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Hello, this is Ross Ulgert. I'm calling you today from prison from a maximum.

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Security federal penitentiary.

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We don't have much time together today and I don't know if I'll get another

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chance to talk to you like this.

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I'll say as much as I can, but when it's time to go, I'll have to hang up and go back to my cell.

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I have lost my freedom.

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That's what I want to talk to you about today. I want you to understand what

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it means to lose your freedom.

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Music.

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Welcome in to This Week in Bitcoin, episode 43.

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My name is Chris, chrislas.com, jupiterbroadcasting.com. And that,

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that was the man himself.

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That was the voice of Ross Albrecht, who has spent the last 11 years in jail

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for running the infamous Silk Road.

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And his story is so much more complex that can be put in just that intro sentence.

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And as many of you know, Ross was an OG Bitcoiner.

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And his story, staying alive, has depended on the communities around Ross and

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his family carrying and keeping that torch alive.

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And to really put the perspective and context to all of this story,

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I want to start with a little bit of background.

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I want to talk a little bit about who Ross was and why the community has fought

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for Ross to be free for so long.

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Ross was arrested at the age of 29. He's 40 now.

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And ironically, his downfall began not by some top shot Department of Homeland

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Security, not an FBI agent, but by a tax man.

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On January 27th, 2011, a tax agent discovered a post on an online form,

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and then they connected some dots to some other internal documentation across other agencies.

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And that discovery by that tax agent on January 27th of 2011 ultimately led

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to Ross's arrest in October of 2013.

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On October 1st, 2013, federal agents entered a public library in San Francisco.

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They arrested 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht ran the largest,

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most sophisticated online market for illegal drugs in history.

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He named it Silk Road, a reference to the ancient trade routes that connected

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China to Europe beginning in the 2nd century BC.

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Albrecht hoped to create his own modern-day marketplace, except his would sell

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hardcore drugs and other illegal goods.

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Over the two years and ten months that Silk Road operated, federal prosecutors

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say it processed nearly $214 million in sales using Bitcoin.

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The site operated on a hidden part of the internet called the Dark Web.

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Prosecutors say a journal the FBI found on Ulbricht's computer stated he wanted

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to create a website where people could buy anything anonymously with no trail

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whatsoever that could lead back to them.

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Unfortunately for Ulbricht, he did leave a trail of digital breadcrumbs that

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ultimately took him down and his empire with it.

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Albrecht was born on March 17, 1984, in Austin, Texas.

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He was a Boy Scout, attaining the highest rank of Eagle Scout,

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just like his dad had done.

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He had a happy childhood, growing up an easygoing hipster but serious student

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who scored 1,460 on his SATs within the 96th percentile and got a full ride

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to the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied physics.

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He then won another full scholarship, for a master's at Penn State in material

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science and engineering. It was at Penn that he evolved into a hardcore libertarian,

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a political philosophy that advocates individualism and minimal state involvement in people's lives.

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He was a fan and follower of libertarian economist Ludwig von Mises,

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who opposed government interference in the economy.

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When then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney asked what is America's greatest

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challenge, Ulbricht responded like this on his YouTube channel.

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You know, but I think the most important thing is getting us out of the United Nations.

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Albrecht wanted to create a world free from institutional or government control.

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That mindset led him to create Silk Road in January 2011.

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You couldn't type in a normal web address to get to Silk Road or use a normal

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web browser. You needed software called Tor that works as a web browser.

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Tor was developed by the U.S. Navy as a way of communicating privately over the internet.

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It conceals the real IP address of computers on the network to hide the identity

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of the user, and it can't be traced by the government.

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Silk Road's address used a bunch of random numbers and letters that ended with .onion.

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Ulbricht made the site by teaching himself how to code. When he needed more

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help, he reached out on a Bitcoin community forum, writing, I'm looking for

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the best and brightest IT pro in the Bitcoin community to be the lead developer

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in a venture-backed Bitcoin startup company.

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Anyone interested was to contact him via his email, rossulbricht at gmail.com.

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Making his email public would later come back to haunt him.

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He also got coding help from a buddy of his from undergrad, Richard Bates.

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Albrecht had no choice but to eventually tell his friend what he was up to.

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He also told his girlfriend, Julia V.

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One day, he showed her the psychedelic mushrooms he was growing and selling

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as a starter product on his new website.

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Silk Road would eventually be a marketplace for all kinds of drugs.

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Weed, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, heroin.

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This fit Albrecht's libertarian mindset.

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He believed that whatever someone decided to put in their body was their choice

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and no one else's, least of all the government's.

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What was not sold on the site was weapons or prostitution or things like that.

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But that clip, it gives us a good basic overview of some of the early moments,

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but it doesn't really tell you about the moment, the moment that I think about all the time.

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Ross was working in the San Francisco library on his laptop.

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And FBI agents at this point had been monitoring him for months and had taken

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over two of his co-workers accounts on the Silk Road.

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He had been chatting with them for a while and thought he was chatting with

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his co-workers or whatever you want to call them.

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And those agents posing talked Ross into looking at an admin issue on the Silk

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Road website while they knew he was at the library.

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So they had a brief exchange with him, told him about a problem that he needed

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to look at, a message that had been flagged. And the moment he went into admin mode, they struck.

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And it's a wild moment. And this clip from Reason, which I'll link the entire

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clip in the show notes, paints a pretty vivid picture.

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Ross's arrest on October 1st, 2013 at the Glen Park branch of the San Francisco

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Public Library was like a scene from an action movie.

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He was downloading an interview with Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking

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Bad. In another window, he was administering the Silk Road.

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Undercover FBI agents staged a physical fight behind him.

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When he turned his head to observe the commotion, an undercover agent snatched

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his laptop before he could close

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the cover, which would have encrypted the contents of its hard drive.

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The FBI keeps a picture of the computer on display as a trophy from the hunt.

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We have a link to that in the show notes, too.

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Years of work to protect himself and his data, to prepare for protecting data

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in case he had been, you know, seized by the authorities, completely undone.

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Ross even had a key combo that he could press to immediately lock everything

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down, but he just never had a chance to press it.

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And you have to wonder at that moment what was going through his head.

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He lurched for the laptop, but another FBI agent walked up behind him and gave

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him a big bear hug and kept him in place.

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You think he knew at that moment he was screwed? The trial began a year after that moment.

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We had a bad feeling from the beginning that Vert was already in.

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The dark web and drug trafficker and cybercrime.

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These were major topics for the Jeff Sessions Justice Department.

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And ultimately, Ross was indicted on seven various different drug charges.

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He pleaded not guilty to all of them.

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But he did create a website that helped people sell drugs. So why should we

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free this man? You might be wondering.

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Well, the reality is the case against Ross was never a solid one.

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They never linked him to the DPR account who was doing some of the orders.

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The U.S. government claims Ross always ran it, but others claim that's not true,

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including Curtis Green, who came forward admitting that he ran the DPR account for a time.

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The FBI even speculated, one of the agents involved, speculated that maybe Mark

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Capels, you know, the Mt.

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Gox guy, ran the DPR account for a bit. And interestingly enough,

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someone even logged in to the DPR admin account after Ross had been arrested

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during that processing time.

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But something that never sat right with me is how they tried to smear Ross as

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a murderer in an attempt to seal the deal.

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Those who oppose freeing Ross say that he was also a contract killer.

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He actually solicited the killings of as many as six people.

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Offering $150,000 to a would-be hitman.

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His mother said non-violent guy.

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No, no. But when you look closer, things get murky.

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Here's what we know. When building their case, prosecutors drew on chat logs

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from a moment of crisis at the same time.

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The site's top administrator, Curtis Green, had just been arrested.

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It looked like he might have stolen about $350,000 worth of Bitcoin.

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Nob, a participant on the Silk Road, was chatting with the site's top administrator,

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who called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts.

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He told Nob that this will be the first time I've had to call on my muscle.

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Do you want him beat up, shot, just paid a visit?

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I'd like him beat up, then forced to send the Bitcoins he stole back.

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Later that day, the Dread Pirate Roberts messaged Nob again.

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Okay, so can you change the order to execute rather than torture?

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He was on the inside for a while, and now that he's been arrested,

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I'm afraid he'll give up info.

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Nob sent the Dread Pirate Roberts a picture of what looked like Curtis Green

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being tortured and killed.

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I am pissed I had to kill him, but what's done is done.

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It turns out that Knob was DEA agent Carl Force, one of two investigators on

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the case who went to prison for embezzling Bitcoin during the investigation.

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He had staged Green's murder. But maybe the dread pirate Roberts,

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who was chatting with the corrupt undercover agent who set up a fake hit,

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wasn't actually Ross Ulbricht.

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After all, the name was inspired by the film The Princess Bride to describe

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a character inhabited over and over through many generations.

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I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts, he said. My name is Ryan.

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I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts.

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When the Dread Pirate Roberts gave an interview to Forbes two months before

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Ulbricht's arrest, he insisted that he was not.

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What inspired you to start the Silk Road? I didn't start the Silk Road. My predecessor did.

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The Silk Road forums are full of comments from the Dread Pirate Roberts account.

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Did you write those? The most I am willing to reveal is that I am not the first

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administrator of Silk Road. The jury never saw this interview.

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Everybody say, was there multiple DPRs? Absolutely there was. I was DPR once.

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Curtis Green says to this day that he doesn't believe Ross is the one who put

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out the hit and claims the undercover agent, Carl Force, a.k.a.

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Knob, also had access to the Dread Pirate Roberts account.

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And Carl Force and myself, as far as I know, were the only ones to have the login.

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When I was supportive of Ross to my attorneys, they said, why were you supportive

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of a guy that tried to kill you?

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And I immediately snapped back and I said, how do you know that he tried to have me killed?

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You're just going by what the government tells you. Federal prosecutors never

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charged Ross for attempted murder,

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but the federal judge who sentenced him to two life sentences plus 40 years

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with no possibility of parole nonetheless referenced these episodes in her decision.

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We'll come back to Carl Force, a.k.a. Knob, in a moment, who was the FBI agent.

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But I want you to remember that Bitcoin was still new. The feds wanted to go

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hard and make an example out of Ross. I think it was around $200 a coin when

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Ross was arrested, and the FBI seized 144,000 Bitcoin from Ross.

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And they made him out to be this drug kingpin who was ordering hits,

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but he really had just built a marketplace.

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Now, these two FBI agents involved, this was a cross-department effort to get

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Ross, but these two FBI agents that were involved, they were dirty.

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And so just as Ross's fate seemed sealed, false hope emerged because before

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his trial was over, it came out that these FBI agents were no good and they'd

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been accused of stealing and embezzling.

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And the Washington Post says two federal agents are accused of stealing from

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a criminal website they were investigating.

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This morning, they face money laundering and wire fraud charges.

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Chip Reid is in Washington with details from the indictment.

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Chip, good morning. Well, good morning. In 2012 and 2013, two federal agents

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were investigating the Silk Road website where users could buy and sell illegal

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drugs using the web-based currency known as bitcoins.

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But federal prosecutors now say those two agents were actually benefiting from

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the very site they were trying to bring down, information that is threatening

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to undermine one of the Department of Justice's most important cases.

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Carl Force, a drug enforcement agent, and Sean Bridges, a member of the Secret

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Service, were working undercover to unmask this man, Ross Albrecht.

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The government suspected the clean-cut 30-year-old was Dread Pirate Roberts,

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the creator and operator of Silk Road.

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It's my belief, and this is kind of backed up by what Curtis Green said earlier,

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anyone who had administrative login accounts, and there was a couple of them, could post as DPR.

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It's sort of the admin account that they all could post from.

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Force and Bridges used fake identities to communicate with Albrecht.

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Force and Bridges being the FBI agents. That, federal prosecutors say,

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was just the start of their deception.

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It's truly, like, more complicated than any spy thriller I can think of.

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Andy Greenberg, a senior writer for Wired, has been following the Silk Road

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case. The simplest way to say this is that Carl Force was doubly undercover.

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During his undercover investigation, Agent Force, a 15-year veteran of the DEA,

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allegedly created several online personas, including French Maid.

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In disguise, he allegedly sold Silk Road's founder, Ulbricht,

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information about the government's investigation, offered to kill a Silk Road

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employee, and then blackmailed Ulbricht.

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He believed that he was kind of as immune from law enforcement as the person he was tracking.

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His payment was in Bitcoin, which can be traded and exchanged anonymously,

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or so they thought. If he was using his DEA computer to do these things,

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that's probably not very smart.

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In a series of complex transactions tracked by the government,

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both agents allegedly moved Bitcoin into their personal accounts.

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Prosecutors say Agent Bridges stole more than $800,000 worth.

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They may have succumbed to that temptation of dirty money and the impunity of

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anonymity, just as all of the users of Silk Road and its drug dealers were.

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Albrecht has already been convicted of running Silk Road and is awaiting sentencing.

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But his lawyer told us these new charges against the federal agents who are

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investigating Silk Road are, quote, strong grounds for appeal.

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And as we know, the DEA and Secret Service were already under the microscope

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because of alleged misbehavior by other agents.

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Now they have a new scandal to deal with. Gail?

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Oh, boy. Thank you, Chip. It was so embarrassing because, as you heard,

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it was one of their premier cases. And then there was corruption throughout.

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So you'd think maybe that would have helped Ross, but those scandals had no impact on Ross's case.

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He got two life sentences with no chance of parole.

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Other drug trafficking cases like this, you know, you have five to six years, something like that.

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I mean, some days, I don't know if some people even get jail time.

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The FBI agents ended up roughly spending about two and a half years in prison.

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Some of the top drug traffickers that were arrested on Silk Road were released years ago now.

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Also moderators, anybody else who's kind of ancillarily involved,

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they've all spent time in jail and been released.

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And through all of it, all the trials and the rumors, the Bitcoin community

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has really continued to share Ross's story.

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And eight years into his incarceration, so I think this was 2021.

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Ross had a chance to address the Bitcoin conference.

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And it was a recorded phone call, so the audio is not great,

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but the words are really powerful.

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And I want to play a couple of moments. The entire call will be linked in the

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show notes. It's about 25 minutes.

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I'm just going to play a couple of moments for you. And one of them,

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Russ talks about his time in jail. We all know the road to hell is paved with

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good intentions, right?

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And now here I am. I'm in hell.

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I want you to understand what it means to lose your freedom.

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Let me start by telling you about the hole. It goes by many names,

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the shoe, segregation, the box, the For me, it's the hole.

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The hole is the prison within the prison. I once spent four months straight in the hole.

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Not easy for me to talk about, but I will.

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The hole can make you or break you, and there was a time when it broke me.

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It started with my mind racing out of control. I felt like the walls were pushing

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in on me, like I just had to get out of that cell.

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This lasted days. Then I started beating the walls and kicking the heavy metal door.

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Something deep inside me cried out for freedom.

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I couldn't accept where I was or what had happened to me.

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But eventually I realized I had to get a grip. The stress was destroying me.

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It may sound strange, but what saved me was gratitude.

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But what could I be grateful for in that little cell?

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Well, I had to start small.

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I had air. I had air.

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I had water that didn't make me sick.

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Food came through the slot in the door every day.

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I knew I wasn't forgotten. My family, I knew someday it would be over and my

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family would still be there.

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I forgave all the people involved in putting me in prison. I had to.

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The anger I felt wasn't hurting them, but it was hurting me.

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Ross also talked about the irony of creating Silk Road. The irony is that I

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made Silk Road in the first place

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because I thought I was furthering the things I cared about. Freedom.

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Privacy. Equality. But by making Silk Road, I found out that place for those things don't exist.

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I'm not alone. These prisons are full of people who don't deserve this.

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We are mothers and fathers. We are sisters and brothers.

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But we've been made into monsters in your eyes. We've been made less than human.

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And next to all, there's Bitcoin. Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin has been transforming our world at that very first block in the blockchain.

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So let me tell you something.

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We are just getting started. Imagine being such a passionate Bitcoiner, at least at the time.

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Who knows now and watching just bits and pieces from the outside and just getting

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little glimpses bitcoin made me feel like anything was possible bitcoin was open to everyone right,

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i love so much about it it was like it leveled the playing field,

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when the idea of bitcoin really clicked for me i got so excited i thought with

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bitcoin i can try to do something that actually makes a difference.

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And by the way, before I was put in prison, we didn't have all these different

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cryptocurrencies and tokens and everything.

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I missed all that.

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So to me, it's all one thing, the forks, the new blockchains, all of it.

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So when I say Bitcoin, I'm not making those distinctions.

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To me, it may sound kind of corny, but to me, we're all one big family.

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So I was excited back then, but I was also very impatient.

302
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I saw what Bitcoin could do for freedom and equality, but I didn't take the

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00:22:04,628 --> 00:22:05,928
time to really understand it.

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I didn't fully appreciate the principles it's based on.

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Things like immutability and consensus And of course, de-sexualization.

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I had so many big dreams for Bitcoin. And what's so beautiful is slowly,

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those dreams are coming true. That's because of you.

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You are making those dreams a reality. You are doing what I didn't have the patience for.

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These last eight years now in prison.

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Over and over, I've been so impressed with how far we've come.

311
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So he's always had a soft spot in Bitcoiners' heart.

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00:22:50,622 --> 00:22:57,062
So when Trump stood in front of the Libertarian National Convention and made

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his promise, Bitcoiners noticed.

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If you vote for me on day one, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.

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And I don't think it was actually a lock because that overall presentation he

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gave to the Libertarian Party didn't go well for Trump. And they didn't really

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give any indication they were going to vote for him at all.

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Now I think you should nominate me or at least vote for me and we should win together.

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You heard those words nominate me or

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00:23:34,542 --> 00:23:39,982
vote vote for me because the libertarians want to vote for me and most of them

321
00:23:39,982 --> 00:23:45,802
will and it's very important because not exactly a warm reception he did get

322
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a better reception when he made the promise to bitcoiners at the bitcoin conference

323
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And on Monday of this week,

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Trump at noon took office and about 35 hours into Trump's second term,

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he didn't just commute Ross's sentence, but he gave Ross a full pardon.

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Now we're hearing from President Donald Trump issuing yet another pardon for

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Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht here.

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I want to put this up, the Trump war room with the screen grab of the Truth Social post.

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President Trump saying this, I just called the mother of Ross William Albrecht, he says Albright there,

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to let her know that in honor of her and the libertarian movement,

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which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full

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and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross.

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The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were

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involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me.

335
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He was given two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous. So...

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Music.

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Record there is a picture of ross presumably in the parking lot walking free

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and it's an incredible feeling to have watched this journey and i'm so happy

339
00:25:01,662 --> 00:25:05,562
for him and i hope he gets all the time and space he needs i'm sure there's

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00:25:05,562 --> 00:25:12,582
a lot to process and i hope he doesn't become a shit coiner because we certainly have enough of those.

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Music.

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Like the president of the united states well that was a fun one,

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friday before the inauguration trump's team launched the trump coin build as a way to have fun,

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i guess have fun spending money have fun pump and dumping i'm not quite sure

345
00:25:38,182 --> 00:25:42,852
i i believe the trump team has something in the range of an 80% pre-mine on

346
00:25:42,852 --> 00:25:47,692
this, which seems to be kind of the standard on these meme coins. What a deal.

347
00:25:48,272 --> 00:25:53,092
And boy, you know, I think Bitcoin, my personal theory was that Bitcoin,

348
00:25:53,232 --> 00:25:57,912
because we were going into the inauguration weekend, Martin Luther King Day

349
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was Monday here in the States, federal holiday, the banks were closed.

350
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Bitcoin went into Friday night pumping. The moment the Trump coin launched,

351
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Bitcoin's pump stopped and all of the liquidity, I think that was in the crypto

352
00:26:10,992 --> 00:26:13,232
market because the banks were closed at that point.

353
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So there's only so much liquidity in there went into this stupid crap.

354
00:26:17,866 --> 00:26:22,946
And so the Bitcoin pump sort of just stalled out and the Trump coin pumped like crazy.

355
00:26:24,286 --> 00:26:28,366
And well, there's just a lot to process here. And I wasn't even sure where to

356
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begin, but Lynn Alden was on what Bitcoin did.

357
00:26:31,006 --> 00:26:35,386
And her thoughts pretty much put words into what I was trying to come up with.

358
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If you look at the whole crypto industry side of it, I think meme coins are

359
00:26:39,646 --> 00:26:43,886
kind of the final arc or it's like the nihilistic narrative.

360
00:26:43,886 --> 00:26:50,686
So we had ICOs, then we had DeFi, NFTs, and then now it's just kind of like memes.

361
00:26:50,986 --> 00:26:54,826
So a lot of the other projects were, you know, what a lot of them I think got

362
00:26:54,826 --> 00:26:58,106
rightly criticized for is that compared to traditional venture,

363
00:26:58,466 --> 00:27:01,046
founders and investors put capital into a project.

364
00:27:01,226 --> 00:27:05,926
They work for years to make that project and their financial gains are tied

365
00:27:05,926 --> 00:27:08,726
to whether or not that thing they built has some degree of success.

366
00:27:08,726 --> 00:27:12,966
It either goes public with all the disclosures that are normally associated

367
00:27:12,966 --> 00:27:16,766
with going public, or they get bought by another company, by professionals.

368
00:27:17,146 --> 00:27:21,666
And what we see in the crypto space is after some fairly short lockup,

369
00:27:21,906 --> 00:27:24,866
a lot of the early people, the insiders can get out wealthy,

370
00:27:25,146 --> 00:27:28,746
regardless of whether or not that product has any long-term success,

371
00:27:28,746 --> 00:27:30,506
and the vast majority don't.

372
00:27:30,866 --> 00:27:34,186
MemeCoin just kind of cut to the chase. I mean, if there's one good thing that

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can be said is they're just kind of transparent about that, that there's no product or service.

374
00:27:39,466 --> 00:27:45,626
But it's kind of the nihilistic later stage narrative after the prior narratives were exhausted.

375
00:27:45,926 --> 00:27:48,566
As for Trump launching one, yeah, that was surprising. And of course,

376
00:27:48,646 --> 00:27:56,146
the scale is relevant because, you know, meme coins are not a very strong narrative for a cycle.

377
00:27:56,606 --> 00:28:01,126
But I guess if you have a sitting president doing it, it adds fuel to that narrative for a period of time.

378
00:28:01,646 --> 00:28:05,226
It's it's actually kind of in line they did trump steaks he's had what like

379
00:28:05,226 --> 00:28:06,926
trump vodka trump university.

380
00:28:08,171 --> 00:28:12,311
You know, the stock that they have, if you look at the market capitalization

381
00:28:12,311 --> 00:28:18,291
compared to their actual operations, there's kind of like a meme premium to it in a way.

382
00:28:18,711 --> 00:28:23,071
So it's really not in some sense that different than other things,

383
00:28:23,111 --> 00:28:27,091
but it does open things like campaign finance law questions that,

384
00:28:27,191 --> 00:28:31,311
you know, if you have a meme coin unlocking during your administration and you're selling it,

385
00:28:32,051 --> 00:28:37,391
you know, that opens kind of all sorts of campaign finance and, you know, other issues.

386
00:28:37,391 --> 00:28:40,511
So we'll see how how the different groups coordinate that.

387
00:28:40,671 --> 00:28:43,451
I'm honestly really curious to know what you think, because Lynn's later point

388
00:28:43,451 --> 00:28:45,071
there is the one that crossed my mind.

389
00:28:45,471 --> 00:28:49,051
Seems like a real easy way to buy favor with the president of the United States.

390
00:28:49,611 --> 00:28:52,611
It seems like a risk. I think Trump knows that.

391
00:28:52,831 --> 00:28:57,211
I noticed he played it kind of coy in a presser recently when he was asked about

392
00:28:57,211 --> 00:28:59,311
his meme coin and conflict of interest.

393
00:29:01,271 --> 00:29:04,871
Do you intend to continue selling products that benefit yourself personally

394
00:29:04,871 --> 00:29:05,531
while you're president?

395
00:29:06,211 --> 00:29:08,931
Well, I don't know if it benefited. I don't know where it is.

396
00:29:09,051 --> 00:29:11,171
I don't know much about it other than I launched it.

397
00:29:11,251 --> 00:29:14,711
I heard it was very successful. I haven't checked it. Where is it today?

398
00:29:15,771 --> 00:29:18,251
You made a lot of money, sir. How much?

399
00:29:19,731 --> 00:29:22,211
Several billion dollars, it seems like, in the last several days.

400
00:29:23,011 --> 00:29:24,911
Several billion? That's peanuts for these guys.

401
00:29:29,571 --> 00:29:33,751
He's pointing to Sam Altman and others that were there about his AI initiative.

402
00:29:34,371 --> 00:29:38,131
It's a bad look. It's a bad look for Trump, and it's a bad look for Bitcoin

403
00:29:38,131 --> 00:29:42,031
right as it's getting so much legitimacy, and the crypto industry could be getting

404
00:29:42,031 --> 00:29:44,971
a lot of legitimacy, and then this is the most illegitimate use of it.

405
00:29:45,471 --> 00:29:49,711
I don't think the no-coiners in the financial world and in the real world can sort this out.

406
00:29:49,771 --> 00:29:53,091
They were just starting to wrap their head around maybe Bitcoin is digital gold

407
00:29:53,091 --> 00:29:54,231
and kind of getting that narrative.

408
00:29:54,791 --> 00:29:59,571
And these things, they really do truly confuse them. I noticed your buddy Peter

409
00:29:59,571 --> 00:30:04,711
Schiff on X and his podcast is making hay out of the fact that Pomp went on

410
00:30:04,711 --> 00:30:10,011
CNBC and Pomp kind of struggled to differentiate Bitcoin and meme coins,

411
00:30:10,251 --> 00:30:14,291
which guys like Schiff are like, see, see, see, there is no difference.

412
00:30:14,611 --> 00:30:17,911
Well, I don't know about that. Here's Pomp's appearance on CNBC.

413
00:30:18,391 --> 00:30:21,991
Let's talk more about all of this. Joining us now is Anthony Pompliano,

414
00:30:22,211 --> 00:30:27,791
professional capital management founder, CEO, crypto guy, great guy,

415
00:30:27,971 --> 00:30:31,611
and former last call guest. Anthony, well, good to see you back on.

416
00:30:31,751 --> 00:30:34,771
What do you make of this Trump and Melania coin?

417
00:30:35,754 --> 00:30:38,414
Yeah, guys, thanks so much for having me. Look, we can spend hours talking about

418
00:30:38,414 --> 00:30:42,134
all the nuances and complexity here. I think on one hand, we shouldn't be surprised.

419
00:30:42,354 --> 00:30:45,314
You know, there's been tons of celebrities and other large brands that have

420
00:30:45,314 --> 00:30:46,154
launched these meme coins.

421
00:30:46,294 --> 00:30:49,354
And so the president of the United States and Trump are two of the biggest brands

422
00:30:49,354 --> 00:30:51,714
in the world. Yeah, but they're not public servants, right?

423
00:30:51,994 --> 00:30:56,494
You know, it's one thing if T-Swift or Snoop Dogg does it. It seems like another

424
00:30:56,494 --> 00:30:58,954
thing if the president of the United States does it.

425
00:30:59,174 --> 00:31:03,134
Again, because there's a lot of conflict of interest there. On the other hand,

426
00:31:03,274 --> 00:31:05,094
there's a lot of questions about what are they going to do?

427
00:31:05,234 --> 00:31:07,774
Who's going to actually make this money? Are there conflicts of interest?

428
00:31:07,974 --> 00:31:10,994
And so I think that both of those points are very valid.

429
00:31:11,174 --> 00:31:13,654
But, you know, one of the things that I've heard online that I think actually

430
00:31:13,654 --> 00:31:15,854
is inaccurate is there's tons of people who have been saying,

431
00:31:16,134 --> 00:31:17,454
oh, look at the crazy crypto people.

432
00:31:17,594 --> 00:31:20,234
Look at how insane they are to be putting their money into this thing.

433
00:31:20,234 --> 00:31:22,714
And I just want to remind people that also in the traditional market,

434
00:31:22,874 --> 00:31:28,094
the regular stock investors are valuing, you know, DJT at about $7 billion market

435
00:31:28,094 --> 00:31:29,594
cap on $4 million of revenue.

436
00:31:29,754 --> 00:31:34,254
And so maybe it's actually just Trump is an outlier and his companies or assets

437
00:31:34,254 --> 00:31:37,714
or products or services that he's associated with tend to, you know,

438
00:31:37,874 --> 00:31:41,554
overperform from a financial perspective more so than any one form factor,

439
00:31:41,654 --> 00:31:43,274
whether it's a stock, a meme coin or anything else.

440
00:31:43,274 --> 00:31:49,234
I would argue that the primary product for Donald Trump for the while now has been the Trump brand.

441
00:31:49,614 --> 00:31:52,114
The Trump brand, you know, that's why they put it on the stakes.

442
00:31:52,714 --> 00:31:54,154
That's why they put it on the buildings.

443
00:31:54,774 --> 00:31:58,254
And so that's why they have things like this, I think.

444
00:31:58,874 --> 00:32:03,694
They've always just sort of sold the brand. If you go search Trump coin or Trump

445
00:32:03,694 --> 00:32:09,274
coins on Google right now, what you'll find is lots of actual physical gold

446
00:32:09,274 --> 00:32:11,674
coins with Trump's head on them and whatnot.

447
00:32:12,254 --> 00:32:15,314
Like there's been actual physical Trump coins for years. Again,

448
00:32:15,454 --> 00:32:19,354
they're like, it's a, his, his, I think he even argued in court that,

449
00:32:19,955 --> 00:32:25,455
The major like source of like collateral for like their for their business is the Trump brand.

450
00:32:26,135 --> 00:32:29,635
Anthony, explain it for me real slow. Like I'm five.

451
00:32:30,555 --> 00:32:34,875
What are these coins? What are they? Yeah, the best way that I could think about

452
00:32:34,875 --> 00:32:38,655
this is if you think of Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshire is a lot of a good business

453
00:32:38,655 --> 00:32:39,855
and a little bit of a meme.

454
00:32:40,015 --> 00:32:42,095
Right. If you think of Tesla, it's like 50 percent.

455
00:32:42,595 --> 00:32:46,795
Anthony, I love you, but I'm going to stop you there. I don't want an analogy to Berkshire Hathaway.

456
00:32:47,075 --> 00:32:51,155
I want to you can analogize it to Bitcoin if you want. And I sort of understand that.

457
00:32:51,315 --> 00:32:56,535
No, she doesn't. And the point he was trying to make is what gives Microsoft stock value?

458
00:32:56,935 --> 00:33:02,275
Why does Microsoft stock trade at such a massive multiplier over what they actually earn?

459
00:33:03,135 --> 00:33:07,475
He's suggesting that part of it is the meme, the idea of Microsoft,

460
00:33:07,675 --> 00:33:11,515
the hope of where Microsoft is going, because if the stock traded on their actual

461
00:33:11,515 --> 00:33:14,375
revenue, it would be much lower. What are these coins?

462
00:33:15,255 --> 00:33:18,955
Yeah, well, the reason why I start with Berkshire is because Tesla is the next

463
00:33:18,955 --> 00:33:22,915
kind of in the step, right? Tesla's about 50% good company, 50% meme.

464
00:33:23,555 --> 00:33:27,895
DJT is like 80 or 90% meme, you know, 10% good company.

465
00:33:28,035 --> 00:33:32,075
And then the final form of this kind of transition is ultimately people just

466
00:33:32,075 --> 00:33:34,395
launched the meme and there is no company, right?

467
00:33:34,475 --> 00:33:37,635
And I think that this is actually a progression over the last 50 years or so.

468
00:33:37,775 --> 00:33:39,315
But is it a protocol, Anthony?

469
00:33:39,475 --> 00:33:42,235
I'm trying to understand, like, tell me from a technological point of view,

470
00:33:42,475 --> 00:33:44,335
what are these? Remember the ICO boom?

471
00:33:44,615 --> 00:33:47,295
And Trump himself was against that. This was back in like, I don't know,

472
00:33:47,415 --> 00:33:49,075
2016, 2017, something like.

473
00:33:55,655 --> 00:34:01,895
So this is where he really starts to fall down.

474
00:34:02,035 --> 00:34:05,955
I don't know why he doesn't just say these are tokens issued on the Solana blockchain

475
00:34:05,955 --> 00:34:10,715
and there can be as many of them as they ever want and there's an 80% pre-mine.

476
00:34:11,403 --> 00:34:14,883
Like you could just start right there and just differentiate it between Bitcoin,

477
00:34:15,123 --> 00:34:18,903
but he just doesn't do it. So, again, what is this? What are these?

478
00:34:19,563 --> 00:34:23,523
Think of this as a branded coin that are all the same. So if you think about

479
00:34:23,523 --> 00:34:25,543
trading cards, obviously there's baseball cards.

480
00:34:25,843 --> 00:34:28,443
Then there are these kind of branded trading cards that were digital.

481
00:34:28,603 --> 00:34:31,943
Trump actually has launched some of those and many other brands or companies

482
00:34:31,943 --> 00:34:33,443
and celebrities have done them as well.

483
00:34:33,563 --> 00:34:36,623
But now what we're seeing is people saying, well, you don't even need uniqueness

484
00:34:36,623 --> 00:34:37,603
between the different coins.

485
00:34:37,683 --> 00:34:42,823
It is just a asset that is put out there. Now, I should say that I'm not necessarily condoning this.

486
00:34:42,963 --> 00:34:45,743
I didn't necessarily buy it. I don't hold either one of these tokens.

487
00:34:45,943 --> 00:34:49,323
But I do think that it's important to pay attention to this because ultimately

488
00:34:49,323 --> 00:34:53,603
what we're seeing is we're seeing the collision of the digital world with brands

489
00:34:53,603 --> 00:34:57,183
and a new financialization. And so this financialization, obviously,

490
00:34:57,183 --> 00:34:59,203
Bitcoin is kind of a digital version of gold.

491
00:34:59,343 --> 00:35:02,823
We have seen now open source projects that have started to launch coins and

492
00:35:02,823 --> 00:35:07,303
figure out a new way for them to monetize what otherwise was a non-monetizing activity.

493
00:35:07,503 --> 00:35:11,083
And now what you're going to see is you're going to see brands and celebrities do the same thing.

494
00:35:11,323 --> 00:35:15,983
The real question is, you know, what does the market ultimately think about the long term?

495
00:35:16,243 --> 00:35:18,523
I don't know why you can't explain the difference between because they keep

496
00:35:18,523 --> 00:35:21,083
they'll keep pressing him. If it is just a token that has no.

497
00:35:21,203 --> 00:35:24,003
I don't want to play the whole thing. It's obnoxious. They keep asking him,

498
00:35:24,063 --> 00:35:25,763
what's the difference between Bitcoin and a meme coin?

499
00:35:25,883 --> 00:35:28,223
And I don't know why he can't get to it.

500
00:35:28,863 --> 00:35:30,403
Also, like these celebrities, why

501
00:35:30,403 --> 00:35:34,203
would you want a meme coin when the president says, oh, how am I doing?

502
00:35:34,223 --> 00:35:37,363
I'm not really following it. It drops 40%.

503
00:35:38,383 --> 00:35:41,483
Like if you're going to buy, like he talked about open source projects.

504
00:35:41,583 --> 00:35:43,703
Well, if you're selling a coin for an open source project, there should be like

505
00:35:43,703 --> 00:35:45,063
an equity stake or something there.

506
00:35:45,523 --> 00:35:48,523
The whole thing is a mess. The Solana network is having trouble keeping up.

507
00:35:48,623 --> 00:35:52,803
But mostly the bigger problem is the exchanges are having problems with their Solana nodes.

508
00:35:53,303 --> 00:35:55,023
So I don't know. What do you think here?

509
00:35:55,543 --> 00:36:01,063
Is Trump just leading the way in some sort of new industry and he's taking a

510
00:36:01,063 --> 00:36:02,983
little early first mover risk?

511
00:36:03,823 --> 00:36:07,823
It does seem like there is an attitude change. As of this recording,

512
00:36:08,023 --> 00:36:10,803
there are 33 crypto ETFs proposed right now.

513
00:36:11,023 --> 00:36:16,703
New, 33 new crypto ETFs. And they're loaded, loaded up with Sol,

514
00:36:16,983 --> 00:36:20,723
XRP. They have, I don't know why anyone would ever do this, but they have ETFs

515
00:36:20,723 --> 00:36:24,883
that mix Bitcoin and ETH. There's even a Doge ETF.

516
00:36:25,423 --> 00:36:30,163
I mean, we're going crazy here. And on January 21st, the SEC announced it's

517
00:36:30,163 --> 00:36:35,623
launching a, quote, crypto task force to develop clear regulations around the whole industry.

518
00:36:36,889 --> 00:36:41,509
In fact, their task force, they claim to intend they're going to hold public

519
00:36:41,509 --> 00:36:45,789
hearings, which if that's true, well, guess who's going to be watching to see

520
00:36:45,789 --> 00:36:47,809
what they talk about? I'm going to keep my eye on that.

521
00:36:48,309 --> 00:36:51,769
They're also claiming that they're going to work better with the Commodities

522
00:36:51,769 --> 00:36:52,749
Future Trading Commission.

523
00:36:53,209 --> 00:36:57,529
The CFTC is technically what currently oversees Bitcoin, I suppose, in the U.S.

524
00:36:58,009 --> 00:37:01,609
But while we're talking about Trump, what about his executive actions around

525
00:37:01,609 --> 00:37:03,309
crypto? Have we seen what we expected?

526
00:37:09,749 --> 00:37:13,989
Now, we do have some developments from agencies working closely with digital assets.

527
00:37:14,189 --> 00:37:18,249
SEC Commissioner Mark Ulleda has been named acting chair of the agency after

528
00:37:18,249 --> 00:37:21,929
Gary Gensler's departure, and as we await the Senate's vote on Trump's pick

529
00:37:21,929 --> 00:37:23,429
for Commissioner Paul Atkins.

530
00:37:23,709 --> 00:37:28,089
Just today, Ulleda launched a crypto task force under the agency that's being

531
00:37:28,089 --> 00:37:32,629
led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, who's seen as a longtime ally by the crypto industry.

532
00:37:32,889 --> 00:37:36,349
The SEC says the task force will work with commission staff and the public to

533
00:37:36,349 --> 00:37:39,409
set a regular regulatory path while remaining in bounds of the law.

534
00:37:39,689 --> 00:37:43,249
Specifically, the agency says that includes helping the commission draw clear

535
00:37:43,249 --> 00:37:46,489
regulatory lines and provide realistic paths to registration.

536
00:37:46,929 --> 00:37:50,849
Okay. So we have seen some changing of the deck and some reprioritization at

537
00:37:50,849 --> 00:37:52,669
the SEC. I mean, these are actually really big things.

538
00:37:53,209 --> 00:37:58,429
Bitcoin pumped a little bit on that news. And it's rumored that perhaps soon

539
00:37:58,429 --> 00:38:03,729
we're going to see some sort of repealing or some kind of change for SAB-121.

540
00:38:04,409 --> 00:38:09,269
Which I talked about last week, that would probably be more significant,

541
00:38:09,269 --> 00:38:12,469
at least in the immediate term, than a Bitcoin strategic reserve.

542
00:38:12,909 --> 00:38:17,189
Yeah. So as you recall, the current problem is that now with SAB-121,

543
00:38:17,429 --> 00:38:18,869
it requires banks to list cryptocurrencies

544
00:38:18,869 --> 00:38:22,389
under their custody as a liability on their balance sheet.

545
00:38:22,869 --> 00:38:27,749
No bank wants to do that, especially during a bear market. And so they haven't

546
00:38:27,749 --> 00:38:29,329
been able to offer custody services.

547
00:38:29,789 --> 00:38:33,629
And the reality is the banks are actually interested in doing this.

548
00:38:33,749 --> 00:38:38,609
I wouldn't have thought so myself, but this is the CEO of Bank of America.

549
00:38:38,829 --> 00:38:43,589
There's still 4,000 banks. So it's not like there's considered the disaggregious industries.

550
00:38:43,789 --> 00:38:46,189
Let me ask you a separate question. And Becky's got one back in Washington,

551
00:38:46,309 --> 00:38:49,469
but on crypto, we just had Brian Armstrong sitting in the seat that you were in.

552
00:38:49,709 --> 00:38:53,049
And obviously there's a lot of excitement about crypto. The banking business

553
00:38:53,049 --> 00:38:55,329
for the most part has stayed away from crypto.

554
00:38:55,869 --> 00:39:02,149
Given President Trump's full-throated support for crypto, do you imagine Bank

555
00:39:02,149 --> 00:39:07,909
of America is going to be full on in the crypto business if we have this conversation

556
00:39:07,909 --> 00:39:09,709
12 months, 24 months from now?

557
00:39:09,849 --> 00:39:16,109
I'd separate out this sort of crypto versus stable assets and digital movement

558
00:39:16,109 --> 00:39:19,809
of money because we already move the vast, vast majority of our money digitally.

559
00:39:20,129 --> 00:39:22,709
Yeah, oh yeah, Yeah, we're already experts at digital.

560
00:39:23,489 --> 00:39:27,689
And, you know, when you issue a transfer from your bank, it often,

561
00:39:27,889 --> 00:39:31,369
you know, we'll tell you it could take up to five days, but we sometimes get it done in three.

562
00:39:31,569 --> 00:39:34,929
Our consumers do, our companies do. And so the question is, what's the business –.

563
00:39:35,962 --> 00:39:39,302
Practice that you have to have to move another type of currency.

564
00:39:39,602 --> 00:39:43,922
So if the rules come in and make it a real thing that you can actually do business

565
00:39:43,922 --> 00:39:47,862
with, you will find that the banking system will come in hard on the transactional

566
00:39:47,862 --> 00:39:51,522
side of it, non-anonymous, transactional, verified, et cetera.

567
00:39:51,942 --> 00:39:56,942
He's calling it a currency and he says they're going to come in hard on the transaction side.

568
00:39:57,242 --> 00:40:00,622
I don't know how interested I am in Bank of America running a lightning note

569
00:40:00,622 --> 00:40:03,022
or whatever the heck you... You know what? They're probably talking about an

570
00:40:03,022 --> 00:40:03,982
Ethereum thing or something.

571
00:40:04,622 --> 00:40:07,642
Or stable coins you know whatever it's whatever network that's going to run on.

572
00:40:08,662 --> 00:40:11,342
But i think ultimately they're going to play around with that

573
00:40:11,342 --> 00:40:14,142
stuff maybe enable transactions with stable coins something like that

574
00:40:14,142 --> 00:40:17,502
on the back end but it'll be bitcoin where they make their money have to because

575
00:40:17,502 --> 00:40:19,402
it's just another way our customers are going to the other thing we're talking

576
00:40:19,402 --> 00:40:23,022
about was the possibility that bitcoin and some of these cryptocurrencies actually

577
00:40:23,022 --> 00:40:26,262
are a threat to the u.s dollar scott bestens talked about needing the u.s dollar

578
00:40:26,262 --> 00:40:31,222
to be super powerful yeah is it is it a threat i think there's a whole bunch

579
00:40:31,222 --> 00:40:33,562
of dynamics about all the trade and all the consumption of the U.S.

580
00:40:33,682 --> 00:40:36,602
Consumer and all the stuff that goes on. But I think we do need a strong U.S.

581
00:40:36,722 --> 00:40:39,182
Dollar. We need a U.S. dollar reserve currency. It's good for our country.

582
00:40:39,522 --> 00:40:44,382
But what I'm saying is if you go down the street here and you go in and buy

583
00:40:44,382 --> 00:40:49,562
lunch, if you can pay with Visa, MasterCard, a debit card, Apple Pay,

584
00:40:49,882 --> 00:40:54,362
etc., etc., this will just be another form of payment in an instantaneous cash transfer.

585
00:40:54,602 --> 00:40:59,502
And so I think if it becomes regulatory okay, which it wasn't before,

586
00:40:59,642 --> 00:41:02,182
and that's one of the issues, you'll see the banking system enter with it.

587
00:41:02,242 --> 00:41:04,462
We have hundreds of patents on blockchain already.

588
00:41:05,002 --> 00:41:08,682
We know how to enter the field. When you get to the investment side and the

589
00:41:08,682 --> 00:41:10,982
Bitcoin stuff, that's really a separate question.

590
00:41:11,062 --> 00:41:12,822
That's more on the investment side. From the transactional side,

591
00:41:12,882 --> 00:41:14,382
I think you'll see the banking industry make moves.

592
00:41:14,542 --> 00:41:18,682
So he's calling it a currency and he's talking about using it as a medium of

593
00:41:18,682 --> 00:41:21,102
exchange. We'll see where this goes. I mean, those are...

594
00:41:22,063 --> 00:41:26,503
Definitely a change in tone from the CEO of Bank of America.

595
00:41:26,783 --> 00:41:33,143
So my question to you is, do you see any upside to Trump selling a Trump coin

596
00:41:33,143 --> 00:41:34,263
for the crypto industry?

597
00:41:34,703 --> 00:41:37,743
Does it bring new people in? I don't know. Is there some sort of positive narrative

598
00:41:37,743 --> 00:41:39,303
to Trump having his own coin?

599
00:41:39,563 --> 00:41:42,903
And what about my concern about buying favor with the president of the United

600
00:41:42,903 --> 00:41:44,563
States by buying a bunch of his coin?

601
00:41:44,903 --> 00:41:49,143
And I'd also just be curious what your reaction was to him launching his coin

602
00:41:49,143 --> 00:41:55,063
in general. And, of course, to the news about Ross, which I'm extremely excited about.

603
00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:16,560
Music.

604
00:42:00,123 --> 00:42:01,343
Let me know. Boost in.

605
00:42:14,303 --> 00:42:18,483
You can support the show just by doing what you do. If you want to DCA into

606
00:42:18,483 --> 00:42:21,123
Bitcoin and you're in the States, River's a great way to go.

607
00:42:21,243 --> 00:42:24,423
They have a great platform, beautiful UI, mobile app, web app,

608
00:42:24,503 --> 00:42:26,483
and of course, proof of reserves.

609
00:42:27,003 --> 00:42:30,263
The Bitcoin Well has an amazing self-custody feature.

610
00:42:30,803 --> 00:42:35,483
The sats get sent directly to your wallet. You don't have to leave sats on their platform.

611
00:42:35,603 --> 00:42:38,963
You start with self-custody. So if you're going for long-term storage and you

612
00:42:38,963 --> 00:42:43,743
want to put it in your wallet, that's the Bitcoin Well. Bitcoinwell.com slash Jupiter.

613
00:42:43,983 --> 00:42:47,363
Links are in the show notes. If you want to spend some of your Bitcoin via Lightning,

614
00:42:47,523 --> 00:42:50,603
thebitcoincompany.com, promo code Jupiter, link in the show notes,

615
00:42:51,283 --> 00:42:55,643
gift cards for hundreds of sites, everything you could possibly think of, from Fuel to Amazon.

616
00:42:56,483 --> 00:42:59,383
They got gift cards you can go from Lightning to a gift card in seconds.

617
00:43:00,023 --> 00:43:03,903
I stack sats by paying my bills with the Fold Card. I got a link to that.

618
00:43:04,543 --> 00:43:08,403
Help out the show by clicking these links. And the Fold Card is a great company

619
00:43:08,403 --> 00:43:11,543
in general. And then if you want to get access to your Bitcoin value without

620
00:43:11,543 --> 00:43:15,663
selling, I've looked at all the alternatives and I think salt lending is one of the best right now.

621
00:43:16,103 --> 00:43:19,163
You can use salt lending and support the show. Link in the show notes.

622
00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:34,000
Music.

623
00:43:33,847 --> 00:43:38,727
Came into the show wouldn't you know it some people supported episode 43 of this week in bitcoin,

624
00:43:40,107 --> 00:43:42,767
and i don't know the script is pulling them up from all

625
00:43:42,767 --> 00:43:45,067
over the place but we don't so i don't think we have i think what happened is

626
00:43:45,067 --> 00:43:48,907
i don't have a baller booster this week so we'll start with orange pill lawyer

627
00:43:48,907 --> 00:43:55,287
who came in with 2621 sats why you got to put numbers and letters together why

628
00:43:55,287 --> 00:44:01,567
can't you just go yourself uh he says jamie diamond's motive is world domination You think?

629
00:44:01,967 --> 00:44:04,447
He wants to control the world with JPM coin?

630
00:44:05,387 --> 00:44:09,967
I don't know. Maybe. It could be it. Thank you for the boost.

631
00:44:10,607 --> 00:44:13,847
Adversary 17, of course, is here with 16,000 sats.

632
00:44:13,967 --> 00:44:19,047
You're doing a good job. And he says, great episode. Well. I am programmed in multiple techniques.

633
00:44:19,307 --> 00:44:21,287
Thank you, adversaries. I appreciate it.

634
00:44:21,807 --> 00:44:26,887
The tone wrecker is here with a big old duck, 4,444 sats. That's right.

635
00:44:27,087 --> 00:44:31,007
Shout out to LNBeats.com. It's a great recommendation for value for value music. Yep.

636
00:44:31,967 --> 00:44:37,647
LNbeats.com is one of the ways I find songs for this show. One of the ways. I have my tricks.

637
00:44:38,027 --> 00:44:42,147
I won't reveal all of them in one boost. But if you want other recommendations,

638
00:44:42,427 --> 00:44:44,747
boost in and I'll reveal my secrets.

639
00:44:45,407 --> 00:44:48,587
Mr. Wes Payne comes in with a big old duck himself. Ah, fly.

640
00:44:48,847 --> 00:44:52,787
Just some ducks for a balanced take and fantastic clips. Keep it coming.

641
00:44:53,147 --> 00:44:58,887
Oh, and he also says, he sent another row of ducks to say, Core Lightning Gang unite.

642
00:44:59,207 --> 00:45:02,447
I'm a new user, but it's quite resource efficient and supports Bolt 12.

643
00:45:02,847 --> 00:45:06,267
It also has some great plugins, less ecosystem support, however.

644
00:45:06,707 --> 00:45:11,247
On the Bolt 12, I know some people commented about the lightning wall issues with Bitcoin Well.

645
00:45:11,347 --> 00:45:15,687
It turns out the Bitcoin Well is a Bolt 12 shop, which has also meant there

646
00:45:15,687 --> 00:45:19,207
is more limited support here in the States. But Bolt 12 is so awesome.

647
00:45:19,767 --> 00:45:23,567
I've talked about it a little on the show. If you search around on the show

648
00:45:23,567 --> 00:45:24,727
notes page, I don't know.

649
00:45:25,421 --> 00:45:29,521
I don't know. Maybe you'll find it. Thank you, Wes. Clarkin comes in with 11,000 sats.

650
00:45:30,941 --> 00:45:34,621
Send 1,000 sats to the artist saying pretty good song. And then another 10,000

651
00:45:34,621 --> 00:45:36,721
sats because, well, he meant to boost more.

652
00:45:36,921 --> 00:45:39,561
He's a good guy. He's a real good guy. No, he's a great guy.

653
00:45:39,821 --> 00:45:42,421
Well, thank you, Clarkin. Appreciate it very much.

654
00:45:43,161 --> 00:45:47,761
Hey, I'll be 1984's here with 4,200 sats. Well, I'll be dipped.

655
00:45:48,021 --> 00:45:52,101
42 seems like the perfect episode to boost for the first time using sats sent

656
00:45:52,101 --> 00:45:54,801
from my self-hosted. I'll be hub.

657
00:45:56,761 --> 00:46:01,861
Right on. Yeah. Love it. I love seeing all the reports of this.

658
00:46:02,321 --> 00:46:05,881
He says, I have it on Start9, and I have it connected to my fountain wall.

659
00:46:06,141 --> 00:46:09,281
Sorry I've been away. I've been able to boost, but Start9 has a sale going,

660
00:46:09,321 --> 00:46:12,681
and I was stacking every day I go to take advantage of it, and then I ran into

661
00:46:12,681 --> 00:46:14,341
some technical difficulties during the setup.

662
00:46:14,761 --> 00:46:16,941
Let's be honest. Mostly between the keyboard and the chair, though.

663
00:46:17,241 --> 00:46:20,441
Good to be back and self-sovereign. And in honor of episode 42,

664
00:46:20,961 --> 00:46:21,761
don't forget your towel.

665
00:46:22,261 --> 00:46:25,321
Absolutely. Coming in hot with the boost. Thank you, Oppie.

666
00:46:25,421 --> 00:46:29,141
I really appreciate that and congratulations really

667
00:46:29,141 --> 00:46:32,161
i don't know i just feel so much pride that

668
00:46:32,161 --> 00:46:35,281
my i got so many people in my audience that are willing to

669
00:46:35,281 --> 00:46:38,061
run their own nodes like i mean it's a good group out

670
00:46:38,061 --> 00:46:40,781
there you know and i'm no shame on your game if

671
00:46:40,781 --> 00:46:43,621
you're not running your own node but i do encourage you to play around if

672
00:46:43,621 --> 00:46:46,521
you get a weekend it'll just bring your appreciation for bitcoin up

673
00:46:46,521 --> 00:46:49,281
to a whole other level user 22 comes in with

674
00:46:49,281 --> 00:46:52,061
4 242 sats well that's very good

675
00:46:52,061 --> 00:46:55,781
buddy oh dang i was happy to hear your new episodes out but my first ever boost

676
00:46:55,781 --> 00:46:59,521
on fountain that i shot over you didn't have my name in the show so it's probably

677
00:46:59,521 --> 00:47:02,981
too late you get another boost from me yeah you know it's tricky you got to

678
00:47:02,981 --> 00:47:06,841
go in there and get your profile set up user 22 you got to go in there and get

679
00:47:06,841 --> 00:47:09,521
your profile set up because otherwise you don't get your credit,

680
00:47:10,061 --> 00:47:13,261
but i do really appreciate the support i mean at the end of the day you are

681
00:47:13,261 --> 00:47:18,541
keeping the show going thank you very much one doll geek comes in with 5 555

682
00:47:18,541 --> 00:47:21,061
cents this is the way absolutely.

683
00:47:21,761 --> 00:47:23,981
Please do leave in the extra explanations.

684
00:47:24,361 --> 00:47:26,901
Okay, I did leave in one in this episode. I don't know if anybody caught which

685
00:47:26,901 --> 00:47:31,021
one it was, but there was one additional verbose spot in a clip that I normally

686
00:47:31,021 --> 00:47:33,681
would cut, and I left it because it gave additional info.

687
00:47:34,021 --> 00:47:36,801
It says, the podcast has quickly become the first one on my playlist because

688
00:47:36,801 --> 00:47:40,141
I love the detailed explanations that you give. More of that. Well.

689
00:47:41,013 --> 00:47:45,113
You got it, buddy. And I will continue. Thank you for the boost.

690
00:47:45,353 --> 00:47:49,473
User 952. Uh-oh, it's another one where they didn't get their username set.

691
00:47:49,653 --> 00:47:53,873
Danger zone. That's a danger zone. They came in with 6,001 sats. Danger zone.

692
00:47:54,113 --> 00:47:57,453
I had to clip this from my friend who still says Bitcoin is the only use for

693
00:47:57,453 --> 00:48:01,933
drugs and illegal activity. Oh, user, go back a few weeks. I have all the data.

694
00:48:02,193 --> 00:48:04,633
It's in the show notes, too. You can just get the links. You don't have to listen

695
00:48:04,633 --> 00:48:05,773
to the whole episode, but you can if you want.

696
00:48:06,993 --> 00:48:11,173
And then he sent in another 5,000 sats. User boost. Which is a Jar Jar boost

697
00:48:11,173 --> 00:48:13,873
because he felt like he needed to send a little more value. Thank you very much.

698
00:48:14,693 --> 00:48:20,233
Chutoy came in with 5,000 sats. You said boost. Why do you prefer River over Strike?

699
00:48:20,713 --> 00:48:24,293
Oh, it's a good question, Chutoy. I don't know if I have a preference.

700
00:48:24,913 --> 00:48:28,653
I will say that I like that River has a really good web interface.

701
00:48:28,933 --> 00:48:31,233
And, you know, when I'm sitting down and doing my Bitcoin stuff,

702
00:48:31,433 --> 00:48:33,053
I do like to do it on a desktop.

703
00:48:33,633 --> 00:48:38,333
And I don't like my entire experience to my sats being relegated to a mobile

704
00:48:38,333 --> 00:48:42,033
device that is tied to a platform vendor that is tied to an app store.

705
00:48:42,673 --> 00:48:46,233
So I like Strike a lot. I'm a big fan of Jack's. I think he's done good work

706
00:48:46,233 --> 00:48:50,173
for the Bitcoin community and for Lightning adoption and for Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador.

707
00:48:50,613 --> 00:48:54,393
So I give him massive props for that. And I think he's got a good company, super focused.

708
00:48:54,493 --> 00:48:58,733
I think it's a small company, but it's super focused on delivering financial

709
00:48:58,733 --> 00:49:00,993
services to Bitcoin users on the Lightning network.

710
00:49:01,133 --> 00:49:06,433
So Strike's a really good app. But River seems hyper-focused on securing your

711
00:49:06,433 --> 00:49:13,053
Bitcoin and stacking, and they have that 3.8% APY or whatever it is for your cash and sats.

712
00:49:13,473 --> 00:49:17,793
They have a lot of features that I think are great for, like, smash buys and DCAing.

713
00:49:18,593 --> 00:49:22,453
But if you're just DCAing on Strike and then, you know, sending it out of there

714
00:49:22,453 --> 00:49:26,853
every, you know, whenever, I really don't think there's any disadvantage there.

715
00:49:26,973 --> 00:49:29,313
I don't know if there's a way to support the show through Strike.

716
00:49:29,313 --> 00:49:34,233
Oh, they have an affiliate program, but it's like I get sats without a fee.

717
00:49:35,567 --> 00:49:37,827
But they already have pretty low fees. So I guess there's that,

718
00:49:37,847 --> 00:49:41,747
too. Rivers is a great company, and you can support the show that way.

719
00:49:42,167 --> 00:49:46,947
But I like Strike a lot, too, and have no hesitations recommending Strike to you or the audience.

720
00:49:47,727 --> 00:49:50,167
Gene Bean, thank you for the boost. Gene Bean's here with the big old duck.

721
00:49:50,267 --> 00:49:51,887
Ah, fuck! Yeah, it's two rows of ducks.

722
00:49:53,487 --> 00:49:56,987
With regard to the nuclear power, I like the carbon-free aspect,

723
00:49:57,127 --> 00:49:59,827
but I'm concerned about the lack of ability to deal with the spent material

724
00:49:59,827 --> 00:50:01,067
from the power generation.

725
00:50:01,067 --> 00:50:05,287
As far as I know, the only options today are to hide it deep underground or

726
00:50:05,287 --> 00:50:09,247
some holding pond, both of which can and have leaked into water supplies.

727
00:50:09,427 --> 00:50:14,587
You know, Gene, I agree. We have a famous site here in Washington that stores

728
00:50:14,587 --> 00:50:17,607
the waste. So very familiar with the stories.

729
00:50:18,467 --> 00:50:22,347
The one thing that I constantly think about, and I really genuinely am asking

730
00:50:22,347 --> 00:50:24,187
here, guys, how does the U.S.

731
00:50:24,287 --> 00:50:29,007
Military deal with this? because they've been doing nukes and subs underwater

732
00:50:29,007 --> 00:50:32,507
that are being managed by kids, right?

733
00:50:32,587 --> 00:50:37,587
They're training people that are joining the military at 19 years old.

734
00:50:38,027 --> 00:50:41,927
And by their mid-20s, they're running reactors and submarines.

735
00:50:42,447 --> 00:50:46,467
And as far as I know, there's never been a major incident. And they're active today.

736
00:50:47,047 --> 00:50:50,587
They're small, they're portable, and they must do something with the waste and

737
00:50:50,587 --> 00:50:52,567
something that's been successful.

738
00:50:53,387 --> 00:50:56,947
So why is this technology not available to the rest of us? And what are they

739
00:50:56,947 --> 00:50:58,347
doing? And can we learn from that?

740
00:50:58,907 --> 00:51:02,647
Because they have about a 50-year track record so far that seems to be pretty solid.

741
00:51:03,367 --> 00:51:06,347
So I'm just always curious about that. If anybody has any context or information,

742
00:51:06,507 --> 00:51:09,507
please share. Gene Bean continues with another Rodex.

743
00:51:10,667 --> 00:51:14,107
I'm setting up RazzBlitz for a full node plus an L&D-backed AlbiHub,

744
00:51:14,167 --> 00:51:17,667
and I came across a suggestion in their docs to utilize CoinJoin tools for privacy.

745
00:51:18,007 --> 00:51:21,187
And that got me wondering, what are your thoughts on that topic?

746
00:51:21,187 --> 00:51:25,447
For reference, the docs are linked here at bitcoin-only.com slash privacy.

747
00:51:26,087 --> 00:51:29,027
Well, that's an option. It's a little old and it's expensive.

748
00:51:29,407 --> 00:51:32,107
I think you should look, if you want to look into that kind of thing,

749
00:51:32,167 --> 00:51:37,907
I think a CoinJam, and you can run this on your RazBlitz yourself, the Jam software.

750
00:51:38,547 --> 00:51:41,407
And then also I think I would love to know, I don't know myself,

751
00:51:41,607 --> 00:51:46,907
I would love to know a technical privacy comparison between something like a CoinJam and Liquid.

752
00:51:47,972 --> 00:51:52,552
Because liquid seems like a great option because it breaks the tracking and

753
00:51:52,552 --> 00:51:54,492
then you peg right back out or something like that.

754
00:51:54,572 --> 00:51:57,472
And it's much cheaper. But perhaps I'm missing something.

755
00:51:57,692 --> 00:52:02,252
To be honest with you, it's not an area I've investigated super heavily.

756
00:52:02,392 --> 00:52:07,372
I've played around with it a lot over the years. If you were to add it all up, I've done it a lot.

757
00:52:07,512 --> 00:52:14,312
But it's been a while. And I think I've come to a point where if I can't spend

758
00:52:14,312 --> 00:52:17,292
my Bitcoin in 10 years, we've got bigger problems. And if it's,

759
00:52:17,412 --> 00:52:20,692
you know, so also I think these technologies will be approved upon as well.

760
00:52:20,832 --> 00:52:24,332
I think that some of the stuff we're using today, there'll be better options in the future.

761
00:52:25,112 --> 00:52:28,472
Gene, let me know what you think. And great. Glad to hear you're setting up

762
00:52:28,472 --> 00:52:32,092
the Razzblitz node. Really would love to know how that works out and your thoughts on it overall.

763
00:52:33,152 --> 00:52:36,632
Nakamoto 6102 comes in with 4,000 sats. The traders love the vol.

764
00:52:36,912 --> 00:52:39,292
Says thanks for the value. Well, thank you for the boost.

765
00:52:39,872 --> 00:52:42,232
Paranoid Coder's here with 2,100 sats.

766
00:52:43,732 --> 00:52:47,332
And he says, honestly, I believe that J.P. Morgan is still spouting the same

767
00:52:47,332 --> 00:52:50,332
FUD so that they can eventually offer a Bitcoin-based alternative,

768
00:52:50,332 --> 00:52:54,832
probably on their own internal blockchain that will operate like a centralized layer, too.

769
00:52:55,212 --> 00:52:58,552
That solves the issues he complains about. It'll be faster. It'll be cheaper.

770
00:52:58,792 --> 00:53:02,472
And we won't allow the criminals. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. They got a great

771
00:53:02,472 --> 00:53:03,852
track record of that, right?

772
00:53:05,412 --> 00:53:09,032
You know, Paranoid, I wonder if it isn't going to be lots of,

773
00:53:09,152 --> 00:53:11,372
like, we're going to go through right now.

774
00:53:11,372 --> 00:53:17,692
We live in this era where just any Joe goes and creates a meme coin or any Sally

775
00:53:17,692 --> 00:53:20,912
goes and creates a new blockchain that can be forked off of something else.

776
00:53:21,740 --> 00:53:24,480
And those are kind of dying out. This does seem like the meme coins might be

777
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:29,480
sort of like end stage, final stage of the narratives around these stupid coins.

778
00:53:29,780 --> 00:53:32,460
But then there's going to be a whole other round of the banks.

779
00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:35,340
And they're going to do it all over again, just with more official names and

780
00:53:35,340 --> 00:53:37,980
more official marketing and longer cycles, I imagine.

781
00:53:38,500 --> 00:53:41,100
I don't know. I hope I'm wrong, though. Let me know what you think.

782
00:53:41,700 --> 00:53:46,300
Oh, here we go. Mug Daddy's here with 10,000 sats. Heck, yes.

783
00:53:46,660 --> 00:53:48,700
Well, I'll be dipped. Thank you very much.

784
00:53:49,980 --> 00:53:53,100
Pretty certain it's pronounced plaid. Yeah, I think you're right.

785
00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:55,260
I was talking about played, like you got played.

786
00:53:55,740 --> 00:53:59,300
But the intro clip was glorious. It's probably the best bang for the bucks podcast

787
00:53:59,300 --> 00:54:01,100
around. Well, sats. Thank you.

788
00:54:01,560 --> 00:54:06,160
Well, thank you, Mug Daddy. Appreciate the boost. Ace Ackerman's here with a row of ducks.

789
00:54:07,780 --> 00:54:13,180
2,222 sats. The overly maligned Gary Gensler's dragging of his feet on crypto

790
00:54:13,180 --> 00:54:17,260
policy may have been a net positive for Bitcoin, allowing the network to get

791
00:54:17,260 --> 00:54:18,900
stronger before institutional adoption.

792
00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:22,780
His 2018 MIT course on Bitcoin and blockchain is pretty good quality.

793
00:54:22,980 --> 00:54:24,220
Did you know he has a twin?

794
00:54:24,660 --> 00:54:27,820
Yes, I did. I forgot, but I did know that. It's so weird.

795
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:32,780
Okay, well, let's look what happened. The Friday Gary's out of office,

796
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:34,700
Trump launches a meme coin.

797
00:54:35,340 --> 00:54:39,460
I mean, I don't know. Would he have done that? Could he have done that in the

798
00:54:39,460 --> 00:54:41,480
former SEC regime? I don't know. I don't think so.

799
00:54:42,460 --> 00:54:46,000
Gary's always been very clear that he doesn't think Bitcoin is a problem,

800
00:54:46,020 --> 00:54:47,860
even in his exit interview on CNBC.

801
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:50,560
He holds Bitcoin apart from all other crypto.

802
00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:57,360
I do wonder if Gary had another four years, if Bitcoin would be the last man standing.

803
00:54:57,700 --> 00:55:02,260
And now I think we're going to have a, well, golden era for shit coins is what

804
00:55:02,260 --> 00:55:03,160
I think is going to happen.

805
00:55:03,660 --> 00:55:06,100
And a lot of people are going to get burned and it's not going to look good.

806
00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:10,480
And it's going to be our job to make sure people understand it's not Bitcoin.

807
00:55:10,980 --> 00:55:12,760
It's something else. I think that's going to be critical.

808
00:55:13,380 --> 00:55:17,580
And people need to understand the scarcity and the fact that the pre-mines mean

809
00:55:17,580 --> 00:55:20,380
that these teams make so much money. That's a big one.

810
00:55:21,260 --> 00:55:24,740
Thank you for the boost. Got me thinking. Got me going on that one, Ace.

811
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:33,020
Spectrus is here with 15,500 sats. That matrix is worth a thousand dilithium crystals.

812
00:55:33,420 --> 00:55:36,240
I bet that's our baller boost for this week. Spectrus writes,

813
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:39,120
Well, I just finished up Lynn Alden's Broken Money audiobook,

814
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:42,800
and whoa, this fills in so many gaps in my understanding.

815
00:55:43,380 --> 00:55:46,380
Yes. You know what? You get a bell and an applause.

816
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:49,680
I'm going to say it for the 100th time on the show. If you haven't read,

817
00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:54,320
if you have not yet read Broken Money, Broken Money by Lynn Alden, I really do suggest it.

818
00:55:55,409 --> 00:55:58,869
Audiobook form, whatever. In Deadtree, I don't care.

819
00:55:59,409 --> 00:56:02,829
Next up, standing up my own Bitcoin node, he writes, in addition to an Albi

820
00:56:02,829 --> 00:56:05,229
hub. Heck, yes, buddy, go for it.

821
00:56:05,629 --> 00:56:08,509
Also, I've got to figure out how to pass my lightning channels through Tailscale

822
00:56:08,509 --> 00:56:11,309
to my VPS for more channels out there so they're more reachable.

823
00:56:12,489 --> 00:56:15,869
Yeah, and he asks, do you have a link to your Nix config? I don't think we have

824
00:56:15,869 --> 00:56:18,449
it public, because we never went through and made sure it was safe to do so.

825
00:56:18,809 --> 00:56:22,789
But it is something I'd be down for. I have to think about when we would even have time to do that.

826
00:56:22,789 --> 00:56:28,489
We have a VPS and there's a lot of ways you can do it you just need the ability

827
00:56:28,489 --> 00:56:31,849
to route the traffic to your tail scale interface so if you think about that,

828
00:56:31,889 --> 00:56:37,049
that could really just be like NF tables or maybe Nginx but NF tables is just

829
00:56:37,049 --> 00:56:43,389
routing traffic on the lightning node ports over your tail net to the IP of your node,

830
00:56:43,969 --> 00:56:48,269
that's the high level of what we achieve there what we accomplish is the lightning

831
00:56:48,269 --> 00:56:54,509
node is on a private LAN on a residential line not exposed publicly there and

832
00:56:54,509 --> 00:56:56,849
the VPS acts as the public front for the node.

833
00:56:57,429 --> 00:57:03,209
Hope that helps. Never tell me the odds. And our last boost comes from Nyko the Geek.

834
00:57:03,389 --> 00:57:06,729
I hope I get that right. With 5,000 sats. And you know what that is.

835
00:57:06,809 --> 00:57:08,809
That's a Jar Jar boost. It's a boost.

836
00:57:09,069 --> 00:57:14,149
Until I figure out how to boost in with the Trump coin, I guess these sats will have to do.

837
00:57:16,729 --> 00:57:20,469
Well done, sir. Well done. You know what? You can keep a Trump coin.

838
00:57:20,469 --> 00:57:24,129
Thank you very much for the boost. Thank you, everybody who boosted in.

839
00:57:24,349 --> 00:57:28,809
It's not a crazy week, but we had a solid showing in boosts and a bunch of you

840
00:57:28,809 --> 00:57:31,249
under the 2,000-sat cutoff, too, so thank you very much.

841
00:57:31,749 --> 00:57:35,369
We had 28 boosters in total and 42 streamers.

842
00:57:35,649 --> 00:57:41,229
You streamers collectively stacked 80,861 sats for the show.

843
00:57:41,549 --> 00:57:45,849
Thank you very much. and combined with the boosters, the 28 of you who boosted

844
00:57:45,849 --> 00:57:49,389
in, the show's total this week's a little light, especially for the hours put

845
00:57:49,389 --> 00:57:51,809
in, let me tell you, good body, whoo dog!

846
00:57:52,489 --> 00:57:56,329
But we stacked 192,786 sats.

847
00:57:57,589 --> 00:58:01,629
Just don't break that down to an hourly wage. But very much appreciated,

848
00:58:01,629 --> 00:58:06,509
great messages, and I always appreciate the regulars who continue to step up and support the show.

849
00:58:07,129 --> 00:58:10,209
If you'd like to try it out, you can try Strike.

850
00:58:10,469 --> 00:58:13,169
Makes it really easy, or something like River or Bitcoin Well,

851
00:58:13,349 --> 00:58:16,209
and then you need an app to boost, something like the Fountain app.

852
00:58:16,449 --> 00:58:22,289
We'll have lots of options over at podcastapps.com from self-hosted to totally hosted.

853
00:58:22,469 --> 00:58:25,249
It just kind of depends on, you know, whatever your groove is,

854
00:58:25,369 --> 00:58:28,469
brother or sister, but they're all listed over there at podcastapps.com.

855
00:58:28,569 --> 00:58:32,689
And thank you everybody who did support episode 43 of this week in Bitcoin.

856
00:58:33,169 --> 00:58:36,949
It is a value for value show. There is no corporate sponsor.

857
00:58:37,269 --> 00:58:40,029
In fact, it probably doesn't even make a lot of sense from time to time from

858
00:58:40,029 --> 00:58:42,609
business week, especially weeks when I'm crazy busy like this week.

859
00:58:43,189 --> 00:58:45,889
But I gosh darn love you guys. I love the Bitcoin community.

860
00:58:46,109 --> 00:58:48,069
And I'm so damn excited Ross is out.

861
00:58:48,189 --> 00:58:51,809
And I just really appreciate those of you who do step up and support. Music.

862
00:58:52,720 --> 00:59:03,440
Music.

863
00:59:05,267 --> 00:59:10,127
Ryan Dehurst over at the Digital Assets Research Institute released a banger

864
00:59:10,127 --> 00:59:16,427
of a paper, how Bitcoin mining stabilized the grid and saved Texans 18 billion dollars. Yes, billion.

865
00:59:17,107 --> 00:59:19,807
And also earned the ire of Berkshire Hathaway.

866
00:59:20,787 --> 00:59:24,687
It's an interesting story. It's the overall story. It's one you know before.

867
00:59:24,867 --> 00:59:28,367
Bitcoin mining came in and stabilized the Texas grid by quickly adjusting power

868
00:59:28,367 --> 00:59:33,467
consumptions and replacing the need for these expensive gas peaker plants they'd used before.

869
00:59:33,467 --> 00:59:39,187
That saved Texans about $18 billion just by avoiding the peaker plant investments

870
00:59:39,187 --> 00:59:42,867
that were proposed by Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

871
00:59:44,667 --> 00:59:49,967
The results are that Bitcoin mining offers lower emissions and also helped integrate

872
00:59:49,967 --> 00:59:52,087
more renewable energy than they had originally planned.

873
00:59:52,527 --> 00:59:56,667
That got Berkshire Hathaway very angry, and they lobbied against Bitcoin mining,

874
00:59:56,827 --> 00:59:59,447
and they tried to influence political figures like the lieutenant governor,

875
00:59:59,587 --> 01:00:00,967
Dan Patrick, who I've mentioned before.

876
01:00:01,807 --> 01:00:07,227
Berkshire Energy has continued lobbying also, facing resistance,

877
01:00:07,227 --> 01:00:11,707
though, from both the Bitcoin mining companies and also officials at Texas' ERCOT.

878
01:00:12,267 --> 01:00:13,807
They think it's a great thing.

879
01:00:14,487 --> 01:00:18,407
And now it's kind of coming out how connected this Lieutenant Governor Don Patrick

880
01:00:18,407 --> 01:00:19,507
is connected to Berkshire.

881
01:00:20,327 --> 01:00:23,547
And it seems like a real win of a paper.

882
01:00:23,707 --> 01:00:27,167
It shows how ERCOT's strategy now is to include Bitcoin mining and it's prevented

883
01:00:27,167 --> 01:00:31,687
blackouts during extreme weather events that have happened since that horrible

884
01:00:31,687 --> 01:00:32,987
storm they had a few years ago.

885
01:00:33,647 --> 01:00:36,967
They say it's revolutionized their grid down there. It's offered scalable,

886
01:00:37,207 --> 01:00:40,687
cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative to gas peaker plants.

887
01:00:41,167 --> 01:00:45,247
And it's challenging and entrenched energy interests. Isn't that something?

888
01:00:45,627 --> 01:00:48,527
You know, they hate that. And I love to see it.

889
01:00:49,327 --> 01:00:54,747
Also, we had a result from the U.S. District Court. They ruled against tornado

890
01:00:54,747 --> 01:00:56,387
cash sanctions. The U.S.

891
01:00:56,587 --> 01:01:00,027
District Court in Western District of Texas has ordered the U.S.

892
01:01:00,407 --> 01:01:04,107
Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Controls, that's OFAC, to remove the addresses

893
01:01:04,107 --> 01:01:10,247
associated with tornado cash from its specially designated national and blocked persons list.

894
01:01:10,587 --> 01:01:15,487
In other words, the tornado cash addresses are being removed from the sanctions

895
01:01:15,487 --> 01:01:19,987
list, following an appeals court ruling in the Treasury Department that they

896
01:01:19,987 --> 01:01:23,047
had exceeded its authority by sanctioning the crypto mixer in the first place.

897
01:01:23,047 --> 01:01:27,747
This does not yet to appear to affect the legal battles facing the two Tornado

898
01:01:27,747 --> 01:01:29,027
Cash developers, however.

899
01:01:29,947 --> 01:01:33,587
And then lastly, oh, not quite lastly. Well, almost lastly.

900
01:01:33,827 --> 01:01:38,607
Lastly, Eve, there is an Australian couple that is selling their block of land,

901
01:01:38,607 --> 01:01:42,647
and they're doing it for Bitcoin. And I just wonder if this isn't going to be a new trend.

902
01:01:43,527 --> 01:01:48,527
A tech-loving couple is trying a new way to sell their property without using

903
01:01:48,527 --> 01:01:50,707
a real estate agent or a lender.

904
01:01:51,047 --> 01:01:54,907
They've listed the block of land with Bitcoin as the currency of choice and

905
01:01:54,907 --> 01:01:58,587
unlike traditional sales, the transaction would bypass the banks.

906
01:01:59,587 --> 01:02:02,807
Ballarat was founded on the wealth of the gold rush.

907
01:02:02,987 --> 01:02:09,147
Now these vendors are hoping to strike it rich, accepting Bitcoin for the sale of their block.

908
01:02:09,407 --> 01:02:12,747
Cut out the middleman, cut out the real estate agent and yeah,

909
01:02:12,887 --> 01:02:13,787
we'll see what happens from there.

910
01:02:13,907 --> 01:02:17,067
By allowing this sale through the use of Bitcoin, you know, we're hoping to

911
01:02:17,067 --> 01:02:19,147
generate some interest beyond Australia.

912
01:02:19,427 --> 01:02:23,927
Melissa Bauer and Trudy Purcell purchased the property in 2021.

913
01:02:24,207 --> 01:02:30,027
It was an old miner's cottage which needed a lot of work, but materials and

914
01:02:30,027 --> 01:02:31,887
labour costs were too high.

915
01:02:32,187 --> 01:02:37,287
Our original plans were to renovate it and to turn it into something magnificent,

916
01:02:37,287 --> 01:02:38,667
but that didn't eventuate.

917
01:02:38,847 --> 01:02:43,387
By using Bitcoin, it also removes the need for traditional banks.

918
01:02:43,807 --> 01:02:48,047
Inflation's sky high, interest rates are high. Why not use something like this

919
01:02:48,047 --> 01:02:51,427
where you cut out the middleman, transactions are quick, secure.

920
01:02:51,707 --> 01:02:57,067
A first for Ballarat, but using Bitcoin to purchase real estate isn't as uncommon

921
01:02:57,067 --> 01:03:03,207
as you might think, with agencies now offering cryptocurrency loans around the world.

922
01:03:03,447 --> 01:03:07,647
We're seeing a lot of traction is that those that have been accumulating Bitcoin

923
01:03:07,647 --> 01:03:11,927
or buying Bitcoin in the past with a price appreciation, they're using that

924
01:03:11,927 --> 01:03:15,267
to then borrow against it, to then buy and get into the property market.

925
01:03:15,427 --> 01:03:18,347
It's very early days, but I think if you can get on the front foot,

926
01:03:18,487 --> 01:03:19,867
you're going to give yourself an advantage.

927
01:03:20,147 --> 01:03:21,947
Melina Saras, 7 News.

928
01:03:22,447 --> 01:03:24,627
There you go, huh? It's a new trend.

929
01:03:25,367 --> 01:03:28,947
Sell your land for Bitcoin. And you notice inflation got name-dropped in there

930
01:03:28,947 --> 01:03:31,087
too, which, I don't know, just made me smile.

931
01:03:31,227 --> 01:03:35,747
Okay, and here's the last community sort of update news thing that's just sort of buzzing out there.

932
01:03:36,107 --> 01:03:38,947
And shout-out to No BS Bitcoin for rounding this up.

933
01:03:39,407 --> 01:03:42,047
These are some of the latest corporate Bitcoin purchases. They've just gone

934
01:03:42,047 --> 01:03:43,687
beyond my ability to track personally.

935
01:03:44,634 --> 01:03:48,534
The big one here, MicroStrategy, has acquired since the last episode 11,000

936
01:03:48,534 --> 01:03:53,754
more Bitcoin for $1.1 billion and now holds 461,000 Bitcoin,

937
01:03:54,074 --> 01:03:56,734
which they have acquired for a total of $29.3 billion.

938
01:03:57,794 --> 01:04:02,374
The Genius Group increased their Bitcoin treasury to 420 Bitcoin by purchasing

939
01:04:02,374 --> 01:04:03,914
an additional $5 million worth of Bitcoin.

940
01:04:04,374 --> 01:04:07,194
The Curl Technology Group announced 8 million Bitcoin purchases,

941
01:04:07,414 --> 01:04:09,754
increasing their total holdings now to 510 coins.

942
01:04:10,454 --> 01:04:14,054
Critical Metals Corporation announced a Bitcoin treasury strategy,

943
01:04:14,254 --> 01:04:18,234
stating that it plans to acquire up to $500 million worth of Bitcoin.

944
01:04:18,514 --> 01:04:22,174
And the last one on their list for this week, Rumble has reportedly made its

945
01:04:22,174 --> 01:04:26,234
first Bitcoin purchase as part of a 20 million Bitcoin treasury strategy.

946
01:04:26,474 --> 01:04:30,954
I also saw that yesterday El Salvador announced that they've stacked yet another 11 Bitcoin.

947
01:04:31,434 --> 01:04:37,734
How about that, huh? Okay, now I have just two clips for the final clips of

948
01:04:37,734 --> 01:04:42,554
the week, if you will. So nothing like life changing, but very bullish.

949
01:04:42,894 --> 01:04:47,834
And I've been feeling pretty excited recently. The first one is your good buddy,

950
01:04:47,974 --> 01:04:51,414
the CEO of BlackRock, who you hobnob with all the time, I'm sure.

951
01:04:51,754 --> 01:04:54,874
He's hobnobbing and he got talking about Bitcoin.

952
01:04:55,214 --> 01:05:00,514
And Larry's got this whole thing now because he tried Bitcoin as hope and he

953
01:05:00,514 --> 01:05:04,054
got pushback because then, you know, that's a bad message.

954
01:05:04,054 --> 01:05:08,274
So now he's going with, well, Bitcoin's for if you're afraid of these things

955
01:05:08,274 --> 01:05:11,474
that are obviously happening. And it's an interesting kind of spin.

956
01:05:12,174 --> 01:05:18,734
You if you're frightened of your debasement of your your your currency or you're

957
01:05:18,734 --> 01:05:23,134
frightened of your economic or political stability of your country.

958
01:05:24,208 --> 01:05:34,308
You can have an internationally based instrument called Bitcoin that will overcome those local fears.

959
01:05:35,528 --> 01:05:41,308
And so I'm a big believer in the utilization of that as an instrument.

960
01:05:41,608 --> 01:05:49,908
And so if that becomes true and you see that it could be a proper hedge against

961
01:05:49,908 --> 01:05:54,428
maybe hope security or equities, The question is,

962
01:05:54,568 --> 01:05:57,348
could you see a 2% or 5% allocation?

963
01:05:57,548 --> 01:06:02,908
I was with a sovereign wealth fund during this week, and that was the conversation.

964
01:06:03,148 --> 01:06:06,548
Should we have a 2% allocation? Should we have a 5% allocation?

965
01:06:06,848 --> 01:06:11,788
If everybody adopted that conversation, it would be $500,000,

966
01:06:11,888 --> 01:06:14,248
$600,000, $700,000 per Bitcoin.

967
01:06:15,368 --> 01:06:20,208
I'm not promoting it, by the way. No. That is not my promotion.

968
01:06:20,788 --> 01:06:23,228
No, but if you think it's going to go to $700,000, by the way,

969
01:06:23,328 --> 01:06:25,348
I have an ETF that's called IBIN. You can buy some IBIN.

970
01:06:26,588 --> 01:06:30,208
$700,000 a coin is what Larry's saying. Maybe he isn't bullish enough,

971
01:06:30,268 --> 01:06:34,088
though, because your other good buddy, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase,

972
01:06:34,308 --> 01:06:35,588
was hobnobbing at Davos.

973
01:06:36,268 --> 01:06:40,868
And he thinks that Larry is underestimating Bitcoin's potential.

974
01:06:41,748 --> 01:06:45,468
Well, we have seen just incredible growth, and I think it hit an all-time high

975
01:06:45,468 --> 01:06:48,788
yesterday, so we feel very good about that. But I think over time,

976
01:06:48,948 --> 01:06:52,008
we'll see Bitcoin get into the millions, multiple millions of price range.

977
01:06:52,168 --> 01:06:55,508
I mean, it's being adopted by more and more institutional customers.

978
01:06:55,768 --> 01:06:59,248
The ETFs brought in a huge amount of inflow. If we get clear legislation passed

979
01:06:59,248 --> 01:07:01,348
in the U.S., that would be a big milestone.

980
01:07:01,588 --> 01:07:06,308
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, if the U.S. took that path, probably the rest of the G20 would follow.

981
01:07:06,428 --> 01:07:10,048
In fact, you know, I've discussed with a number of finance ministers here in

982
01:07:10,048 --> 01:07:14,248
Switzerland from different countries around the world. Just the idea of a strategic

983
01:07:14,248 --> 01:07:17,588
Bitcoin reserve, they're getting more interested in it now because the US is looking into it.

984
01:07:17,708 --> 01:07:21,708
So I think Bitcoin has a long way to go. It's gonna be the new gold standard out there.

985
01:07:21,928 --> 01:07:24,528
And crypto is really much bigger than that too. It's about payments.

986
01:07:25,520 --> 01:07:35,760
Music.

987
01:07:35,605 --> 01:07:37,745
Let's take a look at the state of the network. As I wrap up,

988
01:07:37,825 --> 01:07:41,365
the block height is 880,386.

989
01:07:41,605 --> 01:07:44,005
That's a great one. 880, 386.

990
01:07:44,745 --> 01:07:48,885
The price is currently 104,660 US dollars.

991
01:07:49,365 --> 01:07:55,165
That is my favorite metric, 955 sats per dollar. We are below 1,000 sats per dollar.

992
01:07:55,725 --> 01:07:59,745
We are down just 4% from our all-time high, which was two days ago.

993
01:07:59,745 --> 01:08:05,745
The all-time high was $109,160, which was on January 19th, 2025,

994
01:08:06,005 --> 01:08:07,505
like I said, two days ago as I record.

995
01:08:08,605 --> 01:08:16,865
Wow. There's a lot going on. And last but not least, reachable nodes, $21,595.

996
01:08:17,725 --> 01:08:19,645
Bitcoin Network, doing real good.

997
01:08:19,920 --> 01:08:29,680
Music.

998
01:08:28,605 --> 01:08:33,545
Now links to what i talked about are at this week in bitcoin.show this was episode

999
01:08:33,545 --> 01:08:37,825
43 i'd love to have you boost in and support the show with any thoughts on anything

1000
01:08:37,825 --> 01:08:42,565
i talked about or also what i missed what were you hoping i'd talk about love

1001
01:08:42,565 --> 01:08:45,765
to hear that too i also always appreciate if you share it with a friend.

1002
01:08:46,405 --> 01:08:51,185
Word of mouth is the best advertisement in the podcasting world. Trust me.

1003
01:08:51,425 --> 01:08:54,165
Ain't nobody going to listen to a show this long unless you recommend it to

1004
01:08:54,165 --> 01:08:57,225
them. Maybe if they're really Bitcoin curious and that's you,

1005
01:08:57,325 --> 01:08:58,925
if that's you out there, I really appreciate you.

1006
01:08:59,365 --> 01:09:02,325
Now I'm going to wrap it up with a value for value track like I always do.

1007
01:09:02,445 --> 01:09:04,665
And I want to say a big thank you, everybody.

1008
01:09:05,065 --> 01:09:10,225
You put last week's track at number one on the podcast index charts.

1009
01:09:10,865 --> 01:09:14,065
21 million reached the top thanks to your support.

1010
01:09:14,365 --> 01:09:18,725
So when you boost in during the song, 95% of the sats will go to the artist.

1011
01:09:18,945 --> 01:09:20,805
And this week, I'm featuring Henry.

1012
01:09:20,720 --> 01:12:17,949
Music.