The 216-Hour Pivot: How TradFi Captured Bitcoin

In just 9 days TradFi absorbed Bitcoin: ETFs, notes & mandates turned rebellion into revenue. What the $20T pivot means for your wealth & where the real alpha hides now.

Dec 3, 2025
The 216-Hour Pivot: How TradFi Captured Bitcoin

Fellow Founders,

In the span of nine days—from November 24 to December 2, 2025—Bitcoin crossed an irreversibility threshold. What began as a bearer asset of rebellion, demanding self-custody and defying intermediaries, has been methodically integrated into the very machine it sought to disrupt. This wasn't a hostile takeover or regulatory ban. It was something more elegant, more inevitable: structural absorption.

As Shanaka Anslem Perera meticulously documents, the three largest U.S. financial institutions, which control over $20 trillion in assets, executed a synchronized pivot that neutralized Bitcoin's alternative monetary promise. ETFs, structured notes, and advisory mandates have transformed it from a tool of liberation into a fee-generating staple for 60/40 portfolios.

For those of us building enduring wealth, this convergence isn't a defeat—it's a recalibration. The frontier is closing, but new arbitrage windows are opening. Let's dissect the mechanics, assess the implications, and chart your path forward.

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