BINANCE

Binance Clamps Down on Hamas-Linked Accounts

The Scoop: Binance has frozen accounts tied to Hamas militants in response to a request from Israeli authorities, emphasizing compliance with global mandates against supporting terrorist entities.

Yi He's Stand on the Issue: Through a WeChat post on October 10, Binance co-founder Yi He underlined the criticality of conforming to international rules when it comes to dealing with entities labeled as terrorist organizations, signifying that crypto exchanges must oblige.

Binance’s Statement: “Hamas is a designated terrorist organization by the United Nations. Therefore, any organization, including banks and trading platforms, will need to cooperate on the receipt of freeze requests. This is not something Binance can decide on its own.”

A Role to Play: This development underscores the growing influence of Bitcoin in global conflicts. That Hamas was using cryptocurrency to evade sanctions shows that it is actually effective at doing so. Hamas is not the only one; “Crypto Aid Israel” has raised Bitcoin to aid Israelis affected by the conflict.

📈 The total supply of Bitcoins held by Long-Term Hodlers has reached its highest percentage - about 79% - since 2010. This continues a recent trend of record setting among long-term Bitcoin hodlers.

🔗 An anonymous "Project Spartacus" is immortalizing WikiLeaks' Afghan War logs, released by Julian Assange in 2010, on the Bitcoin blockchain. Using the Ordinals protocol, this effort seeks to combat censorship by immortalizing the leaks💸

💸 US Debt Rose By $1.2 Billion Per Hour For The Past 19 Days. That’s $500 billion in less than 3 weeks, with total debt reaching $33.521 trillion. Experts warn it could grow by $5.2 billion daily over the next decade, potentially exceeding the country's yearly economic output by 2033.

⚖️ Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison accused Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) of manipulating Bitcoin prices by using FTX customer funds. She revealed SBF's alleged schemes to stabilize the BTC price and use customer deposits to cover company debts.

🎯 Also in Ellison’s testimony were revelations that Bankman-Fried wanted her to get “regulators to crack down on Binance”. She said SBF believed this was “the best potential (way) to improve FTX market share” by attracting customers from FTX’s biggest rival.

The Scoop: Former PayPal President, David Marcus, revealed that Mark Zuckerberg has expressed appreciation for Bitcoin, with the two having had several discussions on the subject.

Marcus Champions Bitcoin's Potential: David Marcus, now CEO of Lightspark, recently shared on CNBC his vision for Bitcoin as a universal payment system. Pushing for its transformation beyond a mere store of value, he emphasized the role of technological solutions like the Bitcoin Lightning Network in addressing scalability challenges and catering to a global audience.

Zuckerberg's Crypto Missteps: Mark Zuckerberg's venture into cryptocurrency, Diem (previously Libra), faced multiple setbacks, from regulatory pushback to branding disputes. Initially projected for a 2020 launch, the project faced global scrutiny, eventually leading to its sell-off to Silvergate Bank in 2022 and its subsequent write-off in 2023.

Do you agree with Sam Altman's concerns about the US government's strict stance on Bitcoin hindering innovation?

Yes - 74%

No - 26%

👍 Yes: “BTC could greatly enhance the US ability to address the debt problem” - Mark

👎 No: “The U.S. government doesn’t seem to have that strict of a stance on Bitcoin. Just look at all the lawsuits the SEC has been losing lately.” - Micah

🔄 Mad Money’s Jim Cramer says “Mr. Bitcoin is about to go down BIG!” Jim Cramer has often been used as a ‘counter-signal’ for trades, meaning if he says a stock or asset will drop in value, it will reliably go up in value and visa-versa.

😂 Sam Bankman-Fried also allegedly told Caroline Ellison that he would one day be president of the United States of America.

🥇 $4.5 trillion asset manager Fidelity Investment asserted that Bitcoin stands out as the most secure, decentralized, and reliable digital currency when contrasted with other digital assets.

💰 In an interview with CNBC Tuesday morning, legendary billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones says, "I like gold and Bitcoin together. I think they (should) probably take on a larger percentage of your portfolio."

Today’s newsletter was written by Jordan and edited by Colin.