Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Bitcoin Tops $100K

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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) crosses $100,000 as Trump picks crypto backer, Paul Atkins for SEC chair, Powell comments. (00:24) Shell (SHEL), Equinor (EQNR) to combine assets to form UK’s biggest independent oil and gas firm. (01:34) Amazon (AMZN) sued for allegedly excluding D.C. zip codes from Prime delivery benefits. (02:20)

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.

Bitcoin has finally managed to cross the $100,000 milestone mark as the cryptocurrency continues to see a meteoric rise after Donald Trump’s win.

The world’s oldest cryptocurrency has risen ~45% since Election Day.

At last check, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is trading 6.5% higher at $103,189.

The crypto rally was further fueled by the nomination of cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The President-Elect wrote on Truth Social that Atkins “believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”

Paul Atkins will replace Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry, during the Biden regime. Gensler announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated — Jan. 20, 2025.

British oil giant Shell (NYSE:SHEL) and Norway’s state-run energy firm Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) will combine their U.K. offshore oil and gas assets to form a new company that will be the U.K.’s largest independent oil and gas producer.

The 50-50 joint venture is aimed at sustaining domestic oil and gas production and security of energy supply in the U.K. at a time when the U.K. North Sea basin is maturing and production is naturally declining.

A range of exploration licenses will also be part of the deal, the companies said in a statement. The JV is expected to produce over 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025.

The transaction, which has economic effect on January 1, is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has been sued by Washington, D.C.’s attorney general for secretly excluding around 48,000 customers in low-income neighborhoods from its high-speed delivery service Prime while continuing to charge them the full subscription price.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb alleged that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) excluded Prime members in two zip codes (20019, 20020) east of the Anacostia River – “historically underserved communities” – from the fast delivery service since 2022.

The e-commerce giant instead has been servicing those zip codes with third-party delivery services like UPS (UPS) and the U.S. Postal Service, “which it knows are often slower than Amazon’s,” the lawsuit read.

It added that Amazon (AMZN) claims to have made “this secret change” in delivery options based on concerns over driver safety in the zip codes. But the company allegedly failed to be transparent about its decision.

“While Amazon (AMZN) has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one zip code is worth less than a dollar in another,” said Schwalb. “We’re suing to stop this deceptive conduct and make sure District residents get what they’re paying for.”