DIB 13 JUN 2024

BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 847,758
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 13Jun24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: US/Ukraine Sign 10-Year Security Deal / Argentina Protests Begin Against Austerity / Russia Exchange Stops Trading in USD / Houthis Begin Using Boats for Attack / Russian Ships Enter Havana / US House Holds AG Garland in Contempt / Trump Announces Support for Bitcoin Mining / Fed Says Only 1 Cut This Year / CPI Steady / Luma’s New Video AI Outshines / Lightning Becoming De Facto Link / De-Dollarization Pieces Moving Into Place

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $67,773, 29.36 oz Gold, .16 Median US House
24hr Hi: $69,977 / Lo: $67,028
Vol: $35B (Up 31%)
Mkt Cap: $1.34T (Even)
HashRate: 598 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 25 sats/vBtye (Up 4%)
Nodes: 18,970

—Reports—
-International Events-
1. Biden, Zelensky to sign 10-year U.S.-Ukraine security deal at G-7 summit: The deal aims to commit future U.S. administrations to support Ukraine, even if former president Donald Trump wins November’s election, officials said. It will be a framework for a long-term effort by the United States to help develop Ukraine’s armed forces, which have innovated on drone warfare and other cutting-edge techniques in the fight against Russia, but are also desperately outgunned and in need of modern weapons. (WaPo)

2. Argentina: violent protests as senators back austerity measures of President Milei: Police in Buenos Aires have used water cannon and teargas to tackle violent protests as Argentina’s Senate narrowly voted to approve the first set of harsh austerity measures proposed by President Javier Miliei. (Guardian)

3. Moscow stock exchange stops trading in dollars and euros: The announcement came on the same day the United States introduced a new package of sanctions against Russia. Wednesday’s package targeted Russia’s financial infrastructure in an attempt to limit the amount of money flowing in and out of Russia. (EuroNews)

4. Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch boat-borne bomb attack against Greek-owned ship in Red Sea: The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center described the vessel as being hit in its stern by a small white craft southwest of the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeida. The use of a boat loaded with explosives raised the specter of 2000’s USS Cole attack, a suicide assault by al-Qaida on the warship when it was at port in Aden, killing 17 on board.(AP)

-US Events-
1. Russian warships enter Havana harbor under Washington’s watchful eye: A Russian navy frigate and a nuclear-powered submarine churned into Havana harbor on Wednesday, a stopover the U.S. and Cuba said posed no threat but which was widely seen as a Russian show of force as tensions rise over the Ukraine war. The four Russian vessels sailed to Cuba on Wednesday after conducting “high-precision missile weapons” training in the Atlantic Ocean, Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday. The submarine and frigate carry Zircon hypersonic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles and Onyx anti-ship missiles, the ministry said. (Reuters)

2. House holds Garland in contempt of Congress: The 216-207 vote marked a win for the House GOP, after numerous members privately voiced concern over backing the measure. (TheHill)

-Regulatory and Legal-
1. Trump backs Bitcoin as defense against foreign adversaries, centralized digital currency: Trump made the comments on his proprietary social media site Truth Social on Tuesday after Bitcoin Magazine called him “the best choice for Bitcoin.” (FoxBusiness)

-Institutional Concerns-
1. Glassnode says institutional cash-and-carry trades are influencing US spot bitcoin ETF flows: Since traders are buying bitcoin spot and immediately hedging it by selling bitcoin futures, this could reduce the immediate upward pressure on the spot price that would otherwise be seen if they were only buying the spot asset. ETFs are being used as instruments to obtain long-spot exposure, while simultaneously, a growing net-short position for bitcoin is accumulating in the CME Group futures market. (TheBlock)

-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
1. Could China-led wholesale CBDC fuel de-dollarization?: MBridge, China’s cross-border digital currency initiative, has entered the minimum viable product stage. It is the world’s most advanced cross-border CBDC and stands on the cusp of playing a pivotal role in the de-dollarization process. The move coincides with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, joining the project, potentially signaling another move away from the dollar in global oil trading. (EuroMoney)

-Economic Indicators-
1. U.S. Treasury yields rise as Fed holds rates steady, signals only one cut this year: The rate on the 10-year Treasury rose more than 2 basis points to 4.316%. The Fed on Wednesday held rates steady at 5.25%-5.50% and suggested it would lower rates just once later this year, down from three rate cuts forecast in March. (CNBC)

2. US CPI Unchanged in May: Consumer prices in the US were unchanged in May 2024, after rising 0.3% in the previous period and below forecasts of a 0.1% increase. (TradingEconomics)

-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. North Korean cyberattacks on Brazilian fintech firms exposed: The June 13 Google threat intelligence report highlighted coordinated attempts to hijack, extort and defraud Brazilian individuals and organizations. While North Korean groups focus primarily on cryptocurrency firms, aerospace and defense and government entities, cyber criminals backed by the Chinese government prefer attacking only the government organizations and the energy sector in Brazil. (CoinTelegraph)

-Technology-
1. Luma’s AI Video Generator, Dream Machine Flooded With Users, Surpass OpenAI’s Sora: OpenAI’s Sora could be facing its biggest competitor yet. Luma’s artificial intelligence video generator, Dream Machine, has caused multiple-hour wait times after high demand for the software’s free public beta version’s debut. (TechTImes)

-Bitcoin Community-
1. Lightning Is the Common Language of the Bitcoin Economy: Lightning is becoming a translation layer, or a glue, that holds together different systems built on Bitcoin. Each kind of subnetwork can use its own language. How the nodes communicate among themselves in these subnetworks is their business. What’s interesting is that these subnetworks communicate with each other over Lightning, even if we’re just talking about, say, two different Cashu mints or when a Fedi interacts with an Ark. (BitcoinMag)

-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 70/100 (Down 2 pts)

Analyst Comments (AC): Although much is happening globally this week, the tectonic shift is the de-dollarization of global trade, mostly in oil. The events may not result in overnight financial chaos, but it nonetheless marks the end of an era started in the early 1970’s, borne of oil shocks and global maneuvering for economic power. The 50-year agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia (eventually OPEC) led to a promise to transact only in US dollars in exchange for Saudi defense. Not only has this agreement ended this month, but Saudi Arabia has announced the acceptance of many other currencies for oil as well as participation in China’s MBridge wholesale CBDC program. This MBridge CBDC will likely become a new leader in cross-border currency exchange and taken up by BRICS. As the world’s current leader in global exchange, we shouldn’t expect the US to instantly lose global economic hegemony, but the pieces are coming into place to ensure this does happen. How fast is the question. The consequences are uncertain, but the power yielded by US administrations in the global sphere will certainly lesson to manipulate world affairs so directly. What will arise in its place?

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