The daily view: 8/31/2026: Bitcoin recovery, Pangram, Polymarkat & Iran, and elite colleges

Item #1: Trump, Who Has Amassed Enormous Wealth in Crypto, Hosts Industry Leaders. Bitcoin recovered from around $63,000 to $77,000 on renewed optimism about the Clarity Act. Or for no reason at all. It doesn’t matter. The gains will not hold. Nothing changed between now and 3 weeks ago. The media keep pushing this narrative that crypto donors “bought out” the presidency. Hardly. What donors want is direct investment by the government of crypto assets, similar to other sectors which got direct investment despite their CEOs having donated nothing to Trump’s campaign. Meanwhile, crypto donors and industry leaders have nothing to show for their support but occasional meetings that amount to empty promises: no direct investment, no Bitcoin reserve, or even any shoutouts on Twitter endorsing crypto. Eric and Trump’s cost basis is zero, and used the inauguration hype to sell soon-to-be worthless tokens to gullible investors at inflated prices. That is the key difference: Trump and his son…