DIB 18 FEB 2025

BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 884, 317
DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 18Feb2025
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: US-Russia Begin Ukraine Talks / USARSOF in Mexico / 4th Air Accident in 3 Weeks / Education Dept. Cuts DEI / Social Security Payments Scrutinized / SEC Under DOGE Microscope / Russia Says SWIFT Dying / Odds For a US Gold Audit Increase / Milei Under Fire for Memecoin Support / Grok-3 is Out

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $96,220, 32.97 oz Gold, .22 Median US House
24hr Hi: $97,032 / Lo: $95,118
Vol: $28B (Up 23%)
Mkt Cap: $1.90T (Even)
HashRate: 820 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 3 sats/vBtye (Up 200%)

—Reports—
-International Events-
1. US and Russia begin Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia – without Ukraine: Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff starting today. (IndependentUK)

2. Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft conducting multiple SIGINT operations along the US-Mexico border and in international waters off southern Baja California—areas controlled by heavily armed drug cartels—the Mexican Senate Commission has approved the deployment of US Special Forces operators to the country for “training missions.” US Army’s 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Green Berets are already conducting training exercises at a naval facility in Campeche, a Mexican port city on the Gulf of Mexico. (ZeroHedge)

3. Delta jet flips upside down while landing at Toronto airport; all 80 on board survive: A Delta Air Lines jet flipped on its roof while landing Monday at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, but all 80 people on board survived and those hurt had relatively minor injuries, the airport’s chief executive said. The crash was the fourth major aviation accident in North America in the past three weeks. (WPBF)

-US Events-
1. U.S. Department of Education Cuts Over $600 Million in Divisive Teacher Training Grants: The U.S. Department of Education today announced it has terminated over $600 million in grants to institutions and nonprofits that were using taxpayer funds to train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies. Training materials included inappropriate and unnecessary topics such as Critical Race Theory; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); social justice activism; “anti-racism”; and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy. (DeptofEd)

2. Acting Social Security head resigns over DOGE access of recipient information: Acting Commissioner Michelle King’s departure from the agency over the weekend – after more than 30 years of service – was initiated after King refused to provide DOGE staffers at the SSA with access to sensitive information. The White House has replaced her as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who currently works at the SSA. (WashingtonTimes) (AC-Other reporting highlights gross discrepancies in SSA recipients, such as 395M eligible recipients, when the US population is only 335M., as well as tens of millions of actual recipients over the age of 120.)

-Regulatory and Legal-
1. DOGE Set to Review SEC Operations Following Recent Lawsuit: The SEC recently sued Musk for allegedly underpaying Twitter stock investors by $150 million, leading to Musk calling the SEC a “totally broken organization”. Democrats, including Rep. Maxine Waters, have expressed concerns about DOGE accessing sensitive SEC data, particularly the Consolidated Audit Trail. The White House states Trump won’t allow conflicts of interest, and Musk has committed to recusing himself from potential conflicts. (Blockonomi)

-CBDCs/World Currencies/Strategic Reserves-
1. Russia Declares SWIFT ‘Dying’ as Crypto Reshapes Finance: Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets said “From my point of view, SWIFT is dying, it is already a backward technology. The development of digital technologies and crypto-instruments will lead to the fact that the settlement system will be built differently.” (BitcoinCom)

2. Polymarket bets on Fort Knox audit as reserve debate heats up: Polymarket introduced two Fort Knox prediction markets on Feb. 17, with one betting on whether the DOGE would audit Fort Knox by May 2025 and the other predicting the outcomes of such an audit. At the time of writing, Polymarket’s betting odds that the audit will take place by the end of April stood at 56%. (CoinTelegraph)

-Institutional Concerns-
NSTR

-Economic Indicators-
1. US 10-Year Yield Rises on Hawkish Fed Remarks: The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed above 4.5% on Tuesday, halting a two-day decline, as Federal Reserve officials agreed that the central bank should not rush cutting interest rate further as the focus remains on curbing inflation. (TradiningEconomics)

-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. Milei says he didn’t intend to promote Solana-based LIBRA token, few Argentines lost money: Argentina President Javier Milei said he didn’t intend to persuade people to buy the LIBRA memecoin, and he only meant to “spread the word,” according to Bloomberg. The Argentine president quickly faced scrutiny after he appeared to promote the token on X last Friday. Milei faces fraud charges over his involvement raising awareness for the Solana-based memecoin. (TheBlock) (AC-Shitcoining is bad for you, even if you’re a President.)

-Technology and Science-
1. Elon Musk Unveils Grok-3, the “Smartest AI on Earth”: Specifically, Grok-3 has “more than 10 times” the computing power of its predecessor, and it outperforms OpenAI, Gemini, and DeepSeek models in math, science, and programming tasks. (BitcoinSensus)

-Bitcoin Community-
NSTR

-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 47/100 (Down 4 pts)

Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR

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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report