Happy Monday Bitcoiners - it’s Bam with another weekly update!
Each week, we condense the most impactful news releases into a concise, easy-to-read update so you’re always in the know!
Newsworthy events this week include 👇
Nasdaq asks SEC to supersize IBIT option limits.
JPMorgan stuns the market with its own Bitcoin derivative product.
Texas makes a splash as the first state to buy Bitcoin.
Let’s dive in ⚡
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Latest News 📰
🙌 Adoption
The History of Bitcoin launches as a global collaboration with 128 artists and 100 pioneer interviews, delivering a free, deeply researched online timeline and an ultra-premium Collector’s Edition book.
MoneyBadger releases a map showing thousands of South African merchants that accept Bitcoin, noting it captures only about 10% of real adoption because adding all businesses makes the map too slow.
Amboss’ Lightning Network metrics show yields stabilizing, liquidity costs falling, and market volume rising, signaling strengthening fundamentals for Bitcoin and broader network decentralization.
⚖️ Legal
Petition urging Trump to pardon Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill, first-time offenders who built non-custodial Bitcoin privacy software, has surpassed 2,500 signatures.
France has become a global hotspot for “wrench attacks,” with Jameson Lopp estimating the country accounts for about 25% of cases involving abduction, torture, and coercion to steal crypto keys.
Do Kwon, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud tied to the $40 billion TerraUSD collapse, is asking a U.S. judge for a five-year sentence, citing forfeitures and harsh time served in Montenegro.
📈 Markets
JPMorgan launches a structured note offering preset payouts based on the performance of IBIT ETF. The product provides investors with BTC-linked exposure without granting direct ownership of bitcoin.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino fires back after S&P downgraded USDT to its weakest stability tier, arguing legacy finance feels threatened by a highly profitable company operating outside its broken system.
Nasdaq is asking the SEC to raise IBIT option limits from 250,000 to 1 million contracts, enabling major institutions to hedge more effectively and roll out new bitcoin-linked products.
🏦 Treasury
Michael Saylor says MSTR will add a new “green dot” to its BTC purchase tracker, sparking speculation ranging from stock buybacks to a potential preferred-share issuance in Canada.
Tether is now the world’s largest independent holder of gold, having bought more gold in Q3 2025 than any central bank and lifting its holdings to roughly 116 tonnes, per the Financial Times.
Xapo Bank is opening access to its BTC Credit Fund, a new Bitcoin-denominated wealth product aimed at clients seeking yield in native BTC terms.
⛏️ Mining
China quietly regains up to 20% of global Bitcoin hashrate despite its 2021 ban, as underground mining resurges in regions like Xinjiang where cheap, stranded electricity keeps operations alive.
Eric Trump, the President’s son and Co-founder of American Bitcoin, shows off a new liquid-cooled Texas mining farm powered entirely by Chinese-made Bitcoin mining rigs.
The five worst days for Bitcoin miner fee revenue since 2013 have all happened in the past two months.
🗳️ Politics
Texas becomes the first US state to buy Bitcoin, deploying $5M of its $10M allocation on 11/20 at an $87k basis, with plans to self-custody after procurement; the position is currently held as IBIT ETF shares.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) discloses purchasing up to $150K of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF this month, a move drawing scrutiny given his seat on the Senate Banking Committee’s digital-assets subcommittee.
Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni is pushing to bring the country’s $300 billion gold reserve under direct national control rather than leaving it with the European Central Bank.
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🧠 Bitcoin Trivia 🧠
Bam’s 2 Sats 🧢
Why Bitcoin Matters
This week gave me a moment to reflect. At a local Bitcoin Day event, the Swedish Bitcoin Association invited me to speak on “Why Bitcoin Matters,” which forced me to confront the growing narrative that Bitcoin “isn’t what it used to be.”
Lately I keep hearing everything from “the bull market is over” to “it’s no longer an asymmetric bet” to “institutions have moved on to better assets.”
As I sat with those claims, even with Bitcoin now at prices I could only have dreamed of when I started, I was reminded that Bitcoin was never a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a don’t-get-poor-slowly scheme. A savings technology.
The Problem
I shared how, as a young couple moving from Mexico to Sweden in search of better opportunities, we quickly realized that renting a flat in Malmö was costly enough that buying one felt nearly impossible. The only way to even try was to slash our expenses, so we moved into a shared apartment with roommates.
Looking at real estate prices in 2018, we realized it would take four years of saving $500 a month to afford the 15 percent down payment on a modest 50 m² flat. It was a real sacrifice, since that money could have gone toward visits to Mexico or any unexpected emergency.
But then inflation hit—harder than the official narrative. After four years of disciplined saving, the $24,000 we had planned for the down payment simply wasn’t enough anymore. Real estate had been rising 9% per year during that period. Suddenly, we needed two more years of saving just to catch up.
This is the reality facing younger generations today. Politicians insist inflation sits neatly at 2%. Employers tell you they’re giving generous 3–4% raises. Meanwhile, the money printer is running at 6.5% and assets like real estate and the OMX (the Swedish equivalent to S&P) are appreciating closer to 7%.
Swedish Money Printing Growth by Bam
No wonder the mood feels so nihilistic. Everything seems out of reach. Couples stay in small apartments far longer than they want, unable to save enough to improve their living standards or plan for children. Costs rise at a pace much closer to money creation than to the CPI figures we’re sold.
The Solution
Naturally, the question came up: what if those savings had been in Bitcoin instead?
If we had dollar-cost averaged $24,000 over those four years, we would have accumulated roughly 2.39 BTC, even while buying through volatility and catching some tops at $65k and $79k.
DCA period by Bam
When we first started saving for our planned goal, Bitcoin was at $37,000. After two years, our fiat savings couldn’t even have covered the original 15% down payment. But the Bitcoin savings would have covered about 40% of the flat's updated price and still left extra BTC for future savings.
The point is simple: Bitcoin is volatile, but it is the best savings technology available. And to understand why, you have to follow the rabbit hole down to its monetary properties.
Because of these properties, Bitcoin doesn’t just compete with equities. Over time, it absorbs:
Real estate premiums — because without monetary debasement, the incentive to store wealth in extra homes disappears.
Money itself — because no one should work for what another can print for free.
Bonds — because no country should save in a currency printed out of thin air by another nation.
By Jesse Myers - Dec 2024
Well the real question now is: Were we bold enough to save in Bitcoin instead of funny fiat? Let’s just say this... we own a flat now. 😉
Stay safe and keep on stacking!
-Bam
Weekly Live Stream ⏯️
Join Rob Wallace live with Jimmy Block of the Smashtoshi collective as they break down the biggest headlines from the newsletter as History of Bitcoin opens the auction for its First Edition, encased in 5,000-year-old fossilised oak and supporting My First Bitcoin.
