Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #204 of Bitcoin Breakdown, where we’re bringing you your end-of-week $BTC.X ( ▲ 1.72% ) Digest featuring all the need-to-know Quick Bits snippets and Quick Media.

But first, today’s Top Stories:

• ⛏️ SEC Confirms Proof-of-Work Not Securities

• 🇺🇲 Trump Again Vows to Make US a 'Bitcoin Superpower'

• ⚡ Lightning Network: A Threat to Traditional Payments?

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Mar 21, 2025

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

⛏️ SEC Confirms Proof-of-Work Not Securities

The US Securities and Exchange Commission clarified that proof-of-work mining is indeed 'paid labor,' not a sneaky securities offering, unlike virtually all sh!tcoins. This means BTC rewards arise from each miner's own puzzle-solving effort, not from someone else's hustle. Pool operators can breathe easy, too, since coordinating miners does not transform them into shady investment managers. Industry experts are hailing this as a huge win, providing 'much-needed legal certainty' for US Bitcoin mining's continued growth. SEC

🇺🇲 Trump Again Vows to Make US a 'Bitcoin Superpower'

President Donald Trump, in the first address by a sitting president at a Bitcoin and crypto event, again pledged to make the US the 'undisputed Bitcoin superpower' and 'crypto capital of the world.' He introduced no new policies but confirmed his administration is working on passing new stablecoin legislation. He further promised to end the previous administration's 'regulatory war on Bitcoin and crypto,' referencing 'Operation Choke Point 2.0.' The Block

⚡ Lightning Network: A Threat to Traditional Payments?

A report by River highlights the Lightning Network's explosive growth, with transaction volume surging 266% to $286.5M between August 2023 and November 2024. This rapid expansion positions it as a competitor to established players like Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe. Businesses are increasingly adopting Bitcoin through Lightning due to its near-instant settlements and significantly lower fees. It is projected that, with time, the adoption will keep growing exponentially. TFTC

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QUICK BITS

• China counters the influence of dollar-backed stablecoins by expanding its digital yuan’s scope.

• Eminem’s former sound engineer stole and sold his songs for BTC, says federal prosecutors.

• Eric Trump, US President Donald Trump’s son, joins Metaplanet's strategic board of advisers.

• Pakistan to legalize Bitcoin and establish a regulatory framework to attract foreign investment.

• ZachXBT, an on-chain sleuth, identifies the 'Hyperliquid whale,' allegedly tied to illicit activity, profiting ~$20M via highly leveraged positions from January to March 2025.

• 'Pubkey', Bitcoin-Themed Bar known for its casual, community-focused atmosphere, set to open in Washington, DC.

• Tether becomes the world's seventh-largest US Treasury buyer, surpassing Canada, Taiwan, and other countries.

• World Liberty Financial, Trump family's crypto fund, faces losses on every single one of the tokens in its portfolio.

• Atai Life Sciences, a public biopharmaceutical company, announces plans for a Bitcoin treasury by acquiring $5M worth of BTC.

• Analyst shows correlation between Bitcoin’s price and the global M2 money supply suggests a liquidity-driven rally that could push prices beyond $100,000 by mid-year.

• Bitcoin's share of dark web transactions falls from 97% in 2016 to 12% by 2024, as stablecoins and privacy coins gain prominence.

• Turkey's political unrest sparks a 29% surge in Bitcoin and crypto trading as the Lira plummets to a record 42 TRY per USD following the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rival, Ekrem İmamoğlu.

OTHER NEWSLETTERS TO CHECK OUT*

Looking for fresh insights? Check out this curated list by Refind of amazing newsletters! Explore a variety of topics, discover new perspectives, and subscribe to the ones that spark your interest. Happy reading!

*You can find more here.

QUICK MEDIA

• Jeff Booth, author of 'The Price of Tomorrow', speaking with Mark Moss, highlights why the current financial system is unsustainable, how AI and Bitcoin are reshaping the future, and why traditional assets are simply bets on a failing system (Mar 21 | 9:11 min watch). 

• Senator Cynthia Lummis, in an appearance on Fox Business, says the US government can potentially cut its debt in half in 20 years by purchasing 200K BTC per year for the next 5 years (Mar 20 | 1:12 min watch). 

• President Donald Trump delivers a pre-recorded address played at Blockworks' Digital Assets Summit, outlining how his administration ended former President Joe Biden's regulatory war on Bitcoin and crypto (Mar 20 | 2:53 min watch). 

• Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, predicts Bitcoin will surpass $1M by 2029, disrupting gold's dominance as a primary store of value in the market in an interview with Natalie Brunell (Mar 20 | 2:26 min watch). 

• Matthew Kratter of Bitcoin University explains how governments can seize Bitcoin by targeting individuals through coercion or legal orders, emphasizing that while Bitcoin itself cannot be hacked, private keys can be obtained by force (Mar 19 | 11:40 min watch). 

• Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management, highlights how Bitcoin is the first private, global, digital, rules-based monetary system and predicts its market cap to exceed $12.5T by 2030 (Mar 19 | 0:58 min watch). 

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