Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin treasury earned the company more than $17 billion in unrealized profit after BTC’s price reached $100,000 for the first time in its storied 16-year history. Meanwhile, viral influencer Haliey Welch has courted controversy following the launch of her memecoin Hawk Tuah (HAWK), which plummeted more than 90% in four hours.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin treasury hits $17B in profits

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin buying spree has earned the company more than $17 billion in unrealized profit after the BTC price smashed through $100,000 for the first time in history.

According to MSTR Tracker, MicroStrategy was sitting on nearly $40.8 billion worth of Bitcoin when the price crossed the historic milestone. The business intelligence firm, which has pivoted to becoming a “Bitcoin treasury company,” has roughly 402,000 BTC on its balance sheet as of Dec. 5.

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Source: MSTR Tracker

MicroStrategy is showing no signs of slowing its Bitcoin acquisition strategy. Earlier this week, the company announced that it purchased 15,400 BTC for $1.5 billion between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1.

One week earlier, between Nov. 18-24, MicroStrategy purchased $5.4 billion worth of Bitcoin at an average price of $97,862.

MicroStrategy’s stock, which trades under the ticker MSTR, has outperformed Bitcoin this year, gaining 511% since January, according to Yahoo Finance.

Bitcoin price hits $100,000 for first time in history

The price of Bitcoin reached $100,000 for the first time in history, marking a milestone for the cryptocurrency market after a year of significant growth.

Bitcoin hit the $100,000 price mark on Dec. 5, breaking a psychological level just weeks after reaching the $90,000 milestone on Nov. 12, according to TradingView.

Bitcoin also set a new all-time high of $104,000 at 3:08 am UTC — roughly 90 minutes after surpassing the $100,000 mark.

The year has seen more than $31 billion in net inflows from the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States, along with tightened supply from Bitcoin’s fourth halving in April.

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Bitcoin price chart in the past year. Source: CoinGecko

Bitcoin has seen a 126% increase in value since Jan. 1, when it was trading at about $44,000.

In reaching $100,000, Bitcoin’s market capitalization has also reached a new high, hitting $2 trillion for the first time ever.

Hawk Tuah memecoin sparks rug pull allegations after controversial launch

Viral influencer Haliey Welch has courted controversy following her move to launch a Hawk Tuah memecoin (HAWK) which briefly pumped and then dumped over 90% in the span of just four hours.

On Dec. 4, Welch launched the HAWK memecoin, which quickly rallied to a peak market cap of $490 million.

However, the price of the token rapidly plummeted and is currently trading at a valuation of just $41.7 million at the time of publication, marking a 91% downturn in less than three hours, according to DexScreener data.

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Hailey Welch’s Hawk Tuah memecoin cratered 91% in less than three hours. Source: DexScreener

According to aggregated data from Bubblemaps and Dexscreener between 80-90% of the supply was controlled by a group of “insider” wallets.

In a Dec. 5 post to X, Haliey Welch’s official account denied selling any tokens or giving free tokens to KOLs, saying they launched the token on decentralized liquidity protocol Meteora to reduce sniping risk.

However, according to data from Solana block explorer Solscanner, one wallet sniped HAWK seconds after launch, purchasing 17.5% of the supply of the memecoin for 4,195 Wrapped Solana (WSOL) — worth $993,000 at the time.

In less than two hours after the launch, the sniper sold 85% of their allocation for $1.3 million in profit.

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