Wintermute: Bitcoin Wavers Between $85,000 and $94,000 Range, Macro and US Stock Earnings to Determine Next Move

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams posted this morning that the original holder of Uniswap.com once demanded a seven-figure sum for the domain, but the Uniswap team declined to pay. Subsequently, SBF purchased the domain for a seven-figure amount and directed it to a Uniswap fork project. Adams noted that the subsequent malicious use of the domain served as the basis for Uniswap’s legal team to ultimately acquire the domain for free, though he did not disclose specific legal procedures or the exact transaction timeline.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin briefly surged past $82,000, currently trading at $81,820, with a 0.78% gain in the past 24 hours.

According to EmberCN’s monitoring, a crypto whale that sold ETH in August for an approximate profit of $3.7 million has repurchased ETH today. Over the past hour, the whale transferred $40 million in USDC to Binance, and has since withdrawn 7,567 ETH worth roughly $20 million from the exchange. The whale has repeatedly executed ETH trades on the 21st of each month: it bought $21 million worth of ETH on July 21, sold ETH on August 21 to pocket ~$3.7 million in profit, and repurchased ETH again on September 21.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing to relax internal control audit requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a move that could cost U.S. accounting firms over $4 billion annually in related fees. According to the SEC’s May proposal, public companies with a public float market capitalization below $2 billion will no longer need an auditor’s attestation on internal financial controls—up from the current $700 million threshold. Additionally, newly listed companies, regardless of size, will be exempt from this requirement for their first five years post-IPO. The SEC estimates the change will exempt roughly 1,700 companies, or 27% of all listed firms, from auditor attestation. A prior U.S. Government Accountability Office analysis found that after companies meet the current threshold and begin undergoing auditor internal control attestation, median audit fees rise by approximately 13%. Data from Ideagen Audit Analytics shows that companies potentially eligible for the exemption paid around $3.8 billion in audit fees last year, translating to an estimated $4.3 billion in related revenue for accounting firms. The Big Four accounting firms—EY, Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG—have all opposed the relaxed rules, arguing that even if independent attestation is scrapped, some internal control tests will still be required in regular audits, meaning actual cost savings for companies may be lower than expected. Investor groups have also raised concerns about the full five-year exemption for newly listed firms. SEC Chair Paul Atkins is advancing a series of deregulatory measures, including cuts to quarterly reporting requirements, and positions these reforms as part of efforts to reduce listing costs and encourage more companies to go public via IPOs.

Galaxy Research Head Alex Thorn wrote in a post that Bitcoin's weekly closing price has reclaimed its 50-week moving average (50W MA) for the first time in 45 weeks. Thorn noted that historically, Bitcoin reclaiming the 50W MA is often regarded as a key confirmation signal that a bear market bottom has formed. Currently, BTC has risen approximately 29% over the past 35 days.

According to HTX market data, Ethereum briefly broke through $2,700 and has now pulled back to $2,694, with a 24-hour increase of 2.49%.