Block: 852,737
DTG/ICOD: 1200Z 18Jul24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: Kenya Bans Protests / Venezuela Arrests Opposition Staffers Before Election / China Wants to Go High-Tech / Trump Speech At RNC Tonight / Biden Contracts Covid / US Senators Question USSS Failure / Did a Company Buy Large Number of Puts Before Trump Shooting? / Dimon as Possible Trump US Treasury Secretary Pick / Swedes Say POW is Unacceptable for CBDC / BTC ETFs Continue Inflows / Mt Gox Targeted by Hackers / Indian Crypto Exchange Hacked for $230M / 50% of Mt Gox Customers Won't Sell
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $64,830, 26.28 oz Gold, .15 Median US House
24hr Hi: $65,366 / Lo: $63,896
Vol: $28B (Down 26%)
Mkt Cap: $1.28T (Even)
HashRate: 499 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 15 sats/vBtye (Up 210%)
Nodes: 7,761 (*Anomaly: Detected nodes have dropped this week from an average of 19K to below 10K)
---Reports---
-International Events-
1. Kenya police ban protests in the capital: The ban comes after a month of anti-government protests in which scores of people have been killed. More protests are planned for Thursday. The protests began against unpopular tax rises but after they were withdrawn have broadened out, including demands for President William Ruto to resign. The ban has sparked outrage online with some arguing that the police do not have such powers, as Kenyan law gives citizens the right to hold demonstrations. (BBC)
2. Venezuela arrests security chief for opposition leader days ahead of presidential vote: Officials in Venezuela arrested the head of security for the country’s top opposition leader on Wednesday, a little more than a week before President Nicolás Maduro faces a tough reelection. Former lawmaker and opposition powerhouse María Corina Machado said that Milciades Ávila was arrested on what she said were trumped up charges of violence against women. Machado said that at least eight people connected to the opposition campaign have been detained in recent days in four states across the country. (AP) (AC- Taking a tactic from other countries, Socialist Maduro is arresting as many people associated with his political opposition as possible just before an election in an effort to cement his power.)
3. China Communist Party policy meeting expected to endorse leader Xi’s high-tech vision for economy: The plenary meeting of the party’s Central Committee was held behind closed doors. But analysts expect a major focus to be on strategies for self-sufficient economic growth at a time when China faces tightening restrictions on access to Western advanced technology, such as leading-edge computer chips and artificial intelligence. (AsahiShimbun)
-US Events-
1. Donald Trump to Rally GOP at RNC With Primetime Speech Tonight: Donald Trump is set to take the stage tonight to formally accept the Republican nomination for president for the third time, after winning back complete control of the party. (WSJ)
2. Joe Biden suffers fresh setback after Covid diagnosis halts president’s campaign: Mr Biden had to suddenly abandon his campaign stops in Las Vegas on Wednesday as news came through of his diagnosis while greeted customers at a Mexican restaurant in the city. Although Biden’s symptoms are said to be mild, it adds to the mounting pressure on the president to stand down from his campaign following calls by senior Democrats Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. (IndependentUK)
3. Blackburn, other lawmakers confront Secret Service director at RNC: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) posted on X: “It is appalling that the Secret Service Director refused to answer our questions. This is one of the greatest security failures in the history of the agency. She can run but she cannot hide. She is a failed leader and she needs to immediately step down from her position.” The senator’s office identified the other lawmakers who confronted the director as Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), and James Lankford (R-OK), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND).(WKRN)
4. Investment Firm Denies Shorting Trump Media Stock Day Before Assassination Attempt: Investment firm Austin Private Wealth LLC has denied claims that it placed a massive put option on Trump Media & Technology Group stock the day before the assassination attempt, asserting that the filing was a “clerical error”. As writer and researcher Josh Walkos highlighted, it appeared as though the firm had “shorted 12,000,000 shares of $DJT via a put option. The filing date is July 12th, the day before the assassination attempt.” “Another interesting thing about the amendment filed on 7/16 is that it is the only one they have ever had. I searched and their first filing was on 2-12-2020,” wrote Walkos. Kyler Becker also noted that “Vanguard (Soros) and BlackRock are among the largest holders in Austin Private Wealth LLC.” (Modernity) (AC-"Austin Private Wealth LLC is trending on X as a crowdsourcing effort gains steam to uncover the large trade by the company to short $DJT shares a day before the assassination attempt. Although the report has a conspiratorial flavor, there are elements that raise suspicion and warrant more research.)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. Bitcoin Critic Jamie Dimon Floated as Treasury Secretary by Trump: “He’s Changed His Tune”: Trump told Bloomberg that, if elected, he would tap JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon to be the Secretary of Treasury. “Jamie Dimon was, you know, very negative and now all of a sudden he’s changed his tune a little bit,” Trump told Bloomberg, citing that the bank CEO has warmed up toward the novel asset class of cryptocurrencies, and more precisely, Bitcoin. (BitcoinSensus)
-Central Bank Digital Currencies-
1. Swedish central bank concludes proof of work blockchains are unacceptable: Riksbank, the Swedish central bank, recently released a paper on the potential climate impact of retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) models. It concluded three things: that the energy usage of an e-krona would be similar to that of card payments, that after a certain point, more nodes lead to diminishing returns, and that proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains and any kind with Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) are likely palatable, whereas proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains are out of the question. (CoinGeek) (AC-Fiat is palatable)
-Institutional Concerns-
1. US Spot Bitcoin ETFs Clinch 9 Day Winning Streak of Inflows: U.S. spot exchange-traded funds for Bitcoin have experienced a nine-day winning streak of inflows, with total daily net inflows amounting to approximately $1.97 billion. (Decrypt)
-Economic Indicators-
1. Dow Extends Record High, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Sink: U.S. stocks closed mixed on Wednesday amid a significant selloff in the chip sector and AI-related companies. The S&P 500 declined 1.4% and the Nasdaq 100 sank 2.8%, pulling back from recent record highs, with the latter marking its worst day since December 2022. This followed the Biden administration's threats to expand trade restrictions and impose tougher sanctions on firms selling technologies to China. (TradingEconomics)
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. Mt. Gox Creditors Report Account Breach Attempts: In the last 24 hours, numerous Mt. Gox creditors have reported unauthorized login attempts on their accounts. According to posts on an insolvency subreddit, unknown hackers have been attempting to access the accounts of Mt. Gox creditors through brute-force attacks. Brute-force attacks involve systematically testing a multitude of passwords or keys until the correct one is found. Several Reddit users indicated that their two-factor authentication (2FA) likely prevented the intruders from fully accessing their accounts. (CoinGape)
2. Over $230 Million Lost In Indian Crypto Exchange WazirX Hack: Cyvers Alerts, a blockchain security firm that initially reported the attack, believes that the threat actors targeted the exchange’s Safe Multisig wallet by compromising the private keys used to upgrade it. The attackers then transferred 234.9 million worth of stolen crypto assets to a new address labeled “0x04b2” and converted them into Ethereum (ETH). The stolen assets, such as $PEPE, $GALA, and $USDT, were swiftly converted into Ethereum ($ETH) and other digital assets. (Techworm)
-Technology-
1. Japan’s Pragmatic Path to an Antifragile Energy Infrastructure: Agile Energy X, led by CEO Kenji Tateiwa, is transforming Japan's energy infrastructure using Bitcoin mining. The core idea is to use variable renewable energy sources to power portable, distributed energy facilities. These facilities can flexibly create power demand, turning surplus energy into a valuable resource. Bitcoin mining stands out as one of the most effective demand response tools due to its unique flexibility. Tateiwa describes it as a process that converts power (MW) directly into digital value (MH: Hash value). (BitcoinNews)
2. Mycelium Networks: Pioneering Blockchain Technology in Northwest Arkansas: Mycelium Networks, a blockchain technology startup based in Fayetteville, has focused on enhancing mobile phone networks through cell signal arrays and collecting weather data from stations installed across Northwest Arkansas. The company, currently employing five staff members, aims to build interconnected networks enabled by blockchain technology. (CoinTrust)
-Bitcoin Community-
1. Mt Gox News: Reddit Poll Shows Over 50% Creditors Won’t Sell Bitcoin: A new Reddit poll shows that over 50% of Mt Gox creditors will not sell repayment Bitcoin (BTC). As repayment moves go underway to distribute assets after a decade, creditors express delight in the development. (CoinGape)
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 61/100 (Down 8 pts)
Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR
Follow us on NOSTR: npub1qktts9naunvjdwsktq5xjdhwh539xt4x0mqj4yxq0q9dvm03ljvs6sms0r
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report
