1
00:00:00,017 --> 00:00:05,717
Are you expecting a recession this year? I hate to predict things like that.

2
00:00:06,017 --> 00:00:10,837
There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big.

3
00:00:11,097 --> 00:00:14,337
We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing.

4
00:00:14,717 --> 00:00:19,657
And there are always periods of... It takes a little time.

5
00:00:20,237 --> 00:00:21,577
It takes a little time.

6
00:00:22,417 --> 00:00:26,017
But I think it should be great for us. I mean, I think it should be great.

7
00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:53,040
Music.

8
00:00:52,997 --> 00:01:00,197
Welcome in to episode 49 of This Week in Bitcoin. My name is Chris ChrisLAS.com

9
00:01:00,197 --> 00:01:06,737
JupyterBroadcasting.com It is very good to be back The last couple of weeks were wild.

10
00:01:08,015 --> 00:01:12,895
And it's times like this that it's a core belief of mine that a really great

11
00:01:12,895 --> 00:01:19,195
investor tries to separate out the emotion as much as possible and focus on the signal.

12
00:01:19,555 --> 00:01:23,295
So that's what I'm going to strive for today. And that means we'll be getting

13
00:01:23,295 --> 00:01:26,535
into some topics that might be emotionally charged for some of you.

14
00:01:26,695 --> 00:01:30,655
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask that we all strive to separate out

15
00:01:30,655 --> 00:01:35,875
the emotion and stay focused because there is big things developing.

16
00:01:35,875 --> 00:01:41,055
And I think the vast majority of people analyzing the situation are completely

17
00:01:41,055 --> 00:01:44,395
using the wrong lens and they're missing the mark.

18
00:01:44,695 --> 00:01:47,675
And one of the things we have to start with, of course, is always the macro

19
00:01:47,675 --> 00:01:52,055
picture, because as I go on air today, the U.S. has new inflation data.

20
00:01:52,435 --> 00:01:56,035
Finally, we have some good news on the economy and really the number one issue

21
00:01:56,035 --> 00:01:57,795
for many Americans, the cost of living.

22
00:01:57,955 --> 00:02:02,815
So we just learned that consumer prices in February increased by 2.8 percent

23
00:02:02,815 --> 00:02:05,755
year over year, 0.2 percent month over month.

24
00:02:05,875 --> 00:02:12,015
Both of these figures were a step in the right direction and both were better than expected.

25
00:02:12,215 --> 00:02:16,935
So this is definitely very encouraging to see because it's going to,

26
00:02:17,115 --> 00:02:21,915
I think, relieve some fears that inflation was perhaps reaccelerating because

27
00:02:21,915 --> 00:02:25,615
this actually breaks a streak of four straight months where I think you could

28
00:02:25,615 --> 00:02:29,135
see it on the chart all the way to the right where the inflation rate was going

29
00:02:29,135 --> 00:02:31,675
in the wrong direction. Right. It was going higher and higher.

30
00:02:32,135 --> 00:02:35,995
Finally, we're seeing it dip. What? What is this?

31
00:02:36,375 --> 00:02:40,635
What's going on here? Yeah, this marks the slowest pace of inflation in four months.

32
00:02:41,235 --> 00:02:45,635
And technically, the first cool down after four straight months of increases.

33
00:02:46,015 --> 00:02:49,315
That's why we've been talking about the possibility of stagflation.

34
00:02:49,655 --> 00:02:53,455
But this entire time, I've been wanting to talk to you about this trend that

35
00:02:53,455 --> 00:02:57,335
I find really curious, and maybe we're going to soon get the answer to.

36
00:02:57,335 --> 00:03:00,855
I don't know if you follow this, but there's the Truflation Index,

37
00:03:01,175 --> 00:03:04,655
and they have a dashboard that tracks inflation in the United States sourcing

38
00:03:04,655 --> 00:03:06,555
in-market real-time prices.

39
00:03:07,547 --> 00:03:13,507
And for the last week or two, it says inflation is in the 1% range,

40
00:03:13,867 --> 00:03:16,687
like 1.3, 1.5% inflation.

41
00:03:17,527 --> 00:03:24,007
Today, as I record, Truflation says that the inflation rate in the United States is 1.32%.

42
00:03:24,767 --> 00:03:29,047
And if you look at their charts, starting in late February, it just drops off

43
00:03:29,047 --> 00:03:32,087
a cliff from like a high two, which is already lower than the CPI,

44
00:03:32,187 --> 00:03:37,987
but it was around there, to now 1.3. It just drops off a cliff at the end of February.

45
00:03:38,687 --> 00:03:43,787
Now, what I think is notable here is Truflation nailed the real inflation in

46
00:03:43,787 --> 00:03:45,507
the economy when it was going up.

47
00:03:45,787 --> 00:03:48,987
When we were cooking up inflation, it nailed it.

48
00:03:49,087 --> 00:03:54,147
Well before the Fed, well before the CPI reflected the impact of inflation, Truflation called it.

49
00:03:54,967 --> 00:04:00,187
And now we maybe are on the other side, but we still see many calling for stagflation.

50
00:04:00,307 --> 00:04:05,547
So I don't know what to make of what the CPI says and what the Truflation dashboard says.

51
00:04:05,727 --> 00:04:10,087
I tend to agree more with Truflation because they're sourcing it from the actual

52
00:04:10,087 --> 00:04:13,627
market, where CPI, you know, it's always kind of been fiddled with.

53
00:04:13,947 --> 00:04:16,307
I'd like to know what you think is going on here.

54
00:04:16,807 --> 00:04:20,267
Send me a boost and share your thoughts.

55
00:04:20,427 --> 00:04:24,067
Why do we see this massive drop-off on the Truflation dashboard?

56
00:04:24,107 --> 00:04:28,467
And is inflation maybe actually going to get tamed?

57
00:04:28,867 --> 00:04:32,767
That's the thing. I just, I can't square why we have such a gap in the data right now.

58
00:04:33,687 --> 00:04:36,447
Something, something seems to be up. So I'd like to know your opinion on it,

59
00:04:36,467 --> 00:04:37,987
too. Maybe we can put it together.

60
00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:49,040
Music.

61
00:04:49,687 --> 00:04:53,427
Stock markets on both sides of the border saw steep declines again today.

62
00:04:53,687 --> 00:04:58,547
In New York, the Dow, the Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 each saw sell-offs.

63
00:04:58,627 --> 00:05:01,527
For more on this, I want to bring in Christina Parsinevilos.

64
00:05:01,527 --> 00:05:05,347
She's the Nasdaq reporter with CNBC, and she joins us live in New York.

65
00:05:05,507 --> 00:05:08,107
So, Christina, just how bad was it on the markets today?

66
00:05:09,176 --> 00:05:13,176
Well, bad enough that on CNBC, we had a red banner saying markets sell off the

67
00:05:13,176 --> 00:05:17,136
entire day. And I admittedly wore red, but the Nasdaq was down 4 percent.

68
00:05:17,416 --> 00:05:22,056
The S&P down to about 2.7 percent and the Dow closing 2 percent lower.

69
00:05:22,356 --> 00:05:25,356
And much of that selling was just across the board. Individual names,

70
00:05:25,516 --> 00:05:26,736
Apple falling 5 percent.

71
00:05:26,856 --> 00:05:30,716
I mentioned Apple because it has the biggest point impact on the Nasdaq 100,

72
00:05:30,916 --> 00:05:32,556
where I am right now, followed by NVIDIA.

73
00:05:33,036 --> 00:05:37,876
Tesla, another name, falling 15 percent today. It's worst day since September 2020.

74
00:05:38,436 --> 00:05:42,956
Tech overall down from its peak in December, about 14%. And then lastly,

75
00:05:43,256 --> 00:05:47,236
just really, if we look at the NASDAQ 100, which is just the biggest 100 firms

76
00:05:47,236 --> 00:05:50,116
traded at the NASDAQ, you're seeing just a drop.

77
00:05:50,296 --> 00:05:54,716
You can compare it to COVID, for example. During COVID, those stocks fell about

78
00:05:54,716 --> 00:05:57,676
13% from mid-February to March.

79
00:05:57,896 --> 00:06:00,816
Right now, we're at down 12% during that same time frame.

80
00:06:01,356 --> 00:06:05,796
So to us in Bitcoin, the numbers seem small. But to the mainstream market,

81
00:06:06,016 --> 00:06:08,776
you know, those are pretty significant numbers. Those are COVID-level numbers.

82
00:06:09,076 --> 00:06:13,896
And poor Elon, he sure is a dummy, huh? If he went to go work in Doge to enrich

83
00:06:13,896 --> 00:06:18,736
himself and become even more wealthy, he sure is doing a bad job at that.

84
00:06:18,996 --> 00:06:24,296
I can't say. It's just not working out too well for him. So I want to talk about

85
00:06:24,296 --> 00:06:26,956
this quote-unquote volatility that we've been seeing.

86
00:06:27,256 --> 00:06:29,676
We knew this was coming. The market went crazy.

87
00:06:30,156 --> 00:06:35,196
But not all of us foresaw it. I think in Bitcoin terms, it's interesting what

88
00:06:35,196 --> 00:06:37,276
lettuce hands the ETF holders have had.

89
00:06:37,596 --> 00:06:42,816
The ETFs, IBIT, which in some previous drawdowns had zero outflows,

90
00:06:43,096 --> 00:06:45,536
has been selling off thousands of Bitcoin a day.

91
00:06:46,036 --> 00:06:49,936
And then in other places like River or Bitcoin Well and Strike,

92
00:06:50,416 --> 00:06:53,016
the vast majority of customers are buying the dip.

93
00:06:53,456 --> 00:06:57,036
I think River's buy side was almost 80% of the volume.

94
00:06:58,005 --> 00:07:02,765
Also, statistically interesting, wallets that hold over one Bitcoin or more

95
00:07:02,765 --> 00:07:04,725
have been buying the dip like crazy.

96
00:07:05,325 --> 00:07:09,145
So it seems that those that have conviction are not spooked by this,

97
00:07:09,285 --> 00:07:11,945
but the short-term holders are fleeing like crazy.

98
00:07:12,205 --> 00:07:16,445
And I actually kind of think there is a plan at work here.

99
00:07:16,745 --> 00:07:21,285
I don't know exactly if we should call it a master plan, but I think I figured

100
00:07:21,285 --> 00:07:22,625
out the game plan at least.

101
00:07:29,085 --> 00:07:33,125
Let's start with the big Bitcoin announcement while I was away.

102
00:07:33,325 --> 00:07:39,605
The Bitcoin strategic reserve and the digital asset stockpile, two separate things.

103
00:07:39,645 --> 00:07:44,185
And as I record a week later, the news is still not priced in on this.

104
00:07:44,325 --> 00:07:45,925
I've read the executive order.

105
00:07:46,165 --> 00:07:49,085
I did a quote unquote deep dive into this.

106
00:07:49,425 --> 00:07:54,485
And I don't think the rest of the market is fully understanding what a big deal this is.

107
00:07:54,485 --> 00:07:59,305
And one of the better breakdowns that happened in the last few days was crypto

108
00:07:59,305 --> 00:08:03,905
and AI czar for President Trump went on his old podcast, the All In podcast,

109
00:08:04,265 --> 00:08:09,245
and explained several aspects and details that I don't think have been out in the public.

110
00:08:09,405 --> 00:08:11,805
It's a pretty popular podcast, so you might have heard this,

111
00:08:11,905 --> 00:08:16,685
but I actually think these clips are historic in nature and worth playing on the show.

112
00:08:16,685 --> 00:08:22,885
And I also want to start with David Sachs' explanation of why Bitcoin is special,

113
00:08:22,925 --> 00:08:27,865
because these are the words of the crypto czar who is informing crypto policy

114
00:08:27,865 --> 00:08:29,205
directly for the White House.

115
00:08:29,325 --> 00:08:33,545
So his understanding of Bitcoin is extremely relevant.

116
00:08:33,985 --> 00:08:37,985
Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency. It's the first one. It's the only one

117
00:08:37,985 --> 00:08:41,165
that doesn't have an issuer, right? It's very decentralized.

118
00:08:41,605 --> 00:08:43,645
It's, you know, in crypto, they call this the immaculate conception.

119
00:08:43,645 --> 00:08:46,705
We don't really know how it got here. We don't know who Satoshi is.

120
00:08:46,845 --> 00:08:49,365
It's almost mystical, you would say. Yes.

121
00:08:49,585 --> 00:08:53,145
It's the most valuable one. I will say the individual who interjects too often

122
00:08:53,145 --> 00:08:56,385
is his co-host, and this is just the two of them, Jason Calacanis.

123
00:08:57,159 --> 00:08:59,379
Sorry, Jason, I did try to cut around you as much as possible.

124
00:08:59,519 --> 00:09:01,979
It's a $2 trillion market cap, and it's the most secure.

125
00:09:02,099 --> 00:09:05,439
It's ever been hacked, right? So we're now over 15 years into this journey,

126
00:09:05,439 --> 00:09:08,179
and there's been a lot of people who've been skeptical along the way,

127
00:09:08,259 --> 00:09:09,359
and there's been a lot of ups and downs.

128
00:09:09,499 --> 00:09:13,759
But here it is. I mean, I remember back in 2011, I think it's the first time

129
00:09:13,759 --> 00:09:16,319
I bought a Bitcoin. I think it was at $120.

130
00:09:17,079 --> 00:09:23,219
Now it's at $90,000. Again, there have been all sorts of wild swings along the way.

131
00:09:23,419 --> 00:09:28,299
But this thing just keeps chugging along. And you can think of that $2 trillion

132
00:09:28,299 --> 00:09:31,659
market cap as like a $2 trillion bug bounty.

133
00:09:32,079 --> 00:09:35,259
If there was a way to hack this, there's every incentive in the world.

134
00:09:35,719 --> 00:09:39,859
And by hack, I mean, like, to double spend, create basically a counterfeit Bitcoin,

135
00:09:39,859 --> 00:09:41,419
I guess, would be the way for people to think about it.

136
00:09:41,879 --> 00:09:45,219
It is a miracle. It hasn't been compromised. I think we can all say that.

137
00:09:45,279 --> 00:09:48,179
Well, I don't know if it's a miracle. I think it's exceptional design.

138
00:09:48,439 --> 00:09:53,159
Sure. And so I think what you could say is that it's been tested in a very robust

139
00:09:53,159 --> 00:09:56,159
way, and there's been every incentive to basically break the encryption,

140
00:09:56,159 --> 00:09:58,579
and it continues to chug along.

141
00:09:58,759 --> 00:10:02,619
And so I think the price has gone up as the protocol has gotten more acceptance.

142
00:10:02,919 --> 00:10:07,179
And this is another point, is that Bitcoin is the most widely accepted as a

143
00:10:07,179 --> 00:10:08,979
store of value throughout the world.

144
00:10:09,339 --> 00:10:12,679
Yeah. So we do believe it should be treated special. I have to say,

145
00:10:12,819 --> 00:10:18,079
I actually was relieved hearing that since David Sachs is a noted former Solana

146
00:10:18,079 --> 00:10:19,879
investor. I just wasn't quite sure.

147
00:10:20,199 --> 00:10:23,259
I know he's also an early Bitcoin investor before he even bought Solana,

148
00:10:23,359 --> 00:10:26,599
but I just wasn't quite sure where he stood on his understanding of Bitcoin.

149
00:10:26,799 --> 00:10:30,499
And the thing that stood out to me in that clip is when Calacanis is like,

150
00:10:30,599 --> 00:10:33,779
oh, it's just, you know, it's lucky it hasn't been hacked yet. It's lucky.

151
00:10:34,239 --> 00:10:37,499
And Sachs actually corrects him there with an appropriate understanding,

152
00:10:37,499 --> 00:10:38,559
which I thought was really good.

153
00:10:39,039 --> 00:10:43,619
And then the other thing that became clear in their conversation is it seems

154
00:10:43,619 --> 00:10:47,039
the Trump administration has realized selling Bitcoin has been a mistake.

155
00:10:47,499 --> 00:10:51,959
Think of it as like a digital Fort Knox for digital gold. We want to put the

156
00:10:51,959 --> 00:10:55,179
digital gold in there. We want to keep it secure. We never want to sell it.

157
00:10:55,419 --> 00:10:59,719
He's, of course, talking about the Bitcoin reserve, separate from the digital

158
00:10:59,719 --> 00:11:01,659
asset stockpile. That's the goal of the reserve.

159
00:11:01,939 --> 00:11:05,079
And you're right that we've made the mistake in the past of selling this stuff.

160
00:11:05,239 --> 00:11:08,459
At one point in time, we had about 400,000 Bitcoin on the federal balance sheet.

161
00:11:08,599 --> 00:11:13,479
We sold roughly half of that for something like $360 million total.

162
00:11:13,999 --> 00:11:17,319
If we had held all of that, it would be worth just that the portion we sold

163
00:11:17,319 --> 00:11:18,579
would be worth over $17 billion.

164
00:11:18,879 --> 00:11:22,439
So we made this mistake of prematurely selling Bitcoin when we should have held

165
00:11:22,439 --> 00:11:25,919
it. We don't want to make that mistake with regard to the rest of it.

166
00:11:26,159 --> 00:11:31,159
We think there's around 200,000 coins left on the federal balance sheet.

167
00:11:31,259 --> 00:11:34,279
But the truth is that nobody knows because we've never done a proper audit.

168
00:11:34,639 --> 00:11:37,719
So part of what this executive order provides is that we're going to do for

169
00:11:37,719 --> 00:11:44,219
the first time a government-wide accounting of the digital assets that we actually have. They don't know.

170
00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,959
They don't know how much Bitcoin they have. They don't know how much ETH they

171
00:11:47,959 --> 00:11:50,299
have. They really don't know.

172
00:11:50,984 --> 00:11:54,244
I think that's something that we need to understand is they're saying roughly

173
00:11:54,244 --> 00:11:58,784
200,000 Bitcoin for this reserve, but they don't actually know how much Bitcoin they have.

174
00:11:59,544 --> 00:12:03,164
Additionally, and I think this is the right thing to do, I've raised this concern

175
00:12:03,164 --> 00:12:07,064
before on the show, they're going to make sure that everything's gone through

176
00:12:07,064 --> 00:12:13,684
a legal process and that if someone who is a victim of a crime is due their coins back,

177
00:12:14,084 --> 00:12:17,524
those victims of crimes are going to get their coins back. They're not going to go in the reserve.

178
00:12:17,844 --> 00:12:20,824
They'll be legally required to report it, and then they'll go in the reserve.

179
00:12:20,824 --> 00:12:22,324
If there's a final adjudication.

180
00:12:22,604 --> 00:12:27,664
So obviously, if those coins could go back as restitution to victims,

181
00:12:27,664 --> 00:12:32,884
or if the person who they were seized from wins their court case and gets them

182
00:12:32,884 --> 00:12:34,984
back, they're not going to go into the Federal Reserve.

183
00:12:35,184 --> 00:12:37,984
But if there's been a final adjudication and a final forfeiture,

184
00:12:38,644 --> 00:12:40,064
yes, those will go into the Reserve.

185
00:12:40,244 --> 00:12:44,264
That's the right policy. I was concerned about incentives that essentially just

186
00:12:44,264 --> 00:12:48,884
incentivize various federal agencies to just seize Bitcoin at every opportunity.

187
00:12:49,604 --> 00:12:52,524
Now, I want to make sure we understand the key differences between the Bitcoin

188
00:12:52,524 --> 00:12:56,884
reserve and the digital asset stockpile, because it's huge.

189
00:12:57,164 --> 00:12:59,644
And there's confusion since they were announced at the same time.

190
00:13:00,484 --> 00:13:03,284
TLDR, and I'm going to let Sachs explain it, but the TLDR, because it's key

191
00:13:03,284 --> 00:13:04,284
that you understand, is a huge difference.

192
00:13:04,712 --> 00:13:09,092
The Bitcoin reserve, we cannot sell. We cannot sell the Bitcoin in the reserve.

193
00:13:09,452 --> 00:13:12,472
The digital asset stockpile, which is everything that's not Bitcoin,

194
00:13:12,692 --> 00:13:15,812
we can sell. And we can sell it to buy Bitcoin.

195
00:13:16,152 --> 00:13:19,172
That's Bitcoin. Okay, so then you got the stockpile. Let me just talk about that.

196
00:13:19,292 --> 00:13:23,692
So first of all, like I said, we don't know exactly what digital assets the

197
00:13:23,692 --> 00:13:24,492
federal government has.

198
00:13:24,892 --> 00:13:29,872
I've seen reports that it might have, for example, 50,000 ETH, which is Ethereum.

199
00:13:30,352 --> 00:13:33,732
But again, we need to get to the bottom of that. when we figure out exactly

200
00:13:33,732 --> 00:13:36,732
what the assets are, we're going to move them into the digital stockpile.

201
00:13:37,112 --> 00:13:41,792
The purpose of the stockpile is responsible stewardship. It's a place for safekeeping.

202
00:13:41,912 --> 00:13:47,052
It's a centralized, you could say, account under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury.

203
00:13:47,692 --> 00:13:50,972
And the Secretary of the Treasury will figure out how to maximize the values

204
00:13:50,972 --> 00:13:55,472
of these holdings. Now, there's a couple of important differences between stockpile and reserve.

205
00:13:55,712 --> 00:13:59,892
So one is the reserve, the executive order actually provides that the secretary.

206
00:13:59,892 --> 00:14:03,112
Of the treasury will not sell the Bitcoin.

207
00:14:03,352 --> 00:14:06,012
Okay. We're, we're prohibited from selling the Bitcoin.

208
00:14:06,532 --> 00:14:09,552
There's no such prohibition with respect to the stockpile.

209
00:14:09,672 --> 00:14:13,072
If the secretary of the treasury decides that's in the long-term interest of

210
00:14:13,072 --> 00:14:16,952
the U S to rebalance the portfolio or change the portfolio, the secretary has

211
00:14:16,952 --> 00:14:19,552
the discretion to do that. I think the secretary will.

212
00:14:20,872 --> 00:14:25,312
And so I just think that's fascinating too, because one of the rules of the

213
00:14:25,312 --> 00:14:28,292
EO is they can acquire Bitcoin if it's revenue neutral.

214
00:14:28,532 --> 00:14:32,652
Well, selling the shit coins would be revenue neutral. So with respect to reserve,

215
00:14:32,992 --> 00:14:36,052
the EO provides that the secretaries that I'm talking about,

216
00:14:36,172 --> 00:14:40,332
Treasury and Commerce, they're allowed to figure out strategies to accumulate

217
00:14:40,332 --> 00:14:44,652
more Bitcoin for the reserve if those strategies are budget neutral and don't

218
00:14:44,652 --> 00:14:45,852
cost the taxpayer anything.

219
00:14:46,052 --> 00:14:50,952
Okay. So it's possible that we could, I'm not saying that we will, but it gives them,

220
00:14:51,052 --> 00:14:55,892
it authorizes them to acquire more Bitcoin if they can figure out a way to do

221
00:14:55,892 --> 00:15:01,972
it that doesn't impact the federal budget or the deficit or taxpayers, right?

222
00:15:02,212 --> 00:15:05,152
I think that's key to help the public swallow this.

223
00:15:05,432 --> 00:15:08,552
Their initial reaction has been very poorly. The coverage has been very bad.

224
00:15:09,032 --> 00:15:13,272
But at the end of the day, it's revenue neutral for, well, it's going to be

225
00:15:13,272 --> 00:15:15,472
revenue positive for the taxpayer. Let's be real.

226
00:15:15,932 --> 00:15:19,632
There's another thing that's been really awful in the coverage of all of this.

227
00:15:19,852 --> 00:15:22,592
It's because not only does that seem like a very reasonable structure.

228
00:15:23,581 --> 00:15:28,261
But instead of attacking that structure, some of the half-wit journalists have

229
00:15:28,261 --> 00:15:35,341
gone directly after David Sachs, claiming that he's cooking different cryptos to pump his bags.

230
00:15:35,521 --> 00:15:39,821
I mean, it's a legitimate concern. If he's the crypto czar, you don't want him

231
00:15:39,821 --> 00:15:42,301
influencing crypto policy to make himself rich.

232
00:15:42,461 --> 00:15:44,521
And so Sachs went on the record about that.

233
00:15:44,741 --> 00:15:48,621
It's a longish clip, but I actually think, again, it's historically important

234
00:15:48,621 --> 00:15:50,061
that we document this on the podcast.

235
00:15:50,061 --> 00:15:53,801
Well, people came out right away and were saying that somehow I was engaged

236
00:15:53,801 --> 00:15:58,421
in a scheme to pump my bags or to basically create exit liquidity for myself

237
00:15:58,421 --> 00:16:00,021
and billionaire stuff like that.

238
00:16:00,241 --> 00:16:04,061
You have to understand that those accusations, I mean, they're accusing me of a crime.

239
00:16:04,421 --> 00:16:07,761
A serious crime. A serious crime. And they're doing it with no evidence whatsoever.

240
00:16:08,221 --> 00:16:11,101
So these things are basically, it's borderline- Slander.

241
00:16:11,421 --> 00:16:13,561
Slander and defamation. It's slanderous, yeah, I would say so.

242
00:16:13,701 --> 00:16:17,481
In any event, what they didn't know and what I then proceeded to put out there

243
00:16:17,481 --> 00:16:22,441
is that I sold all my cryptocurrency prior to day one of the administration

244
00:16:22,441 --> 00:16:25,821
because I didn't want to even have the appearance of a conflict.

245
00:16:26,021 --> 00:16:29,221
And by the way, I could have waited. I didn't have to do it like that,

246
00:16:29,241 --> 00:16:33,621
but I decided to do it and take it upon myself to do that because you just know

247
00:16:33,621 --> 00:16:36,581
that when it comes to crypto, there's going to be a lot of fluctuations in the market.

248
00:16:36,781 --> 00:16:40,441
You never want someone to be able to point at one of those fluctuations and

249
00:16:40,441 --> 00:16:43,561
say somehow that the cryptos are benefited from that and create a conspiracy

250
00:16:43,561 --> 00:16:45,601
theory, which is exactly what basically happens.

251
00:16:45,601 --> 00:16:48,481
So first of all i got rid of all my cryptocurrency prior to

252
00:16:48,481 --> 00:16:53,801
day one craft also sold and craft is the venture firm that you funded that's

253
00:16:53,801 --> 00:16:57,361
done a lot of great work supporting founders here right so we basically sold

254
00:16:57,361 --> 00:17:01,901
i think it was around 200 million dollars of crypto of which around 85 million

255
00:17:01,901 --> 00:17:06,701
dollars was personally attributable to myself and we cleared that before day one,

256
00:17:07,281 --> 00:17:10,681
paid taxes on it and basically so there wouldn't be a conflict so then.

257
00:17:11,401 --> 00:17:14,661
The sphere shifted in another direction was, okay, well, maybe he doesn't own

258
00:17:14,661 --> 00:17:17,301
crypto, but he's in crypto funds.

259
00:17:17,501 --> 00:17:21,521
Okay. And so they pointed to Bitwise and multi-coin capital,

260
00:17:21,521 --> 00:17:23,581
and I was also in blockchain capital.

261
00:17:24,161 --> 00:17:28,201
And so then the fund managers came out and one by one all said,

262
00:17:28,321 --> 00:17:32,721
actually, David called us over two months ago and said, he's going to need to divest from our funds.

263
00:17:32,941 --> 00:17:38,041
And so we also did that. But yeah, look, I think it's a lazy and stupid narrative

264
00:17:38,041 --> 00:17:43,281
to say that the reason why someone who's already successful in business goes

265
00:17:43,281 --> 00:17:46,381
into government is to somehow make more money. I was making money before.

266
00:17:46,801 --> 00:17:50,621
This involves a substantial disruption of my business interests,

267
00:17:50,621 --> 00:17:53,141
and I have to divest a lot of those business interests.

268
00:17:53,361 --> 00:17:57,161
And in divesting, I have to be either a taxpayer or I have to take a significant

269
00:17:57,161 --> 00:17:58,621
discount and it costs you money.

270
00:17:59,521 --> 00:18:04,401
It's just a lazy narrative that people create, but there's no truth to it.

271
00:18:04,481 --> 00:18:08,101
And just to underscore a point that you made a second ago, you were one of the

272
00:18:08,101 --> 00:18:11,901
funds i divested from not because you're a crypto fund but because you might

273
00:18:11,901 --> 00:18:16,041
have a crypto position we went through i think the launch fund's holdings and

274
00:18:16,041 --> 00:18:20,241
i think there was something crypto related in there and so one or two that pivoted

275
00:18:20,241 --> 00:18:24,381
into crypto yes right so i just didn't want to have any problem there so.

276
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:38,160
Music.

277
00:18:34,121 --> 00:18:40,781
An executive order is good and all But as we very well know at this point,

278
00:18:40,801 --> 00:18:47,501
the next guy can come in, or gal, and just undo the previous executive orders.

279
00:18:47,881 --> 00:18:53,441
So to get this thing to really stick, we need an all-of-government buy-off.

280
00:18:54,561 --> 00:18:59,861
You can kind of set the course and set the tone and send a signal to the Senate

281
00:18:59,861 --> 00:19:01,161
and the House of the priorities.

282
00:19:01,441 --> 00:19:04,021
But to really lock it in, we need a law.

283
00:19:04,641 --> 00:19:09,381
And I have to say, the momentum there is a lot stronger than I initially reported.

284
00:19:10,301 --> 00:19:15,281
Yesterday, as I record, which is the 12th of March, 2025, the Bitcoin Policy

285
00:19:15,281 --> 00:19:19,501
Institute had a very fancy event with lots of heavy hitters there,

286
00:19:19,661 --> 00:19:24,501
like your boy Sailor, Jack Maulers, tons of Bitcoin friendly Congress critters.

287
00:19:24,661 --> 00:19:31,481
And they made two big announcements pertaining to this very issue of locking it in as law of the land.

288
00:19:32,170 --> 00:19:36,570
First, was an individual that I'm not very familiar with, but I perhaps need

289
00:19:36,570 --> 00:19:40,330
to get more familiar with, is U.S. Congressman Nick Belch.

290
00:19:40,590 --> 00:19:44,630
That's probably not right, but I love it. It's like it's B-E-G-I-C-H.

291
00:19:44,730 --> 00:19:45,590
So there's no L in there at all.

292
00:19:45,870 --> 00:19:50,030
And the bill is to introduce a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the house,

293
00:19:50,030 --> 00:19:53,430
in the house, to buy a million Bitcoin.

294
00:19:53,770 --> 00:19:58,030
Today, I'm here to make a historic announcement, one that will shape America's

295
00:19:58,030 --> 00:19:59,990
economic future for generations to come.

296
00:20:00,590 --> 00:20:06,230
Today, I will be introducing the Bitcoin Act of 2025 in the United States House.

297
00:20:14,190 --> 00:20:18,450
Now, you know, this is a bold and forward-looking legislative initiative designed

298
00:20:18,450 --> 00:20:24,430
to ensure the United States secures its financial independence and maintains

299
00:20:24,430 --> 00:20:26,890
its leadership in the global digital economy.

300
00:20:26,890 --> 00:20:31,790
Before I continue, I want to take a moment and recognize the tireless efforts

301
00:20:31,790 --> 00:20:35,690
of my colleague in the Senate, Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.

302
00:20:38,250 --> 00:20:40,730
Actually, the second announcement is going to pertain to her.

303
00:20:40,950 --> 00:20:46,050
I just thought it was noteworthy that the bill there in the House already has six co-sponsors.

304
00:20:46,270 --> 00:20:49,630
Now, speaking of Senator Lummis, here is the second announcement.

305
00:20:49,810 --> 00:20:55,770
She's reintroducing her Bitcoin Act with vigor. I'm so pleased to announce that

306
00:20:55,770 --> 00:21:01,670
today I will be reintroducing the Bitcoin Act.

307
00:21:10,570 --> 00:21:15,610
And I'll be joined here shortly by Senator Justice of West Virginia,

308
00:21:15,610 --> 00:21:17,250
who is one of the co-sponsors.

309
00:21:17,470 --> 00:21:24,530
And we have several other additional co-sponsors. And a lot of it is a result

310
00:21:24,530 --> 00:21:27,310
of the excitement that's been building.

311
00:21:27,910 --> 00:21:33,690
And when I checked, she had seven co-sponsors now. So that seems pretty significant to me.

312
00:21:34,130 --> 00:21:39,610
That is moving faster than I expected to have bills both in the House and in the Senate.

313
00:21:40,590 --> 00:21:44,350
Both of them have pretty good sponsors. The House has six co-sponsors.

314
00:21:44,450 --> 00:21:46,730
The Senate bill has seven co-sponsors.

315
00:21:47,290 --> 00:21:51,170
That seems like momentum to me. And we've had a clear signal from the White

316
00:21:51,170 --> 00:21:52,950
House that they'd sign something like that.

317
00:21:53,270 --> 00:21:57,510
So now, with all of this in mind, the strategic reserve, the volatility in the

318
00:21:57,510 --> 00:22:02,830
market, the recent drop in inflation rates, and the momentum behind the bills

319
00:22:02,830 --> 00:22:06,310
in both the House and the Senate, we have to bring it all together,

320
00:22:06,630 --> 00:22:09,890
zoom out, and just look at where the signal takes us.

321
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:20,560
Music.

322
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:26,220
Trump said rates would be coming down one way or another. The interest rates will come down.

323
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,180
You said that you would demand that the interest rates come down.

324
00:22:29,620 --> 00:22:34,340
I would put in a strong statement. Do you expect the Fed to listen to you?

325
00:22:35,300 --> 00:22:39,860
Yeah. All right. So I think I played that clip on the show.

326
00:22:39,940 --> 00:22:45,740
And then more recently, I think just two days ago, he was interviewed by Fox Business.

327
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:51,460
And he's clearly, clearly on the same trajectory as that clip from January.

328
00:22:51,820 --> 00:22:55,140
Before you came into the Oval Office the first time, you were a very successful

329
00:22:55,140 --> 00:22:58,560
businessman, very successful real estate executive.

330
00:22:58,700 --> 00:23:01,240
And a lot of people said, oh, this is the business president.

331
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,760
This is it. He's watching the stock market. He knows all about,

332
00:23:04,940 --> 00:23:08,100
you know, he doesn't want the market to go down. And now we've got tariffs and

333
00:23:08,100 --> 00:23:09,380
the market has been going down.

334
00:23:09,780 --> 00:23:13,880
Well, not much. I mean, in all fairness. You said, look, we're going to have

335
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:15,480
a disruption, but we're OK with that.

336
00:23:15,740 --> 00:23:18,980
Is that what you meant? The stock market going down was the disruption.

337
00:23:19,180 --> 00:23:23,120
What other disruption were you alluding to? Look, what I have to do is build a strong country.

338
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,400
You can't really watch the stock market. If you look at China,

339
00:23:27,420 --> 00:23:30,020
they have a hundred year perspective. We have a quarter.

340
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,180
We go by quarters. That's true.

341
00:23:32,460 --> 00:23:34,880
And you can't go by that. You have to do what's right.

342
00:23:35,260 --> 00:23:38,680
What we're doing is we're building a tremendous foundation for the future.

343
00:23:38,940 --> 00:23:43,540
Tremendous foundation. Wall Street did not like that answer at all.

344
00:23:43,980 --> 00:23:48,320
But he's right. U.S. mortgage rates have dropped their sixth consecutive week

345
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:50,640
to the lowest level since December of 2024.

346
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:54,420
And here's the big one. The 10-year U.S.

347
00:23:54,480 --> 00:24:00,100
Treasury yield has decreased by approximately 35 basis points from early January to now.

348
00:24:00,860 --> 00:24:03,820
This is key for you to understand.

349
00:24:04,900 --> 00:24:10,900
Over the last two months, the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield has shown a general downward trend.

350
00:24:11,420 --> 00:24:15,760
This is critical to understand the entire strategy and the mess.

351
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:21,000
When demand for bonds goes up, like during a flight-to-safety moment when there's

352
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,260
market volatility, prices rise because more investors are buying.

353
00:24:25,860 --> 00:24:30,740
That then pushes yields down since the fixed interest is spread over a higher

354
00:24:30,740 --> 00:24:35,020
price. So in terms of market stress, if investors are freaked out,

355
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:38,860
they tend to ditch riskier assets like their NVIDIA stock or their Apple stock,

356
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:40,600
and they pile into government bonds.

357
00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:46,780
That rush drives up the bond prices and pulls yields lower, which is exactly

358
00:24:46,780 --> 00:24:48,320
what we've been seeing since January.

359
00:24:48,860 --> 00:24:52,740
They're getting the bond yields lower. Now, why would they want to do that?

360
00:24:54,271 --> 00:24:57,831
I think there's a few reasons. Treasury Secretary Bassinet, as I put it,

361
00:24:58,271 --> 00:25:00,491
went into some detail. I think this was on CNBC.

362
00:25:01,111 --> 00:25:07,911
If we ever went down 20% on the NASDAQ or 15% on the S&P, with people that want

363
00:25:07,911 --> 00:25:11,391
Trump to fail, that's going to be splayed across every newspaper in the world.

364
00:25:11,391 --> 00:25:15,491
I'm just wondering whether the tolerance for something like that for the administration.

365
00:25:15,731 --> 00:25:20,011
Well, look, as you said, Joe, the market was up 20% last year,

366
00:25:20,091 --> 00:25:22,271
20% a year. So there is some house money you're planning on. No, no, no.

367
00:25:22,691 --> 00:25:26,951
I'm going to put it another way. Okay. Did the Biden administration succeed?

368
00:25:27,191 --> 00:25:30,271
The American people weren't buying it. Just because the market was up,

369
00:25:30,471 --> 00:25:32,671
they voted out the Democrats.

370
00:25:32,791 --> 00:25:36,431
Question related to the regulatory or deregulatory agenda, which I think is...

371
00:25:36,431 --> 00:25:38,391
Here's another statement, and we can stop there.

372
00:25:38,531 --> 00:25:41,491
Here's another statement from the White House. Quote, want to emphasize that

373
00:25:41,491 --> 00:25:44,851
we're seeing a strong divergence between animal spirits of the stock market

374
00:25:44,851 --> 00:25:50,291
and what we're actually seeing unfold from businesses and business leaders.

375
00:25:50,291 --> 00:25:53,911
And the latter is obviously more meaningful than the former on what is in store

376
00:25:53,911 --> 00:25:55,871
for the economy in the medium to long term.

377
00:25:56,311 --> 00:25:58,191
So Trump says he's not watching the market.

378
00:25:59,051 --> 00:26:05,111
Bassinet there says, we have seen 20, we've seen two 20% years in a row and

379
00:26:05,111 --> 00:26:06,191
it hasn't helped Main Street.

380
00:26:06,631 --> 00:26:10,431
In other words, the people that voted the Trump administration into office are

381
00:26:10,431 --> 00:26:11,491
not necessarily benefiting.

382
00:26:12,191 --> 00:26:18,391
So the strategy is to inject volatility into the market, which brings down inflation

383
00:26:18,391 --> 00:26:23,011
and causes also, secondarily, a flight to safety, i.e.

384
00:26:23,031 --> 00:26:26,491
Bonds, which pulls the bond yields lower.

385
00:26:27,171 --> 00:26:31,511
So why would the president of the United States, who in the past seemed to live

386
00:26:31,511 --> 00:26:37,471
and die by the stock market in his first term, be willing to watch it slide and everyone panic?

387
00:26:38,431 --> 00:26:41,951
Why would the White House be intentionally injecting market volatility around

388
00:26:41,951 --> 00:26:43,671
tariffs, sometimes multiple times a day?

389
00:26:44,819 --> 00:26:50,459
Because they have a much, much bigger problem than billionaires making more money on their assets.

390
00:26:50,919 --> 00:26:56,899
The U.S. government faces a critical refinancing challenge in this year, in 2025,

391
00:26:57,419 --> 00:27:04,939
with $9.2 trillion of existing debt, not even new debt, $9.2 trillion of existing

392
00:27:04,939 --> 00:27:08,859
debt that is maturing and requiring refinancing this year.

393
00:27:08,979 --> 00:27:14,679
I believe $2 trillion of it needs to be refinanced in April alone.

394
00:27:15,459 --> 00:27:20,739
So a decline in something like the 10-year treasury bond yields directly reduces

395
00:27:20,739 --> 00:27:22,619
the refinancing costs for the government.

396
00:27:23,039 --> 00:27:27,179
Now, my math, who knows? But this is based on my math.

397
00:27:27,299 --> 00:27:31,299
If that lower rate holds that we have right now, when the government needs to

398
00:27:31,299 --> 00:27:36,179
refinance, they could save about $32 billion a year on $9.2 trillion in debt

399
00:27:36,179 --> 00:27:37,839
just at the current bond rates.

400
00:27:38,459 --> 00:27:42,179
Since January, where they fall into, they could save $32 billion on the refinancing.

401
00:27:42,179 --> 00:27:49,019
Every 1% reduction in interest rates could save over $1.7 trillion.

402
00:27:49,639 --> 00:27:55,899
Every 1% reduction in interest rates, $1.7 trillion in interest costs over a

403
00:27:55,899 --> 00:27:57,439
decade for the entire debt stock.

404
00:27:57,639 --> 00:28:02,679
So that's the scale of the problem, and it has to happen right now.

405
00:28:03,139 --> 00:28:09,379
And Trump has a clear focus on those market numbers, on the yield rates.

406
00:28:09,379 --> 00:28:14,799
And getting, I think, my suspicion is, cheap debt above all else.

407
00:28:15,079 --> 00:28:19,319
And he seems to be locked in on it. But you may get it again with these tariffs, right?

408
00:28:19,399 --> 00:28:23,059
I mean, one CEO said to me, my input costs have already started to go up.

409
00:28:23,099 --> 00:28:26,079
I'm going to have to raise prices. In the meantime, guess what?

410
00:28:26,219 --> 00:28:30,119
Interest rates are down for the last three, four days at good levels.

411
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,639
I mean, you know, when you add interest rates, you're talking about it's gone down.

412
00:28:35,819 --> 00:28:41,199
I've been saying, let's get interest rates down. You know, nobody ever gets

413
00:28:41,199 --> 00:28:44,539
rich when the interest rates are high because people can't borrow money.

414
00:28:45,059 --> 00:28:47,239
Interest rates are going down. You know what else is going down?

415
00:28:47,599 --> 00:28:50,319
What have I been trying to get down? Energy.

416
00:28:51,159 --> 00:28:54,939
Energy's going down. I'd love to see energy go down.

417
00:28:55,379 --> 00:28:58,179
You know, energy is really what caused it. They screwed up my energy.

418
00:28:58,339 --> 00:29:01,959
I had the most energy and they screwed it up. Then they went back to it.

419
00:29:02,119 --> 00:29:05,559
It was going through the roof. They went back to some drilling,

420
00:29:05,559 --> 00:29:11,459
but it was gone. It was hopeless. It was lost, but energy's gone down and interest

421
00:29:11,459 --> 00:29:14,819
rates have gone out over the last week. That's a big thing. I love that.

422
00:29:14,999 --> 00:29:17,459
They have the best energy, the biggest energy.

423
00:29:18,319 --> 00:29:23,099
So we're doing some math, I think, right now. We're looking at this massive refinance cost.

424
00:29:24,519 --> 00:29:28,219
Inflation slash stagflation seems to be a threat.

425
00:29:29,407 --> 00:29:37,067
And the White House has decided that they can essentially take a hard correction

426
00:29:37,067 --> 00:29:39,727
right now, deflate the Meg 7,

427
00:29:40,367 --> 00:29:44,967
perhaps rebalance trade relations a bit, but mostly inject volatility with tariff

428
00:29:44,967 --> 00:29:49,847
talks, and spin it as a focus on Main Street for the medium term.

429
00:29:50,167 --> 00:29:54,087
Listen to the signaling in just this short clip from the Treasury Secretary.

430
00:29:54,727 --> 00:29:59,487
I think over the medium term, which is what we're focused on.

431
00:29:59,687 --> 00:30:03,387
Okay, so the medium term, i.e. this isn't their long-term plan.

432
00:30:03,767 --> 00:30:09,207
This isn't an agenda to refocus the federal government on making Middle America

433
00:30:09,207 --> 00:30:11,727
prosper. This is just a short-term plan.

434
00:30:12,027 --> 00:30:18,067
It will benefit Middle America and hurt the rich temporarily for the short term.

435
00:30:18,287 --> 00:30:23,807
Q1. I think over the medium term, which is what we're focused on,

436
00:30:24,087 --> 00:30:25,607
It's a focus on Main Street.

437
00:30:25,887 --> 00:30:29,267
Wall Street's done great. Wall Street can continue to do fine.

438
00:30:29,427 --> 00:30:31,347
It's a focus on Main Street.

439
00:30:31,847 --> 00:30:36,747
But we have a focus on small business and the consumers.

440
00:30:36,807 --> 00:30:41,947
So we are going to rebalance the economy. We're going to bring manufacturing jobs home.

441
00:30:42,167 --> 00:30:44,327
Is that realistic? Probably not.

442
00:30:44,827 --> 00:30:46,447
Can they achieve some of it?

443
00:30:46,987 --> 00:30:52,347
Likely. They likely can. And if they can even just get the yield rates to a

444
00:30:52,347 --> 00:30:56,227
cheaper spot, so that debt, that debt is as cheap as possible.

445
00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:05,360
Music.

446
00:31:06,447 --> 00:31:09,027
All right, so let's bring it all together. All right.

447
00:31:09,846 --> 00:31:12,446
The Trump administration is telling us a few things directly.

448
00:31:12,986 --> 00:31:16,286
For now, they're not letting the market steer the ship.

449
00:31:16,426 --> 00:31:19,366
We're not even watching the market. Of course, that's not true.

450
00:31:19,966 --> 00:31:24,166
But that's the messaging. But what we do know is that Trump has now said,

451
00:31:24,326 --> 00:31:27,606
on multiple occasions, rates must come down one way or another.

452
00:31:28,126 --> 00:31:33,566
Now, when he said that, a lot of us have been focused on the federal fund rates and J-PAL.

453
00:31:34,486 --> 00:31:38,526
Really, he just needs to get those bond rates in the right sweet spot.

454
00:31:39,106 --> 00:31:42,526
So the best case might be to lower bond rates without the Fed even having to

455
00:31:42,526 --> 00:31:46,506
lower the fund rate, which if they did, could stoke inflation,

456
00:31:46,506 --> 00:31:48,866
which we probably may end up with them doing that anyways.

457
00:31:49,426 --> 00:31:55,526
But the White House is also telling us directly, buy Bitcoin and never sell your Bitcoin.

458
00:31:55,706 --> 00:32:00,086
From this day on, America will follow the rule that every Bitcoin knows very

459
00:32:00,086 --> 00:32:03,566
well, never sell your Bitcoin. That's a little phrase that they have.

460
00:32:03,606 --> 00:32:06,866
I don't know if that's right or not. Who the hell knows, right?

461
00:32:11,986 --> 00:32:15,586
Who knows who knows but so far it's

462
00:32:15,586 --> 00:32:18,306
been right and well let's keep it that way i mean you can

463
00:32:18,306 --> 00:32:23,006
quibble it that he didn't nail your pet tagline but the signal is clear from

464
00:32:23,006 --> 00:32:27,306
the white house buy bitcoin hold bitcoin they're making it clear what their

465
00:32:27,306 --> 00:32:31,546
target is they need cheap debt they're making it clear to the market buy bitcoin

466
00:32:31,546 --> 00:32:36,186
hold bitcoin stand by for volatility and their biggest tool.

467
00:32:36,586 --> 00:32:41,846
Their largest leverage is Trump can play the crazy.

468
00:32:42,206 --> 00:32:46,586
He can shift positions on tariffs as needed and inject volatility on demand.

469
00:32:47,006 --> 00:32:50,626
That lowers the market. It puts pressure on trade partners.

470
00:32:51,066 --> 00:32:53,466
And here's the thing that people aren't thinking about.

471
00:32:54,066 --> 00:32:59,526
Trump can turn that up or down just by job owning, just like the Fed does.

472
00:33:00,086 --> 00:33:05,026
And when the White House needs to, they can turn it off altogether and essentially

473
00:33:05,026 --> 00:33:08,346
begin to immediately remove the volatility from the market.

474
00:33:09,414 --> 00:33:12,054
And the people that get burned the most in the process are the asset holders,

475
00:33:12,474 --> 00:33:17,854
stockholders, people who own multiple investment homes, CEOs that are rich because

476
00:33:17,854 --> 00:33:18,994
they've outsourced the labor.

477
00:33:19,614 --> 00:33:23,934
The average folks don't own stocks. A lot of people don't even own homes anymore.

478
00:33:24,674 --> 00:33:27,634
Maybe they have a retirement plan that gets temporarily impacted.

479
00:33:27,934 --> 00:33:32,374
But for many of Trump voters, that's small ball compared to fixing the rest of this.

480
00:33:33,014 --> 00:33:37,794
My bet would be that the White House hopes to have results by the midterms.

481
00:33:37,794 --> 00:33:45,154
And if my math is right, there's about 386 or 385 U.S. business days until the midterms.

482
00:33:45,614 --> 00:33:49,774
So we need to think about what comes next. Because by the time most market experts

483
00:33:49,774 --> 00:33:53,614
wrap their noodles around all of this, we'll probably be mostly on the other

484
00:33:53,614 --> 00:33:55,534
side and maybe even on to the next thing.

485
00:33:55,794 --> 00:33:58,934
So this could be a signal to watch for, actually. But remember this.

486
00:33:59,734 --> 00:34:04,434
Bitcoin is a global liquidity indicator. It matters more than the cycles.

487
00:34:05,214 --> 00:34:09,034
It's liquidity. And when the current market dynamics resolve,

488
00:34:09,594 --> 00:34:11,954
liquidity is probably going to be in a pretty good position.

489
00:34:12,134 --> 00:34:16,994
We're probably going to see a lot of money start moving and Bitcoin will be

490
00:34:16,994 --> 00:34:20,114
the first to recover and it will recover the fastest and the strongest,

491
00:34:20,114 --> 00:34:22,794
more so than anything else, more than any tech stock.

492
00:34:23,474 --> 00:34:26,174
And you have to wonder if the AI hype begins to continue. Well,

493
00:34:26,414 --> 00:34:31,234
I'd say continues to fade, not begins, but continues to fade more into a pragmatism,

494
00:34:31,394 --> 00:34:33,214
pragmatism, which happens so often with tech.

495
00:34:33,214 --> 00:34:35,854
There's like i mean i remember just a

496
00:34:35,854 --> 00:34:38,774
few years ago iot and edge

497
00:34:38,774 --> 00:34:41,634
devices were the next wave and and

498
00:34:41,634 --> 00:34:45,814
all the tech conferences i went to by industry were all about iot and edge devices

499
00:34:45,814 --> 00:34:51,274
and edge compute this is before you know ai really before the blockchain hype

500
00:34:51,274 --> 00:34:56,894
too and that really materialized in a lot of vendors having better and edge

501
00:34:56,894 --> 00:35:01,334
products like firewalls you know it ended up we maybe got a little bit better,

502
00:35:02,434 --> 00:35:05,114
IOT devices, I suppose, right? But we got a lot of crap too.

503
00:35:06,227 --> 00:35:09,107
Tech always goes through these cycles where there's this massive promise,

504
00:35:09,107 --> 00:35:12,907
and then we kind of settle into an actual reality.

505
00:35:13,147 --> 00:35:18,167
And I suspect as AI goes through that natural process where we kind of realize,

506
00:35:18,267 --> 00:35:23,567
OK, LMs are great at this and they're not great at that, that funding is going to kind of mellow out.

507
00:35:23,787 --> 00:35:27,527
And you have to wonder what these companies will do. And a really simple strategy

508
00:35:27,527 --> 00:35:30,287
would be to start putting Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

509
00:35:30,947 --> 00:35:35,507
We also know that it's extremely likely the U.S. government will start putting

510
00:35:35,507 --> 00:35:37,047
more Bitcoin. on their balance sheet.

511
00:35:37,607 --> 00:35:42,347
And it seems that at least multiple states will also start putting Bitcoin in

512
00:35:42,347 --> 00:35:45,107
their own independent reserves from the federal government.

513
00:35:45,587 --> 00:35:50,327
It also appears that China and Middle Eastern countries are considering a Bitcoin

514
00:35:50,327 --> 00:35:52,287
buying strategy, as CNBC reports.

515
00:35:52,527 --> 00:35:55,627
I was talking to Brian Armstrong last night ahead of this summit today,

516
00:35:55,687 --> 00:36:00,747
and he's one of the members who's been advising the Trump transition team since the campaign trail.

517
00:36:00,887 --> 00:36:04,287
And he made the point that he thinks a lot of countries are going to follow.

518
00:36:04,407 --> 00:36:07,747
I know I know of already Middle Eastern countries, Gulf states that have been

519
00:36:07,747 --> 00:36:09,367
looking into a Bitcoin buying strategy.

520
00:36:09,667 --> 00:36:13,207
There's also reportedly, you know, conversations within the Chinese government

521
00:36:13,207 --> 00:36:15,667
to look to follow suit if the government in the U.S.

522
00:36:15,727 --> 00:36:20,527
Makes this move to roll out a purchase plan. But there is no purchase plan.

523
00:36:21,207 --> 00:36:23,867
Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean, if you have a strategic Bitcoin reserve,

524
00:36:24,407 --> 00:36:26,987
you know, China used to be one of the epicenters for Bitcoin mining.

525
00:36:27,127 --> 00:36:30,867
It's very easy for them. They have all of this hydropower. And so they already

526
00:36:30,867 --> 00:36:33,027
have all the facilities and they banned it a couple of years ago,

527
00:36:33,127 --> 00:36:34,687
but it takes nothing to turn it back on.

528
00:36:34,807 --> 00:36:38,387
And then, I mean, similar to Iran evading sanctions by just mining Bitcoin,

529
00:36:38,547 --> 00:36:39,527
they already have it on hand.

530
00:36:42,487 --> 00:36:45,347
The point is not bad. They may already have Bitcoin on hand.

531
00:36:45,587 --> 00:36:47,367
They could convert that into a reserve pretty quickly.

532
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:52,240
Music.

533
00:36:52,427 --> 00:36:57,187
All right. What do you think of my hypothesis? Boost in and tell me,

534
00:36:57,307 --> 00:37:01,687
is there a master plan in play here to get cheap debt for the federal government?

535
00:37:02,167 --> 00:37:03,887
Or is it all just chaos?

536
00:37:04,387 --> 00:37:08,487
And some of these rates coming down is just a natural consequence of that chaos.

537
00:37:08,987 --> 00:37:13,147
I'd like to know what you think. Boost in, tell me what's going on and your take.

538
00:37:13,807 --> 00:37:18,687
Because either one could be right. But the more data that I take in,

539
00:37:18,867 --> 00:37:21,387
I'm starting to form this hypothesis.

540
00:37:22,667 --> 00:37:30,047
Cheat debt over everything else. And then you secure that. Maybe you onshore a few more things.

541
00:37:31,547 --> 00:37:35,907
Get a few trade things restructured. Get liquidity moving again.

542
00:37:36,747 --> 00:37:41,227
And latter half of the year, perhaps we rip or we slide into a giant recession.

543
00:37:41,507 --> 00:37:44,807
Either one could happen. So you tell me which one it's going to be.

544
00:37:45,547 --> 00:37:48,387
I won't say I'll hold you to it, but I think it'd be fun to get it on the record.

545
00:37:48,400 --> 00:38:06,800
Music.

546
00:38:08,235 --> 00:38:12,315
Well, I'd like to say thank you everyone who supports the show just by doing

547
00:38:12,315 --> 00:38:13,875
what you're already going to be doing.

548
00:38:14,115 --> 00:38:17,255
You want to stack sats? The best place in the U.S. is River.

549
00:38:17,855 --> 00:38:19,715
Jupiterbroadcasting.com slash river.

550
00:38:20,795 --> 00:38:25,375
That's where I'm stacking my sats. I think their cash savings account at 3.8%

551
00:38:25,375 --> 00:38:31,095
interest in sats where you can keep cash and then smash buy on the dips or DCA from that. Oh, man.

552
00:38:31,635 --> 00:38:35,655
So sweet. Great UI, lightning support, tons of awesome features,

553
00:38:35,875 --> 00:38:37,795
plus proof of reserves. That's River.

554
00:38:38,235 --> 00:38:42,535
Now, if you're in Canada or you love a system that supports 100% self-custody,

555
00:38:42,715 --> 00:38:44,095
that's the Bitcoin Whale.

556
00:38:44,255 --> 00:38:46,595
All these links are in my show notes. You click them, you support the show.

557
00:38:47,035 --> 00:38:50,175
The Bitcoin Whale is an amazing automatic self-custody platform.

558
00:38:50,395 --> 00:38:52,135
They also support Lightning. It's great.

559
00:38:52,515 --> 00:38:57,235
Now, if you're ready to earn sats by buying whatever you're buying,

560
00:38:57,255 --> 00:39:00,275
like with your debit card or paying your bills, the Fold Card,

561
00:39:00,415 --> 00:39:02,015
massively popular in our community.

562
00:39:02,215 --> 00:39:04,375
Pay your bills, stack sats, link in the show notes.

563
00:39:04,615 --> 00:39:07,275
You want to just spend sats via Lightning? The Bitcoin company.

564
00:39:07,715 --> 00:39:11,595
The Bitcoin company lets you load up a gift card, hundreds of companies via

565
00:39:11,595 --> 00:39:14,635
Lightning. You don't even have to have a login. You can log in via Lightning.

566
00:39:15,075 --> 00:39:18,375
I love that. Last but not least, you need to get access to your Bitcoin value

567
00:39:18,375 --> 00:39:20,035
without selling. Right now I don't

568
00:39:20,035 --> 00:39:22,935
see a better deal than Salt Lending out there. Salt Lending is great.

569
00:39:23,773 --> 00:39:27,593
There's a lot of features I like, including loan stabilization and other things.

570
00:39:27,693 --> 00:39:29,973
So check them out. And they do not rehypothecate your Bitcoin.

571
00:39:30,293 --> 00:39:33,553
Links to Salt Lending and all of the others in the show notes.

572
00:39:33,693 --> 00:39:38,193
But with that said, it's time to get in to those delicious boosts. And we have a good batch.

573
00:39:39,913 --> 00:39:44,153
And look at this right here. Our baller booster needs to set their user profile.

574
00:39:44,353 --> 00:39:49,093
But I really appreciate the boost. It's user 20497192.

575
00:39:49,773 --> 00:39:51,073
Hey, rich lobster.

576
00:39:53,193 --> 00:39:56,393
Hey, Chris, I got to say how much fun it was meeting you and everybody at the

577
00:39:56,393 --> 00:39:58,573
Planet Nix meetup in Pasadena last weekend.

578
00:39:58,813 --> 00:40:02,973
My goal is to learn as to run a Gene Bean Nix Bitcoin node.

579
00:40:03,893 --> 00:40:08,233
Gene Bean, you got a brand now. The Gene Bean Bitcoin Nix node.

580
00:40:08,513 --> 00:40:11,893
I'm getting close. Thanks for keeping it excellent and real.

581
00:40:12,073 --> 00:40:15,873
I shared the secret Thousand Oaks meetup guys this week that you might be meeting

582
00:40:15,873 --> 00:40:18,633
up with them, and they can't wait for you to visit the next time you make it

583
00:40:18,633 --> 00:40:21,273
down this way. We all listen and love the show.

584
00:40:21,433 --> 00:40:28,193
Oh, well, that's awesome. And yeah, my goal would be to road trip down to California

585
00:40:28,193 --> 00:40:32,813
next time and come back up Highway 101 on the coast, swing by,

586
00:40:32,953 --> 00:40:34,493
do the secret meetup. That'd be awesome.

587
00:40:35,293 --> 00:40:40,813
OB comes in with 25,000 sats. My Hawk meme coin is love!

588
00:40:41,453 --> 00:40:44,653
Yes, I would like a bite bit. Break down more content, always better.

589
00:40:45,013 --> 00:40:49,393
Reference, the check and chain, digital gold, is a bad analogy. Okay, here we go.

590
00:40:49,893 --> 00:40:52,733
Bob Burnett will talk people through the block space, being the most powerful

591
00:40:52,733 --> 00:40:54,633
commodity in the world we'll ever know.

592
00:40:54,933 --> 00:40:58,173
I hope all is well with your health. I'm reminded everyone is dealing with something

593
00:40:58,173 --> 00:40:59,313
that no one else knows about.

594
00:40:59,873 --> 00:41:03,493
Isn't that always the case? The health has been a little rough recently,

595
00:41:03,713 --> 00:41:07,153
but it seemed to be on the mend. So I am doing okay.

596
00:41:07,753 --> 00:41:13,353
Now, here we go. Here's Gene Bean. Gene Bean's here with 4,444 sets. That's a big old bird.

597
00:41:13,533 --> 00:41:16,413
Things are looking up for old McDuck. Well, let's hear it good,

598
00:41:16,533 --> 00:41:20,733
buddy. It says, are you aware of any reason not to use the Unchained IRA and

599
00:41:20,733 --> 00:41:26,433
a pair of Trezor 1s as the way to make better use of a 401k from a previous employer? I am not.

600
00:41:26,933 --> 00:41:30,293
I hear good things about Unchained, and I hear very practical,

601
00:41:30,433 --> 00:41:32,273
pragmatic reasons to use the IRA.

602
00:41:32,573 --> 00:41:34,973
I cannot speak to the pair of Trezor 1s.

603
00:41:35,313 --> 00:41:37,673
I don't really have any major issue with that.

604
00:41:38,213 --> 00:41:41,393
Probably wouldn't be the first. I would probably go with a cold card first or

605
00:41:41,393 --> 00:41:44,013
a jade if they support that. Probably would go with a jade.

606
00:41:45,333 --> 00:41:49,633
Better than nothing, man. And I really like overall Unchained's business.

607
00:41:49,773 --> 00:41:51,073
So I think it's probably a good one.

608
00:41:51,353 --> 00:41:54,193
He says, I just also finished The Bitcoin Standard. It was good,

609
00:41:54,753 --> 00:41:57,973
but I think Lynn Alden's Broken Money is a much better book overall because

610
00:41:57,973 --> 00:42:02,213
it was written post 2020 and incorporates all the associated debasement and inflation.

611
00:42:02,533 --> 00:42:06,133
Yeah, Gene and I had a chance to talk about the two books and compare and contrast

612
00:42:06,133 --> 00:42:08,353
them over lunch last week when I was gone.

613
00:42:08,833 --> 00:42:13,593
And Gene makes a good point that Lynn simply wrote her book after COVID and all the money printing.

614
00:42:14,093 --> 00:42:17,973
And while the Bitcoin standard is fantastic, it's kind of written like 2018,

615
00:42:18,153 --> 00:42:20,293
2019, before all of that happened.

616
00:42:20,433 --> 00:42:25,093
And it talks about what could happen, but Lynn in Broken Money is able to incorporate

617
00:42:25,093 --> 00:42:27,613
what did happen and use that as a data point.

618
00:42:27,813 --> 00:42:31,833
So I agree maybe nowadays you only had time to read one.

619
00:42:32,273 --> 00:42:36,813
You might want to consider reading Broken Money and then moving on to the Bitcoin standard.

620
00:42:37,053 --> 00:42:40,593
There's really nice things about both. Thank you, Gene. It was good to see you too.

621
00:42:41,273 --> 00:42:45,693
Oppie 1984 is here with 4,000 sats. Put some macaroni and cheese on there too.

622
00:42:45,873 --> 00:42:49,393
A metal plate's a good idea. Thanks. I'll look into that. Yeah, there's a lot out there.

623
00:42:49,913 --> 00:42:53,513
If anybody has any good recommendations of a vendor, please do boost those in

624
00:42:53,513 --> 00:42:55,753
because there's really too many to choose from.

625
00:42:56,233 --> 00:42:58,393
And it's good to hear from you. Thanks for boosting it, Oppie.

626
00:42:58,713 --> 00:43:00,353
Vault Bites here with the row of ducks.

627
00:43:01,433 --> 00:43:05,553
That's 2,222 sats. And he says, I'm great. Well, you're great.

628
00:43:05,793 --> 00:43:07,473
Thanks for the value vault. I really appreciate it.

629
00:43:08,013 --> 00:43:14,873
Oh, here we go. Here we go. So Amorphous Phage comes in with 3,333 sats.

630
00:43:15,073 --> 00:43:18,793
Oh my God, this drawer is filled with fruit. He says, I'm sorry about my username.

631
00:43:19,513 --> 00:43:23,553
You know, afterwards, I remembered we had actually figured it out on LEP.

632
00:43:24,333 --> 00:43:28,513
But he said, I consider changing it. Nah, you just have to be okay with me calling

633
00:43:28,513 --> 00:43:30,153
you Amorphous Sausage every now and then.

634
00:43:30,313 --> 00:43:33,013
Also, you absolutely nailed my opinion and my thought experiment boost.

635
00:43:33,213 --> 00:43:36,633
The fish out of water analogy is 100% true. Also, deflation will be a problem.

636
00:43:37,193 --> 00:43:40,733
We need to stop chasing record after record. Slow and steady is definitely better.

637
00:43:43,233 --> 00:43:45,993
Infinite growth? Yeah. Hmm. What could go wrong? Money printing?

638
00:43:46,173 --> 00:43:47,113
Nah, shouldn't be a problem.

639
00:43:47,793 --> 00:43:52,593
I have been kind of low-key watching the European Union gear up to fund the

640
00:43:52,593 --> 00:43:56,533
war in Ukraine on their own and the kind of schemes they're coming up with.

641
00:43:56,833 --> 00:43:59,313
And you could look this up because I didn't prep it for the show.

642
00:43:59,313 --> 00:44:03,213
But one of the things they're talking about doing is accessing all of the,

643
00:44:03,353 --> 00:44:04,833
quote, untapped private wealth.

644
00:44:05,513 --> 00:44:11,473
I don't know what that means, but when central bankers say they want to access

645
00:44:11,473 --> 00:44:18,393
untapped private wealth savings, I'm always kind of a little worried about that. So just...

646
00:44:19,002 --> 00:44:22,562
I don't know. The liquidity situation is going to be wild over the next two

647
00:44:22,562 --> 00:44:25,262
years. It takes a little while for that stuff to trickle down.

648
00:44:25,782 --> 00:44:27,942
Anyway, Sausage, good to hear from you. Thanks for boosting in.

649
00:44:28,522 --> 00:44:30,982
Cannabis Records comes in with 4,200 sats.

650
00:44:32,182 --> 00:44:35,022
Thanks for spinning Mookie's track. He saw it blow up this morning.

651
00:44:35,202 --> 00:44:37,882
A big thank you to Chris and everyone who boosted in. Very excited to see his

652
00:44:37,882 --> 00:44:38,882
work appreciated this way.

653
00:44:39,222 --> 00:44:43,202
It's the first time he ever made it in the top three. Oh, man, I love that.

654
00:44:46,882 --> 00:44:51,402
Thank you cannabis records good to hear from you glad to hear it gave them a thrill,

655
00:44:51,962 --> 00:44:54,762
jegs here with 10 000 sats just pump

656
00:44:54,762 --> 00:44:57,522
the brakes right there let's hear it good buddy love the

657
00:44:57,522 --> 00:45:00,822
song oh yeah thanks jeg thanks for supporting our artists there that's great

658
00:45:00,822 --> 00:45:05,882
shy fox also came in with 10 000 sats yeah i got answers and i want some questions

659
00:45:05,882 --> 00:45:10,522
for the federal worker contract ratio just as a side note i last episode i said

660
00:45:10,522 --> 00:45:14,922
it there's data out there that suggests for like Like every single federal employee

661
00:45:14,922 --> 00:45:16,782
that gets fired, two contractors lose a job.

662
00:45:17,122 --> 00:45:21,462
No idea if it's true. But Shy Fox says, I don't see firing fed workers,

663
00:45:21,462 --> 00:45:25,282
especially in the areas affected so far, having a real impact on spending.

664
00:45:25,682 --> 00:45:30,262
They'll probably be replaced by more contractors who cost even more while they're employed.

665
00:45:30,282 --> 00:45:33,802
And the government will become even less capable of doing basic functions by

666
00:45:33,802 --> 00:45:35,402
itself than it already is.

667
00:45:36,842 --> 00:45:43,222
Brutal, Shy Fox. Oh, man, if they replace those folks with contractors, I don't know, man.

668
00:45:43,762 --> 00:45:47,302
That just feels pretty shady. I'm going to keep an eye out for that.

669
00:45:47,562 --> 00:45:49,362
Thanks for the boost. Appreciate it, ShyFox.

670
00:45:49,982 --> 00:45:54,922
Adversary 17 is here with 17,000 sats. Banks are Ponzi schemes run by morons.

671
00:45:55,082 --> 00:45:59,062
And adversaries writes, I'm a few weeks behind on podcasts, but a great episode once again, Chris.

672
00:45:59,702 --> 00:46:02,762
As for, do I trust my mobile as my cold stash?

673
00:46:02,902 --> 00:46:06,582
No, absolutely not. It's too connected, too visible as a target for theft or

674
00:46:06,582 --> 00:46:07,702
even getting lost or damaged.

675
00:46:08,162 --> 00:46:12,202
But I'm also an old man and I prefer using a computer over my mobile as much as possible.

676
00:46:12,682 --> 00:46:16,802
Definitely part of what, why I don't think I trust my mobile device for my cold stash.

677
00:46:17,362 --> 00:46:20,482
Then I think the part I can't believe I hadn't thought of is you're right.

678
00:46:21,022 --> 00:46:25,642
These things have like built-in modems that have their own operating systems that I can't turn off.

679
00:46:26,142 --> 00:46:29,582
I mean, not practically and none of the phones out there that have the switches I'm going to use.

680
00:46:30,182 --> 00:46:32,702
And you're right, they also have things in the OS that I just don't know about.

681
00:46:32,762 --> 00:46:36,262
I feel like I know more about what my custom built Nixbox or Archbox is doing

682
00:46:36,262 --> 00:46:41,022
or even, you know, a well-maintained Ubuntu or Fedora box, than I do an Android machine.

683
00:46:41,362 --> 00:46:44,642
So I think that's what it is. It's a bit of me just preferring to use computers

684
00:46:44,642 --> 00:46:48,642
for real stuff and then quote-unquote real stuff, and then also just the unknown

685
00:46:48,642 --> 00:46:51,422
nature of Android's connectivity and that modem.

686
00:46:52,500 --> 00:46:56,020
But like most people say, as long as you're using an external wallet,

687
00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:59,960
something that has to sign the keys, you should be fine.

688
00:47:00,460 --> 00:47:03,000
Thanks for the boost. Ace Ackerman's here with a row of ducks.

689
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:07,240
And he just says, boost. Thank you, Ace. Always good to hear from you.

690
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:12,320
I'm trying to think if I've heard. I know. No, I know you've boosted before.

691
00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:16,120
Northern Hoddle is here. And I'm pretty. Yeah, this is like your second boost.

692
00:47:16,220 --> 00:47:18,440
I think it's good to hear from you again. Everything's under control.

693
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:20,240
Missed a few weeks. So crazy boost incoming.

694
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:24,680
Coming in from Tahoe. hence the ah, Northern Tahodl. I see, I'm Northern Tah.

695
00:47:25,100 --> 00:47:28,740
I see, Northern Tahodl. Good to hear from you, Northern Tahodl.

696
00:47:28,820 --> 00:47:30,760
Is that your first boost? It might be your first.

697
00:47:31,540 --> 00:47:33,960
I'm feeling like maybe it is, but it's great to hear from you.

698
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,040
The traders love the vol. Atone's here with a Rodex.

699
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,820
I think the gold comparison is an important one. So last week I asked if it's

700
00:47:41,820 --> 00:47:43,260
time to drop the digital gold narrative.

701
00:47:43,820 --> 00:47:47,940
Gold is the closest thing to trad fi in Bitcoin. It's real and it's hard money.

702
00:47:48,260 --> 00:47:52,320
Before Bitcoin, serious sound money advocates basically had to be for gold.

703
00:47:52,860 --> 00:47:55,840
It's where we'd still be today if Satoshi hadn't come along.

704
00:47:56,060 --> 00:47:59,940
Of course, Bitcoin is a massive technological improvement over the yellow rock,

705
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:03,400
but I don't think it's a disservice to Bitcoin to draw comparisons to the most

706
00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:05,040
successful hard money in history.

707
00:48:06,540 --> 00:48:10,900
That was a 10,000 sat boost coming in at 2000. That's a great boost. I agree.

708
00:48:11,420 --> 00:48:14,040
Wow. Yeah. And you know, I was thinking about it more since the episode.

709
00:48:14,180 --> 00:48:17,520
I don't think we'd be here with the clarification that David Sachs had about

710
00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:19,540
the difference of Bitcoin and all the other crypto.

711
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,540
If that digital gold narrative hadn't taken hold. I think it was absolutely necessary.

712
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:27,060
Absolutely necessary. Here's another mind F for you.

713
00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:31,080
Get ready for this one, everybody. I should have made this a boost question.

714
00:48:31,180 --> 00:48:32,520
So boost in and tell me what you think about this.

715
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:37,900
One of the reasons I believe the US government is embracing Bitcoin is because stablecoins.

716
00:48:38,100 --> 00:48:41,440
And when stablecoins rip, Bitcoin rips. When Bitcoin rips, stablecoin rips,

717
00:48:41,540 --> 00:48:44,080
et cetera. The two are sort of symbiotic in that way.

718
00:48:45,500 --> 00:48:48,840
Stablecoins represent digital dollar dominance around the world.

719
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:50,700
Without the U.S. having to create a CBDC.

720
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:55,800
It gives access to the digital dollar system for the entire world.

721
00:48:56,160 --> 00:49:00,700
And it'll extend the reach and utility of the dollar and thus the dominance of the dollar over time.

722
00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:06,580
And if not for that, perhaps the U.S. government would have had a much more

723
00:49:06,580 --> 00:49:07,980
hostile approach to Bitcoin.

724
00:49:08,580 --> 00:49:15,840
If not for that symbiotic relationship and a narrative that the U.S.

725
00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:17,300
Government desperately needs.

726
00:49:18,607 --> 00:49:24,227
So in a weird way, could it be said that we would not have a Bitcoin reserve

727
00:49:24,227 --> 00:49:28,907
and a bill in the House and a bill in the Senate if not for shit coins?

728
00:49:29,327 --> 00:49:31,267
Because stable coins require a shit coin network.

729
00:49:32,067 --> 00:49:35,547
Did that bake your noodle? Because it bakes my noodle, man. What if the very

730
00:49:35,547 --> 00:49:39,687
things Bitcoiners hate were necessary for the U.S.

731
00:49:39,767 --> 00:49:43,407
Government to adopt it? Because it was supposed to be first they laugh at you,

732
00:49:43,567 --> 00:49:49,527
then they fight you. And I expected, I mean, I expected a full-on war from the

733
00:49:49,527 --> 00:49:50,947
federal government to stop Bitcoin.

734
00:49:51,807 --> 00:49:55,027
And yet, they're the first government, large world government,

735
00:49:55,467 --> 00:49:58,787
Western world government, to embrace it. That's not what I expected.

736
00:49:59,627 --> 00:50:02,767
So I think digital gold played a role there, played an important role,

737
00:50:02,847 --> 00:50:04,807
and I think stablecoins did, which means shitcoins.

738
00:50:04,987 --> 00:50:07,867
And that just bakes my noodle. I'd love to know what you guys think about that.

739
00:50:08,127 --> 00:50:14,307
Also, thank you very much, Atone, for boosting in. Now, BMW Room Veru comes in with a Rodex.

740
00:50:15,287 --> 00:50:21,207
With a value-for-value boost. Coming in hot with the boost. And Chakalaka's here with a row of ducks.

741
00:50:24,187 --> 00:50:28,727
In response to Gene Bean's question from the last episode, a solid entry-level

742
00:50:28,727 --> 00:50:31,427
miner that won't break the bank is the Antminer S9.

743
00:50:31,647 --> 00:50:36,147
Now, that said, it is inefficient by today's standards, but it is best used,

744
00:50:36,327 --> 00:50:37,407
perhaps, as a space heater.

745
00:50:37,567 --> 00:50:40,047
I have an S9, and that's what I've been thinking, too. If I'm going to run a

746
00:50:40,047 --> 00:50:44,247
heater, and it's volted down or whatever, It has like a little unit,

747
00:50:44,327 --> 00:50:47,387
a little power supply on it that lets it run off 120 volt wall supply,

748
00:50:47,507 --> 00:50:49,127
which means it's going to run even slower.

749
00:50:50,027 --> 00:50:53,707
But, you know, I could run it off a regular outlet. You can remove two hash

750
00:50:53,707 --> 00:50:55,207
boards to cut down on power use and noise.

751
00:50:55,307 --> 00:50:58,747
You can pair it with a Brains firmware and Noctifans for a quiet setup.

752
00:50:59,287 --> 00:51:03,207
So this is key here. He says, you know, if you cut out two of the hash boards,

753
00:51:03,427 --> 00:51:07,167
then you reflash it with Brains, and then you put Noctifans on there,

754
00:51:07,447 --> 00:51:10,347
the thing's going to run a lot quieter. And with a little cron magic,

755
00:51:10,527 --> 00:51:13,767
you can dial the power anywhere from 300 watts to 1,400 watts.

756
00:51:14,667 --> 00:51:19,007
Now, more efficient options for the home user are the FutureBit and the BitAxe,

757
00:51:19,187 --> 00:51:23,767
which uses just one of the 190 chips found in the S21. So you get S21 level

758
00:51:23,767 --> 00:51:27,167
efficiency, but at a much lower hash rate than the S9.

759
00:51:27,567 --> 00:51:31,067
But he says, just remember that mining is proof of work. You can't have low

760
00:51:31,067 --> 00:51:32,987
upfront cost and low operational cost.

761
00:51:33,227 --> 00:51:35,887
There's always going to be trade-offs. Hope that helps.

762
00:51:36,707 --> 00:51:41,227
Chakalaka, that is such a great boost. That helped me. I hope it helps everybody

763
00:51:41,227 --> 00:51:43,707
else. Thank you very much for that boost.

764
00:51:44,227 --> 00:51:48,287
Curious, he is here with 5,000 sats. That's a Jar Jar boost. You're so boost.

765
00:51:48,747 --> 00:51:53,567
So the way the Navy deals with its massive abandoned salt mine in Utah, the U.S.

766
00:51:53,847 --> 00:51:57,507
Does operate some breeder reactors, also where every so often they will take

767
00:51:57,507 --> 00:52:00,587
some of the waste and burn it down to lead.

768
00:52:02,043 --> 00:52:05,263
The hippies tend to throw a giant fit about moving the stuff around.

769
00:52:05,443 --> 00:52:07,083
So this has all been limited.

770
00:52:07,423 --> 00:52:10,303
Ah, that's a little bit of great insights there. Thank you, Kirstie.

771
00:52:10,423 --> 00:52:11,283
It's good to hear from you.

772
00:52:11,963 --> 00:52:17,863
Lord Stabby is here with 2,722 sats.

773
00:52:18,123 --> 00:52:21,883
From now on, you will be my best friend and live by my side.

774
00:52:22,303 --> 00:52:25,843
He says, I just set up my umbral lightning node and opened two channels.

775
00:52:25,983 --> 00:52:29,943
And this was my first payment to Fountain. All right. Yes.

776
00:52:30,763 --> 00:52:34,983
I love it. We got our last boost before the 2000s at cutoff was about a node

777
00:52:34,983 --> 00:52:36,203
getting set up. Awesome.

778
00:52:38,243 --> 00:52:41,843
I'm glad we got one in there. Thanks, Tabby. And congratulations.

779
00:52:42,223 --> 00:52:45,603
Hope you enjoy. And thank you, everybody who also streamed sats.

780
00:52:45,763 --> 00:52:48,083
57 of you just streamed those sats as you listen.

781
00:52:48,243 --> 00:52:52,363
So collectively, you helped the show stack 92,600 sats.

782
00:52:52,703 --> 00:52:56,203
Thank you very much, sats streamers. Now, when you combine that with our 78

783
00:52:56,203 --> 00:53:03,623
unique boosters, we stacked a total of 268,796 sats for the last two weeks of the show.

784
00:53:04,963 --> 00:53:06,303
Thank you, everybody, very much.

785
00:53:07,723 --> 00:53:11,523
Now, Fountain FM is probably the easiest way you can combo it with like something

786
00:53:11,523 --> 00:53:14,103
Strike or anything else on the Lightning Network.

787
00:53:14,563 --> 00:53:17,583
Grab them sats and then just blast them over to your fountain wallet.

788
00:53:17,743 --> 00:53:21,903
But there are a lot of self-hosted options as well. Albie Hub and others.

789
00:53:22,543 --> 00:53:25,663
Newpodcastapps.com. Fountain FM and strike are probably the easiest way to get

790
00:53:25,663 --> 00:53:28,083
going. And then you can boost the show and support this episode.

791
00:53:28,323 --> 00:53:32,903
Thank you, everybody who supported episode 49 of this week in Bitcoin.

792
00:53:33,083 --> 00:53:36,863
And please do boost in and give feedback and respond to questions and all that.

793
00:53:36,943 --> 00:53:40,903
That engagement not only supports the show, but it makes for one of my absolute

794
00:53:40,903 --> 00:53:45,323
favorite segments. And it makes it feel like I'm doing a show for real people out there.

795
00:53:45,723 --> 00:53:48,903
And I'm having a conversation with you, which I absolutely love.

796
00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:58,960
Music.

797
00:53:58,802 --> 00:54:01,522
All right, I got a couple of updates for you.

798
00:54:02,462 --> 00:54:06,402
It's been a rough few weeks for the Bitcoin miners. They're really feeling the

799
00:54:06,402 --> 00:54:10,062
squeeze. They're taking a hit from low fees and, of course, falling prices.

800
00:54:10,742 --> 00:54:15,382
Mining profitability has dropped below $50 per petahash, marking the lowest

801
00:54:15,382 --> 00:54:18,122
level since mid-November.

802
00:54:18,622 --> 00:54:23,962
Ouch. According to the Miner magazine, transaction fees totaled just 163 Bitcoin

803
00:54:23,962 --> 00:54:29,322
in February. That's only 1.33% of the total block rewards.

804
00:54:29,862 --> 00:54:34,402
That's tough times in mining land for sure. Also, the SEC has made a lot of

805
00:54:34,402 --> 00:54:36,122
news since the last episode.

806
00:54:36,422 --> 00:54:39,602
Some of it's not so great, some of it is. It's a big shift. The U.S.

807
00:54:39,642 --> 00:54:43,262
SEC has closed investigations into several high-profile crypto players,

808
00:54:43,482 --> 00:54:50,262
including Coinbase, Gemini, Uniswap, Robinhood, Metamask, OpenSea,

809
00:54:50,502 --> 00:54:53,242
Richard Hart, and today, Ripple.

810
00:54:54,002 --> 00:54:58,362
The agency also issued a rare clarification on meme coins, stating that most

811
00:54:58,362 --> 00:54:59,382
are not considered securities.

812
00:54:59,722 --> 00:55:04,682
Somehow, quote, the offer and sale of meme coins does not involve an investment

813
00:55:04,682 --> 00:55:08,582
in an enterprise nor undertaken with a reasonable expectation of profits to

814
00:55:08,582 --> 00:55:12,282
be derived from the entrepreneurial or manageable efforts of others, said the SEC.

815
00:55:13,002 --> 00:55:17,282
So in other words, there's such an obvious bad investment and because you're

816
00:55:17,282 --> 00:55:20,422
not directly investing in a company and you don't really know what the team's

817
00:55:20,422 --> 00:55:22,702
doing for the investment, it's not a security.

818
00:55:24,182 --> 00:55:27,882
Okay. I don't see how any of these pass the Howey test, but I guess that just

819
00:55:27,882 --> 00:55:28,482
doesn't matter anymore.

820
00:55:28,662 --> 00:55:31,982
The agency also warned that the fraudulent conduct involving meme coins would

821
00:55:31,982 --> 00:55:33,102
still trigger enforcement.

822
00:55:33,342 --> 00:55:37,082
So, perhaps we shall see. I don't know about that.

823
00:55:38,722 --> 00:55:43,702
Now i got two yes two final clips of the week because i just liked them both

824
00:55:43,702 --> 00:55:48,742
so much now i've mentioned it once before on the show so i don't expect everybody

825
00:55:48,742 --> 00:55:50,442
to remember but meta planet,

826
00:55:51,182 --> 00:55:58,242
which was a hotel firm in japan has been employing the strategy bitcoin treasury

827
00:55:58,242 --> 00:56:03,642
strategy i don't like the new name and i said micro strategy was easier couldn't

828
00:56:03,642 --> 00:56:05,642
even change it to macro strategy or something.

829
00:56:05,982 --> 00:56:09,962
But anyways, their CEO is very bullish on Bitcoin.

830
00:56:10,022 --> 00:56:16,182
And he has a few behaviors around Bitcoin that I think some of you probably

831
00:56:16,182 --> 00:56:19,782
disagree with, but maybe we could open it up to a conversation here.

832
00:56:20,122 --> 00:56:24,122
He's all about spreading the Bitcoin evangelism to everybody.

833
00:56:24,282 --> 00:56:25,962
Sit down at dinner and be that guy.

834
00:56:26,182 --> 00:56:32,602
I think everyone has a role in helping to increase Bitcoin adoption in the world.

835
00:56:32,922 --> 00:56:35,642
And I know a lot of your viewers are already believers in Bitcoin,

836
00:56:35,702 --> 00:56:39,362
but there's a great impact, I think, when you're at a dinner or you're out with

837
00:56:39,362 --> 00:56:44,442
friends to talk about Bitcoin, share with them this amazing asset class,

838
00:56:44,762 --> 00:56:48,682
something that I think can be transformational for them if they adopt early.

839
00:56:49,102 --> 00:56:52,622
I will admit, I used to try this. I used to try to talk to my friends about

840
00:56:52,622 --> 00:56:55,302
Bitcoin, even as recent as a couple of years ago.

841
00:56:56,579 --> 00:57:00,559
But I've stopped for the most part. Every now and then I try to talk to my mom.

842
00:57:01,039 --> 00:57:03,659
It's just a little bit, just because I care about her.

843
00:57:05,339 --> 00:57:08,899
But it's not that I don't care about my friends. It's just that it never really landed.

844
00:57:09,639 --> 00:57:14,719
Because they need to understand so much more around Bitcoin to really get why Bitcoin is valuable.

845
00:57:15,279 --> 00:57:17,919
One of the first things you hear people say is, we can't do anything with it.

846
00:57:18,359 --> 00:57:20,759
They don't even understand what makes hard money hard money.

847
00:57:21,179 --> 00:57:24,619
They don't even get it. So why would they understand why Bitcoin is valuable?

848
00:57:25,159 --> 00:57:29,219
And I just, I tried, I guess, about a year ago with another good friend.

849
00:57:30,339 --> 00:57:34,319
And actually that has worked out, but it took about a year. It took about a

850
00:57:34,319 --> 00:57:35,819
year of kind of an ongoing conversation.

851
00:57:36,319 --> 00:57:40,559
So it's a lot of investment I've found. But I think the point that he's trying

852
00:57:40,559 --> 00:57:46,379
to make is that it's so important that we spend that energy and we tell as many

853
00:57:46,379 --> 00:57:48,639
people as possible because it is that important.

854
00:57:48,879 --> 00:57:51,739
And I'm wondering if you agree with that sentiment or not.

855
00:57:52,259 --> 00:57:55,159
I tell my friends to put 100% of their net worth into Bitcoin,

856
00:57:55,359 --> 00:57:56,699
but perhaps that's too far.

857
00:57:57,219 --> 00:58:02,259
But to start somewhere, everyone can invest 1%, 2%, 3%, 5%. But that means that

858
00:58:02,259 --> 00:58:06,159
95% that isn't invested in Bitcoin is in something that I think is inferior.

859
00:58:06,619 --> 00:58:10,219
But I think we can all play a very important role in orange pilling.

860
00:58:10,579 --> 00:58:16,159
I did one time sit down with a friend and we looked at ETFs and we looked at

861
00:58:16,159 --> 00:58:22,439
stocks and then we kind of zoomed out and looked at like, you know, over a year period.

862
00:58:22,879 --> 00:58:25,879
It's really hard to find something that beats Bitcoin.

863
00:58:26,139 --> 00:58:29,779
Every now and then, Nvidia comes along for a bit, but it's really,

864
00:58:29,919 --> 00:58:32,359
really hard to find another investment that beats Bitcoin.

865
00:58:32,479 --> 00:58:35,999
So when you're actually looking at, I have a limited amount of money and I need

866
00:58:35,999 --> 00:58:42,019
the best performance to risk ratio return, Bitcoin is surprisingly a safe bet

867
00:58:42,019 --> 00:58:44,179
over, you know, multiple years, of course.

868
00:58:45,182 --> 00:58:48,102
And you can actually sit down with people and you can look at the returns of

869
00:58:48,102 --> 00:58:50,622
stuff. You know, find a website that does this for you.

870
00:58:50,942 --> 00:58:54,802
And the data is there. It's obvious. And that does start a conversation. I've noticed that.

871
00:58:55,082 --> 00:58:57,902
Those around us. And one by one, I think the dominoes will fall.

872
00:58:58,062 --> 00:59:00,482
We're beginning to see that now, which is incredibly exciting.

873
00:59:00,742 --> 00:59:04,542
It's no longer a fringe asset. It's something that's definitely mainstream.

874
00:59:04,822 --> 00:59:09,522
And when Wall Street begins to embrace Bitcoin, that's a really good sign.

875
00:59:09,742 --> 00:59:13,022
So does this mean you're personally 100% in Bitcoin?

876
00:59:13,782 --> 00:59:17,402
You know, I just sold an apartment in Tokyo to buy Bitcoin.

877
00:59:17,742 --> 00:59:20,962
No. I still have an apartment in Bangkok, which I'm looking to sell.

878
00:59:21,102 --> 00:59:23,362
If I can sell it, that goes into Bitcoin as well. Yeah, man.

879
00:59:23,642 --> 00:59:26,342
Yeah. I mean, dude, the guy is all in.

880
00:59:26,662 --> 00:59:30,022
Speaking of somebody who's all in, we got to play a Mikey Saylor clip.

881
00:59:30,522 --> 00:59:35,802
So for context here, I actually, you know, I've owned two homes in my lifetime

882
00:59:35,802 --> 00:59:38,302
and I do technically own the studio.

883
00:59:38,542 --> 00:59:44,462
However, I do not live at the studio. I live by choice, mostly in an RV because

884
00:59:44,462 --> 00:59:47,222
it's very expensive in Washington state to buy home or land.

885
00:59:47,662 --> 00:59:51,342
And my intention is to one day go somewhere where it's cheaper and set up shop

886
00:59:51,342 --> 00:59:52,862
there and then like build a house.

887
00:59:53,362 --> 00:59:59,782
So for the last nearly 10 years, I have lived in a 40 foot class A RV.

888
01:00:00,302 --> 01:00:04,382
It's a nice RV, but it is 40 feet long. It's about 200 square feet.

889
01:00:04,722 --> 01:00:07,582
I also have three kids, a dog and a wife.

890
01:00:08,842 --> 01:00:13,042
Kids don't live with me full time, but they're often over. And that has been

891
01:00:13,042 --> 01:00:16,002
an interesting lifestyle. Let me put it that way.

892
01:00:16,122 --> 01:00:18,802
I do love traveling, but it has been an interesting lifestyle.

893
01:00:19,302 --> 01:00:23,862
And the thing that has always been really remarkable about where we travel and

894
01:00:23,862 --> 01:00:29,962
where we set up our camp, our home base, is there is property all around us

895
01:00:29,962 --> 01:00:32,462
that It sits empty. Acres of it.

896
01:00:33,422 --> 01:00:39,102
Even in towns. In fact, we're very lucky because we get to park on some of this from time to time.

897
01:00:39,362 --> 01:00:42,842
And we get to be sometimes downtown at certain places in Washington.

898
01:00:43,823 --> 01:00:49,783
There are just parcels or whatever of land that are just sitting there unused

899
01:00:49,783 --> 01:00:53,503
because they're simply a store of value for some rich businessman.

900
01:00:54,263 --> 01:00:58,043
And I don't really necessarily blame him or her.

901
01:00:58,163 --> 01:01:01,543
I happen to know the person in this case, so I know it's a him because this

902
01:01:01,543 --> 01:01:02,463
is their best option. What are

903
01:01:02,463 --> 01:01:04,623
they going to do? Put it in their savings account and watch it melt away?

904
01:01:04,763 --> 01:01:06,863
What are they going to do? Put it in the market and then have a week like this,

905
01:01:06,923 --> 01:01:09,043
wipe it out? No, they'd rather put it in real estate.

906
01:01:09,603 --> 01:01:13,043
That's what they do. And what I have looked forward to, and we've talked about

907
01:01:13,043 --> 01:01:17,003
it before, is when we do start to see mainstream adoption, this will only happen

908
01:01:17,003 --> 01:01:19,943
with tools through the banks that most of us Bitcoiners do hate.

909
01:01:20,283 --> 01:01:26,363
But as mainstream adoption begins, Bitcoin could very likely become a preferred store of value.

910
01:01:26,783 --> 01:01:32,443
If that were to happen, people like that MetaPlanet CEO I just played would

911
01:01:32,443 --> 01:01:37,363
divert their real estate investments into a better store of value like Bitcoin.

912
01:01:37,763 --> 01:01:42,523
And it may mean that housing becomes more available. And I think this clip from

913
01:01:42,523 --> 01:01:45,823
Saylor really kind of puts it into practical perspective.

914
01:01:46,323 --> 01:01:51,903
I know wealthy people. They own 16 estates on the eastern shore,

915
01:01:51,903 --> 01:01:54,283
and they live in two of them.

916
01:01:54,583 --> 01:01:57,303
Like, why do they buy them? They land banking.

917
01:01:57,683 --> 01:02:00,503
What does that mean? Well, the guy makes a lot of money every year,

918
01:02:00,563 --> 01:02:02,963
and he doesn't want to put it in a savings account.

919
01:02:02,963 --> 01:02:07,343
So he goes and he just buys a cool piece of property, and he buys another one.

920
01:02:07,343 --> 01:02:10,263
Well okay it sounds good but here's

921
01:02:10,263 --> 01:02:13,223
the problem the guy buys up the beautiful pieces of

922
01:02:13,223 --> 01:02:16,563
property and you so you can't afford it right and

923
01:02:16,563 --> 01:02:19,323
if the guy if the rich guy wasn't buying up all

924
01:02:19,323 --> 01:02:22,563
the beautiful houses they would cost half as much and you

925
01:02:22,563 --> 01:02:25,663
could live in a beautiful house so here's what happens some rich

926
01:02:25,663 --> 01:02:29,423
dude has 27 houses that are empty you don't

927
01:02:29,423 --> 01:02:32,483
have a beautiful house you have a family

928
01:02:32,483 --> 01:02:35,403
your kids your dog could use the beautiful

929
01:02:35,403 --> 01:02:39,043
house the rich dude doesn't even want the house he

930
01:02:39,043 --> 01:02:43,063
just wants a long-term capital preservation strategy

931
01:02:43,063 --> 01:02:45,923
right and so that's a prefer

932
01:02:45,923 --> 01:02:49,063
a perverse incentive and a distorted

933
01:02:49,063 --> 01:02:52,823
economy that's broken that's broken

934
01:02:52,823 --> 01:02:58,023
money that's because the rich dude is using an estate on the eastern shore of

935
01:02:58,023 --> 01:03:04,223
maryland as a piggy bank huh but the estate doesn't get renovated the house

936
01:03:04,223 --> 01:03:09,183
is falling down there's a beautiful pool on the water and you could have a great

937
01:03:09,183 --> 01:03:11,443
family picnic there every Sunday,

938
01:03:11,443 --> 01:03:15,063
but it's not going to happen because the rich dude has 16 other houses.

939
01:03:15,403 --> 01:03:18,203
He just bought that house because he thought it was a good investment.

940
01:03:18,800 --> 01:03:29,520
Music.

941
01:03:31,051 --> 01:03:33,691
Let's check the state of the network before I get out of here.

942
01:03:33,811 --> 01:03:38,411
This episode is wrapping up at block height 887,504.

943
01:03:38,611 --> 01:03:46,971
The current U.S. price for Bitcoin is $82,670, hovering right around that 200-day

944
01:03:46,971 --> 01:03:48,591
moving average, just like I said it might.

945
01:03:48,951 --> 01:03:58,011
That is a drawdown of 24.3% from our all-time high of $109,160 on January 19th, 2025.

946
01:03:58,891 --> 01:04:05,471
A 25-ish percent, even a 30 percent drawdown would be in line with a typical

947
01:04:05,471 --> 01:04:06,971
post-halving market run.

948
01:04:07,751 --> 01:04:14,671
So the timing of some of this overall reshaping is lining up almost exactly

949
01:04:14,671 --> 01:04:18,011
with where you'd expect it in Bitcoin's general price behavior.

950
01:04:18,411 --> 01:04:23,311
We are still totally within a normal margin of a drawdown.

951
01:04:23,771 --> 01:04:28,651
Not always easy to hear, but it's actually not that bad. Now, here's some good news.

952
01:04:29,551 --> 01:04:36,611
Totable, totable, totable reachable nodes on the Bitcoin network are now 21,918.

953
01:04:37,071 --> 01:04:40,471
We're getting so close to 22,000. So close.

954
01:04:40,791 --> 01:04:45,191
But we are 51 days away from an all-time high, and I'm doing just fine.

955
01:04:45,511 --> 01:04:50,951
The state of the Bitcoin network is chugging right along. Every 10 minutes, we get another block.

956
01:04:51,291 --> 01:04:56,231
The hash rate continues to cook. The difficulty is still way beyond my reach.

957
01:04:56,971 --> 01:05:02,971
We're looking really solid. We have 1,552 blocks to our next retarget.

958
01:05:04,091 --> 01:05:05,431
Enjoy the cheap sats.

959
01:05:04,560 --> 01:05:12,720
Music.

960
01:05:13,731 --> 01:05:19,691
Links this week at thisweekinbitcoin.show. My goal is that this show doesn't

961
01:05:19,691 --> 01:05:24,231
get distracted or extracted by the emotions around what is happening.

962
01:05:24,391 --> 01:05:25,831
You have to focus on the signal.

963
01:05:26,431 --> 01:05:30,371
So let me know how I did with a boost and boost in with what you'd like to hear

964
01:05:30,371 --> 01:05:31,931
from the show. Did I miss something?

965
01:05:32,471 --> 01:05:36,571
What do you think of my hypothesis? Is there a master plan at play here to get

966
01:05:36,571 --> 01:05:38,071
cheap debt for the federal government?

967
01:05:38,611 --> 01:05:42,151
Or is it just chaos and some of these rates coming down are just a natural consequence?

968
01:05:42,331 --> 01:05:45,071
Tell me what you think, what's going on out there with a boost.

969
01:05:45,151 --> 01:05:46,711
I always appreciate the support.

970
01:05:47,191 --> 01:05:50,891
Now, let's wrap it up with a value for value track. Now, this title,

971
01:05:50,891 --> 01:05:55,591
I think it just felt perfect with recent events going on. and it's currently

972
01:05:55,591 --> 01:05:58,211
number 10 on the podcast index top chart.

973
01:05:58,711 --> 01:06:03,731
I wonder if we could move that up the charts a little bit for them. It is Don't Count Me Out.

974
01:06:04,080 --> 01:09:14,933
Music.