Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #445 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:

• 🧇 KBC Brings BTC to Belgian Banking

• ⛏️ Not a BTC Lottery Win: NiceHash Says ‘Untagged’ Blocks Were Tests

• 🐳 Whales Are Back in Accumulation Mode

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Jan 16, 2026

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

🧇 KBC Brings BTC to Belgian Banking

One of Belgium’s biggest banks, KBC Group, says it will become the country’s first bank to let retail clients trade bitcoin, launching February 16 on its Bolero investment platform. The rollout starts with BTC in an execution-only setup, with no personalized advice. KBC says it filed a Crypto Asset Service Provider notification and will operate under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. Users must pass a risk knowledge test, and trading stays in-platform with bank custody. Bitcoin Magazine

⛏️ Not a BTC Lottery Win: NiceHash Says ‘Untagged’ Blocks Were Tests

Bitcoin Twitter briefly cheered a supposed solo-miner jackpot after two Bitcoin blocks showed up without an obvious pool label on popular explorers. NiceHash later confirmed it mined both blocks during internal testing for a forthcoming product, and said the blocks were actually tagged 'NiceHashMining' but not displayed properly. The episode highlights a key Bitcoin lesson: block tags are just metadata, and on-chain attribution can be tricky. Cointelegraph

🐳 Whales Are Back in Accumulation Mode

Bitcoin’s biggest holders are reaccumulating after the fastest whale sell-off since early 2023. CryptoQuant data shows whale addresses holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC added about 46,000 BTC this week, flipping the one-year net change positive for the first time since late 2025. Meanwhile, mid-sized 'dolphin' holders, including exchange-traded funds and corporate treasuries, kept trimming holdings, signaling softer spot demand even as whales often lead the next rally. Cointelegraph

POLL #445

PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS

QUICK BITS

• Rhode Island lawmakers reintroduce Senate Bill S2021 for the second year, proposing a temporary tax exemption on Bitcoin transactions up to $5,000 monthly and $20,000 annually starting January 2027.

• France's financial regulator flags 90 unlicensed Bitcoin and crypto firms ahead of the June 30 MiCA deadline, warning July shutdowns without authorization.

• Chainalysis finds that Iran’s crypto market has hit nearly $8B in 2025 as rial collapse drives BTC self-custody and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps inflows surge.

• Geyser launches all-or-nothing Bitcoin crowdfunding, using Rootstock smart contracts and Boltz bridging so contributors fund with BTC via Lightning or on-chain, with refunds unless goals are met.

• Human Rights Foundation allocates 1.3B satoshis through its Bitcoin Development Fund to support open-source Bitcoin development, decentralized mining infrastructure, privacy tools, and grassroots education initiatives.

• North American Bitcoin mining pools see their block share drop from over 40% to 35% in 2025 as US miners pivot to AI infrastructure and China's energy expansion fuels a resurgence in hash rate despite official bans.

• Bitcoin derivatives open interest drops 31% since October, purging excess leverage in a deleveraging signal that historically marks market bottoms and sets foundation for bullish recovery, according to a CryptoQuant analyst.

• South Korean savers withdraw $2.7B daily from banks to invest in Bitcoin, gold, and stocks as Bitcoin and crypto trading volumes surge 200% at major exchanges amid regulatory changes and booming markets.

• Breez's Time2Build 2025 developer challenge awards over $20,000 in BTC prizes to winning teams who integrated self-custodial Lightning payments into BTCPay Server, Primal, and other open-source platforms using the Breez SDK.

• Eric Adams, Former New York City mayor denies profiting from NYC Token after on-chain data reveals $3M liquidity withdrawal triggered an 80% price crash, wiping out over $400M in market value and sparking rug pull accusations.

• West Virginia lawmakers propose Senate Bill 143, letting the Treasury invest up to 10% of public funds in BTC and gold, with a $750B market cap filter.

• Keir Starmer, UK Prime Minister, abandons mandatory digital ID for workers after nearly 3M citizens sign petition, citing Orwellian surveillance fears and data security risks.

QUICK MEDIA

• Jeff Booth, author of 'The Price of Tomorrow', in an interview with Natalie Brunell, argues that governments cannot create value but only extract it through taxation, challenging the notion that government programs represent genuine economic benefits rather than redistributed wealth (Jan 13 | 4:15 min watch). 

• Christopher Sullivan, a portfolio manager, in an interview with Nico of Simply Bitcoin, highlights Bitcoin as a peaceful, non-violent path out of the fiat system, positioning BTC as a higher-consciousness alternative for monetary freedom (Jan 16 | 2:28 min watch). 

• Adam Livingston argues that the Trump vs Powell fight and a coordinated central bank defense expose cracks in trust in fiat money, accelerating capital flight to BTC as stablecoin yield rules tighten and a potentially pro-Bitcoin Fed chair reshapes markets (Jan 14 | 18:07 min watch). 

• Julian Figueroa of The Exit Manual maps 7 recurring Bitcoin-cycle archetypes from nocoiners to cypherpunks and 'transcendence,' arguing BTC is not a trade but an exit into self-custody, privacy, and long-term conviction (Jan 16 | 11:03 min watch). 

• Forrest HODL argues that Strategy’s STRC variable-rate preferred is MSTR’s ‘iPhone moment,’ using demand near a $100 peg and an 11% yield to raise capital, issue shares, and fund BTC buys that can amplify a supply shock (Jan 15 | 20:39 min watch). 

• Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, in an appearance on CNBC, warns that a Senate Banking Committee crypto market structure bill favors banks by restricting stablecoin rewards, limiting CFTC oversight, and harming DeFi, urging lawmakers to revise the draft or risk a bad bill that hurts US consumers (Jan 15 | 5:14 min watch).

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