Bitcoin rises overnight as Citigroup announces crypto custody and the SEC proposes a new ICO framework
A solo presenter from Digital Asset News breaks down the reasons behind an overnight Bitcoin price rise.
Summary
The host of Digital Asset News walks through several converging developments he believes are behind Bitcoin's overnight move from $64K to $68K. These include a White House meeting between President Trump and crypto executives including Coinbase and Robinhood, a new SEC proposal to allow crypto fundraising up to $75 million annually without full registration, and Citigroup — the third-largest US bank by assets — confirming it will launch Bitcoin custody services later in 2026. The host also covers MoonPay's integration with Cash App to enable altcoin purchases, while warning viewers about the 2.9% fee structure. He closes with a discussion of cold storage risks, diversified custody strategies, and historical Bitcoin cycle patterns suggesting the current period mirrors accumulation phases seen in 2018 and 2022.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Bitcoin's overnight move and what's behind it
Well, everybody, it's a good day in crypto as we see a little bit of a pump as Bitcoin takes a nice little rise. Over the last 12 hours or so, we saw Bitcoin go from $64K right around here all the way up to $68K. Now, why is that and what's going on? Well, there could be a couple of different reasons. I will tell you that right now, President Trump is meeting with Coinbase and Robinhood and a host of other different crypto executives as they lay out the foundation for what the Clarity Act couldn't do. And it looks like that is happening right now. So hopefully something positive will come out of it. We'll see what actually happens.
As a reminder, the S&P 500 in traditional markets has a little bit of a pump today — over five days, down a little bit, over a month, up 3%. So not too bad.
Historical context and the 200-week moving average
What about historically speaking? Well, August is just one of those months where sometimes we see a little bit of a pump and then we go down moving forward. Taking a look at price action today, we were below the 200-week moving average and then we just missed it. But as I've said before — and I could be wrong — I still say that buying Bitcoin below the 200-week moving average at $62K, $62K, $62K, $62K again, $59K, $58K, wasn't a bad deal moving forward. We can see that across time in 2018 and 2022.
As a reminder, just looking back a little bit — if we take a look at what happened in 2022, we had a nice little rally from July when Bitcoin was at $21,000 and did a little bit of a pump. I remember this because everybody was super excited. It went to $24,000 on the 14th of August, then just started to collapse again until it went down in November and we found the bottom. Now, will we reach the bottom, or have we already reached it? A lot of people are saying we have. But even so, that is why I still like to buy below this line, because it makes a lot of sense to me.
The SEC and CFTC step in where Congress couldn't
So what is actually happening outside of the price action? This is from Eleanor Terrett — the Clarity Act didn't get passed, and I think there's a possibility of it happening in September, but prediction markets aren't looking at it too highly. The CFTC and the SEC have actually moved in to do what Congress could not do.
Eleanor states the SEC has finally proposed regulation of crypto assets — a new framework for crypto fundraising in the United States. Some people look at this and go, "This is awesome." I don't know how awesome this actually is. It's good that the SEC is stepping in, but what they're talking about here is ICOs. Now, ICOs were quite the rage and a lot of people made a lot of money, but you know who lost a lot? Everybody else. This was back when I got in, in 2017.
So what the SEC is proposing to do is essentially say, "Look, we're going to allow these ICOs to actually happen without so much reporting." But I think to myself — and I'd like to talk about this with everybody in the Q&A — do you think we need more projects coming in? I'm just not so sure. I think people look at it and say, "Oh, the SEC and the CFTC are doing what Congress couldn't do. This is a positive pump." And then we're going to take a look at Citibank, which is the third-largest bank, going into custodial services for crypto — pump. And then Cash App integrating more altcoins — pump. There's a pump and a pump, but sometimes it's just as easy as saying, "That's kind of what August does."
To finish this up, Eleanor states: "The SEC is going to allow certain offerings up to $5 million over four years or $75 million annually without SEC registration, creating a conditional safe harbor for crypto assets and preempting certain state securities registration requirements." They're going to put this forward, and the great thing is Congress doesn't have to vote on it — they can just put that into law, and that's what they're going to do after a 60-day comment period.
So what happens in 60 days or so? They'll probably write this into law. And what month is that? That'd be October 2026. And when was the all-time high? October 2025. So maybe it all lines up. Let me know what you think about that in the comments section.
Citigroup enters crypto custody
Just to get into this real quick — Citibank, or Citigroup. Who are they and why are we talking about them? Because they're talking about launching custody. Citigroup is the third-largest banking institution in the United States by assets, holding more than $1.83 trillion. They have global reach in over 90 countries and jurisdictions, with clients in 160 total countries.
There are two sides to their business. The Institutional Clients Group handles global investment banking, corporate banking, and treasury services for large corporations and governments. Personal Banking and Wealth Management operates retail — that's us — and ranks as a top credit card issuer alongside wealth management operations.
This is a big story, but it's a long time coming. Citibank previously disclosed in November of 2025 that it planned to launch native crypto custody in 2026. It takes a little bit of time, but I can assure you they were talking about this a lot longer than that. In an announcement on Tuesday — just yesterday — Citi confirmed the service will launch later this year, starting with Bitcoin, and that clients will be able to access both traditional and crypto custody within the same framework.
That's great for custody and custodial services, because I've got to tell you, with what's happened with cold wallets and a lot of different hacks going on, maybe this is something to think about. In January, the bank said it was working with Intercontinental Exchange to enable tokenized deposits, later joining a Swift pilot for 24/7 cross-border payments using tokenized deposits in July. Citi is also part of a major US bank consortium behind a planned tokenized deposit network through the Clearing House, with a target launch in the first half of 2027.
So good things are on the horizon. People hear about this, they get a little bit speculative — pump, pump, pump, pump. Great, let's see if it also works out. But again, this is big news. I like Citigroup coming in. We'll see if they take a little bit of the market share. But that would lead us to our last story.
MoonPay and Cash App expand altcoin access
Solana states: "Breaking — buy any token on Solana straight from your Cash App balance using MoonPay." They put out a little video recently talking about how Cash App — which is what I personally use to buy Bitcoin — is now being used to offer Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Tether.
To preface this: when you're using Cash App to buy Bitcoin, set it up for recurring payments or recurring investments, because if you do that, the spread is essentially nil and there are no fees. If you do a one-off, it costs you money. That's how I do it — every single Monday I buy Bitcoin. But that is directly through the Cash App. What MoonPay is doing is offering you the ability to use Cash App to buy those other assets.
Here's the problem — I don't like Cash App for this. It's great that they're doing it and it can onboard people, which is fantastic. But just know what you're getting into. If you take a look at their pricing disclosures, Cash App API transactions are charged a fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, and the MoonPay fee will be included in the amount when using Cash App Pay. So if you want to do that, you can. I think it's a waste of money. I would personally just use Kraken — that's the exchange I use. But if you want to pay 2.9%, and I don't even know what the spreads are on top of that, go right ahead. It's good as far as the story goes. I just personally won't use it.
Cold storage risks and diversifying custody
I was just on Milk Road — me and John did a sit-down interview and it was a pretty good one. We got into where I think things are, which you guys already know. But one of the things we talked about at length was these hacks, these cold storage hacks. If there are places like Citigroup who may be behind this — not that they're doing it, but they're going to reap the benefits — it's because people aren't going to trust cold storage as much. What I said to John is just a reiteration of what I believe.
I get emails every couple of weeks from somebody who has lost their entire life savings. You can keep it on cold storage, hot storage, or exchanges — whatever you want, because I'm not your dad. You do what you want to do. But just as a reminder, this is what I do: I use custodial services, I use Tangem, I also use Ledger, and I just got into ETFs and I'm pushing it that way. I am not going to be the guy who has to tell his wife, "We just lost everything."
As a reminder, there's currently $116 million worth — or 1,800 Bitcoin — gone from cold wallet hacks. That's a lot of Bitcoin for a lot of people. Diversify your storage. This is what Michael Saylor at Strategy and Larry Fink over at BlackRock are using — Coinbase Prime. And then there's also the IRA option. If you're new to this, it's tax-exempt for whatever you put in. A Roth IRA up $100,000 in three years — imagine 30 more years of this, or 20 or 10, depending on how old you are. That's how Peter Thiel did it. He put PayPal stocks into a Roth IRA when they weren't worth much, and now that he's over 59 and a half years old, he's tax-exempt. Good for him.
Q&A
Host: The Sparks Plug says, "To the moon, my friends." Yeah, things are looking pretty good. If you take a look at 2018, August had a pump. If you take a look at 2022, August had a pump. Again, it does traditionally speaking take 365 days to hit the bottom. In 2017, it was December at the top, and then the bottom was December 2018. In 2021, November was the top, and then November was the bottom at $15,000. And now we just had it in October. We just keep moving one month back, and people are saying, "Well, it has to be October." I don't believe anything has to be, but it has played out pretty well so far. I sure hope we can go down lower — just saying.
Morton says, "I doubt that anything positive will come out of the meeting at the White House." Me and Morton are on the same wavelength. I just think it's a dog and pony show, and Trump's going to say, "Hey, I told you I'm the crypto president. I met with all these guys and gals, and that damn Congress just won't pass the Clarity Act. What are you gonna do?" And then move it forward. Again, I'm grateful the SEC and CFTC can step in and say, "They're not going to do anything, so let's throw you a bone." I'll take it.
"Why pump, Eddie?" That's the million-dollar question. Again, it could just be August, could be Citi, could be the non-stop coverage of Trump meeting with all these crypto execs. One thing I thought was interesting — the prediction markets were not allowed into this meeting. I don't know if that's because there was no precedent for them to be there, but they kind of go hand in hand. And I thought it was interesting that Coinbase was involved and they're rolling out prediction markets. So that's going to play out. We'll see.
Brand asks, "What's happened to crypto right now?" Typical bear market. This is just the accumulation phase. I never really made any significant gains in the bull market. It all happened in the bear market when nobody wanted to buy anything. I just bought a bunch of stuff and everybody's like, "That's stupid. You're an idiot. You shouldn't buy Bitcoin. It's internet nerd money. No one's going to use it." And I'm like, "Yeah, I got time." As long as you've got time, it works out pretty well.
The tech guys and the banks know what's coming. Gas fees — correct. The leadership has been spreading FUD to stall regulation because they're not ready yet. It is such a dirty business. It is the business that we're in.
A1 says, "I don't like MoonPay. I don't like going through third parties connected to my bank accounts." That does make sense. Those fees are quite astronomical. I know people will say, "Well, that 2.9% plus 30 cents is the same fee as you pay for PayPal." You have a point. But it seems like the exchanges are making enough money. Why do we have to pay those exorbitant fees to get crypto just by using Cash App? I think it's a copout. I think there's better options out there. And people say, "Well, it's only 3%." It adds up. Everything adds up.
A1 also says, "Crypto is supposed to be peer-to-peer, but with these services, more and more third and fourth parties are coming in — your bank, then the exchange, then DeFi, then things like Cash App or PayPal, and then another party." A1's right — the more layers you put on it and the more hoops you have to jump through to get your digital assets, the more problems you have and the more possibility you have for a data leak. Let's be honest, most of our data is already out there. It's concerning to me because if your data through your API goes onto the dark web — like, "Oh, this guy is a Cash App user" — and maybe they can see the transactions you were doing, that leaves you open for a wrench attack. I'm not a big fan of those.
Jerry says, "ICOs are a great tool for founders to raise money, but they're horrible for those buying the coins because value accrual is no longer solely attributed to speculation. Utility is needed — usage." Jerry, we don't need utility. We just need a pump and then for us to dump the bags on some suckers. That's pretty much it. I'm kidding, but I'm not kidding.
Gatsby says, "Big win for those who still own their digital stock." I still own that. Very easy process.
Steph says, "We deserve this." We do deserve this. It's been a pain in the you-know-what — these bear markets and how they've actually gone. I will tell you though, if you're new to this, this may feel brutal, but it's not. If you take a look at the four-year cycle tool and look at where we are right now at $68,800 compared to four years before — four years ago we were 66% down from the all-time high. Now, we went to 77% down from August to November, but as of today, we're only 45% down. That sounds kind of ridiculous, doesn't it? We're only 45% down. That's pretty good. The return on investment is diminishing, but the volatility is also going down. I'll take my chances. It's been tough — it's not easy, especially for those of you who are buying. But it is a thing to put in perspective. That's not too bad.
Evan says, "Me too. We all deserve it." Well, if you're here watching this video in the bear market, you're smarter than most. A lot of people just hightail it — "Ah, I didn't make life-changing gains in two months. I'm out of here." It's not a good idea.
Quantum computers are a possible threat — true. AI is a possible threat — also true, to all of our accounts. What about AI and a quantum computer together? My question is this: if AI is ratcheting up the amount of scams and attacks that are happening, why can't those same companies or exchanges use AI to combat the hacks that are going on? I think sometimes it's like an inside job. We'll see.
Jean Louise says, "John, thank you for sending all that great information." Hi Rob. "Pumped today with the help of the Clarity Act. SEC still needs comments." Yeah, 60 more days. We'll see. But I like the direction they're going. It's nice.
Rob says, "The most likely thing to happen is the bear market resistance band, which is right at this price, will reject it." I think that's on Ben's website as well. I should take a look at that.
Rob also asks, "Are there any more payments in the Voyager payouts?" I don't think so. I think that's pretty much it — they're winding down. But I'm not 100% sure. I just assume everything's gone. If you don't know what I'm talking about: in 2020 and 2021, I used to talk about Voyager all the time. Also Celsius — I thought they were pretty good. Then I went to the Ethereum conference in Austin and everybody was talking about a problem with Celsius. I came back, did a video, nine hours later it shut down. And then I found out that Voyager had done a $460 million uncollateralized loan to Three Arrows Capital. Did a video about that. Two weeks later, it also collapsed. So as far as Voyager payouts, I hope there's some coming in, but I just never think I'm going to get anything off of that. If something comes up, I'll let you know.
"Bitcoin is up. Trump is bad. What happened with the last president? Do we all have short memories?" Yeah, exactly. Trump isn't a saint. He's a person. And by definition, he is a politician. Do we trust any of the politicians? No, we shouldn't. There's a reason why they're politicians — they're great liars. They can sing you a story. I know some people say, "Well, Trump hasn't done anything." I think he's done a good amount of different things. And people say, "Well, it's nothing." Look, you're going to take the bad with the good. There's a sphere of control. I can only do so much. I'm just dealing with what I can deal with and moving forward, which is buying Bitcoin every Monday on the Cash App.
"Quantum was not a problem for Bitcoin." I hope you're right. "Every coin just randomly pumped at the same time, up five to ten percent. Maybe somebody knows something a little bit more outside of the SEC, CFTC, Citi thing we just talked about." DCA all the way.
Jimmy says, "The pump today is just liquidating all those leveraged longs. We'll hang out a while, then crush our hopes and dreams." Jimmy, you should write for Hallmark. That was beautiful.
Rob says, "No one builds a system on layer zero. It's slow and pricey. Why do you need more layers to get adopted?" I don't know. It seems like we get more layers and more different altcoins and then we see more hacks. I just want to deal with the ones that have actually stayed up most of the time and have done what they say they're going to do. I know people don't like Solana, but it's been up for two-plus years. It's actually been one of the chosen ones for Visa and Mastercard for stablecoin rails. Tokenization of real-world assets — Binance, Ethereum, even Tron, which who would have seen that?
"What's the reason for the pump? Is it wishful thinking only to think it's started to the moon?" No. Again, just take a look historically speaking — even the moving averages, you can see August is a pretty good month. But then again, 2017 to 2018, farther down. 2022, farther down. Does that mean this is just a hope and a dream and we're not really going to get anything? It's all how you look at it. To me, I'm just looking at the risk levels. It actually went higher. So if it stays this way, next Monday I will be buying less Bitcoin. If the price starts to go down, I'll be buying more.
Me personally — and this is why I'm jaded, and you should always seek out other information — I want it to go down. I know people won't tell you that, but I want it to go down to accumulate a little bit more. If it goes up, hey, I'm great, I'm happy, you guys are happy, good. But if it's wishful thinking — it's not wishful thinking. It can go either way.
Ed says, "Sorry folks, got to take profit on this pump. Only testing the 200-day. May reject. Cross fingers." Good job, Ed. That's pretty great.
John asks, "Hey Rob, did you ever solidify your AI agent for your Airbnb and VRBO properties? Would be interested in something like that for mine. Would like to talk more about it." No, we're not going to do it. It looks like either VRBO or Airbnb rolled it out themselves, so you can have automated responses and work that way. But I haven't integrated it. There's a problem with API integration with Airbnb and VRBO — they're very stringent on that. They only give it to huge companies. However, I would like to do a video on my second channel about how you can create your own short-term rental website so people can rent from you directly, how Claude can set it up, and how it only costs 60 cents to a dollar to host every single month instead of going through GoDaddy. I need to do that.