Bitcoin Price Is Moving Sideways, But There’s a Lot Happening

We’ve been trading in the mid- to high-$50,000s for some time now. We even dipped to $53,000 at one point, after U.S. tech stocks sold off following the DOJ’s announcement of an investigation into NVIDIA and the release of a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report. 

The big breakout price move to take us higher has been missing this month. 

But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t positive developments happening in the land of Bitcoin. 

OK, enough with the intro. Let’s get into it! 

Bitcoin followed tech stocks, dropping to as low as $53,000 before recovering 📉

On Friday, September 6, major tech stocks such as NVIDIA, Tesla, Amazon, and Alphabet experienced a massive sell-off. 

Just days prior, the DOJ announced an antitrust investigation into NVIDIA and U.S. economic data wasn’t looking too rosy either. 

Antitrust officials are concerned that Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalizes buyers that don’t exclusively use its artificial intelligence chips. 

Weaker-than-expected U.S. job numbers added to the bearish market sentiment, which was enough for investors to hit the sell button on tech stocks. 

For many of them, Bitcoin seems to be in the same boat. I understand them somewhat. After all, Bitcoin’s a technological masterpiece.

But why they decided to sell is beyond me. 🤷

Nonetheless, Bitcoin dropped to the $53,000 level as a result.

In my book, this was a blessing in disguise — yet another chance to buy some cheap sats. 😉

Something Michael Saylor was probably waiting for, as he announced another purchase of 18,300 BTC to increase MicroStrategy’s holding to 244,800 BTC.

Volatility will continue to be a part of Bitcoin’s journey, so as investors, we just need to get used to that. But its price volatility doesn’t change the fundamentals of Bitcoin. 

Bitcoin is still the hardest money we have, with a finite supply that creates the scarcity that has been so integral to its meteoric rise in value over the past 15 years. 

The UK Parliament introduced a bill to recognize Bitcoin (and Crypto) as personal property 🇬🇧

I’ve always been very outspoken about my Libertarian views, and I cherish any news that allows people to live freely and decide what they want to do on their own terms. 

One of the most important aspects I think everyone should have is the choice to own something outright. Last week, we heard some positive news from the UK, which enables precisely that. 

The government has officially introduced a new bill called the Property (Digital Assets, etc.) Bill, which will consider Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens as personal property. 

Why is this such a big deal? 

It’s a step in the right direction for digital asset investors.  

Until now, digital assets haven’t been included in British property law. They were in a grey zone, which means citizens couldn’t do too much if their digital assets were interfered with. 

If this bill passes and becomes law, it will help to protect private citizens and businesses. 

While I’m not the biggest fan of regulations per se, having a regulatory framework that aligns with the industry is a must for digital asset businesses to thrive.

The UK government is also eager to position the country as a hub for digital asset companies. This move is definitely a step in the right direction. 

But we can only wait and see whether the Parliament approves the bill, which will soon be converted into law. 

A Japanese energy giant is going to mine Bitcoin with solar energy ☀️☀

TEPCO, Japan's largest power company, has started mining Bitcoin through its subsidiary Agile Energy X. 

The company will use excess solar energy, which it apparently has a lot of, and monetize it by mining BTC. 

One of the main reasons for doing this was that TEPCO is looking to reduce wasted energy from solar and wind farms that often curtail production to avoid overloading the grid.

So far, there has been no further mention from the company if it would keep portions of the Bitcoin they mine and put it on its balance sheet.

But considering that they’re getting into mining now, this could be the next logical step. 

With that, we would see another business making the case to use Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. But let’s see how their mining adventures go first. 

A deep dive into the Mt.Gox catastrophe 👀

You’ve likely heard of Mt.Gox in the past. Over a decade ago, it was the biggest Bitcoin exchange, but it was hacked for 850,000 BTC in 2014. 

This was a big deal back then, as almost 90% of Bitcoin’s volume was traded on Mt.Gox. For the last ten years, victims of the hack have had to endure and wait for a trustee to manage reimbursements, with creditor payouts finally taking place this summer. 

I actually wrote about it in a July edition of Proof of Words. 

Since the Mt. Gox hack has such a prominent place in Bitcoin’s history, I wanted to resurface this Proof of Words podcast episode for you. 

 At the end of last year, I had the pleasure of having Mark Hunter on as a guest. We spoke about his book “Ultimate Catastrophe,” which examines the fallout of the Mt.Gox hack. You can tune in here to watch the full episode!

Your fellow stacker in sats, 

Patrick Lowry