DIB 2 APR 2024

BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 837,391
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 02Apr24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: School Shooting in Finland / Iran Vows Revenge After Israeli Strike in Syria / Dali Owners Deny Responsibility / Man Crashes FBI Gate in Atlanta / GBTC Selling Strong / Open Source Software Hack Shakes Techies

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $65,469, 28.99 oz Gold, .15 Median US House
24hr Hi: $70,080/ Lo: $65,091
Vol: $45B (Up 72%)
Mkt Cap: $1.29T (Down 6%)
HashRate: 654 EH/s
Avg Fees: 7,492 sats/tx (Up 18%)
Nodes: 18,193

—Reports—
-International Events-
1. Finland school shooting: one victim dies, 12-year-old suspect held: Three 12-year-old children were shot at a school outside the Finnish capital on Tuesday and one of the victims later died, police said, with a 12-year-old fellow pupil suspected of the attack taken into custody.

2. Iran has vowed to retaliate after it accused Israel of bombing its embassy complex in Syria on Monday: The airstrike destroyed the ‘consulate’ building in the capital Damascus, killing at least seven officials including Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and senior commander Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry. “According to our intelligence, this is no consulate and this is no embassy,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said Monday. (CNN)

-US Events-
1. Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: Dali ship owners deny responsibility for crash: Ship’s owner Grace Ocean Private Limited and operator Synergy Marine PTE denied any fault over the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse that claimed the lives of six construction workers. (IndependentUK)

2. FBI Atlanta gate crash: Man tries to breach FBI security by tailing employees: The man attempted to follow an authorized vehicle through the gate, but was stopped by a vehicle barrier. Two other agents who were leaving at the time got out of their vehicle and detained him. (Fox5)

-Regulatory and Legal-
1. Bank of Russia: Russians Transacted $51 Billion in Crypto During 2023: The institution’s recently published yearly report found that flows attributed to Russian nationals in large exchanges amounted to $51 billion in 2023, with most operations involving bitcoin and ether. (BitcoinCom)

-Institutional Concerns-
1. Spot Bitcoin ETFs return to net daily outflows; Grayscale’s GBTC total outflows eclipse $15 billion: Inflows of $165.9 million from BlackRock’s dominant IBIT ETF were not enough to help overcome $302.6 million in outflows from Grayscale’s converted GBTC fund, leading to a total net outflow of $85.7 million yesterday. (BlockCryptoNews)

-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
NSTR

-Technology-
1. OpenAI will no longer require ChatGPT-3.5 users to create accounts to gain access to the tool: OpenAI announced on April 1 that it would no longer require ChatGPT users to sign up to make it “easier to experience the potential of AI.” However, users without accounts will not be able to store their history of previous interactions. (CoinTelegraph)

-Economic Indicators-
1. Upbeat U.S. Factory Data Powers Dollar Index to Nearly 5-Month High: The dollar index, which tracks the greenback’s value against major fiat currencies, topped the 105 mark for the first time over four months, taking the four-week gain to 2.58%. A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated assets like bitcoin and gold expensive, potentially leading to lower demand. The PMI rose 2.5 points to 50.3 last month following February’s 47.8 reading. (CoinDesk)

-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. Thwarted supply-chain hack sets off alarm bells across DC: Andres Freund, a software engineer at Microsoft, discovered fragments of malicious code expertly hidden inside two versions of an immensely popular open-source data compression tool, known as Xz, Friday March 29, which had by then been incorporated into two versions of the widely used Linux operating system. Some researchers said state involvement is likely given how skilled the Xz exploit code was.(Politico)

-Bitcoin Community-
NSTR

-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 79/100 (Even)

Analyst Comments (AC): The majority of articles concerning bitcoin often focus on the technical analysis of price action or potential upsides or support levels. These articles are simply misleading when compared to the clear economic mechanics of supply and demand of the digital asset. Unlike securities which have derivative variables that may override supply/demand issues, bitcoin has less impact from such derivatives. Simply put, the most recent price action (~ 2-3 months) in BTC can be largely attributed to the buying of bitcoin from large institutional firms and the selling of the same, primarily from Grayscale Trust. In today’s action for example, the price drop in BTC is most highly correlated to GBTC selling BTC as outlined in the article above. In other words, ‘look for the signal through the noise’.

Follow us on NOSTR: @Bitcoin Veterans
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report