Happy Friday, In A Nutshell this week:

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🚀⏰ Today’s news should be a ~3.58-minute read (659 words).

🧠 Quote Of The Week

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

– Charles Darwin

The Czech National Bank is making waves. Governor Aleš Michl announced a proposal to invest up to 5% of the country’s €140 billion reserves into Bitcoin earlier this week. If approved, it would make the Czech Republic the first western central bank to hold Bitcoin as part of its reserves.

On Thursday, it took a small step forward after the board of the Czech National Bank (CNB) approved the proposal to consider investing reserves in other assets.

Michl acknowledges Bitcoin's volatility but points to increasing global interest, especially following Bitcoin ETF launches and recent deregulation efforts in the U.S.

"My goal is to diversify the portfolio, so if bitcoin is good [for that], then let’s have it," Michl says, positioning himself as a pioneer among central bankers.

The President of the European Central Bank was clearly not impressed.

The Norwegian central bank revealed it holds a sizable stake in Microstrategy which has been acting as a Bitcoin proxy.

In total, the Norwegian Central Bank Fund owns about $500 million of MSTR shares, according to its 13-F filing on Thursday.

It also reflects the central bank’s confidence in the long-term potential of the company and its innovative approach to integrating Bitcoin into its business model.

Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, is coming to Bitcoin.

With the security and decentralization of Bitcoin and the speed and scalability of Lightning, USDT will potentially bring hundreds of millions of users and trillions in volume.

Tether on Lightning will power the coming wave of AI agent transactions, allowing machines to pay machines with instant, high-volume transactions.

“By enabling USDT on the Lightning Network, we are not only reinforcing Bitcoin’s foundational principles of decentralization and security but also creating practical solutions for remittances, payments and other financial applications that demand both speed and reliability," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino

“Millions of people will now be able to use the most open, secure blockchain to send dollars globally,” Elizabeth Stark (Co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs) continued. “It all comes back to Bitcoin.”

Bitcoin and AI are two of the most disruptive technologies of our time, but how do they intersect? Our latest episode looks at the convergence of Bitcoin and AI.

In a complete coincidence to the news above, Korok references the possibility of stablecoins on Lightning, predicting that Lightning Network will become the medium of exchange network for AI agents.

If you haven’t listened to this and are interested in how Bitcoin and AI will intersect, without the technical jargon, you NEED to tune into this episode: Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube

1. Bitvocation release their first annual Bitcoin Job Market Data report.

2. Jerome Powell says banks are perfectly able to serve crypto customers.

3. Senator Menendez who fought against El Salvador adopting Bitcoin was just sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking bribes in Gold and Cash.

4. Solo miners win a block on a livestream.

5. The European Squash Federation adopts Bitcoin for its treasury.

6. BlackRock seeks to introduce “in-kind” bitcoin redemptions.

7. Jeff Booth’s speech at the Colombia Bitcoin conference (9 mins).

5. Cathie Wood: Bitcoin is the leader in a new asset class and a movement towards a rules-based global monetary system.

This week’s crossword is now live - Play here