DIB 18 MAR 2025

BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 888,319
DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 18Mar2025
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: Use Of Acoustic Weapon Claimed in Serbia / IDF Resumes War on Hamas / Trump Threatens Iran After Yemen Strikes / Bird Flu in Mississippi / USS Gravely Deploys to Gulf of America / Rumors Swirl on DoD Mining Bitcoin / MSTR Closing in on 500K BTC / Retail Sales Down / North Korean Hackers Launder Via Trades / Amazon Echo to Spy More on You / Stranded Astronauts Finally Headed Home / Bitcoin Miners Continue to Diversify With AI

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $82,663, 27.33 oz Gold, .19 Median US House
24hr Hi: $84,725 / Lo: $82,250
Vol: $25B (Up 1%)
Mkt Cap: $1.63T (Down 1%)
HashRate: 801 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 2 sats/vBtye (Even)

—Reports—
-International Events-
1. Serbian officials deny illegal sonic weapon attack on peaceful protesters: Opposition officials and Serbian rights groups claimed the widely banned acoustic weapon that emits a targeted beam to temporarily incapacitate people was used during the protest Saturday. They say they will file charges with the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts against those who ordered the attack. At least 100,000 people descended on Belgrade on Saturday for a mass rally seen as a culmination of monthslong protests against Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government. Footage from the rally show people standing during 15 minutes of silence for the rail station disaster while suddenly experiencing a whooshing sound that immediately triggered panic and a brief stampede. (AP)

2. Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli strikes across the territory have killed at least 326 people: Israel’s airstrikes have killed hundreds in the Gaza Strip, threatening the ceasefire, according to the report. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated he ordered the strikes due to a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. (GroundNews)

3. Trump says Iran will suffer ‘dire’ consequences for any more Houthi attacks: A U.S. official told ABC News that the Houthis fired 11 drones and one ballistic missile at the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier group in the Red Sea on Saturday, none of which came close to hitting any U.S. vessels. Trump said Iran is “dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘Intelligence.'” “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump said. (ABC)

-US Events-
1. Mississippi reports first outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu strain in US since 2017: The United States reported its first outbreak of the H7N9 bird flu strain on a poultry farm since 2017. The outbreak occurred on a farm with 47,654 commercial broiler breeder chickens in Noxubee, Mississippi. The H7N9 strain has a high mortality rate, killing nearly 40 percent of those infected since it emerged in 2013. (GroundNews)

2. Pentagon Deploying Destroyer USS Gravely to the Gulf of America as Part of Mission to Secure the Border: The Gravely is deploying under Northcom Commander Air Force General Guillot’s authorities for maritime homeland defense missions. (Breitbart)

-Regulatory and Legal-
NSTR

-CBDCs/World Currencies/Strategic Reserves-
1. Is Trump Planning Bitcoin Mining? Rumors Fly: In a series of intriguing social media posts and statements over the last week, rumors have been swirling that the US Department of Defense (DoD) may be on the verge of officially entering the Bitcoin mining space. The speculation stems from an X post by Michelle Weekley, Director of Product at Byte Federal, a well-known operator in the Bitcoin ATM sector. (Bitcoinist) (AC-Saylor, Pines and Lowery are also giving legs to the rumors.)

-Institutional Concerns-
1. Michael Saylor’s Strategy makes smallest Bitcoin purchase on record: Strategy on March 17 officially announced its latest 130-Bitcoin acquisition, bought for around $10.7 million in cash, or at an average price of roughly $82,981 per BTC. With the new purchase, Strategy and its subsidiaries now hold 499,226 BTC, acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $33.1 billion and an average purchase price of around $66,360 per BTC. (CoinTelegraph)

-Economic Indicators-
1. US Retail Sales Rise Less Than Expected: Retail sales in the US increased 0.2% mom in February 2025, rebounding from a downwardly revised 1.2% fall in January but well below forecasts of a 0.6% rise. (TradingEconomics)

2. US Stocks Rise for 2nd Day: Stocks on Wall Street started the week on an upbeat note, extending rebound from a recent correction as the S&P 500 gained 0.6%, the Dow Jones added 353 points, and the Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.5%. (TradingEconomics)

-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. North Korean crypto thieves are mimicking terrible traders to bypass detection: Crypto thieves are pretending to be inexperienced traders — losing thousands of dollars on purpose — in a new method of laundering illicit funds. The method works like this: Launderers engineer token swaps that are designed to fall victim to trading bots. However, instead of letting other bots take advantage, the launderers run their own bots to profit from the trades. (DLNews)

2. Your Amazon Echo will start reporting to Amazon on March 28: Owners of the Amazon Echo have long had the option for the device to process requests locally, thereby keeping their information off of Amazon’s servers. That functionality is going away starting on March 28. (Mashable) (AC-Imagine the information Amazon has on you already, now add a mic in your house.)

-Technology and Science-
1. Crew-9 Undocks from ISS, Headed Home: The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, undocked from the International Space Station on March 18, 2025, at 1:05am ET. This mission, known as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9, was notable for including two astronauts, Wilmore and Williams, who had been stranded due to a failed Boeing spacecraft. The spacecraft embarked on a 17-hour journey back to Earth, with a planned splashdown off Florida’s coast at 5:57pm ET. (X)

-Bitcoin Community-
1. Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Expands Capabilities With Completed Stronghold Deal: Bitfarms has finalized the acquisition of Stronghold Digital Mining to enhance its focus on artificial intelligence, utilizing the new site for optimizing data warehouses and catering to AI firms. (Decrypt)

-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 34/100 (Up 2 pts)

Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR

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