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Good morning!

Here are today’s leading headlines:

  • Major cryptocurrencies fluctuate while HYPE takes the lead; BTC priced at $77,000
  • HYPE reaches a new all-time high of over $62 yesterday, with ETF inflows totaling $70 million
  • Mark Cuban has sold a substantial portion of his Bitcoin, expressing disappointment compared to gold and the wider crypto market
  • A new quantum defense strategy has been proposed by American Fortress, aiming to secure Satoshi's Bitcoin from potential quantum threats
  • MegaETH has ceased its Terminal program and will conclude its points season ahead of schedule

Mark Cuban Sells Most of His Bitcoin

Mark Cuban has divested the majority of his Bitcoin investments after realizing it did not serve as an effective hedge against a declining dollar and geopolitical instability, particularly during the recent tensions in Iran.

This billionaire investor, who previously referred to Bitcoin as a superior alternative to gold and had a crypto portfolio heavily invested in it, indicated that the failure of Bitcoin to perform during the Iran conflict was the tipping point. While gold prices soared, Bitcoin struggled to gain traction, despite the dollar's weakening—precisely the situation where the “digital gold” theory was expected to shine.

Cuban remarked: “I always thought it was a better version of gold than gold, but gold just skyrocketed to $5,000, while Bitcoin fell. Every time the dollar weakened, Bitcoin should have risen. It’s not the hedge I anticipated.”

His disillusionment extends to the broader crypto landscape, which he believes has yet to discover a practical use case for the average consumer. This includes NFTs, which he hesitated to declare obsolete but described as “disappointing.”

This sentiment seems to be gaining traction, as more long-term holders are beginning to sell off their assets in 2026. Unfortunately, this trend appears more likely to persist than to reverse in the near future.

A Startup Claims It Can Protect Satoshi’s 1.1 Million Bitcoin From Quantum Threats

Researchers at AmericanFortress have released a proposal stating that their multi-layer quantum defense mechanism can safeguard Satoshi Nakamoto’s 1.1 million dormant Bitcoin (along with others) from future quantum threats through a soft fork that would freeze and shield unprotected addresses.

The issue they aim to resolve is the “Satoshi problem,” which has plagued previous quantum defense proposals. Approximately 6.9 million Bitcoin are held in addresses with exposed public keys, making them vulnerable to any quantum computer capable of executing Shor’s algorithm against secp256k1 elliptic curve cryptography. BIP-361, authored by Jameson Lopp, suggested freezing those coins if they don’t transition to quantum-proof methods, but Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson pointed out a critical flaw: “1.7 million coins can’t do that. It’s not feasible. Of those, 1.1 million belong to Satoshi.” If Satoshi is deceased or the keys are lost, there’s no way to make the transition voluntarily.

AmericanFortress’s solution diverges from traditional methods. Instead of necessitating migration or enforcing a freeze, their proposal utilizes a soft fork to establish a protected dormant state, effectively placing a quantum-resistant cryptographic barrier around at-risk addresses without requiring the owner to move the coins or prove ownership. This system incorporates multiple post-quantum signature techniques to thwart any potential quantum attacker from exploiting exposed public keys.

The proposal is currently undergoing initial peer review and has not yet been submitted as an official BIP. Additionally, a parallel proposal called PACTs from Paradigm researcher Dan Robinson presents another approach, allowing holders to timestamp cryptographic proofs of ownership now and subsequently unlock coins using quantum-resistant STARK proofs if the network freezes vulnerable addresses.

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

  • Major cryptocurrencies are stable while HYPE leads again; BTC steady at $77,000; ETH up 1% to $2,130; SOL up 2% to $88; HYPE up 5% to $61
  • NEAR (+32%), FET (+13%), TIA (+13%) and WLD (+13%) were among the top gainers
  • Oil fell 2% to $98.50; Gold remains steady at $4,513
  • Stock futures are positive with the Nasdaq slightly up as the US and Iran show signs of progress towards peace
  • Blockchain.com has filed an S-1 with the SEC in confidence for a US IPO anticipated before the year's end, joining SpaceX, Kraken, and Grayscale in the upcoming 2026 crypto listing wave; it had previously considered going public at a $14 billion valuation in 2022 before a 2023 Series E round significantly adjusted that figure downward
  • a16z-backed Syndicate Labs announced its closure on Thursday after five years of developing Ethereum rollup infrastructure, citing a significant decline in demand for reusable rollup tools
  • Terraform Labs’ bankruptcy administrator filed an amended complaint on Monday alleging that Jane Street utilized a private Telegram group called “Bryce’s Secret” (managed by a former Terraform intern who later joined Jane Street) to gain non-public insights about TerraUSD's stability before liquidating its entire $192 million UST position on May 7, 2022, just hours before the stablecoin lost its peg

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

📈 Myriad Market of the Day

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

  • NFT leaders mostly declined; Punks down 1.5% at 33.5 ETH, BAYC down 2% at 9.54 ETH, Pudgy down 2% at 4.8 ETH; Hypurr down 7% at 315 HYPE
  • Slonkz (+16%) and Milady (+6%) were the notable gainers

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