Bitcoin News Weekly #16

TDLR:

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs increase their holdings to 720K bitcoin.

• Bitcoin's mining difficulty adjusts upward by 8.24%.

• Global liquidity is on the verge of reaching record highs.

• El Salvador offers students hands-on bitcoin mining classes.

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LATEST NEWS

🙌 Adoption:

• Praia Bitcoin Jericoacoara, a Brazilian circular economy, recharges 100 kids’ bolt cards for their ‘sats for fruits’ program using LN Bits!

• Node Nation in El Salvador provides hands-on education to students, teaching them the intricacies of running a node and mining Bitcoin.

• Npub.cash, a Nostr-native Lightning Address, enables users to receive lightning payments while offline and redeem ecash upon returning online.

⚖️ Legal:

• Genesis Global is currently authorized by a bankruptcy court to redeem 35 million GBTC shares valued at over $1.3 billion.

• UK regulators start sending emails requesting “up-to-date information” regarding the activity of self-custody wallets.

• Banks are actively lobbying the SEC to change accounting rules, aiming to simplify and reduce costs associated with holding digital assets like Bitcoin for their customers.

📈 Markets:

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs reach a significant milestone, now holding 720.4K BTC. Notably, BlackRock and Fidelity together account for over 28% of this total, with a combined holding of 205K BTC.

• BlackRock & Fidelity reach higher volumes than GBTC for the first time last week.

• Global liquidity, a metric often associated with bull runs, is approaching a new all-time high.

⛏️ Mining:

• The Bitcoin Network’s difficulty adjustment saw an increase of +8.24%, reaching new highs on top of the previous +7.3% adjustment two weeks ago.

• Daniel Batten releases a list of 5 recent peer-reviewed scientific papers endorsing Bitcoin mining as a net positive for the environment.

• American Bitcoin miners receive letters from the government demanding sensitive data regarding location and energy usage.

🗳️ Politics:

• A Congressional hearing refutes Elizabeth Warren's exaggerated claims about cryptocurrency being used to fund terrorism.

• The United Kingdom and Germany become the 3rd and 4th largest nation-state holders of Bitcoin after recent criminal seizures.

• The Blockchain Association sends a second letter to the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee expressing concerns about Senator Elizabeth Warren's Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2023, also known as the Anti-Bitcoin bill.

Bam’s 2 Sats:

I find the market psychology I often encounter on social media fascinating. Time and time again, it reminds me that we are emotional beings, and our rational decision-making can be clouded by external influences or our daily moods. This week bitcoin:

• Surpassed a $1 trillion market capitalization.

• Achieved new all-time highs in multiple countries, including Japan.

• Experienced record inflows and accumulation from spot ETFs.

Despite these achievements, some "influencers" are speculating about a potential price retracement and advising their followers to refrain from accumulating further. When we analyze the situation objectively, there isn't strong reasoning to argue that Bitcoin will experience a downturn before the halving, apart from sentiments like "the price feels too high," "it hasn't undergone a significant correction," or "it has happened previously."

What bothers me is that either some people are following this misguided advice, or there might be fewer "plebs" or "strong holders" than I anticipated. In the past 30 days, as Bitcoin has surged to prices not seen since 2021, both the Retail and Rich cohorts have transferred a significant amount of Bitcoin to Institutions.

I'm not claiming to be a genius or able to predict prices accurately, but I wouldn't be willing to bet or risk my hard-earned Bitcoin on a potential 10-30% drawdown and miss out on what could be the biggest opportunity of a lifetime. Especially when we witness 10 institutions from a SINGLE COUNTRY accumulating over $2.2 billion worth of Bitcoin just last week, with the trend on the rise.

To put it into perspective, currently, only 900 bitcoin are mined each day for the next two months (before halving to 450 in April). This means that just these 10 players are acquiring in a week what would take more than a month and a half to mine.

I believe everything becomes clear in retrospect, but in the moment, the price heavily influences our judgment. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of PTSD lingering from enduring such a long bear market, leading us to doubt whether we truly deserve this run. If I have one objective in sharing my thoughts every week, it's simply to remind you, and myself, of how fortunate we are to be experiencing this moment. Let's not allow the price to cloud our judgment. Instead, let's focus on the fundamentals and embark on this journey together as Bitcoin evolves into the world's reserve currency, shaping a society founded on the principles of hard money.

Oh, and let me tell you one thing: simply by dedicating the time to understand Bitcoin before 99% of the world does, you deserve to reap the rewards it offers.

Stay Humble & Stack Sats,
Bam

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