MONDAY, APR20
1. BitMEX quantum canary, 2. Grinex exchange shutdown, 3. AI compute and money printing, 4. FISA 702 stopgap
From Proto and Bitkey - part of the Bitcoin ecosystem at Block, Inc.
1. quantum
BitMEX Research has countered Jameson Lopp’s BIP-361 migration plan with a reactive alternative that would freeze older wallets only after a quantum attack is proven in the wild. Writing in the firm’s research note, BitMEX argues that the canary watch state should rely on a bounty address holding bitcoin at a mathematically unknown private key. If those funds ever move, the network treats it as public evidence that quantum decryption is real and automatically activates a soft fork to protect remaining legacy coins. “Mitigating the impact of the freeze using this type of system may be worth consideration,” the proposal states, framing the design as a trigger that arms only when a breach is confirmed. The contrast with BIP-361 is sharp: Lopp’s draft would begin blocking deposits into legacy addresses within three years and fully invalidate them after five. Roughly 34 percent of bitcoin sits in addresses with exposed public keys, including those attributed to Satoshi.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY2. sanctions
Russia-linked exchange Grinex suspended all operations after disclosing a $13 million breach that drained user wallets, marking the second collapse in two years for infrastructure tied to sanctions evasion. According to Moscow Times reporting on the incident, Grinex attributed the attack to “an unprecedented level of resources and technologies available exclusively to structures of unfriendly states.” The exchange, registered in Kyrgyzstan but serving Russian clients, is the operational successor to Garantex, which US, UK, and EU authorities have sanctioned for helping bypass SWIFT restrictions. Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic traced roughly $15 million in USDT leaving Grinex wallets after the exploit, with funds converted to TRX and consolidated at a single address holding 45.9 million TRX. Grinex has been the primary venue for trading A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin Elliptic says has moved more than $100 billion in sanctions-evading transfers. The story is a reminder that centralized bitcoin off-ramps remain political infrastructure.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY3. energy
A Wall Street Journal report that AI compute demand is outrunning global energy supply has drawn sharp commentary from Bitcoin advocates including Jeffrey Harmon, who translated the policy subtext bluntly on X: “The unstated deal is that current energy usage of AI compute is unsustainable in the short term. Without printing money we can’t fund it. But we will give all of you a little of that printed money and we promise AI will be so productive your scraps will feel like high income.” The critique lands as Morgan Stanley estimates nearly $3 trillion of AI infrastructure spend will flow through the global economy by 2028, with more than 80 percent still ahead. The contrast with bitcoin mining is sharp: bitcoin’s energy consumption is bounded by market price and a known issuance schedule. AI data center expansion, funded by deficit spending and zero-rate debt cycles, operates under no such discipline.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY4. surveillance
Congress passed a 10-day stopgap extension of FISA Section 702, pushing the expiration from April 20 to April 30 after Republican leaders failed to secure either a five-year renewal or the 18-month extension President Trump requested. Reporting from KPBS, Senate passage came by voice vote after the House approved the measure overnight. The EFF, EPIC, and a bipartisan coalition are using the extra window to press for warrant requirements on FBI searches of Americans’ communications, a reform amendment that failed by a single tied vote in 2024. Intelligence officials have warned that letting it lapse would be a self-inflicted national security calamity, framing the fight in wartime terms as the Iran ceasefire holds. The FBI conducted roughly 200,000 warrantless queries of US person data through Section 702 last year. Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Lee have introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act to close the backdoor search loophole.
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