Trump has shown a pattern of launching strikes on weekends, when traditional markets are closed, seemingly aiming to contain fallout before the Monday morning New York open.
Bitcoin does not get that luxury.
It trades 24/7 and was the first market to react, dropping thousands of dollars within minutes of the initial strikes on Tehran. Yet despite the immediate selloff, Bitcoin has stabilized and recovered much of its late Friday losses.
BlackRock’s research shows that after the 2020 US–Iran escalation, Bitcoin was up 20% 60 days later, while gold remained flat and stocks typically declined.
Other top stories from the week include:
Mt. Gox CEO wants a re-do on the 80,000 BTC he lost a decade ago.
Morgan Stanley and Citi are going big into Bitcoin infrastructure.
Netherlands backtracks on the 36% unrealized gains tax.
Latest News
Adoption
Numo launches a Bitcoin tap-to-pay Android point-of-sale app powered by Cashu, enabling NFC payments and Lightning support with zero platform fees.
River publishes a report highlighting booming Bitcoin adoption, with institutional accumulation of +829K BTC in 2025, alongside merchant growth and Lightning expansion, despite a 50% price decline.
Satlantis announces its evolution into a Bitcoin-native events platform integrating built-in Lightning wallets and supporting both Bitcoin and fiat payments.
Regulation
Netherlands is reconsidering a proposed 36% tax on unrealized gains, as FM Heinen says, “something went seriously wrong here” and confirms that amendments to the Box 3 wealth tax law are forthcoming.
Mark Karpelès, former CEO of Mt. Gox, proposes a Bitcoin hard fork to recover 79,956 BTC from a dormant address tied to the exchange’s 2011 hack.
South Korea’s National Tax Service accidentally publishes an unredacted seed phrase in a press release, allowing attackers to drain 4M PRTG tokens worth approximately $4.8M, onchain data shows.
Markets
Morgan Stanley applies to the OCC to launch MS Digital Trust National Association, a crypto-focused national trust bank, signaling deeper expansion into regulated digital asset custody and services.
Court-appointed admin overseeing Terraform Labs’ wind down has sued Jane Street, alleging the firm used insider information to front-run trades and hasten the company’s collapse, seeking damages.
Citigroup plans to launch institutional Bitcoin custody this year, integrating crypto into existing custody, reporting, tax, and risk systems, enabling clients to Bitcoin alongside securities and cash.
Treasury
Block is cutting approximately 40% of its staff as it pivots toward AI, while disclosing the purchase of 103 additional Bitcoin in Q4, bringing its total holdings to 8,883 BTC.
Strategy becomes the world’s most shorted stock amid approximately $7 billion in unrealized Bitcoin-related losses.
ProCap Financial launches an aggressive share buyback, repurchasing 148,241 shares at roughly 65% of NAV, aiming to narrow a 35% discount; the company holds 5,007 BTC worth about $335M.
Mining
Solo miner spent $75 to rent 1 PH/s of hash rate from Braiins and mined a full Bitcoin block worth 3.128 BTC, approximately $200,000.
France’s ENGIE is considering BTC mining to absorb surplus power at its 895MW Assu Sol plant in Brazil, as grid constraints drive renewable curtailment and tax incentives support mining.
MARA announces plans to convert select Bitcoin mining sites into AI facilities, sending its shares up 16%.
Politics
U.S. and Israel launch military strikes on Iran, sending tokenized gold and safe-haven assets higher as Bitcoin plunged toward ~$63,000 before a partial rebound amid broader risk-off market moves.
Senator Lummis criticizes Sam Bankman-Fried, saying someone seeking a pardon should realize the Clarity Act would impose harsher penalties, adding her legislation differs from the bill he backed in 2022.
Shanaka projected that an Iran attack would drop global Bitcoin hashrate 2–5%, slow blocks, and spike fees, but BTC’s network hashrate is above 1 ZettaHash and climbing, showing resilience.
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Bam’s 2 Sats
Red candles, green fundamentals
Price is Bleeding, Adoption Isn’t
2026 continues to grind forward with sustained downward pressure in Bitcoin’s price and no clear signs of relief so far.
Bitcoin has now printed six straight red weekly candles, each closing lower than the last. That could change after this is written, but the bigger story is on the monthly chart: five consecutive months of declines.
That marks the second-longest monthly losing streak since the 2018 bear market bottom, which reached six months.
And yes, it’s weighing on sentiment. X is deep in doom mode, especially as the “Bitcoin as a store of value” narrative appears to be losing momentum.
Meanwhile, gold and silver are doing what they typically do during periods of uncertainty. Add growing anxiety around AI, white collar job displacement, productivity shocks, and a broader “what happens next?” mood, and it’s easy to see why people retreat to traditional safe havens.
It also forces a reality check. Another round of missile strikes, this time involving Iran, sends Bitcoin sliding toward $63K, near recent lows. Meanwhile, tokenized gold is pushing close to its all-time high around $5,500.
That contrast stings. Not because Bitcoin is broken, but because it highlights how early we still are.
When the macro narrative shifts to “bad times,” Bitcoin is still treated like a risk asset, even as the world keeps reminding you why censorship resistant money matters.
The Fundamentals and the Setup
For years, we’ve shown up every weekend to share the good news: upgrades, infrastructure, network growth, and steady progress across the industry.
Now that conviction is being tested as the vibe shifts from “number go up” to “prove it.”
I think the truth is simple: it’s earlier than we wanted to believe.
Despite everything happening in the world, Bitcoin’s fundamentals haven’t deteriorated. If anything, they’ve continued to strengthen over time.
Over the past year, it’s hard to point to a single core metric that hasn’t moved forward. According to River’s report, in just the last year we’ve seen:
3x the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin in the US
2.5x the number of businesses holding Bitcoin in their treasury
60% of top US banks building Bitcoin products
300% growth of the Lightning Network
5 additional nation-states holding Bitcoin
These are small wins stacking on top of each other, and they reflect the title of River’s publication: There is no bear market in Bitcoin adoption.
If history rhymes, a few months from now we may look back on this stretch as one of the best windows to build and accumulate BTC.
Until then, take the gift.
- Bam
