BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 842,693
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 09May24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: Biden Hold Bombs for Israel / Protests Spread to Europe / Effort to Oust US Speaker Fails / Heavy Rains, Tornados Across the US / US House Votes to Repeal SEC Custody Rule For Banks /
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $61,152, 26.40 oz Gold, .14 Median US House
24hr Hi: $62,799 / Lo: $60,648
Vol: $25B (Even)
Mkt Cap: $1.2T (Down 2%)
HashRate: 547 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 22 sats/vBtye (Up 61%)
Nodes: 17,036
---Reports---
-International Events-
1. Biden says US won’t supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah, in warning to ally: Biden, in an interview with CNN, said the U.S. was still committed to Israel’s defense and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms, but that if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used.” (CNN)
2. Europe takes steps to avoid US campus chaos: Riot police raided an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced actions to combat antisemitism on campus as anti-Israel protests spread through Europe after swarming U.S. college campuses. (Fox)
3. Mom of captured U.S. soldier Gordon Black says girlfriend ‘lured’ him to Russia: The worried mother of a U.S. soldier in Russian custody said Wednesday that her son “was lured” there by a Russian woman he had been seeing in South Korea for over a year and that he’s being held on trumped-up charges of stealing roughly $100 from her. Melody Jones said she thinks her son, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, was set up by his girlfriend, whom she identified as Aleksandra Vashchuk. (NBC)
-US Events-
1. House Blocks Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Effort to Oust Speaker Mike Johnson:The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a resolution by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, with Democrats stepping in to help save the Republican leader, closing for now another dramatic chapter in the GOP’s intraparty squabbling. (CNN)
2. Multiple tornadoes strike across 6 states as 350 damaging storms pummel parts of US: At least 13 reported tornadoes across Kansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, South Dakota and Missouri have been reported in the last 24 hours, with more than 350 damaging storm reports from Kansas to Carolinas, including hail greater than softball in Missouri and wind gusts up to 72 mph in Indiana.(ABc)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. House Votes to Erase SEC Crypto Policy While President Biden Vows Veto: The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to approve a resolution rejecting SEC cryptocurrency accounting guidance that the industry said has deterred banks from handling crypto customers, but President Joe Biden is already promising he'll veto the effort if it hits his desk. (CoinDesk) (AC-This exchange is setting up crypto and bitcoin as a political football for the new few years.)
-Institutional Concerns-
NSTR
-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
1. Rwandan central bank proceeds with ambitious retail CBDC project: The African country is eyeing a tokenized retail CBDC with offline transfer capabilities as it heads toward a cashless economy. (CoinTelegraph)
-Economic Indicators-
1. Dow Marks 6-Day Winning Streak: Stocks in the US finished a choppy session mixed on Wednesday, as the S&P 500 ended muted, the Dow Jones rose 171 points to extend its winning streak to six days, the longest since December. (TradingEconomics)
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. FTX Customers Poised to Recover All Funds Lost in Collapse: Bankruptcy lawyers for FTX said customers of the cryptocurrency exchange were set to get all their money back, plus interest. Virtually all FTX’s creditors, including hundreds of thousands of ordinary investors who used the exchange to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, would receive cash payments equivalent to 118 percent of the assets they had stored on FTX, the lawyers said. (NYTimes)
-Technology-
1. Neuralink’s First Brain-Chip Implant in a Human Appeared Flawless. There Was a Problem: Neuralink encountered a problem with the implant in its first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, that reduced the amount of data it could capture from his brain, according to a blog post the company published on Wednesday. Some data was lost because a number of the implant’s threads that had been placed in Arbaugh’s brain came out. The company, owned by Elon Musk, didn’t disclose the reason why some threads retracted unexpectedly. (WSJ)
-Bitcoin Community-
1. Bitcoin mining difficulty drops 6% in largest fall since bear market lows: Bitcoin mining difficulty has dropped 5.7% to 83.1 trillion as the network’s hash rate falls below 600 EH/s following the halving. This latest difficulty adjustment is the largest drop since December 2022, when bitcoin was trading for around $17,000. (theBlock)
2. Bitcoin Lightning Wallet ZEUS Isn’t Going Anywhere: Evan Kaloudis, the US-based founder of ZEUS, believes that now is the time to take a stand and fight for KYC-free bitcoin self-custody wallets. In the wake of the news of the Samourai Wallet developers getting arrested and Phoenix Wallet halting service to US customers, he made it public that he was going to fight like hell for self-custody Bitcoin and Lightning Network wallets like the one he created, ZEUS, to continue to exist. (BitcoinMag)
3. Argentinian Energy Company to Mine Bitcoin with Stranded Gas: State-owned energy firm YPF's subsidiary, YPF Luz, recently partnered with Genesis Digital Assets (GDA) to launch a gas flare-powered mining facility. It will harness 1,200 machines to monetize gas currently being flared into the atmosphere. This comes as Argentina embraces Bitcoin with the election of Bitcoin-friendly President Javier Milei in late 2023. (COinTelegraph)
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 55/100 (Down 9 pts)
Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report
