First time reading? I’m Jordan, and this is The Bitcoin Minimalist. Every Tuesday & Thursday, we scour 100s of sources to bring you need-to-know Bitcoin insights.

We’re sending on Monday this week instead of Tuesday. Enjoy!

Today we’re covering:

• Saylor questions “diversifying” strategy,

• Bitcoin sign sells for over $1 million,

• And everything else you need to know.

—Jordan

REGULATIONS

EU Parliament's Questionable AML Bitcoin Regulations

New AML Legislation: The European Parliament has passed stringent anti-money laundering laws impacting crypto asset service providers. These include enhanced reporting for 'anonymous' transactions and restrictions on privacy coins, heavily based on assumptions of cryptocurrency risks rather than concrete evidence.

Lack of Empirical Data: The legislation, influenced by the Financial Action Task Force guidelines, assumes high risks of money laundering and terrorist financing with crypto, yet fails to provide robust data to back these claims.

Potential Overreach Concerns: Cybersecurity experts and various assessments suggest that the aggressive de-anonymization required by these regulations could conflict with fundamental rights such as privacy and freedom of expression.

Global Impact and Criticism: The new laws could affect global perceptions of the EU's approach to regulating emerging technologies like cryptocurrencies. Critics argue the measures may stifle innovation and infringe on privacy without adequately addressing the intended risks of money laundering and terrorism financing.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

🚨 Founders of Samourai Wallet, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, were arrested on charges of money laundering and operating without a license. Accused of facilitating over $2 billion in illegal transactions and laundering $100 million, their web servers and domain were also seized by the US Department of Justice.

🔐 Unchained now has over 7,000 clients using self custody to hold 90,000+ BTC using multisig vaults and other services. Since 2016, they've focused on long-term Bitcoin holders, offering a mix of financial services tailored to preserve user autonomy and security.

⏳ The SEC has postponed the decision on Bitcoin ETF options and seems likely to reject Ethereum ETF proposals. This includes a call for more public input on Bitcoin ETF options and potential denial of Ethereum ETFs due to regulatory concerns and market data needs.

💼 Square merchants can now convert up to 10% of their sales to Bitcoin via Cash App, with Block charging a 1% conversion fee. This new feature, aimed at empowering small businesses and individual proprietors.

⛏️ Jack Dorsey's Block has developed a new 3nm Bitcoin mining chip. Dorsey is aiming to decentralize the hardware supply and hashrate distribution in Bitcoin mining.

🖊️ The infamous 'Buy Bitcoin' sign held by Christian Langalis behind Janet Yellen in 2017, sold for over $1 million or 16 BTC. The yellow notepad sign sparked a notable 3.7% rise in Bitcoin's price immediately after its appearance during a congressional hearing.

🥩 Beck & Bulow, a meat and seafood company, has integrated Bitcoin into its operations. The company is now accepting it as payment and including it in employee 401k plans and treasury reserves.

🌏 Metaplanet, a Japanese public company, has completed its pledge to purchase ¥1 billion ($6.25 million) in Bitcoin, establishing it as a treasury reserve asset. This move, likened to MicroStrategy's Bitcoin strategy, has boosted investor confidence and Metaplanet's stock price.

🛡️ Oklahoma has passed a new law ensuring citizens' rights to own and manage Bitcoin, including self-custody, mining, and operating full nodes. This legislation aims to protect Bitcoin ownership amidst growing regulatory scrutiny and aligns Oklahoma with other states taking similar measures.

GOVERNMENT WARNING

FBI Advisory on Non-KYC Bitcoin Services

FBI Warning: The FBI has released an alert warning against the use of non-KYC compliant cryptocurrency money transmitting services. Highlighting the legal requirements, the agency stressed that all such services must be registered as Money Services Businesses (MSBs) and adhere to stringent anti-money laundering (AML) protocols.

Legal Implications: Non-compliance with federal regulations (31 U.S.C. § 5330; 31 CFR §§ 1010; 1022) could lead to severe financial consequences, especially if funds are intertwined with illicit money, the FBI says. The FBI emphasized that services facilitating illegal transactions would be actively investigated and possibly disrupted.

Recent Enforcement Actions: This warning follows recent actions by the U.S. Department of Justice, including the arrest of the founders of Samourai Wallet, accused of laundering over $100 million.

POLL

LAST WEEK’S POLL RESULTS

Are ordinals and runes spam, or are they good for Bitcoin?

Spam - 78.1%

Good for bitcoin - 21.9%

Spam - “Bitcoin blockchain is meant for bitcoin.” - Juan

Good for bitcoin - “Anything that enriches the miners, the blockchain validators, and keeps them in business is a good thing.” - Scott

Spam - “They may be good for miners and shitcoin VCs in the short term, but they are bad for everybody else in the short and long term. They make fees high artificially early, making the network less usable to new adopters and small-UTXO holders, not giving them the chance to slowly adopt to higher fee environments. They price out monetary transaction, making the network less usable for the purpose that makes bitcoin valuable.” - Jim

Spam - “Why ruin a perfectly good and thought out system?” - Chris

Spam - “Neither Runes nor Ordinals have anything to do with Bitcoin, neither with its philosophy nor with its social role.” - John

Spam - “They create worthless traffic on the base layer which ultimately has the effect of devaluing Bitcoin.” - CJ

IN THE LOOP

💸 Bitcoin miners have experienced a 40% drop in daily revenue to $63.6 million, following the excitement around the Runes protocol and the recent Bitcoin halving, which reduced new Bitcoin issuance per block.

💰 Mark Yusko of Morgan Creek Capital predicts that baby boomers will invest $300 billion into the crypto market within the next year, driven by the adoption of Bitcoin ETFs and increased involvement by financial advisers.

📱 Phoenix Wallet, managed by ACINQ, will be withdrawn from US app stores on May 3, 2024, due to uncertainties about being classified as a Money Services Business by US regulators. Users are advised to empty their wallets without force-closing channels to avoid high on-chain fees.

🌍 Strike has launched its Bitcoin payment services in Europe, capitalizing on the continent's significant economic scale and demand for cryptocurrency solutions. The app facilitates buying, selling, and transferring Bitcoin and money globally, using the Bitcoin blockchain for efficient transactions. Europeans can now use Strike with features like free SEPA deposits and instant P2P transfers via the Lightning Network.

🌱 PayPal is promoting an ESG agenda among Bitcoin miners by incentivizing those using sustainable energy. Through a new proposal, PayPal aims to route transactions to "green miners" who can earn extra Bitcoin rewards locked in a multisig script, available only to those meeting specific clean energy criteria.

VIDEO

Michael Saylor questions the strategy of “diversifying”, defending his company’s focused plan to acquire large amounts of Bitcoin.

CHARTS & DATA

1427 - The number of estimated days left until the 2028 Bitcoin halving.

2,569,307 - The amount of bitcoins owned by companies, countries and ETFs.

0.17% - The estimated drop for Bitcoin’s next difficulty adjustment. Despite the halving, mining power on the network is not really slowing down.

MORE FROM OUR COMPANY

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Bitbo Dashboard: View live price action, monitor on-chain data, and track key economic indicators - all for free.

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Bitbo News: Bitcoin-only news. No spam or fluff. Just need-to-know Bitcoin news.

Halving Clock: Track the countdown to the Bitcoin halving with our Bitcoin halving clock.

Bitcoin Treasuries: Track all companies/ETFs/countries holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

Bitcoin Jobs: Find jobs in the Bitcoin industry. Companies can post Bitcoin jobs to find talent.