Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #207 of Bitcoin Breakdown, where every Tuesday and Thursday, we bring you the latest must-read Bitcoin thought leadership articles and the newest tools and projects you should know about.

But first, today’s Top Stories:

• 🗝️ Kentucky Greenlights Bitcoin Self-Custody Bill

• 🇧🇹 Bhutan Moves $63M BTC to Three Wallets

• 🏦 Goldman Sachs’ Next Boss Could Be a Bitcoin Bull

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Mar 25, 2025

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

🗝️ Kentucky Greenlights Bitcoin Self-Custody Bill

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed the 'Bitcoin Rights' bill, protecting self-custody, node operation, and digital asset use from discrimination. The bill passed unanimously in both houses, mirroring Oklahoma's 2024 law. It clarifies rules for node operation, excludes mining from money transmitter licenses, and defines mining and staking. Concurrently, Oklahoma's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act passed its House, moving closer to allowing state Bitcoin reserves, joining Arizona, Texas, and Missouri in similar efforts. Cointelegraph

🇧🇹 Bhutan Moves $63M BTC to Three Wallets

The Bhutan government, leveraging its abundant hydroelectric power for Bitcoin mining since 2019, has moved $63M worth of BTC to three new wallets. One wallet alone received 600 BTC. Despite this transfer, the main government wallet still boasts a hefty $890M in BTC, evidencing a strong commitment to its strategy. While primarily focused on Bitcoin, Bhutan's portfolio also includes minor holdings in some altcoins—a strategic misstep. Bitget

🏦 Goldman Sachs’ Next Boss Could Be a Bitcoin Bull

Goldman Sachs’ COO John Waldron, who is bullish on Bitcoin, is being touted as a strong candidate to replace current CEO David Solomon. Waldron has been pushing BTC-related services to meet client demand. He also turned down a lucrative offer from Apollo to remain at Goldman Sachs in exchange for an $80M retention bonus, a board seat, and increased access to the bank’s private plane. Protos

POLL

OPINION & ANALYSIS

• Barry Eichengreen, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, argues in the Financial Times that the US dollar's dominance as the global reserve currency is at risk due to a second Trump administration's actions undermining key institutions, trade relations, and alliances (Mar 24 | 13 min read).

• Protos, a Bitcoin and crypto publication, explores how the US government could legally sell gold to buy bitcoin for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, outlining three potential methods like congressional approval, reconstituting the Exchange Stabilization Fund or revaluing gold certificates (Mar 24 | 3 min read).

• Guillaume Girard, a bitcoin mining researcher, explores Lava's new BTC borrowing platform and stablecoin, LavaUSD, amidst debates on spending BTC versus dollars, highlighting tax implications and long-term holding benefits (Mar 24 | 6 min read).

• Brendon Sedo, Initial Contributor at Core DAO, explains why Bitcoin's deliberate transaction slowness is crucial for its security and decentralization, contrasting it with attempts to prioritize speed over trustless finality (Mar 24 | 3 min read).

• GHOST, a privacy enthusiast and advocate, provides a step-by-step guide for non-technical users to set up a free private Onion Mail email service, emphasizing the importance of online privacy for everyone (Mar 23 | 3 min read).

• John Carpay, a Canadian lawyer and president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, warns that replacing cash with a Central Bank Digital Currency threatens Charter rights and freedoms by enabling government surveillance and control over citizens' finances (Mar 23 | 5 min read).

• Anders Bylund of The Motley Fool explains how the US government's 'budget-neutral' Bitcoin purchases could boost prices slowly and why its Digital Asset Stockpile, consisting of seized non-BTC crypto, will not be actively collecting any more assets (Mar 23 | 6 min read).

• Kane McGukin, writing for The Bitcoin Capitalist, analyzes the potential restructuring of the monetary system, involving a shift to sound money, gold, commodities, and BTC, driven by unsustainable fiat leverage (Mar 21 | 6 min read).

• L0la L33tz, an independent journalist and privacy advocate, explains how the FAIR Act of 2023 aims to protect Bitcoin holders from the potential abuse of civil asset forfeiture, ensuring due process and raising the evidentiary standard for seizures by the US Government (Mar 21 | 3 min read).

• Expatriotic, a privacy enthusiast and advocate, reviews The Bitcoin Company as a one-stop app for buying prepaid VISA and gift cards using BTC rewards while cautioning users about privacy risks from data tracking and kickback schemes (Mar 20 | 7 min read).

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.

TOOLS & PROJECTS

• Orange Pill App introduces Geo Zapping, enabling users to send sats to every bitcoiner in any particular city worldwide.

• BitRaffle is a trustless and automated raffle platform powered by Bitcoin.

• Tidebinder offers a self-custody Lightning wallet service for businesses, utilizing LNBits and Breez SDK, connecting existing payment solutions with Lightning.

• Foundation’s air-gapped, open-source Bitcoin hardware wallet rebrands to Passport Core, now with a new Stealth colorway.

• Bitcoin FilmFest–an annual event that blends independent cinema with the Bitcoin ethos, featuring film screenings, awards, workshops, and community engagement is scheduled to take place in Poland on May 22.

• Hello Nostr is a new educational website for Nostr by QnA that covers Nostr clients, tools, protocol explainers, and a glossary, plus video content from prominent figures in the Bitcoin community.

• The Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance–a coalition of human rights defenders, pro-democracy movements, and humanitarian organizations using Bitcoin to advance civil liberties worldwide–launches on April 10.

• Nostr Components offers easy embedding of Nostr profiles, posts, and follow buttons on any website, featuring a simple, lightweight and customizable design.

• LearnBitcoin.com, an educational platform, launches a glossary to demystify Bitcoin jargon and empower people to navigate the ecosystem.

• Postr is a plugin that enables users to post to the Nostr protocol directly through WordPress.

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