Ten31 Timestamp 888,908
Fed Week came and went with a whimper once again, as the world’s key central bank held its benchmark rate steady as expected, though the FOMC’s official statement also pointed to a slowdown in the Fed’s runoff of US Treasuries, a marginal pro-liquidity move to go with the recent rebound in global M2. In a welcome reprieve from the consistent carnage of the past month, equities and bitcoin largely ranged in a tight holding pattern on the week, as investors and executives await the all-important April 2 date on which the US’s trading partners will find out where their personally tailored reciprocal tariff number will shake out. A calmer week in markets was coupled with some welcome developments on the regulatory front, as the Treasury Department reversed its sanctions on Ethereum privacy protocol Tornado Cash (which could potentially have implications for decentralized privacy tools more broadly), the SEC issued new guidance explicitly affirming that Proof of Work mining does not constitute a securities offering, and several high-ranking US officials pointed to a path for the US to build a much larger strategic bitcoin reserve. Investors will surely be anxiously awaiting more clarity on all those points in the coming weeks as more of the country is forced to embrace layaway burrito financing.
Portfolio Company Spotlight
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Selected Portfolio News
Unchained released BIP370.org, a new open source tool to improve parsing of partially signed bitcoin transactions:
Media
Ten31 Managing Partner Marty Bent appeared on The Blaze to discuss the strategic bitcoin reserve, bitcoin’s regulatory tailwinds, and more.
AnchorWatch Co-Founder and CEO Rob Hamilton joined the Robin Seyr podcast to discuss the company’s unique approach to true 1:1 bitcoin custody insurance.
AnchorWatch also published a blog post delving into some details behind their policies.
Unchained Co-Founder Dhruv Bansal gave a talk on scaling bitcoin custody long-term through a network of keys.
Ten31 Advisor and Zaprite Head of Business Development Parker Lewis joined the What Bitcoin Did podcast to discuss the mechanics of central banking and the world’s gradual convergence on bitcoin.
Vaughn Kellerman of Unchained’s Sound Advisory platform appeared on the Bitcoin Layer with Nik Bhatia to discuss wealth management strategies for bitcoin holders.
Market Updates
Investors gathered around to hear the latest pronouncement of the leading fiat shaman this week, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell informed markets that the FOMC would hold its benchmark interest rate steady once again, as expected.
Powell pointed to slowing growth and greater policy uncertainty as reasons for caution, but reiterated the Fed is still expecting two rate cuts this year. Notably, the FOMC’s latest statement suggested the central bank will reduce its pace of quantitative tightening, allowing only $5 billion of government bonds to roll off its balance sheet per month (vs $25 billion previously).
President Trump – who has been largely silent on the Fed’s actions since returning to office in January – was finally unable to bite his tongue any longer and suggested the Fed should cut rates to help offset the impact from his upcoming tariffs.
The Executive Branch continued to reiterate those tariff plans this week, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicating that all US trade partners will “get a number” on April 2 indicating their specific reciprocal tariff level.
The European Union, however, announced it would delay its planned retaliatory tariffs until the middle of next month.
Markets remained jittery on the tariff headlines though largely ranged in a holding pattern, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and bitcoin all closing roughly flat on the week. However, dollar strength moved slightly higher on the week, reversing its recent monthslong downtrend.
Secretary Bessent said he’s not worried about the near-term direction of asset prices and reminded investors that corrections are healthy, the latest indication that the Plunge Protection Team is not yet close to coming out of retirement.
Bessent’s sanguine attitude was backed up by some surprisingly positive macro data this week, with growth in US industrial and manufacturing activity coming in much hotter than expected.
Similarly, existing home sales for February were also well above consensus, up 4.2% M/M vs an expected decline of 3% (though sales were down 1% Y/Y, with only the $750,000+ category experiencing annual growth).
That said, US retail sales for February were up only 0.2% M/M, below expectations and a notable deceleration from last month.
Meanwhile, consumer credit has continued to look increasingly strained in some areas, with credit charge-offs for Capital One and Discover both reaching decade+ highs in the latest data.
After several weeks of outflows on the back of heightened market volatility, spot bitcoin ETFs put up a five-day streak of inflows this week, closing out at ~$750 million of positive net flows.
Regulatory Update
The US Treasury Department reversed the Biden-era sanctions on Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based smart contract intended to enhance user privacy. It remains unclear what implications this move will have for the ongoing US trials of Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov.
The SEC issued new guidance explicitly clarifying that bitcoin’s Proof of Work-based mining does not constitute a securities offering.
Congressman Tom Emmer, Vice Chair of the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, indicated at a conference this week that he believes the BITCOIN Act will be passed under the current Congress.
Meanwhile, Bo Hines, the Trump Administration’s Executive Director for Digital Assets, suggested the US government “wants as much bitcoin as it can get.” Hines also flagged a variety of budget-neutral ways for the government to acquire more bitcoin.
Outspokenly pro-bitcoin Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House crypto czar David Sacks both met with senior UAE officials this week to discuss bitcoin and digital assets.
Kentucky passed a bill explicitly protecting bitcoin self-custody and mining in the state.
Elsewhere in the US, a Minnesota state Senator and former bitcoin skeptic introduced a bill to allow the state’s pension fund to invest in bitcoin, and three state Senators in North Carolina proposed a bill that would allocate up to 10% of the state’s treasury to bitcoin.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Bank of Korea rejected a proposal to add bitcoin to its reserves, citing the asset’s historical volatility.
Noteworthy
Bitcoin developer Calle published a tap-to-pay UX for the Cashu protocol, opening up a smooth new way for users to pay with bitcoin-backed eCash.
New data released this week showed stablecoin giant Tether was the seventh largest net buyer of US Treasury bills in 2024, surpassing most nation-states.
Japanese bitcoin treasury vehicle Metaplanet announced that Eric Trump will join the company as a strategic advisor, the latest signpost of the Trump family’s growing personal links to the bitcoin ecosystem.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy (fka MicroStrategy) announced a new perpetual preferred vehicle, the latest expansion of the company’s bitcoin accumulation playbook.
Food delivery behemoth DoorDash announced a deal with “buy now, pay later” leader Klarna to allow customers to pay for single meals over multiple installments, one of the clearest indicators in recent memory of the US’s increasingly K-shaped economy.
Travel
MIT Bitcoin Expo, Apr 5-6
Austin Bitdevs, Apr 17
Bitcoin 2025, May 27-29