Welcome in to This Week in Bitcoin, Episode 71.
My name is Chris, ChrisLAS.com, JupyterBroadcasting.com.
I don't ever say this.
I never say this.
But I'm pulling it out for this week's episode.
I think one could fairly say a structural shift is underway.
A structural shift.
And I don't ever say a structural shift on the show because I say it's so funny.
No, because usually it's hyperbole.
But this week it actually feels like it's beginning.
And I think it really is about Powell's pivot at Jackson Hole.
So that's where we're going to start because it signals potentially a new decade of easy money.
And for Bitcoin, that's not noise.
That's going to be massive signal.
Wall Street and the White House had their eyes on Wyoming Friday.
Speaking at the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole,
Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the central bank may lower interest rates.
His remarks kicked off a market surge.
The three major stock indexes all gained more than one and a half percent,
with the Dow closing at a record high.
But Powell also hinted that there are risks ahead for the U.S. economy.
We'll get to the risks, but back to the policy change.
Well, there was no change.
It's a hint that, yeah, you know, we're going to look at it,
and we may be reconsidering the way we do our policy.
And everything rips on that.
In fact, I want to play his exact words.
So, putting the pieces together, what are the implications for monetary policy?
In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside, a challenging situation.
When our goals are intentioned like this, our framework calls for us to balance both sides of our dual mandate.
Our policy rate is now 100 basis points closer to neutral than it was a year ago.
and the stability of the unemployment rate and other labor market measures allows us to proceed carefully as we consider changes to our policy stance.
All right. So, of course, the Fed has this famous dual mandate of price stability and employment stability.
And he's saying we're in a tricky spot here because employment's looking a little soft.
Inflation's running a little hot. So listen carefully.
Remember, these are the words that move markets.
Nonetheless, with policy and restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.
Monetary policy is not on a preset course.
FOMC members will make these decisions based solely on their assessment of the data and its implications for the economic outlook and the balance of risks.
And so that has been interpreted, and rightfully so, that we're probably going to see a rate cut come.
A rate cut coming just around the corner, probably later September.
I believe that's when the next meeting is.
Okay, so it's funny, though.
I mean, even just sort of that implication of it seems to really move markets,
and it's what gets everybody's focus.
But he also said something that's not getting as much attention,
or at least not as much attention as I think it should be.
The effects of tariffs on consumer prices are now clearly visible.
We expect those effects to accumulate over coming months,
with high uncertainty about both timing and amounts.
The question that matters for monetary policy is whether these price increases are likely to materially raise the risk of an ongoing inflation problem.
A reasonable base case is that the effects will be relatively short-lived, a one-time shift in the price level.
Okay, so that's an interesting acknowledgement.
So on one hand, he's sticking it to the Trump administration and he's saying,
don't believe what those guys are saying.
we are actually seeing price increases. These guys are blowing smoke. Prices are going up.
But then on the other hand, he's saying, but we expect that to be a one time price increase,
at least for the most part. Of course, one time does not mean all at once. It will continue to
take time for tariff increases to work their way through supply chains and distribution networks.
This is true. And it's really convenient. I'll talk more about this later, but
It's convenient for JPAL here because if they're tinkering, manages to heat inflation again, for a while they can just say it's the tariffs.
And, you know, maybe it is. How can you tell? It's too complex of a system to really know.
Moreover, tariff rates continue to evolve, potentially prolonging the adjustment process.
It's also possible, however, that the upward pressure on prices from tariffs could spur a more lasting inflation dynamic.
And that is a risk to be assessed and managed.
One possibility is that workers who see their real incomes decline because of higher prices demand and get higher wages from employers, setting off adverse wage price dynamics.
Okay.
So he says that it is also a possibility that the prices continue to increase for a while.
And there's some data that actually does back that up.
As of right now, these things are evolving and the data we often have is a little bit backwards or, you know, it's old.
So the data seems to suggest that the consumers are paying the difference for the most part for the tariffs, not the manufacturers, not the supplier, but it is being passed on to the consumer.
So we'll have to see how that evolves, especially since it seems to be a dynamic situation.
And J-POW recognizes that could potentially lead to prolonged price increases, which is going to give wage earners, I guess, a case to ask for their employer to give them a raise.
It puts pressures on wages to come up. People can't afford their daily life. They go to their boss. They say, hey, I need a raise or the collective bargain, whatever it might be. And then employers have to give them a raise if they can afford to do it. But then they have to raise their prices to make up for that. And it steamrolls. And that's why it can cause second order inflation. Even if the initial tariff price increases are one time, there are second order effects that can come through the wages and things like that.
And so J-PAL recognizes that, look, we're in a tough spot here.
Inflation's running a little bit hot.
We're above our 2% target.
We have been for a while.
The reality is these tariffs are rising, are increasing prices.
We got to do something about that.
Oh, and also employment is a little soft.
And if we make some of these changes, it may increase the pressure dynamics over there.
So what are we going to do about that?
given that the labor market is not particularly tight and faces increasing downside risks,
that outcome does not seem likely.
Oh, so in other words, given that the labor market has no leverage right now,
screw them.
That's what he just said.
He just said, screw them.
Because they've got no bargaining leverage.
Yeah, we might see more price increases that might put pressure on their wages,
but they're not going to be able to negotiate increases in pay. So everything's fine. Screw
them. They can just eat the pain. That's who's going to pay for it right there. And the truth is
job growth doesn't look good. You know, every time the revisions come in, it doesn't look good.
If you look at new jobs added, it's 35,000 a month. That's nothing. That's nothing. Probably
needs to be up near 200,000 a month. They won't say that, but that's the reality. GDP is
hanging in around 1.2%, nowhere near the 3% to 6% we need to grow ourselves out of the debt.
It does seem like PCE is up and CORE is up as well. And the Fed just rewrote the policy book
saying, look, we are going to have to let inflation run a little hot. We're going to have to do that.
I mean, that's not in so many words, but that's the conclusion here.
So the Fed's essentially rewriting their rule book. And when they do something like that,
It's the kind of thing that lasts a long time.
The last time they did this was in 2008, really.
So for us Bitcoiners, the Fed is essentially admitting uncertainty in every single path they can possibly take.
They're having to adjust their rules on the fly as much as it is for them.
And it really shows just how fragile this fiat stability that they supposedly provide us is.
And who ends up getting hit the hardest when they have to make a tough decision?
like every single time it's going to be the middle class and especially younger generations
and this gets me fired up this this is why i mean this is the one of the number one things
is how these decisions always end up screwing the middle class and in generation x and millennials
and everybody after that and the boomers scoot off and everybody after them scoot away from all of
this untouched and i'm not the only one in fact i think we should bring this energy into this
conversation. Jack Mauler's released like a super clip of one of his rants recently. I mean,
it's got some music and stuff. I don't love that. But I think this is the energy Bitcoiners need to
bring into this situation. The United States is starting to dress like China and Argentina.
Emergent market bullshit. Sorry for my language, kids. Turn it off. This episode's for dad mom.
I'm going to get a little heated on this episode because it's just a bunch of nonsense.
getting on Fox News and parading around like you've solved the problem.
Trump was right about everything.
They haven't solved anything.
And your central banker, if you're American and you're listening to this,
just walked into a hotel in Wyoming and said,
I'm going to choose the government over inflation.
Welcome to a more expensive life.
Sorry, not sorry.
That's what he just said.
The baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks
may warrant adjusting our policy stance.
and people sit and listen to that to decide if Bitcoin is important or not?
Have you lost your mind?
That's exactly why I use Bitcoin.
You think people my age want to read a newspaper
about what some old guy said about pieces of paper?
My generation has gotten demolished by this system.
And to watch this guy stroll on up and say,
yeah, inflation's real, but we need to finance the government. This is exactly why I don't own a
single dollar. You will not catch me with a positive net worth in USD. It is disgusting.
We've engineered an exit door. Think of Bitcoin that way. The building is lit on fire,
and we've engineered a way out for everybody. The price, the ticket to get out becomes more
expensive with time. When I got into Bitcoin, a ticket out was 50 bucks. Now a ticket out is $110,000.
The cost to exit isn't equal, but the opportunity is. All of you can get out. That's what Bitcoin
is. It's an engineered exit door, an engineered life raft. How expensive that trip is for you,
That's up to you.
But make no mistake, the decision was made in broad daylight.
The government will be financed at the expense of the people.
Another red flag is this idea that we're going to grow our way out of this.
And a lot of what backs that is the economic expansion and productivity that is expected to come from AI.
And I think a lot of economic investments and policy from the White House, so from the White House down to people just buying on Robin Hood, a lot of it is being backed by these theories of what AI is going to provide us.
And we're betting on these massive productivity gains to explain away why we're taking 10 percent investments into public companies or why we're spending so much money on data centers and power and why we're putting so much money into these big tech companies.
and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson keeps saying over and over again that there's a major factor
that the Federal Reserve is missing in their analysis. And if they just knew this one thing,
perhaps they'd be making a totally different type of decision.
I've spoken many times about Alan Greenspan in the 90s was a visionary and he could see
what the productivity boom from the internet, from the adoption of office automation was doing.
and there was this incredible productivity boom
and he knew what was coming
because he was looking forward.
He keeps using the word boom.
Do you notice that?
I think that reveals a little bit about his thinking here.
You know, they really think this AI thing
is going to be a boom.
I mean, it's a boom in spending.
It is, I think a boom could be one term
or a bubble could be another way to say that.
Activity boom from the Internet, from the adoption of office automation was doing.
And there was this incredible productivity boom.
And he knew what was coming because he was looking forward, not the rearview mirror.
And I think there's a very good chance with this AI boom that we're seeing, we're going to see the productivity kick in as soon as the first quarter of next year.
So I think everyone who's setting policy at the Fed, whether it's the board, the regional bank presidents, the staff, should have a bit of an open mind here.
Well, that's a great point, given the AI situation today and how it will change everything.
Growth numbers across the board and certainly business in general.
Everything. You know, the AI situation is going to change everything.
Maybe, you know, or maybe it's going to kind of be like every other major tech trend from the last 15 years or so where it definitely is a thing and it will stick around and people will use it.
And it's going to be very useful, but it's probably not going to revolutionize the entire world like we're told every new major technology will.
That's my take on it, right?
So it's bet accordingly, right?
It's a high worth tech platform.
It's not going to revolutionize the economy and bring so much productivity that we're going to be burping GDP.
It's silly, but it's the message from the White House all the way down.
But CNBC this week brought up the fact to your good buddy Tom Lee that it seems like there's more and more anxiety in the market around these big bets.
Think about how much these big bets are underpinning the spending right now, how much they're holding up the S&P 500 and the Meg 7.
Think about how much of the premises we going to next quarter Scott said or first quarter I sorry of next year We going to start seeing the productivity gains It just around the corner I mean I know investors are really anxious and NVIDIA has not performed well the last few times it reported But the story arc there remains that
that is one of the most important companies in the world in the middle of the biggest structural
change in the world economy. So I think NVIDIA still is a great story. It really wouldn't change
thesis if the stock reacted poorly. You feel like there's become a little more AI anxiety,
as we wrote at the top, you know, from Sam Altman at OpenAI saying that, you know,
investors are a little overeager about AI, you know, Meta's reorganized again.
They've stopped their hiring. There was another report today that suggested some of these GenIA
models. Up on the screen, they have a series of headlines. CNBC, OpenAI, Sam Altman sees AI
bubble forming as industry spending surges. That was on August 18th. Next headline, Fortune from
August 19th. MIT reports 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing. All right,
Bloomberg has one here on August 19th as well, or on August 19th, I guess the other one was 18th.
Bloomberg. Headline.
Meta restructures AI group again in pursuit of super intelligence.
August 20th from the Wall Street Journal.
Meta freezes AI hiring after blockbuster spending spree.
August 21st. Reuters.
U.S. tech stock Stumble shows vulnerability in AI trade.
So they have these headlines up. They're sensing anxiety.
Tom's not seeing it, though.
There was another report today that suggested some of these Gen IA models, Gen AI models are...
See, this is another thing. I'm sorry I keep pausing.
But they don't even know what to call this.
He doesn't know what to call it.
Maria didn't know, you know, AI situation, right?
These are gen models, right?
So it's easy for a guy like Tom to kind of just wax over all of this
because everybody's understanding is so, so shallow.
And I just find this perhaps as a side note,
the more complicated things get,
the more these hosts have to do some actual freaking studying.
topics like crypto and bitcoin and ai you're gonna need to spend some time figuring it out and they
just don't do it anyway sorry that's an aside so he's telling you know he's trying to tell tom here
hey look we have these anxiety concerns these people have said this tom's like yeah you know
maybe but i'm not feeling that bro there was another report today that suggested some of these
gen IA models, gen AI models are failing.
You think there's anxiety in this market about this trade?
Well, I think everyone's trying to get situational awareness.
Like, is this inning one or two or late innings?
Because we know there's been a lot of value creation and a lot of capital that's flowed in.
And we know that Silicon Valley has seen a boom of companies with $100 million annual run rates,
like in record time around AI.
And a lot of people want to ring the bell at the top.
But to me, it still feels really early because there's such a limited number of stocks that public investors can buy that represent a direct play on AI.
It's a really weird answer he just gave.
I'm not really sure what the answer was.
It sounded like at the end of the day, he thinks AI is a good play because there's only a few companies that have the resources to pull it off.
So essentially, it's a scarce stock.
But the thing has to be worth trillions of dollars to make it all play.
You know, like I'm just not buying this.
It's almost some sort of weird circular logic.
And here is what worries me and where Bitcoiners should pay attention.
It's not just Tom saying this.
Like I said, there's a lot of money going towards AI.
And there's some shaky logic on where the returns are going to come from.
And it's directly what people are basing investments and building infrastructure off of right now,
including decisions that are draining liquidity from Bitcoin.
investment decisions because a lot of bitcoin now is driven by big bags on wall street and by
investment firms and etf buys and big money because we're getting into the multi-trillion
dollar asset category now sovereign funds are at that play here some of that money is being
redirected into ethereum because of this ai theory now stick with me here for a second
You see, observe how Tom Lee has sort of built a house of cards here.
And he himself is pausing his Bitcoin buying.
He's investing millions of dollars into ETH
because he thinks there's some kind of AI play in the future
that he can't even really articulate that's going to involve Ethereum.
Wall Street moving on to the blockchain is a bigger moment.
And I think that's why Ethereum is essentially having its 1971 moment equivalent.
But a lot of people just see it as wild speculation.
And froth.
You know, I'd say anytime something goes up, people tend to call it froth.
I think they called AI a frothy trade now, but we know it has a lot of legs and it's been taking place for a couple of years.
Keep in mind, Ethereum is also the place where when agentic AI comes together, you know, when you have robots and you want proof of human, you want to make sure those commands come from, you know, a verified source.
That's all taking place on a smart contract.
A lot of it will be Ethereum.
Tom.
I think you just have to appreciate the scale of bets and investments that are being made on LLMs.
Lynn Alden has her August 2025 newsletter out titled Tighter Fiscal, Looser Monetary.
And it's right as best as it was out there on X taking a victory lap that tariffs haven't really impacted inflation, just 0.7%.
I don't know if you can call that a victory.
I think it's way too early to make that call.
I know it's a boring point of view, but Lynn kind of backed me up, and Bitcoiners should
pay attention here.
She says that tariffs do, in fact, equal a stealth tax, and it's the largest tariff hike
in modern history, $400 to $700 billion annualized.
And it seems, according to the data she's analyzed, Americans are footing that bill.
It is being priced into the products, and consumers will be paying it.
Lower income Americans will have to cut back spending.
So it's a regressive taxation, quietly draining demand at the bottom while the money goes into
D.C. without even any clear indication of how they're going to spend that money, by the way.
But this is happening at the same time that we now know monetary loosening is ahead.
The Fed is expected to cut rates starting in September, rolling possibly through 2026.
So that's going to weaken the dollar.
It's going to boost emerging markets.
and it's definitely going to favor hard assets like gold and Bitcoin.
At the same time, China is also already easing.
So you have China easing, Fed rate cuts, liquidity globally going up.
That becomes rocket fuel for Bitcoin.
It also means we're going to have a serious risk,
this is Lin's assessment, of a stagnation or stagnation.
That's probably what it is.
Hmm.
That's what the U.S. is going to become.
but stagflation risk because as tariff tightens, Fed loosens, and deficits wide open. So you have
a net effect of slower U.S. growth, elevated inflation risk, and a two-speed economy where
the wealthy are getting richer, they're skating along just fine, and the young and the poor
and the middle class get squeezed. So for Bitcoiners, it's a pretty simple equation,
really, it's looser monetary policy plus persistent fiscal deficits is going to equal
for us more liquidity over time entering the market. And tariffs are going to weaken confidence
in fiat purchasing power. And the dollar is also going to be weakened by this. So this 10%-ish dip
we're seeing in the last week or so is a gift. And we know that because of the math here,
There is no stopping this train.
The lever you have pulled breaks.
He's not in service.
Please make a note of it.
And I'm not trying to scare anybody here.
I really, I do this so you can plan.
And I'll tell you how I'm planning for it a little bit.
is I'm looking at the inflation spike we saw
after the COVID lockdowns and all of that
as the trial run.
Food got really expensive for us.
Food and gas got really expensive,
but food really is the one that today
still stings the most after all of this.
Everything's more expensive now.
And we buy less, but we also learned to repair more.
So we develop skills to save money
that are going to still be useful
for this next round of inflation.
Now, mind you, I'm not saying this is just around the corner.
This is going to be something, it's structural.
It's going to take a while.
Remember, we've got a structural shift going on.
It's going to take a minute.
It takes a little bit too for when the money gets looser and the credit gets looser and
the rates go down.
It'll take a little while to actually get into all of the assets.
There may even be a period of time where it doesn't seem like anything's happening.
But what will be happening on the back end is slowly but surely the dollar will be getting
debased.
and your purchasing power is going to get weaker and weaker.
So you need to plan accordingly for that.
It doesn't need to be a scary thing.
It doesn't need to be an emotional thing.
You just need to plan for it.
Obviously, one way to plan for it is to stack scarce assets like Bitcoin.
I'm also, I'm going to assume, especially with tariffs at play here,
things like beef are probably going to go up in price.
So instead of buying a quarter of a cow,
I'm probably going to buy a half a cow now.
Or maybe I'll buy a whole cow and I'll go in with a few friends and some family.
It's a lot of meat.
But I'm going to buy what I can, especially things like that, ahead of time.
And I'm going to plan those purchases.
And I'm going to try to source it from somebody local.
Hopefully tariffs won't be at play there.
You know, those types of things.
You have to start thinking like that.
And I think it's worth thinking about it now because the further ahead of this, you can get the better.
And then last but not least, it is worth considering trying to get rid as much debt as possible, at least credit card type debt.
Don't pay off your house, that kind of stuff.
not financial advice here, but in my opinion, one of the second order or tertiary order effects
of inflation is inevitably the Fed will raise rates. And when they do that again, credit card,
as we've just watched, credit card rates will get higher and higher and higher. And what that does
is that kills your purchasing power because you're spending more and more on your interest payments,
on your credit card. And so less and less of your money is paying off of the balance,
the principal, and it's just going to their damn fees and their interests. And that means you have
less money to spend. At the same time, inflation's eating away your purchasing power. Debasement's
eating away your purchasing power. So you're paying more on credit card interests or whatever
high interest loan you might have. Credit card's a popular one and very bad right now, while also
losing purchasing power at the same time. So it's a real double whammy. If you can get access to cheap
debt, I think one could argue now might be a good time to take out cheap debt because the dollars
you spend today are going to be worthless. But who besides the absolute rich has access to cheap
debt? So get rid of expensive debt, focus on skills, and focus on where you can save money
and food because that is probably going to be one of the things that hits the most.
It doesn't have to be a scary thing. It just needs to be something that you manage.
I just, you know, I think we just look at the previous round of inflation as lessons learned.
What worked? What didn't work? What did you have to change?
What do you wish you could have told yourself before the round of COVID inflation?
And tell it to yourself now.
Speaking of dips, just a quick little analysis of something pretty interesting that happened on Sunday.
A whale nuked the Bitcoin wall, the Bitcoin bid wall on purpose.
So we saw a big liquidation and it was intentional, it looks like, by just sort of going through all of the data here.
I suppose the goal was probably to trigger a series of liquidations and then buy Bitcoin back cheaper.
And of course, doing that, knowing that the ETFs and sovereign bids would be just doing buys regardless of the price.
So this past Sunday, when liquidity was low, banks were closed.
A longtime whale sold a huge bag of Bitcoin.
One whale caused a $310 million Bitcoin flash crash by dumping 24,000 Bitcoin.
not over the counter like most do, but directly on an exchange on the frickin spot market.
And this entity still holds 152,874 Bitcoin across their linked wallets.
The funds are at least six years old.
It's an odd thing to drop 24,000 Bitcoin on the exchange spot market on a Sunday.
When you're selling that much Bitcoin, the spot price starts to slide before you've unloaded
your whole bag.
So you end up getting less and less and less for your coins as you're selling. And so you end up with a pretty big hit to your overall possible profit. But, you know, if you do something like, I don't know, place a 100x short for a period of time, knowing you're about to do that and taking extra profits, not only do you drop the spot price, but then you get to liquidate the shorts or the longs, I suppose.
and you also then buy back.
And to do it on a Sunday is odd,
but the impressive thing is that Bitcoin bounced back in like an hour,
well, at least within $1,000, within an hour on a Sunday
for 24,000 Bitcoin.
I mean, that is so impressive.
Credit to Zero Hedge, who did some digging into this.
They say it was not random selling.
It was very much strategic selling.
It was a big whale move.
Instead of selling slowly little bits at a time,
they dumped all, well, actually, they did it in three,
waves to knock down the bid walls, as I was saying earlier. So they dumped one wave and then they
dumped another wave. And then when that and then they dumped one more wave and boom, everybody
started getting liquidated, causing a chain reaction that forced leverage traders and weak
hands to sell. And that creates what they call a cascade of liquidations. I mean, and I guess this,
you know, I guess they just figured this is a way to slurp up a whole bunch of more Bitcoin because
it's not like they're exiting the market, right? They still got like $17 billion at today's market
value in wallets. So I think they know these ETFs and sovereign demand, they're relentless. You
have your sailors and your metas and these treasury companies. So you have this relentless demand,
regardless of price. So why not spook the market on a Sunday, liquidate some longs,
buy back cheaper? And I think this is one of those things where like a drive-by
analyst would look at this and go oh look at Bitcoin Oh it so bad Oh man it really bearish but it isn It shows you that Bitcoin got structural buyers that come in and buy it right back up And old whales can play around with like 24 or more
like we were talking about more recently. And they can cause some short term volatility.
But it's just games, right? And really, they may end up even taking a loss in some of it.
It's really, it was just an interesting thing and a weird thing to see happen
on a Sunday last week.
Speaking of weird things on the weekend, this is really disappointing.
In an X Spaces chat titled, quote,
There is no filter. Why Ocean accomplished nothing.
A user that goes by Portland HODL, an employee of Mara Mining,
Mara, who's also sponsored Bitcoin Core with a donation of $500,000,
implied heavily in this spaces chat that he was DDoSing
Notts nodes runners simply because they run Bitcoin Notts
and he doesn't like it.
Bro, your bells are going to be such.
Because Comcast users, because we have a list of basically Notts nodes
that advertise them Notts, and the users of Comcast have data caps
at their house typically, and these are residential ASNs.
They're not like the Comcast business blocks.
And so, yeah, like I was, okay, I am like basically peering with them and asking for an IBD from a fresh node.
Maybe I have like 96 of these nodes running right now because I want to get IBDs from all these clients.
Are they at least Notts nodes?
No, they're core nodes.
So he's running core nodes and he's contacting Notts nodes.
And he's asking them for something that can trigger them to redownload the blockchain and use excessive amounts of their bandwidth on their resident Comcast connection.
Come on.
They're actually master branch.
But continuing on, yeah, essentially just like asking again and again and again, allegedly.
So Mechanic comes up in the space at this point.
I know it's kind of probably recorded, et cetera.
So I was like, confirm or like he's like, do you formally confirm or deny that you're doing this?
I was like, I kind of pussied out and I was like, no, I'm not going to, I'm not going to deal with this right now.
And I said, well, check your node.
And yeah, I'm still not going to like deal with that, but definitely it could be happening.
So how many of them do you think know that the max upload target comp option exists?
It's not an option if you're on umbrella start nine.
You can't modify, you can't modify your comp file.
You, you, you, you could, I, I'm just saying when you click your GUI options, it's not there, but yeah.
So I've successfully IBD'd from like several Comcast nodes at this point.
Wait, are they relaying?
What I find kind of disgusting about this is it's attacking the plebs, right?
It's folks on their residential connection.
And they even kind of laugh about Start9 and Umbral users not being able to tweak some of the lower level configs to help prevent or mitigate some of this.
It's pretty hostile.
So I contacted Mara to ask if they were aware of this behavior and if they're going to take any actions.
They have not gotten back to me as of this recording, and I don't actually expect they will.
However, I know they got my email.
I'll just put it that way.
But after this blew up online, the story quickly changed.
It was just a joke, bro.
It's just a joke.
It didn't actually happen.
I don't know.
Kind of sounds like it happened to me.
And then when that it's just a joke, bro, didn't really seem to take hold, well, then they pivoted to a new excuse.
And that was everything's fair in love and war.
So what say you? Do these kinds of attacks make Bitcoin stronger in the long run?
Or is it something else? Boost in with your take on this situation.
coming up on the show your boosts a bunch of updates a final clip of the week a great song
and state of the network and more stay tuned i want to mention you can support the show
by just doing what you might already be doing.
If you want to buy sats on River,
it's one of the best ways to stack sats in the U.S.,
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It supports the show directly.
If you're all about that self-custody
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If you've got some Bitcoin in Lightning
and you're ready to spend it,
the Bitcoin company is a Bitcoin-only company
and they go from sats to gift card in just seconds.
Now, if you want to stack sats while you pay your bills,
buying some gift cards,
maybe you just got day-to-day expenses like buying gas,
you need a debit card and stack some sats
while you make those purchases.
The Fold card's there for you.
People in our community love it.
I use it every day.
And if you're ready to get access to your liquidity,
your Bitcoin, without having to sell it,
Salt Lending.
They've got a lot of interesting features,
including protection from margin calls.
Salt Lending's where I go to.
Check out the links in the show notes and support the show.
And we do have some boost to get to this week.
Always really, really grateful for the support.
This is a Value for Value podcast, and you can support the show by becoming a member on Fountain
or by boosting an individual episode or a Jupiter Party member.
Lots of options because the network's been around for a long time and new things are always developing.
And now it is time for the boost.
And J-Cube is our baller booster, getting it for a pretty good price.
Always, of course, grateful.
35,000 sats.
Hey, rich lobster!
J-Cube wisely says, treasure these moments when we are given the opportunity to get some cheap sats.
I agree. They're on sale right now.
They're on sale.
You know what? We're down almost 10% right now.
you get a 10% sale on your Bitcoin
on the world's scarcest asset.
I mean, when you look at the structural shift
that's happening, isn't that how I say it?
I forgot how I say it.
Structural shift.
When you look at that,
it really is like crazy right now
that you can get this thing
for as cheap as 110 or something like that.
We're going to look back and think it's wild.
I like that.
That's good sage wisdom right there, J-Cube.
Thanks for the boost.
A-Train comes in with another great boost.
That would be 30,000 sats.
I hoard that which your kind covets.
A-Train says,
Thanks for the value, as always.
I certainly don't like all this talk about governments and corporations guarding the on-and-off ramps to the blockchain
and threatening to mandate only KYC routes they approve of.
What are your thoughts on the BIS's proposal of duty of care?
I feel that it would be next to impossible to implement, but we tend to be lemmings as a population at times.
So I'll remain attentive to all these blockchain-adjacent avenues in which they attempt those things.
stack host and run nuts and stay unrelenting in the mission bringing hard money to the world
cheers no kidding a train well put i think the duty of care thing works for them when they can
align the incentive such that people want to participate in the program simply because they
need access to their money and everybody in the pipeline of whatever it might be is incentivized
to participate obviously i hope i'm wrong but i think it'll be a real carrot and stick thing here's
the carrot, do this, get your carrot, and if you don't, here's the stick, and you get
in legal trouble.
Thanks, A-Train.
Like that boost.
Appreciate that.
Thoughtful.
A. Zackerman's here with a row of ducks.
Hey, value for value from the crypto capital of the world.
Thank you, A. Zackerman.
Appreciate that.
And another row for you.
Coming in with some cute ducks.
Paranoid Coder's here with 3,000 sats.
Coming in hot with the boost.
Yeah, I like you.
You're a hot ticket, Paranoid.
I like you.
You're a hot ticket.
Hey, Chris, I'm curious if you've looked into the Spark Layer 2 solution from LightSpark.
Seems really promising and that it would be a good complement to Lightning.
It feels a lot like Liquid, but maybe more trustless.
It feels like there are a lot of new Layer 2 solutions in the works right now, and I'd love your take on them.
As always, thanks for the show.
I think the Layer 2 stuff is extremely fascinating.
I've looked at this a little bit.
I don't love locking up my Bitcoin in trade for their token.
that's i'm not particularly interested in although i do do that with liquid lb lbtc now
i do think we could be doing a lot more with liquid bitcoin and i do think there's a lot to
develop around layer twos my hope is that some of the crazy money that went on you know blockchain
games and nfts and things like that will hopefully be spent on building solid layer two solutions on
top of Bitcoin because we're going to need everything.
We're going to need, we're going to need to, there's a lot of experimentation that needs
to happen there.
And I think lightning has proved it out as a viable thing to do, but you know, it's not
everything and it's not super easy for individuals right now.
Although things like AlbiHub are quite frankly making it a lot easier.
Great boost.
I'm going to keep my eye out, Paranoid.
So stay tuned.
Gene Bean's here with a lot of ducks, 6,666 sets.
Quacka, wacka, it's a treasure.
Yippee!
He says, I have no desire to KYC if there is an alternative.
Like right now, I don't have to KYC my cash.
Huh.
Yeah, that's a good point.
I guess in some cases you've technically been KYC, but in other cases, yeah, somebody could hand you cash.
Yeah.
He says, there's times maybe it would make sense, but not always.
Regarding the CanAn and the BitEx, I believe the hash rate of the CanAn is actually higher.
Unless there's a BitEx I haven't seen yet.
That could be true.
You know, I suppose it does make a difference.
I was thinking at that scale, it's all luck anyways.
But the Nano S3 is six terahashes, he says,
and the Mini 3 is 37 terahashes.
It's a pretty big difference.
Okay.
He says, I also would appreciate your thoughts on this article.
And how does this relate to the LBTC that we can peg in and out of?
It seems like either I'm missing something or terms are being reused.
And he links to the Bitcoin liquid staking.
They may be using the LBTC token, and I think that's as much of Liquid as involved.
I got an email from these guys, Gene, and they wanted to explain it to me, and I haven't had time to engage with them yet.
They're really trying to make a push, a splash.
They really want to become known for this.
I always take these things pretty cautiously.
The default always is to just stack sats, sweep to cold storage, and don't really play around with these kinds of things.
But at some point, we'll have to reevaluate that position as real industries get built here.
I don't think we're there yet, but it's something I've, I read through this.
I also found a lot of, a lot of terms being reused and we're seeing this a lot, especially
around liquid.
So I'll try to sort some of this out.
And if there's any signal in any of this, I'll come back with some coverage on the show.
Thank you, Gene.
Appreciate that.
Rick is here with 5,000 sats.
That's R-I-K.
That's not possible.
Nothing can do that.
Yeah, I think he did.
The biggest lightning transaction ever for me.
Hey, awesome.
That's great.
Boost!
How cool that I can just send this.
Great show.
Even better energy.
Thanks.
Awesome, huh?
Isn't it awesome?
It's so awesome.
And to be able to send the message from the podcast app while you're listening, it is
a real unlock.
It sounds like such a small thing, but a small thing matters.
When you close that last gap, you're sitting there listening to the pod, something you
want to respond to, like the fact that I just used the word pod, you can hit that boost
button and tell me never to say that again.
I think it's remarkable.
Thank you for the boost.
Appreciate it.
I'm glad I could be your largest lightning transaction ever.
That means a lot.
Marius February is here with 10,000 sats.
Great clips and even better context and interpretations and good fun.
Looking forward to your shows.
Wow.
That's about the best compliment I could get.
Thank you very much.
I like you.
You're a hot ticket.
Hello there is back with a row of ducks.
No message, just the value.
Always appreciate that.
Pizza Niche is also here with 10,500 sats.
Live long and prosper.
I like that.
He says, as always, a great show.
Our Bitcoin group loves discussing what you cover on your shows.
A little value for value.
Yes, sir.
Sirty, sir, sir, sir.
Thank you very much.
And you could always send those discussions my way, you know, maybe boost in what the group comes up with, especially when I get something wrong.
I'll take it.
I can be a man.
You make me want to be a better man.
Thanks, Pizza.
Appreciate it.
Mykov comes in with 10,000 sats.
The traders love the vol.
Well, I started listening to self-hosted on Spotify, and then I discovered Linux Unplugged.
Then I came over to Fountain.
I discovered this week in Bitcoin and now boosting.
Thanks for the journey.
Right on.
I like it.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you for the boost.
And good job.
That's quite the little journey.
And you know what?
You're now in the realm of podcasting 2.0 that's really trying to push an alternative to centralized platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
And one of the big goals is to try to entice those folks, those Spotify users, to come over here and embrace the open ecosystem.
And you did exactly that.
Thank you for the boost.
Nakamado6102 is here with 3,500 sats.
I don't understand what the heck is going on here.
And he says thanks for the value.
B-O-O-S-T.
Thank you for the value.
Appreciate that.
User67 is here with 10,000 sats.
Wow.
Another new user with 10,000 sats.
Thank you very much.
Everything's under control.
Y'all make me want to be a better man.
You make me want to be a better man.
I just love that one.
Now, user 67, if you go into Fountain, you can set your username and your profile.
It says, thanks for the important news about the BINS.
I had not heard that.
As you said, they clearly revealed their hand now, and it's a good one.
So either they kill Bitcoin fungibility and solidify the fiat empire, or they accelerate the revolt into value-for-value alternatives.
Yeah!
Boo!
Yes!
Every KY transaction directly between Bitcoiners is one more.
Oh, every FYC transaction directly between Bitcoiners is one more removed from the KYC stranglehold.
Oh, I'm in.
Yeah.
Nice.
Thank you, user.
Appreciate that.
Bobby Pen is here with 5,000 sats.
Danger zone.
I noticed that you don't talk about mining in Twib like you did in Plan B.
Danger zone.
I'm thinking that mining would be a fun hobby to get into
and learn more about Bitcoin while helping decentralization.
Right now, I'm looking at the BitX Gamma
and might scale up from there.
I have Albi Hub hosted with, or Albi Cloud.
Is there anything you think I should know
before getting into it or tips you could give me
that would be greatly appreciated?
Well, you're going to need to set your expectations low.
I think you should also start looking into pools.
You're going to probably want to participate in a pool.
I would probably give Ocean a serious consideration.
your instinct about trying to learn more about mining is a good one and you're right i wish i
covered it more in the show in fact i wish i could cover it a lot more because i have a sense
that it the that the foundation of bitcoin and what happening there and the dynamics there are ahead of everything else right Just like the hash rate is ahead of price
what's happening in mining is ahead of downstream politics in Bitcoin core and in the community.
I'd really love to have more of an insight,
not only because I originally got partially into Bitcoin for mining,
but also just because I think it's so absolutely essential
to the long-term health and viability of the network.
so anybody out there who's involved in Bitcoin mining
can send me insights from time to time.
Maybe we build a little friendship
and, you know, you become a source for the show over time.
I don't know.
Or maybe I just end up getting my way into a Bitcoin mine.
I actually have an ASIC miner here.
It's just so hot and loud
that I just have inevitably not managed to run it.
I've thought about maybe getting baffled in
or trying to build systems
or even trying to hook it up to the furnace here
and have it heat the place during the winter,
but all these things take time
and the guy's got podcasts to make, you know?
The guy's got to make some podcasts.
Thank you, everybody who boosted in.
Boy, they are doing a lot with mayo these days.
Really appreciate it.
And this is a value for value podcast,
which means there's a couple of ways you can support the show.
It doesn't have to be monetary.
You could tell somebody about it.
Word of mouth is the best kind of marketing for a podcast.
You could maybe help me come up with a new album art
or some swag, you know?
There are other ways to help contribute to the show,
but a lot of people, they like to do it with a boost
or a membership because, for one, everybody's pretty busy.
Two, if you boost above 2,000 sats, you get your message right on the show.
You can also stream those sats as you listen.
42 of you did that this week, and you collectively stacked 92,136 sats.
When you combine that with our boosters, this episode stacked 227,000 sats, 337.
220, I can say that right.
I guess I'm getting sleepy.
227,377 sats.
See, it's easy, right?
Thank you, everybody.
Appreciate that.
Thank you for making episode 71 possible.
Fountain FM makes it simple.
But as you heard, there's also options like AlbiHub and other ways you can go that are also really a blast.
So you might try those out.
The journey can start with Fountain over at podcast apps, newpodcastapps.com or podcastapps.com.
Well, if the caffeine is wearing off, this should get me perked right back up.
I don't know what his deal is, but Tucker Carlson needs to take a day or two and read a book.
He always goes on about how he likes to read and he doesn't watch TV, etc., etc.
But the guy keeps saying stupid things about Bitcoin.
Now, back in episode four of this here show, I played a clip where Tucker Carlson at a Bitcoin event claimed the CIA invented Bitcoin.
Crypto people aren't just in it to make a buck.
They're in it to change the world forever.
These are not shallow people.
These are people who can answer every single question except who was Satoshi, which they don't answer.
Someone should answer that.
Nope.
I think we know. Anyway, in fact, I have a friend who's probably sitting here who told me he did know, but I don't believe him. And I don't care if it was the CIA. It doesn't matter. The idea is still a great idea. Obviously, it was the CIA. I think we all know that. It's like Signal. They got there first. It's a honey trap.
Okay, so it's a honey trap. It's like Signal. They got there first.
Now, later on, just like a few days later, he said, okay, well, I don't actually know that the CIA created it.
start the crypto movement.
I know you were at the Bitcoin conference recently
and you told them CIA started Bitcoin.
They got really angry on Twitter.
I don't know that.
But until you can tell me who Satoshi was,
I have some questions.
What?
Well, in the years since that clip,
he's apparently done zero time
trying to figure out anything more about Bitcoin.
Even though it's become way,
way more popular and relevant,
especially in the circles that he travels, like the Trump administration, and it's clearly a priority for them.
He still hasn't been bothered to just learn a little bit more about it, but he'll keep commenting on it.
He'll keep having guests comment on it, because why not, I guess, right?
So Tucker had Dave Collum, a professor of organic chemistry at Cornell University,
and the topic of Bitcoin's origins came up one more time.
And it was a robust analysis, as you can imagine.
I don't think so.
The crypto community, I am their number one target.
They say you are a hodler.
I love it when these guys who you've never heard of tell you that they're the crypto community's number one target.
The ego here.
And this comes up a lot.
A lot of these guys say this.
Sometimes I cut it.
But because they get some crap on social media, they think they're the number one.
We don't think about you, Dave.
We don't think about you at all.
You think about us all the time.
We don't even know who you are.
I don't think so.
The crypto community, I am their number one target.
They say you are a hodler.
And I won't buy it.
The reason is because I believe that several layers.
One is that I believe that the authorities are not going to let crypto take over.
Of course not.
And by the way, that means that...
They're going to lose total control over society?
That's right.
Yeah, I don't think so.
You think the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds are going to hand it over to Max Keiser and Michael Saylor?
I don't think so.
You don't think that's something.
Here's what I think it actually is.
You know, the first paper on crypto was written by three NSA guys.
Yeah.
That means I think if I were smart and I were going to bring in central bank digital currency, which is an authoritarian nightmare, I would do it the way they did.
I'd release the crypto.
I'd have guys pumping it.
I'd have guys supporting it.
I let them debug the networks and the kinks and the, and acclimate people to it.
And then I'd say, okay, it was fun.
We'll take it from here.
And in the process, of course, you acclimate people to this new digital, new kind of commerce.
Yeah, exactly.
And that conclusion, of course, is always the one they come to.
I love the circular logic that just is within this paragraph, right?
If you were to transcribe that and put in a paragraph and read it, it'd be obvious the logical error here.
the government is creating a digital currency.
They're paying people to pump it like crazy.
They're training you on how to use it,
but then they're never going to let it succeed because, quote,
they won't give it over to the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds,
and just hand power to Max Keiser and Michael Saylor.
Why would the government create a digital currency
and pay people to pump it only not to use it?
What would be the point of training everybody to use a digital asset
only not to use it?
It just doesn't make sense on its face.
and this idea that, well, if you get them using Bitcoin,
then you can just hot swap them to a CBDC.
Same thing, right?
Because they're digital.
Same thing.
What?
It's all circular logic.
And see, Dave here, I have nothing against him,
but it's obvious where his incentives line
and they don't align to Bitcoin.
In his own words, he has, quote, plenty of gold.
So here we are.
To make my point, we have a well-off,
near-retirement age investor,
the type I mentioned a few episodes ago and their worldview is set because they have been right
they won so it must be because they're geniuses and they figure it all out that's why they won
right that's how they think about it and you get a little insight here when Dave talks about
gold and bitcoin I bought gold net at around 210 come on well I bought it 28 percent below nav
when it was $270.
Physical delivery?
No, that was not physical.
But then I started buying, here's what I did.
I bought gold from the local coin dealer.
Yeah.
And I'd say, when you get ounces, I'll pay cash.
And he sold it to me at Spot.
And he'd call and say, I got three ounces in,
I'd go to the bank, I'd get out $900, right?
And I'd buy the gold from him, cash.
I'd buy silver from him, cash.
I could buy silver eagles at Spot.
You go on eBay, holy shit,
Shit, those things are like $10 above spot.
And it was for ballpark $4 an ounce.
And then I remember it was at $4.57, and I was buying from him.
And he said, don't you think there's a top?
He knew I was going to buy it.
He said, don't you think there's a top?
$457 an ounce for gold.
There's like $0.03 or something.
I don't know.
It's funny how these well-off, near-retirement age investors
don't see the same dynamics playing out now,
that the very demands that made Bitcoin,
or made gold, I'm sorry,
go from $400 an ounce to $3,000 an ounce
are in play for Bitcoin right now.
And that that era is happening,
this very moment for Bitcoin.
Like, it's incredible how he can see it for gold,
but he can't see it for Bitcoin.
And I said, how many people are buying gold from you?
He said, oh, about four.
And I said, and the other three are my friends, aren't they?
He said, yeah.
And I said, does that sound like a mania to you?
Yeah, he had to be smart and know to buy gold.
But he just made his point right here.
He was able to get in when it was ridiculously cheap, when nobody else was buying, and he's been able to sit on that stash for a very long time.
It has shaped his worldview.
He got in when the fiscal dynamics made this kind of win possible, and he got his bag.
And it's not because he's a genius.
No disrespect to him.
I mean, he seems like a smart guy.
but very much timing had a lot to do with it you had to be smart enough to take advantage
of the timing that's the credit i give him i don't know and and i said how many people are
buying gold from you he said about four and i said and the other three are my friends aren't they
he said yeah and i said does that sound like a mania to you and and so here's the thing i've been
on i i'm a big fan of energy but i think when the selling starts everything sells you'll be selling
and your children, you'll be selling, right?
Everything sells.
So I think the idea of trying to get into any risk assets
is so dangerous.
I'll take 4% on a treasury, two-year treasury.
Well, of course you would.
If you're rich and you're sitting on so much gold
that you don't need anymore, a 4% return is fine.
You're still doing fine, buddy.
Like you can just absorb the cost of debasement.
Some people think, you know, I'll lock it up for two years.
Oh, that'll save me.
I won't dip by after six months.
so at what price would you buy gold again well i've got so much i don't need anymore
if i didn't own any i'd buy it now but the bitcoin guys would say buy bitcoin at 117 000
i turned it down at 10 i wish i'd bought it i would have sold it at 50 and spent the proceeds
on therapy okay there you go this that's all over the internet for some reason yo the nsa
last time was the cia and i love that the whole thing's built on well you know three guys at the
NSA wrote the first paper on crypto.
On cryptography?
Whatever.
Interesting development from Swan Bitcoin this week.
They are transitioning ownership of the open source Spectre wallet project to a non-profit
association.
They've transferred ownership of the open source Spectre project to a newly formed Spectre
association, a non-profit based in Switzerland that is being led by longtime contributors.
Along with the brand rights, Swan has also handed over the public channels like the GitHub,
the website, the YouTube, and the X account.
Spectre started as a DIY signing device and grew into Spectre Desktop,
a widely used tool for air-gapped hardware wallets, multi-sig setups,
and can connect to your own node.
So that's kind of nice.
I've actually used the desktop app, and it is nice.
It's not my favorite, but it's not bad.
Swan acquired Spectre back in 2022.
Wow, really?
Wow.
I checked out Spectre shortly after Swan acquired them in 2022,
and they built Swan Vault with that,
which was a way to buy Bitcoin at Swan
and have it go to your own self-custody over time.
But it seems like maybe they're pulling back from that.
The association, though, plans to expand availability of the application,
improve the documentation,
hopefully improve the UX a little bit, they say,
and also continue to maintain security standards.
That seems good.
And future plans seem like pretty solid future plans.
So the Spectre desktop project continues.
Buying might be back in the Bitcoin ETF space.
The Bitcoin ETFs collectively bought 88.1 million worth of Bitcoin yesterday, which is the second consecutive day of buying after six straight days of lettuce hands over there from the Bitcoin ETF folks.
I personally suspect some of them are still liquidating their positions to snap up the debt being issued by the U.S. Treasury that we talked about a few episodes ago.
But in total, they dumped about $5 billion worth of Bitcoin over the last six days.
And they're just kind of coming around now.
Bitwise is releasing some research, and they've teased a little bit of it.
And I grabbed it for you.
I'll put a link in the show notes.
Their data shows that if you hold Bitcoin for three plus years, your odds of losing money on Bitcoin are 0%, something like 0.2% odds.
So that's pretty good.
And as you can imagine, after three years, your odds only get better from there.
So when you're talking to newbies about Bitcoin, minimum three-year hodl.
Tell them minimum three-year hodl.
If you buy this today, minimum hold it for three years.
It's interesting because if you hold for one day, you can maybe probably break even.
But then after that, after about a week or a month and then a quarter,
your odds of actually being down in your purchase go up for a bit.
And then when you get to the three-year mark, you're looking really good.
The five-year mark, you're looking good.
No one has ever lost money holding Bitcoin for more than five years.
You just don't do it.
It's just not in this timeline yet.
But three years actually really seems to be at zero.
Oh, here it is.
Here's the official number.
Sorry, I said 0.2%.
0.7% of people who have ever held Bitcoin lost money after three years.
So it only takes three years to almost have a guaranteed return is another way to put that.
So when you're talking to newbies, they need to hodl for three years.
That needs to be the mindset that they go in with.
Bitwise has done a lot of interesting research, but that particular statistic right there I thought was really interesting.
I'll watch for the entire research paper, you know, when it does come out, whenever that might be.
okay we have reached that time of the show where it's our final clip of the week
and i thought this was on theme because of everything we talked about earlier
the structural shift that's uh taking place that seems to be setting us up for looser monetary
policies, at least for the next couple of years, stagflation to inflation, liquidity
pumping from China.
and the U.S.
So if we know these things to be true
and we suspect these are not,
I mean, these seem to be, right?
Like quite dovish.
And I mean, we don't know for sure.
Perhaps, you know, the meeting comes in September
and they don't cut rates.
Could you imagine how the market would react?
But it seems like the die has been cast,
but we will know for sure in a few weeks.
If that's true, well, Jeff Park,
he's a partner and chief investing officer
over at ProCap.
He used to work for Bitwise, speaking of Bitwise.
And over at Bitwise, he talked to a lot of clients of different backgrounds about Bitcoin.
And this is from a little while ago when people are still very nervous about Bitcoin.
So he got some interesting understandings and key insights about Bitcoin risks and the risk people felt about holding Bitcoin.
And he thinks most people have it completely backwards.
The real risk with Bitcoin isn't holding it.
The real risk is not holding any.
And one thing that I realized is that everyone has this blind spot.
This blind spot is they're worried about the risk of owning Bitcoin when they don't realize the risk of not owning it.
And so this blind spot can be explained with two assets.
Think about real estate.
Real estate is the best performing asset class in the world, particularly in the US, but generally in the world.
And if you really think about it, it has tons of write-offs.
It has tons of depreciation.
it has tons of reasons to make it look like the asset actually is falling apart, which it is,
because actually property needs lots of maintenance. So how could it possibly be
that real estate continues to go up in value when actually it's getting all these favorable
tax treatments? Is the wood becoming organically polymerized into superwood by itself? Is it
becoming titanium and steel over time organically? No, it's actually not. And I would say the same
Same thing with gold, gold by its definitional element is not changing.
So how is this thing constantly just going up in value?
And if you really think about it, they're not going up in value.
It's the dollars that are going down.
Once you see that it becomes really obvious that Bitcoin is actually a better asset imaginable to own for those same reasons of real estate and gold
Let's check in on the state of the network before I get out of here.
Wrapping up at block height 911,977.
With the USD price for one Bitcoin at $112,100 on the nose, that means the sats per dollar right now clocks in at 892 sats to one US dollar.
We are down 9.9% from the all-time high, which was $124,460 13 days ago, August 13, 2025.
10%! It's been fluctuating today. It's been fluctuating.
flirting with that. Let's check in on the node status right now. There are currently 23,344
Bitcoin reachable nodes. Not bad. I wonder if I could get to 350. Bitcoin Noughts coming in,
the Noughts node just hit 17% on the nodes on my dashboard. That puts it within striking distance
of Core28 and Core29.
Core29 is the number one node,
18.6% of the network.
Core28 is the second largest node distribution,
18.3%.
And now Notts is at 17%.
It is now the third largest node software.
Wow.
That is striking to see how fast that's happening.
Transaction fees are real low right now, one sat per VBite.
It's been moving around a bit.
We also see the hash rate at all-time new highs this week.
So, in fact, the state of the network is quite strong.
If you made it this far I have links at thisweekinbitcoin Some stuff I didn even get to in the show gets linked there Of course we also have links to the music this week We have links to our affiliate You can support the show
And of course, last but the most important, the RSS feed.
So you could subscribe to the show itself and keep on listening.
Let me know how I did this week.
I hope I have a show that focuses on the signal around what's going on.
There's so much distracting news right now.
a lot of what made this show was just saying,
no, I'm not going to talk about that.
I'm not going to talk about that.
We're going to just focus on the stuff
that's going to change the trajectory of Bitcoin
and Bitcoiners need to know about it.
Let me know.
I try to focus on the signal.
Send me a boost and tell me.
Also, if you want to suggest anything
I should have included or maybe even excluded,
always happy to hear that too.
And of course, you can always share the show with somebody.
Appreciate that a lot.
Now, I'm going to leave you with a value for value track.
You know the deal here.
the magic wallet switching technology kicks in,
and 95% of your sats will go to the artist
while their track plays.
And this week, it's Want You To Stay by Joe Martin.
Heels and legs
What are we doing here?
And each shot we shoot down
You're slowly bringing me round
To seeing things way more clear
If I leave me close
What you do lean into
Not knowing it's rough
So enough is enough
I'm done thinking this through
One careless word is all it'll take
We both know the rules, both know what's at stake
So please turn away as I feel myself losing control
I want you to stay I gonna need you to go Getting ready to leave
Call up your ride
Time's almost done
And you're giving me that look
That says there's nowhere to hide
One reckless move
Is all it'll take
We both know the rules
Both know I'd set stairs
So please turn away
As I can feel myself
losing control
I want you to stay
so I'm gonna need you
to go
There's calls on your phone
Your taxi's outside
Are you going home
or stay tonight
One subtle touch is all it'll take
We both know the rules, both know what's at stake
So please turn away before I lose our control
I want you to stay
I really want you to stay
I'm gonna need you to go