Block: 840,513
DTG/ICOD: 0800EST 23Apr24
Precedence: Routine (RR)
Controls: Public Release
QQQQ
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BLUF: Israel-Hamas War Draws Sides / China's Economic Reports Suspect, Says US Commander / Senate to Take Up Ukraine, Israel Funding Today / Venezuela Using USDT for Oil / Binance Under Scrutiny / BTC Fees Coming Back Down
Market Data: Price: 1 BTC= $66,150, 28.69 oz Gold, .15 Median US House
24hr Hi: $67,233/ Lo: $65,705
Vol: $25B (Even)
Mkt Cap: $1.3T (Up 1%)
HashRate: 810 EH/s (Up 30%)
Avg Fees: 26,879 sats/tx (Down 26%)
Nodes: 19,544
---Reports---
-International Events-
1. IDF strikes vehicle in southern Lebanon, kills two senior Hezbollah officials: The IDF killed Hassin Ali Ezkol, a terrorist and central member of Hezbollah's aerial defense unit during a targeted strike on a vehicle he was riding in, the IDF confirmed on Tuesday. Another unnamed senior Hezbollah terrorist was killed in the strike as well. (JPost)
2. Israel’s war on Gaza live: Death toll climbs after 200 days of attacks: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says “processes” are under way to look into allegations of rights abuses by the Israeli military but doesn’t confirm reports of imminent sanctions against an IDF army unit. At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and 77,143 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens still held captive in Gaza. (AlJazeera)
3. China’s Economy Is ‘Failing,’ U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Says: The U.S. military commander in the Indo-Pacific said he didn’t believe the economic growth figures reported by China and described the country’s economy as failing.According to Beijing’s official numbers released last week, the economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. Aquilino described the figure as “not real.” “You go ask any economist if the Chinese are going to deliver 5.3% growth, and they will tell you, ‘No way,’ ” Aquilino said. (WSJ)
-US Events-
1. Universities Struggle as Pro-Palestinian Demonstrations Grow: Dozens were arrested Monday at N.Y.U. and Yale, but officials there and at campuses across the country are running out of options to corral protests that are expected to last the rest of the school year. (NYT)
2. Senate returns to take up $95B foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan: The bills also include a proposal to force a sale of TikTok sale or face a ban. The legislation, which includes four bills, passed the House over the weekend with bipartisan support. President Joe Biden urged the Senate to quickly advance the measures to his desk. The package provides roughly $26 billion for Israel, currently at war with Hamas in Gaza; as well as $61 billion for Ukraine and $8 billion for allies in the Indo-Pacific. A fourth bill would force a U.S. ban of TikTok if its Chinese parent company doesn't sell it; impose sanctions on Russia, China and Iran; and seize Russian assets to help Ukraine rebuild from the war's damage. (ABC)
-Regulatory and Legal-
1. Venezuela plans to speed up USDT adoption following US sanctions: Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA is gearing up to increase the use of the Tether stablecoin for exporting crude and fuel oil, as the U.S. has recently decided to reimpose sanctions on the country. By the end of the first quarter, PDVSA had already moved many non-swap spot oil deals to a kind of contract that requires prepayment in USDT. The Venezuelan oil company is also asking new customers seeking to conduct oil transactions to hold crypto in a digital wallet. (Reuters) (AC-Why not Bitcoin?)
2. Binance sued in Canada for securities law violations: Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice published a certification motion on April 19 for a class-action lawsuit against Binance alleging that it sold crypto derivative products to retail investors without registration. The latest class action against Binance comes a few years after the crypto exchange announced in June 2021 plans to cease operations in Ontario after the OSC approached the firm with a warning. (CoinTelegraph)
3. Philippines SEC Urges Filipino Investors To Exit Binance, Requests App Removal From Google And Apple Stores: As part of its rising scrutiny on the popular cryptocurrency trading platform, the SEC has not only advised users to close their positions but has also reached out to tech giants Google and Apple. This included a request to remove the Binance app from their respective digital stores. Earlier this year, the Indian government also blocked Binance and several other crypto exchanges on play store and App store. (BlockchainReporter) (AC-India, Nigeria, Philippines and Canada are all focused on shutting down Binance in their countries due to registration issues. Meanwhile, Binance is newly registered in the UAE.)
-Institutional Concerns-
NSTR
-Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)-
1. Chile Edging Closer to CBDC Launch: a digital peso rollout is looking increasingly likely, with the BCCh announcing it is set to commence Proof-of-Concept (PoC) testing. The central bank also conducted a survey. It said that it asked “the general public and representatives of the public and private sectors” for their CBDC-related opinions. The BCCh said almost 90% of survey respondents had “a favorable attitude toward CBDC” pilots. (CryptoNews)
-Economic Indicators-
NSTR
-Security Incidents and Concerns-
1. Trezor CEO: Phishing Attack Highlights Need for Crypto User Education: Trezor, a provider of cryptocurrency hardware wallets, recently faced a security breach when its official Twitter account was compromised. The attackers used the platform to disseminate fraudulent messages about presale token offerings. This misled followers and put them at risk of financial scams. Now, the company’s CEO says that user education is vital when it comes to avoiding attacks. (CCN)
-Bitcoin Community-
1. Bitcoin's Fees Spike To All-Time High After 4th Halving Block: The fee spike has little to nothing to do with the halving itself. It has to do with a new token protocol that launched on top of Bitcoin at block height 840,000, called Runes. It uses Bitcoin's OP_RETURN data, which allows users to attach up to 80 bytes of extra data to a Bitcoin transaction output. Anybody can mint a rune by specifying a name, ID, symbol, quantity, and other data. Users can then sign with their private key and broadcast the transaction to the Bitcoin network. A massive influx of users minting Runes in block 840,000 and blocks over the subsequent 24 hours drove fees as a % of the total block reward to a record-high level of 74%. (ZeroHedge) (AC- Read the complete article at ZeroHedge for an in-depth understanding of the Runes/Fees issues)
-Bitcoin Sentiment-
1. Fear(0)/Greed(100) Index: 71/100 (Up 14 pts)
Analyst Comments (AC): All eyes are on the repercussions of the Israel-Hamas war globally. In the US, college campus (mostly Ivy League) protests are shutting down campuses and more than 60 people have been arrested. Many videos are surfacing of students yelling antisemitic slogans while one Jewish girl was stabbed in the eye with a pole. In Congress, military aid was approved by the House for Israel (and Ukraine) while the conflict in the Levant continues with reports from both sides seemingly full of propaganda (see the reports above). The issue is certainly reaching a boiling point and the world is taking sides while rhetoric and violence increase. The conflict is probably the longest running on Earth even if the names of the participants change over millennia. What does change is the methods and tactics of warfare and the speed of information traveling globally.
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Analyst: BV2A
END REPORT
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*NSTR-Nothing Significant To Report
