BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 858,079
DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 23Aug24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: Court Upholds Maduro’s Victory / Nuke Plant in Kursk Threatened By Drones / SCOTUS Rules AZ Voters To Show Citizenship Proof / New COVID Vaccines Recommended by CDC / RFK Wins Ruling Against Biden Admin / DeFi Making Comeback / Myanmar Currency Quickly Debased / Crowdstrike Facing Lawsuits / Rise In Pig Butchering Con Games / US Wants to Flood Taiwan Strait With Drones
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $60,818, 24.28 oz Gold, .14 Median US House
24hr Hi: $61,408 / Lo: $60,141
Vol: $24B (Down 30%)
Mkt Cap: $1.2T (Down 1%)
HashRate: 736 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 5 sats/vBtye (Up 67%)
Nodes: 19,259
—Reports—
-International Events-
1. Venezuelan court upholds Maduro’s disputed victory: Venezuela’s highest court has upheld the re-election of Nicolás Maduro as president following accusations of widespread voter fraud in July’s poll. The decision by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) comes as the United Nations warned that the court lacked independence and impartiality. Mr Maduro has led the country since 2013 and his re-election means he can serve another six-year term. (BBC)
2. IAEA’s Grossi to visit Kursk nuclear plant after drone attack: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday its Director General Rafael Grossi will assess the situation at Kursk nuclear power plant during his visit next week. IAEA also said it had been informed by the Russian Federation that the remains of a drone had been found within the Kursk nuclear power plant. Acting Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov told Putin the situation at the Kursk plant was “stable.” (Reuters)
-US Events-
1. Arizona can demand some voters prove citizenship, US supreme court rules: The US supreme court ruled Thursday that Arizona can partially enforce a new law that requires people to prove their citizenship in order to vote, but said the state cannot block them from voting for president or by mail as long as they used the federal voter registration form. The court’s emergency decision allows Arizona to require proof of citizenship from registrants who use the state’s voter registration form. But those who register using a federal voter registration form are still eligible to vote for president. The court also left in place a lower court injunction barring those who do not provide proof of citizenship from voting by mail for president. (TheGuardian)
2. FDA approves updated Pfizer, Moderna Covid vaccines as virus surges; shots to be available within days: The jabs target a strain called KP.2, a descendant of the highly contagious omicron subvariant JN.1 that began circulating widely in the U.S. earlier this year. The CDC recommended that everyone over 6 months old receive an updated Covid vaccine this year. Meanwhile, the CDC said about four people are being hospitalized for Covid for every 100,000 people in a given area. (CNBC) (AC-Even if the reader does not give credence to CDC/Big Pharma announcements like this, it is important to know that some do and whom may not know the risk/reward ratio of these vaccines.)
3. Judge Rules RFK Jr. Can Sue Biden Admin Over Censorship After Supreme Court Rejects Challenge From States: A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can continue to pursue his lawsuit against the Biden administration over censorship at the direction of the government. According to District Court Judge Terry Doughty, Kennedy meets the standard set by the Supreme Court because there is “ample evidence” to show he was censored at the direction of government actors, and is at “substantial risk” that the censorship will continue. Kennedy was named by one of the “Disinformation Dozen” – and was specifically targeted by the government over what they alleged was COVID-19 misinformation, and “The Court finds that there is further risk for future risk injury here because Kennedy is a 2024 presidential candidate,” wrote Doughty. (ZeroHedge) (AC-An interesting turn of events for RFK as we await his pending announcement today. This ruling could affect his potential drop-out and support of Trump.)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. DeFi Is Set to Make a Comeback As Interest Rates, Stablecoin Supply Drive Its Resurgence: According to a report by Steno Research, decentralized finance (DeFi) is expected to make a comeback, with the total value locked (TVL) in the crypto ecosystem potentially reaching an all-time high in the first half of next year. The resurgence of DeFi is linked to interest rates, particularly in the U.S., as they influence the appeal of decentralized financial markets. Additionally, factors such as the growth in stablecoin supply and the continued expansion of real-world assets contribute to the revival of DeFi. (Decreypt) (AC-Ugh!)
-Central Bank Digital Currencies-
NSTR
-Institutional Concerns-
1. El Salvador adds 162 Bitcoins to national holdings: A cold wallet reportedly owned by the Salvadoran government has been buying one Bitcoin everyday since March 16, adding 162 coins to the country’s Bitcoin holdings. (CryptoNews)
-Economic Indicators-
1. US 10-Year Treasury Note Yield Steady Ahead Powell Speech: The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note stabilized at 3.85% on Friday, after briefly dipping to a 14-month low of 3.8% earlier in the week. Markets are closely watching to gauge the scale of potential rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. (TradingEconomics)
2. US Initial Jobless Claims Rise More than Expected: The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US rose by 4,000 from the previous week to 232,000 on the period ending August 17th, slightly ahead of market expectations of 230,000 to mark a three-week high. (TradingEconomics)
3. Myanmar households crippled as currency tumbles to record low: The Myanmar kyat has been extremely volatile in recent days, plunging to a low of 7,500 to the dollar in the black-market last week from 5,000 earlier in the month The plunge followed reports that the Myanmar junta was printing more kyat to prop up the currency, two traders said. “People are frantically buying (Thai) baht and selling kyat,” said a money transfer agent in Thailand. (AsashiShimbun) (AC- For those who study currencies and economics, the lessons come from around the world.)
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. CrowdStrike Faces Lawsuits From Customers, Investors: CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) is facing lawsuits from investors and customers following the incident that caused massive global outages, but some believe the company is likely shielded from legal action. Roughly 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide entered a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) loop on July 19 after CrowdStrike pushed out a bad update that was not properly tested. (SecurityWeek)
2. Pig Butchering Crypto Scams On The Rise: FBI Recovered $5 Million: Pig Butchering crypto scams have become the new preference of fraudsters where they pretend to be acquaintances, friends, or romantic partners. They make contacts and get close with the victim, running the fraud for weeks or even months, convincing the victim to invest in the scammer’s crypto. Once the victim invests, the scammers show sudden losses to ask for more or simply disappear. (CoinGape)
-Technology and Science-
1. AI drone ‘hellscape’ plan for Taiwan: The US army plans to combat a Chinese invasion of Taiwan by flooding the narrow Taiwan Strait with swarms of thousands and thousands of autonomous drones. “I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities so that I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything,” US Indo-Pacific Command chief Navy Admiral Samuel Paparo told the Washington Post. (CoinTelegraph)
-Bitcoin Community-
1. Bybit emerges as dominant exchange with $2.5 billion BTC spot volume: Bybit’s recent surge to a $2.5 billion spot volume on Aug. 22 has stunned the crypto community, consistently outperforming even the behemoth Binance in daily volumes. (CryptoSlate)
2. Bitcoin Fees Surge Above $100 as Native Staking Protocol Launches: Babylon Labs’ launch of native staking capabilities for Bitcoin caused a surge in transaction fees early Thursday, with the median cost per transaction peaking at $132. Users rushed to stake their Bitcoin, leading to a fee bidding war and increased costs. Despite the inconvenience for standard Bitcoin users, this fee spike may benefit miners struggling in the current climate. (Decrypt)
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 34/100 (Down 5 pts)
Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report