BREAKDOWN: The Balkanization of Bitcoin – The Next Attack on BTC Is About Mining Provenance
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Iran miner control to “OFAC compliant blocks,” a new attack vector has emerged.
This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io, NEAR.org and Genesis Trading.
Today on the Brief:
- Square puts up monster Q1 bitcoin numbers
- First crypto comments from new SEC Chair Gary Gensler
- 3 new institutional bitcoin developments
Our main discussion:
As bitcoin becomes more mainstream, the attempts from the powers that be to control it will become more subtle. This week, NLW argues we got a preview of a new approach to trying to exert that control. He argues there is a new attempt to Balkanize Bitcoin and looks at:
- Iran banning crypto that wasn’t mined in the country
- Marathon mining an “OFAC-compliant” block
- Kevin O’Leary insisting on only owning bitcoin not mined in China
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Click here to read the Genesis Q1 2021 Digital Asset Market report. To learn more about Genesis, click here. To learn more about Genesis Prime, their prime brokerage offering, click here. The information provided in this communication does not constitute investment advice. Please see this link for important disclosures.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What feels clear to me is that this is a new attack vector on Bitcoin. |
| 0:04.3 | And importantly, it will come not always from people who seek to destroy Bitcoin, |
| 0:08.9 | but from a good, well-intentioned, well-meaning place. |
| 0:13.6 | Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW. |
| 0:17.6 | It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world. |
| 0:23.4 | The breakdown is sponsored by nexus.io, neir.org, and Genesis Trading, and produced and |
| 0:28.1 | distributed by CoinDest. |
| 0:31.1 | What's going on, guys? It is Friday, May 7th, and today we are talking about what seems to be |
| 0:36.9 | emerging as the next attack vector on |
| 0:39.9 | Bitcoin, mining provenance. First up, however, let's do the brief. First on the brief today, |
| 0:46.1 | Squares Bitcoin numbers. Earning seasons continues and damn did Square post some insane numbers. |
| 0:52.4 | Bitcoin revenue for quarter one was $3.51 billion. |
| 0:56.1 | That's an 11x increase year over year and a doubling from quarter four of last year. |
| 1:01.8 | This included $75 million of gross profit. A full 70% of Square's revenue came from Bitcoin. |
| 1:09.3 | Obviously, these things matter more than just to Square. They |
| 1:12.3 | matter as a signal to other companies about just how much demand for Bitcoin products there is, |
| 1:17.9 | and just how profitable it can be to get involved. Next on the brief today, our first comments |
| 1:23.5 | from Gary Gensler. New SEC Chair Gary Gensler gave his first hearing this week. |
| 1:29.3 | The topics were wide-ranging, but there was certainly some about crypto. In response to a |
| 1:33.5 | question from Congressman Patrick McHenry about crypto regulation, Gensler suggested that the |
| 1:38.0 | SEC is limited to focusing on specific assets that may be securities, but that Congress might |
| 1:43.0 | want to explore regulation around |
... |
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