News Block #150: Is This Bear Market Almost Over? "Big Bitcoin" Unites to Defend Network, Strategy Makes Its First STRC Buyback

In this week's episode of the Coin Stories News Block powered exclusively by Ledn, we cover these major headlines related to Bitcoin, macroeconomics, and global finance:

• What the wave of Bitcoin company closures and bankruptcies tells us about where we are in the bear market
• 84% of Bitcoin is now held by long-term holders — the highest level ever recorded
• AI agents just paid each other in Bitcoin over Lightning for the first time
• BlackRock, Fidelity, and seven other institutions pledge $15M to protect Bitcoin from quantum threats — and critics are calling it "Big Bitcoin"
• Strategy repurchases $25M in STRC at $86.52 and boosts its cash reserve to $3.75 billion

----

The News Block is powered exclusively by Ledn – the global leader in Bitcoin-backed loans, issuing over $11 billion in loans since 2018, and they were the first to offer proof of reserves. With Ledn, you get custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments, and more. My followers get .25% off their first loan. Learn more at www.ledn.io/natalie 

----

Order Natalie's new book "Bitcoin is For Everyone," a simple introduction to Bitcoin and what's broken in our current financial system: https://amzn.to/3WzFzfU If you'd like to buy using Bitcoin, just head to https://shop.talkingbitcoin.com and pay in sats!

----

Read every story in the News Block with visuals and charts! Join our mailing list and subscribe to our free Bitcoin newsletter: https://thenewsblock.substack.com 

—-

References mentioned in the episode:

• BitMEX Ends Operations After 11 Years
• BitMart to Wind Down Its Exchange
• Satsuma Shareholders Approve Bitcoin Treasury Liquidation
• Smarter Web Company Sells Bitcoin to Repay Debt
• Poolin Files for Bankruptcy
• Poolin Files Chapter 11 and Sets $52 Million Floor Bid
• Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company Scraps Original SPAC Terms
• Jack Mallers Steps Down as Twenty One Capital CEO
• MARA Sells $1.5 Billion of Bitcoin Amid AI Shift
• Bitdeer Empties Its Bitcoin Treasury as Miners Pivot to AI
• Natalie Brunell Interviews MARA CEO Fred Thiel
• 84% of Bitcoin Is Held by Long-Term Holders
• Bitcoin Conviction Is at an All-Time High
• Lightning Labs Launches Wavelength
• Jensen Huang Explains Why Open AI Models Matter
• Mark Zuckerberg on Open Source and Preventing Centralization
• Elon Musk Says X's Code Will Be Open Source and Audited
• Jack Dorsey Announces Buzz
• Michael Levin Demonstrates Buzz and Wavelength Working Together
• Satoshi Nakamoto on the Root Problem With Conventional Currency
• Mike Schmidt Explains the Bitcoin Security Consortium
• Brian Armstrong on Preparing Bitcoin for Quantum Computing
• Official Bitcoin Security Consortium Announcement
• BlackRock, Coinbase and Strategy Join $15 Million Security Consortium
• Nine Firms Launch the Bitcoin Security Consortium
• Galaxy Launches the Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative
• Strategy Overhauls Its Bitcoin Capital-Markets Metrics
• Strategy Announces Its New Bitcoin Capital-Markets Metrics

----