Block: 842,330
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 06May24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: IDF Preps Rafah For Assault / Russia Exercises Tactical Nuke Forces / Missing Surfers Found Dead in Mexico / Heavy Rains in Houston Subside / Man Hearing Voices Tries to Shoot Pastor / GBTC Shows 1st Inflow in Months / Weak Employment Data in US Surprises / Bitcoin Hits 1B Transactions Since Genesis
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $64,293, 27.66 oz Gold, .15 Median US House
24hr Hi: $65,494 / Lo: $63,618
Vol: $23B (Up 27%)
Mkt Cap: $1.27T (Up 1%)
HashRate: 672 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 32 sats/vBtye (Up 3%)
Nodes: 19,111
---Reports---
-International Events-
1. Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Gaza’s Rafah ahead of an expected assault: The announcement complicates last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire. The militant Hamas group and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that invading Rafah — along the border with Egypt — could derail the talks, and the United States has repeatedly urged Israel against the invasion. However, Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said the invasion is necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group. (AP)
2. Russia’s Putin orders tactical nuclear weapon exercise to deter West: Russia on Monday said it would hold a military exercise that will include practice for the use of tactical nuclear weapons after what the defence ministry said were provocative threats from Western officials, including statements about sending troops into Ukraine. The defence ministry said the exercise was ordered by President Vladimir Putin and would test the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions. Ukraine’s military spy agency spokesperson said on Monday, that Russia’s drills are nothing more than its continuing nuclear blackmail. (SCMP)
3. Bodies in Mexican well identified as Australian and American surfers killed for truck’s tires: Baja California state prosecutors said the relatives had viewed the corpses recovered from a remote well about 50 feet (15 meters) deep and recognized them as their loved ones. Thieves apparently killed the three, who were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Baja peninsula, to steal their truck because they wanted the tires. They then allegedly got rid of the bodies by dumping them in a well near the coast. Three suspects are being held in connection with the case, which locals said was solved far more quickly than the disappearances of thousands of Mexicans. (AP)
-US Events-
1. Heavy rains ease around Houston but flooding remains after hundreds of rescues and evacuations: Although forecasters expected storms to begin tapering off in southeastern Texas, high waters continued to close some roads and left residents facing lengthy cleanups in neighborhoods where rising river levels led to weekend evacuation orders. Areas near Lake Livingston, located northeast of Houston, received upwards of 23 inches of rain over the past week. (AP)
2. Man arrested, accused of trying to shoot pastor during sermon at Pennsylvania church: Pennsylvania State Police have charged 26-year-old Bernard Polite of Braddock after he entered and attempted to shoot pastor Glenn Germany while the pastor was delivering a sermon at Jesus' Dwelling Place Church on Sunday just after 1 p.m. As the pastor ducked out of the way, church Deacon Clarence McCallister leaped in front of the camera, tackling the man with the gun to the ground. "This guy was just dealing with spirits he said, and he came in and wanted to shoot somebody," Germany said, adding Polite said their were voices in his mind. (CBS)
3. I-95 in Connecticut reopens after flaming crash left it closed for days: Authorities shut the highway down in both directions after a three-vehicle crash Thursday involving a gasoline tanker, which burst into flames and damaged an overpass above I-95 in Norwalk. No one was seriously injured. Workers began demolishing the bridge on Friday and worked to repave damaged parts of the roadway in time for rush hour on Monday. The interstate serves as a major link between New England and New York. The closure left drivers jampacked bumper to bumper on some of the detour routes. (AP)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. Argentine House Passes Cryptocurrency Tax Regularization Bill: Argentina might present a new opportunity for citizens to regularize previously undeclared cryptocurrency and other assets abroad. The bill introduces the possibility of regularizing previously undeclared cryptocurrency assets for up to $100,000 without paying the fee imposed by the government. (BitcoinCom)
2. US States Approach Cardano for Developing Blockchain Voting System: In a recent interview with Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation, it was revealed that several US states have approached the Foundation with the intention of developing a blockchain-based voting system. Despite the enthusiasm surrounding blockchain technology’s potential in voting systems, Gregaard also expressed concerns regarding the challenges involved, particularly meeting the states’ implementation deadlines. (CoinTrust)
-Institutional Concerns-
1. Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF Sees First Inflow After Billions Lost Since January: A net $63 million was added on Friday, according to Farside's tally. GBTC has much higher fees, and investors yanked billions of dollars from it. Its bitcoin holdings have dropped from more than 600,000 bitcoin to around 290,000 bitcoin. (CoinDesk)
-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
1. WEF panelist suggests COVID response accustomed people to the idea of CBDCs: When asked how he would convince people that CBDCs would be a trusted medium of exchange, Bahrain’s central bank governor Khalid Humaidan said that COVID made the digital transformation ‘something of a requirement’ that had ‘very little resistance.’ Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will hopefully replace physical cash and become fully digital, the central banker tells the World Economic Forum. (TodayVille)
-Economic Indicators-
1. US Job Growth Slows, Unemployment Higher, Pay Less Than Expected: The US economy added 175,000 jobs in April 2024, a deceleration compared to the upwardly revised 315,000 jobs added in March and falling short of market expectations for a 243,000 increase. The unemployment rate in the United States edged up to 3.9% in April 2024 from 3.8% in the previous month, surprising market expectations, which had forecasted the rate to remain unchanged. Average hourly earnings for all employees on US private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $34.75 in April 2024, after a 0.3% increase in the prior month and below market estimates of a 0.3% rise. (TradingEconomics)
2. 10-Year Treasury Yield Hovers at 4.5%: The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note was around 4.5%, the lowest level in about a month, after a softer-than-expected labour data revived bets the Fed will start cutting interest rates soon.
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. Crypto hacks on Coinbase’s Base chain rose by 145% in April: Coinbase’s Base chain appears to be a target for scammers, with two of the top 10 largest single thefts occurring on the network, accounting for over 20% of the month’s total theft. The Base network witnessed a nearly 1,900% surge in scammer activity since January, with approximately $170,000 stolen due to phishing scams. In April alone, nearly 90% of the stolen assets were ERC-20 tokens, the standard for tokens on the Ethereum network. (CryptoNews)
2. Personal Data of 1 Million New York Students Hacked: Department of Education: According to a letter sent to one graduate and seen by sources, the New York City Department of Education started notifying hundreds of thousands of other current and former students last week that they were victims of the cyberattack involving one of the DOE's former software vendors. (TechTimes)
-Technology-
1. A humble Bluetooth device has successfully connected to a satellite in orbit: Hubble Network has set itself the ambitious goal of creating a global satellite network capable of connecting with any Bluetooth device. Earlier this year, the Seattle-based startup launched its first two satellites into orbit on SpaceX's Transporter-10 rideshare mission. Since then, they have successfully received signals from a simple 3.5mm Bluetooth chip over a distance of 600 km. (TechShare)
-Bitcoin Community-
1. Bitcoin Network Tops 1 Billion In Total Transactions Processed: The Bitcoin network has reached a major milestone, processing its one billionth transaction yesterday, an achievement comes 15 years and 4 months after Bitcoin's genesis block was mined on January 3, 2009. At an average rate of 178,475 transactions per day over its 5,603-day lifespan so far, Bitcoin has demonstrated the ability to handle significant volume securely without centralized intermediaries. (BitcoinMag)
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 71/100 (Up 28 pts)
Analyst Comments (AC): The softer employment data is giving the market hopes of a drop in federal interest rates and increased liquidity. With the black box that is official USG statistics, it was a matter of time before the 'data' would begin to show reasons for the Fed and Treasury to begin to act to increase liquidity in world markets in order to 'spur economic growth'. It just so happens that this would also set the stage for more debasement of the USD and give the USG the ability to spend more of the newly printed dollars.
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report
