Happy Friday, In A Nutshell this week:

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🚀⏰ Today’s news should be a ~5.10-minute read (775 words).

🧠 Quote Of The Week

“Innovation is seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”

— Albert Szent-Györgyi

US commander Admiral Samuel Paparo has confirmed that the US military is actively running a node on the Bitcoin network.

He confirmed they are conducting operational tests using the Bitcoin protocol to secure and protect networks.

Paparo was clear that the military's interest is in Bitcoin as a computer science tool, not a financial asset, describing its cryptography and proof-of-work architecture as having direct strategic value.

When a four-star admiral is briefing Congress on Bitcoin's military applications, the "it's just speculation" narrative becomes very hard to sustain.

A Yorkshire gas field large enough to meet over 10% of the UK's annual energy needs is set to mine Bitcoin instead of supplying the national grid.

Rather than connecting to the national grid, Reabold plans to use the early output to power a Bitcoin mining operation as a revenue stream to fund further development of the field.

Reabold has since clarified that Bitcoin mining at the site will be small-scale and exploratory, describing it as a proof of concept rather than a pivot away from domestic energy supply.

When Bitcoin mining makes more financial sense than supplying the national grid, it says less about Bitcoin and more about the state of UK energy policy.

Strategy has purchased $2.54 billion worth of Bitcoin in one week, retaking the crown as the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world and overtaking BlackRock in the process.

Importantly, $2.17 billion of the purchase was funded through STRC, its preferred stock instrument, demonstrating just how effectively Saylor has built a financial machine designed to do one thing: accumulate Bitcoin.

Strategy now holds more than 3.8% of Bitcoin's entire fixed supply of 21 million coins.

Coinbase has launched bitcoin-backed loans for UK users, allowing people to borrow up to $5 million in USDC stablecoins using Bitcoin as collateral.

The product has already generated over $2.17 billion in loan originations since launching in the US in early 2025, and the UK is its first international expansion.

The key pitch is that borrowing against Bitcoin avoids triggering a Capital Gains Tax event. Under UK rules, however, that may not be the case. The mechanics of the product could constitute a disposal under current HMRC guidance, so it is worth doing your due diligence before taking out a loan.

A new documentary called "Finding Satoshi" argues that Satoshi Nakamoto was not one person but two.

The film is the result of a four-year investigation, naming Hal Finney and Len Sassaman, both now deceased, as the co-creators. It argued Finney wrote the code while Sassaman wrote the whitepaper.

No cryptographic proof exists and the debate will never be fully settled, but this is arguably the most credible and well-researched case made to date.

Whoever Satoshi was, the mystery only adds to Bitcoin's story.

Russia has passed the first stage of a new law that would officially recognise Bitcoin as property and allow it to be used for international payments.

Bitcoin still cannot be used for everyday purchases inside Russia, and all exchanges would need a government licence to operate, but the main appeal for Russia is using Bitcoin (and crypto) to settle trade with other countries, bypassing the traditional banking system.

Russia is moving to bring Bitcoin under formal regulation, opening it up for international trade while keeping domestic use tightly controlled.

1. FCA raids eight illegal peer-to-peer trading hubs

2. Charles Schwab releases educational video on Bitcoin

3. Strategy is proposing to pay semi-monthly dividends on STRC

4. Satoshi statue in Lugano vandalised again

5. Kevin Warsh says "Digital Assets are already a part of the fabric of the US financial system."

6. New York sues Coinbase and Gemini over alleged illegal prediction market operations

7. U.S. Treasury Secretary presses Senate to pass crypto market structure legislation

8. Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF tops $139M in assets, within 9 days

9. Pantera Capital pushing Satsuma to sell $50M Bitcoin holding

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