Michael Saylor Lands Forbes Cover as "The Bitcoin Alchemist"

Michael Saylor Lands Forbes Cover as "The Bitcoin Alchemist"

Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy, has been featured on the Forbes daily cover as “The Bitcoin Alchemist,” with two separate articles analyzing his company’s aggressive Bitcoin strategy.

The cover story, "MicroStrategy Isn’t Just A Giant Bitcoin Bet—It’s A Revolution In Corporate Finance," presents MicroStrategy’s approach as a financial innovation, while the editor’s pick, "Before Bitcoin, Michael Saylor And MicroStrategy Took Another Wild Ride," revisits the company’s past financial history before its pivot to Bitcoin.

Crypto Twitter reacted with skepticism, with many calling it a “top signal” based on past market cycles. Users pointed to the Forbes covers of Sam Bankman-Fried in 2021 and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao later that year, both of whom later faced legal troubles, with SBF still serving his 25-year sentence.

Others pointed to this as the so-called “magazine cover indicator” indicating major media features often mark market peaks. Despite this theory (which has been proven wrong btw), Bitcoin surged to $106,000 today, nearing a new all-time high.

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Ross Ulbricht Wallet Loses $12M on Raydium

One of Bitcoin’s earliest pioneers, Ross Ulbricht, just got wrecked in the crypto trenches, losing $12 million in a liquidity mishap on Solana’s Raydium. The wallet unexpectedly received 50% of the ROSS token supply as a donation, and instead of manually selling, attempted to provide liquidity on Raydium.

The first mistake was initializing a pool using Raydium’s Constant-Product Market Maker (CPMM) instead of the more secure Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker (CLMM). This mispricing let a Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot instantly drain $1.5 million worth of tokens, causing ROSS to crash 90%. A second attempt repeated the error; leading to another $10.5 million loss.

In total, 40% of the ROSS token supply was wiped out, while the bot made off with just $600,000. Despite the disaster, Ulbricht’s wallet still holds 10% of the tokens, now worth only $200,000. He, or the wallet’s operator, has since correctly added liquidity to a CLMM pool; stabilizing the remaining supply.

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ECB Rejects Bitcoin for EU Reserves as Czech Bank Explores It

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde ruled out Bitcoin as a reserve asset for the Eurozone, citing concerns over liquidity, security, and financial crime risks. "I’m confident that bitcoin will not enter the reserves of any of the central banks of the General Council," Lagarde stated following the ECB’s latest 25-basis-point rate cut.

Meanwhile, the Czech National Bank (CNB) approved a proposal to study Bitcoin’s viability as a reserve asset, despite opposition from the country’s finance minister. CNB Governor defended Bitcoin, suggesting up to 5% of the central bank’s $146 billion holdings could be allocated to BTC. While the Czech Republic is in the EU, it does not use the euro, meaning its decision will not impact Eurozone policy.

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Kraken Relaunches Crypto Staking in the US

Kraken has reintroduced staking services for US customers nearly two years after shutting them down following SEC charges. Clients in 39 states can now stake 17 assets, including ETH, SOL, DOT, and ADA, with bonded staking options and slashing insurance from a third-party provider. This comes as the Trump administration rolls back SEC policies that previously cracked down on crypto staking.

"We have long been talking about how best to offer this product and bring staking back to the U.S., because we believe it's so important as a foundational element of crypto," said Kraken’s Global Head of Consumer Mark Greenberg. Earlier this month, President Trump appointed Mark Uyeda as interim SEC Chair, signaling a shift in regulatory stance, giving more freedom to CEXs like Kraken.

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Data of the Day

Hackers stole $73.9 million across 19 incidents in January, a ninefold increase from December, according to Immunefi. The largest breach targeted Singapore-based crypto exchange Phemex, which lost $69.1 million, while DeFi platform Moby Trade suffered a $2.5 million exploit.

Despite the monthly surge, overall losses declined 44% year-over-year compared to January 2024. Centralized finance (CeFi) platforms remained the primary target, accounting for 93% of losses, while DeFi saw $4.8 million drained across 18 incidents.

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More Breaking News

• Tesla reports a $600M Bitcoin gain in Q4 after adopting new accounting rules that allow companies to reflect the market value of crypto holdings.
• TRUMP, the US President's official Solana memecoin, can now be used to buy merchandise, including watches, perfumes, and sneakers, via Solana Pay.
• Norway’s sovereign wealth fund now has over $355M in indirect Bitcoin exposure, marking a 153% increase year-over-year, according to K33 Research.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell says banks can serve crypto clients as long as they manage risks, signaling a shift in regulatory stance.
• El Salvador passes a Bitcoin law amendment to comply with IMF loan terms, agreeing to stop accepting tax payments in BTC and phase out the Chivo wallet.
• Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss says the exchange will not hire MIT grads unless the university removes ex-SEC Chair Gary Gensler from its faculty.
• Paradigm co-leads a $24M Series A for zero-knowledge proof startup Irreducible, which aims to improve ZKP efficiency using FPGA chips.
• Grayscale launches the Bitcoin Miners ETF (MNRS) to provide investors with exposure to Bitcoin mining firms and infrastructure without direct BTC investment.

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