Subscribe | Specs Chat | Sponsor Us

⌐◪-◪ → The Epic Sat mined by ViaBTC just sold via auction for 33.3 BTC or $2,134,843).

For those who are still out of the ordinals game, an “Epic Sat” is the first Satoshi (smallest denomination of Bitcoin, aka sat) mined in a halving block. Only 4 epic sats exist as there have only been 4 halvings.

To an outsider, this behavior probably sounds cultish/religious, like we are worshiping some divine Bitcoin fragments, but from a collector’s standpoint, it’s pretty normal — just collectors chasing earlier versions, prints, serial numbers, batches of [insert thing].

One concern here is what I’m calling the “specific satoshi” mindset.

By this, I mean that if there are “epic sats” then there could also be non-compliant sats — taking a world of fungibility, where 1 BTC = 1 BTC, and moving closer to a world of “dirty” and “clean” money. At an extreme, this could be enforced at a network or mining level, which is already being discussed in Congress.

I don’t mean to fearmonger, but this simple reframing does carry regulatory/compliance implications.

⌐◪-◪ → Daily Bitcoin transactions just hit a new all-time high of 926,842/day. Crypto adoption is looking strong across the board.

Yesterday we discussed retail adoption, as shown by the new all-time high in # of wallets holding over $1k in BTC.

Today I want to cover a few other bullish signals on the institutional crypto adoption front:

• America’s oldest bank, BNY Mellon now buying BTC

• Major pension consultants get exposure to 7 BTC ETFs

• Morgan Stanley prepares 15k brokers to recommend BTC

• Beck & Bulow adopts BTC for treasury, 401k, and payments

• Asia’s MicroStrategy buys ¥1B ($6.4M) of Bitcoin as pledged

The trend is clear: banks, investment advisors, pension funds, brokers, and corporations like crypto. The adoption curve might be slow here, as these are pretty major decisions, but the implications here are huge.

There are still so many financial institutions on the sidelines, but they are gradually increasing, putting them in direct competition for the same decreasing supply of Bitcoin.

The Great Bitcoin Race goes on. First gradually, then suddenly.

⌐◪-◪ → The FBI just told U.S. citizens to avoid unregistered crypto money services.

While they probably meant this in a protective way, it feels more like a threat.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it feels like there’s a coordinated attack against crypto right now, as made evident by the massive uptick in regulatory/enforcement action. Things like:

• SEC vs. Coinbase / Uniswap / Metamask

• IRS form 1099-DA

• DOJ wants 3yrs for CZ

• DOJ shuts down Samourai Wallet

The pressure is real, but at the same time, it’s starting to feel like the SEC/Gov/Authorities bite off more than they can chew this time. We even have a few large players (ex. Consensys) on the offense now.

In hindsight, going up against our strongest players (Coinbase, Uniswap, Metamask, Consensys, etc) wasn’t the wisest move. While it would be absolutely devasting if they took them out, that’ just not going to happen.

Also: fuck you Gary Gensler - you have no power here.

Join The Conversation!

Our Telegram chat is designed to make you a better crypto investor, builder, and operator.

→ Discuss the news with Valko and other experts
→ Share research, tweets, articles, and more
→ Make friends, share memes, and have fun

Designed to make you a better crypto investor, builder, and operator.