Marty's Bent

Sup, freaks? Happy St. Patrick's Day.

The war with Iran and the narrative around it is very loud right now. Today, the counter terrorism chief abruptly resigned from his position citing an inability to support the war in Iran, which he believes is a war the US has been dragged into by Israel and their lobby in the US. It was a rather chaotic day on the internet. There's a ton of people covering that stuff right now and considering the fact that I am not an expert on the topic, I won't try to produce a hot take for you here. Instead, I want to focus on the positive as it pertains to bitcoin and progression here in the United States. Things are looking up if you know where to look.

First up, Square. Our boy Nick Slaney from Money Dev Kit highlighted something huge buried in a terms of service update. Square is auto-enabling bitcoin payments for all eligible sellers effective March 30th, 2026.

No longer will you have to go to a Square merchant in your neighborhood and convince them to turn on bitcoin payments. At the end of this month, Square is enabling them automatically. That means millions of sellers will be able to accept bitcoin as payment starting on March 30th. With that being said, I assume the terms of service isn't going to have merchants holding bitcoin automatically. What I expect is that you, as a customer, will be able to hit "pay with bitcoin", a bitcoin invoice will be presented to you via QR code or NFC, and you'll be able to pay. The merchant saves on interchange fees, and the bitcoin gets auto-converted to dollars on the back end. If you're living on a bitcoin standard and you want to spend bitcoin as you go about your day, you should be able to do that at Square terminals by the end of the month. This is a beautiful thing to see.

Next, big news from the CFTC. They told self-custodial wallet developers they don't need to register as brokers. More specifically, Phantom Wallet received a no-action letter stating the CFTC will not pursue enforcement against self-custodial wallet developers who connect users to regulated trading venues, as long as they don't custody user funds. This is the first time the agency has formally drawn that line and created this level of clarity for wallet developers. Yet another beautiful thing to see.

Under existing US law, any entity that solicits or facilitates derivatives trading typically must register as an introducing broker. That rule was written for traditional financial intermediaries, but as self-custodial wallets started integrating with markets, developers faced a legal gray area that could have classified them as unregistered brokers simply for writing software. The CFTC's position now: if your wallet software connects users to properly registered exchanges and you don't custody user funds, you are not a broker, you are a software provider.

This is massive. For many years, particularly the last two, open source wallet developers connected to Samourai Wallet and Tornado Cash were thrown in jail or put on trial for providing free and open source wallet software. It's very good to see the direction changing. We still need to free William Hill and Keonne Rodriguez, who were both wrongly persecuted by the DOJ. Roman Storms re-trial needs to be thrown out for similar reasons.

On to our third win of the day. Oklo got two big approvals from regulators. The Department of Energy approved their nuclear safety design agreement for the Aurora Powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory. This is the first step in the process of getting a small modular reactor approved and built.

And on the same day, the NRC issued Atomic Alchemy, Oklo's wholly owned subsidiary, a materials license to receive, process, repackage, and distribute critical isotopes from its Idaho radiochemistry laboratory. The US has no real domestic isotope supply chain. 50 million nuclear medicine procedures a year depend on aging reactors in other countries. Oklo just got the green light to change that.

Bitcoin miners may have a role to play here as an energy buyer of first resort. When an SMR gets plopped down, there's a period between deployment and grid interconnect where it's just sitting there not producing any revenue. Bitcoin miners can sit behind the meter and produce revenue while transmission is being built out. It's a perfect fit.

The United States has hindered itself from leading the world toward a nuclear energy future for more than five decades. It's great to see the current administration begin to loosen the red tape that has prevented nuclear proliferation.

The fourth reason to be optimistic is El Salvador. Julian Figueroa made a point I don't think enough people are talking about enough. El Salvador has become the Dubai of the Western Hemisphere and very few are giving it the props it deserves or understand the massive benefits that having an innovative and forward thinking economic hub in Central America can provide our part of the world.

El Salvador has been the safest country in the Western Hemisphere for four years in a row. It doesn't come with any Middle East war fallout risk. The is 0% tax on all foreign sourced income. There is no property tax. It's a dollarized economy. Bitcoin is legal tender with 0% capital gains tax. Inflation is under 1%. There are 90-minute direct flights from Miami for under $200. And it has world-class surfing to top it off, among other things. What Bukele and his administration have done is incredible. If we believe in the focus on the Western Hemisphere, especially as laid out in last year's National Security Strategy document, it's beautiful to see our southern neighbors creating an environment that draws capital, talent, and peace.

Last but not least, the SAVE America Act advanced in the US Senate 51 to 48. The Save Act would require voters to show an ID at the polls. Common sense legislation that a majority of Americans are in favor of. If you have to show ID at a bar or when you get pulled over, it makes sense to show one when participating in what is deemed the most important function of our democratic society; participating in our elections.

So yeah, that's what I wanted to focus on today. Square turning on bitcoin payments by default. CFTC protecting self-custody wallet developers. Oklo advancing nuclear energy and isotope production. El Salvador thriving as an economic zone. The SAVE Act moving forward. There are plenty of positive things happening out there. Never doom. We're going to win.

Strategic Bitcoin Advocacy Through National Security Channels

David Zell presented a compelling case for redirecting Bitcoin advocacy efforts toward unelected national security officials rather than traditional political channels. Zell argued that intelligence community members and national security professionals make decisions based on merit and factual analysis, unlike elected politicians who are often swayed by financial incentives and campaign contributions. This approach recognizes that national security considerations ultimately trump all other policy debates in government decision-making.

"National security concerns ultimately override all other policy considerations." - David Zell

The Bitcoin Policy Institute's strategy should therefore prioritize educating these unelected officials about Bitcoin's potential benefits for American financial sovereignty and economic security. Zell emphasized that these professionals are more likely to objectively evaluate Bitcoin's merits when framed as a national security asset rather than merely an investment vehicle. This targeted approach could prove more effective than traditional lobbying efforts focused on Congress.

Check out the full podcast here for more on intelligence community dynamics, policy institute strategies and government decision-making.

Headlines of the Day

SEC Chair Confirms Digital Tools and Stablecoins aren't Securities

US National Debt Reaches New All-Time High of $39 Trillion

Square to Auto-Enable Bitcoin Lightning Payments March 30

PayPal Officially Enables Stablecoin Access in 70 Countries

Private Credit Default Rate Hits 9.2%, Higher than 2008 Crisis

BlackRock Bought 1,882 BTC Worth $139 Million Yesterday

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Final thought...

I once ate too many Irish potatoes on St. Patrick's Day when I was 8, had a massive puke episode, and haven't been able to eat them since.

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