Coinbase Institutional's John D'Agostino on what's driving bitcoin's price

Market Volatility & Liquidation - Crypto market experienced meltdowns, with Bitcoin's market cap previously at 1200 billion USD rising to 2200 billion USD, and the overall crypto market cap increasing from 2300 billion USD to 4300 billion USD [1] - Bitcoin liquidations of 6 billion USD represent 60 basis points, and overall crypto liquidations of 19 billion USD represent 44 basis points [1] Decoupling & Market Dynamics - Complete decoupling of crypto markets from macro headwinds is unlikely; panic tends to affect all assets [1] - Crypto markets resemble commodity markets with potentially deep liquidity but concentrated market makers, who may reduce activity during times of fear [1] Institutional Perspective & Tokenization - Institutions are realizing tokenization is a better system for transferring and recording value, with major exchanges exploring tokenized trading systems [1] - Retail exposure to tokenization has largely come through memecoins, which, despite being frivolous, have proven the resiliency of the infrastructure [2] - Memecoins, transferring billions of dollars peer-to-peer, demonstrate the 999999% uptime needed to operate an exchange, proving the infrastructure's resilience [2] Adoption & Infrastructure - Critical infrastructure systems like Bitcoin and blockchain have been tested for almost 10 years, with institutional-scale testing for 3-4 years, leading to serious consideration by CIOs, CTOs, and business leaders [2][3] - Transitioning modern financial markets to this infrastructure is estimated to take a decade, with the process already 30-40% complete [4]