The suits have arrived, and Bitcoin enthusiasts are now the latest sensation in financial markets.
This narrative has unfolded throughout the year, culminating dramatically in the bitcoin price drop at Bitcoin Asia 2025. Bitcoin, the most vocal critique of the controlled fiat monetary system, is now diving headfirst into traditional finance.
What were once Cypherpunks have transformed into suitcoiners, reaching their zenith as stonkcoiners.
The rebellious youth have repented for their past misdeeds. The prodigal son has returned — in lavish, greedy splendor.
We, the geeky outsiders once focused on creating a better world, have now become advocates for regulated, permissioned securities — expertly leveraged and financially optimized for maximum bitcoin-per-share. The principles of financial gravity have been disregarded, and even the most ardent rebel has abandoned most of their ethics now that Wall Street is willing to pay $2, $3, or $5 for a dollar of bitcoin.
At Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong, the atmosphere was also turned upside-down. The attendees gathered, not for discussions on self-custody or cypherpunk ideals, but for the political bigwigs and financial manipulators. (The term “sycophants” springs to mind.)
“The balance sheet is becoming the P&L,” stated Alexandre Laizet, CEO of Europe’s largest treasury firm on stage. He wasn’t just asserting that treasury firms have transitioned into banks, utilizing their balance sheets for profit; he suggested that the balance sheet itself is all that matters to bitcoin treasury companies. When you have bitcoin-per-infinitely-printable share, profits hold little importance.
“This is what you should do as a rational player in the market.”
Around 200 companies, with Strategy and Metaplanet (the main sponsor of Bitcoin Asia) as the most prominent advocates for this movement, are actively extracting capital from markets to invest in bitcoin. Record attendance and engagement metrics abound — from viewers to sales. Everyone immersed in Bitcoinland can feel the surge, the growth, the relentless flow of innovation and development. Grasping Bitcoin has never been so straightforward, and we’ve seen unprecedented numbers of participants…
…yet, the price continues to drift from a hyped $125,000 down to the $118,204 entry mark for Nakamoto’s $679 million purchase, settling around $111,000 during the conference, before plunging to a low of below $108,000 — coinciding directly with the bullish rhetoric of speakers on stage.
The drone display on Thursday illuminated the Hong Kong night sky with stunning Bitcoin visuals, aptly symbolizing the current chaos. Showcasing a perplexing 21-divided-by-infinity sign, it was a direct inversion of Knut Svanholm’s renowned everything-divided-by-21-million claim:
All 20,000 attendees require urgent bitcoin price therapy after enduring days of optimistic statements from the Nakamoto Stage, only to be contradicted by the stark, bold price chart displayed behind them.
From the Nakamoto Stage in Hong Kong, David Bailey appeared confident and celebratory, commending our efforts as Bitcoin enthusiasts — while the audience gazed at the large, SALT-sponsored bitcoin price on the screen behind him, persistent in its descent and obliterating significant amounts of wealth with each downward shift.
The dissonance has never been more pronounced between the bullish declarations on stage, the convincing narratives presented by numerous treasury companies, and the harsh reality of a continually dropping price.
It seems that the more David Bailey and others tout their bitcoin-acquisition vehicle stocks, the worse our market performs and the lower the price plummets.
Perhaps Mr. Bailey possesses far greater cojones than I do, or a reckless YOLO attitude unmatched in human history, but had I just squandered around $60 million of investor funds without any results to show for it, I’d adopt a more humble and cautious posture.
Results speak for themselves, and the outcome is certainly less than appealing.
It’s also symbolic that in Hong Kong, 2025 is designated as the year of the snake — as the crowning achievement of cypherpunks weaves its way through financialized treasury firms, consuming their own tails along the journey.
Here we are, at yet another stop on the Bitcoin festival tour, astonished by how everything that was once sacred has become profane: Everything is upside down.
This is Joakim Book, reporting from a world that has lost its coherence.
