Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #305 of Bitcoin Breakdown, where we’re bringing you your end-of-week Bitcoin Digest featuring all the need-to-know Quick Bits snippets and Quick Media.

But first, today’s Top Stories:

• 🤥 IMF Calls Out El Salvador's Bitcoin Buying Claims

• 🏦 Trump Eyes Executive Order to Open 401(k) Plans to Bitcoin

• ☕ White House Backs Bitcoin Coffee Tax Break

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Jul 18, 2025

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

🤥 IMF Calls Out El Salvador's Bitcoin Buying Claims

The International Monetary Fund alleges in a new report that El Salvador isn't actually purchasing new Bitcoin despite government claims of daily buys. Instead, the IMF says the country's growing 6,200 BTC holdings result from consolidating existing coins across government wallets. This contradicts El Salvador's National Bitcoin Office statements about ongoing purchases. The IMF report comes amid the country's $1.4B loan compliance efforts and plans to privatize the Chivo wallet by July 2025. Crypto Slate

🏦 Trump Eyes Executive Order to Open 401(k) Plans to Bitcoin

President Trump is reportedly preparing an executive order that would allow American 401(k) retirement plans to invest in Bitcoin and other alternative assets beyond traditional stocks and bonds. The order could be signed this week and would direct regulatory agencies to investigate the best path forward for Bitcoin investments in retirement accounts. With $8.9T in 401(k) assets nationwide, this move could unlock massive institutional Bitcoin adoption and benefit major investment firms like BlackRock, Blackstone, and Apollo, who are already positioning themselves in the retirement space. Cointelegraph

☕ White House Backs Bitcoin Coffee Tax Break

The Trump administration confirmed it is also still actively exploring a $600 de minimis tax exemption for Bitcoin transactions, making everyday bitcoin payments possible without tax headaches. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the policy would enable simple purchases like buying coffee with bitcoin. Current US IRS rules state individuals must report Bitcoin transactions regardless if they result in a capital gain or loss. The Block

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QUICK BITS

• Emeritus professor at Northwestern embarrasses himself on LinkedIn by posting a paper explaining that bitcoin has no cash flows and thus no ‘intrinsic value’.

• Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, plans to launch Bitcoin custody services, positioning itself as the backbone of the country's digital asset infrastructure.

• US House passes CLARITY Act establishing regulatory framework for Bitcoin and crypto, advancing the market structure legislation to Senate consideration.

• US House passes GENIUS Act that establishes stablecoin regulations and Anti-CBDC Act that prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC.

• FBI forensic accountant struggles with basic math in Roman Storm's Tornado Cash trial, presenting pie charts that don't add up to 100%.

• French lawmakers submit a bill to test Bitcoin mining with excess nuclear and renewable power, projecting $100M-$150M in annual revenue through a 5-year experimental program.

• Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of Thailand launch nationwide sandbox program enabling foreign tourists to convert Bitcoin and crypto into Thai baht for merchant payments.

• Bulgaria's 2018 sale of 213,500 BTC worth $25B turns into a missed opportunity as the amount could have covered its entire national debt as of today.

• Former UK National Crime Agency intelligence officer Paul Chowles receives more than 5 year prison sentence for stealing 50 BTC worth $80,000 from dark web drug dealer's wallet during Silk Road 2.0 investigation.

• Protos clarifies that the US government hasn't sold 179,000 bitcoin after freedom of information request reveals distinction between seized and forfeited crypto assets, addressing Senator Cynthia Lummis' concerns.

• Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, warns that Bitcoin 'wrench attacks' involving physical violence to steal Bitcoin and crypto could double in 2025, with 35 incidents already recorded by July compared to 2021's record 36 attacks.

• Satoshi-era Bitcoin whale transfers second 40K BTC pile worth $4.77B to Galaxy Digital, completing a $9.6B move so far this week.

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QUICK MEDIA

• Lea Petrasova, co-founder and CEO of Vexl, speaking at BTC Prague, exposes Apple's transformation from freedom advocate to digital oppressor, sharing how Apple censored her Bitcoin app Vexl, and announcing 'Freedom Store' as an alternative app distribution platform to fight Big Tech censorship (Jul 15 | 6:52 min watch). 

• Roland from Alby demonstrates how to connect an Alby Hub Lightning wallet to an AI agent using N8N workflow automation, enabling the AI to automatically send and receive Bitcoin Lightning payments through the Alby NWC MCP server (Jul 16 | 3:03 min watch). 

• Immutable History - Chapter 1 is a short documentary directed by Javier Borrayo that describes how Screven County, Georgia used Simple Proof, a Bitcoin-based timestamping service to protect election results (Jul 15 | 8:52 min watch). 

• Narco Finance is a documentary that exposes how major banks like HSBC facilitated billions in drug money laundering through compromised anti-money laundering systems, while 'too big to jail' policies prevented accountability, enabling cartels to infiltrate global finance and expand into legitimate industries (Jul 6 | 99:51 min watch). 

• Knut Svanholm and Eric V Stacks explore praxeology (Ludwig von Mises' framework of human action) demonstrating how irrefutable axioms about purposeful behavior lead to self-ownership, natural property rights, and the philosophical foundations supporting Bitcoin and anarcho-capitalist principles (Jul 17 | 10:30 min watch).

• Matthew Kratter of Bitcoin University explores how Bitcoin's price appreciation serves as its primary marketing tool, attracting newcomers who discover deeper principles while enabling financial empowerment, challenging traditional investment paradigms, and providing protection against authoritarianism through increased liquidity and global economic significance (Jul 15 | 5:17 min watch).

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