The Breakdown First Five - Friday, July 26, 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. Marshall Out 

Republican Senator Roger Marshall has withdrawn as a co-sponsor of Elizabeth Warren’s crypto money laundering bill. The bill was first introduced in 2022 but gathered more momentum earlier this year as crypto terrorism finance became a hot topic. The bill would have placed compliance standards on blockchain infrastructure like nodes and miners. Many in the industry framed it as a backdoor crypto ban. 

4. Jersey City Pension

The Jersey City pension plan will invest in Bitcoin. Democrat Mayor Steven Fulop made the announcement via twitter in the midst of a run for the governor’s mansion. The pension is currently updating documents and hopes to make the allocation by the end of the summer. This move comes after the Wisconsin state pension bought Bitcoin earlier this year, making the case that Bitcoin was a prudent investment for retirement managers. 

3. Coinbase Subsidiary Fined

A UK based Coinbase subsidiary has been fined $4.5M for failure to meet KYC/AML expectations. The FCA said they had repeatedly breached a requirement that prevented them from offering services to high-risk customers. Around 13,416 high risk customers are alleged to have access the platform with around $25M in deposits. FCA director of enforcement said that money laundering risks are real and “firms must take them seriously."

2. Marathon Hodling

Marathon Digital have switched to a “full HODL” strategy and are kicking it off with a $100M Bitcoin buy. The past few months have seen large volumes of selling from miners as they attempt to keep their heads above water following the halving. Marathon themselves sold over $100M worth in June. They will now retain all mined Bitcoin. The last time they adopted this strategy was Q1 of 2021, and we all know what happened next. 

1. Left My Seed Phrase In Nashville

All eyes on Nashville as Bitcoin 2024 kicks off. We’ve already had a host of big announcements from Bitcoin companies, but the biggest news will come from Trump’s appearance on Saturday. Will he announce a Bitcoin strategic reserve? Markets seem to think so, sending Bitcoin higher into the weekend.