Welcome to the Beluga Brief, where we deliver data-driven insights to your inbox every week, spending our time in the crypto trenches and combing through thousands of crypto news feeds so you don’t have to.

As the Beluga Brief grows we’ll try out new content sections and schedules to find what is best for our readers — if you have other suggestions for things you’d like us to cover, feel free to leave a reply on our Twitter!

What happened today?

As it currently stands, the last 24 hours in crypto proved to be the worst day of liquidations in the history of the industry, with estimates around $7-8B in positions wiped out in a few minutes. It seems that uncertainty over Trump’s new proposed tariffs caused a shock which took out over-levered positions causing a massive cascade which saw the price of Bitcoin fall 10% in one day. If you were checking the price of BTC now though, you wouldn’t know anything had happened: at time of writing it has pulled a V-shaped recovery back over $102,000.

Just to reiterate: an estimated $8B was wiped from the crypto markets in the last day and Bitcoin is trading at the same price it was before that happened. Even Ethereum dropped 30% and the daily candle is currently green. The point I’m trying to make here is, despite what should be a black swan for an industry our size, things look remarkably resilient. This market is wildly volatile and so becomes a psychological game, if you can survive these dips without capitulating you tend to be ok (of course, this is easier said than done).

Trading Talk

While majors BTC and ETH have fully recovered, it will likely take a few days to see alts make their big bounce. Since they’re farther out on the risk curve they got hit even harder, with alt-coins dropping over 30% in a few hours. The strength of our newest addition to the portfolio, Plume, is definitely something to note as it still trades over $0.15, up 25% from our entry last week. The wallet balance definitely took a hit, however as we stand we are only about $6k off our balance reported on Friday, with a leverage black swan happening since then. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the strength of our holdings through all of this.

Something else to keep an eye on is Ethereum in the coming days, which is something I talk a lot about in this newsletter but generally an unpopular opinion in the market. Overall ETH’s biggest issue is a marketing one, and has been beat to that end whole handedly by Solana. It’s akin to a company run entirely by engineers, where they may think their communication is clear but really nobody has any idea what they’re talking about. With Trump’s World Liberty now buying ETH and a tweet from Eric Trump endorsing the coin, it seems like the engine may have been kickstarted. Additionally, it’s been such a hated asset this cycle that many crypto natives are underexposed, which generally leads to a great pump when it does happen as people FOMO back into their positions.

Tweet of the Day

Yes, yes it is.

Biggest Headlines

The Beluga intern has been hard at work gathering all the most important crypto news stories so you have them in one place!

The Majors

• Trump to create US Sovereign Wealth Fund — Could it lead to a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?

• Bitcoin plunges below $100,000 amid tariff worries, XRP falls 33%

Alt Coins and Stocks

• ‘Full-Throated Demand’ for crypto ETFs yet to emerge on Wall Street

• Kraken and Coinbase secure key regulatory approvals to expand in EU and UK, respectively

Regulatory

• Canadian charged with theft of $65 million worth of crypto from KyberSwap, Indexed Finance, remains at large

New Launches

• TON Foundation veteran launches $100 million VC fund TVM Ventures

Free BONK Report from Fundstrat Research

Interested in learning how the institutions are looking at your favorite memecoins? Download a free report from Fundstrat Research on BONK and the memecoin landscape below!

The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions.

Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR