Warren Gonna Be Mad 🤡🛠️🩸

Valko

Warren Gonna Be Mad 🤡🛠️🩸 Valko

Specs’ Insights

U.S. Treasury Debunks Narrative That Hamas Relied on Crypto to Fund Terrorism

The Treasury's top official on terrorism, Brian Nelson, said Hamas and other groups still prefer traditional financing, and crypto isn't figuring into their funding in a big way.

⌐◪-◪ → The US Treasury just undermined Elizabeth Warren who, despite the facts, insists that Hamas relies on cryptocurrencies for terrorist financing.

Brian Nelson, the top official on terrorist financing told the US House Financial Services Committee that, “Terrorists still prefer to use traditional products and services”.

He also corrected the Wall Street Journal’s previous figures of $41M - $93M in terrorist financing to a much smaller $12M.

It’s incredible how much blind faith people put in Elizabeth Warren when she clearly has an agenda to defend big banks and government interests. So much for serving the people.

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Satoshi-Era Bitcoin Function 'OP_CAT' Dusted Off as Development Fervor Grows

Developers Ethan Heilman and Armin Sabouri view OP_CAT as a simple opcode that offers some of the general purpose functionality currently missing in Bitcoin

⌐◪-◪ → Bitcoin developers have fantasized about reviving OP_CAT for years, and now it might finally happen.

OP_CAT is an ancient ‘op code’ in Bitcoin that was introduced by Satoshi in the first released, but later disabled. It’s short for ‘concatenate’ in nerd-speak and enables “covenants,” which allow smart contracts and bridges to be built on Bitcoin.

Basically, there’s a chance that this obscure piece of code — that hasn’t been used in 13 years — could spark a Bitcoin renaissance, enabling greater functionality for building L2s, decentralized exchanges, and even file hosting.

With that said, it’s pretty contentious within the Bitcoin community. After all, Satoshi disabled OP_CAT due to concerns it could expose the network to DDoS attacks or exponential memory requirements.

Check this article for a detailed pro/con analysis.

Fun Fact: OP_CAT inspired the naming of Taproot Wizard’s Quantum Cats. If the upgrade gets pushed through because of Quantum Cats’ memeability it would be an internet culture legend.

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Gold ETFs bleed $2.4B so far in 2024 as Bitcoin ETFs hit record volumes

Gold exchange-traded funds have seen billions in outflows so far in 2024 as the spot price of the precious metal declines.

⌐◪-◪ → Gold ETFs have already bled $2.4B this year, and we’re not even halfway through Q1.

Just look at this chart which outlines aggregate flows between Bitcoin and Gold since the spot BTC ETFs started trading.

Bitcoin is straight up driving a mass exodus from Gold, and it can only be sustained for so long.

For context: there are 35 Gold ETFs with total assets under management of ~$109B. The largest is SPDR Gold Trust GLD with $54.77B in assets. BlackRock’s new spot BTC ETF already holds $5.45B in just 3 weeks.

It’s only a matter of time before Bitcoin flips Gold, it’s more verifiable, divisible, portable, durable, scarce, and unforgeable. On top of that, it’s openly programmable by anyone in the world with a computer and internet connection.

P.S. Somebody please check on Peter Schiff.

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Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

EigenLayer becomes 5th largest DeFi protocol with $7B TVL
Moonwell enables USDC lending from multiple Ethereum networks
Starkware CEO dispels Starknet airdrop FUD
Starknet to unlock 1.3B tokens just 2 months after its tradeable
Futurebit partners with Rutgers on Bitcoin high education program
CoW DAO launches AMM to protect against arbitrage bots
Mondelēz International partners with Hedera Council on blockchain

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

ARK Invest sells Coinbase shares for the 1st time in 1 month
Gerber Kawasaki advisor says clients are interested in BTC ETFs
Tiger Global exited their position in Coinbase in Q4 2023
Citibank tests tokenization of private equity funds on Avalanche
Overworld raises $10M for cross-platform multiplayer RPG

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

DEBT Box asks judge to deny SEC move to dismiss case
Court rules Genesis can sell over $1.3M of GBTC shares
Craig Wright's cross-examination ends in Satoshi imposter trial
Bitcoin ATMs see tightening regulatory landscape in California

🌎 Rest of the World

Klaytn and Finschia merger greenlit in Asia
Telefonica partners with Chainlink to fight SIM-swap attacks
New UK crypto regulations create “positive frictions” for Bitcoiners
Indonesia polls favor pro-crypto candidate Prabowo Subianto
Bitcoin Magazine partners with White Rock Mgmt in Switzerland
Swiss banks can offer liquid staking via Taurus and Lido
North Korean hackers switch to YoMix after Sinbad gets sanctioned

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

Apechain to be built by Arbitrum
Deadfellaz slashes price & supply for ‘Bits’ ordinals mint
Superchief opening BTC Ordinals focused gallery in San Francisco
Battle.tech app launches “Kickstarter for esports” on Avalanche
Arcade to airdrop 3% of ARCD supply to top NFT collections
Berachain partners with LayerZero and teases airdrop

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