DIB 12 MAR 2025

BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 887,467
DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 12Mar2025
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: Cargo Ship Captain Rams US Fuel Ship / Tariff War Kicks Up / Ukraine Ceasefire on the Table / USDAID Exec Tells Employees to Shred it All / US Dept of Ed Fires Half, Closes Offices / US House Passes CR / Lawmakers Debate Stablecoins This Week / More Rules Dropped for Crypto Firms / Sen. Lummis Reintroduces Bitcoin Act / Cantor Fitzgerald To Loan Off Bitcoin / Mortgage Rates, Stocks Fall / Cathie Wood Sees More Boom Than Bust Due to AI Tech / Google Intros Powerful, Local AI Model

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $83,002, 28.44 oz Gold, .19 Median US House
24hr Hi: $83,737 / Lo: $79,059
Vol: $47B (Down 20%)
Mkt Cap: $1.64T (Up 2%)
HashRate: 840 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 4 sats/vBtye (Up 33%)

—Reports—
-International Events-
1. Cargo ship captain arrested in North Sea collision with US-flagged tanker is Russian national: The captain of the Solong cargo ship who was arrested after crashing into a US-flagged tanker off the English coast is a Russian national, the vessel’s owner said Wednesday, as maritime experts search for answers. The Solong careered into the Stena Immaculate while it was at anchor in the North Sea and carrying huge amounts of jet fuel for the US military, setting fire to both vessels and prompting emergency rescue efforts by the British coastguard. British police have since opened a criminal investigation into the crash and arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. (CNN)

2. Trump’s Tariffs On All Steel, Aluminum Imports Kick In As Trade War Heats Up: All imports on steel and aluminum have been increased to 25%, affecting hundreds of various products, including bulldozer blades, bolts, and even soda cans. Canada is among the top countries that will be hit hard by the tariffs, being the U.S.’s biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum. The European Union announced countermeasures against U.S. Tariffs on steel and aluminum, set to start on April 1, 2025. Countermeasures will target steel, aluminum, textiles, and agricultural products such as poultry and beef, impacting a total of 26 billion euros .(IBTimes, GroundNews)

3. Rubio: Ball in Russia’s court after Ukraine backs ceasefire proposal: Ukraine is ready to accept a 30-day ceasefire proposal made by the US, as stated in a joint statement following talks in Saudi Arabia. Both US and Ukrainian officials have emphasized the need for humanitarian relief efforts in the peace process. The US plans to immediately resume security assistance and lift the pause on intelligence sharing with Ukraine. )GroundNews)

-US Events-
1. “Shred And Burn All Documents”: USAID Staff Ordered To Destroy Evidence On Tuesday: A senior USAID official on Tuesday ordered the agency’s remaining staff to report to their now-former headquarters in Washington DC for an “all day” group effort to destroy documents, many of which contain sensitive information. (ZeroHedge)

2. US education department to lay off 1,300 people as Trump vows to close agency: The layoffs of 1,300 people were announced by the department on Tuesday and described by the education secretary, Linda McMahon, as a “significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system”. After the most recent round of layoffs, the department’s staff will be roughly half of its previous 4,100. The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, officials said. The agency will continue to oversee the distribution of federal aid to schools, student loan management and oversight of Pell grants, the statement released on Tuesday reads. (TheGuardian)

3. House Passes CR in Huge Step Forward for Trump Agenda: The final tally was 217 to 213. Only one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), opposed the legislation. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) was the sole Democrat to cross the aisle. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced he will oppose the measure, which means at least eight Democrats must support the CR to prevent a shutdown before the Friday deadline. Once the fight to keep the government open is completed, Trump and his administration can train their focus on the ongoing work to find waste, fraud, and abuse to eliminate. (Breitbart) (AC-The resulting social media battle between Trump and Massie has shown cracks in an otherwise united GOP since inauguration.)

-Regulatory and Legal-
1. Lawmakers Debate Stablecoin Role in Securing US Dollar’s Future: House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) stressed that a well-regulated stablecoin market is essential for maintaining the U.S. dollar’s global dominance during a congressional hearing on March 11. The Committee discussed the STABLE Act, which aims to provide clear regulatory standards for stablecoin issuers while ensuring compliance with financial regulations. (BitcoinCom) (AC-Now that a US CBDC is no longer a short-term possibility, USD-based stablecoins are seen as the digital future of the USD and for maintaining economic global leadership.)

2. US House follows Senate in passing resolution to kill IRS DeFi broker rule: The US House of Representatives has voted in favor of nullifying a rule that would have required decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the Internal Revenue Service. (CoinTelegraph)

-CBDCs/World Currencies/Strategic Reserves-
1. Sen. Lummis Reintroduces Bitcoin Act, Which Would Allow US to Buy $80 Billion in BTC: The bill, dubbed the BITCOIN Act, already has five cosponsors in the Senate, all Republicans. Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) also plans to introduce companion legislation in the House of Representatives on Tuesday mirroring the BITCOIN Act. Lummis’ act would obligate the U.S. government to purchase one million BTC—a sum worth some $80 billion at writing—over a 5-year period. That huge expenditure would be funded in part by net earnings of the Federal Reserve. (Decrypt)

-Institutional Concerns-
1. Cantor Fitzgerald’s Bitcoin Business to Use Anchorage Digital and Copper: Cantor Fitzgerald plans to use crypto platforms Anchorage Digital and Copper as part of its Bitcoin financing business, the asset manager said on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald unveiled its Bitcoin financing business in July. The firm’s new business aims to provide leverage to investors who own Bitcoin. In November, the company was reportedly in discussions with Tether, exploring how the stablecoin issuer and Cantor Fitzgerald client could be supportive. (Decrypt)

-Economic Indicators-
1. US Mortgage Rates Fall for 6th Week: The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) in the US continued to decline to 6.67% in the week ended March 7th 2025, the lowest level since early October, from 6.73% in the previous week. (TradingEconomics)

2. Wall Street Fails to Recover: US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, amid trade policy uncertainty. The S&P 500 lost 0.7%, following a 1.5% drop earlier, while the Dow declined by over 450 points and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2%. (TradingEconomics)

-Security Incidents and Concerns-
NSTR

-Technology and Science-
1. Cathie Wood Sees Productivity Boom Fueled by AI, End to ‘Rolling Recession’: Cathie Wood predicts a forthcoming productivity boom driven by AI and emerging tech, despite short-term economic indicators showing weakness. She believes the US economy will experience a deflationary boom by the second half of 2025. (Decrypt) (AC-Part economic, part technology theory reveals the speeding up of technological deflation headed our way. The balance between this and monetary inflation will be harder to manage as higher volatility will result between any equilibrium. There is, of course, a third currency option that will eventually embrace the tech deflationary trend once it’s more widely understood.)

2. Google’s Gemma 3 makes home AI a reality with new open-source model: Currently, running open-source AI models locally is merely an awkward alternative to the ease of using cloud-based services like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Grok. However, running models directly on personal devices rather than sending information to centralized servers offers enhanced security for sensitive information processing and will become increasingly important as the AI industry scales.The shift toward locally hosted AI stems from concrete benefits beyond theoretical advantages. Computer Weekly reported that running models locally allows complete data isolation, eliminating the risk of sensitive information being transmitted to cloud services. (CryptoSlate) (AC-Useful instances of localized AI models are still somewhat computer hardware intensive for primetime, but it’s coming quickly.)

-Bitcoin Community-
NSTR

-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 34/100 (Up 9 pts)

Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR

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