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This Week's ⚡ Quick Bits & 🎥 Quick Media Digest (#141)

This Week's ⚡ Quick Bits & 🎥 Quick Media Digest (#141)

Read issue 141 of the Bitcoin-only newsletter with the highest signal-to-noise ratio in the space.

Naiw
December 28, 2024 • Reading Time: 20 minutes

Together with

Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #141 of the Bitcoin Breakdown, where we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our loyal readers as we send out the last issue of the year.

You overwhelmingly voted in the last issue’s poll in favor of the newsletter being sent out on a daily basis.

We are thus busy preparing all our processes and systems for this upgrade, beginning on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

You can expect one more weekly Quick Bits and Quick Media digest next week before the change.

There are a few more exciting developments that we will also introduce intermittently.

Thank you again for your loyalty and support.

Happy readings! 👽️

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⚡️ QUICK BITS

Russia integrates bitcoin into foreign trade to counter Western sanction, according to Finance Minister who is confident these payments will be expanded and developed further next year.
Victim of failed kidnap attempt identified as Bitcoin millionaire’s wife; Jameson Lopp warns: ‘Don't brag if you care about your family.’
IRS finalizes ‘broker rule’, regulating non-custodial trading services and redefining broker status without fund custody by 2027.
3 prominent advocacy groups, Blockchain Association, DeFi Education Fund, and Texas Blockchain Council sue the IRS over the ‘broker rule’, sparking sector-wide controversy.
Consensys lawyer says the proposed ‘broker rule’ is all costs and no benefit from a revenue standpoint and will be met with critical congressional review.
IRS also insists staking rewards are taxed when received, not sold, with a Tennessee couple challenging this in court.
Major dark web operation uncovered that sells stolen identities with matching biometrics, making KYC verification systems virtually redundant.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s asset management firm Strive files for a Bitcoin ETF.
CZ, former executive of Binance, claims the UAE holds $40B in BTC, based on unverified rumors and allegations.
VanEck proposes strategic Bitcoin reserve to slash US national debt by $42T by 2049.
Michael Saylor proposes a Bitcoin reserve to create up to $81T for the US Treasury and help the government manage national debt.
Binance's Bitcoin reserves drop to January lows, suggesting potential for another 90% BTC price surge.
Bank of Italy report identifies peer-to-peer services without KYC as avenues for money laundering, labeling them 'crime-as-a-service’.
Rumble, an anti-censorship video-streaming platform, plans to introduce BTC tipping for creators after securing a $775M deal with Tether.
KULR Technology Group, an energy management platform, initiates bitcoin treasury strategy by purchasing 217 BTC for $21M.
Israel to debut 6 Bitcoin mutual funds on Dec 31, 2024, following regulatory approval.
Ethiopia surpasses $1B in BTC mining investments, generating more revenue than electricity exports by leveraging hydroelectric power from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
El Salvador showcases its Bitcoin success to China, aiming to encourage a transformation in Beijing's restrictive Bitcoin and crypto policies for greater global adoption.
Brazilian hacker charged for extorting $3.2M in BTC after breaching 300,000 accounts.
Bitcoin ETFs experience a post-Christmas turnaround with positive net inflows, reversing a 4 day trend of over $1.5B in outflows.
Interpol issues a Red Notice for sh!tcoin Hex founder and notorious Bitcoin critic Richard Heart, citing accusations of tax fraud and assault.
Bitstack raises €5M to transform banking by integrating Bitcoin with euro accounts and VISA debit cards for everyday use in France.
Metaplanet CEO says they're ‘just getting started’ buying BTC.
Japan says no to a strategic reserve, while Thailand considers BTC as a payment method.
Trump to issue Bitcoin and crypto-friendly executive order on day 1 that could include establishing a bitcoin stockpile and crypto council, according to Reuters.
Trump administration appoints Bitcoin and crypto advocate, Stephen Miran, to lead Council of Economic Advisers, signaling a pro-Bitcoin policy shift.
Matador Technologies, a publicly traded Canadian company, adopts Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Pledditor, a vocal Bitcoiner who calls out suspicious activity, accuses Bitcoin Magazine of promoting Matador stock in a potential pump and dump scheme, raising conflict of interest concerns.
Russia imposes a 6-year mining ban in 10 regions, opting for seasonal restrictions in key areas like Irkutsk.
Bitcoin Runes loses all momentum by 2024 end.

MicroStrategy expands board by recruiting regulatory and investment experts ahead of Nasdaq 100 entry.
MicroStrategy invests $561M in Bitcoin before Christmas, continuing aggressive acquisition under Saylor's leadership.
MicroStrategy proposes to increase shares by billions to fund further Bitcoin acquisitions.
South Korea sees a surge in Bitcoin and crypto investment amid increasing optimism around President-elect Donald Trump’s policies.
Geyser Fund introduces Guardians — an innovative program offering exclusive perks and direct support tailored for independent creators to enhance their projects and visibility.
Marathon Digital Holdings utilizes bitcoin mining heat to warm 80,000 Finnish homes.
75% of Bitcoin and crypto hedge funds face banking access issues, with potential relief to come from Trump administration.
Hut 8 boosts Bitcoin reserve to $1B with $100M buy, now holding over 10,000 BTC.
CF Benchmarks, a leading UK-regulated index provider, predicts that investment advisers will dominate BTC and ETF ownership in 2025, surpassing hedge funds.
La Rosa Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed real estate platform, introduces Bitcoin payment options for its 3,000+ agents, allowing commission receipts in sound money.
Metaplanet acquires $60.5M worth of BTC, marking its largest single BTC purchase to date.
Fulgur Ventures and Tether back ThunderStack to enhance RGB protocol for Bitcoin smart contracts and privacy.
FBI and Japanese government reveal details of $305M DMM exchange hack executed by North Korea-affiliated hackers using social engineering techniques.
Bitcoin ETFs suffer $1.2B in outflows over three days, reducing net assets to $105 billion.
Luke Dashjr celebrates as miners solo mine block 876020 using their own full node, showcasing the power of DATUM and OCEAN for distributing mining rewards.
Bernie Moreno, pro-Bitcoin and crypto senator, joins Senate Banking Committee, signaling a shift towards favorable crypto legislation.
Hester Peirce, SEC Commissioner, considers in-kind redemptions for spot bitcoin ETFs.
Bitcoin's social sentiment hits a yearly low in 2024, hinting at a potential breakout and strong recovery to $160K by 2025.
Bitcoin accumulator addresses buy 225k BTC in December with falling liquidity, hinting at short-term market correction.
Singapore outpaces Hong Kong in crypto licenses issued, driven by supportive regulations and a business-friendly environment.

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🎥 QUICK MEDIA

Adam O'Brien of Get Based exposes how the Federal Reserve, established 111 years ago, secretly enslaves nations with debt, funds wars, and controls America's future through its shadowy origins (Dec 24 | 29:13 min watch).
Monika Bravo, a multi-disciplinary artist, presents at Adopting Bitcoin in El Salvador Bitcoin not just as a financial tool but as a Promethean force for personal liberation, paralleling its impact with Greek mythology and astrology (Dec 26 | 34:33 min watch).
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and once a Bitcoin skeptic, now acknowledges on CNBC it as a legitimate financial instrument, useful for uncorrelated returns and as digital gold, particularly when one fears currency debasement (Dec 25 | 2:06 min watch).
Mark Moss and Cory Klippsten explore how businesses are using Bitcoin to scale without private equity, discussing the potential impact of the US government's 200,000+ Bitcoin holdings (Dec 25 | 7:39 min watch).
Adam O'Brien of Get Based also tackles the biggest myths and FUD about Bitcoin, debunking common skeptic arguments using first principles to clarify why these reasons for not buying Bitcoin are flawed (Dec 23 | 14:04 min watch).
Matthew Kratter of Bitcoin UIniversity explores how Satoshi Nakamoto's humility and ‘kenosis’ or self-emptying (akin to concepts in the New Testament, Dante, and Star Wars) contributed to Bitcoin's success (Dec 24 | 5:09 min watch).
Lightspark, a Bitcoin-focused payment solutions provider, showcases how to send money in seconds from the US to Mexico over the Lightning Network with their (KYC'ed) Universal Money Address feature (Dec 20 | 0:40 min watch).
Matthew Kratter also explores the implications of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve under Trump, suggesting it could trigger a global monetary reset, affecting BTC, gold, and possibly dethroning the USD as the world's reserve currency (Dec 23 | 12:25 min watch).
Michael Saylor, in an appearance on CNBC, explains how MicroStrategy executed a $1.5B stock deal backed by $500M in BTC, buying back $1.5B in Bitcoin to secure nearly a billion dollars in arbitrage profit (Dec 26 | 0:57 min watch).