BTC Daily Intelligence Bulletin (DIB)
Block: 859,999
DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 05Sep24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
BLUF: Munich Police Shoot Suspect Near Israeli Consulate / US Sailor Detained in Venezuela / China Investing New $51B in Africa / DOJ Shutting Down Russia Disinfo Sites / GA School Shooting Kills 4 / Pastor’s House Shot Up in TN / Robinhood Fined for Stopping Withdrawals / Institutions Turning on CBDCs / Argentina Moving Some Gold Reserves Abroad / US Jobs Drop, Stocks Down, Trade Gap Widens / Your Phone Mic IS Listening / Mastercard Enables Self-Custodied BTC Spending
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $56,474, 22.56 oz Gold, .13 Median US House
24hr Hi: $58,511 / Lo: $56,205
Vol: $31B (Down 8%)
Mkt Cap: $1.11T (Even)
HashRate: 781 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 2 sats/vBtye (Down 33%) (Super Low!)
Nodes: 19,360
—Reports—
-International Events-
- Munich police shoot suspect near Israeli Consulate: Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann later said that the suspect had died of his wounds. He said the man’s identity was still being investigated, and also that the suspect had fired shots at police first. “He shot directly at the police officers, they returned fire,” Herrmann said. A police spokesman said that five officers had been involved in the exchange of fire, and that the man had been using a long-barreled weapon. (DW)
- US Navy Sailor Detained By Maduro’s Security Services In Venezuela: Two US defense officials have confirmed the unidentified sailor’s detention by Venezuelan law enforcement, and the individual has been in custody since on or about Aug.30, the Pentagon revealed. An official said that “the service member was neither on official travel nor did they have authorized leave to visit Venezuela”. Venezuela has also long been off limits for travel by active duty American military members, especially after the last several years of sporadic unrest and resulting crackdowns by Maduro security forces. (ZeroHedge) (AP-For context, on Monday the US confiscated Maduro’s official plane and brought it to South Florida. If the sailor was detained on Aug 30th, then the plane may have been taken in response on Sept 2nd.)
- China offers Africa $51 billion in fresh funding, promises a million jobs: China was ready to step up cooperation with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment, Xi told delegates from more than 50 African nations gathered in Beijing for the three-yearly Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit. (Reuters)
-US Events-
- DOJ seizes dozens of domains used in Russian influence campaigns targeting swing states: Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray said 32 internet domains were seized after investigators found that they were used by Russian companies as part of an operation known as “Doppelganger.” The companies were used to “covertly spread Russian government propaganda with the aim of reducing international support for Ukraine, bolstering pro-Russian policies and interests, and influencing voters in U.S. and foreign elections, including the U.S. 2024 Presidential Election.” (TheRecord)
- Georgia School Shooting: 4 Killed, 9 Injured At Apalachee High School: Four people were killed and nine more were hospitalized with injuries in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said, and the suspect—a 14-year old student at the school—has been taken into custody. Winder, Georgia, is about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, and about 30 miles west of Athens, Georgia. (Forbes)
- Pastor says ‘entire magazine of bullets’ ripped through his Tennessee home. ‘Horrific’: “A madman unloaded an entire magazine of bullets from an automatic weapon into our house, garage and my truck,” Greg Locke said in a Sept. 4 Facebook post. Locke is the founder and lead pastor of Global Vision Bible Church, a Baptist congregation located just outside of Nashville. GVBC has been the target of vandalism, including one instance where a trailer full of Bibles was set on fire near the church, The Tennessean reported. (CharlotteObserver)
-Regulatory and Legal-
- Robinhood Settles $3.9 Million Fine for Preventing Customer Withdrawals: Robinhood’s crypto arm has agreed to pay $3.9 million after being accused of preventing customers from withdrawing digital assets from their accounts between 2018 and 2022. The California Department of Justice found that Robinhood allowed users to purchase crypto as commodities without delivering the actual assets, violating California’s Commodity Code. Along with the financial penalty, Robinhood must now allow customers to withdraw crypto to their wallets and improve trading transparency. (Decrypt)
-Central Bank Digital Currencies-
- Citi Survey Finds Reversal of Thinking on CBDCs: A new survey from Citi’s Securities Services division finds that investors are backing the commercialisation of distributed ledger technology and digital assets by turning to Stablecoins rather than central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Citi says that 65% of respondents plan to use non-CBDC options like stablecoins, tokenized deposits, money market funds and digital payment systems to support cash and liquidity requirements for digital securities settlements by 2026, versus 15% who plan to use CBDCs. This is a stark contrast to the previous year where CBDCs were the preferred form of digital money at 52%. (FullFX)
-Institutional Concerns-
- Amid Criticism, Central Bank of Argentina Confirms Moving Gold Abroad: In a recent press release, the Central Bank of Argentina acknowledged sending part of its gold holdings abroad, stating that it had “recalibrated” the nation’s gold between its accounts. The institution faced criticism from some lawmakers who are concerned that this gold located abroad might be subject to confiscation due to an embargo order benefiting Argentine debt holders. (BitcoinCom) (AC-With the recent changes in Argentine economic policies championed by President Milei, this move seems odd.)
- US spot bitcoin ETFs continue to bleed with $37 million in net outflows: Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. saw $37.29 million exit the products on Wednesday, extending their streak of negative flows to six days. (TheBlock)
-Economic Indicators-
- US Job Openings Drop to 2021-Lows: The number of job openings fell by 237,000 to 7.673 million in July 2024 from a downwardly revised 7.910 million in June, reaching the lowest level since January 2021 and below market forecasts of 8.10 million. (TradingEconomics)
- S&P and Nasdaq Extend Losses: The S&P 500 declined 0.3% and the Nasdaq lost 0.8% while the Dow Jones swung around the flatline on Wednesday, after the major averages had their worst day since early August on Tuesday. Concerns about the health of the US economy reemerged after the ISM Manufacturing PMI pointed to the fifth straight month of falling factory activity and worse-than-expected. (TradingEconomics)
- US Trade Gap Highest in Nearly 2 Years: The trade deficit in the US widened to $78.8 billion in July 2024, the biggest gap since June 2022, compared to a $73 billion shortfall in June and roughly in line with market forecasts. (TradingEconomics)
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
- Cox Media Group Reveals Its ‘Active Listening’ Software Spies on User Convos, Clients Include Meta, Google: A marketing firm called Cox Media Group has recently revealed that it is listening to user conversations via their smartphones through its so-called “Active Listening” Software. With this, the company will push advertisements that users will see on certain platforms based on the heard conversations as unveiled by a report. (TechTimes)
-Technology and Science-
NSTR
-Bitcoin Community-
- Mastercard enables non-custodial crypto spending in new partnership: In the collaboration, Mastercard has enabled a new euro-denominated debit card that allows users to spend cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin stored on self-custodial wallets at more than 100 million merchants in the Mastercard network. “At Mastercard, we are working closely with partners to innovate and enhance the self-custody wallet experience,” (CoinTelegraph)
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
- Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 29/100 (Up 2 pts)
Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report