SATS IPO, BTC Election Outlook & Nation-State Adoption | BMTV Oct. 20, 2026

Grace Remington (0:01)

Good morning, happy Tuesday, and welcome into BMTV. I'm Grace Remington with Sean Hagan. We got a packed house for you today. Jacomo Zuko, president of Plan B Network, joins us along with Eleanor Terrett, host of Crypto In America, Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3, Lane Castleman, co-CEO and president of blockchain.com, and Jeff Walton, chief risk officer of Strive, joining us to discuss the new launch of SATS. But how you doing today? We got a lot to get to.

Sean Hagan (0:29)

It's going to be a good day, a lot in the news cycle, and we're going to try to break all of it down succinctly for y'all watching.

Grace Remington (0:36)

All right, well, let's start with our headlines. JP Morgan saying, it's too early to treat Bitcoin as a diversifier in a balanced portfolio because its relationship with other assets remains unstable, even as volatility declines. The bank's new report describes Bitcoin as a speculative asset and hedge against monetary easing, which says lower volatility, more stable correlations and clearer regulation could strengthen its portfolio role over time. US spot Bitcoin ETFs brought in a net $526.6 million on Monday, their biggest daily inflow in nearly a month. BlackRock's iBit accounted for all of that gain, attracting $665.2 million and more than offsetting net inflows across the other funds.

Switzerland's financial regulator, FINMA, has approved its first retail ETF that invests directly in Bitcoin, with other providers also seeking approval. The approval requires custody safeguards and clear risk disclosures, while FINMA warns that investors still face Bitcoin's high volatility.

Nasdaq 100 futures fell about 6 tenths of a percentage point today as AI-linked stocks weakened again and Brent crude hit a five-month high on supply concerns. CoreWeave and Nebius each dropped nearly 5 % before the open, reversing some of Monday's tech rebound as investors awaited major earnings reports. OpenAI is seeking about $30 billion in new funding and once investor commitments before Anthropix expected IPO in mid-November, according to Reuters, the round could value OpenAI above $1.4 trillion with SoftBank, MGX and other existing backers and talks as both AI companies pursue many of the same investors. And France's government bond yields climbed today with the 10-year near its highest level in more than 24 years as protest groups announced more demonstrations for Saturday. The difference between French and German borrowing cost widened as investors sought safety in German bonds while the unrest complicates France's efforts to reduce its deficit.

And with that, let's go to the live markets, Bitcoin trading around $81,500 today. It's down 0.8% of a percentage point on the morning. Over on Wall Street, the SPY and QQQ, under pressure this morning, SPY down about 0.1%, Triple Q down 0.4% of a percentage point. As yesterday's rebound, already losing steam with concerns about the cost of financing the AI build-out. Over in the bond market, the 10-year yield down 2 basis points this morning, sitting at 5.12%, the 30-year at 5.46%. Gold also slipping this morning, trading around $4,125 per ounce. That's down half a percentage point from yesterday. And oil still above $100 a barrel with WTI, trading at $106 a barrel this morning. It's up 2.3% and Brent crude. Flat on the day, but hanging out around $110 a barrel. Sean, anything sticking out to you so far?

Sean Hagan (3:51)

Yeah, what's sticking out to me is we're still chopping sideways around $82K. It reminds me of back when Bitcoin was at $58K for a while. So, knock on wood. Hopefully, we don't stay here for quite as long as we were stuck in $58K purgatory. You know, interesting to see how oil is reacting. You know, we had several days in a row over the past couple of weeks where oil was trending in the right direction. Now, it's trending back strongly in the wrong direction. And we'll unpack later in the show as to why that is and what the market's pricing in for the future.

Grace Remington (4:22)

Well, let's start today with the situation that is unwinding in France, and that is the country reeling after one of its most violent weekends of protest in years. Hundreds of thousands marching in the cities from Paris to Lyon and Marseille, angry over rising prices, political gridlock, and struggling public services like schools and health care. Some demonstrations turned violent with buildings and cars set on fire, and more than 2,000 arrests. This unrest comes as France's minority government tries to pass a budget and get its deficit under control. And investors are watching closely. They're already worried about France's debt. And now they're asking whether its government can actually pass a plan.

So Sean, when you look at this story in the market, how much is this about France's debt itself? And how much is this about whether the government can govern?