ROSS IS FREE! Trump pardons Silk Road creator after 11 years in prison | Bitcoin News by CoinCorner

Transcript

It's been a wild week as Trump launches his own meme coin just days before returning to the White House. Now he's back in office, he also kept his campaign promise to the libertarian and Bitcoin communities by pardoning Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink makes a case for a $700,000 Bitcoin price.

Welcome back to Bitcoin news brought to you by Coin Corner. I'm your host Alex Glass. Now let's get straight into this week's top stories.

Now first things first, let's take a look at Bitcoin's price. After last week's run of consistent growth, volatility has crept back into the market. As Trump's inauguration drew closer, the market seemed unsure how to price this event. However, Bitcoin managed to break new all-time highs of $19,000 during the buildup to the event.

Unfortunately, it then swiftly came crashing back down, seeing fluctuations of around 10%. The price is still trading above $100,000, which appears to be turning into a new support level that could be bullish moving forward if it manages to avoid dropping any further.

But what caused this sudden pump and dump and increased volatility? Well, just days before the inauguration, Trump launched his own cryptocurrency meme coin. The coin, which lacked any intrinsic value, soared to enormous highs, achieving around a 1,000,000% gain and a massive market cap of over $10 billion.

It's unclear how much Trump will personally make out of this venture, but the company responsible for setting it up owned 80% of the supply at launch. Despite there being a clear disclaimer that the coin is not intended to be an investment opportunity or security, many have criticized the venture, suggesting it's predatory and many will likely get hurt as it appears to be a typical pump and dump.

What makes this even worse is that following the success of Trump's coin, the company then launched Melania coin as well, but that didn't garner as much support. Controversial as this was, the fact that these projects happened at all is overall positive as it shows openness towards the crypto industry, and it may have contributed to Bitcoin's price surge before the inauguration.

The market did appear to be disappointed that during Trump's inauguration address, there was no mention of Bitcoin or establishing a strategic reserve, which many had hoped for. This is likely why we saw the price retrace. That being said, though, many experts in the space did not anticipate the announcement of a Bitcoin strategic reserve on day one. According to Polymarket predictions, there is still a 60% chance that it will happen in 2025.

Still on the topic of Trump returning to the White House, on his first day following the inauguration, he stayed true to his campaign promise and pardoned the creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, Ross Ulbricht. The Silk Road aimed to be a truly free market where people could transact anonymously without the interference of regulation and government. It was also one of the first major online platforms to use Bitcoin as a form of payment.

The private nature of the site made it a popular place to sell illicit goods and services such as narcotics and firearms, which eventually led to its shutdown in 2013. For his role in setting it up, in 2015 Ross was given two life sentences plus 40 years in prison.

During his time behind bars, both the Libertarian Party and Bitcoin community have been advocating for his release and said his case is an example of government overreach. Last year, on Trump's campaign trail, he promised that he would support the movement and free Ross on day one if he was elected. Today we can report that he has done exactly that by signing a full, unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht.

Also in the news, we have some optimism coming from the CEO of Bank of America, who said that the financial industry will jump into crypto payments if regulators allow it. Brian Monahan said to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos that if the rules come in and make it a real thing that you can actually do business with, you'll find the banking system will come hard on the transactional side of it.

He went on to say that this would just be another form of payment, and they already have hundreds of patents on blockchain. "We know how to enter the field," he said. So, if Trump continues his enthusiasm towards Bitcoin and crypto, we could be in for some exciting developments, potentially with the use of Bitcoin as a mainstream medium of exchange.

Also in Davos, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink shared his forecast that Bitcoin could reach $700,000. Fink's price prediction came during an interview where he described Bitcoin's use case as a store of value during times of intensifying currency debasement and global economic instability, acting as a hedge against vulnerabilities in traditional financial systems.

He remarked that he had been speaking to a sovereign wealth fund that was considering between a 2% and a 5% allocation to the asset. He said that if similar allocations were made across the wider institutional world, this would lead to a Bitcoin price of between $500,000 and $700,000.

This undeniably bullish projection from the CEO of the world's largest asset manager demonstrates that Bitcoin is truly becoming a legitimate asset that institutions are taking seriously.

Now for our final story: the state of Oklahoma in the US has introduced a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act to protect and grow Oklahoma's financial future. Oklahoma City Representative Cody Mayard, who announced the bill, described Bitcoin as a decentralized form of money that cannot be manipulated or created by government entities.

"It is the ultimate store of value for those who believe in financial freedom and sound money principles, and this new bill will help to protect the hard-earned money of Oklahoma's citizens," he said.

This stance is incredibly bullish and perfectly outlines the benefits many see in Bitcoin. However, the act will need to be considered in a legislative session starting on the 3rd of February, and if enacted, it will not come into effect until November.

Unfortunately, that is all we have for you today. So, as always, make sure to hit that subscribe button down below, and I'll see you next week with more Bitcoin news.