GM to all of you nutcases. It’s Crypto Nutshell #846 watchin’ for signs… 🔭🥜

We're the crypto newsletter that's more suffocating than a jury room where one voice refuses to fold… 🗳️🔥

What we’ve cooked up for you today…

What’s in the Crypto Nutshell Portfolio?

BREAKING: Circle falls 20% as stablecoin reward limits loom, Tether adds Big Four auditor

Circle (The company behind USDC) shares crashed 20% on Tuesday after a draft of the CLARITY Act revealed proposed language that could ban stablecoin rewards.

Coinbase - which earns roughly 20% of its revenue from USDC - dropped nearly 10% alongside it.

That's how fast things move in this market…

We've been covering this fight for weeks.

Banks want stablecoin yield treated like deposits.

Crypto firms want to reward users for holding stablecoins.

Trump publicly called out the banks. Dimon pushed back. And now the legislative language is getting specific.

The latest draft from Senators Alsobrooks and Tillis would ban rewards on passive stablecoin balances and restrict any structure that is "economically equivalent to interest."

That goes further than the GENIUS Act, which only blocked issuers from paying yield directly.

This version targets the workaround - platforms like Coinbase offering rewards funded by reserve income.

Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev said the proposal "weakens a key part of the bull case" for Circle and reduces the long-term appeal of holding USDC on Coinbase.

Then came the second hit.

Tether announced it has hired a Big Four accounting firm for a full audit of its USDT reserves - a move that could erode Circle's biggest competitive edge: being the transparent, compliant US stablecoin issuer.

If Tether clears that hurdle, the gap between the two narrows fast.

Still, not everyone sees this as a crisis.

Clear Street analyst Owen Lau called the sell-off an overreaction.

Bitwise's Ryan Rasmussen said workarounds like loyalty programs could replicate similar incentives.

And Circle is still up over 30% year-to-date even after the drop, with 77% revenue growth and $78 billion in USDC circulating.

"Circle holds a 30% share of a market projected to grow 10x over the next four years," Rasmussen said. "There will be workarounds."

The stablecoin yield battle isn't over yet. 🚀

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Lyn Alden just said something most crypto influencers won't.

The last 2 crypto cycles has been disappointing.

Alden is one of the most respected macro analysts in the world. She's the founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy, author of "Broken Money," and one of the sharpest minds at the intersection of traditional macro and digital assets.

She's not a perma-bull. She's not a perma-bear. She thinks in systems.

And in her latest appearance on Natalie Brunell's Coin Stories podcast, she didn't sugarcoat it:

For a lot of people who came in after the early days, the volatility has been brutal. And Alden acknowledged that directly.

But here's the part the bears will ignore.

She's not questioning the thesis. Not even close.

In fact, she framed the core question as simply as anyone ever has:

"Do people want to have self-custodial, portable, undebasable savings or not?"

Her answer is clearly yes.

And she pointed out that the infrastructure is finally ready. The tools are built. Private savings, permissionless payments, layers that have been built out over years.

The hard part is done. Now it's about people realizing these tools exist, seeing how they help, and actually using them.

Alden also highlighted a narrative she thinks is absolutely real: AI and Bitcoin are converging.

She sees that as a genuine tailwind, not just another narrative cycle.

That's what makes this moment so interesting.

The cycle has been disappointing on price.

But underneath the surface, every piece of infrastructure, every adoption vector, and every macro tailwind is stronger than it was last cycle.

Disappointing cycles don't disprove the thesis. They test the people holding it.

And Lyn Alden, one of the most respected macro thinkers on the planet, is bullish as ever. 🧩

Today we’ll be taking a look the overall stablecoin supply.

Stablecoins are the backbone of crypto liquidity, used for seamless trading and instant cross-border transactions.

The chart below tracks the aggregate change in the total stablecoin market cap.

The stablecoin supply just crossed $268.96 billion.

That's up $2.09 billion from $266.87 billion two weeks ago - marking the second consecutive period of inflows.

The trend has officially flipped.

After months of stagnation and slow bleed following the October crash, capital is moving back into the system. Not a trickle either - over $5 billion has flowed in across the last four weeks.

And here's the part that matters…

Year-to-date in 2026, stablecoin supply is now up $1.03 billion. We've crossed back into positive territory for the year.

Billions in stablecoins sitting on-chain isn't idle capital. It's loaded ammunition waiting for a target. And the pile just got bigger. 🔥

Bitcoin Has Likely Bottomed as Strategy Shows Resilience Amid Plunge: Bernstein. The analysts highlighted Bitcoin giant Strategy's flagship preferred share as an alternative source of funding amid tepid market conditions.

Tom Lee Says Mini Crypto Winter Ending as Bitmine Nears ETH Goal. Bitmine chairman Tom Lee says the mini crypto winter could be coming to an end as Bitmine increased its ETH buying pace and boosted holdings to 77% of its target.

CFTC forms new innovation task force to shape crypto, artificial intelligence and prediction markets. The CFTC launched a new task force focused on cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and the rapidly emerging area of prediction markets.

Morgan Stanley's Amy Oldenburg says Wall Street’s crypto push isn’t about FOMO. Morgan Stanley’s Amy Oldenburg said banks are expanding into crypto not because of hype, but after years of infrastructure development.

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Select your answer below and you’ll be redirected to the results page. (answer explanation can be found after “Meme Corner”)

Because what would the crypto world be without its share of memes?

Trivia Answer: To transition Ethereum from proof of work to proof of stake 🥳

The Merge switched Ethereum's consensus mechanism from energy-intensive mining to staking, cutting the network's energy consumption by approximately 99.95%. It did not directly reduce gas fees (that's being addressed through Layer 2 scaling and future upgrades like danksharding), but it fundamentally changed Ethereum's security model and tokenomics by drastically reducing new ETH issuance.

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