DIB 22 MAY 2024

BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)

Block: 844,581

DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 22May24

Precedence: Routine (RR)

Controls: Public Release

QQQQ

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BLUF: Three Countries Recognize Palestine State / Russia Has Tac Nuke Drill on Ukraine Border / Biden Admin Confirms Almost 200 Judges / More Student Loans Canceled / Gensler Speaks Out Against FIT-21 / ETH ETFs Ready for Approval / BTC ETFs Available in UK / Windows Spies on You / Happy BTC Pizza Day

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $69,852, 28.93 oz Gold, .16 Median US House

24hr Hi: $71,402 / Lo: $69,191

Vol: $36B (Down 34%)

Mkt Cap: $1.38T (Down 2%)

HashRate: 651 EH/s

Avg Fee Rate: 18 sats/vBtye (Up 34%)

Nodes: 17,483

—Reports—

-International Events-

1. Spain, Norway and Ireland to recognize a Palestinian state: In response, Israel has recalled its ambassadors to all three countries. “Ireland and Norway intend to send a message to the Palestinians and the whole world today: Terrorism pays.”, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said. (CNN)

2. Russia starts ‘tactical nuclear drills’ near Ukraine border: ‘First stage’ of exercises involves Iskander and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and is seen as a warning to Ukraine’s Western allies. (AlJazeera)

-US Events-

1. Tornado kills multiple people in Iowa as powerful storms again tear through Midwest: After devastating Greenfield, a town of 2,000, on Tuesday the storms moved eastward to pummel parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers in the two states. (AP)

2. Joe Biden nears 200 confirmed judges, highlighting stakes for the courts in the 2024 election: Biden’s and Trump’s records show sharp differences in what types of judges they would choose. And the winner of the fall election could appoint more Supreme Court justices. Biden’s judges include many former civil rights lawyers, labor lawyers and public defenders, breaking from the mold of prosecutors and corporate lawyers that previous presidents tended to lean on. More than 60% of Biden’s judges are women, and more than 60% are nonwhite. Trump had a different standard in selecting judges, putting a premium on youth and conservative credentials. (NBC)

3. Biden administration canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers: The Education Department announced the latest round of cancellation on Wednesday, saying it will erase $7.7 billion in federal student loans. With the latest action, the administration said it has canceled $167 billion in student debt for nearly 5 million Americans through several programs. According to the Education Department, 1 in 10 federal student loan borrowers has now been approved for some form of loan relief. (AP)

-Regulatory and Legal-

1. SEC’s Gensler Says House Bill Would ‘Undermine’ Regulator’s Crypto, Capital Markets Oversight: “The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (‘FIT 21’) would create new regulatory gaps and undermine decades of precedent regarding the oversight of investment contracts, putting investors and capital markets at immeasurable risk,” he said. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill later on Wednesday, though it does not currently have a clear road through the Senate and is unlikely to become a law this year. (CoinDesk)

-Institutional Concerns-

1. SEC Leans Towards Approving Spot Ethereum ETFs, Notifies Exchanges: A big change is underway at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signaling a green light for Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Barely a week ago, all bets were off. Giants like BlackRock and VanEck seemed destined for a thumbs down on their proposals for ETFs that would hold Ether directly. The trigger for this sudden lean towards approval came when SEC personnel disclosed their inclination to greenlight the ETFs. Detailed comments on the pending applications were issued, suggesting that resolutions could lead to approvals as soon as this Thursday. Thursday also marks the deadline for the SEC to make a decision on the 19b-4 filing from VanEck and ARK/21Shares, which, if approved, would clear the way for launching their spot Ethereum ETFs. (Cryptopolitan)

2. BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Records Biggest Inflows Since April: Bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. have seen net inflows of over $1.4 billion in the past week after a timid first half of the month. BlackRock’s IBIT product experienced a significant inflow of over $290 million on Tuesday, marking its highest one-day inflow this month and since April. (CoinDesk)

3. WisdomTree Will List Bitcoin and Ethereum Funds on London Stock Exchange Next Week: WisdomTree has received approval from the FCA to list crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the LSE, making it one of the first applicants to receive such approval. (Decrypt)

-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-

1. Don’t let the US become the only country to ban CBDCs: This week, as part of a trifecta of digital assets legislation, the US House of Representatives is set to take up HR 5403, also known as the “CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act.” In fact, if this bill ever became law, the United States would be the only country in the world to have banned CBDCs. It would be a self-defeating move in the race for the future of money. It would undercut the national security role of the dollar as the decision would only accelerate other countries’ development of alternative payment systems that look to bypass the dollar in cross-border transactions. This would make US sanctions less effective. (AtlanticCouncil) AC- The protest from the globalist think tank Atlantic Council reveals much about the view from power accumulators on CBDCs, namely a tool for continued and increasing economic control.)

-Economic Indicators-

1. US Mortgage Applications Rise for 3rd Week: Mortgage applications in the US jumped by 1.9% from the previous week in the period ending May 17th, adding to the 0.5% increase in the earlier week for the third consecutive growth in mortgage demand. The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by 7bps to 7.01% in the week ending May 17th, 2024/ (TradingEconomics)

-Security Incidents and Concerns-

1. Oxford University says research not affected after expert flags COVID lab hack: Oxford University said on Thursday it was investigating a digital intrusion after a researcher said he had seen evidence that a laboratory researching COVID-19 had been hacked. Holden told Reuters that he discovered the intrusion when he found screenshots from inside the lab’s network left by the hackers on a poorly secured server. (Reuters)

-Technology-

1. Windows 11’s New AI Feature Will Make Screenshots of Everything You Do: Presented at Microsoft Build 2024, Recall is described as a “photographic memory” for your PC, making local Windows searches much faster by constantly taking screenshots of everything you do. Then it uses, no surprises here, generative AI along with the NPU to process all this data into a searchable timeline, enabling one to access and view everything you’ve done on your computer. (80LU) (AC- In another headline, “Windows announces the Year of Linux”)

-Bitcoin Community-

1. Bitcoin Celebrates Pizza Day: In 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, a software program developer from Florida, made history by shopping for two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins. This was the very first industrial transaction carried out with the assistance of the unique cryptocurrency. (CryptoNewsBTC)

-Bitcoin Sentiment-

1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 76/100 (Even)

Analyst Comments (AC): The privacy fight heats up with CBDCs, Crypto in Congress and Microsoft takes screenshots of everything you do. Will sovereign individuals take responsibility for their own privacy?