GM to all of you nutcases. It’s Crypto Nutshell #892 puffin‘ on through…🚂🥜

We're the crypto newsletter that's more rapid-fire than a walk-and-talk briefing that lands before the coffee cools… 🏛️☕

What we’ve cooked up for you today…

What’s in the Crypto Nutshell Portfolio?

BREAKING: Bitcoin drops below $73,000 as US strikes on Iran spark $1 billion liquidations

Bitcoin has now lost $73,000…

After spending most of the day trying to defend the $75,000 area, BTC slid to around $72,800 after fresh U.S. strikes on Iran brought geopolitical fear straight back into the market.

The percentage move doesn't look insane on its own.

But leverage made it ugly.

CoinDesk reported that nearly $1 billion in leveraged crypto positions were wiped out after the strikes, with major crypto assets falling roughly 3%-4%.

Normally, the easy line would be: war risk goes up, hard assets go up.

But that's not really what this market is doing.

Gold has also been under pressure recently, with the US-Iran news boosting oil and the U.S. dollar.

So this doesn't look like a clean Bitcoin failed, gold won moment.

It looks more like inflation fear, dollar strength, and forced selling hitting anything traders can sell quickly.

For Bitcoin, the issue is that the market was already fragile.

ETF flows have been bleeding, BlackRock's IBIT saw a huge dark-pool trade, spot demand has looked weak, and miners have been sending more BTC to exchanges.

CoinDesk also flagged a possible $150 billion U.S. Treasury liquidity drain as another pressure point in the background, but the immediate question is much simpler now.

Can Bitcoin hold $70,000?

If it can, this may end up looking like a nasty geopolitical flush in an already nervous market.

If it loses $70,000 while ETF outflows keep running, the short-term pain gets a lot harder to dismiss.

So we want to know where you stand…

Let us know your thoughts in the poll below. 👇

Start trading real-world events. With Kalshi, you can trade on things you already follow: inflation, elections, sports, and more. It’s simple: buy “Yes” or “No” shares on what you think will happen, and earn returns if you’re right.

To get you started, we’re giving you a free $10. Use it to explore the platform, test your instincts, and see how prediction markets work in real time.

Join thousands already trading the news and putting their knowledge to work.

Claim your $10 and start trading now.

Put $10 to Work

_{Trade responsibly.}

Raoul Pal just framed where we are in the most direct terms he's ever used.

Pal is a former Goldman Sachs macro trader and the founder of Real Vision. He's been calling the exponential age for years, but in his latest discussion with Julien Bittel, he made it clear we're now entering the next phase.

The setup is brutal. Silicon processes information a million times faster than a human neuron. None of the existing infrastructure, economic, political, or financial, was built for that speed. So we have to rebuild everything from scratch.

That rebuild is what's happening right now.

And Pal's prescription for navigating it is the same line he's repeated all year.

Then he laid out the macro picture that puts the whole thesis into focus. We're heading into the largest immigration event in human history.

Only it's not humans. It's agents and robots. None of the infrastructure for them exists yet. It's being built right now.

And here's the part every long-term investor needs to understand.

The old GDP formula is dying. Population growth plus debt growth plus productivity growth no longer applies. The new formula is AI plus robots plus humans. Productivity becomes a measure of how much intelligence you can produce per unit of energy.

When that hits, GDP growth explodes. Inflation stays subdued. And debt gets eroded the same way it did in the 1950s and 60s, when U.S. debt to GDP fell from 120% to 10%.

We're about to do it all over again. Only this time, the productivity unlock isn't factories and railroads. It's intelligence itself.

Hard assets win. Network infrastructure wins. Tokens win.

Don't fuck it up. 🧠

Time for check in on Ethereum’s supply side dynamics.

To do that we’ll be focusing on the amount of Ethereum currently being staked.

Quick Note: Ethereum staking involves locking up ETH to support the blockchain’s security. In return, users earn rewards for staking.

If you’d like to learn more about staking, check out this article.

39.30 million ETH is now locked in staking. Up from 38.93 million two weeks ago.

After last fortnight's dip - the first decline we'd reported all year - staking has bounced right back. That answers the question we flagged last time: was the pullback a trend change or a blip?

It was a blip.

Staked ETH is now up 3.31 million since January. The broader trajectory hasn't just resumed - it's reaffirmed.

Nearly a third of all Ethereum remains voluntarily locked up, earning yield, and removed from the tradeable market. That number keeps grinding higher regardless of what price or sentiment is doing.

Trump Backs CFTC Over Prediction Markets, Calls State Officials ‘Scum’. Federal oversight gained the president’s backing as states push to bring prediction markets under gambling-law regimes.

DTCC plans to bring tokenized assets to Stellar in latest Wall Street blockchain push. The U.S. market infrastructure giant is targeting tokenized stocks, ETFs, and Treasuries on Stellar in the first half of 2027.

Strategy buys back $1.5B of debt at discount, cuts outstanding notes to $6.7B. Strategy reduced convertible debt instead of buying BTC this week, making treasury-company balance-sheet management the story.

OpenZeppelin founder says he now considers ‘all of DeFi’ unsafe. Manuel Araoz warned that AI-assisted vulnerability hunting has widened the gap between attackers and defenders after a brutal run of DeFi exploits.

Want to get even smarter? Check these out.

p.s. all completely FREE (one click subscribe link)

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: A recurring payment between long and short traders that helps keep the contract near spot price 🥳

Funding rates are recurring payments between longs and shorts that help perpetual futures stay close to spot prices.

Advertise with Crypto Nutshell to get your product or brand in front of the crème de la crème of crypto investors. Crypto Nutshell readers are high-income earners who are always looking for unique or interesting offers.

Get in touch today.😎

We read every comment submitted in this poll and love to hear what you guys have to say. 😁 (bonus points for suggestions 🍪)

DISCLAIMER: The content of this newsletter is not financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice. Please be careful and do your own research.