Bitcoin's long-term holder growth rate is indicating early bullrun signs. A buoyant supply delta and the Bitcoin Macro Index point to strong expansion. While the trend suggests a significant uptrend in the coming months, it could be potentially faster than the average progression and there is a possibility of some short-term volatility or pullback. The era of "deep value" Bitcoin is over, giving way to a "Bitcoin Momentum era."

MEV has returned to Bitcoin due to the introduction of Ordinal Theory, leading to a reordering of blocks in Bitcoin’s chain and threats to the network's decentralization and neutrality. This analysis explores different forms of MEV in Bitcoin, such as Replace-By-Fee, Lightning Watch Tower Attacks, and Sniping Sidechain Auctions, emphasizes the importance of recognizing and addressing these issues, and proposes several potential solutions, including Rollups, BitVM, and Bitcoin-backed stake chains.

The trillion-dollar Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan is exploring alternative "illiquidity assets" such as Bitcoin for potential investment opportunities. This comes after Bitcoin's recent all-time high and a 130% surge in price over the past year. Although no commitment was made towards investing in cryptocurrencies, this inquiry suggests that the fund at least has some interest in digital assets.

Bitcoin was the first real memecoin, its narrative buoyed by skepticism of central banking and institutional trust erosion. However, the memecoin space has evolved to encompass thousands of other coins, boosted by shifting crypto trends and attention economics. Solana recently illustrated this with its high density of rapidly growing memecoins. However, this has led to challenges with Solana's blockspace allocation, transaction inclusion, and a rise in 'MEV' or Maximum Extractable Value. Bitcoin now looks set to experience its own MEV surge driven by an influx of memecoin-driven activities. This highlights a need for deeper discussion on managing such complexities in the broader non-EVM ecosystem.

A wallet thought to belong to the US government transferred 30,175 Bitcoins on Tuesday morning. According to Arkham Intelligence, the destination of the transfer is Coinbase, suggesting that the government may be planning to sell the coins. The Department of Justice seized 50,000 Bitcoins from the Silk Road website in 2022. The last sale of these coins was in 2023.

The price of Bitcoin has dropped below $69,000 as investors wait for U.S. Consumer Price Index data that could influence the Fed's decision on interest rates. Although the market is divided on the possibility of a June rate cut, strong employment data suggests the Fed may maintain current rates, even as inflation is expected to show an increase.

JPMorgan predicts that the price of Bitcoin will decline after the halving to around $42,000. The halving, which reduces Bitcoin's supply growth, could also prompt mining companies to relocate to regions with lower energy costs.

Runes is a new protocol for fungible tokens on Bitcoin that uses a minimalistic approach with off-chain data tracking. The protocol uses an Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model for transactions which includes off-chain data tracking, effectively reducing network strain. Runes will launch after the halving, giving holders of pre-Rune Ordinals Rune tokens.

The OP_CAT opcode has formally received proposal number 420. BIP-420 will allow two values to be concatenated in the Bitcoin scripting language. Though trivial in implementation, this feature greatly increases Bitcoin's functionality by introducing covenants that enable smart contracts, cryptographically secure bridges, zero-knowledge proof verification, and other useful features. OP_CAT has received much attention recently because the Taproot Wizards promoted the opcode through its Quantum Cats Ordinals.

Solana has captured innovation and memecoins, Bitcoin is entering an NFT and DeFi run like Ethereum in 2021, and Base is the main innovation hub for Ethereum.

A report by VanEck reveals that approximately $175 billion worth of bitcoin is held by ETFs, nations, and both public and private companies, which makes up about 15% of the total Bitcoin supply. This holding demonstrates increasing institutional interest and acceptance of bitcoin as a viable store of value, with more involvement from hedge funds, asset managers, and endowments.

Revolut has announced Revolut X, a dedicated cryptocurrency exchange catering to professional traders, making it the first banking institution to venture into this arena. With a user base of 40 million worldwide, Revolut aims to provide specialized trading experiences with lower transaction fees and access to digital assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP, initially available on desktops for UK customers with plans for further expansion.

President Joe Biden's Executive Office announced that Biden would veto the proposed H.J. Res. 109, allowing highly regulated financial firms to be cryptocurrency custodians. The office claims the resolution would disrupt the SEC and overturn a previous SEC bulletin. The legislation passed in the House of Representatives.

Mt. Gox, a defunct bitcoin exchange, has transferred at least 42,830 BTC valued at approximately $2.9 billion to an unknown address, marking its first asset movement in five years.

Starknet has released plans to settle simultaneously on Bitcoin and Ethereum, becoming a single self-custodial decentralized L2. StarkWare is launching a $1 million fund to spur the development and introduction of OP_CAT, the Bitcoin opcode needed to make a trustless L2 possible. Beyond scaling Bitcoin to thousands of transactions per second, simultaneous settlement would allow for BTC/ETH atomic swaps and private BTC transactions, along with many other possibilities.

The biggest crypto conference of the year did not have many new themes, instead reinforcing growing narratives. Traditional finance institutions were very present and the future of regulation was the most discussed topic. Bitcoin's growing Runes and L2 ecosystem was given as much attention as any other ecosystem, even more than SOL memecoins. People are becoming skeptical about the AI x crypto narrative, though DePIN is becoming more legitimized.

This thread compiles various tweets that are bullish on the Bitcoin mining sector. They cite concerns surrounding capital expenditures, competition, and the environmental impact. Marathon, the biggest mining company, has 25% short interest as a percentage of its float. CleanSpark has been seeing insider selling since the beginning of this year.

Germany is almost finished selling its Bitcoin. It has less than 5,000 BTC remaining after recent transactions totaling ~$600M worth of Bitcoin to various exchanges, suggesting the nation's massive sell-off, valued at approximately $3 billion, might end as early as next week.

Larry Fink stated in an interview with CNBC that while he was originally a skeptic on Bitcoin, he now believes it is a legitimate financial instrument. Fink sees it serving a purpose for investors afraid of currency debasement and as a hedge against government financial control. Equating it to “digital gold,” he believes it is a hedge against hope with strong industrial use.

This weekend event triggered ~$170M in short liquidations, emphasizing a strong bullish sentiment among investors despite potential upcoming challenges from scheduled market events like the Mt. Gox liquidation.

In his keynote address, Trump promised to fire Gary Gensler on Day 1 of his administration, which was met with a roar of applause from the audience. He also proposed the creation of a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve using the 200,000 BTC seized by the Department of Justice. Trump told audience members Bitcoin is “going to the moon” and to never sell the digital asset, as it may one day surpass the market cap of gold. He hopes to make the United States the crypto capital of the planet and Bitcoin superpower of the world.

Despite the recent movement of $3 billion in Bitcoin from a Mt. Gox-affiliated wallet, the market barely reacted, with Bitcoin prices holding steady. Analysts believe this is because Mt. Gox creditors are long-term holders who are unlikely to sell, and the market has already factored in these transfers.

Uniswap Labs, Circle, and the Copenhagen Business School have released a paper explaining how traditional financial factors affect the crypto market. Since 2019, digital asset prices have been composed of monetary policy, broad market risk premium, and crypto-specific demand. Two-thirds of Bitcoin's 2022 decline can be attributed to contractionary monetary policy. 2023 and beyond's bull market has been driven by the decrease in crypto risk. Day-to-day Bitcoin volatility can be explained best by adoption and risk premium shocks.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis and former President Donald Trump have proposed creating U.S. bitcoin reserves, arguing that it could act as a buffer against market fluctuations.

The recent collapse of the Japanese yen carry trade reminds investors that Bitcoin, once viewed as a potential hedge against traditional market swings, remains deeply influenced by broader financial trends. Despite high hopes for a crypto boom this summer, Bitcoin's significant market losses suggest that its future as "digital gold" is far from certain, and further pain might be on the horizon as global markets continue to adjust.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped to an "Extreme Fear" level of 17 out of 100 on Monday, marking its lowest point since July 2022. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw major outflows totaling $168M, highlighting a sharp decline in market sentiment and investor confidence.

Celsius has filed a lawsuit against Tether, seeking $3.5 billion in Bitcoin, damages, and legal fees, alleging that Tether improperly liquidated its BTC collateral during Celsius' bankruptcy without allowing it to provide additional collateral. Tether denies the allegations, calling the lawsuit baseless and asserting that Celsius requested the liquidation to close out its position.

Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, said that the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador has not met expectations, although he still views it as a net positive for its economy.

Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick is expecting a sustained rally for Bitcoin and other digital assets since the Fed Reserve's rate cut, attributing the expected growth more to favorable macroeconomic conditions than to the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

This post details an investigation into two individuals, Box (Jeandiel Serrano) and Greavys (Malone Iam), who allegedly stole millions and used the funds for luxury lifestyles, including purchasing cars and designer goods. With the help of Binance and other investigators, over $9M was frozen and both suspects were arrested, with further developments expected as the legal case unfolds.