody tech, compliant on-ramps, and AI-driven fintech rails that make BTC just another ticker on the Bloomberg terminal.
Stay liquid. Inflated narratives pop; real adoption compounds.
TL;DR: I’m not stocking MREs, I’m front-running the onboarding desks at JPM. Keep calm, keep stacking, and let the suits do the assimilation work for us. Nothing stops this train.
Today’s Report
The ICO Era Returns—With a Government Seal of Approval
The Report
The SEC’s new chair, Paul Atkins, has ushered in Project Crypto, a sweeping slate of rulemaking designed to pivot U.S. policy from enforcement-heavy to innovation-focused. Atkins explicitly aligned his agenda with President Trump’s pro-crypto vision, signaling green lights for ICOs, tokenization, DeFi integration, and more. After years of lock-tight regulations, the agency plans to create exemptions, safe harbors, and disclosure rules that would revive initial coin offerings and traditional markets embracing on-chain tech. Expect this to mark the start of a bullish new regulatory era—America wants to be the “crypto capital of the world.”
Key Points
Atkins launched Project Crypto on July 31, 2025, as a Commission-wide initiative to modernize securities rules and integrate crypto into U.S. capital markets
The SEC will roll out purpose-fit disclosures, exemptions, and safe harbors for ICOs, airdrops, staking, and network rewards
A central pillar is clarifying asset classification—defining when tokens are securities versus commodities or stablecoins
“Super‑apps” may emerge, allowing broker‑dealers to offer staking, trading, lending, and securities services under one platform
The initiative follows a 160‑page White House crypto policy report released July 30, and the signing of the GENIUS Act and other legislation earlier in July, aimed at codifying stablecoin frameworks and token markets
Relevance
This is not a minor tweak to SEC policy—it’s a full throttle remake. Under Atkins, the agency is not just reversing Gensler-era enforcement; it’s dismantling it. By introducing tailored safe harbors for capital formation tools like ICOs and tokenized securities, the SEC is essentially reopening public investment to pre-launch crypto projects—something barred after the chaos of 2017’s ICO boom.
That stigma of scams and fraud—according to industry pros—was psychological, not structural. Now, with blockchain transparency, it may be time to let token-based fundraising compete with IPOs again
Look for U.S. firms to repatriate, DeFi protocols to stake compliant ground, and tokenization of everything from public equities to real‑world assets to gain steam. BTC and ETH have already soared year‑to‑date (bitcoin near $117k), but the deeper lift will come as infrastructure, regulation, and investor confidence coalesce
In plain terms: capital markets are going on-chain. And the U.S. wants to lead—not lag. Investors, policymakers, and builders will be watching the proposed rules closely as they go through public notice and comment. The next six months could reshape fundraising, trading, and token utility in America for a decade or more.
Today’s Top News
Headlines
SEC Chair: “Ethereum Is Not a Security” — In a CNBC interview, SEC chief Paul Atkins declared that Ethereum falls outside securities laws, putting it in the same bucket as bitcoin. The surprise stance lifts a legal cloud over $30 B in ETH ETFs and supercharges DeFi optimism. Analysts expect a formal rulemaking to cement the view and spur new institutional inflows.
White House Crypto Roadmap Presses SEC & Congress for Rapid Reforms — A 160-page report from President Trump’s working group urges Congress to pass broad market-structure bills and tells regulators to create tailored exemptions for crypto trading and custody. The blueprint signals determination to make the U.S. “the global home for digital assets.” Lobbyists say it will shape negotiations on the Clarity Act and shift regulatory turf toward the CFTC.
‘Crypto Week’ Bills Advance in U.S. House, Eye Trump’s Signature — Lawmakers fast-track the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts plus a CBDC ban, aiming for floor votes within days. Passage would hand the CFTC new powers and cement stablecoin rules. Lobbyists say clear statutes could unlock sidelined institutional capital.
Market Trendline
Price Action
So much for “summer doldrums.” Crypto spent the last 24 hours doing its best trampoline impression—small bounce for the majors, knee-crushing air for a handful of alts, and one nasty face-plant in DeFi land.
Market Overview
Bitcoin is still magnet-glued to the $118K area, refusing to clear the psychological $120K ceiling despite a mini-relief bid after the Fed froze rates again at 4.25-4.50%
Dominance hovers near 61%, hinting that the “alts-over-BTC” trade isn’t dead yet—just hungover
Ether keeps drifting upward to $3.8K on ETF inflows, but on-chain activity is still half-asleep
Notable Movers
Ethena (ENA) ↑ 8% – The stable-yield darling ripped after the foundation vacuumed up another 83 million tokens in a stealthy buy-back spree. Turns out price goes up when the seller disappears and becomes the buyer. Who knew?
Toncoin (TON) ↑ 9% – Telegram quietly flicked the “wallet for 87 million U.S. users” switch. More users, more demand, more price—economics 101, but with stickers.
Uniswap (UNI) ↓ 4-5% – A fresh Wells-notice scare reminded markets that DeFi’s favorite automated market maker is still dancing with Gary Gensler. Investors promptly hit “sell first, complain on X later.”
Macro View
Powell’s “we’ll watch the data” routine kept treasuries range-bound, so crypto traced equities higher by default. Translation: price is hostage to macro, not memecoins—for now. Meanwhile, ETF flows have quietly pivoted: Bitcoin products saw their first tiny outflow in two weeks, while Ether ETFs vacuumed up nearly $300 million, reinforcing the rotation narrative
Bottom Line
Markets are marking time before either (a) BTC finally head-fakes above $120K or (b) Powell’s next press-conference word salad nukes risk again. Until then, watch the flow—ETH inflows and ENA buybacks look stickier than your summer keyboard. If BTC does break out, expect the alt carousel to spin even faster. If it doesn’t, grab popcorn for more sector-specific whiplash. Either way, boredom is not on the menu. — Retail giants eye fee-free USDC and USDT rails, spooking the card duopoly despite blow-out earnings. Analysts warn the networks’ $95 B swipe-fee fountain could erode if token payments scale. Both firms tout consulting and fraud tools as defensible moats.
Former Zillow exec targets $1.3T market
The wealthiest companies tend to target the biggest markets. For example, NVIDIA skyrocketed nearly 200% higher in the last year with the $214B AI market’s tailwind.
That’s why investors are so excited about Pacaso.
Created by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso brings co-ownership to a $1.3 trillion real estate market. And by handing keys to 2,000+ happy homeowners, they’ve made $110M+ in gross profit to date. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.
No wonder the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay also invested in Pacaso. And for just $2.90/share, you can join them as an early-stage Pacaso investor today.
Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.
Today’s Top Tweet
Crypto Twitter Never Sleeps
Sorry Zoomers
Boomers got cheap houses. Millennials got cheap Bitcoin.
— #There’s Only 21M (#@21MBitties)
4:30 AM • Jul 22, 2025
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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.