This Executive Order Could Soon Send Hundreds of Billions Into Bitcoin

Happy Monday Bitcoiners - it’s Bam with another weekly update!

Each week, we condense the most impactful news releases into a concise, easy-to-read update so you’re always in the know!

Notable events this week include 👇

• The Ivy League Bitcoin rush is on.

• Trump’s Pro-Bitcoin Executive Orders continue.

• Tornado Cash verdict strikes a blow to Bitcoin privacy.

Let’s dive in⚡

Weekly Live Stream 🚨

Join Rob Wallace this Monday @ 11 ET for a conversation with Freddie New, Head of Policy at Bitcoin Policy UK, on the state of Bitcoin in the UK and how we can help drive adoption forward as they break down this week’s newsletter.

Latest News 📰

🙌 Adoption

• Ark, the new Bitcoin Layer 2 solution with unilateral exit, is powering all Bitcoin payments at this year’s Baltic Honeybadger conference in Riga, Latvia via the Arkade implementation.

• Mullvad VPN begins accepting Lightning payments, offering ten percent discount for users paying with BTC over LN (powered by LND).

• Sheetz, the popular convenience store chain with 750+ locations in the US, is now offering half price for purchases paid with Bitcoin and crypto.

⚖️ Legal

• Roman Storm, Tornado Cash developer, is convicted of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, while the jury deadlocked on charges of money laundering and violating NK sanctions.

• UK NCA officer Paul Chowles has been sentenced to prison for stealing 50 BTC from a confiscated Silk Road 2.0 wallet, with blockchain forensics enabling the recovery of £470,000 in assets.

• President Trump signs an executive order allowing Americans to invest in bitcoin through their 401(k) retirement accounts, a shift that could funnel billions into the bitcoin market.

📈 Markets

• 12% of Morgan Stanley EU interns this summer own Bitcoin, a sharp drop from 63% in 2022.

• US Crypto Czar David Sacks asks, “Why are top banks still prohibiting or restricting access to Bitcoin ETFs on their wealth management platforms? Is this the last vestige of ‘debanking’?”

• Ivy League schools are boosting Bitcoin exposure: Q2 filings show Brown University doubled its IBIT holdings in three months, while Harvard built a $100M+ position in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF.

🏦 Treasury

• Metaplanet’s CEO notes that Japanese households hold about $7.5 trillion in cash, with over 50% of assets in deposits, far more than in the US or Europe. Saylor responds, “Looks like an opportunity for MetaYield”.

• Sequans, the French Bitcoin treasury company backed by Swan, has an mNAV of 0.89, meaning its market capitalization is less than the value of the Bitcoin on its balance sheet.

• The Smarter Web Company launches a $21M bitcoin-denominated convertible bond with zero interest, 5% premium equity conversion, BTC downside protection, and a 30% treasury cap - a UK market first.

⛏️ Mining

• Bitcoin miner profits hit a post-halving high in July, averaging $57,400 per EH/s in daily block rewards, per JP Morgan. Ten of the 13 tracked miners outperformed Bitcoin’s 8% price gain for the month.

• Indonesia is exploring Bitcoin mining to accumulate BTC for its national reserves as a hedge against inflation and to diversify assets, according to the Vice President’s office.

• Bitcoin Hashrate hits ATH as Bitcoin’s Energy Value has skyrocketed to ~$145K (equating to a ~1/3rd discount to market).

🗳️ Politics

• Trump signs an executive order to stop the "unlawful debanking" of the Bitcoin and crypto industry.

• Brazil's Lower Chamber of Congress will discuss a proposal to invest 5% of foreign reserves in Bitcoin, creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to diversify exposure to international fiat currencies.

• Bo Hines, Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, steps down to return to the private sector without delivering the promised audit of the US Bitcoin holdings.

🧠 Bitcoin Trivia 🧠

Bam’s 2 Sats 🧢

The Week It Became Obvious

This week is one of those moments we’ll look back on and say, “It was obvious,” especially for pre-coiners who’ve ignored Bitcoin while their friends reap rewards, cycle after cycle.

Bitcoin is maturing. Recently, the famous Total Addressable Market chart was updated, valuing Bitcoin at $2 trillion, just 0.22% of the $900 trillion in global capital. The question now is how Bitcoin will capture slices of each market as it continues its journey.

This week gave us a glimpse. Bitcoin treasury companies kept stacking, universities disclosed IBIT purchases, and Square reported buying 109 BTC last quarter. But what really stood out was the political sphere giving a boost to the global accumulation game.

First, Trump signed an Executive Order allowing 401(k) investors to access alternative assets like Bitcoin, unlocking $8.9 trillion in retirement capital. If Bitcoin captures just 5% of that, it would mean $400 billion, roughly the total BTC currently on exchanges.

Then came tariffs. Trump imposed them on Switzerland, which refines 70% of the world’s gold. Remember when he said he wanted to buy Bitcoin “in budget-neutral ways”? This move could trigger a gold price squeeze, creating the perfect backdrop to rotate some capital into Bitcoin.

And as if they weren’t already saying the quiet part out loud, public companies are now scrambling to find talent to lead their shift into becoming Bitcoin treasury firms.

The ground is being laid in front of us. You don’t have to support the current administration to see the writing on the wall. The sitting president isn’t just helping via regulatory clarity; he’s setting himself up by accumulating massive amounts of Bitcoin, pushing for lower rates, and forecasting a million-dollar BTC.

Only time will tell how this plays out, but we’ll surely be able to point to this week as the one where it all started to become undeniable. The risk is fading. The reward keeps getting increasingly clear.

Stay safe and keep on stacking!
-Bam