← Coin Stories with Natalie Brunell
Coin Stories with Natalie Brunell
News Block: Rich Boomer Money Coming, Bitcoin Mortgages, and the Tax Fight That Should Have Every Bitcoiner Furious
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Welcome to the Coinstories news block, powered exclusively by LEDN. I'm Natalie Brunel, and in about 10 minutes or less, I'll provide you with insightful updates on bitcoin financial markets and the global economy. Everything you need to know in one block. Let's go. Hey, everyone. We've said it before and we'll say it again. Regulatory clarity in digital assets is the single biggest barrier keeping large pools of capital on the sidelines. So. So let's talk about what just happened in Congress because it's important and frankly, a little frustrating. Two major bills are moving right now, the Parity act on taxes and the Clarity act on market structure. And bitcoiners should be paying attention to both. The updated Parity act draft from Representatives Horsford and Miller dropped this week. And the headline, Stablecoins got a $200 de minimis tax exemption. That means you can spend stablecoins with without triggering a taxable event. But bitcoin left out entirely. Think about that. Bitcoin represents nearly 60% of the total digital asset market cap and it got no exemption. So the next time you pay for a coffee with sats over lightning, that is still a taxable event every single time. And it gets worse. Right now, bitcoin miners get taxed twice. They owe income tax the moment they receive block subsidies before they've sold anything, before they've touched a single dollar of ca. And then they get taxed again when they sell bitcoin. Both parties agreed this was a problem that needed fixing. And the bill did fix it, but only for proof of stake validators. Bitcoin miners, the people pouring real capital into electricity, hardware and infrastructure to secure the network, are left out entirely. Stakers got the relief and miners keep getting hit with the double tax. That's not parity. That is picking winners and losers. The Bitcoin Policy Institute released a strong statement this week calling the draft a move in the wrong direction. The fix is straightforward. Restore a general de minimis exemption and extend deferral to bitcoin proof of work miners. Now, I also want to share. There was some drama heading into all of this. TFTC reported weeks ago that Coinbase was quietly lobbying to kill a bitcoin de minimis exemption while pushing one only for stablecoins. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called that accusation totally false. But then the draft dropped and confirmed exactly what TFTC was warning about. Now, in what I call a potential sign of good faith, Coinbase then joined bpi, Block and River in Washington this week to advocate directly to congressional staffers for a bitcoin de minimis exemption. So I guess we'll see. Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorne offered the most honest explanation I've heard for why this is all so hard. He calls it a budget math problem. The Congressional Budget Office scored a bitcoin de minimis exemption as a significant revenue loss, meaning Congress thinks it would give up a lot by not taxing small bitcoin transactions. But here's the reality. Almost nobody is actually reporting capital gains on small lightning purchases today. You can't lose revenue that you were never collecting. So until the CBO changes the score, it's a wall. Standing between bitcoin and fair tax treatment. Now, separate from taxes is the Clarity Act. That's the comprehensive bill that would finally define which regulator oversees what in crypto. It's been stuck in the Senate for months over one issue, whether stablecoin issuers can offer a yield. Banks don't love competing with platforms paying 3 to 4% when savings accounts pay next to nothing. But a compromise has been reached. A passive yield on stablecoin balances would be banned, but activity based rewards tied to payments and transfers or would still be allowed. Coinbase rejected the latest draft anyway. For the second time. Armstrong has said he'd rather have no bill than a bad bill. And the industry is pretty split on whether that's the right call. Here's the hard deadline. Senator Lummis confirmed the final text drops next week with a Senate markup targeted for April. If the Clarity act doesn't pass before midterm recess, it likely won't move until 2027. Now many people would say bad legislation is worse than no legislation. These bills need to get it right. And every bitcoiner should be making their voice heard right now. So contact your elected officials and do exactly that. All right, Moving now to the White House because there was a headline this week that spooked some people and I want to set the record straight. David Sachs officially stepped down as the administration's AI and crypto czar. Markets initially read that as a bad sign, like the administration was backing away from Bitcoin, but. But that's not even close. Sachs just hit the 130 day limit as a special government employee. So he's now co chairing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which is really a broader, more formalized role across AI, emerging tech and innovation policy. And if you still have any doubt about where this administration actually stands on Bitcoin, we'll listen to what President Trump said this past week, bitcoin's very powerful.
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It's all becoming powerful. So many people now they want to pay you in crypto, they want to pay you in bitcoin, and we have to be at the top of it in all of these.
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Call it an industry that is not a president backing away from Bitcoin. If you're holding bitcoin but need liquidity, you need to know about ledn. They're the global leader in bitcoin backed loans issuing over $9 billion since 2018. The first to offer proof of reserves, custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments and more. My followers get a quarter percentage point off their first loan. Visit leden IO/natalie all right, now let's talk miners because this one surprised a lot of people. Everyone expected treasury companies to be the big sellers in a downturn, but it turns out it's the miners. Mara sold more than 15,000 bitcoin roughly $1.1 billion to pay down debt and fund a pivot toward AI. It ended up fall from the number two spot of corporate treasuries holding Bitcoin behind strategy and miner. Bit Deer has essentially emptied its bitcoin Treasury. Kango sold more than half of ITS holdings and CleanSpark and Riot have sold too. But here's the thing. Despite all of that selling, Bitcoin's hash rate has stayed well above 1 zeta hash. That is a milestone the network first crossed last September. What we're actually watching is hash rate becoming more geographically dispersed, so spread across more companies. So short term selling pressure, yes, but long term, this is actually a healthier, more decentralized network. And a more decentralized network is a stronger one. All right, let's end this week on a high note because while the battles are playing out in Congress, Bitcoin's institutional adoption just had one of its best weeks ever. Three stories, all of them huge. First, Morgan Stanley filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF. The ticker is MSBT, the fee only 14 basis points. That is the cheapest on the market. That undercuts BlackRock's iBIT by 11 basis points. This would be the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued directly by a major US bank. Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas put it perfectly. Morgan Stanley has 16,000 financial advisors managing over $6 trillion in assets. And he called them the ultimate gatekeepers of what he called rich boomer money. When those advisors can recommend their own firm's Bitcoin etf. And it's the lowest cost option on the market. That is a fundamentally different conversation for Bitcoin adoption. By the way, I hosted Eric's colleague James Seyfert on the show this week. The episode drops Thursday. It is all about ETFs from Bitcoin to gold. So make sure to listen. The second story. Tether hired kpmg. For years, the biggest question hanging over this market was whether Tether actually had the dollars backing every USDT in circulation. Well, this week they hired a big four accounting firm for the first ever full financial audit. That cloud has been hanging over this industry for a long time. And if the audit holds, it doesn't just vindicate Tether, it strengthens the credibility of the entire market. And third, you can now get a mortgage backed by Bitcoin. Coinbase Better Home and Finance and Fannie Mae just launched Bitcoin backed mortgages. Instead of selling your Bitcoin for a down payment, you can pledge it as collateral with standard Fannie Mae loan terms. Now the catch is rates run about half to one and a half percent higher than traditional. But critically, no margin calls. If Bitcoin drops, your loan terms don't change. Better Home says 41% of Americans can't buy homes because they lack liquid cash even while holding real assets. So now Bitcoin holders can get into a home without selling, without triggering a capital gains bill and without giving up their long term position. This is Bitcoin assimilating into the traditional financial system in real time. More ways to borrow against Bitcoin means less reason to sell. Less selling means less downward pressure on price. And that is a compounding effect that builds over years. So look, this was one of those weeks where Bitcoin got tested from many directions. There's a real fight in Congress over how it gets taxed and regulated. And miners have been restructuring. So the noise was loud. But zoom out. Morgan Stanley is about to compete to sell you a Bitcoin etf. Tether is opening its books to a big four auditor. Fannie Mae is going to accept Bitcoin as collateral for home loans. And the President of the United States is saying America needs to lead on Bitcoin. So yes, the pains of a bear market are real, but the trajectory unmistakable. The fundamentals are looking up for Bitcoin. That's it for the news block. Your weekly Bitcoin and economic news update. Powered exclusively by ledn. I'm Natalie Brunel. Make sure you're subscribed to Coinstory so you never miss an episode. This show is for educational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. Until next time. Keep stacking, Sam.