I recently had the pleasure of visiting the lovely mountain town of Lugano, Switzerland, whose appeal lies in that it is basically Italy but administered by the Swiss. That’s according to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, one of the prime backers of Plan B, a Bitcoin conference where I hosted a discussion on the growing trend of nation states embracing the original cryptocurrency.
The event had an upbeat vibe—not surprising since everyone there worshipped Bitcoin—but it was also clear there was trouble in paradise. It turns out there is a growing schism over Bitcoin’s codebase, and whether it should be modified to permit the blockchain to include more non-financial data.
The notion of including data unrelated to Bitcoin transactions is hardly new and, indeed, the very first block on the blockchain includes a reference to a newspaper headline about bank bailouts. Now, though, Bitcoin’s biggest and most influential group of coders, known as Core, are planning to tweak their software in order to significantly lift the restrictions on how much non-payment information can be included in a block.
For the Core crowd, this is a simple and pragmatic way to promote new uses for Bitcoin and, in the process, drum up extra fees for miners at a time when the blockchain’s lottery payment is 3.125 Bitcoins, and set to halve again in 2028. A fast-growing rival faction, though, wants nothing to do with the scheme and is promoting a Bitcoin client software of its own called Knots.
That faction’s software is led by an influential Bitcoin developer, who is a devout Catholic and reportedly named it Knots after the “whip of knots” Jesus used to drive money changers from a temple. According to a lawyer I spoke with on the Knots side, the software is necessary to protect the blockchain from what he decried as spammers and “scam adjacency” projects that promote things like Bitcoin NFTs.
If you’ve encountered Bitcoiners in person or online, you’re aware they’re not known for their tact. That is true of prominent figures from Bitcoin’s early days who have been denouncing each other on stage in Lugano and on X. These high profile partisans include Peter Todd and Jameson Lopp for the Core faction, and Nick Szabo and Luke Dashjr for the rival Knots sect.
This latest schism (you can read a helpful breakdown here) hearkens back to the Bitcoin block size wars that raged from 2015 to 2017, and ultimately saw the “small blockers”—who favored keeping Bitcoin blocks at 1MB—prevail over rivals who claimed boosting the blocks to 2MB or more would be more commercially viable. That fight produced bad blood that has lasted to this day.
In the current fight, Knots is still the smaller faction, but has already become the client of choice for over 20% of Bitcoin node operators. Its growing popularity lies not only in Knots’ position on expanding the blockchain, but from a perception that the Core crowd has grown arrogant and out-of-touch with Bitcoin’s core values. The Core folks, meanwhile, dismiss the Knots faction as lying trouble-makers.
I lack the authority to weigh in on much of this, other than to observe that this latest battle for the soul of Bitcoin reinforces what I’ve said for years: Bitcoin is a marvelous technology, but also a religion. And with any religion, there will be divisions between old-line believers and more modern adherents. Happily for the crowd in Lugano, there was a moment of unity that came with the unveiling of a restored Satoshi Nakamoto statue on the city’s beautiful lakefront. Bitcoin’s factions may be at war but there’s no doubt they still worship a common god.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em: JPMorgan Chase’s CEO continues to soften his longtime anti-crypto stance as his bank announced that it will let borrowers use Bitcoin and Ethereum for loan collateral by the end of year. (Bloomberg)
COIN upgrade: Coinbase’s forthcoming crypto token could be worth $12 billion to $34 billion, said a JPM analyst, who cited the token and the slowing growth of DEXes as reasons to upgrade the stock ahead of third-quarter earnings this week. (DL News)
Here we ICO again? In assessing Coinbase’s $375 million acquisition of Echo, which was founded by crypto influencer Cobie and helps token projects raise funds, one journalist speculated it could inaugurate the return of 2016-style initial coin offerings. (Bloomberg)
DAT doesn’t add up: Following a Fortune exposé pointing to potential insider trading ahead of public company pivots to digital asset treasuries, a new report provides evidence that insiders tied to some popular DATs are using share sales to circumvent token lockups. (Unchained)
Trump picks a CFTC chair: The White House selected longtime lawyer and crypto guy Mike Selig to lead the agency. The choice of Selig, which came after the Winklevii helped torpedo the original frontrunner, was hailed by industry vets who are eager to finalize a key bill that will divide responsibilities between the SEC and CFTC. (Politico)
MAIN CHARACTER OF THE WEEK
Changpeng Zhao, cofounder of Binance.
Samsul Said—Bloomberg/Getty Images
CZ was the easy choice for main character of the week after finally securing a Presidential pardon. Critics, pointing to a $2 billion deal involving the Trump family’s stablecoin and Binance, blasted the pardon as massively corrupt while many on Crypto Twitter claimed it was fair since CZ—who pleaded guilty—had allegedly been the target of a political prosecution.
MEME O’ THE MOMENT
In Lugano, Switzerland, Bitcoiners unveiled a refurbished statue of Satoshi Nakamoto.
@Globalstats11
Bitcoin devotees seeking to make a pilgrimage have a growing number of options. In addition to the refurbished Satoshi statue unveiled in Lugano, there is one in Budapest as well. Can a formal shrine—or perhaps a Bitcoin theme park—be far behind?
SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares in a transaction that would value Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker at as much as $800 billion, people familiar with the matter said, reclaiming the title of the world’s most valuable private company.
The details, discussed by SpaceX’s board of directors on Thursday at its Starbase hub in Texas, could change based on interest from insider sellers and buyers or other factors, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX is also exploring a possible initial public offering as soon as late next year, one of the people said.
Another person briefed on the matter said that the price under discussion for the sale of some employees and investors’ shares is higher than $400 apiece, which would value SpaceX at between $750 billion and $800 billion. The company wouldn’t raise any funds though this planned sale, though a successful offering at such levels would catapult it past the record of $500 billion valuation achieved by OpenAI in October.
Elon Musk on Saturday denied that SpaceX is raising money at a $800 billion valuation without addressing Bloomberg’s reporting on the planned offering of insiders’ shares.
“SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X.
The share sale price under discussion would be a substantial increase from the $212 a share set in July, when the company raised money and sold shares at a valuation of $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times earlier reported the $800 billion valuation target.
News of SpaceX’s valuation sent shares of EchoStar Corp., a satellite TV and wireless company, up as much as 18%. Last month, EchoStar had agreed to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $2.6 billion, adding to an earlier agreement to sell about $17 billion in wireless spectrum to Musk’s company.
The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit.
SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of more than 9,000 satellites that is far ahead of competitors including Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Leo.
Elite Group
SpaceX is among an elite group of companies that have the ability to raise funds at $100 billion-plus valuations while delaying or denying they have any plan to go public.
An IPO of the company at an $800 billion value would vault SpaceX into another rarefied group — the 20 largest public companies, a few notches below Musk’s Tesla Inc.
If SpaceX sold 5% of the company at that valuation, it would have to sell $40 billion of stock — making it the biggest IPO of all time, well above Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. The firm sold just 1.5% of the company in that offering, a much smaller slice than the majority of publicly traded firms make available.
A listing would also subject SpaceX to the volatility of being a public company, versus private firms whose valuations are closely guarded secrets. Space and defense company IPOs have had a mixed reception in 2025. Karman Holdings Inc.’s stock has nearly tripled since its debut, while Firefly Aerospace Inc. and Voyager Technologies Inc. have plunged by double-digit percentages since their debuts.
SpaceX executives have repeatedly floated the idea of spinning off SpaceX’s Starlink business into a separate, publicly traded company — a concept President Gwynne Shotwell first suggested in 2020.
However, Musk cast doubt on the prospect publicly over the years and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in 2024 that a Starlink IPO would be something that would take place more likely “in the years to come.”
The Information, citing people familiar with the discussions, separately reported on Friday that SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it’s aiming for an IPO of the entire company in the second half of next year.
A so-called tender or secondary offering, through which employees and some early shareholders can sell shares, provides investors in closely held companies such as SpaceX a way to generate liquidity.
SpaceX is working to develop its new Starship vehicle, advertised as the most powerful rocket ever developed to loft huge numbers of Starlink satellites as well as carry cargo and people to moon and, eventually, Mars.
The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.
The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.
Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.
The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.
The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).
Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.
Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.
“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.
Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.
That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.
“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”
Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.
“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”
A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.
“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”
While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.”
Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”
On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.
“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”
He said the US should help.
“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”
The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”
JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway.
Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”
Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies.
The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.
Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.
“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”