The Bitcoin Minimalist - Week 3

Blackrock, German electricity prices, and open source developers arrested

MitchKlee_

and

Bitbo.io

Aug 17, 2022

This week:

More BlackRock Bitcoin News
Developers arrested for mixer protocols
Comparing Bitcoin to other countries

To catch the synopsis weekly, consider subscribing to The Bitcoin Minimalist!

News

BlackRock Announces Private Trust For Bitcoin

After calling Bitcoin an “index of money laundering” 5 years ago, BlackRock allows direct access to Bitcoin. In Week 1 on the Bitcoin Minimalist, the news broke, and this week they announced they will be running a private trust giving users direct access to spot bitcoin.

Netherlands Arrest Tornado Cash Developer

In Week 2, we covered the tornado cash mixing sanction. This week, a developer of tornado cash was arrested. It is unclear if there was any connection to money laundering other than writing code that allowed people to mix coins.

Stephan Livera @stephanlivera

Tornado Cash developer being arrested by Netherland's FIOD is concerning news. Imagine if road builders were being arrested "because criminals use them"? Or home curtain installers? Wanting privacy should not be considered a crime.

Riot Q2 Earnings Update

Riot released its Q2 production and earnings report with more hints at the state of the current bear market. They have performed very well with curtailment while adding 44,000 miners to their fleet and growing production by 106% YoY.

BitBlockBoom next week

Gary Leland, “The Bitcoin Boomer,” is putting on BitBlockBoom in Austin, Texas, next week starting Thursday. Events will range from Bitcoin dinners to conference and satellite events. Unchained Capital is hosting several events for BitBlockBoom at The Bitcoin Commons, so look out for those if you are in town.

Price Analysis

Yesterday, Bitcoin's price hit $25,000 after a spike in the middle of the night. The channel has been consistently moving upward after its bottom of $17,600. The macro-environment continues to show bullish signs, hoping the fed will lower rates.

200-Week Moving Average

Throughout Bitcoin’s history, it hasn’t spent much time under its 200-week moving average. Each moment has been in the depths of the bear market and subsequently marked the bottom.

Tweets Of The Week

Pierre Rochard @BitcoinPierre

The Bitcoin network settled $2 trillion worth of #BTC in July, all time high was $8 trillion last November. Over the past 12 months, the network settled a sum total of $62 trillion worth of #BTC, that's 3x more than US GDP.

Gigi ⚡🧡 @dergigi

Friendly reminder that this is a valid bitcoin transaction. According to some governments, this should get you arrested. dergigi.com/law

Steve Barbour 🏴 @SGBarbour

The only blockchain that has a snowball's chance in hell to survive a total State attack is #bitcoin

Amit Noam Tal @amital13

Electricity prices in Germany for 2023 at a new record... Inflation! #ECB #GERMANY

Noteworthy Thread By @InterstellarBit

Interstellar @InterstellarBit

How #Bitcoin stacks up to other countries A thread 🧵

Unrolled - here

What to read

Researchers discover vulnerabilities in Bitcoin layer-2 Lightning Network: “Researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered vulnerabilities in the Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network that could result in the theft of 750 BTCs (roughly $18 million).” - CyrptoSlate.com

Technical

Fed to keep hiking blindfolded, commodities suggest peak inflation: “Slowing inflation indicates that the Fed’s tightening is working and the economy is decelerating. Will the Fed stop at the right time or overshoot into the restrictive territory and cause a deflationary event?” - The Bitcoin Layer

Macro

The Structure of Cyclical Markets: “It is our view that Bitcoin is a debasement hedge, not a CPI inflation hedge.”- Blockware Solutions

Macro

Thanks for reading the Bitcoin Minimalist! If you enjoyed it, please consider subscribing.

`More From The Author..`

Substack

Twitter