1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:22,000 Music. 2 00:00:21,842 --> 00:00:25,462 Welcome to This Week in Bitcoin, episode 46. My name is Chris, 3 00:00:25,782 --> 00:00:29,242 chrislas.com, jupiterbroadcasting.com. 4 00:00:29,362 --> 00:00:35,162 Have you ever wondered why it seems like Bitcoin tends to sell off on the news of higher inflation? 5 00:00:35,622 --> 00:00:40,562 I mean, after all, isn't Bitcoin supposed to be the best inflation hedge known to man? 6 00:00:41,922 --> 00:00:44,022 So why? Well, this week I'll get 7 00:00:44,022 --> 00:00:47,482 into the structural and even the psychological reasons why we see this. 8 00:00:47,962 --> 00:00:52,522 And really, a lot, lot more this week. So I thought we should probably start 9 00:00:52,522 --> 00:00:57,542 right here at the top with the world's largest market. That is right here in the U.S. of A. 10 00:00:57,602 --> 00:01:01,082 And we got some fresh news right off the print, as they say. 11 00:01:01,422 --> 00:01:04,702 New inflation numbers in the United States have been released this morning. 12 00:01:04,862 --> 00:01:07,742 Those numbers, of course, always have the potential to move markets. 13 00:01:07,882 --> 00:01:12,222 This morning, investors have learned that U.S. inflation ran hotter in January 14 00:01:12,222 --> 00:01:13,662 than economists had expected. 15 00:01:13,882 --> 00:01:16,582 Let's talk about it with an expert in rates and fixed income. 16 00:01:16,582 --> 00:01:21,142 He's Earl Davis, Head of Fixed Income and Money Markets at BMO Global Asset 17 00:01:21,142 --> 00:01:23,362 Management. Earl, good morning and thanks for joining us. Good morning. 18 00:01:23,522 --> 00:01:27,042 So just let me tell viewers what was reported at 8.30 in Eastern time. 19 00:01:27,622 --> 00:01:33,242 The month-over-month change in the consumer price index basket in January in the U.S. 20 00:01:33,682 --> 00:01:38,922 Came in at growth of 0.5%. That's 20 basis more than economists had expected, 21 00:01:39,262 --> 00:01:40,802 excluding food and energy. 22 00:01:40,962 --> 00:01:47,762 That monthly number rose by 0.4%. That was 10 basis points more than economists had expected. 23 00:01:47,962 --> 00:01:53,102 On a yearly basis, inflation running at an annualized pace of 3.0 percent, 24 00:01:53,602 --> 00:01:57,942 more than the 2.9 percent that economists had expected, excluding food and energy. 25 00:01:58,122 --> 00:02:03,722 Core inflation running at an annual pace of 3.3 percent, 20 basis points greater 26 00:02:03,722 --> 00:02:05,982 than economists had expected. 27 00:02:06,142 --> 00:02:07,622 That's kind of the big one there. 28 00:02:08,262 --> 00:02:11,962 U.S. inflation being at 3 percent for the first time since June. 29 00:02:11,962 --> 00:02:15,262 And analysts expected around 2.9 percent. 30 00:02:15,622 --> 00:02:21,342 So close. But you know how that goes. This does officially mean that the market 31 00:02:21,342 --> 00:02:23,422 is worried about inflation remaining hot. 32 00:02:23,882 --> 00:02:27,182 The CPI headline inflation has been up for four straight months. 33 00:02:27,342 --> 00:02:30,342 And core CPI is officially back on the rise again. 34 00:02:30,522 --> 00:02:33,822 Now, it's not horrendous around the world. 35 00:02:34,102 --> 00:02:37,122 The U.S. is kind of in the middle of the pack. 36 00:02:37,282 --> 00:02:40,762 Like right now, the U.K. is officially reporting 2.5 percent inflation. 37 00:02:40,762 --> 00:02:43,122 I have no idea if those numbers are legitimate. 38 00:02:43,722 --> 00:02:46,802 If anybody out there listening has insights on that, please boost in. 39 00:02:47,778 --> 00:02:50,898 If you look at who's doing a bit worse than the U.S., Mexico and Japan, 40 00:02:51,058 --> 00:02:55,898 3.6 percent, India, 4 percent inflation, Brazil, 4.6. 41 00:02:56,078 --> 00:02:59,118 Russia is at 9.5 percent official numbers right now. 42 00:02:59,698 --> 00:03:04,318 But it's pretty brutal when you zoom in to particular categories in the U.S. 43 00:03:04,338 --> 00:03:08,998 And I like to look at this over a multi-year window because the real evil about 44 00:03:08,998 --> 00:03:10,558 inflation is the compounding effect. 45 00:03:11,318 --> 00:03:15,798 Homes are up, you know, an unbelievable nearly 40 percent. 46 00:03:16,398 --> 00:03:23,238 Food at home is up 23.2%. Used cars are up 21.5%. Apparel, 9.3%. 47 00:03:23,238 --> 00:03:25,178 Medical care, they say only 10%. 48 00:03:25,758 --> 00:03:32,158 Transportation, 43.5%. Gas, 34.9%. Although gas is actually trending down in 49 00:03:32,158 --> 00:03:37,298 the shorter term, down 8%. Soybeans are also down 13%. As nickel is also down 50 00:03:37,298 --> 00:03:40,258 3%. And cotton down 25%. So it's not all bad. 51 00:03:40,578 --> 00:03:43,938 But in individual areas, when you zoom out over the past four years and you 52 00:03:43,938 --> 00:03:44,878 look at the cumulative effect, 53 00:03:44,878 --> 00:03:47,898 it's really hurting the american consumer 54 00:03:47,898 --> 00:03:50,638 and people all over the world even at two percent and right 55 00:03:50,638 --> 00:03:53,558 now as i record fed chair jerome powell 56 00:03:53,558 --> 00:03:57,058 is speaking to the financial services committee and 57 00:03:57,058 --> 00:04:00,098 he was just asked a question about you know where he sees inflation at 58 00:04:00,098 --> 00:04:03,838 and he kind of admits they haven't licked it yet despite the language in their 59 00:04:03,838 --> 00:04:08,458 just most recent meeting the biden administration american families were hit 60 00:04:08,458 --> 00:04:14,598 with a huge stealth tax from as we've spoken about inflation that drove up grocery 61 00:04:14,598 --> 00:04:19,938 prices and led to high rates on things like mortgages and car loans. 62 00:04:20,198 --> 00:04:31,418 Since 2021, the average Missouri household is paying about $1,100 more per month due to inflation. 63 00:04:31,418 --> 00:04:38,298 To put that number into perspective, the median family income in Missouri is $69,000. 64 00:04:38,298 --> 00:04:48,318 These families have had to spend $13,000 more of their annual income on the exact same goods. 65 00:04:49,975 --> 00:04:54,555 What specifically is the Federal Reserve's plan for making life easier for everyday Americans? 66 00:04:55,295 --> 00:05:02,015 So the best thing we can do for Americans is to vigorously pursue both stable 67 00:05:02,015 --> 00:05:03,835 prices and maximum employment. 68 00:05:04,575 --> 00:05:10,015 We're trying to get back to a long expansion where prices are stable around 69 00:05:10,015 --> 00:05:13,655 2%. You seem to be there on labor, as you've pointed out. So tell me what else. 70 00:05:14,035 --> 00:05:15,955 Sorry? You seem to be there on labor. 71 00:05:16,495 --> 00:05:21,555 So what else? You know, I would say we're close, but not there on inflation. 72 00:05:21,755 --> 00:05:25,735 And you did see today's inflation print, which says the same thing. 73 00:05:25,855 --> 00:05:31,235 I mean, we've made great progress toward 2%. Last year, inflation was 2.6%. 74 00:05:31,235 --> 00:05:35,315 So great progress, but we're not quite there yet. So we want to keep policy 75 00:05:35,315 --> 00:05:39,655 restrictive for now so that we can see. We're definitely not there for 30-year 76 00:05:39,655 --> 00:05:43,295 mortgages in upwards of 7%. She's got them. 77 00:05:44,115 --> 00:05:48,155 So, okay, you hear the numbers. Everything priced in fiat is getting more expensive. 78 00:05:48,375 --> 00:05:55,375 So, again, why are people selling Bitcoin when CPI is 0.1% higher than expected? 79 00:05:55,975 --> 00:05:58,435 Well, I think we should get two things out of the way up front. 80 00:05:59,635 --> 00:06:03,195 Bitcoin is a 24-7 worldwide liquid asset you can sell in a minute. 81 00:06:03,295 --> 00:06:04,275 I talk about that all the time. 82 00:06:04,475 --> 00:06:07,975 And Bitcoin is young. It's still in its monetization phase. In other words, 83 00:06:08,175 --> 00:06:10,695 the world's still figuring out its value. 84 00:06:10,935 --> 00:06:16,155 But I think a lot of this comes down to short-term versus long-term and traders, 85 00:06:16,355 --> 00:06:18,295 quote-unquote, that are trying to hedge. 86 00:06:18,495 --> 00:06:20,575 I think it's without question. 87 00:06:21,035 --> 00:06:26,015 If you look at the 15 years of Bitcoin, it is indeed designed to be an inflation 88 00:06:26,015 --> 00:06:28,255 killer. It is absolutely an inflation hedge. 89 00:06:28,555 --> 00:06:32,555 Thick supply, 21 million, right? And the halving events, every four years, 90 00:06:32,635 --> 00:06:36,235 the rate of new Bitcoin issuance is halved, further reducing supply growth. 91 00:06:36,235 --> 00:06:39,955 So if you look at over the past decade, Bitcoin's design pretty much has proven 92 00:06:39,955 --> 00:06:45,075 it's effective in maintaining its value and does serve as a hedge against devaluation 93 00:06:45,075 --> 00:06:47,255 of fiat currencies. The data is there. 94 00:06:47,967 --> 00:06:51,587 But these short-term price movements, and when I say short-term in this context, 95 00:06:52,027 --> 00:06:56,207 you got to keep in mind, I'm talking like a couple of years at a time, 96 00:06:56,407 --> 00:06:58,247 that's short-term in this kind of game. 97 00:06:58,747 --> 00:07:03,647 Those short-term price movements, they're moody. You know, often there's tight 98 00:07:03,647 --> 00:07:08,427 times of correlation with traditional markets, often driven by more macro liquidity 99 00:07:08,427 --> 00:07:09,527 than it is anything else. 100 00:07:09,967 --> 00:07:13,947 And if the traditional market stumbles, Bitcoin really tumbles. 101 00:07:14,407 --> 00:07:17,467 And when the traditional market warms up, Bitcoin cooks. 102 00:07:18,267 --> 00:07:22,567 But Bitcoin's potential as an inflation hedge, really, you have to look at it 103 00:07:22,567 --> 00:07:24,087 with a long-term perspective. 104 00:07:24,467 --> 00:07:28,247 And I think the old saying is true is no one loses money who holds Bitcoin for four years. 105 00:07:28,867 --> 00:07:31,567 So when you're looking at protecting yourself from inflation, 106 00:07:32,207 --> 00:07:36,447 from currency debasement, what are you really trying to accomplish? 107 00:07:37,107 --> 00:07:42,127 What is your real end goal? You really want to protect your future purchasing power, right? 108 00:07:42,627 --> 00:07:47,407 The fiat you work hard for today buys less tomorrow. Or really, 109 00:07:47,527 --> 00:07:50,307 in the case of the lens we're looking at, in the next few years. 110 00:07:51,107 --> 00:07:55,887 Your fiat that you earn is a representation of your output, your time, 111 00:07:56,067 --> 00:08:00,707 which is the most precious asset you own. More precious than Bitcoin, your time. 112 00:08:01,287 --> 00:08:04,927 So debasement of your money is debasement of your time and your energy. 113 00:08:05,667 --> 00:08:08,967 And, you know, depending on what basket of goods you pick from, 114 00:08:09,127 --> 00:08:14,587 on average, inflation stole around 26.1% of your purchasing power since 2020. 115 00:08:15,287 --> 00:08:18,387 So you're up, you know, depending where you're at, somewhere between 20 and 116 00:08:18,387 --> 00:08:22,947 30% of your purchasing power is gone in fiat terms in the last four years. 117 00:08:23,547 --> 00:08:28,567 If you're not making at least 25, 26% more than you were in 2020, you are poor. 118 00:08:29,067 --> 00:08:36,207 If your net worth hasn't risen by 26, 30% since 2020, you're poor. In fiat terms. 119 00:08:37,309 --> 00:08:43,289 But the Bitcoin that you save in today will buy you more than it does today in just a few years. 120 00:08:44,049 --> 00:08:48,369 Saylor has a real classic rant that kind of puts this into real stark terms. 121 00:08:48,969 --> 00:08:53,929 And he kind of he refers to the currency as the lifeblood of civilization. 122 00:08:54,389 --> 00:08:59,009 So when the government is telling you you should use a currency, 123 00:08:59,309 --> 00:09:05,529 the currency is the blood of your corporation or your family or your civilization. 124 00:09:06,569 --> 00:09:12,089 When I'm inflating the currency, I'm bleeding the civilization. 125 00:09:12,649 --> 00:09:16,229 And I loved, he had another time where he kind of took another crack at this. 126 00:09:16,529 --> 00:09:21,249 Remember George Washington, you know how he died? Well, meaning physicians bled him to death. 127 00:09:21,429 --> 00:09:25,069 And this was the most important patient in the country, maybe in the history 128 00:09:25,069 --> 00:09:28,549 of the country. And we bled him to death, trying to help him. 129 00:09:29,069 --> 00:09:34,549 So when you're actually inflating the money supply at 7%, but you're calling 130 00:09:34,549 --> 00:09:40,829 it 2% because you want to help the economy, you're literally bleeding the free market to death. 131 00:09:40,989 --> 00:09:44,369 But the sad fact is George Washington went along with it because he thought 132 00:09:44,369 --> 00:09:45,749 that they were going to do him good. 133 00:09:46,069 --> 00:09:50,429 The majority of the society, most companies, most conventional thinkers, 134 00:09:51,049 --> 00:09:56,129 the working class, they go along with this because they think that someone has 135 00:09:56,129 --> 00:09:57,429 their best interests in mind. 136 00:09:57,429 --> 00:10:00,989 And the people that are bleeding them to death, they believe that prescription 137 00:10:00,989 --> 00:10:03,709 because their mental models are just so defective. 138 00:10:04,009 --> 00:10:08,409 And ironically, the big money, their mental models are defective because they 139 00:10:08,409 --> 00:10:11,429 have existed in this system for their entire lifetime. 140 00:10:11,929 --> 00:10:16,129 They didn't come at it from a Bitcoiners perspective. They grew up inside the system. 141 00:10:17,027 --> 00:10:20,687 So big money, they're day trading Bitcoin. They're making short-term plays. 142 00:10:20,967 --> 00:10:24,907 They move a bit of money from one play to the other play, depending on what the market's doing. 143 00:10:25,307 --> 00:10:28,907 And right now, they're tucking and rolling as fast as they can as things develop. 144 00:10:29,367 --> 00:10:33,087 You know, they used to be able to take much longer-term horizons just going on Fed guidance. 145 00:10:33,687 --> 00:10:38,327 But things are, you know, on shakier ground right now. And here's what I suspect they're thinking. 146 00:10:38,507 --> 00:10:43,947 If inflation is up, then that likely means rates are not coming down anytime 147 00:10:43,947 --> 00:10:48,567 soon. This is Bank of America's CEO talking about their research term making 148 00:10:48,567 --> 00:10:50,467 this exact determination. 149 00:10:51,007 --> 00:10:54,987 So let's talk about a couple different things. One is our research team, 150 00:10:55,367 --> 00:10:58,487 Candace Browning-Platt, and this very strong research team was the reason why we're here. 151 00:10:58,727 --> 00:11:02,427 They had taken all rate cuts off the table in their research. 152 00:11:02,647 --> 00:11:06,127 The market had one still left in. They had zero. And it was because they thought 153 00:11:06,127 --> 00:11:10,247 that the dynamics of the inflationary effect and the potential inflationary 154 00:11:10,247 --> 00:11:12,547 effect would cause the Fed to hold back. 155 00:11:12,547 --> 00:11:17,127 And those rates are restrictive, but there was not enough sort of inflation 156 00:11:17,127 --> 00:11:18,647 progress going to be made. 157 00:11:18,687 --> 00:11:21,967 And inflation will stay in the high twos through 25 and 26. 158 00:11:22,167 --> 00:11:25,527 And ultimately, they would start cutting rates then and bring it to maybe three and a half, four. 159 00:11:25,947 --> 00:11:28,807 So he's saying no rate cuts this year, maybe next year. 160 00:11:29,287 --> 00:11:33,507 And these traders, they're looking for short-term liquidity pumps when they 161 00:11:33,507 --> 00:11:36,107 go to Bitcoin. Easy money. They rush into assets. 162 00:11:36,727 --> 00:11:41,667 And Bitcoin's limited supply is just a great short-term play if they think liquidity 163 00:11:41,667 --> 00:11:43,867 is going to pump. Money's going to be easy. 164 00:11:44,167 --> 00:11:48,747 And something that I've been going on about recently, the uncertainty around 165 00:11:48,747 --> 00:11:52,187 tariffs, is finally also getting coverage in the mainstream media. 166 00:11:52,327 --> 00:11:56,667 And they're realizing, oh, there's going to be just volatility because of all 167 00:11:56,667 --> 00:11:57,627 these tariff reactions. 168 00:11:57,947 --> 00:12:03,987 And some in the market, even really big money, are kind of freaking out about tariffs. 169 00:12:03,987 --> 00:12:08,267 Very interesting, Jack, today, a commentary from Ken Griffin, 170 00:12:08,527 --> 00:12:12,847 chief executive of Citadel, who was at the UBS Financial Services Conference 171 00:12:12,847 --> 00:12:16,447 and said of the proposed tariffs from the president. 172 00:12:17,270 --> 00:12:21,730 From my vantage point, the bombastic rhetoric, the damage has already been done. 173 00:12:21,730 --> 00:12:25,890 And it's a huge mistake to resort to this form of rhetoric when you're trying 174 00:12:25,890 --> 00:12:28,110 to drive a bargain because it's like imprints. 175 00:12:28,190 --> 00:12:30,970 It tears into the minds of CEOs, policymakers. 176 00:12:31,290 --> 00:12:33,730 We can't depend upon America as our trading partner. 177 00:12:34,330 --> 00:12:38,250 Regrettably, the other side of the story is the uncertainty and chaos created 178 00:12:38,250 --> 00:12:41,150 by the pair of dynamics between us and our allies. 179 00:12:41,610 --> 00:12:45,390 Is it an impediment to growth? It makes it difficult for multinationals. 180 00:12:45,390 --> 00:12:49,890 I mean, there's one of the world's greatest investors saying that the rhetoric's 181 00:12:49,890 --> 00:12:55,130 not good, the damage has already been done, and there's chaos as a result. 182 00:12:55,410 --> 00:12:57,210 Is that a problem for markets or no? 183 00:12:57,570 --> 00:13:03,330 Chaos! Chaos as a result. So, okay, I tease, but try to put yourself in their 184 00:13:03,330 --> 00:13:06,830 very expensive shoes for a moment. You don't understand Bitcoin. 185 00:13:07,250 --> 00:13:12,090 You know it's going up, and you know the numbers look good over the last 10 186 00:13:12,090 --> 00:13:16,230 years, but you don't really understand Bitcoin. You don't really understand 187 00:13:16,230 --> 00:13:22,090 even some of the theory behind the fiscal policy of Bitcoin. 188 00:13:22,470 --> 00:13:26,070 You mostly are looking at it as like a tech stock. They think of it as a risk 189 00:13:26,070 --> 00:13:27,970 on bet during easy money time. 190 00:13:28,450 --> 00:13:31,610 And you're having a really hard time right now making sense of things because 191 00:13:31,610 --> 00:13:36,150 you've grown up in a system and you've built an entire thriving rich business 192 00:13:36,150 --> 00:13:39,450 where everybody's told you how smart you are in a system that is shifting. 193 00:13:39,950 --> 00:13:43,070 The Fed was talking like they've nailed inflation. Now they're like, 194 00:13:43,110 --> 00:13:44,670 oh, we've got some work to do. 195 00:13:45,370 --> 00:13:48,130 White House policies seem like a big gamble right now. 196 00:13:48,970 --> 00:13:51,790 All these big money firms, they're rudderless. They don't know how to measure 197 00:13:51,790 --> 00:13:55,110 any of this. They're a giant money ship that needs a safe harbor right now. 198 00:13:55,630 --> 00:13:58,550 The truth is, everyone gets Bitcoin at the price they deserve. 199 00:13:59,210 --> 00:14:01,770 And, you know, the families, the individuals, the companies, 200 00:14:01,790 --> 00:14:04,430 and the states that are thinking long-term and not trying to just, 201 00:14:04,510 --> 00:14:08,230 you know, get the biggest money play right now, the ones that are in it for 202 00:14:08,230 --> 00:14:11,670 multiple years, they're going to benefit. Well, and speaking of that... 203 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:22,320 Music. 204 00:14:22,168 --> 00:14:29,228 I'd have to do a daily podcast to keep track of how fast this story is developing. Now, 19 U.S. 205 00:14:29,668 --> 00:14:32,668 States are racing to establish a Bitcoin reserve. 206 00:14:33,208 --> 00:14:37,508 I'll link to bitcoinlaws.io where you can track this. They have a map and also 207 00:14:37,508 --> 00:14:39,888 a tracker lower below. It's so cool. 208 00:14:40,548 --> 00:14:44,768 So just recently, North Carolina and Montana are the latest states with proposed 209 00:14:44,768 --> 00:14:48,088 legislations to allow a state to invest in Bitcoin and other digital assets. 210 00:14:48,088 --> 00:14:48,908 I'll get to that in a second. 211 00:14:49,448 --> 00:14:52,548 You know, when I hear this, I think, I wouldn't mind moving there. 212 00:14:52,708 --> 00:14:54,208 I'm curious if you feel this way. 213 00:14:54,648 --> 00:14:59,108 Or if you live in one of these states that's proposing a Bitcoin reserve or 214 00:14:59,108 --> 00:15:01,548 digital asset reserve, how do you feel about it? 215 00:15:01,628 --> 00:15:05,528 I'd be really proud and impressed if Washington state figured this out. 216 00:15:05,748 --> 00:15:07,128 They'll probably be one of the last. 217 00:15:07,968 --> 00:15:12,088 Even though if you look at crypto holders distributed in the U.S., 218 00:15:12,088 --> 00:15:16,168 Washington state supposedly has a very high percentage. State representatives don't care. 219 00:15:16,988 --> 00:15:20,588 This is, to me, it just seems like, man, if I were like looking at a new state 220 00:15:20,588 --> 00:15:23,208 to move to, this might be one of the things I can look at. 221 00:15:23,588 --> 00:15:26,288 So we now have 19 different states that are looking at different, 222 00:15:26,688 --> 00:15:30,008 you could essentially call it competing legislation, right? Because whoever 223 00:15:30,008 --> 00:15:31,428 moves first gets the best price. 224 00:15:32,588 --> 00:15:35,448 North carolina's hb 92 allows up 225 00:15:35,448 --> 00:15:38,788 to 10 of funds via the bitcoin etfs i 226 00:15:38,788 --> 00:15:43,908 thought that was interesting and montana's hb 429 proposes 50 million investment 227 00:15:43,908 --> 00:15:48,148 in quote digital assets now other states including maryland iowa and florida 228 00:15:48,148 --> 00:15:53,108 have introduced similar bills wyoming and north dakota seem to have roadblocks 229 00:15:53,108 --> 00:15:58,008 in their reserve efforts utah is in the lead arizona just behind them. 230 00:15:58,208 --> 00:16:00,608 I believe Utah has the shortest cycle as well. 231 00:16:01,108 --> 00:16:04,888 Now, I think all of these bills pretty much universally refer to digital assets 232 00:16:04,888 --> 00:16:08,868 and not Bitcoin, but they all almost have like the similar language around the 233 00:16:08,868 --> 00:16:09,888 market cap requirement. 234 00:16:10,128 --> 00:16:13,328 The digital asset must be of quote, you know, some of them are, 235 00:16:13,428 --> 00:16:15,688 you know, 500 billion or whatever. They have different market cap sizes. 236 00:16:16,168 --> 00:16:20,968 And pretty much in all cases, Bitcoin is like the only digital asset that meets the requirements. 237 00:16:21,817 --> 00:16:27,177 So I'm not I'm not really sure I've I've been told and I don't know if I believe it. 238 00:16:27,337 --> 00:16:31,177 I've been told that they're using the term digital asset to seem more neutral 239 00:16:31,177 --> 00:16:36,817 and to provoke less of a fight from the digital asset lobby. 240 00:16:37,177 --> 00:16:41,097 Do you buy that line or are they all about to become a bunch of shit coiners? 241 00:16:41,217 --> 00:16:42,737 I don't know which one it is. You might. 242 00:16:46,917 --> 00:16:50,437 Well, I did mention that your buddy, Jerome Powell, was on the hill. 243 00:16:50,437 --> 00:16:55,557 It's actually a two day affair and it's his first appearance before Congress 244 00:16:55,557 --> 00:16:58,597 since his or since the president's inauguration. 245 00:16:59,197 --> 00:17:05,777 And I mean, it really is a slog. Two days of just hours and hours of boring 246 00:17:05,777 --> 00:17:09,997 rants mixed with a few moments that you need to know about. 247 00:17:10,157 --> 00:17:13,957 So let's start with a big one that just came and went real quick. 248 00:17:14,097 --> 00:17:16,117 I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I got to clip that. What was that? 249 00:17:16,177 --> 00:17:21,177 What did he just say? Something that concerns me a lot is the idea that we would 250 00:17:21,177 --> 00:17:24,017 even look like China in any way. 251 00:17:24,257 --> 00:17:27,537 So can I have your commitment that as long as you're the chairman of the Federal 252 00:17:27,537 --> 00:17:33,077 Reserve System, that we will never have a central bank digital currency? Yes. 253 00:17:33,477 --> 00:17:38,037 Thank you for that. I think that's extremely important. That makes me very happy to hear you say that. 254 00:17:38,137 --> 00:17:42,557 Yeah, you seem to have no qualms committing to no CBDC under his watch. 255 00:17:42,557 --> 00:17:47,097 Now, I don't know, you know, the Federal Reserve is not part of the federal government. 256 00:17:47,277 --> 00:17:51,217 They may only have a small part to do with that, but I thought it was interesting. 257 00:17:51,477 --> 00:17:53,317 Nonetheless, I wanted to just point that out. 258 00:17:53,677 --> 00:17:57,677 Now, no Fed chair multi-day hearing would be complete without some Bitcoin and 259 00:17:57,677 --> 00:18:00,537 crypto questions. That's just the era we live in now. 260 00:18:00,837 --> 00:18:02,897 And Senator Lummis said. 261 00:18:03,641 --> 00:18:07,441 Had some really tough questions about recent debanking. 262 00:18:07,801 --> 00:18:13,321 And I think Jerome's answer here is a total change of tone. It's a complete 263 00:18:13,321 --> 00:18:15,641 180 from, I don't know, November. 264 00:18:16,021 --> 00:18:21,841 Do you commit to disciplining or removing any staff that are found to have engaged 265 00:18:21,841 --> 00:18:28,981 in debanking activity, furthering Operation Chokepoint 2.0 or other misconduct? 266 00:18:30,201 --> 00:18:35,161 I can't make an open-ended commitment to remove anybody, but I will tell you 267 00:18:35,161 --> 00:18:38,521 that I am struck, and my colleagues and I are struck, 268 00:18:38,701 --> 00:18:43,801 by the growing number of cases of what appears to be debanking, 269 00:18:43,841 --> 00:18:47,261 and we're determined to take a fresh look at that. 270 00:18:47,481 --> 00:18:51,841 In fact, I took the thing that you showed during the debanking hearing, 271 00:18:52,061 --> 00:18:56,961 when I saw that, we're now taking that out of the manual. So I thank you for that. 272 00:18:57,381 --> 00:19:00,761 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. when my time's up. He's struck by it. 273 00:19:01,161 --> 00:19:03,901 Struck by the debanking. Completely struck by it. 274 00:19:04,281 --> 00:19:07,681 I think we're going to have a lot more information, so I'll save on the speculation, 275 00:19:07,681 --> 00:19:12,201 and I think we're going to see a lot of information just come out as they look into that further. 276 00:19:12,441 --> 00:19:15,721 Now, for the next question he was asked, I want to give you more context. 277 00:19:16,481 --> 00:19:21,221 Things are brewing behind the scenes that lead to this next question. 278 00:19:21,601 --> 00:19:26,141 The U.S. federal government is aligning and moving forward with pro-crypto policy 279 00:19:26,141 --> 00:19:30,981 in a way that is very significant And I think it's hard for us as outsiders 280 00:19:30,981 --> 00:19:35,661 to really fully appreciate the amount of stakeholders, 281 00:19:36,001 --> 00:19:40,121 quote unquote, that had to come together to actually pull this off. 282 00:19:40,761 --> 00:19:47,821 And crypto and AI czar, David Sachs, laid some of this out in the most recent All In podcast. 283 00:19:48,021 --> 00:19:51,421 And I cut it down to the point where I think it really helps you understand Bitcoin. 284 00:19:52,434 --> 00:19:56,054 Just what all had to come together. And it starts with Sachs describing the 285 00:19:56,054 --> 00:19:59,534 press conference that I played a clip from last week. 286 00:20:00,014 --> 00:20:04,954 Yesterday, I was invited up to Capitol Hill to meet with the chairman of the 287 00:20:04,954 --> 00:20:08,694 important committees that basically govern crypto. 288 00:20:08,994 --> 00:20:12,954 And so we had a press conference there to announce the legislative plan. 289 00:20:12,994 --> 00:20:18,374 You can see there, there's Chairman Tim Scott, who's the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. 290 00:20:18,734 --> 00:20:22,514 To my left and then to To my right is French Hill, who's the chairman of the 291 00:20:22,514 --> 00:20:23,694 House Financial Services Committee. 292 00:20:24,134 --> 00:20:30,634 And then to his right is John Bozeman, who's the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. 293 00:20:31,014 --> 00:20:37,354 And then to the left of Tim Scott is G.T. Thompson, who's the chair of the House 294 00:20:37,354 --> 00:20:38,194 Agriculture Committee. 295 00:20:38,514 --> 00:20:42,334 He's out of frame right now. But those are the four committees that govern crypto. 296 00:20:42,574 --> 00:20:45,254 And you may ask, why is the Agriculture Committee involved in crypto? 297 00:20:45,254 --> 00:20:50,214 And the reason is because the ad committee supervises the CFTC, 298 00:20:50,514 --> 00:20:54,374 the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, because commodities all came out 299 00:20:54,374 --> 00:20:56,754 of agriculture. So it's interesting. 300 00:20:57,114 --> 00:21:01,514 You need four committees across the House and Senate to get legislation done 301 00:21:01,514 --> 00:21:04,354 on crypto. It's not just House and Senate. 302 00:21:04,474 --> 00:21:06,374 It's actually two committees in each of the House and Senate. 303 00:21:06,374 --> 00:21:11,834 And so this is the first time where we've had four chairmen of the four key 304 00:21:11,834 --> 00:21:15,994 committees all come together and say that they're ready to support crypto legislation. 305 00:21:16,314 --> 00:21:20,994 There were a lot of people on X who felt like this wasn't a mind-blowing announcement. 306 00:21:20,994 --> 00:21:23,194 They wanted something that they could trade on right away. 307 00:21:23,394 --> 00:21:28,074 That's not what this was. This was basically a statement of commitment from 308 00:21:28,074 --> 00:21:31,694 the chairs of the four committees that we're going to get legislation done this 309 00:21:31,694 --> 00:21:33,274 year, maybe in the next six months. 310 00:21:33,394 --> 00:21:35,734 I mean, that's really the goal. And we've never had that before. 311 00:21:35,734 --> 00:21:37,374 So that is pretty monumental. 312 00:21:37,754 --> 00:21:39,514 Now, make no mistake about it. 313 00:21:39,974 --> 00:21:42,914 Their first priority is stablecoins. 314 00:21:43,834 --> 00:21:46,374 Stablecoins. You know what? Fine. They don't really need to touch Bitcoin. 315 00:21:46,594 --> 00:21:49,434 They don't really need to do anything around Bitcoin. If they wanted to remove 316 00:21:49,434 --> 00:21:51,594 capital gains tax, you could go ahead and do that. 317 00:21:52,374 --> 00:21:58,274 Please go ahead and do that. I think the other priority, stablecoins and letting 318 00:21:58,274 --> 00:22:03,094 banks hold Bitcoin and maybe other various cryptos for their customers. 319 00:22:03,094 --> 00:22:08,614 And the next day, which was today, in Jay Powell's two-day hearing on the Hill, 320 00:22:08,834 --> 00:22:13,334 he was asked about banks getting infected by crypto. 321 00:22:14,499 --> 00:22:21,079 With that spread and expansion of crypto, and the president is 100% behind it. 322 00:22:21,139 --> 00:22:22,879 He just started his own meme coin. 323 00:22:23,099 --> 00:22:26,919 He's making a lot of money off of that, which is another issue. 324 00:22:27,399 --> 00:22:36,219 My concern is that the spread of an expansion of crypto will infect the traditional banking system. 325 00:22:36,219 --> 00:22:44,939 Because it's a volatile, speculative asset. and we've seen some very sudden disasters with crypto. 326 00:22:45,239 --> 00:22:49,699 I'm just wondering, are there any backstops that we can use, 327 00:22:49,899 --> 00:22:56,019 any firewalls that we can put in place that might insulate the traditional banking 328 00:22:56,019 --> 00:22:59,639 system because they have access to the discount window? 329 00:22:59,959 --> 00:23:04,819 What is he really asking? Is he really asking, is there some sort of paperwork 330 00:23:04,819 --> 00:23:10,179 way that we can slow this down? Is there some sort of bureaucratic minutiae 331 00:23:10,179 --> 00:23:11,999 that we can get this involved in? 332 00:23:12,259 --> 00:23:17,239 It sounds like what he's really asking is, you know, can regulatory oversight 333 00:23:17,239 --> 00:23:24,079 somehow interpret rules in a way that allows them to isolate certain things around crypto? 334 00:23:24,239 --> 00:23:29,259 Doesn't it? It sounds like a very suspicious question. And FDIC insured. 335 00:23:29,579 --> 00:23:36,899 So there may be, you know, second order impacts if we have a collapse of a major crypto issuer. 336 00:23:37,159 --> 00:23:43,499 Are there any any extra things that we can do to protect the traditional banking system? 337 00:23:44,299 --> 00:23:49,139 Yeah, so first I would say there are really two things that are happening. 338 00:23:49,299 --> 00:23:53,939 One is banks are serving crypto customers, and we don't want to get in the way 339 00:23:53,939 --> 00:23:55,739 of banks serving perfectly legal 340 00:23:55,739 --> 00:23:58,979 customers as long as they understand the risks and that sort of thing. 341 00:23:59,039 --> 00:24:01,939 We don't want to single out any particular – Are you speaking to custody? 342 00:24:03,659 --> 00:24:08,419 Well, custody is more – the second thing is undertaking activities on their own, right? 343 00:24:08,419 --> 00:24:15,479 And in that case, I do think it's appropriate to, as usual, as bank supervisors, 344 00:24:15,679 --> 00:24:19,799 make sure that we understand and banks understand the risks that are involved 345 00:24:19,799 --> 00:24:23,179 in the activity that they're taking inside an insured depository. 346 00:24:23,319 --> 00:24:27,059 On the other hand, you don't want to go too far. I think there were a bunch 347 00:24:27,059 --> 00:24:33,139 of disasters, as we all remember, and we were reacting to some extent to those. 348 00:24:33,179 --> 00:24:37,519 You don't want to go so far as to overplay your hand on that. 349 00:24:37,519 --> 00:24:42,179 So I think we need to be mindful that many of these activities can very well be done inside of banks. 350 00:24:42,259 --> 00:24:45,579 And custody may well be one of them. In fact, in Fed-regulated banks, 351 00:24:45,679 --> 00:24:48,519 there are lots of crypto activities happening now. 352 00:24:48,699 --> 00:24:52,499 Lots. They've just happened under a framework where we made sure that the bank 353 00:24:52,499 --> 00:24:55,999 understood and we understood exactly what they're doing. Yeah. Right. 354 00:24:57,019 --> 00:25:00,519 We also have the… That's enough of that. Moving on. 355 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:06,640 Music. 356 00:25:06,631 --> 00:25:11,811 Are you passively stacking sats at all? I'm not talking about like DCAing or actively buying them. 357 00:25:12,111 --> 00:25:15,931 But as you hear here, the banks are getting more and more interested in getting involved. 358 00:25:16,291 --> 00:25:21,231 So let's say your bank, like your Costco card or something offered sats back as a reward. 359 00:25:21,871 --> 00:25:27,651 Would you use it? And would you switch to a bank that offered you some kind of sats based reward? 360 00:25:27,811 --> 00:25:31,611 Now, here's what I'm thinking is when I look out there, there's a lot of ways 361 00:25:31,611 --> 00:25:33,551 to passively stack Satoshis right now. 362 00:25:33,831 --> 00:25:39,451 And they're, they're, They remind me of things like the Bitcoin well, 363 00:25:39,671 --> 00:25:44,451 where you could answer a CAPTCHA on a web page and you would get rewarded five 364 00:25:44,451 --> 00:25:46,651 Bitcoin just for answering the CAPTCHA. 365 00:25:47,171 --> 00:25:52,711 Or people used to tip each other, you know, nearly a Bitcoin on Reddit for a good post. 366 00:25:53,471 --> 00:25:58,211 Now, these days, we have things like Stacker News and Fountain FM and Foldcard 367 00:25:58,211 --> 00:26:01,731 and Noster that are kind of elements of this. 368 00:26:01,851 --> 00:26:03,651 That perhaps in another decade, we'll look back and go, wow, 369 00:26:03,731 --> 00:26:05,951 wow, look at that. Look what we used to be able to do. 370 00:26:06,671 --> 00:26:10,011 And with the, you know, things like Fold card and the Gemini card, 371 00:26:10,171 --> 00:26:11,471 you get sats back on your purchases. 372 00:26:11,611 --> 00:26:15,831 So I'm curious, are you out there, beyond just buying sats, are you taking advantage 373 00:26:15,831 --> 00:26:17,911 of any passive stacking, is what I'm calling it. 374 00:26:17,951 --> 00:26:20,871 If you do, what are you doing, and do you like it? 375 00:26:20,951 --> 00:26:24,351 And if you're not, why not? Because I'm going to have some news regarding Fold 376 00:26:24,351 --> 00:26:26,671 in a little bit and their new credit card. 377 00:26:27,191 --> 00:26:30,711 And it's interesting, you know, the whole incentive really is sats back. 378 00:26:31,811 --> 00:26:34,671 And when I look at having to make, you know, mandatory purchases, 379 00:26:34,671 --> 00:26:38,111 it seems kind of nice to be able to earn a few sats if I'm going to have to 380 00:26:38,111 --> 00:26:38,971 make the purchase anyways. 381 00:26:39,491 --> 00:26:43,371 And if I hold on to those for a little bit, they end up being a worth a lot more than just points. 382 00:26:44,231 --> 00:26:47,171 I think it could be a big industry, but I'd like to know if you're taking advantage 383 00:26:47,171 --> 00:26:49,711 of it already. And if you are, tell me how it's working. 384 00:26:50,291 --> 00:26:52,631 And if you're not, listen and tell me why not. 385 00:26:53,520 --> 00:27:11,440 Music. 386 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:15,720 But first, let me take a moment and say you can support the show by doing what you do. 387 00:27:15,860 --> 00:27:19,500 You want to stack sats here in the U.S.? Buy your sats on River. 388 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,160 The best way to stack sats right here in the United States. 389 00:27:22,580 --> 00:27:30,000 Great interface. DCA options all day long. They also offer you cash sats back at like 3.8% interest. 390 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,580 It's great. Love River. We'll have a link. All of these are linked in the show 391 00:27:34,580 --> 00:27:37,440 notes. I think the Bitcoin well is another one you got to consider. 392 00:27:38,340 --> 00:27:41,080 Automatic self-custody is built into their platform. And when you buy and sell 393 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,820 your sats, they're going directly from your Lightning or on-chain wallet. 394 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:48,100 They never get involved with that. It's so great. It's like all the APIs and 395 00:27:48,100 --> 00:27:50,640 services you need around Bitcoin, but you maintain the custody. 396 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,020 Link in the show notes, bitcoinwill.com slash jupiter. 397 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:58,360 Now, you want to buy a few things with the sats you have in your Lightning wallet? The Bitcoin company. 398 00:27:58,640 --> 00:27:59,980 The Bitcoin company makes it 399 00:27:59,980 --> 00:28:04,260 so fast and easy to zap your sats into a gift card and go buy something. 400 00:28:04,380 --> 00:28:07,540 Like Amazon or Chevron, whatever it might be. They've got hundreds. 401 00:28:08,060 --> 00:28:10,900 The Bitcoin company. We've got links to that. I mentioned the FoldCard. 402 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:14,840 I got news about them coming up. You can pay your bills and stack sats, 403 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:17,340 sats back on your debit card purchases. 404 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:22,220 The FoldCard, pretty awesome Bitcoin company. And last but not least, 405 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:25,080 if you need access to your Bitcoin liquidity without selling it, 406 00:28:25,700 --> 00:28:28,040 you should consider Salt Lending. That's who I use. 407 00:28:28,740 --> 00:28:31,960 And I think they're pretty great. And we have a question about them later in 408 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,160 the show, too. So there's a lot to get into. 409 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,960 Thank you, everybody, who uses those links and supports the show. We'll be right back. 410 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:49,520 Music. 411 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:54,140 And we do have a bunch of great boosts this week to get into that also support the show directly. 412 00:28:54,300 --> 00:29:01,980 And we start with Block, who got the Baller Booster segment on sale for 25,000 sets. Hey, Rich Luster! 413 00:29:02,780 --> 00:29:06,700 Oh, yes! Thank you, Block7. Coming in as our Baller Booster, 414 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:09,160 value for value, he writes, never boosting pegs. 415 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:14,640 Only corn fist bump, I guess only boost corn. Thank you. 416 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,780 Appreciate you being our baller block and nice to hear from you. 417 00:29:18,540 --> 00:29:22,620 IT guy zero zero five comes in with 22,222 sets. 418 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:28,080 Some McDucks. Things are looking up for old McDuck. Either that or it's an Aflac boost. 419 00:29:28,540 --> 00:29:32,640 Aflac. You tell me. He writes great episode. Appreciate your insights on the current events. 420 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,600 You're making me miss the unfiltered show again more than I normally do. 421 00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:38,380 I truly appreciate your efforts on this here podcast, all the JBS. 422 00:29:39,022 --> 00:29:41,482 Enjoyed the opportunity to buy another chunk of sats when the price tumbled 423 00:29:41,482 --> 00:29:44,562 on the tariff market fares. Yeah, well done. 424 00:29:46,502 --> 00:29:49,782 That's the way to do it. That's the way to do it. I love it. 425 00:29:50,382 --> 00:29:54,142 You know, unfilter would not really be. I don't think I could do unfilter anymore 426 00:29:54,142 --> 00:29:58,462 because I now look at things through the macro economic lens, 427 00:29:58,642 --> 00:30:02,982 which just explains so much more of what's going on than any kind of crazy conspiracy 428 00:30:02,982 --> 00:30:08,582 theory or chasing the mainstream media. Chase the mainstream media. They're downstream. 429 00:30:09,022 --> 00:30:12,542 Of what's going on. The ultimate source of truth, I believe, 430 00:30:12,722 --> 00:30:15,202 is what this show follows now. That's my opinion. 431 00:30:15,642 --> 00:30:18,762 But I really appreciate the boost. It was a shorter crew today, 432 00:30:18,842 --> 00:30:20,842 IT guy, so it really mattered. Thank you very much. 433 00:30:21,242 --> 00:30:24,342 Our next boost is the one, the only, the Mr. 434 00:30:24,642 --> 00:30:30,042 Hybrid Sarcasm. And you know what? He comes in with 20,000 sats and he's a good guy. He's a good guy. 435 00:30:30,242 --> 00:30:33,942 He's a real good guy. No, he's a great guy. He says, it's a great day for Twib. 436 00:30:34,102 --> 00:30:45,202 Have some buy the dip sats yes buddy thank you appreciate that eric pp is here with 3333 sats, 437 00:30:46,582 --> 00:30:50,522 great song i heard it on this week in the bitcoin podcast oh great boosting 438 00:30:50,522 --> 00:30:55,402 our song thank you very much for that eric pp i really appreciate that gene 439 00:30:55,402 --> 00:31:00,022 beans here with 10 901 sats It's over 9,000! 440 00:31:01,422 --> 00:31:05,642 Gene Bean writes, The review and changing things is supposed to be part of the 441 00:31:05,642 --> 00:31:07,362 budget process. Oh, I think he's probably talking about Doge. 442 00:31:07,482 --> 00:31:09,882 And if things are allocated by Congress aren't liked, that is supposed to be 443 00:31:09,882 --> 00:31:14,322 done by the legislative action in the annual budget. Yeah, it sure should be, shouldn't it? 444 00:31:15,442 --> 00:31:18,422 Elon should only be screwing with budget allocated by the executive branch, 445 00:31:18,842 --> 00:31:21,682 much of which is being changed isn't money that is in the executive branch, 446 00:31:21,742 --> 00:31:24,362 or the executive branch is to mess with. 447 00:31:24,902 --> 00:31:26,722 It's allocated by laws passed by Congress. 448 00:31:27,422 --> 00:31:31,242 How has Congress been doing them? Can you explain the linkage between self-hosted 449 00:31:31,242 --> 00:31:35,142 node, a software wallet like Green, and a hardware wallet? 450 00:31:35,282 --> 00:31:37,582 I don't yet understand how they all work together. 451 00:31:38,042 --> 00:31:39,962 Okay, well, they're all doing kind of different jobs. 452 00:31:40,862 --> 00:31:44,942 So Green will use something like a hardware wallet for its key generation and storage. 453 00:31:45,522 --> 00:31:50,402 And it'll use something like a node for its source of truth about the transactions 454 00:31:50,402 --> 00:31:53,382 on the blockchain, the mempool and things like that. 455 00:31:53,702 --> 00:31:56,002 So one is to store your key. 456 00:31:57,062 --> 00:32:00,122 And one is to get the source of truth on the network. 457 00:32:01,086 --> 00:32:03,446 He says, what are your thoughts on the Bitbox wallet mentioned by Alby? 458 00:32:03,446 --> 00:32:06,466 I've never tried that one. I would really like to hear people's thoughts on Bitbox. 459 00:32:07,086 --> 00:32:09,926 He also wanted to let us know that he published a new blog post that he hopes 460 00:32:09,926 --> 00:32:12,426 will be helpful for others that are wanting to self-host their own note. 461 00:32:13,006 --> 00:32:16,406 Proxying Bitcoin Core and L&D with Tailscale and Nginx. 462 00:32:17,206 --> 00:32:20,446 Feedback on Mastodon or Nostra is welcome. I will put a link to that in the 463 00:32:20,446 --> 00:32:23,286 show notes. Thank you, Gene. That's a great tutorial. 464 00:32:24,086 --> 00:32:29,046 That is a cosign on that stack. It's very close to the stack we use here at 465 00:32:29,046 --> 00:32:30,486 the studio. Thank you, Gene. 466 00:32:31,086 --> 00:32:34,266 Pab comes in with 2,100 sats. The traders love the vol. 467 00:32:34,526 --> 00:32:39,286 Love all the JB shows. And I actually got into Bitcoin thanks to this one. Oh, yes. 468 00:32:42,866 --> 00:32:47,066 Oh, man. You know what? You know what? You're doing a good job. 469 00:32:47,246 --> 00:32:48,506 You know how happy that makes me? 470 00:32:48,946 --> 00:32:52,526 Do you know how happy that makes me? I cannot think of a better compliment. 471 00:32:53,066 --> 00:32:57,906 You know, I hope that one of the things I'd leave when I, you know, 472 00:32:57,966 --> 00:33:01,586 pass is that some of the folks in the audience heard about Bitcoin, 473 00:33:02,306 --> 00:33:07,086 and were able to protect their future purchasing power and their family's wealth 474 00:33:07,086 --> 00:33:08,846 because they listen to one of our shows. 475 00:33:09,806 --> 00:33:12,986 So, man, Pat, that's so awesome. I just wanted to say that being against, 476 00:33:13,066 --> 00:33:16,546 he goes on, I just wanted to say that being against war isn't a political bias. 477 00:33:16,726 --> 00:33:18,026 It's basic human decency. 478 00:33:18,846 --> 00:33:21,246 These days it feels like a political bias, I have to say, Pat. 479 00:33:21,986 --> 00:33:25,766 And whether you realize it or not, your views lean heavily toward the liberal right. 480 00:33:26,606 --> 00:33:31,506 Liberal right, okay. I don't I would love to know what that even means of course being in the U.S. 481 00:33:31,606 --> 00:33:35,766 You're used to choosing ah yes now it all makes sense of course being in the U.S. 482 00:33:35,866 --> 00:33:39,206 You're used to choosing between two shades of right-wing politics I strongly 483 00:33:39,206 --> 00:33:41,626 am in the opposite direction but I still appreciate your perspective keep up 484 00:33:41,626 --> 00:33:46,526 the great work that I hear you know is a very common perspective is if you're outside the U.S. 485 00:33:46,646 --> 00:33:51,046 Then both parties seem very right that's probably because of all the war and Woo! 486 00:33:51,406 --> 00:33:55,386 Yeah, let's get to some warring, right? That's woo-woo. Yeah, America. 487 00:33:55,906 --> 00:33:58,326 Yeah, thank you. I do appreciate that perspective. 488 00:33:59,306 --> 00:34:02,246 VCP comes in with 4,000 foursats. This is the way. 489 00:34:02,426 --> 00:34:06,306 I've been orange-pilling farmers and ranchers. Oh, I saw this boost come in 490 00:34:06,306 --> 00:34:09,246 live and I shared it with friends and family. 491 00:34:09,626 --> 00:34:13,706 He says, your podcast takes people from being Bitcoin curious to deep diving. 492 00:34:13,886 --> 00:34:18,686 It's crazy, but it's the 60-year-old landowners that take the pill and wake 493 00:34:18,686 --> 00:34:22,246 up. Your show gives them a way to funnel their nerves now that they see the 494 00:34:22,246 --> 00:34:25,226 fiat system for what it is. Keep up the important work. 495 00:34:25,886 --> 00:34:29,206 Wow. Because I'm the winner. Thank you, VCP. 496 00:34:29,326 --> 00:34:35,306 I really love hearing that, too, because I could imagine going through the world 497 00:34:35,306 --> 00:34:39,346 right now, especially in an area as tough as farming. 498 00:34:40,166 --> 00:34:44,226 Not having the hope of Bitcoin. How dreadful would that be? 499 00:34:44,806 --> 00:34:49,366 Dreadful. So, you know, and it really makes so much sense for small business 500 00:34:49,366 --> 00:34:52,406 owners. It makes total sense that farmers would figure it out, too. 501 00:34:53,006 --> 00:34:56,126 Thank you, VCP. That really made my week. Appreciate it. A couple of great boosts 502 00:34:56,126 --> 00:35:00,266 there. Ace Ackerman's here with an adorable row of ducks, 2,222 sats. 503 00:35:01,046 --> 00:35:04,886 And he just says, boost. Thank you, Ace. Always nice to hear from you. 504 00:35:05,786 --> 00:35:11,686 Bafo's back, and he's got himself a Spaceballs boost with 12,345 sats. 505 00:35:11,806 --> 00:35:15,826 So the culmination is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 506 00:35:16,246 --> 00:35:22,066 And Bafo says, Bafo says, accumulation yet price suppressed for months now. How long can this go on? 507 00:35:22,446 --> 00:35:27,666 Even if no BSR, this makes zero sense. Exchange is up to no good. Smoke if you got them. 508 00:35:28,286 --> 00:35:31,146 Okay, Bafo, I'm glad you boosted this in. 509 00:35:31,146 --> 00:35:37,606 Because low-key, one of my conspiracy theories right now is that the exchanges like Bitfinex, 510 00:35:37,966 --> 00:35:41,926 I don't know about Coinbase, probably through some sort of intermediary third 511 00:35:41,926 --> 00:35:47,366 party because there are these companies that literally just exist for the exchanges 512 00:35:47,366 --> 00:35:50,666 to contract with for them to pump and dump the market. 513 00:35:50,826 --> 00:35:55,766 Like they allocate assets to pump something up or they'll sell a bunch of stuff 514 00:35:55,766 --> 00:35:58,646 to dump a market so then the exchange can buy up. 515 00:35:59,006 --> 00:36:05,206 And if I were an exchange and I were expecting a Solana ETF and another Trump 516 00:36:05,206 --> 00:36:07,906 Bitcoin ETF and these things, I'll talk more about that later, 517 00:36:08,546 --> 00:36:12,826 I would be trying to buy up a bunch of cheap sats under 100K, 518 00:36:13,046 --> 00:36:15,826 keep it under 100K as long as possible, 519 00:36:16,266 --> 00:36:21,646 buy up as much as possible, and then when the plebs come along and want to buy 520 00:36:21,646 --> 00:36:27,386 it up at 108, 110, 120 as it goes up, well, you bought at 99 or 98 or 95. 521 00:36:27,586 --> 00:36:31,026 So you're making a great profit margin. You can even afford to pay the intermediary. 522 00:36:31,866 --> 00:36:34,886 I do think there's some sort of that bit going on. I don't know how much of 523 00:36:34,886 --> 00:36:37,746 it's moving the market. I do think that's happening, especially with Bitfinex. 524 00:36:38,266 --> 00:36:40,286 Great to hear from you, Baffo. Thank you. 525 00:36:40,926 --> 00:36:45,586 Mug Daddy's here with 10,000 sats. Oh my God, this drawer is filled with fruit 526 00:36:45,586 --> 00:36:47,806 lobes. Great show as usual. Thank you, Mug Daddy. 527 00:36:48,086 --> 00:36:50,886 Appreciate the value. It's always nice to hear from everybody, 528 00:36:51,026 --> 00:36:52,826 even if you just want to say thanks. 529 00:36:53,826 --> 00:36:58,846 Silver Chick is here with 4,444 sats. There's coffee in that nebula. 530 00:36:59,586 --> 00:37:01,106 Which was really two rows of ducks. 531 00:37:01,906 --> 00:37:03,186 Thanks for a great show. I sent 532 00:37:03,186 --> 00:37:05,826 you a message on the site with another perspective on the Doge efforts. 533 00:37:06,026 --> 00:37:10,826 Oh, yeah. Thank you for that. I do think that put a good human story behind it. I did read that. 534 00:37:11,846 --> 00:37:14,786 And it's definitely going to be, you know, the federal government is a massive 535 00:37:14,786 --> 00:37:18,326 employer. So that's going to be a story at a huge scale. I really appreciate that. 536 00:37:18,766 --> 00:37:21,386 He says, also, I'm boosting from Breeze and I'm having trouble getting the full 537 00:37:21,386 --> 00:37:23,266 boost amount to go through. Here's another attempt. 538 00:37:23,986 --> 00:37:28,406 I have also had a, or they, it might be a silver chick. 539 00:37:29,126 --> 00:37:30,806 But I got the impression from the email it was the other way around. 540 00:37:30,966 --> 00:37:34,626 But I don't know. Maybe I don't remember correctly, but I appreciate the boost. 541 00:37:34,726 --> 00:37:37,046 And I've also been experimenting some problems. 542 00:37:37,506 --> 00:37:40,566 I'm experimenting and experiencing some problems with breeze. 543 00:37:41,286 --> 00:37:44,546 It's like definitely the larger boost. I'm not quite sure. 544 00:37:44,626 --> 00:37:48,346 Sometimes they go through, I'm having a really hard time figuring out what my 545 00:37:48,346 --> 00:37:52,446 node needs to be paired to in order to get solid boost from breeze. 546 00:37:52,986 --> 00:37:57,866 It's been a struggle fest. And if anybody has any suggestions to make liquidity 547 00:37:57,866 --> 00:38:01,466 and a boost come through with from breeze, you know, please pass through. 548 00:38:01,466 --> 00:38:03,426 I don't know. It's been really frustrating. 549 00:38:03,846 --> 00:38:07,706 I've been trying. So far, it's been minimal success. But thank you. 550 00:38:07,926 --> 00:38:09,646 Appreciate the message and the boost. 551 00:38:10,486 --> 00:38:13,346 Galactic Starfish comes in with 5,000 sats. You're so boost. 552 00:38:13,646 --> 00:38:17,466 Hey, Chris, what's a solid resource I could use to help illustrate why XRP isn't 553 00:38:17,466 --> 00:38:19,146 the answer, but Bitcoin is? 554 00:38:19,406 --> 00:38:24,506 I have people in my life close to me who I'd like to help steer clear of the shitcoin pitfalls. 555 00:38:24,666 --> 00:38:30,026 Anyhow, thanks for the great show. Well, starfish, the fundamental problem is 556 00:38:30,026 --> 00:38:33,786 we have a society that is completely ignorant of what makes good money. 557 00:38:34,106 --> 00:38:39,366 And so what you could do is you could start at the basic five or six things 558 00:38:39,366 --> 00:38:44,666 that make a currency good, and then compare them to Bitcoin and compare them to XRP. 559 00:38:44,666 --> 00:38:49,566 The reality is without understanding what makes something hard money, 560 00:38:49,906 --> 00:38:52,406 you don't understand why something isn't hard money. 561 00:38:52,726 --> 00:38:55,426 And so they're able to sell you and all this other crap. I mean, 562 00:38:55,526 --> 00:39:00,666 XRP lives and dies on the idea that banks are going to want to use that network 563 00:39:00,666 --> 00:39:02,726 to move money between them. 564 00:39:03,734 --> 00:39:08,594 And it also kind of has positioned itself as, you know, the perfect communications 565 00:39:08,594 --> 00:39:10,834 layer when the banks want to roll out a CBDC. 566 00:39:11,554 --> 00:39:16,574 And that just never made sense to me. Why would the banks not just develop their own protocol? 567 00:39:17,094 --> 00:39:22,314 And if you look at all of the CBDC experiments, I don't think any of them are 568 00:39:22,314 --> 00:39:24,594 based on XRP. Could be wrong there, but I don't think so. 569 00:39:25,214 --> 00:39:28,234 Thank you, Galactic Starfish. Good luck with that one. Like I said, 570 00:39:28,654 --> 00:39:32,414 people get Bitcoin at the price they deserve. BitChinares here with Rodux. 571 00:39:33,274 --> 00:39:35,814 Love the show. First time booster. Hey, hey, hey, hey. 572 00:39:38,654 --> 00:39:43,134 Thank you. I was wondering if you ever have any, if you have any insight on 573 00:39:43,134 --> 00:39:47,254 what salt lending does with the Bitcoin they custody when taking out a loan. 574 00:39:47,534 --> 00:39:49,314 Do they rehypothecate the Bitcoin? 575 00:39:49,694 --> 00:39:54,294 I'm considering borrowing a small amount as a trial run to invest in MSTY and 576 00:39:54,294 --> 00:39:57,794 pay interest on the loan with a portion of the dividend. Thoughts? 577 00:39:58,214 --> 00:40:04,814 Okay. Well, they do not rehypothecate on their website. When you go to saltlending.com 578 00:40:04,814 --> 00:40:08,574 slash personal, they say, no rehypothecation. 579 00:40:08,994 --> 00:40:12,454 Borrower collateral is only used to manage their loans. 580 00:40:12,634 --> 00:40:15,594 So if you're not familiar when they rehypothecate, that basically means like 581 00:40:15,594 --> 00:40:20,894 the folks that are lending you fiat, the Bitcoin you use as collateral, 582 00:40:20,994 --> 00:40:23,914 they can use for other stuff. And sometimes they lose it. 583 00:40:24,314 --> 00:40:27,574 Salt says they're not doing that. But, you know, I'd always love some on-chain 584 00:40:27,574 --> 00:40:31,494 proof, but we have to go with what we have. And I'll put a link to their statement. 585 00:40:31,894 --> 00:40:34,254 Now, I'm going to try to discourage you from MSTY. 586 00:40:35,074 --> 00:40:38,094 I won't try to discourage you from MSTR if you want to kind of, 587 00:40:38,154 --> 00:40:41,894 you know, F around and maybe get, you know, some great gains that you could put into Bitcoin. 588 00:40:43,214 --> 00:40:46,054 MSTY, though, you need to really appreciate that, first of all, 589 00:40:46,154 --> 00:40:47,694 it resets every 24 hours. 590 00:40:48,074 --> 00:40:53,954 And so you can easily get wrecked in any kind of sideways chop. 591 00:40:54,434 --> 00:40:59,374 Even if the price isn't like the MSTR price isn't necessarily going down, 592 00:40:59,514 --> 00:41:04,154 if it's just kind of chopping up and down a little bit, MSTY will get wrecked. 593 00:41:04,977 --> 00:41:08,497 Msty is only going to make you money when mstr 594 00:41:08,497 --> 00:41:12,377 is ripping so you got to understand how msty 595 00:41:12,377 --> 00:41:15,237 and this also applies to mstx and these other ones 596 00:41:15,237 --> 00:41:18,397 they have a tricky way that the compounding actually 597 00:41:18,397 --> 00:41:21,317 works and doesn't work for you works against you 598 00:41:21,317 --> 00:41:26,117 and it's really easy to get wrecked and even just a sideways market where with 599 00:41:26,117 --> 00:41:29,957 that if you had say say it just goes sideways for a week you would have made 600 00:41:29,957 --> 00:41:33,177 more money with mstr and you absolutely would have made more money with bitcoin 601 00:41:33,177 --> 00:41:39,217 and what I would just advise you to do is just look at the last couple of years and see, 602 00:41:39,317 --> 00:41:41,257 well, what would I have made if I put that money in Bitcoin? 603 00:41:41,497 --> 00:41:43,097 What would I have made if I put an MSTR? 604 00:41:43,817 --> 00:41:47,477 The reality is, is that Bitcoin is actually less volatile than MSTR. 605 00:41:47,797 --> 00:41:51,657 So you get a lot of the gains because MSTR only goes up really when Bitcoin's going up. 606 00:41:52,217 --> 00:41:55,417 And when Bitcoin's going down, MSTR goes down harder. 607 00:41:56,017 --> 00:41:59,417 And MSTY goes down even harder because it's 2X. 608 00:42:00,077 --> 00:42:04,297 I've looked into this. You need to be really careful. And maybe you have two, and so have fun. 609 00:42:04,777 --> 00:42:08,057 I mean, go for it, man. But just make sure that you understand those things 610 00:42:08,057 --> 00:42:11,037 about it, because it is Rectown if you're not careful. 611 00:42:12,257 --> 00:42:16,777 Nakamoto 6102, thank you for the boost. Nakamoto 6102 comes in with 5,000 sats. 612 00:42:16,937 --> 00:42:20,037 That's not possible. Nothing can do that. Nakamoto did. 613 00:42:20,857 --> 00:42:24,417 USDT on Lightning wouldn't make me a stablecoin user, at least intentionally. 614 00:42:24,417 --> 00:42:27,377 I don't use USDT since I have easy access to dollars. 615 00:42:27,617 --> 00:42:31,277 I don't see the harm in having another network for USDT transactions. 616 00:42:31,277 --> 00:42:32,757 Talking about Tether here, if you don't know. 617 00:42:33,257 --> 00:42:37,597 Sure, Tether is centralized. It's good for users that want Tether to have additional 618 00:42:37,597 --> 00:42:38,777 networks to transact on. 619 00:42:38,937 --> 00:42:41,577 And maybe it'll bring additional funding to build out the Lightning Network. 620 00:42:42,017 --> 00:42:46,837 One thing I'd like to caution, though, is although any stablecoin has regulations 621 00:42:46,837 --> 00:42:49,917 that could impact the Lightning Network. Hmm. Hmm. 622 00:42:50,897 --> 00:42:52,457 Interesting, yeah. Sats will 623 00:42:52,457 --> 00:42:54,737 continue to be the only stablecoin I care about. Thanks for the value. 624 00:42:55,797 --> 00:43:00,637 Well said. Yeah. You know, I think I agree with you. I don't really have a use 625 00:43:00,637 --> 00:43:04,317 for stable coins because I live in the U S outside the U S I could see it. 626 00:43:04,397 --> 00:43:08,777 I could see it a bit more absolutely. Or when traveling or maybe one day, 627 00:43:08,777 --> 00:43:11,917 you know, you instead of having to have points on all these different services 628 00:43:11,917 --> 00:43:17,517 where you buy 10,000 points on X-Box or whatever, maybe you could just use stable coins. Who knows? 629 00:43:18,117 --> 00:43:22,117 Maybe that would be worth something there, but I know I'm not particularly turned 630 00:43:22,117 --> 00:43:24,137 on by the idea of stable coins over lightning. 631 00:43:24,417 --> 00:43:28,697 I do like the idea that people could participate in stable coins without out 632 00:43:28,697 --> 00:43:31,377 requiring Ethereum or Solana or something like that. 633 00:43:31,757 --> 00:43:33,957 So there is there is that. 634 00:43:34,540 --> 00:43:38,060 Thank you, everybody who boosted in. We have the 2,000 sat cutoff to read on 635 00:43:38,060 --> 00:43:41,920 air for time. I got a bunch of other boosts below the 2,000 sat cutoff. 636 00:43:42,220 --> 00:43:44,980 And I really appreciate that. See some of you testing your node. 637 00:43:45,340 --> 00:43:46,720 Others saying it's your favorite pod. 638 00:43:47,260 --> 00:43:50,720 Others of you upset about XRP. All in around, appreciate it. 639 00:43:50,820 --> 00:43:55,040 Not a banger week this week, but our streamers that are out there just streaming 640 00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:56,820 sats really did a heavy lift for us. 641 00:43:57,180 --> 00:44:01,700 44 of you. That's it. Out of, you know, about 10,000 people or plus that'll 642 00:44:01,700 --> 00:44:03,300 listen, 44 of you stream sats. 643 00:44:04,140 --> 00:44:08,920 And I really appreciate it because collectively you stacked 78,031 sats for the show. 644 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:12,500 When you combine that with the boosters, we got a pretty reasonable, 645 00:44:12,740 --> 00:44:19,440 I mean, it's not cray-cray, but we got a pretty good reasonable 209,144 sats. Good news, everyone. 646 00:44:19,720 --> 00:44:24,820 I'm going to say good news. I mean, it feels a little low for the amount of effort into the show. 647 00:44:24,980 --> 00:44:28,500 But at the same time, you know, every week in and week out, it does start to 648 00:44:28,500 --> 00:44:31,360 get a little hard to continue to support the show. I think that's one of the 649 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:34,920 things I worry about when it comes to sustainability of a show like this. 650 00:44:35,300 --> 00:44:41,300 But ultimately, now is our time to build what will hopefully be a very bright 651 00:44:41,300 --> 00:44:42,720 future for Jupyter Broadcasting. 652 00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:47,220 You know, we're not talking micro strategy here, but if we could build a Bitcoin 653 00:44:47,220 --> 00:44:49,300 reserve for a podcast network, 654 00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:53,520 that means that we could continue to produce media for years to come potentially 655 00:44:53,520 --> 00:45:01,380 and really have flexibility in how we finance that, what projects we take on, who we get to work with. 656 00:45:01,380 --> 00:45:08,280 And number one, makes our audience the largest, most important customer to the entire thing. 657 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:14,040 And I just think that model right there, what I just described, could save media. 658 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,840 I think it could fundamentally save media. 659 00:45:17,420 --> 00:45:21,120 It's not going to save all media, but I think there's a lot of independent media 660 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:24,020 and people that are forward-looking and thinking that it could. 661 00:45:24,460 --> 00:45:28,880 And I just, I'm very excited about the potential. So thank you everybody who participates. 662 00:45:29,060 --> 00:45:32,780 You can boost the show using something like Fountain FM and grab sats with Strike 663 00:45:32,780 --> 00:45:36,960 or Cash App or River or Bitcoin Well or whatever you please. 664 00:45:37,140 --> 00:45:41,440 And then you can boost them in with a podcasting 2.0 app. Those are listed at podcastapps.com. 665 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:47,420 Lots of nice reasons to get a new podcast app too. Transcripts, 666 00:45:47,500 --> 00:45:51,680 chapters, all kinds of stuff in there. Thank you, everyone. Really appreciate it. 667 00:46:00,935 --> 00:46:04,955 Okay, some important updates. Let's start with the Tornado Cash developer situation. 668 00:46:05,835 --> 00:46:10,175 Good news is the Tornado Cash developer, Roman Storm, is petitioning the U.S. 669 00:46:10,255 --> 00:46:14,635 Supreme Court to block an order requiring him to reveal his defense strategy to the government. 670 00:46:15,455 --> 00:46:19,455 And that has a real shot, at least according to The Rage. 671 00:46:19,655 --> 00:46:23,875 I'll link to the show notes. Meanwhile, Alex Pervetsev, I'm definitely getting 672 00:46:23,875 --> 00:46:28,895 that wrong, was released from detention on Friday in the Netherlands under the 673 00:46:28,895 --> 00:46:33,355 condition that he submit to electronic monitoring. 674 00:46:33,575 --> 00:46:38,755 Now, Alex, or Alexei, he was sentenced to 64 months in the Netherlands for writing 675 00:46:38,755 --> 00:46:43,615 the Tornado Cash mixing service that runs on Ethereum, the smart contract code. 676 00:46:43,975 --> 00:46:47,135 And his defense is filing an appeal. I mean, it's nice to see him out. 677 00:46:47,275 --> 00:46:51,535 He doesn't need to rot in there, right? I feel like the tone is slightly shifting 678 00:46:51,535 --> 00:46:54,595 in the Trinocash developer case, but not really where we need it yet. 679 00:46:54,615 --> 00:46:55,875 So I'm keeping an eye on it. 680 00:46:55,975 --> 00:47:00,595 I don't have great news to report there, but those seem like semi-positive developments. 681 00:47:00,855 --> 00:47:03,615 So guys, take the win when you can get one. 682 00:47:04,935 --> 00:47:09,655 How about this one? Trump Media to launch a Bitcoin ETF this year. 683 00:47:10,095 --> 00:47:13,515 Donald Trump's media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, 684 00:47:13,675 --> 00:47:16,375 TMTG. No, not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 685 00:47:17,175 --> 00:47:22,495 Announced plans to launch three ETFs under the Truth.Fi brand, 686 00:47:22,715 --> 00:47:28,515 including the Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF and the Truth.Fi Made in America ETF 687 00:47:28,515 --> 00:47:32,295 and Truth.Fi Energy Independence ETF. 688 00:47:32,935 --> 00:47:36,075 So the president of the United States, his company, not him personally, 689 00:47:36,195 --> 00:47:41,595 but his company plans to launch Bitcoin ETF this year. And you're not bullish? 690 00:47:42,995 --> 00:47:46,055 Albi has released albi go and they continue 691 00:47:46,055 --> 00:47:49,075 to just produce amazing bits of software over 692 00:47:49,075 --> 00:47:52,215 there the hub is in a really good spot and albi 693 00:47:52,215 --> 00:47:55,175 go is a fantastic companion and now they've 694 00:47:55,175 --> 00:47:58,415 introduced push notifications when you receive or 695 00:47:58,415 --> 00:48:01,215 send sats they also support pay zero amount 696 00:48:01,215 --> 00:48:04,135 invoices updated ln addresses to just 697 00:48:04,135 --> 00:48:07,935 help the flow around that to help avoid confusion and 698 00:48:07,935 --> 00:48:11,855 they fixed alert titles being truncated and updated in transaction icon color 699 00:48:11,855 --> 00:48:14,455 stuff too so just small things in there but i think the big one would be the 700 00:48:14,455 --> 00:48:19,175 push notifications if i could pass on a feature request i've already heard people 701 00:48:19,175 --> 00:48:24,835 on our team here at jb ask to set a threshold on the notifications so you know 702 00:48:24,835 --> 00:48:27,335 three sats maybe you don't need a notification on that, 703 00:48:28,113 --> 00:48:30,333 Maybe a bit more. You could set a threshold. That'd be pretty nice. 704 00:48:30,653 --> 00:48:31,853 That's one feature request. 705 00:48:31,913 --> 00:48:36,493 I'm just going to make publicly right now because that's what I get to do with a podcast. 706 00:48:38,273 --> 00:48:43,153 Fold is launching a Bitcoin rewards credit card. I teased about this a little bit earlier. 707 00:48:44,113 --> 00:48:48,073 Waiting list only right now. I will put a link to that waiting list in the show 708 00:48:48,073 --> 00:48:50,113 notes. And here's how it kind of breaks down. 709 00:48:50,473 --> 00:48:52,473 If you're a Fold Plus member, which 710 00:48:52,473 --> 00:48:57,513 I am, you receive 2% back in Bitcoin transactions and 250 in bonuses. 711 00:48:58,113 --> 00:49:02,253 2% back in every transaction. You go buy something, you get 2% back. 712 00:49:02,373 --> 00:49:05,893 If you don't have Fold Plus, which does have like a $9 a month or something 713 00:49:05,893 --> 00:49:09,193 member fee, if you're not a Fold Plus member, if you're just a standard Fold 714 00:49:09,193 --> 00:49:15,173 user, then you're going to get 1.5% back in sats and 100 in bonuses on this credit card. 715 00:49:15,593 --> 00:49:20,353 Fold aims to compete with traditional mileage reward type credit card programs. 716 00:49:20,533 --> 00:49:26,393 And the company is also preparing to list on NASDAQ, reporting that they hold over 1,000 Bitcoin. 717 00:49:27,033 --> 00:49:33,853 Fold currently has around 600,000 active users who have earned approximately 75 million U.S. 718 00:49:33,993 --> 00:49:36,013 Dollars in Bitcoin rewards. 719 00:49:37,373 --> 00:49:42,073 Holy crap. Well, good for Fold. The more I use it, the more I am a fan. 720 00:49:42,253 --> 00:49:46,853 You know, they are limited by the traditional banking system in some ways, but it's refreshing. 721 00:49:47,053 --> 00:49:49,993 And I like the idea that they've got 1,000 Bitcoin on the balance sheet, 722 00:49:50,033 --> 00:49:52,073 too. That makes me feel pretty good about them. 723 00:49:53,680 --> 00:50:03,920 Music. 724 00:50:02,833 --> 00:50:07,873 Now, I'm generally pretty critical of most of the mainstream financial analysts 725 00:50:07,873 --> 00:50:11,393 out there, but I have been very impressed by Tom Lee. 726 00:50:11,893 --> 00:50:16,313 He's got a track record and receipts. He seems to call it time after time. 727 00:50:16,473 --> 00:50:21,433 And he pointed out something to me that just seems like a no-brainer and the 728 00:50:21,433 --> 00:50:24,713 argument about Bitcoin. Is it tulips? 729 00:50:24,833 --> 00:50:27,473 Is it a bubble? Or is it sticking around forever? 730 00:50:28,093 --> 00:50:34,213 This clip, I think, is a banger from Tom Lee because it essentially just ends that debate. Totally. 731 00:50:34,753 --> 00:50:39,213 I think that it's probably better to just observe a few things. 732 00:50:39,433 --> 00:50:46,993 One is Bitcoin has now been around for 15 years and there has not been a Bitcoin 2.0. 733 00:50:47,393 --> 00:50:55,013 So there's no crypto 2.0. Bitcoin is the surviving chain and bitcoin has become 734 00:50:55,013 --> 00:51:00,533 a two trillion dollar asset which never in history financial history has anything 735 00:51:00,533 --> 00:51:03,853 reached two trillion dollars and then disappeared so we're not, 736 00:51:04,473 --> 00:51:07,673 it's a different argument if it was a hundred billion dollars okay the third 737 00:51:07,673 --> 00:51:12,673 is the u.s government is reiterated its commitment to make bitcoin a strategic reserve asset, 738 00:51:13,433 --> 00:51:18,853 that's not bad for the price of bitcoin so if someone has is watching this and 739 00:51:18,853 --> 00:51:21,533 said well they They don't understand Bitcoin, so they decide not to own it. 740 00:51:21,873 --> 00:51:24,413 It's a catastrophic way to look at market. 741 00:51:25,360 --> 00:51:36,080 Music. 742 00:51:35,927 --> 00:51:39,747 Look at the state of the network before I scoot. This episode is wrapping up 743 00:51:39,747 --> 00:51:43,387 at block height 883,463. 744 00:51:43,647 --> 00:51:44,707 Looking good. 745 00:51:45,127 --> 00:51:50,147 The price right now is hovering around 96,780 U.S. 746 00:51:50,247 --> 00:51:56,907 Greenbacks, which means our sats per dollar is hovering at 1,033 sats to one U.S. greenback. 747 00:51:57,307 --> 00:52:06,867 We're down 11.3% from our all-time high, which was on January 19th, 23 days ago, at 109,160. 748 00:52:07,927 --> 00:52:12,587 But you know, looking at the network, I'm seeing 21,851 nodes. 749 00:52:12,767 --> 00:52:14,267 I think we could get that to 22. 750 00:52:14,727 --> 00:52:17,867 I think we could get that to 22 in the next couple of weeks. Go deploy your node. 751 00:52:18,647 --> 00:52:25,087 When I look out there, what I see is 70% of Bitcoin is in the hands of individuals. 752 00:52:25,647 --> 00:52:29,087 And if the governments and the states, if they're going to start stacking reserves, 753 00:52:29,367 --> 00:52:32,667 they're going to have to buy that coin from those individuals. 754 00:52:33,847 --> 00:52:38,567 State of the Bitcoin network is very strong. Thank you for listening this week. 755 00:52:38,707 --> 00:52:41,267 Links are over at thisweekinbitcoin.show. 756 00:52:42,067 --> 00:52:44,927 Boost in with what you'd like to see or hear from the show if you thought I 757 00:52:44,927 --> 00:52:46,467 missed something or have a different take. 758 00:52:46,947 --> 00:52:51,227 And of course, all of the questions. I always love hearing your feedback on that. 759 00:52:51,327 --> 00:52:54,027 And don't worry if you're a couple of episodes behind. You can always boost 760 00:52:54,027 --> 00:52:57,107 in and I don't mind bringing up an old topic. If I ask, I'm interested. 761 00:52:57,107 --> 00:52:59,567 And you're more than welcome to chime in. 762 00:52:59,927 --> 00:53:02,467 Now, last week, we did it again. 763 00:53:03,127 --> 00:53:07,107 Neon Neverminds was pushed to the number one spot on the index value-for-value 764 00:53:07,107 --> 00:53:10,527 chart thanks to you boosting in while the song was playing. 765 00:53:10,787 --> 00:53:14,647 So, as you know, these value-for-value tracks, they're made possible by direct 766 00:53:14,647 --> 00:53:19,727 support by the listener, and 95% of your boost goes directly to the artist. 767 00:53:20,127 --> 00:53:26,087 This week, let's see if we can do it for Henry Invisible. This is Get It Right. Thank you. 768 00:53:26,480 --> 00:57:56,569 Music.