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Join me today for Episode 1099 of Bitcoin And . . .

Topics for today:

• Germans Are $2.3 Billion Poorer Today
• JPMorgan Chase to "Allow" BTC Purchases
• GENIUS Bill Passes to Senate Floor
• 'ETH Treasury Reserve': France Wins Darwin Award

#Bitcoin #BitcoinAnd 

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Articles:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/german-gov-t-missed-2-3b-bitcoin-profit-sold-btc-57k
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/19/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-says-the-bank-will-let-clients-buy-bitcoin.html
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ENTREPARTICULIERS-COM-42262/news/Entreparticuliers-com-Building-a-Strategic-Ether-Reverse-49998884/
https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-senate-moves-forward-genius-stablecoin-bill
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/05/20/circle-has-explored-potential-5b-sale-to-coinbase-or-ripple-instead-of-ipo-report

• https://www.cnbc.com/futures-and-commodities/
• https://dashboard.clarkmoody.com/
• https://mempool.space/
• https://www.bitcoinandshow.com/
• https://fountain.fm/show/eK5XaSb3UaLRavU3lYrI

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/bitmine-launches-bitcoin-treasury-advisory-practice-secures-4m-deal-with-first-client
https://www.theblock.co/post/355036/standard-chartered-sovereigns-indirect-bitcoin-exposure-mstr-500000-target
https://atlas21.com/bitcoin-malware-discovered-chinese-printer-manufacturer-involved/
https://protos.com/french-government-gives-crypto-entrepreneurs-priority-police-line/
https://bitcoinnews.com/legal/ed-suman-retired-artist-loses-btc-coinbase/

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[00:00:02] David Bennett:

It is 9AM   on the dot Pacific Daylight Time. It is the May   2025,   and this   is episode ten ninety nine of Bitcoin, and that sounds a hell of a lot like a tax form to me. I I I'm not exactly sure if I I like that, but,   hey, it's the ten ninety nine. You gotta take it. This is gonna be your news day. This is why you're here to figure out what the hell's going on with Bitcoin   and the rest of the macro environment, whether   it   includes   Bitcoin. And in today's case, we are gonna talk about Ethereum   because we have to. It's just   it's just too rich, man.  

The story I'm gonna be bringing you later today   is just too fun.   But we are gonna be talking about Jamie Dimon   because the flippening has apparently occurred. We're also going to look at the US senate   moving forward with the genius act and what that could possibly mean today.   Circle is in the news,   and   I'm not a fan,   as you know, of Jeremy Allaire   for various reasons I won't get into, and I'm not a fan of Circle. However, they are in the news, and they do represent an attack vector.   And we'll get into why I think that they are going to turn into a much more serious attack vector   than they've ever been. We'll we'll we'll talk about it.  

Bitmine,   oh, god. Bitmine has launched a new   service, which is falling in line with the fad of   Bitcoin treasury companies, but they themselves are not looking at becoming a Bitcoin treasury company.   Yeah. We'll we'll do it.   Standard Chartered   is in the news.   There's some weird malware   that's been detected that, well, if if you're not being terribly careful with your private keys,   your private keys for your Bitcoin could be absconded with because it's happened.   And,   well,   we've got a retired artist who's lost his Bitcoin,   and we will get to that at the end of the show where I   try to put all of my cautionary tales   of how to survive   this new world with Bitcoin. But first,   it's raining sheer stupidity down on Germany at this point. And we'll just we'll just start off with the this brief note here from Zoltan Vardy, Cointelegraph.  

If we at do the math,   the German government has now missed out on $2,300,000,000   of profit   because they sold their Bitcoin at $57,000   per coin.   If you don't remember, here's the brief note.   The German government missed out on more than 2,000,000,000   worth of Bitcoin profit   after selling its holdings   just one year ago   in 2024   according to blockchain intelligence firm, Arkham.   A German government   labeled cryptocurrency   wallet   sold 50,000   Bitcoin   worth over $2,890,000,000   at an average price   of $57,900   across multiple transactions   during June   and July. So we're coming up on the year anniversary   of Germany   just   piling in on stupid. And it's really sad.  

The if they had just kept it, you know, for the German people, just kept it in trust or something like that. For the German people,   they wouldn't look as stupid as they do. But Germany just can't seem to stop being dumb,   and neither can France, which we'll get into in a second. But   I promised you a flippening.   I'm bringing you   a flippening.   JPMorgan   CEO Jamie Dimon says   that JPMorgan   will now let clients buy Bitcoin.   Yeah. You heard it.   He announced this yesterday.   JPMorgan   Chase is finally allowing clients to buy Bitcoin,   but CEO Jamie Dimon is still a skeptic.  

So you're you're skeptical,   but there's so much demand   that you actually have to provide the service, Jamie.   Who's wrong?   Maybe it's maybe it's you that's actually wrong here, Jamie. Quote,   we are going to allow you to buy it. Oh, oh, thank you, Jamie. Oh, thank you for allowing me to be able to purchase through your through your golden gates. I of JPMorgan Chase. I am so happy. I am so happy that you are you are   can I have more, please? Can I please get a little Oliver Twist out there with a little bowl in his hands just begging the guy to don't beat me? Please let me buy your Bitcoin. Oh my god. We are going to allow you to buy it,   Diamond said at the bank's annual investor day on Monday.  

But we're not gonna custody it.   We're going to put it in statements   for clients.   I have no idea what the hell that means. We're not gonna custody it.   We're going to put   it in statements   for clients.   Does anybody out there know what that means?   Because I I I don't know what that means.   Anyway, the decision marks   a fairly notable step for the largest US bank, particularly due to Diamond's history of criticizing the digital currency and the crypto market in general   and is the latest sign of Bitcoin's entry into mainstream investing.   Since August,   Morgan Stanley has allowed its financial advisors to pitch   some   specific spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds to qualifying   clients.  

And Diamond made it clear that his personal view of Bitcoin does remain unchanged,   highlighting issues such as money laundering and the lack of clarity surrounding ownership   along with the sex trafficking   and the terrorism.   Wow. Quote,   I don't think you should smoke,   but I defend your right to smoke.   So I defend your right to buy Bitcoin,   Diamond said.   This is a man who desperately doesn't wanna look like an idiot.   I'm just saying. But the bank is looking at offering clients access to Bitcoin ETFs   according to a person briefed on the plans. And until now, the company has limited its crypto exposure primarily to futures based products and not really direct ownership of Bitcoin itself.   When crypto valuations were soaring in 2021,   Jamie dismissed Bitcoin as, quote, worthless.  

He told lawmakers   during the senate hearing in late two thousand twenty three that he has always been deeply   opposed to crypto, Bitcoin, etcetera, and that, quote, the only true case for it is criminals,   drug traffickers,   money laundering, and tax avoidance.   If I was the government,   I'd close it down. You do you remember what him saying that? He'd he'd close Bitcoin down because he's part of the government.   Because, yes, the government is all knowing, all powerful,   and yet there's no   possible   physical,   logical way that the government could ever actually shut   Bitcoin down.  

It just it just shows the sheer amount of ignorance   of one of the world's wealthiest people that's in control of the world's largest bank.   That that's where we're at right now, ladies and gentlemen.   Just I just wanna remind y'all about that. This is Jamie Dimon.   He's oh, so brilliant. Right? Yet he can't wrap his mind   around a very simple concept.   This is a dangerous situation   because there's three types of knowledge.   There's shit you know that you know.   There's shit that you know that you don't know, but then there's the worst kind.   The shit you don't know that you don't know.  

And that's where Jamie is right now with Bitcoin.   He doesn't know   what he doesn't know.   He thinks he does, and he's just flat wrong. So that puts him squarely in the camp of,   shit that he knows that he doesn't know, except he's so wrong   on what the government would actually be able to effectuate   that,   yeah. He's he's I I'm gonna move him over into the third class where he actually doesn't know what he doesn't know. But   at the twenty twenty four World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, if you might remember,   Dimon said, quote,   Bitcoin does nothing.  

I call it a pet rock. This is the last time I'm talking about this with CNBC,   so help me god.   Well, he's gonna have to be talking about it a lot more from now on. Morgan Stanley CEO,   Ted Pick, told CNBC at this year's event in Davos   that the investment bank is exploring ways to deepen its involvement in crypto currency markets and navigating the regulatory landscape   under the pro crypto administration of president Donald Trump.   Since Trump took office in January, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and   the office of the comptroller of the currency   have rescinded   their anti crypto guidance with the Federal Reserve partially following suit.  

A notice issued by the Fed in January 2023   continues to restrict banks from certain crypto related activities   while banks can now custody crypto, thanks to the repeal of an accounting rule called SAB one twenty one, they still face certain limitations on working directly with digital asset firms.   So we're we're in   when   this is an important flippening. This is what I'm what I'm getting at. This isn't just, you know,   I don't like, I I some, you know, like Wells Fargo saying that they're going to allow their customers to to buy Bitcoin.   It this is that's not as important as the fact that you've got JPMorgan   Chase   and Jamie Dimon   having to follow suit.  

They they have to. They have no choice.   And the only reason that they don't have a choice, they're not trying to get ahead of the curve. JPMorgan Chase and Jamie Dimon are well behind the curve.   They're this is only coming from one source.   And while I can't verify that, I'm going to make a bet that this is because their customers are saying, what the hell are you doing?   Do you want me to go find another bank? Because I will go find another bank   unless you're going to allow me to transact through your bank   to be able to do the things that I want to do. That means that these people want   to engage with Bitcoin. Sure. It may be a spot Bitcoin ETF.  

We can bitch and moan about that all day long and twice on Sunday. It is not going to change the temperature of the water in my pool one bit.   They are going to do what they wanna do.   And not only are we trapped   behind the glass trying to pound on it saying no no no it's so much easier to just buy the actual Bitcoin and hold it yourself.   Diamond's on the other side of the room behind his own glass saying no no no you don't want to have anything to do with this. But those people that are in the room screaming   have broken through Jamie Dimon's glass wall first.  

So   this entire thing   is his customer base telling Jamie Dimon what he and his bank   will allow them to do. Otherwise, they're gonna pull up stakes, they're gonna take their ball, and they're gonna go home.   So yet another   fight has been won in the annals of the Bitcoin war,   except for these guys   out in France.   France has some serious problems. I don't know if it's because they're that close to Germany.   I don't really care, but we've got an interesting development here   with a company called   Entre   Particule,   I think is how it's pronounced.   Dotcom   is building a strategic reserve, but not in Bitcoin.  

No. No. No. They're going the other way.   They're   gonna build a strategic ether   reserve   Following its recent announcement   of its transformation   into an Ethereum   Treasury company, an ETC,   Entrez Peticule   informs the market that a purchase program for an initial tranche of €1,000,000   worth of ether   financed by majority stakeholder   Stefan   Ramonolozizin,   or however you pronounce it, was initiated on April   2025   and will conclude on 05/29/2025.   Furthermore,   to continue building this strategic shit show, the company has begun structuring various financial instruments intended for professional investors and financial partners.   The company   and the majority shareholder   rule out the use of excessively dilutive instruments such as equity lines.  

The ongoing capital contribution structuring is subject to the approval of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth   resolutions of the general meeting, which is scheduled on June 18 for a maximum amount of €150,000,000.   Listed on Euronext growth since 02/2007,   entree particular dot com has historically operated as a   real estate search   platform.   Not a real estate company, but a real estate search platform as if I couldn't just do that with Google, but whatever. In April 2025, it began to shift towards decentralized finance   and real world asset tokenization   as well as this brand new strategic Ethereum   reserve. So this is a company   who has one financer behind it, and that financer has chosen death   instead of life.  

So stupidity is so French, it must be liberated again. Let's move back over to The United States   where the senate has moved finally moved forward with the genius   stablecoin bill. I god, these names are just they're killing me.   Braden Lindria from Cointelegraph.   The United States senate   has voted   to advance a key stablecoin regulating bill after Democratic senators   blocked an earlier attempt to move the bill forward   over concerns about president Donald Trump's sprawling   crypt crypto empire. Oh, it's sprawling, is it? A key procedural vote on the guiding and establishing   national innovation for US stablecoins   act, otherwise known as the Genius Act,   passed in a 66   to 32 vote May   local time.  

Several Democrats, including Mark Warner, Adam Schiff, Ruben Gallego,   changed their votes.   They   the fact that Adam Schiff changed his votes is really kinda telling here, but whatever.   They changed their votes to pass the motion   to invoke cloture, which will now set the bill up for debate upon the senate floor.   Republican senator Cynthia Lemus,   one of the bill's key backers, said on May that she thinks it's fair target   to have the Genius Act passed by May,   which is Memorial Day in The United States.   Several Democratic senators withdrew support for the bill on May, blocking a motion to move it forward, citing concerns over potential   conflicts of interest involving Trump's crypto ventures in the bill's   anti money laundering provisions.  

Warner expressed concerns about Trump's crypto ventures in a statement before the vote, but said that The United States   couldn't afford to keep standing on the sidelines while the crypto industry evolves. Quote, we cannot allow   that corruption to blind us to the broader reality.   Blockchain technology   is here to stay. Oh my god. It's on the blockchain.   If American lawmakers don't shape it, others will, and not in ways that serves our interests or democratic values, end quote.   Okay.   That's all we need to know about that. Alright, so they blocked it once, they didn't get it this time, and in fact,   it was this this particular vote, do they have a number for the vote when they took it before?  

I don't think they do.   I mean, but it barely it it barely got,   got blocked.   There wasn't all the I think it was, like, blocked by, like, two people   or there was two votes   in the nay side   over and above the yay side of the column. But now that has flipped   66 to 32.   That's that's a hell of a shift   from just two votes blocking   to, like, a 66   vote for yes.   That's not bad, man. That that's not bad at all.   Will will the genius act   do anything?   Yeah. Yeah. It's probably going to do quite a bit, and I guarantee you that quite a bit of it is not gonna be stuff that we're gonna be in love with. But,   again,   if you keep your wits about you, you're not gonna need to it's not gonna need to matter to you. Just buy your Bitcoin,   hold your Bitcoin, and we will move on   to Circle.  

And let's just give a background to Circle. Circle is probably the second largest issuer of stable coin in the world behind Tether. So Tether is USDT.   Circle stablecoin is USDC.   Now you know what I've said about Tether.   It's buying of US treasuries.   It's weaponization   of United States debt   essentially against the rest of the world,   with the vehicle being Tether itself   and the fuel for that fire being the US dollar and US treasury printing of debt instrumentation.   Alright. Well, Circle is in there too,   but they are far and away behind Tether. However, they have made motions   to block Tether in certain ways, like,   oh, they they shouldn't be allowed to operate in The United States because of x, y, and z. They've made that argument to the United States government.  

They're essentially   trying to leverage regulatory   moat ideas, United States government,   legislation,   executive stuff, all of it. They will use all of it   to gain a better foothold   in the world to come, and the world to come will be   a lot of it's gonna be stablecoin.   Sure. I know. We we want it to be Bitcoin.   That's the backing.   That's that's the ultimate backing of all this because stablecoins is just fiat. It's just   it's really not any different than the digital dollars that we deal with today other than it's a private issue or other than the United States government. And from that standpoint,   it is a completely different flavor profile altogether. In fact, it's not even a fucking snow cone at this point. It's a cup full of ice cream. It's completely different thing.  

Right? But   we've got Circle in the news again, and I don't like this one at all.   Because Circle has explored the potential $5,000,000,000   sale of itself   to Coinbase   or   Ripple   instead of going through with their initial public offering. This is according to a report,   and this entire piece is out of CoinDesk written by Jamie Crowley.   Stablecoin   issuer Circle, which did file   for an initial public offering last month,   has explored the alternative of a sale to crypto exchange Coinbase   or to the payments company Ripple according to a Monday report by Fortune magazine.   The New York based issuer of USDC,   the second largest stablecoin,   took part in informal talks over a potential sale from which it was seeking at least $5,000,000,000   Fortune reported citing people who asked not to be identified.  

Wow. Okay. Well, I wonder why, but whatever.   This figure would be in line with the company's valuation by investment banks, JPMorgan   and Citi, which Circle hired to help with the initial public offering.   Coinbase holds a minority share already in Circle, and the two companies   share revenue from USDC's   reserve interest income.   Ripple recently debuted its own stablecoin,   the RLUSD.   An offer by Ripple to buy Circle was rejected, Bloomberg reported last month.   Circle said in an emailed statement that it is not for sale   and remains committed to going public, Fortune,   report said.  

But the company aborted a previous attempt at going public via a special purpose acquisition company merger in 02/2021.   So that that is literally all all we have of that report.   So if Coinbase   buys Circle,   that doesn't bug me as much. And, no, I I don't like Coinbase. I I don't think Brian Armstrong is a really good dude.   Coinbase has major issues,   major problems.   But putting   USDC and Circle in the hands of Ripple   makes Ripple much, much stronger of a contender.   And it's it's not like they   it's not like they're not already strong. It's just that everything about Ripple and XRP,   which XRP is Ripple. I don't care what they say.  

XRP   is Ripple Labs.   Ripple Labs is their token XRP.   It's a scam.   The people behind it are scammers.   The entire thing is set up to relieve you of your money.   It is not   above board.   And yet somehow or another, they've been able to fully legitimize themselves   in the eyes of regulatory authorities,   news media outlets, and a whole bunch of plebs out there who just don't know any better.   And all of a sudden, you get ripple heads.   If they get a hold of Circle,   and they get a hold   of the second largest   stablecoin in the world,   it's not going to do us any favors.  

Will it kill Bitcoin? No. Of course not. That's ridiculous.   But giving them any kind of help whatsoever is not   we don't want that on our bingo card. Let's run the numbers.   Futures and commodities. I got West Texas Intermediate Oil down point 4%   today.   That brings it to $62.42.   Brenton Norsese is down just over half a point to $65.18.   Natural gas,   go in the other direction. I swear to god natural gas is being used   by oil or energy traders as a hedge.   I swear.   There's no reason   that natural gas should have an 8.74   jump today to bring it back to $3.38   if it wasn't for the futures guys on the oil desks   fucking everybody's lives up.  

I'm serious.   It's like like 90%   of the time,   natural gas moves in the opposite direction of Brent Norsee and West Texas Intermediate.   90 at least 90%   of the time,   which tells me   these guys are using it as a hedge. And what does that tell me? You can't trust any of these people to give you a price on anything that even remotely resembles reality.   Nobody knows what anything costs. And it's not just because the money's broken. It's because we've allowed people to make bets on bets on bets on bets. We call those   derivatives,   and it's just gambling.  

Oh, but it's price discovery.   No. It's not. It's noise so that the house casino   can rake in all the money all the time,   and they don't really give a shit what you want. But Shiny Metal Rocks are doing very well today as a group. Gold is up one and a half points to $32.84   and 5 dimes.   Silver is up 1.6.   Platinum is up four and a half, but copper is down two thirds of a point. Nope. Make that three quarters of a point. Palladium is up 4.2%.   Ag is   fully mixed today. The biggest   winner is gonna be wheat, 3% to the upside.   Biggest loser is   coffee, one and a half percent to the downside.  

Live cattle,   crab walking sideways, slightly in the red.   Lean hogs, down point 8%,   and feeder cattle are up   point   19%.   The Dow and the rest of the, legacy indices are all in the red today. Not terrible, but still not all that great.   Point 38%   to the down,   downside for the Dow. S and P is down almost a half as is the Nasdaq.   S and P Mini is down point 12%.   We have a price of $105,260   after some serious   up and down movements   over the last thirty six hours of Bitcoin.   As high as 107,   as low as 102,000,   going back up to a hundred and 6, coming back down to a hundred and 3. And right now, it's back up to a hundred and 5.   That's some that's some roller coaster action right there, and it brings us to a $2,090,000,000,000   market cap, which is where we were yesterday.  

And we can still purchase 32 ounces of shiny metal rocks with our one Bitcoin of which there are 19,867,219.6   of.   Average fees per block are 0.05   BTC taken in fees on a per block basis.   There are 16 blocks no. 17 blocks carrying 22,000   unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at high priority rates of 5 Satoshis per vbyte. Low priority is gonna get you in at four. Mining   looks to be,   oh, pretty solid.   865.4   exahashes   per second.   We have an estimate estimated 4% increase   in the difficulty rate coming up in ten days or fifteen   fifty six blocks.  

A reminder to go to   bitcoinandshow.com.   That's bitcoinandshow.com.   Throw me your email and you will get emails of when I release new shows or any other publications that I put on bitcoinandshow.com.   Go sign up. I'm not gonna give your email to anybody. I swear it. I promise. But I'm trying to build this website up into something   that I can be proud of later on. It's just that I'm not really all that good of a guy with how to do web stuff. This is all new to me. Alright. So if you give me a hand by throwing me some traffic,   that will really, really help my attitude going forward and making sure that I can figure out, you know, how to not screw this up. Anyway, from Yield Nave, which was yesterday's episode of Bitcoin and I got $17.76   throwing me 2,121   sats saying,   knowing the Australian government, they're going to use the ruse of tax CGT refunds   to create a nice handy registry of all Australian Bitcoin owners   ready for when they implement an unrealized capital gains tax after the next pump.  

Don't fall for it, Aussie HODLers.   Oh, you know what?   He's probably got a really good point there.   Progressively worse with 1,500 sat says, let's get this guy an upgrade for his Lamborghinis.   Maybe a new upgrade for his chevro legs.   My guy needs some new shoes over here. Let's go. Much appreciated, none you.   Appreciate it, man. Pies with a thousand says,   thank you for the shout out, my brother. Much appreciated. Yes. Because Pies is   engaged.   Again, prayers,   good feelings, good tidings, positive energy. Send it to my brother,   Pies. Psyduck with 701 says,   Psyduck.  

Turkey with 500 says nothing again.   Thank you, sir, with 500 says, what are lean hogs?   Lean hogs are not fat hogs.   Feeder cattle are not live cattle.   Okay.   The way it works,   apparently, is that I buy feeder cattle   because I'm going to feed them.   So they're ready to be fed. Right? So they're they're younger cattle.   And then when they go to the sale barn as live cattle, that's when they get slaughtered for meat. So there's a time differential between when I buy feeder cattle to when,   when I sell the live cattle, which is the fattened version of the feeder cattle. I don't know. You know, it's about a year. You know, some people do it in, you know, a year and three months or something like that. It depends.   You know, if you're gonna keep them on grass, it could take up to two years to get to live weight. That's why you see all the CAFOs out there because they'll keep them on grass until, like, the last three months of their last two, three months of their lives, and they'll feed them a whole bunch of corn and shit that they're not even really equipped to eat. They certainly weren't designed to eat grain,   but will grain finish them and they will get to finishing weight two months instead of, you know, in in a year instead instead of having to wait two years.  

Lean hogs   is the feeder version is the feeder cattle version of hogs.   You buy in lean hogs, you feed them until they're fat, and then you take the fat hogs to slaughter.   That's about as good of an explanation as I can give anybody. God's death with two thirty seven says, thank you, sir, no thank you. Yodel with four forty four says all I want is Wingstop.   Pies with another 100 says thank you sir, no thank you. That's the weather report.   Welcome to part two of the news that you can use   from Bitcoin Magazine's   Oscar   Zarraga   Perez.  

Bitmine   launches   Bitcoin treasury   advisory practice   and secures a $4,000,000   deal with its first client.   So now we're we're into consulting   for Bitcoin treasury companies.   You don't really need that. All you really need to do is, if you really wanna be a Bitcoin treasury company, is go   go look at at Michael Saylor's webinar and and and download the PDF which he provided   of how to build a Bitcoin treasury.   But, you know, I I guess it doesn't matter.   I guess people just want to hand over $4,000,000   to somebody who says, let's let's become a Bitcoin treasury   consulting firm because that looks like what's going on over here today.  

BitMiner Immersion Technologies announced the launch of its Bitcoin treasury advisory   practice,   a BTAP,   and a $4,000,000   deal with a US exchange listed company.   The deal saw Bitmain   surpass its last year's total revenue   in that one single transaction alone   according to the announcement.   Let that sink in.   Bitmine Immersion Technologies,   I've heard about them. You know, they make they make immersion cooling   for for Bitcoin miners,   but they they decided to transform themselves into a treasury advisory   consultancy.   And they made more money in that $14,000,000   transaction than they did all last year.  

Do you see where this is going?   This Bitcoin treasuries thing is becoming a little hot   is what I'm trying to say here. So let's be careful out there, ladies and gentlemen.   Bitmine will provide mining as a service by leasing   3,000 Bitcoin ASIC miners to the client through 12/30/2025   in a $3,200,000   leasing deal   with a $1,600,000   of that paid upfront.   Additionally,   the same client   has signed an $800,000   consulting agreement for one year   focusing on Bitcoin mining as a service   and   Bitcoin   treasury   strategy.   Currently, there are almost a hundred public companies that have adopted Bitcoin as a treasury holding.   We expect this number to grow in the future. As more companies adopt Bitcoin treasury strategies, the need for infrastructure revenue generation   and expert guidance   grows along with it, said Jonathan Bates,   CEO of BitMine.  

Quote, this single transaction is greater than our entire 2024   fiscal year revenue,   and we feel there is an opportunity to acquire yet more clients in the near future as interest in Bitcoin ownership grows,   end quote.   Bitmind's first quarter twenty twenty five results showed strong revenue growth   with gap revenue   rising approximately   135%   to 1,200,000.0   up from 511,000   in the q one of twenty twenty four supported by an expanded mining capacity   of 4,640   minuteers as of 11/30/2024   compared   to 1,606   the previous year. That's some that's some pretty impressive growth right there. Just just saying.   Despite the growth,   the company reported a net loss of almost 4,000,000   in the first quarter of twenty twenty five,   primarily due to a one time non cash accounting adjustment related   to preferred stock. And excluding this charge,   the adjusted loss was approximately   $975,000   consistent   with the prior year's results.  

Bitmind's new Bitcoin treasury advisory practice along with the $4,000,000   deal   joins a trend.   A trend.   It's a fad. Think bell bottoms in the seventies,   you know, or or or or actual iPods   or or   what else what else could there be? I don't know.   You name it. There's all kinds of fads out there, and some fads are more oh, ice bucket. That's the one of the fads because that shit got people killed.   It did. The ice bucket challenge was a fad, and it got people killed.   But it joins a trend   among public companies exploring Bitcoin, not just as a treasury asset, but also as a source of revenue. Yes. Of course. Because, you know, yield.   Always remember to ask, ladies and gentlemen, where does the yield come from?  

Moving on to Standard   Chartered.   News out of Standard Chartered says that Sovereign's indirect Bitcoin exposure via MSTR   is growing,   backing its $500,000   Bitcoin price target.   Yogiti   Chathra from the,   the block, in fact. It's actually the theblock.co.   Sovereigns or government entities   increased their indirect exposure to Bitcoin in the first quarter of this year by buying shares of MicroStrategy,   now known as strategy or MSTR   being the ticker symbol of the stock.   This is according to Standard Chartered Bank, and it added   that the trend   notice the word trend.  

The trend supports   its $500,000   Bitcoin price target before president   Donald Trump leaves office in 2029.   Quote,   the latest 13 f data from the SEC   supports our core thesis   that Bitcoin will reach $500,000   level before Trump leaves office as it transacts a wider range of institutional   buyers.   According to Jeffrey Kendrick, Standard Charters, global head of digital assets research wrote in a report published   on Tuesday and shared with the block, quote,   as more investors gain access to the asset   and as volatility   falls I don't know what you're talking about, but,   we believe portfolios will migrate toward their optimal level from an underweight starting position in Bitcoin.  

Overall,   the   latest   q one thirteen f filings,   quarterly reports that institutional investment managers with at least a hundred million dollars in assets under management are required to file,   show that direct Bitcoin ETF ownership   was   disappointing   while rising MSTR   stock holdings were very encouraging,   Kendrick said.   The biggest ETF move came from the state of Wisconsin's investment board, which   as sadly as we all heard last week exited   it the entirety   of its 3,400   BTC equivalent position in BlackRock's iBit ETF,   the largest of the ETFs in for spot Bitcoin, and the one most commonly held by government entities.  

Meanwhile,   Abu Dhabi quasi sovereign   Mubadala   slightly increased its iBit holdings to 5,000 BTC equivalent from 4,700.   But more notable   were increases in MSTR   ownership, which Kendrick views as an indirect Bitcoin proxy.   Quote, we believe that in some cases,   MSTR holdings by government entities reflect a desire   a desire   to gain Bitcoin exposure where local regulations do not allow direct BTC holdings.   In the first quarter,   several government entities   increased their MSTR holdings   with Norway's government pension fund,   the Swiss National Bank,   and South Korea's pension and investment bodies each adding the equivalent of 700 BTC   United States state retirement funds across California,   New York, North Carolina, and Kentucky   added a combined 1,000 BTC equivalent.  

Sweden and Liechtenstein   made marginal increases,   while France and Saudi Arabia took first time positions,   though small,   signaling expanding sovereign interest in indirect Bitcoin exposure, Kendrick noted.   Yay. Quote,   this quarterly 13 f data is the best test of our thesis that Bitcoin will attract new institutional buyer types   as the market matures,   helping the price reach our $500,000   target level.   When institutions buy Bitcoin, prices tend to rise.   Really? Because I'm not seeing it.   I'm not disappointed. I'm not groaning. I'm just saying   it seems odd   that I can wake up to news that   MicroStrategy   buys another 7,000 Bitcoin and the price actually   drops.  

I I just   I know there's some there's some asshole whale out there with a   ever loving shit ton of Bitcoin   who is basically making the the micro strategy announcement trade.   My like, Sunday night,   strategy's sailor announces   basically hints that they're buying Bitcoin. He puts up a graph and he says, this is the price of Bitcoin or it'll say something snarky, but it will basically be   a graph of the price of Bitcoin and there will be orange dots or green dots on it. And every one of those dots is where   MicroStrategy   made a purchase of Bitcoin.  

Follow that the following day, Monday, after the markets open   is when Michael Saylor actually announces that MSTR   bought x amount of Bitcoin.   So   the way the cycle works   is that Michael Saylor makes a tweet,   Sunday night.   The whale with an ever loving shit ton of Bitcoin immediately sells a block of Bitcoin to drop the price,   and he keeps selling and keeps selling and keeps selling,   and then he starts buying it back.   This is Sunday evening, by the way. Alright? So it starts happening Sunday afternoon, and by the time Sunday evening happens, this price starts to recover.   By the time we wake up Monday morning   or maybe a couple hours after, the price is almost fully recovered.  

Michael Saylor makes his   makes his statement that MicroStrategy   has in fact bought x amount of Bitcoin,   and then we start the week all over again. It is a rinse and repeat   cyclic   trade.   And, honestly, I'm just so fucking tired of it. It's boring as shit. But   whoever's doing it is making bank because it works.   He scares the ever living shit out of the rest of the world, all buys lonesome,   sells a shit by selling a shit ton of Bitcoin, and then buys it all back on the cheap and more.   So that's what happens when when when you're selling your Bitcoin on Sunday   because you get scared, there's this one guy who's buying it from you at a discount.  

Just   start realizing that.   Just I'm just saying.   Anyway, the trend   this there's this trend.   When people buying MicroStrategy   and people buying Strike shares from MicroStrategy,   people buying Strife   shares from MicroStrategy,   people buying ETFs,   people buying everything that they freaking can   except the actual asset itself.   I don't like it.   I don't think it's gonna kill Bitcoin, but it does put us in a very precarious   FTX   feeling like situation that I'm not all that comfortable with.   So what am I gonna do about it? Nothing.   Why? Because there's nothing I can do about it.  

Honey, if you haven't figured it out, Bitcoin is for enemies.   Let's move on. Bitcoin malware has been discovered.   Chinese printer manufacturer   has been implicated. This is Atlas twenty one.   According to local media outlet,   Landian News, a Chinese printer manufacturer   was found to have unknowingly,   at least according to them, I guess,   distributed malware designed to steal Bitcoin   through its official   device drivers.   So at the driver level,   we've got malware.   Pre colored,   a Shenzhen based printer company, distributed malware capable of stealing Bitcoin alongside the official drivers for its devices.   The company reportedly used USB devices   to spread infected drivers and uploaded the compromised software to globally accessible cloud storage services.  

Crypto security and compliance firm Slowmist   explained how the malware works in a post on Twitter, which I'm not going to read because it's in Chinese. But the consequences   of the breach   have been fairly significant   With a total of 9.3   Bitcoin actually being stolen because of this malware,   that's equivalent to just   at $950,000   worth of US dollars.   The issue was first flagged by YouTuber   Cameron Coward.   Why   would you name yourself that?   Whose antivirus   software   detected malware in the drivers during a test of a pre colored   or pro colored UV printer,   the software identified both as a worm and a trojan virus named FOXIF   or FOXIF.  

When contacted,   Procolor denied the accusations,   dismissing the antivirus warning as a false positive.   Coward then turned to Reddit where he shared the issue with cybersecurity   professionals,   drawing the attention of security firm GData.   Gdata's investigation revealed that most of Procolor's drivers were hosted on the megafile sharing platform   with uploads dating back to October of twenty twenty three.   Their analysis confirmed the presence of two, not one, but two separate malware strains,   the win32.backdoor.xrat   or redrat.a,   and a crypto stealer designed to replace clipboard wallet addresses   with those controlled by the attacker.  

Okay. So pausing to say what that is.   A clipboard   crypto stealer   is one that when you copy, it senses when you hit when you've highlighted something and hit control c   and that happens to be a Bitcoin address, this thing activates.   And it when you go to control v it   into whatever wallet software you're using on your on that same computer,   it changes the address   to an address that will go to their wallet.   And the reason it works is that a lot of people don't check the address when they've pasted it. That's a rule.   If you and and honestly   don't try to you're oh well I'll just type it in by hand oh fuck don't do that   go ahead and copy and paste it but when when you've got what you copied up on one screen   and next to it on that same screen, you've got where you've pasted it to. Just make sure that those match.  

Like, I picked the last five characters,   the first five characters,   and then, like, you know, sets of three or five characters somewhere in the middle, like once or, you know, one time or or twice.   By that time,   I'm sure that it's the same address. I don't have to do it character by character,   but at least check. Otherwise,   this thing is going to replace what you paste   with the address that they want in there, which is their address, which means you're sending Bitcoin directly to their wallet and not where you wanted to send it. Anyway,   gdata reached out to ProColored,   which stated that it had removed the infected drivers from its storage as of May   and had rescanned all files.  

The company attributed the malware to a supply chain compromise,   saying the malicious files were introduced via infected USB devices before uploaded online. Bullshit.   Bullshit. I'm calling bull they did it.   I'm I'm accusing them. I think I think that their this is an unknown printer. Their their business is probably in the bag at this point. They're probably going down with the ship and they're like going, let's, we've got at least probably some customers that got some Bitcoin. Let's go get it.   Sorry. I'm I just don't I just don't believe them.   I mean,   what   a supply chain compromise   introduced the infected USB devices before being uploaded online.  

So what you you   built your driver   and then you put it onto USB and then you put it back into another computer to upload the the driver online?   I mean, I'm sorry, but are you insane?   I mean, that's what it sounds like to me.   I don't know. This just doesn't sound like good practices, which is why I call bullshit. Anyway, Landian News recommended that users who downloaded Procolor drivers in the past six months immediately run a full system scan   using antivirus   software. However,   given that antivirus tools are not always reliable, the Chinese media outlet suggested   that a full system reset is the safest option   when in doubt.  

Be careful with your Bitcoin, boys and girls. Just be very careful with your Bitcoin.   Now back to France,   where the French government gives crypto entrepreneurs   priority   police   line.   This isn't probably going to make non Bitcoin holders very happy.   So on to France, this is, by the way, written by,   oh,   Protos   staff because this is from protos.com.   French crypto   entrepreneurs   will receive priority   access to emergency police services and heightened security   by the country's government following a meeting with the country's interior minister today,   pausing right now to   say WTF.  

Are are is this is this just backlash   from the fact that a whole bunch of people have been tried to be you know, whole bunch of Bitcoin has been tried to been kidnapped in France. Right?   I I this I there's something about this that doesn't make any sense, so I'm gonna go on. Interior minister Bruno Retalier   or Retalier   reportedly met with crypto industry players this morning and promised them security briefings from elite units,   home security checks,   privileged access to an emergency police line, and more   anti crypto asset money laundering training   in the force. Oh my god.  

In his statement today,   Ritalier   said, these repeated   kidnappings of professionals in the crypto sector will be fought with specific tools, both immediate and short term   to prevent, dissuade, and hinder   in order to protect   the industry.   Interesting.   The meeting was arranged this week to address   a recent spate of crypto kidnappings.   Just this week, the daughter and grandson   of a crypto exchange CEO were almost kidnapped by four masked men on the streets of Paris in a bloody exchange.   More recently, the leak of personal Coinbase user data has also raised concerns   from various crypto proponents about its potential use by criminals to profile crypto investors   for kidnapping and extortion.  

The Ledger c sorry.   Ledger wallet Ledger   cofounder   Eric Lachkovic,   I can't pronounce his name,   reportedly attended Monday's meeting and meeting and said that Retaliel   has understood what's at stake and that the kidnappings have become a real problem.   He claims that in the last twelve months,   fifty, not fifteen,   fifty, five o attacks   have targeted crypto specialists, and 14 of those attacks took place in France.   Ledger's fellow cofounder   was kidnapped in January while in France and was   mutilated by his assailants. They they cut off his finger. Anyway, just just saying.   Okay. So why doesn't France do this to the banking elite?  

Do or or or do they always already do that? Let's pick let's pick something else. Is there a police hotline for French fashion designers? Because they got money.   At least the the big names in France do.   Do they give   extra protection   to,   I don't know, French   steel magnates if such a thing exists? You see what I'm getting at?   This seems   odd.   You know? I mean, it it just seems it it it does. It just seems odd. There's my gut feeling says that this is either complete bullshit   and it's just it's just lip service by the French government and and somehow or another the media has gotten a hold of it,   or it's actually real. And if it's real,   then you're gonna have a whole bunch of people that don't have crypto   inside the government or   external to the government, but somehow or another has a voice in the government or the ear of the media   saying that it's not fair.  

It's not fair that Bitcoin and crypto people get this kind of treatment where where the regular Frenchman on the street eating their their baguette or whatever doesn't have this such, you know, these kinds of protection.   I guarantee you it's coming.   It will be in the news probably in the next couple of weeks of just how unfair it is that these crypto guys see how see how crypto is destroying France because now we've got, you know, these special people and then the rest of French people just suck. I guarantee that's going to happen.   Who knows? Maybe they'll give special protections for artists like this guy because this retired artist has lost   17   and a half Bitcoin to Coinbase   impersonators.  

It has begun.   This latest hack has already claimed victims.   And this guy,   here's your cautionary tale for the day by Alex Larry,   Bitcoin news dot com.   Ed Suman,   a 67 year old retired artist who helped create large sculptures like Jeff Koons balloon dog,   recently lost his entire life savings,   over $2,000,000   in digital assets in a sophisticated   scam.   The incident is believed to be tied to the major data breach at Coinbase, one of the world's largest digital asset exchanges.   Suman's story is part of a bigger wave of attacks   on digital asset holders using stolen personal information   and has triggered lawsuits,   regulatory concerns, and questions about digital security in the Bitcoin space.  

In March of twenty twenty five,   Suman got a text message about suspicious activity on his Coinbase account.   After he reported that he was unaware   of any unauthorized activity regarding his account, he got a call from a man who introduced himself as Brett Miller from Coinbase Security.   The guy sounded legit.   He knew Suman's setup, including that he used a Trezor model one hardware wallet, which is a device meant to keep Bitcoin and other digital assets offline and safe.   Suman told Bitcoin or no, told Bloomberg   that the guy knew everything,   including the exact amount of digital assets that he had.  

That's dangerous.   That that's why this guy got fooled. There's no way somebody outside of Coinbase could know that information. Right?   Wrong.   The attacker persuaded Suman   that his Trezor One hardware wallet and its funds were at risk and walked him through a security procedure, security procedures in quotes,   that involved entering his seed phrase   into a website that looked exactly like Coinbase in order to link his Coinbase wallet to or his wallet to Coinbase.   Nine days later, another guy called and repeated the process saying the first one didn't work.   And then   all of Sumon's digital assets,   17.5   Bitcoin,   2 hundred and 20 5 ether   were gone.  

Yeah. At the time,   Bitcoin was around a hundred and $3,000   and ether was around   2,500.   So the stolen stash was worth over $2,000,000   US.   Suman turned to digital assets after retiring from a decades long art career. He stored his assets in cold storage   to avoid the risks of online exchanges.   He thought he did everything right.   Suman's attackers didn't pick his name out of a hat.   It looks like his personal information may have been leaked in the major breach at Coinbase.   The company confirmed on May   that some of its customer service reps in India   were bribed   to access internal systems   and steal customer data. Why did they have access to the data?  

I mean, at I mean,   I don't know. This   see, this is what what bugs me.   You will say, well, David, they need access to the customer's data. Okay.   So I'm a customer service rep sitting in India. I got a customer that calls me. They tell me their account number. I type their account number into my computer, and it pulls up just that guy's name and number.   And you'll say, well, you can screenshot that.   Okay. But I don't have a list of all the account numbers. So I I would actually have to screenshot   every different person as they came through   to get all of their information. And I'd probably have to take multiple screenshots   per customer.  

This thing,   this sounds like somebody was able to get a hold of a master file.   Why would you give people in India or any other country or any of your customer service reps for that matter, especially if you're working remote,   Why would you give access for   a single customer service rep to be able to get a hold of a mass or a shit ton of data all at once?   I I I need I would really like to know exactly how this breach was perpetrated.   Was it really them just taking screenshots   day after day after day after day,   or were they able to get a hold of, like, a dot TXT file? And we still don't know.  

Coinbase hasn't said a word about the   any about the details of the nature of the breach. They just basically said, hey. As these guys in India, they got bribed. How did they get the data? What did they do with the data?   We don't know any of that,   But whatever.   The stolen data   includes phone numbers and email addresses, balances, and partial social social security numbers.   According to Coinbase's filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the breach may   have started as early as January and affected   1% of the company's active monthly losers, which   losers. Sorry, guys. Monthly users, which is tens of thousands of people. And hackers demanded $20,000,000   from Coinbase to keep the breach quiet, but the company refused to pay.  

Coinbase says it fired the compromised agents and is setting aside a hundred and 80 to $400,000,000   to reimburse affected users. But so far,   Suman   hasn't been told if he'll be reimbursed.   Since the breach was disclosed, Coinbase has been hit with at least six lawsuits.   The lawsuits claim the company failed to protect user data and handled the aftermath   poorly.   One lawsuit filed in New York Federal Court in May   says Coinbase   response was inadequate, fragmented, and delayed. Quote, users were not promptly or fully informed of the compromise, the complaint states, and Coinbase   did not immediately take meaningful steps to mitigate further harm. Of course not, because Brian Armstrong doesn't care about his customers. He just doesn't.  

He doesn't need to.   At this point, he's institutional.   He can fire all of his like his retail, you know, Joe Schmo on the street clients   today   and probably not be hurt at all because at this point, he's so institutionally   engaged.   He'd he'll just get money handle and shit for JPMorgan   because I guarantee you JPMorgan and Coinbase have a deal together.   Anyway, there's other lawsuits and some are seeking   various damages, but Sirmon's case or start Sirmon.   Sumon's case is a cautionary tale   across the Bitcoin world. He used a hardware wallet, which is considered the gold standard of Bitcoin security,   and he was still tricked through social engineering.  

Even the strongest security is useless if you don't understand how Bitcoin works. It's never too early for Bitcoiners to start learning about Bitcoin,   especially on how to keep their stash safe. And the first lesson is never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever, never   share your seed phrase   with anyone.   That's the end of the article. The next step is to not use Ledger. Why? Why does Ledger know your balance?   If it's on a hardware wallet, how does Ledger know your balance? Because you have to connect your hardware wallet   on an Internet connected computer   to interface   with their website   and it's clear   that every single time that you do,   Ledger's systems are updating your balance on their   Ledger's.  

Why?   Why do they need to know your balance?   Do not ever use Ledger.   I've had three of them. Two of them bricked   upon update. They are pieces of garbage.   Do not use these.   Second of all, and that's just the hardware aspect.   The third one, I had to buy a third one just so I could get my shit off of my ledger and put it onto a real hardware wallet,   my CoinKite   cold card.   No. This is not an advertisement for CoinKite. I don't have any deal with them at all.   But I'm telling you this,   I don't have to connect my cold card to an Internet capable computer to be able to perform transactions.   There's not an interface that cold card or coin CoinKite   has created   that talks to my cold card to update firmware or or anything like that. I have I I have to go get that firmware update and then load it in with like an s s or   an SD card   physically   on my cold card to be able to update the firmware.  

And I haven't needed to update my firmware since I first bought my mark three.   I don't need it.   I don't talk to CoinKite's website.   They have no idea how much Bitcoin I hold.   If you have a hardware wallet   from a company that knows your Bitcoin balance,   you need to stop doing business with that company and you need to do it today, not tomorrow,   right   fucking   now.   Nobody needs and this isn't about getting scammed because somebody calls you on the phone and happens to know your Bitcoin balance and therefore you trust them. I'm not even talking about that.   Ledger has no business   knowing how much Bitcoin you own at all for any reason. Even if they were 100%   secured,   they still would be have have to answer the phone to the French government because they're based in France, and the Frenchies have a deal worked out with the United States government. So if our government calls ledger and says we wanna know what David's balance is on his ledger,   they cannot give them that information because I don't use ledger.  

The worst that would ever be able to happen to to me   with ledger is that since I've used them in the past, they would know what I used to have,   but no one knows what I have right now.   The US government has no idea how much Bitcoin I hold. Ledger has no idea how much Bitcoin I hold. You don't know how much Bitcoin I hold, and you never will. None of these people ever will because I have the actual gold standard hardware wallet.   I have a cold card.   There are other gold standard hardware wallets out there   that do not connect to the Internet,   that do not talk to an interface by the company that built the fucking wallet. Don't do that shit.  

It is bad for your health. It's bad for your mental health. It's bad for your economic health. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. I'll see you on the other side.   This has been Bitcoin, and and I'm your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon.   Have   a   great   day.