The BlockByte Weekly - Is Microsoft About To Buy Bitcoin?

Hi Reader,

Here's your weekly round-up where we highlight 3 key stories in the crypto market over the last week.
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Executive Summary

• Alt-coin season is well and truly underway with massive short-term gains and volatility
• Bankrupt Celsius exchange CEO, Alex Mashinsky pleads guity to fraud, faces 30 years in jail
• MicroStrategy delivers bitcoin presentation to the Microsoft board​
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Alt Coin Season

Over the last week, the total crypto market cap rallied by 5.3% to $3.4T, grazing all time highs. Most of the growth has been seen in the alt-coin (non-BTC) crypto market which grew by 14% over the same period. Tokens such as Tron (TRX) have rallied an incredible 94% at the time of writing in just the last 24-hours alone. Tron's blockchain supports Tether (USDT) transactions which is transacting over $220B in daily volume, underpinning stablecoins have well and truly arrived.

The massive spike in TRON came on the back of a tweet from its founder Justin Sun who posted 'TRX=XRP' just before the major spike in price.

XRP is another token that has surged over 400% in the last month alone following the nomination of Trump and SEC lawsuits being dropped against the parent company Ripple. It's possible the billionaire founder put in a significant buy order which has led to a continued rally into the token.

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Celsius Exchange ex-CEO Faces Up To 30 Years In Jail

Earlier this week, Alex Mashinsky, ex-CEO of Celsius Network, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud. This plea follows his arrest in July 2023 on charges including market manipulation related to his tenure at Celsius Network. Celisus was providing investors with high yields on tokens inlcuding bitcoin, but in doing so was taking significant investment risks with customer deposits which ultimatley led to filing for bankruptcy in November 2022. The guilty plea was disclosed in a Manhattan federal court and comes after months of legal proceedings.

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​MicroStrategy's 3-minute Presentation To Microsoft

Michael Saylor delivered a 3-minute presentation to the Microsfort board and CEO Satya Nadella to put forward the case of adopting bitcoin as part of its corporate treasury. Microsoft is currently holding ~$120B in cash, whilst bitcoin has returned 148% returns year-to-date. Skeptics are pointing out that Saylor's approach is self-serving in trying to increase the value of its bitcoin holdings. MicroStrategy now holds 402,100 BTC worth $38.6B, acquired at a cost of around $23.4B ($15.2B unrealised profit).

@saylor

My 3-minute presentation to the $MSFT Board of Directors and @SatyaNadella, articulating why the company should do the right thing and adopt #Bitcoin.

7:46 AM • Dec 2, 2024

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Could we be on the verge of seeing large mega cap tech stocks investing into bitcoin?
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Let's wait and see.

Until next week,
James

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James Brannan
Chief Executive Officer
BlockByte Capital
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(+61) 412 393 634
​james@blockbyte.com.au​
​https://blockbyte.com.au/​

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