Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #175 of the daily Bitcoin Breakdown, where we have some top notch Opinion & Analysis pieces and Tools & Projects for you today!

But first, today’s Top Stories:

• 💎 Trump Taps Pro-Bitcoin Candidate for CFTC

• 🏦 States Go Bitcoin: $23B Reserve Bills Incoming

• ⛏️ Bitcoin Miners Dig into AI and Market Gains

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Feb 13, 2025

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

💎 Trump Taps Pro-Bitcoin Candidate for CFTC

President Trump plans to appoint Brian Quintenz, head of a16z's Bitcoin and crypto policy, as the new head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Quintenz is a strong advocate for Bitcoin and crypto-friendly regulations, and aims to boost the US’s native ecosystem. Jonathan Gould and Jonathan McKernan have been also nominated for key financial regulatory positions, with McKernan set to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during its current period of significant upheaval. CryptoPotato

🏦 States Go Bitcoin: $23B Reserve Bills Incoming

Multiple US states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, are proposing bills to invest public funds in BTC. VanEck estimates that up to 20 state-level Bitcoin reserve bills could result in $23B worth of Bitcoin purchases, totaling approximately 242,700 BTC. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is developing a federal digital assets framework. If enacted, these initiatives could greatly enhance Bitcoin's role in America's financial industry. The Block

⛏️ Bitcoin Miners Dig into AI and Market Gains

Among publicly traded crypto firms tracked by JP Morgan—which includes Coinbase and Bitcoin miners like Marathon and Riot—the group’s overall market cap expanded 14% in January, pushing the Wall Street firms’ total valuation to $108 billion. The Bitcoin and crypto market itself ended January with a market cap of around $3.2T, notching an 8% expansion. Driven by regulatory changes under President Trump and ventures into artificial intelligence, these firms are diversifying their operations. Decrypt

POLL

OPINION & ANALYSIS

• Şela, a traveling Bitcoin advocate, spotlights how Thailand's first Bitcoin Technical Unconference 'SatsNFacts' unites freedom, privacy, sound money, and artistic culture, enabling direct connections and real-world collaboration among global enthusiasts to build a truly sovereign future (Feb 13 | 5 min read).

• Waxwing, a Bitcoin developer focusing on privacy, reveals how 'short-channel-ids' compromise user anonymity and explores zero-knowledge proofs to prove on-chain ownership without exposing UTXOs, highlighting a potential breakthrough in preserving user data within the Lightning network (Feb 12 | 8 min read).

• Miljan, developer of Nostr client Primal, reveals how Primal's wallet elevates Bitcoin usage with seamless zaps and open network features, showing that every app needs built-in payments to stay relevant and drive global adoption (Feb 12 | 4 min read).

• The Bitcoin Girl, an Indian Bitcoiner, exposes India's flawed fiat currency system—evident in demonetization chaos and ongoing inflation—and urges adoption of Bitcoin as a trustless, finite asset that can shift power back to the people (Feb 12 | 7 min read).

• Frank Corva of Bitcoin Magazine, spotlights Galoy's 'Lana' which enables community banks to offer bitcoin-backed loans, reduce high borrowing costs, and push open-source Bitcoin software into traditional banking (Feb 12 | 6 min read).

• Joseph Solis-Mullen of The Libertarian Institute underscores the urgent need to restore a sound money standard to combat fiat money-driven inflation, government overreach, and unsound monetary policy, reflecting Murray Rothbard's warnings that only sound money can preserve real wealth and economic stability (Feb 12 | 5 min read).

• Tom Carreras of CoinDesk reports on Berlín as El Salvador's hidden Bitcoin hub with over 150 businesses accepting Bitcoin, driven by local Salvadoran initiatives and community support, showcasing economic growth through a circular economy (Feb 12 | 12 min read).

• Kontext of satosh.ee, advocating for information abundance, champions open source culture by rejecting outdated copyright laws and emphasizing trust and value over price, highlighting the role of Bitcoin as genuine intellectual property (Feb 12 | 2 min read).

• Harsha Goli, CEO and founder of Bitcoin custody provider Magnolia, warns that US regulators tighten compliance around Bitcoin through expanded definitions of money transmitters and brokers, threatening privacy and forcing the network under government control without explicitly banning it (Feb 11 | 10 min read).

• Jacob Brown, host of the Built on Bitcoin podcast, examines Nick Szabo's 1999 insight on mental transaction costs, explaining how AI and the Bitcoin Lightning Network could overcome users' cognitive friction for micropayments, yet highlights the psychological barriers that still slow widespread adoption (Feb 11 | 7 min read).

• Matt Corallo, a lightning developer, explains how their enhanced pathfinding algorithm uses historical data and a new probability model to significantly improve payment success rates on the Lightning Network (Feb 11 | 8 min read).

• Rhino Bitcoin, a Bitcoin-only exchange, offers advice on mitigating risks of sending BTC to wrong addresses, highlighting the irreversible nature of Bitcoin transactions and providing strategies to recover funds and prevent future errors (Feb 8 | 9 min read).

• Adam Jonas of Chaincode Labs presents his reflections from the Bitcoin CoreDev 2024-2025 event, highlighting contributor engagement, development achievements, challenges, and future priorities to enhance the Bitcoin network (Feb 4 | 5 min read).

TOOLS & PROJECTS

• Fold releases a bitcoin rewards credit card with up to 2% cashback, a free metal card, and exclusive perks for users.

• Obscura VPN debuts with an innovative no-log design and custom stealth QUIC protocol, setting a new standard for online privacy and effortlessly bypassing network restrictions.

• Mullvad partners with Obscura VPN, leveraging WireGuard servers and QUIC-based obfuscation to enhance user privacy and bypass firewalls.

• Gooti lets Nostr users manage multiple Nostr identities and securely sign events on Chrome and Firefox with NIP-07 integration.

• Bitvora debuts Team Relay v0.2.0, advancing Nostr team communication with Blossom server support, faster lmdb and Badger databases, and pubkey whitelisting via nostr.json.

• BTC in DC, a Bitcoin conference in Washington DC is set to take place on Sept 25 with the goal of influencing US regulators.

• UTXOracle relaunches as a decentralized, open-Source Bitcoin price oracle, supporting transactions up to $500K.

• Africa Free Routing hosts a 3-day Bitcoin Lightning development bootcamp in Ghana.

• BullishNWC is a tool that helps users effortlessly manage multiple Nostr Wallet Connect connections with this user-friendly progressive web app.

• Instamouse bitcoin offers a Bitcoin Core development environment in your web browser, featuring pre-compiled software, Visual Studio Code, Qt Creator, and regtest mode for streamlined development.

• Hurricash is a multisig tool that allows many users to fund a multisig and unilaterally exit with their contribution.

• Paywally allows you to securely monetize your content with a Lightning Network-powered paywall using Cashu, processing 19-satoshi invoices and granting access upon BTC payment.

• MNT launches a new Cashu mint with an integrated admin dashboard, simplifying and enhancing e-cash transaction management through a more user-friendly interface.

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