Tornado Cash Sanctions Lifted in Major Privacy Victory for Crypto

The Breakdown First Five - Wednesday, November 27, 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.

PSA: Good news! The Breakdown has been acquired by Blockworks. Early next month, you'll start receiving the Blockworks Daily newsletter. You can expect the same quality crypto news and analysis, just with a new look. To ensure a smooth transition, please add [email protected] to your approved senders list. Happy reading!

5. Pantera’s 1000x 

Dan Moorehead’s Pantera Bitcoin fund has hit 1000x returns after 11 long years. The original Bitcoin fund, established in 2013, bought 2% of all Bitcoin by 2015. In a blog post, Moorehead shares his original investment pitch, which labelled a 50% price crash to $65 as a screaming buy, claiming Bitcoin will “squeeze up like a watermelon seed.” Moorehead is still bullish, setting a $740,000 price target by 2028 if trends continue. He believes that only 5% of global wealth has a crypto allocation, leaving 95% left to buy. 

https://x.com/ThinkingUSD/status/1861431872779116655

4. Bitcoin Savers Buy Homes

A new report from Treasury researchers found that Bitcoiners are much more likely to own a home. That’s not what they were trying to find. The study was looking for evidence of financial stress in high-crypto, low-income neighborhoods. What they found was the opposite. Higher rates and size of mortgages, more car loans, lower credit card stress and lower delinquency rates. Even government data is saying that saving in Bitcoin is a boon for lower-income families. 

3. Crypto Traders Have Low Financial Literacy

A new study from PiP World found that crypto traders have “dangerously low” financial literacy. The study, which drew from Coinfessions posts, found that only 25% of crypto owners are financially literate, way lower than the global average of 33% and the 50% of US citizens who understand finance. Digging into the data, 80% of Hodlers are considered financially literate, way higher than any national cohort measured. It’s the day traders dragging down the average. 

2. Turkey Day Massage Coming?

Four years ago to the day Bitcoin plunged by 17% while families gathered for their Thanksgiving meal. That seminal moment in the 2020 bull run has some eerie similarities to now. Bitcoin had doubled in the preceding 6 months and was approaching the psychological barrier of $20,000. It was one of the first big drawdowns of that bull run and set the stage for Bitcoin to triple over the following quarter. Will Bitcoin be pardoned this Thanksgiving or end up cooked? 

1. Tornado Cash Unsanctioned

A big court win for crypto privacy with the Treasury forced to remove sanctions on Tornado Cash. The appellate court found that immutable smart contracts could not properly be considered the property of a foreign entity, so are outside OFAC’s sanction powers. The panel of judges pressed on the point that government agencies shouldn’t be making up their own rules outside of legislative text, stating “Legislating is Congress’s job—and Congress’s alone."