Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #146 of Bitcoin Breakdown, where we’re bringing you your end-of-week Bitcoin Digest featuring need-to-know Quick Bits snippets and Quick Media.

But first, today’s Top Stories:

• 🧠 Cypherpunk Legend Nick Szabo Joins JAN3 as Chief Scientist to Hyperbitcoinize the World

• 🗑️ UK Judge Trashes $750M $750M Bitcoin Landfill Hunt Lawsuit

• 🛡️ Standard Chartered Dives Deeper Into EU Bitcoin and Crypto Scene

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TODAY’S TOP STORIES

🧠 Cypherpunk Legend Nick Szabo Joins JAN3 as Chief Scientist to Hyperbitcoinize the World

Bitcoin OG Nick Szabo—creator of Bitcoin precursor, Bit Gold, and inventor of smart contracts—has joined JAN3 to turbocharge hyperbitcoinization. Tasked with advancing Bitcoin’s role in financial sovereignty, Szabo will explore Bitcoin’s impact on monetary policy, trade, and financial sovereignty and develop strategies for integrating BTC into nation-state economies. Szabo's expertise promises to make Bitcoin, the modern financial system's new reserve asset, even quicker. BitHub News

🗑️ UK Judge Trashes $750M $750M Bitcoin Landfill Hunt Lawsuit

James Howells’ quest to excavate a landfill for his lost $750M Bitcoin hard drive just hit a wall. A Welsh judge dismissed his case, ruling that he had 'no reasonable grounds' and that the city owns the drive. Howells called the decision a 'kick in the teeth,' ending his 12-year Bitcoin recovery saga. Fox Business

🛡️ Standard Chartered Dives Deeper Into EU Bitcoin and Crypto Scene

British banking giant Standard Chartered just bagged a Luxembourg license, unlocking digital asset custody services across the EU under MiCA rules. The bank is ramping up its Bitcoin and crypto game. This move follows a partnership with OKX and whispers of spot Bitcoin trading. BeInCrypto

POLL

QUICK BITS

• Donald Trump debuts ‘Trump Bitcoin Digital Trading Cards’ on Bitcoin Ordinals, offering incentives via Magic Eden amid a recovering NFT market.

• IMF urges Kenya to adopt clear Bitcoin and crypto regulations to address AML/CFT risks and enhance consumer protection and financial stability.

• Thailand police seize nearly 1,000 Bitcoin miners in Thailand, busting an illegal electricity theft operation and investigating digital asset trading company JIT Co.

• UK court orders seizure of $4.3M in Bitcoin from "Don Car-Leone," a fugitive crime boss hiding in Dubai.

• Cleanspark hits 10,097 bitcoin milestone with 236% annual growth, leading US mining expansion and targeting 50 EH/s hashrate by mid-2025.

• Bitwise survey reveals 56% of US advisors plan crypto investments after 2024 elections, with demand and client interest surging in 2025.

• Asia drives global crypto adoption with 60% of users, led by CEXs, thriving markets in China, and rising crypto payments in Singapore.

• Swan Bitcoin officially launches in New York, partnering with Bakkt and Equity Trust to offer a suite of Bitcoin financial services, including Bitcoin-focused IRAs and specialized offerings for high-net-worth individuals.

• Russia liquidates over 1,032 BTC confiscated from ex-investigator Marat Tambiev, who is convicted of accepting a bitcoin bribe in a major corruption case.

• Chinese firm BIT Mining boosts Ethiopia's share of the global Bitcoin hashrate to 1.5% with a $14.28M facility.

• Kraken executives and a16z are being considered for the role of CFTC Chair, with pro-Bitcoin and crypto Commissioner Summer Mersinger also a key contender in the race.

• El Salvador accelerates bitcoin accumulation, adding 11 BTC to its reserves following the IMF loan agreement, reaching a total exceeding 6,022 BTC.

• Alpen Labs secures an $8.5M strategic round to launch Strata, a programmable layer maintaining parity with Bitcoin, co-led by DBA and Cyber Fund.

• Travala launches bitcoin rewards campaign to drive adoption, offering incentives for bookings, referrals, and boosting real-world blockchain utility.

• Michael Saylor advocates destroying BTC keys after death to boost scarcity, sparking debate about scarcity, value, and the future of Bitcoin.

• The Bitcoin Students Network launches Layer Zero to empower global youth, advancing Bitcoin education, collaboration, and financial freedom worldwide.

• Mark Cuban says he’d rather own bitcoin than gold if something bad happens to the economy—‘I think it has more value’

• Bitfinex relocates derivatives operations to El Salvador after securing second DASP license, reinforcing its role in Latin America's digital asset economy.

• Portugal's Banco de Investimentos Globais blocks fiat-to-crypto transfers as EU compliance reshapes the nation’s cryptocurrency landscape under MiCA.

ANOTHER NEWSLETTER TO CHECK OUT*

*You can find more here.

QUICK MEDIA

• Jack Mallers explains the difference between bitcoin, the asset, and Bitcoin, the network to David Zell of the Bitcoin Policy Institute (Jan 7 | 4:45 min watch).

• Joe Bryan, a financial investor and advisor, releases a video that quickly went viral in the Bitcoin community as he used a unique and engaging story to demonstrate how the root of most of our problems lies simply in the quality of our money (Jan 7 | 39:36).

• Jameson Lopp, CTO of Casa, posts an insightful visualization of Bitcoin Core's 2024 development milestones, highlighting 276,000 lines of code modified by 113 contributors (Jan 2 | 3:15 min watch).

• Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure company, releases a video detailing the process behind designing the all-new Blockstream Jade Plus (Jan 9 | 3:45 min watch).

• Matthew Kratter, a Bitcoin educator, reviews the Blockstream Jade Plus hardware wallet, focusing on improvements over the Jade Classic and how the wallet offers significant security advantages for Bitcoin cold storage (Jan 7 | 18:38 min watch). 

• Pierre Poilievre, probably the next Canadian president, discusses Bitcoin, inflation, and the future of Canadian finance while smoking hookah and talking with the owner of Tahini's restaurant (Jan 7 | 1:34 min watch).

• Michael Saylor asserts that Bitcoin surpasses gold as a monetary asset by offering faster and more secure transactions while eliminating seizure risk (Jan 9 | 1:02 min watch).

MEME OF THE DAY

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Naiw

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