BITCOIN BOX SCORE

Exchange Rate: $66,980
Market Capitalization: $1.34T
Hash Rate (90 days): 988.2 EH/s
Transactions (30 days): 14,951,441
Network Fees (economy): 1 sat/vB
Bitcoin Dominance: 58.59%

What do these numbers mean?

Remember when bitcoin traded at $16,000 after FTX collapsed? Back then, "the government can always just ban it" was still a talking point. Today, it sounds silly. The most powerful nation on earth holds a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The largest financial institutions are launching new bitcoin products every week.

Now, critics have pivoted to insisting that bitcoin is unattractive because the fiat exchange rate is down roughly 50% from its October highs. But a comparison to gold offers an interesting heuristic for understanding what might be happening.

Gold just posted its worst weekly performance since 1983, dropping over 26% from its all-time high. Metal meant to protect you during market chaos crashed in price while war in the Middle East escalated and oil prices surged.

This is the paradox of safe-haven assets. When a crisis hits, leveraged positions are liquidated, and the most liquid stores of value are sold first to raise cash.

The Strait of Hormuz stalled oil flows, which affected the buying of gold by sovereigns that had anchored its price since 2022. The same pattern played out in 2008 and 2020. Both times, gold bounced back to all-time highs within months.

Bitcoin is experiencing its own spring cleaning. It exists within a different market structure from gold, but the risks that held it down for years no longer exist. And the structural drivers, monetary debasement, sovereign adoption, and institutional demand, remain firmly in place. What do you think will happen when an inflationary monetary environment reemerges, and leverage in the market is swept away?

Do not confuse a little spring cleaning with a collapsing roof.

Treasury issues GENIUS Act rule proposal, seeks comment on state oversight for smaller stablecoin issuers

The U.S. Department of the Treasury published its first rule implementing the GENIUS Act. The rule proposes broad-based principles for determining whether state-level stablecoin oversight is "substantially similar" to the federal framework. The notice of proposed rulemaking targets issuers with less than $10 billion in assets and gives the public 60 days to comment.

Regulatory infrastructure takes shape

The GENIUS Act is building the plumbing for dollar-denominated stablecoins, and every dollar-backed stablecoin requires Treasury purchases to maintain its peg. This legislation does not threaten bitcoin. In a sense, it raises more questions about non-stablecoin dollars – what are they backed by? We hope the implementation of this rule prompts Americans to ask more questions.

Bitcoin-backed muni bond clears Hurdle With Moody's Ba2 Rating

The New Hampshire Business Finance Authority earned a Ba2 rating from Moody's for what it calls an unprecedented security: a $100 million bitcoin-backed municipal bond. Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark will borrow the proceeds and deposit bitcoin collateral into a trust, from which bond payments will be made.

Bitcoin and the bond market

Municipal bonds are the bedrock of conservative American finance. The fact that Moody's has rated a bitcoin-collateralized instrument, with provisions for both downside protection and upside participation, is a signal that bitcoin is part of the foundational infrastructure of capital markets.

U.S. Senators unveil "Mined in America Act" to reshore bitcoin mining and codify Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Senators Bill Cassidy and Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation to establish a federal certification program for domestic bitcoin mining, phase out reliance on Chinese-manufactured hardware, and codify the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law. The bill would funnel revenue from seized digital asset staking rewards and airdrops into bitcoin purchases and offer capital gains tax exemptions to certified miners who sell directly to the government.

From executive order to statute

An executive order can be reversed by the next president. A statute cannot. The Mined in America Act would place the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on a permanent legislative footing while tying bitcoin mining to American energy infrastructure, grid management, and national security.

Solana DeFi platform Drift confirms "active attack" as $250M+ leaves the platform

Drift, a Solana-based (i.e., not bitcoin-based) decentralized finance platform, confirmed an active attack on its protocol after users reported irregular behavior in their positions. The platform suspended withdrawals and deposits while coordinating with security firms. Arkham data showed over $250 million moving from Drift to an interim wallet before dispersing to various addresses.

A reminder of what bitcoin is not

Every cycle produces another DeFi exploit, another smart contract vulnerability, another protocol drained of user funds. Unlike crypto tokens, bitcoin does not have “admin keys.” It does not have upgradeable smart contracts. It does not have a CEO coordinating with security firms after the fact. The security model is the protocol itself, and it has operated without a single successful attack for over 17 years.

BITCOIN ADOPTION CONTINUES

BlackRock filed the ticker $BITA for its upcoming iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, a yield-focused product combining direct bitcoin exposure with a covered call options overlay.

Over 80% of UK 16- to 25-year-olds are now familiar with bitcoin, with more young people recognizing bitcoin than any savings bond, ISA, or legacy financial product.

Interactive Brokers launched bitcoin trading for eligible retail investors across the European Economic Area, giving roughly 450 million people access through a single brokerage account.

The Human Rights Foundation announced new grants totaling 1.5 billion satoshis through its Bitcoin Development Fund, supporting 26 projects focused on bitcoin infrastructure, privacy, and education across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Luxor Technology launched Commander, a fleet management and profitability-optimization platform for bitcoin miners, delivering 8-14% higher profitability than traditional curtailment strategies.

Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman was confirmed as a speaker at Bitcoin 2026, bringing his First Amendment legal victory story to the stage at The Venetian in Las Vegas, April 27-29.

Brazil enacted a law allowing authorities to channel bitcoin seized from criminal organizations directly into public security initiatives.

HOW BITCOIN WORKS

Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week:

How does Taiwan use bitcoin strategically?

A new research paper from the Bitcoin Policy Institute examines Taiwan as a case study for why nations are beginning to treat bitcoin as a strategic tool.

Taiwan's situation is uniquely clarifying. Over 80% of its $602 billion in central bank reserves are held in U.S. Treasury bonds. Its 423 metric tons of gold are physically stored on the island. And the People's Republic of China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

If the People’s Liberation Army Navy (not a typo, look it up) ever mounted a naval blockade against Taiwan, its gold would be stranded. Airlifting it out woulde impossible under military tensions. And anyway, the PRC claims historical ownership of all of it.

Dollar reserves would remain electronically spendable but using it would be, as ever, subject to conditions; the G7 froze $300 billion in Russian assets after the invasion of Ukraine, demonstrating that the country guaranteeing your security can also dictate how you spend your reserves. Bitcoin is the only reserve asset that would remain fully accessible, sovereign, and spendable under a blockade or even a full-scale invasion. Bitcoin could be kept in possession of a government in exile, which could prove its holdings on chain and optionally transfer it to any place on the planet.

The economic case reinforces the geopolitical one. Taiwan's trade surplus is driven by TSMC, which accounts for over 70% of global chip fabrication. That surplus flows into the same U.S. Treasuries being debased by persistent fiscal deficits — the Fed has expanded the monetary base 526% since 2008. If the AI boom eventually leads to a bust, TSMC revenues would collapse and the reserves those revenues built would lose purchasing power simultaneously. Taiwan is doubly exposed. Bitcoin breaks that correlation.

Taiwan's own history proves the point. The central bank accumulated gold in the late 1970s and 1980s as a hedge – a decision that looks brilliant in hindsight, with gold up 966% since accumulation ended. But the former governor admitted they stopped because gold trading requires complex logistics, not because its investment thesis changed. Bitcoin solves every problem that made gold impractical while adding seizure resistance that gold can never offer. As of early 2026, 40 countries have bitcoin exposure or credible proposals to acquire it. The strategic window is closing.

COIN CHECK

As of early 2026, how many countries had some form of bitcoin exposure or a credible government proposal to acquire it?

A. 12
B. 25
C. 40
D. 50

Check your answer at the end of the page.

FROM THE MEME POOL

Follow us on X for more fresh content

ANSWER

Answer: C. 40. According to the Bitcoin Policy Institute, as of early January 2026, 40 countries had some form of bitcoin exposure or a credible government proposal to acquire it, with 29 countries having active exposure and 21 having proposed exposure. These range from strategic reserves to sovereign mining operations to pension fund allocations.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.