Block: 843,854
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 17May24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: US Pier Working in Gaza / Russia Black Sea Fleet HQ Attacked / New Caledonia Erupts in Violence / More Storms in Houston / Biden Say No Audience for Debate / Congress Passes Bill to Force Biden to Release Weapons to Israel / New Bill to Abolish US Fed Introduced / 600 Firms Invested in BTC ETFs / Dow at 40K / OpenAI to Scoop Reddit Data
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $66,316, 27.75 oz Gold, .15 Median US House
24hr Hi: $66,712 / Lo: $64,613
Vol: $31B (Down 24%)
Mkt Cap: $1.3T (Even)
HashRate: 687 EH/s
Avg Fee Rate: 10 sats/vBtye (Down 75%)
Nodes: 17,316
---Reports---
-International Events-
1. First aid flows into Gaza over massive U.S. pier: Trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid have begun moving ashore into Gaza using a temporary pier built by the United States, the U.S. military said Friday, as Israeli forces pressed on with sweeping operations in the north and south of the enclave. No US Troops have gone ashore. (NBC)
2. Novorossiysk port, oil depot hit in overnight attack: Drones and missiles struck an oil refinery and seaport in the Russian city of Novorossiysk in the early hours of May 17, causing explosions and power outages, the Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported. The U.K. Defense Ministry reported on March 31 that Russia was strengthening the Novorossiysk port's defenses in order to protect the Black Sea Fleet from possible Ukrainian attacks. Other media report Russia downed 15 Ukrainian drones in the attack, repeling the attack. Novorossiysk is currently without power. (Various)
3. Violence rages in New Caledonia as France rushes emergency reinforcements to its Pacific territory: French authorities in New Caledonia and the interior ministry in Paris said five people, including two police officers, were killed after protests earlier this week over voting reforms pushed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government turned deadly. (AP)
-US Events-
1. Deadly storms slam Houston yet again; hundreds of thousands without power across Texas: Deadly thunderstorms blew out windows in high-rise buildings, downed trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Houston area Thursday as Southeast Texas got pummeled for the second time this month. At least four people were killed due to the storms. (CBS)
2. Biden’s team had a few demands for a Trump debate. A major one: No crowd: “Trump feeds off the crowd, they give him life,” said one Biden adviser who was granted anonymity in order to discuss internal strategy. “We wanted to take that away.” (Politico)
3. 16 Dems vote with GOP to rebuke Biden's pausing Israel weapons shipment: The Israel Security Assistance Support Act would condemn the president’s posture on Israel’s Gaza invasion while compelling the Biden administration to expeditiously send any weapons shipments already approved by Congress. It passed in a 224 to 187 vote, with 16 Democrats joining 208 Republicans in advancing the bill. (Fox)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. US Senate Revokes SEC Rule on Banning Banks’ Crypto Holdings: The U.S. Senate has decisively overturned a rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that restricted financial institutions from engaging in cryptocurrency-related activities. This rule had mandated that banks reflect customers’ digital assets on their balance sheets, backed by corresponding capital — a policy criticized for stifling innovation. Senator Cynthia Lummis emphasized that this was the first session of Congress to pass standalone crypto legislation, marking a historic moment for the Senate. Meanwhile, Representative Mike Flood, who sponsored the resolution, urged President Biden to reconsider his stance given the strong opposition to the SEC’s rule among lawmakers. (Cryptopolitan)
2. Federal Reserve Abolition Act: On Thursday afternoon, Representative Thomas Massie, representing the 4th District of Kentucky, introduced H.R. 8421, the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act. H.R. 8421, the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act, proposed by Rep. Massie, aims to abolish the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve banks, along with repealing the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Former Representative Ron Paul introduced a similar bill in 1999, but it hasn’t been reintroduced since 2013. (CoinPedia)
-Institutional Concerns-
1. Over 600 firms reveal billions in combined investment in Bitcoin ETFs: Among them are Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, UBS, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Canada and hedge funds like Millennium Management and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors. Millennium is the largest BTC ETF investor, with $1.9 billion invested. (CoinTelegraph)
-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
1. Innovative CBDC card services launched in Kazakhstan: Bank customers in Kazakhstan can apply for virtual and plastic CBDC cards and use them for both in-store and e-commerce purchases across Mastercard and Visa global networks. Additionally, they can withdraw cash at ATMs. They can also link their cards to Google Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay and monitor their CBDC card balance and transaction history through mobile banking. (EPaymentsIntl)
-Economic Indicators-
1. Dow Jones Reaches 40,000 For 1st Time: US stocks gained some traction after the Thursday open to trade above the flatline, slightly extending the record levels from earlier in the week amid further support from rate cut expectations and strong corporate results. The Dow added 100 points to break the 40,000 threshold for the first time in history, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hovered in the green. (TradingEconomics)
2. US Manufacturing Output Unexpectedly Falls: Manufacturing production in the US decreased 0.3% from a month earlier in April, missing market expectations of a 0.1% growth. (TradingEconomics)
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. 7 Tips For Traveling With Bitcoin Keys: 1. Carry only the wallets you need 2. Consider your destination 3. Avoid traveling with seed phrase backups 4. Watch what you say and show 5. Create a decoy wallet 6. Consider multisig to eliminate single points of failure 7. Have an inheritance plan (BitcoinMag)
-Technology-
1. OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts: OpenAI has signed a deal for access to real-time content from Reddit’s data API, which means it can surface discussions from the site within ChatGPT and other new products. (TheVerge) (AC-I wonder if OpenAI will be able to understand the extreme sarcasm on Reddit)
-Bitcoin Community-
NSTR
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 74/100 (Up 4 pts)
Analyst Comments (AC): NSTR
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report
