The Breakdown First Five - Friday, April 19, 2024

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

5. Search for the Halving

Search volume for ‘Bitcoin halving’ has hit all time highs on Google and it's not particularly close. Heading into previous halvings, Bitcoin was a niche topic largely for nerds and gamblers. During May 2020 in particular, the halving was far from the front page of financial news. Now it’s a major topic for research firms large and small. Highest search volume is coming out of Nigeria, the Netherlands and Switzerland, demonstrating that Bitcoin is truly a global asset. 

4. Binance Pays $2M India Fine

Binance is preparing to re-enter India after paying a $2M fine. The exchange was banned in January after the government claimed it was violating local anti-money laundering rules and failing to pay transaction taxes. Binance claims they will return after coming into compliance. Prior to the ban, Binance represented around 90% of crypto holdings in India, estimated at $4B. No timeline is set for their return. 

3. Fees Spike As Halving Approaches

Bitcoin fees are running hot ahead of the halving, topping Ethereum fees for the third day in a row. For the first time ever heading into the halving, Bitcoin enthusiasm isn’t just about the hardest money on earth. Ordinals remain the most popular NFT category, but prices are falling on BRC-20 memecoins as traders look towards the release of Runes in block 840,000. The claim is they will be a way to do Bitcoin-based memecoins without spamming the blockchain. 

2. Mango Verdict

Avi Eisenberg has been found guilty in relation to the $110M Mango Markets exploit. After less than a day of deliberations, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all three counts. The most contentious legal issue was whether Eisenberg could be guilty of fraud by taking a DeFi loan he never intended to repay. The jury looked past ‘code is law’ arguments and decided that brazen market manipulation was enough to ground fraud charges.

1. Binance Goes to Stables

Binance’s billion dollar Bitcoin insurance fund has been converted into USDC. The fund was raised during the darkest days of late 2022 with Binance claiming it would be used to bail out struggling projects. Very little of the fund was used. It’s unclear whether Bitcoin was sold or simply transferred to general reserves. Binance now holds around 3% of USDC’s total supply. Most notably, Binance chose USDC over Tether or other stablecoins promoted on the exchange.