Bitcoin News Weekly #17

TDLR:

• Bitcoin surpasses Fedwire’s 2023 payment volume.

• Braiins’ mining pool introduces Lightning payouts.

• Boris Johnson requests for $1 million in bitcoin for an interview.

• Valkyrie launches $BTFX, a Bitcoin futures ETF with 2X leverage.

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LATEST NEWS

🙌 Adoption:

• Bitcoin payment volumes in 2023 nearly doubled those of Fedwire (367M txns vs. 193M txns).

• Bitcoiners are coordinating to each stack $21 worth of Bitcoin in solidarity on April 20th, the day of the halving.

• Blink introduces a new plug-in for BTCPay Server, enabling merchants to accept Lightning Payments without needing to run a node.

⚖️ Legal:

• Martti Malmi, an early contributor to Bitcoin, releases his email correspondences with Satoshi from 2009-2011 as part of the Craig Wright case.

• Nigeria blocks access to Coinbase, Binance and Kraken as their national currency falls to record lows.

• The Energy Information Administration agrees to temporarily suspend its "emergency" survey of miner energy use after being sued by the Texas Blockchain Council.

📈 Markets:

• Carson Group, a $30 billion RIA platform, approves offering four out of the ten spot Bitcoin ETFs to its clients.

• SwissPost, the fifth-largest bank in Switzerland, becomes the first systematically important bank in the country to provide customers with access to Bitcoin and digital asset custody, trading, and savings accounts.

• Valkyrie launches $BTFX, a leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF aiming to provide double the daily returns of the Bitcoin Futures Index.

⛏️ Mining:

• Braiins introduces Lightning payouts, enabling miners to instantly receive rewards with no minimums or fees.

• Marathon Digital Holdings debuts Slipstream, a service enabling non-standard transactions to bypass the mempool and be included in the next block mined by Marathon.

• Bitcoin mining is generating heat for a 40-room hotel in Germany.

🗳️ Politics:

• Boris Johnson requests $1 million from Tucker Carlson for an interview, with payment options including US dollars, gold, or Bitcoin.

• Trump shifts his stance on Bitcoin from labeling it "a scam" to a more positive outlook, stating, "Bitcoin has taken a life of its own."

• Joe Kernen from CNBC's Squawk Box publicly defends Bitcoin as a store of value against his co-host, who claims it's primarily used by criminals.

Bam’s 2 Sats:

Another week has passed, and it seems that not only have we not experienced a significant retracement, but as of the time of writing, it looks like we will close the week above $51,500. These levels haven't been seen since the end of November 2021.

To provide perspective on current events and evaluate Bitcoin's future as we approach the halving, let me share with you a list of recent developments.

• The Bitcoin network is less than two months away from halving its daily issuance.

• Retail investors, holders of between 0-1 BTC, resumed accumulating Bitcoin once again this past week.

• Whales are exhibiting the highest level of activity and accumulation witnessed in the past 20 months.

• Four times as much money flowed into Bitcoin funds last week on net, compared to any other week in history.

• Inflows into accumulation addresses have reached an all-time high of 25,300 bitcoin, while whales or fund managers are accumulating in an exponential manner.

• Bitcoin is leaving exchanges at levels not witnessed since the 2022 bear market bottom, with over 59,000 bitcoin sent out from exchanges in the last 30 days.

• GBTC outflows are continuing to slow down.

While it's still difficult, or even impossible, to accurately predict what will happen, one can still make an educated decision based on the data available. From my perspective, the most interesting signal this week is that retail investors have finally shifted the direction of their net flows towards a positive one and have begun accumulating once again.

If this behavior continues, one could argue that prices might rise further before the halving, even without "mainstream speculators" having joined the hype yet. However, as they begin to be exposed to advertisements from the ETFs, the dynamic could shift and retail could really start flooding in.

I always advocate for "preparing for success" in whatever we do. For instance, if you're trying to avoid eating street food but find yourself out of the house all day, you have two options: 1. Do a long fast, or 2. Bring homemade food with you. Preparing for success means having homemade food with you in case you can't withstand the long fast. The same principle applies here: if we anticipate Bitcoin experiencing unprecedented demand that outpaces the resolve of "hodlers," it might be wise to prepare by acquiring as much as possible. Or, at the very least, avoid selling in hopes of catching a dip.

Stay Humble & Stack Sats,
Bam

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