Will Bitcoin Become Legal Tender in the U.S.? Plus, Why Crypto Isn’t Waiting for CLARITY

Jennifer Sanasie (0:00)

On today's Public Keys from the New York Stock Exchange, Bitcoin sees a bullish bounce post-Fed rate hike. Jack Mallers' vision for a financial system powered by Bitcoin, the Clarity Act, falls short in the Senate. What happens to crypto's policy push as Washington heads towards the midterms and Anthropic pushes its highly anticipated IPO to November? I'm Jen Sanasie. Let's get into it.

Happy Monday, everyone. Let's take a look at what's going on in the market. Bitcoin rocketed past $85,000 this morning as risk assets started the week higher. S&P 500 futures were up over 1% with Nasdaq 100 futures gaining roughly 1%.

Dollars little changed. Oil also in focus. Brent fell for a fourth straight session as markets weigh Middle East supply risks against diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between Washington and Tehran. President Trump told Fox News he would probably be open to meeting Iranian President Massoud Pesachkian at the UN. General Assembly this week. Lower oil prices could help ease inflation pressures while investors are also looking ahead to Thursday's meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington. Trade artificial intelligence and Iran are expected to be among the issues on the agenda. And Anthropic is now targeting November for its IPO. Later than the October debut investors had expected. The Wall Street Journal reported the extra time would allow Anthropic to show investors the third quarter financials as it competes with OpenAI following the launch of Astra earlier this month. All right, let's get to our first guest now. Jack Mallers recently stepped down as CEO of Twenty One Capital, the Bitcoin Treasury Company. He helped take public to focus full time on Strike, the Bitcoin Financial Services Company he founded. Now he's expanding Strike into lending and payments while charting an independent path. Joining us now is Strike CEO Jack Mallers. Hey Jack.

Jack Mallers (1:50)

Hey, how are you?

Jennifer Sanasie (1:51)

I'm doing well. How are you doing?

Jack Mallers (1:53)

I'm great.

Jennifer Sanasie (1:55)

Well, it's awesome to see you. It's been a while since we last spoke and a lot has changed for you. I just want to start here. I know you've spoken about it before, but not on this show. Talk to us about the decision to leave Twenty One.

Jack Mallers (2:08)

Oh, for me, it's pretty simple.

When the board and I disagree on a strategic path forward, I shouldn't be the CEO of the business. And so tether deep, close friends of mine. And then also we align, I think, strategically with our world views, decentralization, hard assets, global inclusive products. But when it came to Twenty One, there was a disagreement. And I think the best path for me and for Twenty One and for Strike is I will continue to chair and lead Strike and build financial products for Bitcoiners. And the board at Twenty One will drive the direction that they think is viable for the business and everybody wins. So I think Twenty One has an incredibly bright future. Unfortunately, it doesn't involve me, but I think that's OK. And we're all on Team Bitcoin, which at the end of the day is my true purpose and what I think ultimately matters to everybody, including Twenty One and Strike.

Jennifer Sanasie (2:59)

We got to talk about Bitcoin in just a second. But I got to ask you, are you able to provide any more insight into the strategic disagreement that happened at Twenty One?

Jack Mallers (3:11)

No, I mean, listen, Bitcoin is to be defined by nobody.

It's in the eye of the beholder. It's a utility that anybody can use for whatever they want. And so I think Tether and I, my co-founders, we view Bitcoin 99% the same. But when it came to the opportunity and the direction within the capital markets, I mean, mind you, when we started Twenty One, the world and the capital markets and Bitcoin Treasury, all of everything around us was entirely different than by the time we got approved. We got approved when it was 12 months later. And by the time we got approved, the markets were expecting of us a different strategy. And when Tether and I sat down, we were like, okay, well, what's the path forward? Unfortunately, they were very different realities. And that's ultimately it. There's so much to do in Bitcoin. There's so much value to provide. This is such a big, optimistic, hopeful technology. And I think it's very reasonable that really bright, passionate friends can disagree on the path forward. And so there are many, many, many ways to win in this industry and provide value and help people with this new technology. And we're going to help people and push Bitcoin forward, but under wearing two different hats, so to speak.