BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)

Block: 877,641

DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 03Jan25

Precedence: Routine (RR)

Controls: Public Release

QQQQ

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BLUF: South Korean Political Situation Tenuous / Syrian Delegates Visit Saudis / Biden Block US Steel Sale to Japan / FBI Release New Vid of Bomber 4 Years Ago / Cybertruck Driver Was Active Green Beret / Binance Expands in Brazil / USDT Controlled By Law Enforcement / Metaplant CEO Says Japan Would Follow US Lead on BTC Reserve / USD at 2 Year High / Apple Pay $20 Fine For Your Siri Data Sales / 16 Years Since Genesis Block / MARA More Than Double Hashrate

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $96,751, 36.37 oz Gold, .22 Median US House

24hr Hi: $97,739 / Lo: $95,982

Vol: $39B (Up 16%)

Mkt Cap: $1.91T (Even)

HashRate: 809 EH/s

Avg Fee Rate: 5 sats/vBtye (Up 150%)

Nodes: 20,772

---Reports---

-International Events-

1. South Korean presidential guards prevent arrest of impeached Yoon after tense stand-off: Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his Dec. 3 martial law bid that stunned South Korea and led to the first arrest warrant to be issued for a sitting president. More than 200 PSS agents and soldiers blocked the CIO officers and police, he added. While there were altercations and PSS agents appeared to be carrying firearms, no weapons were drawn. The CIO called off the effort to arrest Yoon around 1:30 p.m. due to concerns over the safety of its personnel, and said it "deeply regretted" Yoon's non-compliance. (Reuters)

2. Syrian delegation visits Saudi Arabia for first foreign trip since ousting of Bashar al-Assad: A senior Syrian delegation led by foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani arrived in Riyadh on its first official foreign trip since Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebels last month. “Through this first visit in the history of free Syria, we aspire to open a new and bright page in Syrian-Saudi relations, befitting the long shared history between the two countries,” Shaibani said on X. (FT)

-US Events-

1. Biden Decides to Block US Steel Sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel: Joe Biden has decided to officially block Nippon Steel's proposed $14.9-billion purchase of U.S. Steel, ending a contentious merger plan, as reported by the Washington Post. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States referred the decision to Biden, who is set to leave office on January 20. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba urged Biden to approve the merger to avoid harming U.S.-Japan relations. (GroundNews)

2. FBI Releases New Video in Four-Year Hunt for DC Pipe Bomber: FBI has released new surveillance footage showing an unidentified 5'7" suspect planting viable pipe bombs near RNC and DNC headquarters on January 5, 2021. Despite reviewing 39,000 videos and conducting 1,000 interviews, the suspect remains at large. (GroundNews)

3. Driver of Tesla Cybertruck that exploded at Trump hotel in Las Vegas was an active-duty Army Green Beret: The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday has been identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, an active-duty US Army Green Beret, according to a law enforcement. The US Army said Thursday in a statement Livelsberger was on leave at the time of his death, though did not specifically say he died in the Vegas explosion. Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Thursday at a news conference the driver shot himself in the head prior to the blast. McMahill said authorities are not identifying Livelsberger as the person found inside the Cybertruck because the body was burned beyond recognition. (CNN)

-Regulatory and Legal-

1. Binance Reaches Milestone in Brazil, Becomes First Exchange With Securities Brokerage Capabilities: Binance has become a pioneering cryptocurrency exchange in Brazil following the approval of its acquisition of Sim;paul Investimentos, a securities brokerage platform. With this acquisition, Binance can now offer a full range of investment options, including securities, stocks, and funds for Brazilian customers. (BitcoinCom)

2. Tether, Tron and TRM Labs Help Freeze $126 Million in USDT Linked to Crime: The T3 Financial Crime Unit co-led by Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs is working directly with law enforcement agencies worldwide to “identify and disrupt criminal networks,” the coalition said Thursday in a statement. Their goal is to ensure bad actors cannot exploit stablecoins such as Tether, which criminals have co-opted to launder their ill-gotten gains. (Decrypt) (AC-Centralization has repercussions.)

-Central Bank Digital Currencies/World Currencies-

1. Metaplanet CEO Predicts Japan and Others Will Follow If Trump Makes the U.S. Bitcoin Reserve: At a recent event organized by MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich expressed optimistic assessments regarding Donald Trump’s potential initiatives and a strategic Bitcoin reserve. He believes that if Trump keeps his promises, the rest of the nations will follow the U.S. and create their own strategic reserves, expanding and strengthening global Bitcoin adoption. (BitcoinSensus)

-Institutional Concerns-

1. BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Sees Record Outflow: BlackRock's IBIT, a major bitcoin-tracking fund, experienced its highest outflows in a day, surpassing a previous record. Despite this, other ETFs like Bitwise's BITB and Fidelity's FBTC saw inflows. The outflows from IBIT could be attributed to various factors, including investors rebalancing portfolios or taking profits. (Decrypt) (AC-Wash sales and rebalancing.)

-Economic Indicators-

1. Dollar Holds Near 2-Year Highs Amid Strong US Outlook: The dollar index remained above 109 on Friday, remaining near its highest levels in two years as investors bet on US economic strength and fewer Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. (TradingEconomics)

2. US Stocks Trim Losses: Stocks in the US were lower in a choppy first trading session of the new year, extending the slump from late 2024 into January. The S&P 500 was down 0.1%, the Nasdaq lost 0.2%, while Dow Jones fell by 110 points. (TradingEconomics)

-Security Incidents and Concerns-

1. Apple to Pay Siri Users $20 Per Device in Settlement Over Accidental Siri Privacy Violations: The settlement applies to U.S.-based individuals current or former owners or purchasers of a Siri-enabled device who had their confidential voice communications with the assistant "obtained by Apple and/or were shared with third-parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation" between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024. (HackerNews) (AC-$20 for your confidential info...)

-Technology and Science-

NSTR

-Bitcoin Community-

1. World on the brink, 16 years since Bitcoin’s Genesis Block: Sixteen years ago today, something truly groundbreaking happened—and no one noticed. Block #0, otherwhise known as “Genesis Block” of the Bitcoin network was created. At the same time, the phrase “on the brink” became an immutable part of Bitcoin’s history, and somehow, it still feels appropriate in 2025. (CoinGeek)

2. Marathon Digital Clocks 168% Bitcoin Hashrate Growth: Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital attained a major milestone last year clocking an impressive 168% Bitcoin hashrate growth and expanding its position as an industry leader. This aligns with Donald Trump’s vision of making America the hub for BTC production. However, despite this growth, the MARA stock is down 17% on the year chart with investors awaiting a strong recovery. (CoinGape)

-Bitcoin Sentiment-

1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 74/100 (Up 4 pts)

Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR

Follow us on NOSTR: npub1qktts9naunvjdwsktq5xjdhwh539xt4x0mqj4yxq0q9dvm03ljvs6sms0r

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Analyst: BV2A

END REPORT

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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report

and you're still not stacking hard enough

A lot of people have heard my moped story, but heres the math on it.

In 2016 I needed $5,000 to pay my wife’s master’s school tuition.

I didn’t have $5,000 cash at the time, but I did have bitcoin.

Bitcoin was trading at roughly $500, so I would have had to sell 10 bitcoin in order to pay the tuition.

I didn’t want to do that so I sold my car instead for $5,500.

I took $500 of that and bought a shitty moped and used the rest to pay my wife’s tuition.

So I rode the moped around the rest of the year and everyone made fun of me. Usually I play this part of the story up, but tbh it didn’t bother me. The people making fun of me were poorer than I was, they didn’t understand bitcoin or the market or even basic budgeting.

When people would make fun of me I would tell them why I was doing what I was doing. Then I would start peppering them with questions about their financial life.

“Oh so you financed your refrigerator? You’re still paying that off huh?”

“You have a timeshare you’ve never been to? How’d you get talked into that?”

People would generally go from laughing at me riding the moped to feeling shell shocked by me popping their bubble of comfortable delusion.

Still I drove the moped and everyone thought I was being weird and ridiculous and silly etc…

At 100k that decision was worth a million dollars.

At a million it will have been worth 10 million.

And at 10 million it will have been a nine figure decision.

100 million dollars.

I only rode the stupid moped for 8 months.

Ask yourself? Would you face 8 months of sacrifice and ridicule for 10 million in the future?

Because there are things you could be doing today that would generate that for future you.

My advice is to have your own moped moment.

Do something a little weird/cringe/out there in order to stack more sats and then check in on the sats in 10-15 years.

I think you’re going to be happy with the results.

Manifesting is just prayer for atheists

Same for simulation theory

If masa (japans second richest man) took a 130 million dollar loss I’m going to assume he bought around 17k and sold around 11k meaning he had roughly 21k coins.

Today they would be worth 2 billion.

Instead he booked a 130 million dollar loss.

Masa is worth 30 billion, so he isn’t exactly hurting, but that 2 billion dollar position today would be poised to grow to 20 billion soon enough and 200 billion a decade after that.

There’s still time to unfuck the decision, but I doubt he will.

Even the best investors in the world come to Bitcoin and dash themselves upon the rocks.

Don’t expect your friend Steven from college to pick it up over beers and a rousing drunken speech by you about the evils of central banking lol 😆

I wonder how hard it would be to fine tune an LLM on nostr data to optimize for zaps or replies

how long are we still early?

Can you mount them to an armchair?

The thing no university prepares you for: The profitable use of capital in a Bitcoin standard.

There are SO many “studies” that are simply unscientific bullshit it’s incredible to me. It’s become the universal corporate way to buy legitimacy for something stupid.

nostr:note1dz42mcq0ktdg6ccsx6p87skuu9mgx9whp4pgx2w4clznqalsql6sv2qvas

Wagyu is scammy & soi.

Give me an old fashioned, thick, 1.5lb USA ribeye as a choice & it’s 100% what I’m taking.

Never trust the Japs. On anything.