Digital Asset News covers quantum computing risks to Bitcoin, the CLARITY Act, and market updates
A solo presenter from the Digital Asset News channel covers several crypto and market topics in a single session, including quantum computing threats to Bitcoin, Trump's crypto conflicts of interest, on-chain accumulation data, and a live Q&A.
Summary
The host opens with Trump's executive order on quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography, arguing that the real driver behind the order is a recent AI-enabled breach of Department of Defense systems rather than Bitcoin-specific concerns. He then addresses Coinbase's Quantum Advisory Council warning that roughly 7 million Bitcoin could eventually be vulnerable to quantum attacks, arguing Bitcoin will be fine if developers act in time. He moves on to the CLARITY Act's stalled progress in the Senate, placing the blame squarely on Trump's personal crypto interests — including Trump's memecoin, Melania's coin, and World Liberty Financial — which he calls a mistake that must be relinquished before the bill can pass. The session also covers on-chain accumulation data showing new all-time highs in small Bitcoin wallet counts, institutional allocation forecasts, stock market declines, nuclear energy funding, Ethereum Foundation layoffs, and Solana's partnership with MoneyGram.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Quantum Computing, Trump's Executive Order, and the 7 Million Bitcoin Risk
Host: It looks like there's another topic coming up that is causing a little bit of discourse throughout the crypto market, and that is unfortunately quantum computing yet again. It looks like Trump, President of the United States, is accelerating quantum readiness as Bitcoin faces coming risk.
Now, to be perfectly clear, this is not primarily about Bitcoin risk. This is about the United States government recognizing that we just had a major hack — because of what Anthropic put out with its model, which was actually scaled down and was able to get out of its guardrails, hack into the Department of Defense, and get through classified materials. It is because of this that I believe there is a new memorandum coming out for quantum computing, with the United States aiming to lead in that space.
Trump signed an executive order focused on quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography. The administration is targeting a scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028. Here's the thing — if we're thinking about what can be done with Bitcoin, we know that with quantum computing, if this is actually a real thing, if it actually is able to do this — and let's be honest, how many times have the US government or any government actually hit goals as far as numbers and years go? Very rare. So if this happens in 2028, we have to get moving with Bitcoin, and hopefully the Bitcoin core developers will actually do what they're supposed to do.
Federal agencies must transition to post-quantum cryptography by the end of 2031 — four years earlier than previously planned. I'm a big believer in the four-year cycles, so can you imagine if we really do get quantum computing by 2028? That would be a huge run-up and a massive amount of things going down.
This move advances Washington's efforts to prepare for Q-Day — a future in which quantum computers could crack widely used encryption and cryptography standards that protect everything from government networks to cryptocurrency wallets.
To address the title: yes, it did say 7 million Bitcoin at risk. Most recently, Stellar unveiled a quantum migration roadmap. Meanwhile, Coinbase's Quantum Advisory Council warned that roughly 7 million Bitcoin could eventually be vulnerable to quantum attacks. I think Bitcoin is going to be just fine if we move forward. If we do not, it is an issue. And 7 million Bitcoin are out there now — can you imagine if this actually becomes vulnerable, as Coinbase just said? That could be a very big thing. Let me know what you think about that in the comments.
The CLARITY Act and Trump's Crypto Conflicts of Interest
Moving on — it's not just about quantum computing. It's about legislation. The CLARITY Act. We haven't covered that much on this channel because I just don't think it's going to pass. But if it does, it'll be great. There's one thing that has to happen for it to actually make it all the way through the Senate, and that is Trump has to give something up. That's really what it comes down to.
In the CLARITY Act's final weeks, its path through the US Senate is not getting much clearer. The toughest of the negotiations involves a CLARITY Act provision to limit senior government officials from maintaining business ties with the industry — as is most prominently illustrated by President Donald Trump's own interests.
Look, it was a mistake. It was a mistake for the President of the United States and his companies to get into Trump's memecoin, Melania's coin, World Liberty Financial, all that stuff. Mistake. Huge mistake. And it makes us look foolish, in my personal opinion. Now, you're welcome to say that no, this was totally legitimate and his family can do whatever they want because it is a free society. But I'm saying the sitting President of the United States just shouldn't really get into that. And especially with what happened — it would be a very different story if that were a real store of value with real functional utility and things were going up. But it's a very different story when we essentially had a pump-and-dump memecoin.
So for the CLARITY Act to get passed, both sides are not going to allow President Donald Trump to keep his interests in crypto. And if he wants this to pass — like what he ran on — he needs to give it up. Let me know what you think about that in the comments.
On-Chain Accumulation Data and Bitcoin Wallet Growth
There is some good news coming through accumulation data. I don't really pay attention to on-chain analysis that much because it seems like it can be pretty manipulated, but Bitcoin Magazine Pro has a really good argument here, and they're tracking this and it looks pretty promising.
Bitcoin wallets holding at least 0.01 Bitcoin have hit a new all-time high of almost 13 million — Satoshi millionaires. That's pretty good. And if we take a look — because you can't just go by an article, you've got to look at the analysis itself — over here from Bitcoin Magazine Pro, you can see addresses with balances greater than 0.01. Even though the price has come down today, although there's a little bit of a rebound almost at 64K, we can see that with 0.01 Bitcoin — the teeniest of tiny shrimp out there — there are more than we've ever had before. Now, you can do a lot of things — you can have 10, 20, a thousand different wallets. Some people do that. It's a little bit odd, but there's that.
Addresses with a balance of 0.1 Bitcoin — kind of flat. You would think it would have gone down a little bit given what's going on, but flat, almost at all-time highs, as a matter of fact.
Addresses with a balance of greater than one Bitcoin — the peak was January 13th, 2024. That's interesting. We went down as far as into 2026, and now we're back up. Not too bad. Almost a million addresses.
Greater than 10 Bitcoin — pretty flat, but to be fair, it is down from the 2023 high.
And then this was an interesting one — greater than 100 Bitcoin. Let me zoom in on this so you can see it. Greater than 100 Bitcoin — we were at an all-time high just last month. And now here we are at 20,000. The all-time high was 20,204. That is a promising on-chain analysis for what's going on with Bitcoin.
Institutional Allocation, Market Conditions, and Nuclear Energy
Host: $326 billion asset manager Rick Edelman says 95% of institutions and services that don't own Bitcoin and crypto are going to allocate for the first time this year. And that would kind of line up with the accumulation in the midterm years as the price goes down. The smart money doesn't accumulate at all-time highs — it waits for everybody to start dumping, then picks it up. Could that be now?
I personally believe Bitcoin can go lower. And I personally believe that if we start seeing a pop in the AI market and in the traditional markets, we'll see a lower case. But I could be wrong. It's why I buy Bitcoin every single Monday morning through the Cash App, and we'll see where it goes.
The S&P 500 right now is taking a turn. Over $1.4 trillion was wiped out from the US stock market as the S&P 500 dropped negative 1.5%. Over the last 24 hours it's been pretty stable, just a little bit of a decline. On top of that, it's not just the United States — South Korean stocks were halted after sinking 10%, shedding 910 points in one session.
Taking a look at the AI bubble we've talked about before — just since the market opened, we're down 3% for Nvidia, down almost 5% for Tesla. SpaceX is actually up almost 6% today. But if you look at the five-day chart, it's pretty brutal for SpaceX people who got in and didn't take some profits.
And then — if we're going to talk negatively about the administration, let's also talk about what they're doing right. AI needs a bunch of power. The Trump administration is providing $17.5 billion to help finance equipment orders for large nuclear reactors being built by Westinghouse Electric. I know what you're thinking — America just got into the game of nuclear power and they're giving them a bunch of money, just like how they did with Intel, which went up over 300% since that investment. So you might think this is a good opportunity to invest. Hold on — I thought the same thing, and fortunately my friend Bobby looked into it. Westinghouse Electric Company is owned by Brookfield and is a privately owned company. You can get into it, and it looks to be a little distressed. Maybe it's something to look at, but let's see if the government can inject a bunch of money and then they can start to make massive gains.
Ethereum Foundation Layoffs and Solana's MoneyGram Partnership
Host: Ethereum Foundation cuts 20% of staff amid a leadership exodus. I just want to say this is a good thing, because I think they were a little bit bloated. Unfortunately for business, you have to make the hard decisions. I know some people will spin that as the worst thing of all time — it's not. If you have to cut jobs, it's a sucky part of being an owner or board of directors, but it has to be done, especially as we go through these lean times. So congratulations to Ethereum — I know that wasn't easy, and to the people who lost their jobs, I've been there too, but it is a thing that must actually happen.
And then also congratulations to Solana. MoneyGram has joined the Solana developer platform as an infrastructure partner and an active validator on Solana. As a reminder, MoneyGram processes over $200 billion in annual transaction volume and serves 40 to 50 million customers. That, I think, is called a use case.
Live Q&A
Host: All right, let's get into the Q&A. I'll answer all your questions.
I like ALGO — do your own research. And Robert's right — you don't hear too much about Ethereum anymore. I still look at it, and I still think as far as real-world assets and stable coin rails, I always look at it as the best. Well, it used to be Binance, now it's Base. Base, Ethereum, Solana, Tron, BSC — those are the big ones right there, and I think they'll do just fine. I think Ethereum has its own problems they have to shore up, but again, when you've got to trim some of the fat — I hate to say it like that — these are the hard decisions that have to be made.
Someone says "FUD, FUD, and more BS FUD." So what exactly was the FUD I was talking about? I was reading directly from the articles, and we made a clear distinction about what quantum computing actually is. If you could please explain what the FUD was, that'd be great.
Caspa discount is real. Rusty Bot asks when the gains. Oh, Rusty, we both know those gains set sail a long time ago, and unfortunately we have to wait. Nobody wants to hang around in the bear market — nobody. That's why no one makes it in the bull market, because they start buying the tops. And the shifty ones will move around and say, "Okay, this is dead, let me try this sector, then that sector." I get pulled into that as well. But you have to temper expectations. I think we're in an accumulation time frame. Four-year cycle — yes, I agree with that.
Someone says "when it's for real, it's for ruin." It unfortunately is. Nobody wants to get the negative piece. Everybody wants to hear it's going to keep going up. It doesn't work like that. That's just unfortunately how it is. But it comes down to your mentality right now. Is it "this is the worst thing of all time"? Or are you looking at it like, "Okay, we seem to have some distressed assets, I still think there's a way to find our way up. The government still likes to print money, and as long as that keeps happening, all the valuations should go up." If that's your mindset — great. If it's panic, panic, panic — I get you. Especially if this is your first cycle. Congratulations. You're almost there. You just have to stick around.
Jean Louise is here — hey man, thank you for those great articles you sent me. I appreciate it.
Hey Rob, are you still an ADA supporter? I can still support ADA. I support the people that bought into it and hopefully it makes massive gains, but right now it is falling like a stone. I don't even think it's in the top 20 anymore. And that's the problem. Charles tried to do the right things, but you can make the best food in the best area with the best staff at the right price, and sometimes businesses just fail. If you don't get adopted, that's just it.
Here's an example — you ever ride on a Segway? Those things were so cool. It was this little cycle thing with two wheels and a little lever, and you could go back and forth. Very fun. And that was supposed to be the next big technology to allow people to move around. Nobody even uses those anymore. The same thing happens with certain technology and certain businesses — they just don't make it. And I think Cardano, unfortunately, is one of those right now. Unless they have a massive overhaul and bring in a bunch of real companies, real use cases, real utilities that are actually being used, it's not looking too hot.
Somebody told me ADA was a social experiment. It was a good thing in a sense — they didn't do a seed round with early inside investors who got to dump on everybody. It was a very open ICO essentially, and you could buy it as soon as the clock struck midnight. You could get in and start buying, and it didn't matter if you were a whale or a minnow — you could buy as much or as little as you wanted. It was a nice change of pace during that time, because that was during the ICO craze. It worked out great and it was in the top 20 for a while. The problem is you have to execute. And unfortunately, sometimes this is another reality of business — you've got to pay to play, and things didn't get put out because of the values they set forth. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. We'll see.
Future Millionaire says he was finally able to orange pill his sister and brother-in-law after five-plus years. Great — now listen. I've said this to a lot of people and I'm going to say it to you as a reminder. If you orange pill somebody, you are responsible for their cyber healthcare. Meaning, if you got them into Bitcoin and they have it on an exchange, just remind them about all the different scams they're going to go through — the mass amount of emails, the phone calls, and all the attempts that scammers are going to make on them 24/7, 365 — so they don't lose everything.
If they bought an ETF, nothing wrong with that. I know people sometimes hate when I say that, but a spot ETF — BlackRock, Fidelity — they have to buy Bitcoin, put it on the books, go through custody, usually through Coinbase. If you do an ETF, it's a lot safer. And if you want the best of both worlds, just do what I do — set them up with iTrustCapital, and you can put it there as far as custodial services. It doesn't cost you a dime to bring it over to iTrustCapital, and they give you essentially institutional-grade custody — the same thing BlackRock is using. The only thing is you've got to pay 1% when you take it out. But I'd rather pay 1% than 100% to hackers. So that's my little spiel. If you orange pill somebody, you are responsible for making sure they don't get screwed over.
Someone says the moment the Trump administration ends, the world is different for ADA perhaps. We'll see. And Mary's right — she wants the red and the blue to work together. If you're outside the United States, she's saying she wants Republicans and Democrats to work together. That is the good times — when everybody kind of sees eye to eye, we actually get things done and get bills passed. Very difficult though, especially when everybody seems to hate each other.
This is why I stopped going on Twitter, or what the kids call X. I still stream to X — that's just a little click when I go live — but I don't go on to X. Mostly it's because it's a big time suck and you can waste a lot of time arguing back and forth with people or just posting and reading. It's got great information, let's be honest. But yeah, it'd be great if people could actually get along. That'd be awesome.