Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: The "vibecession" is over??
• 🔎 This seems important: Received $10k in crypto in '24? Straight to jail.
• 🤝 Partner: You can capitalize on current high interest rates — here’s how
• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Is this a joke? Or a stroke of genius?

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
​Bear Market, Decentralized, Blockchain, Wallet.

💅 This is cool:

​The “Vibecession” Is Over?? (Here’s What That Means)​

In one sentence: Over 2023 the economy was doing fine, but the market's general outlook was bleak - we feel the mood has shifted positive in 2024.

When we grow up, we want to be Kyla Scanlon. Why?

Cause every day, we try to take complex technical/economic concepts, and use simple, often silly terminology to make sense of it (to ourselves, and our readers).

And Kyla is the G.O.A.T. when it comes to that process.

Her self-coined term "Vibecession" was even added to the dictionary. Not urban dictionary - the dictionary.

A Vibecession is basically a period of time where the economy is doing fine, but the market's general outlook is bleak.

Or as Kyla puts it:

When we first heard it, we immediately went "oh, that was all of 2023."

Cause while it felt like we were amidst a grueling bear market...

• Bitcoin more than doubled.
• The stock market climbed to an all-time high in Q4.
• And we experienced one of the largest bank failures in US history, without plunging into recession.

Today, we have a new piece of data to add to that list, that we're filing under:

"Less impressive on the grand scale of things, but a great indicator for crypto adoption, and another sign that we were definitely in a vibecession in 2023."

Which is: the number of brick-and-mortar stores that accept Bitcoin has tripled in the past year.

Looking at this through a western framework, you might think:

"Ok. So, Bitcoin millionaires now have somewhere to spend their new found fortunes? That's nice I guess..."

But beyond the west, specifically in Latin America where the majority of this adoption is taking place, we're seeing one of Bitcoin's core features thrive:

Protection against poor monetary policy and crippling long term inflation.

...what's the opposite of a vibecession? A period of 'vibenomic growth'?

Whatever it is, we're feeling it.

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

​Received $10K+ in Crypto This Year? Right to Jail.​

In one sentence: New US tax code says anyone who receives $10k+ in crypto needs to report the sender's name/social security number, within 15 days.

Today we're talking about tax law.

Which is boring at best, and scary at worst...

So to keep things engaging, we're going to pepper exciting tid-bits of crypto related information throughout this article.

Tax law: There's a new tax code in the US that says anyone engaged in a trade or business, who receives more than $10,000 in cash (or digital currency), needs to report that income, along with the name/social security number of who sent it, within 15 days.

...and ah, those who fail to comply may be guilty of felony offenses.

Fun tid-bit: As we've been writing this, Bitcoin just reached $46k - a level we haven't seen since May, 2022!

Tax law: Ok, so these new tax codes seem flawed when applied to many digital currency transactions, as these exchanges of value are performed on decentralized networks, where the identity of the sender is often unknown - and sometimes non-existent.

E.g. Mining a group of Bitcoin transactions will currently earn you ~$290k worth of BTC.

...but that Bitcoin reward won't be sent to you by a person, but a computer protocol (aka a piece of software that exists only in cyber space).

There's no name or social security number to be provided.

Fun tid-bit: Ok, wow. This thing is really on a run. Bitcoin is now hovering around $46.8k, threatening to break $47k.

Tax law: Here's what we've gleamed from people way smarter than us...

These laws are intended to protect against money laundering through large cash-only purchases.

E.g. If you buy a BMW in cash, the IRS wants the dealership to be legally required (under threat of felony charges) to report those earnings ASAP.

This piece of tax code has existed for a good while, but only stipulated for cash, until Jan. 01 2024, when digital currencies were added.

Point being that this isn't so much a new piece of crypto-focused tax code as it is an older anti-money laundering code that has now been updated to include crypto.

Long story longer...

It's not clear whether the IRS is planning to use this tax code to go after crypto investors and request they provide impossible-to-obtain sender information.

OR

It's just a bi-product of updated tax code that may/may not be given much attention as far as heavy-handed enforcement goes.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Fun tid-bit: Holy moly, Bitcoin just cracked $47k!

🤝 Partner:

​You Can Capitalize on Current High Interest Rates — Here’s How​

Interest rates are at 22-year highs, but you can take advantage of them.

With rates hovering around 5%, high-yield savings accounts present an opportunity for substantial returns through compound interest.

Offering up to 10 times the return compared to regular savings accounts, these accounts are ideal for short- and long-term goals.

See Money's list of High-Yield Savings Accounts today to discover how much you could earn.

​

🔪 Let's dissect this:

​Is This a Joke? Or a Soon-To-Be-Revealed Stroke of Genius?​

In one sentence: Over the weekend someone spent $66k to inscribe (aka load) a bunch of gibberish data onto the Bitcoin blockchain, and no one knows why.

Either someone is playing a little trick on us all, or they're a secret genius hiding a message in plain site...

(We just don’t know which one yet).

Over the weekend someone spent $66k to inscribe (aka load) data onto the Bitcoin blockchain.

...and no one can decipher what the mish-mash of text and symbols means.

Here's some context to bring the 'weirdness' in to view...

Anyone looking to upload data to the Bitcoin blockchain will typically pay around $200 in transaction fees to do so.

(Sometimes closer to $1k, depending on the amount of data they're trying to upload, and overall transaction demand).

So, when a wallet drops $66k to upload a bunch of (seemingly) meaningless data, it grabs people's attention.

Even the Bitcoin Ordinals X account posted about it:

Ord.io @ord_io BREAKING: Someone just spent >1 BTC to inscribe 8.93 MB of raw binary data into Bitcoin. Can anybody decode it to find out what it is? → https://www.ord.io/bc1pnp6sdnzv3cve6jptw3vkpqtek3r6fmratjgnflpqngnmp5lkxztqzwd0th 5:57 PM • Jan 6, 2024 299 Retweets 1377 Likes Read 298 replies

​

☝️ Trying to decipher that is well above our pay grade ☝️

So if you know what it means, give us a hint, yeah?

(We want in on the joke).

Ordinals, Explained

​

👇 Other stuff you may have missed

• 🚀 BTC Blasts Past $47K as Bitcoin ETF Excitement Gets Feverish​
• 📊 Bitwise Tops Bitcoin ETF Low-Fee Table, While Grayscale Bets on Size​
• 👀 PayPal Stablecoin Seeks Deployment on Aave​
• 👾 Bitcoin Devs Preserve Classic Nintendo Games With Ordinals​
• ⚡️ Breez Announces FiatLink: A Lightning to Fiat API Standard​

​

Alright, that’s it for today!
Love to the family,

​Chevy, Seb & The Web3 Daily Team.

P.S. Want to learn how to research and value cryptocurrencies? We created a framework that does just that.

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