Gate Daily (October 17): Bitcoin faces Trump tariffs "TACO trading"; Trump hosts a high-level encryption cash donation dinner

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to show weakness and falls, temporarily reported at around $108,880 on October 17, with fears of the “TACO trade” related to Trump tariffs returning. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump will host a dinner inviting senior figures from the crypto assets industry, where attendees will donate cash during the event. UK media reports that Trump's second term has brought his family a billion dollars in crypto assets wealth.

Macro Events & Coin Circle Hotspots

1. U.S. President Trump hosted a dinner for the company committed to building a new banquet hall at the White House, with reports indicating attendees included executives from the largest Crypto Assets exchange in the U.S. and Ripple. According to a Wall Street Journal report on October 16, the dinner aims to raise funds for the banquet hall project proposed by Trump in July, which is expected to cost $250 million. This fundraising dinner comes as the U.S. government ends its 15th day of shutdown, with many federal agencies currently understaffed and some employees forced to take leave. Other attendees of the fundraising event included representatives from Meta, Google, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, and Microsoft.

2. During the second term of U.S. President Trump, his personal wealth significantly increased, with a large portion related to the vast Crypto Assets empire established by the President and his family. According to a Financial Times investigation, Trump's Crypto Assets investments generated over 1 billion dollars in pretax profits over the past year. Trump's son Eric confirmed to the media that the actual profits of the Trump family “could be even more.”

On October 15, Paxos mistakenly minted PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoins worth $300 trillion, calling it an “internal technical error.” Paxos stated, “This is an internal technical error. There is no security vulnerability. Customer funds are safe. We have resolved the root cause.” The incident occurred at 7:12 PM UTC on October 15, and just 22 minutes later, all coins were burned, with onlookers noticing the situation almost immediately. According to data from Nansen, after the news broke, PYUSD maintained its peg to the US dollar, but its price once fell by about 0.5%.

News Update

1. Bank of New York Mellon stated that it focuses on stablecoin infrastructure and is not considering issuing its own tokens at this time.

2. SEC Commissioner Peirce emphasized the importance of financial privacy, stating that tokenization is the “current focus of attention.”

3. JPMorgan: Recent market pullbacks may be driven by native cryptocurrency investors.

4. Florida legislative proposal intends to include Bitcoin and ETFs in the investment scope of state funds and retirement funds.

5. The American real estate investment company Cardone Capital reveals an increase in holdings of 200 BTC.

6. Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald is expected to raise $25 billion in wealth through Tether financing.

7. Ghana plans to introduce Crypto Assets legislation by the end of the year.

8. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange plans to launch contracts tied to sporting events and economic indicators to compete with Kalshi.

9. Charles Schwab CEO: Expects to launch cryptocurrency trading services in the first half of 2026.

10. Ripple acquired GTreasury for $1 billion.

Market Trends

1. Latest news on Bitcoin: [Bitcoin] (/buy-bitcoin-btc) continues its soft fall, currently reported at around 108,880 USD, with a liquidation of 234 million USD in the past 24 hours, primarily from long positions;

2. The three major U.S. stock indices fell on October 16, as concerns over bad debts at two regional banks raised worries about credit quality, further highlighting the fragility of the bull market. However, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, dominated by chip stocks, still maintained gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 301.07 points, a decrease of 0.65%, at 45,952.24 points; the S&P 500 index fell 41.99 points, a decrease of 0.63%, at 6,629.07 points; and the Nasdaq Composite Index decreased by 107.54 points, a drop of 0.47%, closing at 22,562.54 points. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose by 32.96 points, an increase of 0.49%, closing at 6,800.02 points.

(Source: Gate)

3. In the Gate BTC/USDT liquidation map, based on the current 108,174.20 USDT, Bitcoin, if it falls to around 106,955 USD, the accumulated liquidation amount for long positions exceeds 102 million USD; if it rises to around 112,177 USD, the accumulated liquidation amount for short positions exceeds 681 million USD. The liquidation amount for shorts is significantly higher than that for longs, so it is recommended to reasonably control the leverage ratio to avoid triggering large-scale liquidations during market fluctuations.

4. In the past 24 hours, BTC spot inflow was 4.11 billion USD, outflow was 4.47 billion USD, with a net outflow of 360 million USD.

(Source: Coinglass)

5. In the past 24 hours, contracts such as $DOT, $XAUT, $XPIN, $PAXG, and $BAS have seen a net outflow, indicating trading opportunities.

X KOL Selected Insights

Phyrex Ni (@Phyrex_Ni): “Today's task is of hellish difficulty. If the fall on October 11th had some clues, this time's decline, although not as strong at the moment, indeed lacks a clear reason for the drop. Of course, this doesn't mean we need to find a reason for every drop, but if we can't find a reason for the downward movement, it becomes very difficult for me to judge whether or not to enter the market.”

“Knowing the reason can clearly indicate the changes in trends. For example, the incentive on October 11 was the China-U.S. trade issue, but now the China-U.S. trade has gradually eased. From the statements of the Chinese side and the U.S. Bessenet, we can clearly see remarks that exacerbate the conflict between the two countries. Moreover, Trump is still preparing to meet Xi Jinping, indicating that the market already has expectations of TACO. However, today's fall indeed has no clear reason, which makes it, at least for me personally, very difficult to judge the short-term trend. The reason is like a reference point; without a reference point, it feels like groping in the dark. My reasoning for the decline is similar to the data of K-line experts, just different in expression. Currently, the only potential relationship I see is the GDP loss caused by the government's ongoing shutdown.”

“Looking back at the data of Bitcoin, the increase in turnover rate indeed shows a trend of rising panic, but the scope of panic is still limited, and it has eased a lot compared to October 11. It should be that many investors are now more cautious after the last leverage explosion. According to URPD data, it is still the loss-making investors who are the main sellers, while earlier investors have not shown much reaction. The current chip structure is still within the support range, and there is no large-scale panic from major investors at the support level. As long as there is no collapse at the support, it should not be a big problem.”

Today's Outlook

1. Eurozone September Consumer Price Index Final (MoM), previous value was 0.1%

2. Eurozone September Consumer Price Index final value (year-on-year), previous value was 2.2%

3. U.S. September new home starts (annualized month-over-month rate), previous value was -8.5%