Welcome to the first edition of The Stacker Weekly. We’re cutting through the noise to bring you the high velocity trends at the intersection of Sovereign Money, AI, and Freedom Tech.

🚀 The $100k Gravity Well: Are We There Yet?

Bitcoin is currently hovering around $93K while I am writing this, and the psychological pull of six figures is reaching an all-time high. This isn’t just retail hype anymore; it’s a structural supply crunch.

• The $100k Odds: Polymarket currently gives a 73% chance that BTC hits $100k before February 1st.
• Institutional Vacuum: Last week saw $760M in net inflows for US Spot ETFs. But the real “alpha” is corporate adoption: Steak ’n Shake just added $10 Million in BTC to its treasury, following the Saylor playbook after seeing success with their Lightning payment rollout last year.
• Technical Setup: Analysts are pointing to an “ascending channel” formation. If we break the $99.3k resistance, the next stop is likely a price discovery moonshot to $105k–$110k.

Sources: Steak ’n Shake BTC Buy | Technical Analysis: $100k Breakout

🌏 Macro: The CBDC Cold War (mBridge vs. SWIFT)

While the West debates regulation, the East is building a parallel financial reality. Project mBridge—the China-led digital currency platform—has officially crossed $55 Billion in total volume.

• The Yuan’s Grip: Roughly 95% of that volume is in China’s digital yuan (e-CNY).
• The “Interest” Pivot: As of Jan 1, 2026, China’s new framework allows commercial banks to pay interest on digital yuan balances. This transforms the e-CNY from a “cash alternative” into a high-yield “deposit currency,” making it way more attractive for international trade.
• The Exit: The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has officially stepped back from mBridge to focus on its own Western version, Project Agorá. We are witnessing the literal splintering of the global financial system.

Sources: mBridge Surges Past $55B | BIS Project Agora Update

🤖 Why AI Agents’ Only Bank Account is Lightning

You’ve heard the term “Agentic AI.” Here is the 1% version of why it matters to you:

AI Agents are bots that do chores. They book your flights, buy your groceries, and manage your servers. But there’s a problem: Banks hate bots. You can’t get a Visa card for a Python script.

• The Solution: The L402 Protocol.
• How it works: When an AI agent needs to use a paid tool (like a high-end GPU or a private data set), it pays a few sats via Lightning instantly. There is no “Sign Up,” no “Credit Card,” and no human in the middle.
• Why it’s “Sovereign”: In 2026, if your AI agent isn’t connected to a Lightning node, it’s just a toy. If it has a wallet, it’s a participant in the global economy.

Sources: L402 Explained: Payments for AI | Microsoft’s Agent Lightning Framework

💜 Nostr Check: The Death of the “Like”

Since we’re on Yakihonne, let’s look at the protocol health. Nostr just crossed 1.9 Million users according to recent primal.net stats.

• Yakihonne Updates: The client just added support for Web of Trust (WoT) scores and Nsec bunker integrations. This means it’s harder for bots to spam you and easier for you to keep your keys safe.
• The Zap Economy: Last week, the top creators on the protocol earned over 400k sats in zaps. The “Like” button is dead, value-for-value is the only metric that matters now.

Nostr Weekly Recap | Yakihonne App Updates

🛠️ Final Thought

The “Legacy Stack” is breaking. Whether it’s the Dollar splintering into CBDCs or AI agents being locked out of traditional banking, the solution is always the same: Decentralized protocols.

Stay sovereign. See you next Monday. 🫡