Stories
Filed at block 967,633
Mining
Bitcoin Mining May Have Peaked. The Chain Agrees More Than His Own Numbers Do.
Saifedean Ammous argues mining has stopped growing for good. This desk checked his four load-bearing figures against the sources he names. The difficulty stretch is longer than he says — 324 days now, against his 305. The epoch subsidy multiple is 21 percent, not 28. But the peak he nominates as the empirical test is not where Cambridge’s own series puts it: the high was 227 TWh in October 2025, not 190 in December, and December was already the decline.
Filed at block 967,630
Policy
The Toll Booth at Hormuz Took Bitcoin. Washington Sanctioned the Exchange, Not the Coin.
Since June, the Treasury says, Iran’s mandatory “insurance” for ships crossing the Strait has been paid partly in bitcoin and routed through a Tehran exchange to the Revolutionary Guards. Wednesday’s designation names a street address, two websites, a developer and three men — and, across four OFAC actions against this network, not one bitcoin address. A sanction reaches what has an address. The chain does not, and the Treasury does not pretend it does.
Filed at block 967,605
Macro
Bitcoin Owes No Interest. Its Largest Holder Owes $1.76 Billion a Year. The Price of Money Just Rose.
The Federal Reserve raised rates on Wednesday for the first time since July 2023, twelve to nothing, undoing its December cut; the Bank of Japan followed a day and a half later, and both named the Middle East. A coin held in your own keys has no coupon and no creditor. Strategy’s own filing puts its expected preferred dividends and interest at $1.76 billion a year — about $2,083 for each of its 845,050 coins — paid by selling stock, at a rate its board reviews monthly against “market yields.” That is the bill a rate rise arrives at.
Filed at block 967,281
Policy
The Senate Did Not Vote on the Clarity Act. It Voted on Whether to Start.
Cloture failed 49 to 50 — eleven votes short of the sixty required, not one. The final text everyone argued about was never before the Senate; by its sponsors' own terms it would only have been offered if that vote had carried. What goes unsettled is a question worth naming plainly: who is allowed to earn on money they hold.
Filed at block 966,985
Policy
When trust fails around Bitcoin
The recent security incidents did not demonstrate a break in Bitcoin’s rules. They exposed the promises surrounding them: that a wallet would generate sound keys, a provider would protect your records, and a claim on bitcoin could be redeemed. Self-sovereignty begins by separating those promises from Bitcoin itself.
Filed at block 966,708
Policy
The security email was the attack
Attackers used a newsletter provider’s access to send convincing wallet warnings. The failure was outside the hardware wallet—but the message tried to get inside it.
Filed at block 966,413
Macro
The Trump Dividend: $5,000 a Head From a Company That Owes $40 Trillion
Costed from the Census count and read against the Treasury's own ledger: the tariffs meant to pay for it have run negative since May, the ten-month deficit already beats last year's, the pledge would use every dollar of room under the debt limit, and the newest lender to this company is the stablecoin in your phone.
Filed at block 966,389
Policy
Block Sells Self-Custody. It Just Asked to Become the Custodian.
Builders Bank & Trust would move Cash App's bitcoin custody under an OCC charter. The public filing says what the bank would do, and nothing about how it would hold the keys.
Filed at block 966,036
Policy
Liquid Holders Kept Their Keys. The Federation Controlled the Exit.
SideSwap said users retained their keys. Its services still stopped. A 3,400 BTC return and a planned restart expose the difference between controlling a token and controlling its redemption.
Filed at block 965,703
Markets
HL Offers Bitcoin Exposure. The Exit Still Has Terms.
The broker’s ETNs provide a route to Bitcoin’s price. The documents distinguish that trade from holding coins, and a market sale from conditional redemption.
Filed at block 965,696
Policy
Your Keys, Their Database: Trezor’s Shipping Breach
A hardware wallet protects a secret. The company delivering it still has to account for the personal information left behind.
Filed at block 965,477
Macro
Central Banks Stopped Buying Treasuries in 2021. Private Money Bought Everything Since.
A letter from Norway became a claim that the world is dumping US government debt. The letter does not say that. But the comfortable answer — foreign holdings are at a record — is wrong about the thing that matters. The buyer changed.
Filed at block 965,372
Macro
The Rates Trade Ran Forward. One Hour Did the Day's Work.
Bitcoin rose 5.5 percent on September 3 and the two-year Treasury yield fell five basis points. Almost the whole move landed inside the 14:00 UTC hour that opened with the ISM services report, a release whose two halves argue against each other.
Filed at block 965,254
Policy
Bitcoin's Rates Trade Is Running in Reverse. The War Premium Went to Bonds.
Two weeks ago SG called the August rally a rates trade. This week's U.S.-Iran escalation pushed oil above $90 and the ten-year Treasury yield to its highest since 2023, and bitcoin fell alongside gold while stocks rose. The transmission runs through the discount rate, not the battlefield.
Filed at block 965,251
Mining
Bitcoin Rallied 30 Percent This Summer. Its Hashrate Went the Other Way.
Network hashrate has spent 318 days below its seven-day peak, the longest stretch since ASICs took over, and an August price recovery did not end it. SG reproduces the drought from two datasets and tests the claim that miners now have somewhere else to sell their megawatts.
Filed at block 965,246
Mining
The BLAKE2b Fork’s Early Issuance Ran About Nine Times Bitcoin’s Target Pace.
An operator’s August 30–September 2 record implies about 4,064 height increments in 77.2 hours. That is faster calendar-time issuance, not an increased subsidy cap. Corrected September 6: activation sequence, chain framing and wallet-compatibility limits.
Filed at block 965,111
Policy
Russia Opened Crypto at the Border. The Digital Ruble Owns the Checkout
Moscow widened regulated Bitcoin access and cross-border crypto settlement on September 1. Domestic crypto payments remain banned, the digital ruble is live, and Bitcoin's retail exchange list is still a draft.
Filed at block 965,103
Policy
El Salvador Owns the Bitcoin. The Public Record Shows No Citizen Share
Simon Dixon says El Salvador should have tied its Bitcoin upside to its people. The official records reviewed by SG disclose government-owned coins—but no citizen units, pension claim, dividend rule or beneficial interest in the reserve.
Filed at block 964,784
Markets
Keep the Bitcoin, Lose the Keys: Inside Better and Coinbase's Mortgage
The product avoids a sale and price-triggered margin calls, but it adds a second loan, a second lien and lender custody of 250% Bitcoin collateral.
Filed at block 964,784
Mining
IREN Is Leaving Bitcoin Mining for AI. The Power Does Not Leave With It
The company cut installed mining capacity from 38 EH/s in March to 23.2 EH/s in June, took $638.8 million of impairments and says its mining wind-down should be substantially complete by year-end.
Filed at block 964,642
Policy
Warsh Says Money Matters. M2 Rose 0.89% From May to July
At the Fed chair's 100-day mark, SG reproduces the broad-money calculation behind a public critique, then separates what the data proves from what Bitcoin's fixed issuance actually changes.
Filed at block 964,642
Mining
Three Pool Labels Built 57.6% of Last Week’s Bitcoin Blocks
The share stayed near 59% across one- and three-month windows—but pool attribution shows a coordination surface, not miner ownership.
Filed at block 964,180
Markets
At Least 8.93% of Bitcoin Sits Behind Somebody Else's Keys
One fund, one state and ten companies reveal a minimum of 1.793 million BTC held through institutions rather than as bearer property. The true figure is higher; the rest is unknown.
Filed at block 963,957
Markets
Number Go Up Brings People In. It Does Not Teach Them Bitcoin.
A Federal Reserve experiment and two large retail datasets show how rising bitcoin prices pull people toward crypto. None shows that newcomers gained self-custody, privacy, or permissionless money.
Filed at block 963,938
Markets
Strategy’s New Cash Pool Is Optionality, Not a Bitcoin Purchase
Strategy raised $2.01 billion, created a cash pool that can buy bitcoin—and bought none. For ordinary holders, corporate optionality is not the same as adoption.
Filed at block 963,655
Policy
Five Crypto-Linked Donors Supplied 61% of Reform UK's Listed Contributions
An SG calculation of official records finds five donors identified by The Independent supplied at least £19.218 million—61.1% of Reform UK's individually listed contributions since January 2024.
Filed at block 963,655
Mining
Inside the $2 Billion Bitcoin-Miner Book Citadel Inherited
A June filing shows seven miner stakes worth $1.985 billion. Citadel says it shed most of the inherited portfolio's risk—but the public record does not reveal which miner positions it sold.
Filed at block 963,655
Mining
Inside the Power Dispute That Unraveled Tether's Uruguay Mining Push
Tether called Uruguay a platform for sustainable Bitcoin mining. Two abandoned sites later, the project shows why renewable power is not the same as economically usable power.
Filed at block 963,629
Markets
Bitcoin's 22% Rally Was a Rates Trade. $80,000 Is the Test.
Treasury buybacks, softer policy expectations and a short squeeze lifted bitcoin above $77,000. The move is real; a durable breakout is not yet proven.