Crypto Froth Watch: Bullish IPO Pops 200% as Bitcoin and Ethereum Near Highs

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Investing, Business

4.8 • 786 Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bitcoin hits $124K and Ethereum surges close to a new record as altcoin mania returns. Meanwhile, institutional exchange Bullish rockets 200% in its IPO before plunging—raising questions about froth in the crypto cycle. NLW unpacks the wild price action, the macro forces driving the rally, and whether this bull run is overheating or just getting started. Brought to you by: Grayscale offers more than 20 different crypto investment products. Explore the full suite at grayscale.com. Invest in your share of the future. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Grayscale.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.grayscale.com//?utm_source=blockworks&utm_medium=paid-other&utm_campaign=brand&utm_id=&utm_term=&utm_content=audio-thebreakdown)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast: https://pod.link/1438693620 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakdownBW Subscribe to the newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownBW

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.
0:09.3	It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world.
0:18.4	What's going on, guys? It is Thursday, August 14th, and today we got some crypto bubble talk. Before we get into that, however, if you are enjoying the breakdown, please go subscribe to it, give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dive deeper into the conversation, come join us on the Breakers Discord. You can find a link in the show notes or go to bit.ly slash breakdown pod. Well, friends, Bitcoin is at an all-time high. All coins are ripping and crypto is taking over
0:41.0	the public markets. The question is, are we starting to get a little overheated?
0:45.9	This crypto cycle has been different from the start, and as we get deeper into the bull run,
0:49.5	it's becoming even more strange. The cycle, of course, started with the institutional
0:53.5	narrative.
0:59.1	Michael Saylor had already been smashing the buy button for years, but the news that BlackRock was applying to launch a Bitcoin ETF dragged the crypto market out of the depths of winter.
1:03.9	As the cycle progressed, we got pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and corporates all starting
1:08.3	to buy in. Then came the crypto treasury companies with a
1:11.6	wide range of, let's call it, seriousness and legitimacy. By this stage, even old head
1:16.6	tradfai traders have Bitcoin and Ethereum sitting in their dashboards. To their eyes, they're
1:21.0	watching for the first time as crypto markets move 5 or 10% in a day, alongside various equity
1:26.4	and commodity trades that aren't offering anywhere
1:28.7	near the same short-term opportunity. And for those who want even more volatility, we have a range
1:33.8	of early-stage crypto-treasury companies and IPOs taking off like a rocket. And it is in that
1:38.9	context that institutional exchange bullish had its extremely frothy IPO yesterday. The private IPO price ended up being
1:45.5	$37, about 15% higher than the top of the range reported earlier in the week. That reporting,
1:51.1	by the way, was about bullish upsizing their offer and raising the price by 60% due to a massive
1:55.9	wave of demand. Bloomberg later reported that the deal was 20 times oversubscribed.
2:01.8	So what do you think happened?
2:05.3	The first trade crossed the tape at $90 yesterday.
	...

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