📦 When Everything Else Fails

Happy Friday, In A Nutshell this week:

• 📦 When Everything Else Fails

• 📈 Gold & Bitcoin Lead the Way in 2025

• 😱 US Marshals Hold Far Less Bitcoin Than Expected

• 🇨🇳 Inside China’s Underground Bitcoin Playground

• 🇺🇸 Trump Eyes Retirement Access to Bitcoin?

• 🚀 How a UK Company Reached £1 Billion in 8 Weeks

• …and much more

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 🚀⏰ Today’s news should be a ~4.02-minute read (656 words).

🧠 Quote Of The Week

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited.”

– Albert Einstein

📦 When Everything Else Fails

A new report from DARI shines a light on Bitcoin’s Role in Refugee Wealth Preservation, offering protection when cash, stablecoins and other assets fail.

The study reveals that an estimated 329,000+ refugees have used Bitcoin while fleeing across borders. It looks at the reality of financial confiscation and displacement and makes a powerful case for why Bitcoin matters beyond price.

“When you can’t carry anything else, you can still carry Bitcoin.”

This report is a reminder: Bitcoin isn’t just about gains, it’s about having something that can’t be taken from you.

📝 Read the report
🧵 Daniel Batten’s TLDR Thread

📈 Gold & Bitcoin Lead the Way in 2025

As of mid-July, Gold (+28%) and Bitcoin (+26%) are the top-performing major assets of the year, a combination we've never seen take the #1 and #2 spots together (per the chart).

Lawrence Lepard suggests this is a signal we’re in a sovereign debt crisis, as investors flee to assets outside the traditional financial system.

😱 US Marshals Hold Far Less Bitcoin Than Expected

A new FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request has revealed that the US Marshals Service currently holds just 28,988 BTC, significantly less than many had assumed.

The agency has historically seized Bitcoin through criminal investigations and auctions (including from Silk Road and other high-profile cases). At one point, it held over 185,000 BTC.

It suggests that much of the Bitcoin seized over the years has already been sold. Other agencies may hold some, but overall, this hints that the US government isn't sitting on the massive stash people expected.

🇨🇳 Inside China’s Underground Bitcoin Playground

This video by Joe Nakamoto investigates Bitcoin’s unusual status in Hong Kong: a place where you can legally swap bags of cash for Bitcoin and attend international Bitcoin conferences, yet still sit under Beijing’s watchful eye.

From underground OTC shops to conference floors to protest zones to mining charts, he explore how long this “Bitcoin loophole” can really last, and whether Hong Kong is China’s testbed for Bitcoin adoption.

🇺🇸 Trump Eyes Retirement Access to Bitcoin?

The Financial Times reports that Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to open up the $9 trillion U.S. retirement market, including 401(k)s, to a wider pool of alternative investments.

That could include Bitcoin and crypto, although details are still emerging. If true, this would be a major policy shift that significantly boosts access to Bitcoin products for U.S. savers.

📝FT (paywall)

🚀 How a UK Company Reached £1 Billion in 8 Weeks

Andrew Webley, CEO of Smarter Web Company, joins Jordan to discuss the meteoric rise of his company, from a £4 million valuation to over £1 billion in roughly 8 weeks.

Fresh off a purchase of 325 new Bitcoin, Andrew shares insights into building one of the largest Bitcoin treasuries in the world.

The episode is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify

🔥 What else have you missed?

1. Inside Cantor Fitzgerald’s $4B Bitcoin Treasury Deal with Blockstream.

2. Bitwise launches daily proof of reserves for its Bitcoin ETF.

3. Dave Portnoy is still struggling to understand Bitcoin.

4. Standard Chartered launches spot Bitcoin trading for institutional clients in the UK.

5. Vanguard is now the biggest shareholder of Michael Saylor’s Strategy ($MSTR).

6. President Nayib Bukele met with Pakistan's Minister of Crypto.

🍾 Friday Fun!

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