Bracing for impact

U.S. Treasury yields shot higher early Tuesday amidst a tense standoff between the U.S. and Europe. Investors confront escalating tariff rhetoric and the unnerving prospect of a “Sell America” tidal wave.

In theory, Europeans could exert some coordinated downward pressure on bond prices, jacking up the cost of borrowing, so as to push back against President Trump's apparent designs on acquiring or taking Greenland, under Denmark's control. Trump has threatened a litany of European allies with harsh tariffs as a cudgel to somehow force a transaction in which the U.S. buys the strategically vital island at the top of the world. 

Stock futures as of 8 a.m. (EST) signaled the potential for steep losses. Bitcoin shed 2% in 24 hours, sinking to about $91,000. A super hectic and perhaps even unforgettable trading day looks be shaping up.

Crypto is in the red — total assets are $3.17T, down 2% in 24 hours — but we can’t ignore River (RIVER) which is raging. Listed as CoinGecko's 129th-largest digital asset, RIVER has a total market capitalization of about $650M. River touts itself as an ecosystem-transcendent stablecoin protocol. It’s championed by Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and who now runs an aggressively risky fund, Maelstrom. 

Only a few days before Christmas, RIVER had receded to $4. A few days ago, it crested to nearly $40. Reportedly, the combination of Hayes' support and a looming token unlock has generated interest over the past several weeks.

Suddenly, Bitcoin's grip on $90,000 looks shaky. As of early Tuesday, as Asia's trading session concluded, the largest crypto had slipped below $91K on growing tariff concerns, which are heavily weighing on risk assets, i.e. U.S. equity futures. Traders were bracing for a tumultuous regular-hours session. 

The world's economic leaders have gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for their annual mind meld in the snow. Crypto market structure legislation and the New York Stock Exchange's bid to pursue a 24/7 tokenized buffet are topics that are bound to arise as new-age and traditional financial titans rub shoulders; or, rather, these topics most likely would have come up were it not for President Trump's global-markets-rattling push to take control of Greenland.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Trump's return to the White House. BTC was about $102K at the time. It would fall to $76K by early April of ’25, and then steadily bounce increasingly higher, eventually reaching the record high of $126.1K on Oct. 6. 

Trump's Solana-run memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), meanwhile, hit its ATH of $73.43 shortly after it debuted on his social media platform just as he was about to take the oath of office. According to CoinGecko, TRUMP has since shed 93%.

Yesterday, the NYSE announced it would seek regulatory approval for a platform to trade tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs on the blockchain 24/7. Among the terms thrown around in a press release were “instantaneous on-chain settlement” and “stablecoin-based funding.”

"For more than two centuries, the NYSE has transformed the way markets operate," said Lynn Martin, president of NYSE Group. "We are leading the industry toward fully on-chain solutions.”

The NYSE has been eyeballing an around-the-clock model for months. In April 2024, the exchange's data analytics team surveyed market participants regarding the potential for 24/7 trading, reflecting growing interest in structures that more closely resemble crypto markets (The Block).