A headline claiming "BlackRock’s IBIT Outpaces World’s Largest Gold Fund in Year-to-Date Inflows" coincided with Bitcoin’s surge back to $100,000 on May 8, seizing market attention. The rise of Bitcoin ETFs, succeeding crypto communities as Wall Street’s primary bitcoin buyers, has propelled the once-fringe asset into mainstream legitimacy—a critical piece of BlackRock’s global financial empire. From IBIT to BUIDL: BlackRock’s Blockchain Blueprint BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager ...

A headline claiming "BlackRock’s IBIT Outpaces World’s Largest Gold Fund in Year-to-Date Inflows" coincided with Bitcoin’s surge back to $100,000 on May 8, seizing market attention. The rise of Bitcoin ETFs, succeeding crypto communities as Wall Street’s primary bitcoin buyers, has propelled the once-fringe asset into mainstream legitimacy—a critical piece of BlackRock’s global financial empire. From IBIT to BUIDL: BlackRock’s Blockchain Blueprint BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager ...

Executive Summary The ICO mania of 2017 and the NFT-lending bubble of 2021 have a 2025 analogue: the “crypto-treasury company” craze. For anyone willing to shoulder outsized risk in exchange for the chance of getting very rich very quickly, these Nasdaq-listed vehicles have become the vehicle of choice. Two deal structures dominate: reverse mergers and SPACs.Reverse-Mergers in Practice A textbook reverse merger starts with a “zombie” micro-cap already listed on Nasdaq: ideally debt-free, with...

Executive Summary The ICO mania of 2017 and the NFT-lending bubble of 2021 have a 2025 analogue: the “crypto-treasury company” craze. For anyone willing to shoulder outsized risk in exchange for the chance of getting very rich very quickly, these Nasdaq-listed vehicles have become the vehicle of choice. Two deal structures dominate: reverse mergers and SPACs.Reverse-Mergers in Practice A textbook reverse merger starts with a “zombie” micro-cap already listed on Nasdaq: ideally debt-free, with...

1. Crypto Is Not a Market—It’s a Psy-Op Cryptocurrency is the purest financial instrument ever invented, engineered to harvest hope and convert it into liquidity. Its volatility is not driven by utility but by narrative, manipulation, and attention. This is not a market; it is a psychological battlefield, and most participants never realize they are the prey.2. The Price-Discovery Cycle: 0 → 1 → 10 Every token travels the same arc.0 → 1: Hype dominates, adoption is near-zero, price rockets on...

1. Crypto Is Not a Market—It’s a Psy-Op Cryptocurrency is the purest financial instrument ever invented, engineered to harvest hope and convert it into liquidity. Its volatility is not driven by utility but by narrative, manipulation, and attention. This is not a market; it is a psychological battlefield, and most participants never realize they are the prey.2. The Price-Discovery Cycle: 0 → 1 → 10 Every token travels the same arc.0 → 1: Hype dominates, adoption is near-zero, price rockets on...