Block: 840,819
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 25Apr24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: SECState in China / IDF Has Rafah in Sights / Houthis Target US Ships / Russia Seizes $440M from JPMorgan / AZ AG Enters Election Year Lawfare Against Trump / US College Campuses Protests Widen / Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested / BTC ETFs Weaken
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $64,041, 27.42 oz Gold, .15 Median US House
24hr Hi: $66,730/ Lo: $63,347
Vol: $33B (Up 40%)
Mkt Cap: $1.26T (Down 4%)
HashRate: 547 EH/s
Avg Fees: 8,814 sats/tx (Down 63%)
Nodes: 19,260
---Reports---
-International Events-
1. Blinken Kicks Off Diplomatic Mission in China: U.S. aid to Taiwan, a new TikTok law, and Beijing’s ties with the Kremlin are at the forefront of this week’s visit. Experts predict the foreign aid package to be a prime talking point between the U.S. and Chinese delegations, as part of it provides $8 billion in funding for the Indo-Pacific region, including military assistance to Taiwan. (ForeignPolicy)
2. Israel says Rafah assault looms; massive Gaza airstrikes end weeks of relative calm: Israeli warplanes pounded the northern Gaza strip for a second day on Wednesday in a fierce assault that has shattered weeks of comparative calm, and Israel said it was moving forward with plans for an all-out assault on Rafah in the south. (Reuters)
3. Houthis Claim Responsibility in US Cargo, Naval Ship Attack: The incidents on Wednesday come after a lull in attacks, during which the Houthis launched more than 50 assaults since November on shipping vessels. Houthis claim they targeted a U.S. cargo ship and an American warship destroyer in the Gulf of Aden as well as the Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean, according to a televised speech from Sarea that was posted on X. US and western news sources are refuting that any ship was damaged but that missiles were shot down by US forces. (Newsweek, StarsAndStripes, CNN)
4. Russian court orders seizure of $440mn from JPMorgan: A Russian court has ordered the seizure of JPMorgan Chase funds totalling $439.5mn a week after Kremlin-run lender VTB launched legal action against the largest US bank to recoup money stuck under Washington’s sanctions regime. (FT) (AC-Economic warfare includes sanctions, currency manipulation, and financial attacks. This is obviously a response against the US sanctions against Russia and the giving of Russian assets to Ukraine just this week.)
-US Events-
1. Arizona grand jury indicts Meadows, Giuliani, other Trump allies for 2020 election interference: An Arizona grand jury has indicted 18 allies of Donald Trump for their efforts to subvert the 2020 election — including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn. (Politico)
2. Pro-Palestinian campus protests roil political debate in Washington: College students demonstrating their support for Palestinians on campuses across the country are shaking up the political debate on Capitol Hill, pitting Israel’s closest allies in both parties against more liberal Democrats siding with the protesters in accusing the country of orchestrating a genocide in Gaza. (TheHill)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested and Charged With Money Laundering: Federal prosecutors charged Samourai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill with conspiracy to commit money laundering on Wednesday, as the U.S. government continues its approach to prosecuting crypto mixing tools that may be used by illicit actors and foreign governments to hide fund transfers. Wednesday's arrests come as the DOJ prepares for its upcoming trial against Roman Storm, a developer and co-founder of crypto mixing service Tornado Cash. That case is being pursued by the DOJ's Southern District of New York division. Recently, the DOJ's Washington, D.C. unit successfully won a conviction against Roman Sterlingov, the operator of crypto mixer Bitcoin Fog, on money laundering charges. (CoinDesk)
-Institutional Concerns-
1. US spot Bitcoin ETFs see daily net outflow of $120 million: Grayscale’s GBTC had $130.42 million leave the converted bitcoin ETF, while Fidelity and Ark Invest’s funds were the only two to have inflows totaling about $10 million. BlackRock’s IBIT in particular, ended its 71-day positive streak on Wednesday. (TheBlock)
2. Tesla Maintains Bitcoin Holdings — Balance Sheet Shows $184 Million in Digital Assets: Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has maintained its bitcoin holdings. The company’s Q1 balance sheet shows net digital assets of $184 million. According to crypto analytics firm Arkham, Tesla continues to hold onto its 11,509 bitcoins, which have a market value of over $745 million. (BitcoinCom) (AC-The discrepancy in the balance sheet and Bitcoin held is the choice of Tesla to not report current market value of the 11,509 bitcoin. This may change in the near future with the FASB rules on reporting but most likely it is an option of the CFO.)
-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
1. In October 2023, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program by the Bank of Thailand came to an end. It tested a tokenized Thai baht on a centralized ledger and involved 4,000 consumers, 140 merchants. While the Thai central bank was happy with the results and thought a CBDC would help promote innovation, it reported that it had no plans to push ahead with a digital baht immediately. Along with testing peer-to-peer and retail payments, the Thai CBDC pilot program allowed the testing of several programmable features, including enabling parents to restrict what their children’s money could be spent on. (CoinGeek)
-Economic Indicators-
1. Dollar Muted Ahead of GDP Data: The dollar index was subdued around 105.8 on Thursday as investors avoided making big bets ahead of US GDP data for the first quarter that could influence the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy. (TradingEconomics)
2. US Durable Goods Orders Rise for 2nd Month: New orders for manufactured durable goods in the United States surged by 2.6% month-over-month in March 2024, following a downwardly revised 0.7% growth seen in February and slightly exceeding market expectations of a 2.5% increase. (TradingEconomics)
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. North Korea’s Lazarus Group Targets Crypto Firms in New LinkedIn Scam: According to SlowMist, Lazarus executes a meticulous plan, targeting unsuspecting LinkedIn users. Under the pretense of job inquiries, hackers coax victims into sharing personal information. Once contact is established, victims are encouraged to download seemingly harmless code, supposedly for troubleshooting purposes. The group’s aggressive crypto heists have amassed over $3 billion in stolen digital assets since its inception. (CoinPedia)
-Bitcoin Community-
NSTR
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 72/100 (Even)
Analyst Comments (AC): The arrest of the founders of Samourai Wallet and continued prosecution of the developer Tornado Cash shows an increasing pressure on privacy and gray market enablers by the US DOJ. In context, it is not an isolated event but rather a systemic approach that is increasingly conflating financial privacy with illegally laundering money. As the digital age continues to progress those in power are realizing the capabilities of surveillance over financial transactions and are fighting to maintain and increase control. This is a continuation of the war between centralization of power and decentralization (AKA freedom) but in the new digital age. This arrest and more to come highlight the need for individuals and communities to increase responsibility for privacy in all matters and understand the tools and use them.
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report
