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Greetings Bitcoiner,
Welcome to Issue #479 of Bitcoin Breakdown, where it’s OPSEC Wednesday special, followed by the latest Quick Bits snippets.
But first, today’s Top Stories:
⛏️ Solo Miner Turns $75 Rental Into a $200K Block
🏧 Bitcoin Depot Is Now Checking ID on Every Single Transaction
🏛️ Michigan Bill Would Pay State Workers in Bitcoin by 2027
Download the 2025 Bitcoin Mining Annual Review: institutional adoption, price drivers, network fundamentals, hashrate trends, public miners, hashprice, difficulty, fees, hardware innovations, and a 2026 outlook.
⛏️ Solo Miner Turns $75 Rental Into a $200K Block
A solo miner rented 1 petahash via CKPool for $75 and solved block 938092 on February 24, earning 3.125 BTC -- roughly $200,000.
Why it matters: Solo blocks averaged one every 17.2 days last year -- a 17% year-over-year increase, driven by tools like BitAxe and cloud hash rentals. The network's difficulty algorithm treats a $75 hobbyist and a $100 million farm identically: no permission, no intermediary, just math. Read more→
Meanwhile...
🏧 Bitcoin Depot Is Now Checking ID on Every Single Transaction
Bitcoin Depot is mandating ID verification on every transaction at its 9,019 US kiosks following lawsuits from Massachusetts, Maine, and Iowa over fraud and scam facilitation.
Why it matters: This is how Bitcoin surveillance gets normalized: document enough fraud, let the media shape the narrative, and compliance theater becomes the industry standard. The actual fix -- prosecuting the scammers -- requires law enforcement effort, not your photo ID. Read more→
On the legislative front...
🏛️ Michigan Bill Would Pay State Workers in Bitcoin by 2027
Michigan Rep. Matt Maddock introduced a bill letting state civil servants receive wages in Bitcoin by 2027 -- one of six digital currency options, with CBDCs explicitly barred.
Why it matters: Embedding a CBDC ban into wage law is more durable than a standalone resolution -- the state cannot offer a surveillance currency as payroll regardless of what else gets authorized. The bill's open question: no mechanism specified for how Michigan sources the bitcoin. Read more→
Poll #479: Bitcoin ATMs checking ID on every transaction:
The Ledger Global-e breach didn't expose private keys — it exposed something more immediately dangerous: a list of hardware wallet buyers with home shipping addresses.
This week’s OPSEC feature article show you how acquire self-custodial hardware without handing attackers a map to your front door.
Get instant access to this special feature by becoming a premium supporter here.
Elliptic, a London-based blockchain analytics firm, identifies five exchanges (Bitpapa, ABCeX, Exmo, Rapira, and Aifory Pro) allegedly helping Russian entities bypass international sanctions via Ruble-to-Bitcoin and crypto conversions.
Laurore Ltd., a little-known Hong Kong-linked shell company with a $436M BlackRock bitcoin ETF IBIT stake, breaks silence, saying the position 'reflects personal investment conviction' amid mainland China capital flight speculation.
Meta Platforms, the social media and technology giant behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, partners with Stripe to target a stablecoin-powered payments launch for its 3B+ global users by mid-2026.
Trump's Board of Peace explores a dollar-pegged stablecoin for Gaza's digital payments, aiming to address the Strip's severe cash crisis amid destroyed ATMs and blocked currency supplies.
Tether's USDt market cap records a $3B drop in 60 days, mirroring 2022 bear market lows and signaling a potential 100% BTC rally as seller exhaustion nears.
Binance, the world's largest exchange, faces fresh sanctions scrutiny as internal investigators uncover $1.7B flowing to Iranian-linked entities, triggering employee suspensions.
US Treasury sanctions Russian exploit broker Sergey Zelenyuk and his firm Operation Zero for purchasing stolen US government cyber tools with crypto and reselling them to foreign buyers, with the specific cryptocurrency that was used remaining unknown.
Abundant Mines CEO Beau Turner highlights how the 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' passed in mid-2025, restores 100% first-year bonus depreciation for Bitcoin mining equipment, offering investors a powerful tax write-off strategy.
Canaan acquires Cipher Mining's 49% stake in three West Texas Bitcoin mining projects for $39.75M in shares, securing 120 MW of sub-3¢ per kWh power and 4.4 EH/s hashrate.
IREN, a Bitcoin miner pivoting to AI cloud infrastructure, secures a multi-billion dollar Microsoft deal and MSCI USA Index inclusion as institutional investors step in.
Bitdeer liquidates its entire 943.1 BTC treasury to fund AI and high-performance computing expansion amid falling bitcoin prices.
El Salvador's National Bitcoin Office launches Bitcoin Diploma 2.0, a revamped visual and case study-driven curriculum set for public school implementation across the country in 2026.
Bitcoin's $61.5M whale liquidation on HTX triggers $468M in crypto futures wipeout, sending the Fear and Greed Index to 'extreme fear' at 5.
Corporate Bitcoin treasury companies log a rare three-week selling streak, marking the first such stretch in the short history of BTC treasury holdings.
ProCap Financial, Anthony Pompliano's Bitcoin treasury firm, repurchases shares at a 35% discount to NAV as BRR stock trades 85% below its peak price.
Strategy, the largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder, marks its 100th BTC purchase, adding 592 BTC for $40M, bringing total holdings to 717,722 BTC.
Smarter Web Company, the UK's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, secures a $30M Coinbase credit facility to accelerate BTC purchases and reduce settlement risk after equity raises.
Thank you for reading!
