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- Bitcoin breaks $123K: New Highs, big bets, and the deficit driving it all
Bitcoin breaks $123K: New Highs, big bets, and the deficit driving it all
PLUS: PUMP’s $600M ICO stuns Solana, Satoshi hits top 11 rich list, Crypto Week kicks off in D.C., and airdrops worth $5M are live.
Cryptopolitan News
July 14, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
📈 Bitcoin breaks $123K: New Highs, big bets, and the deficit driving it all
Bitcoin has officially gone parabolic.
On Monday, BTC broke through $123,000, setting a new all-time high as the entire crypto market added over $1.2 trillion in value since April. The price touched $123,400, fueled by massive inflows into spot ETFs and a wave of institutional interest that’s only growing louder.
This isn’t just a technical breakout. It’s a macro moment.
What’s driving the rally?
➡️ The first spark came in April when Trump ordered a 90-day pause on new tariffs. Since then, BTC has climbed almost in a straight line. But the real fuel came on July 3rd, when Congress passed Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” triggering a $15,000 surge in under a week.
➡️ Then came Thursday’s record: over $1.18 billion in daily ETF inflows, the highest of 2025.
➡️ Meanwhile, U.S. deficit data showed a staggering $316 billion shortfall in May alone, the third-largest monthly deficit ever recorded. For investors, it was a signal: the system is leaking, and Bitcoin is the escape hatch.
➡️ Even more telling? The S&P 500 is down 15% this year, when priced in Bitcoin. Since 2012, it has dropped 99.98% in BTC terms. That’s not just bullish… it’s historic.
Crypto Week kicks off in Congress
Now, with “Crypto Week” officially underway, lawmakers are set to debate a suite of regulatory bills that could redefine the U.S. crypto regulations. While none have passed yet, the mere momentum has institutional players making moves.
Family offices, hedge funds, and conservative asset managers are beginning to adopt a 1% BTC allocation model. It may sound small, but across trillions in assets, even a single percent is game-changing.
What it means
Bitcoin isn’t just climbing, it’s doing it while traditional systems wobble. As the U.S. racks up deficits, ETFs absorb billions, and Washington flirts with regulatory clarity, the market isn’t waiting for permission.
BTC is thriving in chaos.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, is the 11th richest man in the world. His fortune of 1.096 million BTC currently equates to $129.23 billion based on data from Arkham Intelligence.
📊 Market Watch:
Pump.fun has officially closed its PUMP token ICO and it took just 12 minutes to raise $600 million. The Solana-based meme launchpad offered 150 billion tokens (15% of supply) at $0.004 each, with the public sale ending well before its July 15 deadline. Despite KYC blocks on US and UK residents, demand was overwhelming.
Now comes the quiet: trading is not live yet, and tokens remain non-transferable during the 48–72 hour distribution phase. The team has warned of fake tokens and issued the official contract address to help users avoid scams. Already, lookalike tokens have popped up on DEXs like PumpSwap, baiting unsuspecting traders.
But the speed and scale of this ICO also sparked serious criticism. Detractors argue it was less about “community” and more about mass extraction, citing tokenomics skewed heavily toward insiders. Out of 1 trillion PUMP tokens:
33% go to ICO (15% public, 18% private)
20% to the team
13% to early investors
24% to platform development and ecosystem funds
3% to livestream features, 2.6% to liquidity/exchanges, 2% to the foundation
Critics point to the math:
Just 15% of tokens were accessible to the general public. Meanwhile, private investors and insiders dominate the supply. And with no lockups and full unlocks from day one, many believe a sharp selloff is inevitable.
Yet speculation is already heating up. PUMP’s price on Hyperliquid is trading 60% above ICO price, now hovering around $0.0062 at the time of writing. The memecoin hasn’t launched, but traders are already betting on both sides.
Pump.fun says PUMP will power a new onchain social ecosystem, offering rewards, buybacks, and fee rebates. But whether it becomes the next Dogecoin or the next dustbin remains to be seen.
As the countdown to trading begins, crypto is watching this one very, very closely.
Pump.fun is preparing for its native PUMP token to start trading, after a series of sales through exchanges. On-chain data shows some of the PUMP have been airdropped to user wallets.
🏛️ Regulation Watch
The U.S. House of Representatives is gearing up for what lawmakers are calling “Crypto Week” a five-day legislative sprint that could finally give the digital asset industry the clarity it’s been demanding for years.
From July 14 to 18, three major crypto bills will hit the floor:
The CLARITY Act: Lays out which agencies regulate which tokens — SEC vs. CFTC
The GENIUS Act: Creates a national framework for stablecoins
The Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act: Blocks the U.S. from launching a central bank digital currency
For crypto insiders, this is the moment they’ve been waiting for. The GENIUS Act has already cleared the Senate. If passed by the House next week, it heads straight to President Trump’s desk, potentially becoming the first major piece of U.S. crypto legislation signed into law, possibly by July 19.
The House Rules Committee will review the bills Monday at 4:00 p.m. ET. Early signals suggest bipartisan support across the board.
But what would this mean in practice?
The GENIUS Act would establish clear rules for stablecoin issuance and compliance.
The CLARITY Act would finally define which tokens fall under SEC vs. CFTC oversight.
The Anti-CBDC Act is more symbolic, aimed at shutting down any future U.S. government-backed digital dollar.
While these laws won’t flip a switch overnight, they could reshape crypto’s relationship with U.S. institutions. As Moody’s noted, the GENIUS Act could significantly impact the banking sector, but stablecoins will need to prove they outperform existing payment rails to achieve widespread adoption.
Not everyone’s cheering.
Some Democrats argue the bills are riddled with conflicts of interest, especially given President Trump’s growing stake in the crypto economy. Rep. Maxine Waters called it a “brazen stamp of approval for abuse of power,” raising concerns about ethics and self-dealing.
Still, if the votes go through, 2025 could be the year Washington finally catches up to crypto or at least stops holding it back.
📚 Read Also: Fed chair Jerome Powell rumored to be considering resigning amid tension with Trump cabinet
Jerome Powell has been rumored to be considering stepping down as chair of the Federal Reserve following relentless attacks from President Trump and his inner circle.
🎁 Airdrops of the Week: From 1 BTC to $5M in Prizes
Another week, another shot at turning a few clicks into serious crypto. From full Bitcoin giveaways to leaderboard climbs and free Pro passes, this week’s airdrops are packed with fire.
No bots, no fluff. Just real campaigns you can claim right now:
Kraken x Dave Portnoy
Airdropping 1 BTC to the closest price prediction by July 28. One shot. Closest guess takes the whole coin.
Deadline: July 28, 2025Uponly’s $5M Mega Drop
Follow, verify, and engage to enter a pool of $5,000,000 in prizes. Even watching a video counts.
Deadline: August 17, 2025Surf Early Access
Climb the leaderboard and earn $50–$500 worth of premium features. Top 10% of users get exclusive perks.
Deadline: July 31, 2025Nemesis Token Drop
Complete a few socials and verify your wallet to receive 200 NEMESIS tokens. Easy win for early birds.
Deadline: July 25, 2025
⏳ These airdrops won’t last forever. Most close in days.
👉 Browse the full list and claim them all before they expire.
🔵 Stories you may have missed
Ethereum’s goal is Web2 disruption, not Bitcoin rivalry, says Bitwise CEO: Hunter Horsley said Ethereum is designed to upgrade Web2 and financial systems, not to compete with Bitcoin.
British crypto fintech firm Ziglu collapse, users face $2.7 million in losses: According to administrators, the firm used users’ funds to run its day-to-day operations before the FCA forced it to halt withdrawals.
Metaplanet adds another 797 BTC, still buying at the market peak: Metaplanet continued with its weekly purchases, even as BTC was charting new all-time records.
BOJ has completed offloading bank stocks, focus shifts towards ETFs: The Bank of Japan has completed the offloading of bank shares it began acquiring in October 2007 from beleaguered banks during the early 2000s banking crisis.
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says he’s not worried about China’s military using its chips: Jensen Huang said China’s military can’t rely on Nvidia chips due to U.S. export limits.
XRP rally fuels 5x ETF volume surge as investors eye spot product approval: Ripple XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a surge in volume on July 11, following the market rally that pushed close to $3.
America posts rare $27 billion budget surplus in June thanks to Trump’s tariffs: A rare sight not seen since 2017, according to the Treasury Department’s Friday report.
14th July
On July 14, 2010 — Satoshi sparked a debate still with us, how many nodes are enough to keep Bitcoin truly decentralized?
In a BitcoinTalk post, he wrote:
“I anticipate there will never be more than 100K nodes, probably less… Many nodes will be server farms… The rest will be lightweight clients.”
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