BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 832,686
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 01Mar24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
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BLUF:
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $62,388, 30.33 oz Gold, .14 Median US House
24hr Hi: $63,544 / Lo: $60,498
Vol: $52B (Down 42%)
Mkt Cap: $1.22T (Down 1%)
HashRate: 608 EH/s
Avg Fees: 7,187 sats/tx (Down 5%)
Nodes: 18,588
---Reports---
-International Events-
1. Navalny’s family and supporters are laying the opposition leader to rest after his death in prison: Hundreds of people said farewell to Alexei Navalny at a funeral Friday in Moscow under a heavy police presence, following a battle with authorities over the release of his body after his still-unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony. His supporters said several churches in Moscow refused to hold the service for the man who crusaded against official corruption and organized big protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest political foe. Many Western leaders blamed the death on the Russian leader, an accusation the Kremlin angrily rejected. (AP)
2. Iran elections: Polls open in first elections since mass protests: Voting is under way in Iran as the country holds its first elections since the 2022 anti-government protests. Friday's elections are seen as a crucial test of legitimacy and national support for Iran's leadership - but a low turnout is expected. (BBC)
-US Events-
1. Alabama legislature passes bills to protect IVF after controversial court ruling: The Alabama legislature on Thursday passed legislation to protect patients and doctors involved with in vitro fertilization in the event that embryos are damaged or destroyed. Nearly all IVF treatments in Alabama were halted out of caution after the state's Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children. The decision left Republicans facing huge blowback, with former President Trump even calling on Alabama lawmakers to act. The bill will go to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) to be signed into law.(Axios)
2. Former US diplomat pleads guilty to spying for Cuba for more than 40 years: Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was charged with secretly passing information to the communist-run Cuban government since 1981 while working for the US state department. On Thursday, he changed his initial not guilty plea in a court in Miami. He is due to be sentenced at a hearing on 12 April. (BBC)
3. Calif: Panera Bread Owner Donated Over $164K To Newsom, Business Exempt From State’s New $20 Minimum Wage Law: Following the billionaire owner of Panera Bread restaurants making major financial contributions to the California governor, Gavin Newsom signed a bill exempting the food establishment from a new $20 minimum wage raise. Governor Newsom (D-Calif.) signed a bill into law in September that is meant to increase fast food employees’ minimum pay from $16 to $20 per hour.(OANN)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. US Congress Advances Key Crypto Legislation For Institutional Adoption: The resolution, propelled by US Republicans Wiley Nickel and Mike Flood, seeks to leverage the Congressional Review Act to revoke what they deem an “unlawful rule.” The HSFC articulated their stance, stating, “The SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 leaves consumers unprotected by deterring regulated banks from being digital asset custodians. US Republican Wiley Nickel and US Republican Mike Flood’s bipartisan resolution reverses this unlawful rule using the Congressional Review Act.” (Bitcoinist)
-Institutional Concerns-
1. Bank of America, Wells Fargo to Offer Spot Bitcoin ETFs to Clients: Two Wall Street wealth management giants, Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo, are adding spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds to their brokerage platforms, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley, might soon offer its clients exposure to the new products as well. (CoinDesk)
-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
1. Turkey’s two-tier CBDC to support programmable payments: Turkey’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) will support programmable payments and be offered through financial intermediaries. It will only support one account per user, which will be accessible through all financial institutions, the central bank has revealed. (CoinGeek)
-Economic Indicators-
1. The annual PCE (Personal Consumer Expeditures) inflation rate in the US slowed to 2.4% in January 2024, the lowest since February 2021, from 2.6% in the previous month, and matching market forecasts of 2.4%. (AC- Using pre-1990 measurements, the PCE would be in the ~5-6% range and using pre-1980 measurements, the PCE would be in the ~8-9% range -ShadowStats)
-Technological Updates-'
1. Elon Musk Sues OpenAI, Sam Altman for Breach of Contract: Musk alleges the ChatGPT maker and its CEO have prioritized profit over benefits to humanity. Musk, who helped found the ChatGPT maker in 2015, claims OpenAI’s close relationship with tech giant Microsoft goes against the company’s original commitment to public, open-source AI. (WSJ)
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. Hackers drained over $100m across 20 attacks in February, data shows: According to data compiled by PeckShield, hackers successfully executed 20 attacks against decentralized protocols in February, with the most significant breach occurring at PlayDapp, resulting in a loss of $36 million worth of crypto for the project.Data indicates that hackers typically transferred the stolen crypto to the sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash, followed by exchange protocol eXch and the Bitcoin blockchain. (CryptoNews)
-Bitcoin Community-
1. Coinbase sees massive $1 billion Bitcoin withdrawal: The event, occurring on Mar. 1 during Asia trading hours, involved a transaction of approximately 16,000 BTC, or roughly $1 billion. (CryptoSlate)
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 80/100 (Even)
Analyst Comments (AC): With the release of the official PCE (Personal Consumer Expenditures) data, which is the government's favorite measure of inflation, it seems an annualized rate of 2.6% is respectable according to modern economists. The PCE rate is always lower than CPI (Consumer Price Index) and both strip out food and energy. While both use a basket of goods that try to smooth over volatility, the current measures are, by any standard, suspect and highly manipulated. Any search on the internect for "real inflation" will quickly reveal the information warfare around this key, policy-driving metric. Even using the older, official, pre-1990 BIS measurements, real inflation is somewhere in the 6-8% range for a normal consumer in the US at this time.
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report
