DIB 30 JUL 2024

BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 854,655
DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 30Jul24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ

BLUF: Venezuela Ripe For Violence After Election / Israel Calculating on Hezbollah / More Russian Ships in Havana / Interpol Operation Nets 206 Arrests, Drugs, Detonators and a Sub / Harris VP Options Dwindle / Snipers Texted on Crooks 90 Minutes Before Shooting / BTC Wrench Attack in Ukraine Kills Victim / USG Moves $2B of Silk Road BTC / NY Post Calls Out Rigged Big Tech / DEX Trade at ATH

Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $66,316, 27.86 oz Gold, .15 Median US House
24hr Hi: $69,987 / Lo: $65,894
Vol: $38B (Up 60%)
Mkt Cap: $1.31T (Down 5%)
HashRate: 671 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 3 sats/vBtye (Down 78%)
Nodes: 19,606

—Reports—
-International Events-

Protests erupt in Venezuela as questions grow over strongman Maduro’s victory: Protests broke out in several Venezuelan cities on Monday after authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was formally declared a winner by the county’s electoral authority in a presidential race marred by accusations of electoral fraud. Analysts say there could be a new wave of unrest in the country if there are widespread protests against the regime. Street demonstrations in previous years were crushed by the country’s military. (CNN) (AC-China’s Xi has congratulated Maduro’s ‘victory’, but the people of Venezuela are not accepting of the election, as violence ramps up.)
Fears of Israel-Hezbollah war grow after Golan Heights strike that killed 12 children: The security cabinet authorized Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to decide on the nature and timing of the response against Hezbollah. Lebanon says it received reassurances from third countries that Israel’s response would be limited. Several European countries have reiterated calls for their citizens to urgently leave Lebanon. (CNN)
Russia Docks 3 Warships in Havana, Continuing Parade of Naval Ships to Cuba: Three war vessels from Russia’s Baltic Fleet arrived in Havana, Cuba, this weekend for a four-day “work visit” to the communist nation that will reportedly conclude on Tuesday. (Breitbart) (AC-Part strategic play, part messaging to the US, and part intelligence collection, the naval visit is the second in the last 60 days.)
Interpol operation leads to 206 arrests, seizure of $1.6b of illegal drugs, chemicals: Interpol says more than 200 people have been arrested and some $1.6 billion worth of illegal drugs and precursor chemicals seized as part of a two-month operation against narcotics trafficking across Europe, North America and Africa. In addition, the operation led to the seizure of 65 stolen cars, some 30,000 commercial-grade detonators diverted from military or commercial mining, and a “narco-sub”. (ABC)

-US Events-

NC Gov. Roy Cooper Withdraws from Consideration for Kamala Harris’s VP: This comes after Adm. William H. McRaven, who had also been a vice-presidential contender revealed that he had “removed” his name from consideration. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) also recently revealed during an interview with CBS News that she was not involved in the process of searching for a vice presidential pick for Harris. (Breitbart)
Snipers noticed Crooks 90 minutes before Trump shooting: A local countersniper first noticed gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks at 4:26 p.m., just more than an hour and a half before he climbed onto a nearby roof and shot at Trump. Additional texts at about 5:40 p.m. show officers discussing that they should inform Secret Service after Crooks was spotted again, this time using a range finder. (TheHill)

-Regulatory and Legal-

Ukrainian Police Detain Suspects in Abduction, Murder of Foreigner Over Bitcoin: The Ukrainian police announced on July 29 that it arrested four men for abducting and coercing a foreign national into transferring his bitcoins before ultimately murdering him. the quartet targeted a 29-year-old foreign national who possessed bitcoins valued at over $170,000 or almost 7 million hryvnias. After tracking the victim to his place of residence, the four men seized him and forcibly took him to an abandoned building. “There they forced him to transfer bitcoins to their crypto wallet, which were then transferred to cash, and the man was killed. (BitcoinCom)
US Moves $2 Billion Bitcoin Seized from Silk Road Amid Donald Trump’s HODL Plan: The US government transferred $2 billion in DOJ-seized Bitcoin to new addresses, according to on-chain data. This move followed Trump’s plan to prevent the sale of government Bitcoin holdings if he returns to office. Industry experts reacted strongly, speculating on the motives and strategic implications of the transfer. (BeinCrypto) (AC-The timing of this move suggests a direct act in opposition to Trump’s plan of using the BTC as a reserve asset. This could indicate a more hostile stance against Bitcoin and crypto.)

-Central Bank Digital Currencies-

Bank of England to Carry Out CBDC, Digital Ledger Experiments: The BoE said it plans to carry out a series of experiments on a wholesale central bank digital currency and distributed ledger technology. It will also experiment to ensure that the “singleness of money” is maintained with stablecoins and tokenized deposits. (CoinDesk)

-Institutional Concerns-

Over 41.5% of Mt. Gox Bitcoin distributed as creditors continue to hodl: Despite receiving over $4 billion worth of Bitcoin, which has appreciated by over 8,500% in the 10 years since Mt. Gox collapsed, the exchange’s creditors continue to hold their assets. (CoinTelegraph)
BlackRock Exec Says Only Bitcoin, Ethereum Meet the Criteria for ETFs: According to BlackRock’s senior ETF executive, Bitcoin and Ethereum are the only cryptocurrencies that meet the criteria for ETFs. Other digital assets, including Solana, do not come close in terms of investability and client demand. While there have been filings for Solana ETFs, the lack of Solana CME futures is seen as a roadblock to SEC approval. (Decrypt)

-Economic Indicators-
NSTR

-Security Incidents and Concerns-

WazirX Hack: Making customers pay 45% losses is utter nonsense, says Co-Founder of CoinDCX: WazirX has decided to implement a “socialized loss” strategy following a major cyberattack that compromised nearly half of its user funds. According to a statement from WazirX, this approach aims to spread the financial impact across all users, enabling them to access a portion of their assets immediately while maintaining the possibility of further recovery. (EconomicTimes)

-Technology and Science-

Rig Tech: Meta AI tool calls Trump assassination attempt ‘fictional,’ offers details on Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign: Through false labels, confused artificial intelligence and strange search results, Big Tech has been suppressing coverage of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, The Post has found. Meta AI, Googgle, and Facebook are all suppressing information related to the assassination attempt on Trump. (NYPost)

-Bitcoin Community-

DEX market share surges to record high, outpacing centralized exchanges: The monthly trade volume of DEXs relative to CEXs is already at its highest ever, at 14.22%. The previous record high occurred in May 2023 at 13.7%. Uniswap is the largest DEX by total value locked (TVL) at $5.585 billion. Curve Finance maintains a $2.029 billion TVL, followed by PancakeSwap’s $1.825 billion and Raydium’s $1.259 billion. (TheBlock)

-Bitcoin Sentiment-

Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 67/100 (Down 7 pts)

Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR

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