Billboards display Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT art (Noam Galai/Getty Images)

Weird Money

Crypto’s boom is so big people are even kicking the tires on Bored Ape NFTs again

Just like last cycle, a bitcoin boom has sent more money back into the NFT market.

11/19/24 2:36PM

On the “Snacks Mix” podcast last week, we had the pleasure of chatting with Nat Eliason, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur-turned-author of “Crypto Confidential,” to chat about the recent resurgence of bitcoin. During our conversation, he noted an interesting trend that happened during the last bull market (emphasis ours):

“Once we hit peak mania, prices correct and retail money that bought the top gets burned, and then things start to get more competitive.
Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot more money to be made at that point, but the total crypto market cap might go sideways for a year like it did in 2022. But a lot can happen in these sideways markets. That’s when NFTs got huge, and you had Olympus, and ConstitutionDAO, and these other crazy DeFi projects. After bitcoin and ethereum had come down from their peaks, people were chasing other opportunities.”

Basically, once people had made their money on the “blue chip” cryptocurrencies, and that money was still in their crypto wallets, they looked for opportunities — hence the NFT and DAO boom. If history doesn’t repeat itself, it certainly rhymes. On Sunday, Cointelegraph noted that NFT weekly sales volume from November 11-17 had jumped 94% week over week, from $93 million to $181 million. And it’s not just volume that increased: prices of NFTs have been climbing, too. Floor prices for the “Bored Ape Yacht Club,” everyone’s favorite pixelated primates, jumped from ~10.5 ETH to 13.5 ETH over the last week as well.

I’m not going to declare that “NFTs are back,” but the recent bitcoin run certainly hasn’t hurt their prospects.

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Sage D. Young3/27/26

Altcoins have given back the majority of their gains since the Iran war began

While crypto altcoins outperformed for a long stretch after the outbreak of the US war with Iran, the asset class has retraced this past week.

XRP, solana, and ethereum have each dropped more than 6% in the past seven days as the total market capitalization for all of crypto (including bitcoin) has shed roughly $44 billion in the period, per CoinGecko.

Ethereum ETFs have also registered daily consecutive outflows for the past seven days, totaling more than $392.1 million. The last time these investment vehicles had such a streak was in December when ethereum decreased from $3,221 to $2,995, data from SoSoValue shows.

The Iran war was at first a positioning shock that saw crypto thrive, in part because the asset class was “lightly owned,” according to Fredrick Collins, CEO of crypto analytics platform Velo.xyz.

“Now as more concrete and persistent concerns about economic impacts have materialized, it’s not surprising to see crypto struggling as well,” Collins told Sherwood News. “In the face of cyclical (rather than transient) worries for risk assets in general, it’s not realistic to expect crypto to remain unscathed. And so we’ve unfortunately just not seen that initial relative strength in crypto continue to play out.”

Meanwhile, traders are expecting the price of ethereum to decline further this year. Prediction market-implied odds of the cryptocurrency sliding below $1,750 are at 81%, while the probability of the token tumbling under $1,500 stands at 68%, an increase from 52% on Monday.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

A drop to $1,457 would liquidate about 162,870 ethereum tokens’ worth of leveraged long positions, worth $323.3 million on Hyperliquid, per CoinGlass.

Slater Santer, a research analyst at trading firm GSR said, "Short term, the market likely remains flow-driven and headline-sensitive. Without a stabilization in ETF flows, a cooling in oil, or a renewed bid in equities, it's hard to argue for a sustained bounce in alts."

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

3/27/26

Bitcoin falls below $66,000 as Trump’s Iran extension fails to boost market sentiment

Bitcoin is on track to book its sixth consecutive month in the red.

Sage D. Young3/26/26

For the first time, Fannie Mae will allow mortgages to be backed by crypto

Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage finance giant, will start accepting mortgages backed by cryptocurrencies — namely bitcoin and Circle’s stablecoin, USDC.

Mortgage firm Better Home & Finance and US-based crypto exchange Coinbase Global are rolling out a new product that enables prospective homebuyers to pledge their digital assets as down payment collateral when obtaining a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae, The Wall Street Journal reported.

This means homebuyers can secure a standard conforming mortgage without liquidating tokenized assets, which potentially triggers a taxable event.

“If BTC drops in value, the mortgage terms remain unchanged, and no additional collateral is required. Market movements alone never trigger liquidation,” per a joint press release from Better and Coinbase.

“Token-backed mortgages originated by Better are designed in accordance with Fannie Mae guidelines and remain as standard conforming mortgage loans, identical to other conforming mortgages,” the announcement continued.

Max Branzburg, head of consumer and business products at Coinbase, said, “Token-backed mortgages are a major first step to unlocking homeownership for the younger generations that have struggled with barriers to saving for a traditional downpayment.”

The announcement comes more than nine months after William Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Agency, ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare a proposal that considers cryptocurrency as a reserve asset in single-family mortgage loan risk assessment.

Fannie Mae to Accept Crypto-Backed Mortgages for the First Time

This means homebuyers can secure a standard conforming mortgage without liquidating tokenized assets, which potentially triggers a taxable event.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Pain point

3/26/26

$14 billion of bitcoin options expire tomorrow, but geopolitical tensions remain key driver of volatility

The expiries create a gravitational pull in the days leading up to them as market makers hedging their books push bitcoin’s price toward “max pain.”

Sage D. Young3/25/26

GameStop transfers all but 1 bitcoin to Coinbase as collateral

It’s been one year since GameStop added bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, but the company has since halted its accumulation strategy, joining a fray of companies pivoting away from HODLing the cryptocurrency.

The gaming and collectibles retailer was at one point the 21st-largest bitcoin treasury company, but has since dropped to 190th after pledging all but one of its 4,710 bitcoin as collateral for its covered-call strategy with Coinbase Credit, data from Bitcoin Treasuries shows. Earlier this year, GameStop moved 51% of its bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, triggering speculation that it would offload the asset.

Coinbase Credit has the “right to rehypothecate, commingle, or unilaterally sell the Pledged Bitcoin,” per GameStop’s 10K filing with the SEC on Tuesday. “As a result of these rights, we concluded that control of the Pledged Bitcoin transferred to the counterparty. Accordingly, we derecognized the Pledged Bitcoin as an intangible asset.” That said, GameStop also “recognized digital assets receivable of $368.3 million... representing our contractual right to receive equivalent amount of Bitcoin in the future.”

GameStop sold covered‑call option contracts, which have strike prices ranging from $105,000 to $110,000 and maturities extending through March 2026, to mitigate its exposure to bitcoin’s price volatility and generate incremental yield.

The move comes as a number of other bitcoin firms have reached a tipping point and sold part of their stockpile.

Empery Digital, the 23rd-largest bitcoin treasury firm, announced in a March press release that it sold $4.2 million worth of BTC to fund share repurchases. DL News also reported that a shareholder who owns 9.8% of Empery Digital demanded the company sell its entire bitcoin stockpile and the immediate resignation of its CEO and entire board of directors.
GD Culture Group approved the sale of an unspecified amount of its 7,500-bitcoin reserve to fund its share repurchase program, according to a press release last month.
Elsewhere, Cango sold 4,451 BTC to reduce its overall finance leverage and strengthen its balance sheet, while Riot Platforms sold around $200 million worth of bitcoin in November and December.

Despite GameStop’s pledge to Coinbase Credit, the company has technically left the door open to resume its bitcoin strategy: the gaming firm said it intends to use net proceeds from its convertible 2030 notes for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin.

Shares of GameStop are up 2.7% today after posting lackluster Q4 results yesterday.

The move comes as a number of other bitcoin firms have reached a tipping point and sold part of their stockpile.

Empery Digital, the 23rd-largest bitcoin treasury firm, announced in a March press release that it sold $4.2 million worth of BTC to fund share repurchases. DL News also reported that a shareholder who owns 9.8% of Empery Digital demanded the company sell its entire bitcoin stockpile and the immediate resignation of its CEO and entire board of directors.
GD Culture Group approved the sale of an unspecified amount of its 7,500-bitcoin reserve to fund its share repurchase program, according to a press release last month.
Elsewhere, Cango sold 4,451 BTC to reduce its overall finance leverage and strengthen its balance sheet, while Riot Platforms sold around $200 million worth of bitcoin in November and December.

Shares of GameStop are up 2.7% today after posting lackluster Q4 results yesterday.

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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC. Futures and event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC.