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Welcome in to This Week in Bitcoin, episode 101.

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My name is Chris, chrislas.com, and jupiterbroadcasting.com.

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Okay, so I thought this was going to be a tricky one.

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You know, I'm in full prep mode for LinuxFest Northwest, and I'm running around,

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getting ready, looking at what I can steal from the studio to make our live show possible.

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I think I can't do a show this week.

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There's no way I'm going to be able to follow what's going on.

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I'm too busy. Oh, no, no, no, no.

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I should have known better. When you have a global asset like Bitcoin,

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there's always something that impacts it, especially when all of the systems

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around Bitcoin are changing so much.

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And this week, the news, well, it just was really obvious because the big systems

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are changing and the impact on Bitcoin already seems to be positive.

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As I record right now, we just crossed 78,000 U.S. greenbacks for one Bitcoin.

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And the question is, well, what's going on? Well, this is what's going on.

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There's so many questions to talk to you about, to ask you about,

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to be honest with you. And I just want to name a couple of them.

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And we'll look forward to hearing more on these topics. I will not have enough

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time to delve into some of the most important issues facing our country.

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I'll take... I feel you, brother. So this is Chairman Scott.

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And this is at Kevin Warsh's hearing for...

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It's confirmation hearing. There we go. I was looking for the word confirmation.

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And I want to play this clip because I watched the whole thing. And...

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What Scott does here, Tim Scott, he goes through kind of like a litany,

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boom, boom, boom, of issues that are just essentially going to be brought up

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over and over again through the hearing. So we really only have to play this one clip.

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Two of those issues and focus my time. I'm sure my colleagues on either side

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will have a conversation with you and ask questions about AI.

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The AI future is going to have massive impact on where we go as a nation.

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AI came up about, I would say, almost one out of every three or four questions

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that were asked to Kevin Warsh to the possible new Fed chair.

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They're asking the new Fed chair about AI, and I'll get to why I think that is.

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It came up a lot. Mythos specifically came up a couple of times and vulnerabilities

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and all of that. But AI came up a lot.

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It's got a massive impact on your dual mandate as it relates to full employment.

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Our production may go up while our employment stays flat. So this is a really

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important question that at some point we should delve into.

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I also think that someone should spend some time talking about our balance sheet.

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We have nearly a $7 trillion balance sheet at the Federal Reserve.

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Too much attention has been paid to your balance sheet, and not enough attention

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has been paid to the nation's balance sheet.

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I think it's really important for us to dig into that issue as well.

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Digital assets the future of finance in

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the world seems to have a major component of it

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being artificial being a digital assets the

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market structure legislation we don't want your comment on but the

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important role of of the blockchain in the future

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is another really important part of the future yeah

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and that will come up our economy i will spend some time uh-huh talking about

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affordability oh and the importance uh-huh of the independence of the fed okay

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one of the One of the things I've appreciated about your previous comments is

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the importance you've placed on the dual mandate, stable prices.

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Typically comes through the

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form of interest rate changes, as well as promoting maximum employment.

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I think those two will become more challenging in the current environment.

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One, obviously, the second one being the AI and the future of full employment. Oh, there it is again.

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You know, the dual mandate is, to me, it just feels like the equivalent of I

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have two favorite wives.

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I've got two wives. They're both my favorite, and I love them very much.

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You've criticized the Federal Reserve for getting too big, mismanaging inflation.

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I'm sure you know the definition of transitory, so I won't ask you,

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but I've got a feeling you know it.

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Some of your predecessors did not. Talk about tainting a word forever now.

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No future Fed chairman can ever say transitory.

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Compromising the independence of the Fed. I think we should spend more time.

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On finance, less time on climate change, on politics, on who is or who's not in charge.

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The one thing that would be fun if this is a video podcast is you could see

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just out of frame a little bit. Elizabeth Warren is nearly spinning in her chair.

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And the reason why I say that is because she just rotates into frame for a moment

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and then rotates back out of frame like half her body.

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I don't know what she's doing, but she ain't just sitting there listening.

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I think you would agree on those issues, though I will not ask you.

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I will ask you, however, that under your leadership, how will you steer the

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Federal Reserve to address the real life issues of affordability is my first question.

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And my second question will be about how do you make sure that the Federal Reserve

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stays out of the lane of external influences?

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All right, so that'll come up. And it's, you know, the pretty canned answers to that.

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There's a couple of things that are probably more relevant to our show,

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and that would be digital assets and CBDCs.

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If the digital assets should be incorporated into our financial industry,

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so Americans have new investment opportunities and consumer protections.

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That was Senator Lummis, as in Hummus, from Wyoming.

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Near the end of her tenure, actually. Senator, digital assets are already part

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of the fabric of our financial services industry in the United States. Yes.

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Thanks, Mr. Walsh. So that was a pretty short answer, but his answer is yes.

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Yes to digital assets. No to CBDCs. Now, AI came up a lot.

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And Senator Kennedy is a little skeptical of all of the hype around AI.

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Because I'm about to run out of my parliamentary inquiry time.

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I've heard your argument the

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last few months about artificial intelligence has made us so productive.

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Labor so productive that companies don't have to raise prices.

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Therefore, inflation isn't isn't a problem.

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Therefore, rates can be cut.

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And this is why AI came up. And I have to give them credit.

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The senators were actually perceptive on this issue, perhaps one of the few

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issues that they were actually perceptive on.

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And that is it's the perfect excuse to PAMP.

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AI is being positioned as a massive deflationary force, a massive force of layoffs

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and optimizations in businesses.

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That's essentially the nut of the entire story. And so if that story is to be

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true, and Warsh seems to be a big believer in AI and AI's potential,

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then one could come to the conclusion that it justifies cutting rates.

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Because if you forward look into the economy with the impacts of AI,

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we're going to have a massive economic slide.

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We're going to have deflation at economic levels that we haven't seen probably

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forever because AI is so powerful, so efficient, so smart, whatever they want to tell us. Dangerous.

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And if you believe these things, even if you believe some of it,

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it seems to me pretty justifiable, especially if you're the Fed chair and you

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believe these things, to push for cutting rates.

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You get a couple other people on the board that agree with you.

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Bob's your uncle. You got rate cut justification even going into current inflation.

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And they'll use the term, we're looking past inflation. We're going to look at the impact of AI.

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And we're going to cut now before we find ourselves in a deflationary spiral

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that just blows up the entire Ponzi scheme. So we've got to cut rates.

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And I've got to give it to Kennedy and other senators. This is why AI came up so much.

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They can see where this is going. They realize already that AI is going to be

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cooked up as a justification to cut rates going into higher inflation.

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And so they're asking now. prices.

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Therefore, inflation isn't a problem. Therefore, rates can be cut.

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Do you really believe that right now?

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No, that is not how I would characterize the story on AI.

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Okay. But you've said what I just said, haven't you? I've said that this is

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the most disruptive moment in modern economic history in the U.S. and the world.

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I've said that artificial intelligence, AI.

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Let me stop you because the chair is going to cut me off.

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Here's my worry that a lot of this stuff about artificial intelligence making

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us more productive is a bunch of hype by people who want to sell stock in an IPO.

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Okay, I'd be careful there. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll get to my five minutes in a little bit.

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You come back about midnight, sir. We'll go ahead start all over again brand

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new day sir brand new day thank you for your patience aren't they fun,

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you know he's he's it's the funny thing is is he's right he's right to a degree

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this is all about an ipo some of the maybe the largest ipos in history blah

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blah blah blah and there's all these incentives lining up you got the administration's

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incentives they want to see a pamp.

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And you've got all the tech people that have invested all this money,

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all this pre-IPO money, that are just waiting to dump on retail.

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SpaceX IPO, going to be one of the greatest retail dumps in history.

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Probably an anthropic and open AI IPO as well as well. Going to be just incredible

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retail exit strategies. Really something.

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So let's get back to digital assets. And, well, I have maybe one more.

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One more. OK, I'm going to play one more worse clip for you.

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So the Fed has been plagued by deeply disturbing ethics scandals in recent years.

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This is your good friend, Elizabeth Warren, and she has no credibility when

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it comes to the federal chair because she just advocates for whatever is the

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opposite of the current administration's policy.

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You can find clips of her advocating for exact 180 direction policies just months apart.

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And at one point, you know, at one time she'll be talking about the Fed chair

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as a hero that's saving people. The next part, he's the villain.

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He's stealing from the poor. She has no credibility on any of this topic.

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Involving at least six Fed officials. So it's critical that the next chair have

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no financial conflicts, none.

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You have more than $100 million in investments that you have refused to disclose

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to ethics officials and to the public.

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So he, this is, I mean, she's got him here. So what he's got is this financial

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disclosure, which I think I linked in last week's show notes.

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That has a lot of stuff on there, including we can see some of his crypto holdings.

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He's invested in a lightning company.

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I don't, you know, whatever.

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But then there is sort of this gray area of funds that he hasn't really gone

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into detail about that is sort of submanaged that he doesn't have to legally completely disclose.

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And I think that's what she's referring to here. Now, I think now I think he

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has committed to somehow divesting into like and then going into treasuries

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or something like that. I don't know exactly.

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But, you know, this is what's fun about the Warren clip is that she did have

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some staff do some research here.

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So let me ask, do the Juggernaut Fund or the THSDFS LLC invest in any companies

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affiliated with President Trump or his family,

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companies that have facilitated money laundering,

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Chinese-controlled companies, or financing vehicles established by Jeffrey Epstein?

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Senator Warren, thank you. So let me first share a point of agreement with you.

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The Fed has two tools. One is its monetary policy, and the second is its credibility.

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And the scandals that you talked about, the ethics problems you talked about,

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went to the core of the credibility that has hurt the Fed. Could you answer

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my question, please? I ask.

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You have $100 million in undisclosed assets.

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And what I'm asking is, are any of those with this outfit that invests in.

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Companies affiliated with President Trump or his family, companies that have

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facilitated money laundering, Chinese-controlled companies, or financing vehicles

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set up by Jeffrey Epstein. It's a yes or no question.

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Senator, I have worked tirelessly with the ethics officials at the Office of

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Government Ethics. Yes, and you have not revealed $100 million in assets.

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And have agreed, Senator, to sell all of my financial assets,

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including the Duquesne assets.

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Are you refusing to tell us,

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If you have investments, for example, in vehicles set up to advance Jeffrey

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Epstein, is that what you're telling us? You just won't tell us?

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Senator, what I'm telling you is that those assets that you represent as juggernaut

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will be sold if I'm confirmed before

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I take office and sign the oath of office. Let me follow up on that.

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Will you at least disclose how you plan to disclose and divest these secret assets?

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I'm sure you understand that the public might question your motives if, for example,

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billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, who you're honored in your opening statement,

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and who makes a living guessing what the Fed will do next, cuts you a massive

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check for $100 million as you take the oath of office to become the new Federal Reserve chair.

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If old Stan there is making a living guessing what the Fed will do next,

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you could probably say that about most of us.

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Senator, as you know, it sounds like your fight might not be with me,

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but the Office of Government Ethics, I have come to full agreement with them

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and have agreed to divest all of those assets.

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I'm asking you a very straightforward question, Mr. Walsh. Before I take the oath of office.

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And that is, will you disclose how you divest those assets? or will you just

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collect a check for $100 million from someone whose whole business is betting on what the Fed will do?

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As I said to the ethics officials at the Federal Reserve and the Office of Government

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Ethics, and they agreed, I would be redeeming my assets before I take office.

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So Donald Trump has made clear that he does not want an independent Fed.

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In fact, he has said, and I quote.

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Anybody that disagrees with me will never be Fed chairman.

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And he's made clear that you are his sock puppet, saying last week that interest

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rates will drop, quote, when Kevin gets in. Yeah, I think they do.

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Not when economic conditions change, we'll get lower rates.

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Not when the economy needs it. Nope. He said, when my guy, Kevin Warsh,

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is in there, we'll get the interest rates that I, Donald Trump, want.

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Now, there's two things about this. one that is reporting

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of a quote so you know it depends on the sourcing but

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it could be true i would it sounds like something trump would say you can

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say that and not have

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had a conversation with the guy actually about the rate cuts you

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know what i mean you can you can

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kind of know how a guy's leaning and you pick him based on that but i've played

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clips for you before this wasn't trump's first or second pick worse is like

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his third pick and he's referred to him as well he's a guy from like central

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casting which is good and bad you could read that multiple ways.

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And i think you could interpret trump's statements also as him signaling to

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kevin his expectations but you know you can interpret it multiple ways which

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is what liz is doing here so independence takes courage let's check out your

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independence and your courage we'll start easy Mr.

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Warsh, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?

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Um, uh, we try to keep politics, if I'm confirmed, out of the federalism. I'm just asking you.

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Yeah, you know, this is kind of, she is doing something here that is kind of

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dirty, if you understand that they're really not supposed to get into politics,

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and then she just keeps trying to drag them back into politics.

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Not that Trump isn't helping.

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As Worsh was setting up to go sit down in front of the cameras,

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in front of those senators, Donald Trump called in to CNBC, and,

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um, well, he said this about Kevin live on the air.

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Too late. It's just too late. Oh, Chris, talking about J-Pow at first.

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It was too late, except when it came to before the election,

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but that didn't quite work out well for him.

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So the answer is I want Kevin. I think Kevin's great. He's really central casting

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in a true sense. I think he's going to do a great job.

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I've been in favor of interest rate rises to stop inflation.

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I think it sort of is effective.

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But there's one thing, and nobody ever talks about it but me,

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unfortunately, so I'm sure it's not correct.

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But I think it is. we should have the lowest interest rate in the world.

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When I was a young guy growing up, we always had the lowest interest rate worldwide. We always did.

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And then 15 years ago, 20 years ago, it started where Switzerland and other

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people had low rates. I don't know. Maybe it was actually like 1971.

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I just had a thing with, if you take a look at some of the, you know,

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let's call them like elite countries. They're only elite because we allow them

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to walk away with $30 billion and $40 billion a year. But I don't do that so much anymore.

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I sort of put a clamp on that with the tariffs and charges that we charge them.

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All right, so that's his statement. Sort of, I mean, it's a thing.

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I mean, they're going to ask him and he's going to answer. But that's happening

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as Warsh is sitting down.

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I do think that brought a little bit extra heat on Warsh during the nomination,

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and including, like, are you really truly going to be independent, yada, yada, yada.

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I'm committed to ensuring that the conduct of monetary policy remains strictly independent.

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Equally committed to work with the administration and Congress on non-monetary

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matters that are part of the Fed's remit, and I commit myself to accountability.

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Finally, I'll just say this, Mr. Chairman. Milton Friedman had a phrase that always stayed with me.

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He always worried about government officials that lured and hung around with

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what he called the tyranny of the status quo.

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Status quo practices and policies are especially harmful when the world is changing this fast.

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If confirmed as chairman, I will be faithful to the Constitution,

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to the Federal Reserve Act, and to the very best of the Fed's traditions.

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I believe a reform-oriented Fed can make a real difference to the American people.

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And if confirmed, I will seek to create an environment in which the best people

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do their best work. He also used the term policy regime change.

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I think that means rate cuts. I'm not sure, but it sounds like rate cuts to

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me. I want to know what you think.

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Tell me, boost in, support the show. So do you think that, get your prediction

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now, is Worsh going to cut rates or is he going to end up in a battle with Trump?

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Because that's going to be what it is, it's one of the two.

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And if he cuts rates, you've got to imagine that's probably going to make Bitcoin

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pump, all assets pump, including Bitcoin.

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I could actually see a fight, you know, maybe more so for show,

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over something that matters.

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But the exact kind of thing we all forget about in three months,

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I swear they're just great at that.

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You know a little worse flex i don't know what do you think or does he just

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get right to cutting that could be as well boost in support the show and get

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your prediction on the record we'll see where this goes.

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Well, Bitcoin has a new salesman this week, and it might not be who you're expecting.

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It's a former Treasury Secretary.

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It's really something. Everything that's been happening around the Fed has an

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impact on the dollar confidence in the market.

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And then you combine that with $39 trillion in debt for the U.S.

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And no signs of any attempt to clean up our act at all, it's becoming obvious

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that this system is actually quite fragile, especially when you see conflicts

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that can lead to rapid de-dollarization in trade for some particular areas that

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have been traditionally dominated by dollar,

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it makes people notice, like former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

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He served as the 74th U.S. Treasury Secretary under President George W.

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Bush, and he came out and had a very notable and unusual warning,

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especially for somebody in his position, just this week.

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This crisis is different, right? Right.

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If when you hit the wall and you're trying to issue treasuries and the Fed is

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the only buyer and the prices of the treasuries are going down,

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interest rates are up, that's a dangerous thing.

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And so I what the thing I am talking about now is we know when people say,

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when are you going to hit the wall?

303
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I obviously don't know. It's impossible to know.

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But the law of economic gravity, you're not going to know that.

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So and when we hit it, it will be vicious. So we have to prepare for that eventuality.

306
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And I think we need an emergency break the glass plan, which is targeted and short term on the shelf.

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So it's ready to go when we hit the wall.

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What he expands on is that the lessons he learned in the 2008 great financial crisis collapse.

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And he was, I guess, considered people considered at the time he did a pretty

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good job with the situation he was dealt. Thank you.

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He's like, the things I learned is we needed to have something kind of ready

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to go. We need to have plans sort of sorted out and not be making it up there in the moment.

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And he thinks we're at that moment now. Now, I don't know if he's right or not.

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But when somebody like him goes out there and says that, well,

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he ends up selling Bitcoin and other hard assets.

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And it's not just that, oh, one old guy who used to work in the Bush administration

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is saying, go out there and get hard assets.

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It's a chorus of people that speak to investors saying it now.

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Jeffs at BlackRock, Jay Jacobs.

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Okay, first, establish your long-term view of crypto.

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Well, Bitcoin in particular is this non-sovereign global decentralized asset

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that can really provide value to people's portfolios in small doses as a unique

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asset, sort of like how gold doesn't behave like stocks or bonds.

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Bitcoin is driven by its own rules and its own drivers, predominantly,

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which is greater geopolitical or inflation risk. This is Jay Jacobs.

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This is BlackRock's U.S. head of equities and ETFs.

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And the reason they're having him on Fox Business is because the audience wants

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to know what they can invest in when the stock market keeps getting hit by macro conflicts.

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Frankly, we live in a world where these are prevalent risks around the economy,

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where people want to hedge that with different assets. Isn't it interesting? It used to be fringe.

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And now, thanks very much in part to Larry Fink, your boss, and iShares coming

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out with the iBit, this is more than two years ago now, that it really became

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this opportunity for people to understand it.

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Are you saying now that Bitcoin and crypto are long-term investments?

335
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I think you have to look at it through a long-term lens because it's...

336
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It only took them how long? It only took them how long to figure it out?

337
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A digitally provably scarce asset. Could it be a long-term investment?

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You know, that's a crazy idea.

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Are long-term investments. I think you have to look at it through a long-term

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lens because it's volatile.

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Because we see over weeks, months, it can be up and down. People are still trying

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to figure out what the value of this asset is.

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But if you zoom out and take a long-term view of the role it can play in a portfolio,

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it can really be one of those diversifiers that behaves unique from stocks and bonds.

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When somebody who is Bitcoin curious comes out and says to you, Jay, what is the value?

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One minute in October, it's $126,000.

347
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Today, it's $76,000.

348
00:24:07,153 --> 00:24:11,813
I laugh, but this is actually a good conversation for, you know, their audience to hear.

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You have to look at it in the context of a broader portfolio.

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We can't put a specific price target on it on a given moment.

351
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It really has to do with how much do people need this asset that can behave

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uniquely, that can be a geopolitical hedge. That's constantly changing around the world.

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I mean, think about the timing of this, right? You've got boomers and others

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that are watching these business channels, concerned about their portfolios,

355
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concerned about their wealth, concerned about, you know, the Iran conflict.

356
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And they're watching this and these people are telling them this is an asset

357
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to hedge against that. The timing, I mean, A, it's impressive.

358
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You got Jay Jacobs here from BlackRock. It's impressive he's saying these things

359
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and he's correct. Like he's getting it right.

360
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That itself is actually notable. But that the timing of it, man,

361
00:24:58,293 --> 00:25:03,633
the timing of it is what is just so critical. How much do people need this asset

362
00:25:03,633 --> 00:25:06,893
that can behave uniquely, that can be a geopolitical hedge?

363
00:25:07,113 --> 00:25:11,653
That's constantly changing around the world. When you see more currency debasement,

364
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when you see rising government debts, when you see that more people want to

365
00:25:14,713 --> 00:25:18,773
move assets across borders, that's going to increase the value of something like Bitcoin.

366
00:25:19,053 --> 00:25:22,033
And so in this world, we see that as a structural trend that's growing.

367
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But minute by minute, that demand and supply is going to change.

368
00:25:24,773 --> 00:25:27,893
Let's talk in this last minute and a half about... Oh, but it's volatile.

369
00:25:28,273 --> 00:25:30,713
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah, I got to bring up volatility.

370
00:25:31,273 --> 00:25:36,613
So $9 trillion Charles Schwab CEO says the platform has been experimenting with

371
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Bitcoin trading with their staff internally.

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And now they're about to flip that live for their customers.

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Well, we rolled it out to employees to test it and pilot it,

374
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and our employees are loving the experience and actively trading on Schwab.com today with crypto.

375
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And we'll launch it out. We'll launch it to clients in the coming weeks.

376
00:25:56,693 --> 00:25:59,753
Couldn't be more excited about that. In terms of the target client,

377
00:25:59,893 --> 00:26:03,593
I think it's existing clients at Schwab that want to hold crypto.

378
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They're already active in crypto through exchange traded products today,

379
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and they want to hold spot crypto. So we also are excited about the fact that

380
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many of our clients have built crypto positions outside the firm.

381
00:26:15,413 --> 00:26:18,053
Oh, I bet you're really excited about that. Yeah, I bet you love that.

382
00:26:18,273 --> 00:26:22,313
We're excited about the fact that many of our clients have built crypto positions

383
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outside the firm, and they've been asking to be able to hold it at Schwab at

384
00:26:26,673 --> 00:26:30,793
the institution they trust and the institution where they keep the rest of their assets.

385
00:26:30,993 --> 00:26:35,233
Let me do a little business speak translation. We realized that by playing it

386
00:26:35,233 --> 00:26:40,253
safe, we let somebody else scoop up a whole bunch of our customers and their business.

387
00:26:40,473 --> 00:26:44,013
And that business seems to be making really good money. And now we are going

388
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to fight like hell to try to get those customers back because we really missed

389
00:26:48,053 --> 00:26:51,193
the window. But we're going to try and it's available now for you.

390
00:26:51,333 --> 00:26:54,793
So to have their financial life in one place is attractive to them.

391
00:26:54,873 --> 00:26:59,273
And we can't wait to make that happen when we open it to them in the coming weeks. So there you go.

392
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You got BlackRock on Fox Biz. You got Charles Schwab on CNBC saying, let's go.

393
00:27:06,118 --> 00:27:12,258
And then the the broader context of the Strait of Hormuz and passage at one

394
00:27:12,258 --> 00:27:14,058
point saying, well, you can pay in stable coins or Bitcoin.

395
00:27:14,378 --> 00:27:19,078
That's also what's playing into all of this, because it's like this for them,

396
00:27:19,318 --> 00:27:22,238
even though it's it's avoiding sanctions and all of these things,

397
00:27:22,318 --> 00:27:25,438
it's an indication that maybe there's actually a currency here as well.

398
00:27:25,578 --> 00:27:30,158
Second, they're said to be paid to Iran in Chinese yuan or crypto.

399
00:27:30,158 --> 00:27:36,178
The Bitcoin Policy Institute says bad actors are usually paying with stable coins.

400
00:27:36,358 --> 00:27:42,198
Yeah, not that, not the Yiwan, no, not the Yiwan, but bad actors are using crypto.

401
00:27:42,538 --> 00:27:44,638
It'd be fine if they were using the Yiwan.

402
00:27:45,038 --> 00:27:47,718
And U.S. authorities are cutting them off. Watch.

403
00:27:49,218 --> 00:27:53,118
Stable coins can't be confiscated, but they can be frozen.

404
00:27:53,118 --> 00:27:56,378
So if you're a stable coin user who's working with the Iranian regime,

405
00:27:56,378 --> 00:28:00,698
Your wallet can be identified if you don't practice good operational security

406
00:28:00,698 --> 00:28:05,918
and Treasury can sanction you and make it so your stable coins are moot.

407
00:28:06,018 --> 00:28:10,438
That runs in contrast to Bitcoin, where you can identify what illicit actors

408
00:28:10,438 --> 00:28:15,298
are using Bitcoin, but you can't freeze somebody's Bitcoin in the same way you

409
00:28:15,298 --> 00:28:16,898
can freeze somebody's stable coin.

410
00:28:17,078 --> 00:28:19,218
And that is an unintended consequence.

411
00:28:19,598 --> 00:28:23,398
Is that a consequence? Is that what it is? You see, if we were talking about

412
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diamonds or gold, would that would it be a consequence? Would that be?

413
00:28:29,378 --> 00:28:33,458
But I think it's I think it's actually a notable and important distinction for

414
00:28:33,458 --> 00:28:34,778
the general public to understand.

415
00:28:35,218 --> 00:28:37,478
Right. Stable coins are essentially a CBDC.

416
00:28:37,998 --> 00:28:40,678
They can stop payment. They can seize them. They can trace them.

417
00:28:40,818 --> 00:28:45,598
They got everything. And honestly, if they think all Bitcoin transactions are totally traceable,

418
00:28:46,322 --> 00:28:49,502
That's probably a safer default, even if it's not 100 percent true,

419
00:28:49,502 --> 00:28:51,782
if there are ways to avoid traceability.

420
00:28:51,982 --> 00:28:55,342
I think it's a good thing for newbies to consider that. They should assume their

421
00:28:55,342 --> 00:28:58,162
transactions are transparent just so that way they operate safely.

422
00:28:58,462 --> 00:29:02,182
And I think it's probably going to be less reactionary if the Congress critters

423
00:29:02,182 --> 00:29:06,262
and the policymakers and the commentators all think that Bitcoin's transactions

424
00:29:06,262 --> 00:29:08,082
are 100 percent transparent.

425
00:29:08,462 --> 00:29:09,982
They're pseudo anonymous, right?

426
00:29:10,782 --> 00:29:14,862
You can eventually identify somebody through a lot of work, and there are methods

427
00:29:14,862 --> 00:29:19,302
and means, some we have talked about on the show before, to avoid detection.

428
00:29:19,722 --> 00:29:20,882
But I actually think it's a

429
00:29:20,882 --> 00:29:24,262
better default if everybody else just thinks Bitcoin is 100% transparent.

430
00:29:24,442 --> 00:29:26,842
And the reason I bring that up is because I know there's some Monero stands

431
00:29:26,842 --> 00:29:31,342
out there that completely disagree with me. So go ahead, boost in and let me know what you think.

432
00:29:31,602 --> 00:29:35,282
But I think it's a better default if the whole world just thought every single

433
00:29:35,282 --> 00:29:36,962
transaction could be traced directly to you.

434
00:29:37,922 --> 00:29:40,342
Because I don't think that's what people are buying. They're not buying Bitcoin

435
00:29:40,342 --> 00:29:44,782
to go out and buy a bunch of Fent or weapons or whatever it is.

436
00:29:44,922 --> 00:29:47,322
They're buying Bitcoin to invest and save for their family.

437
00:30:06,127 --> 00:30:08,947
Hey, you can support the show just by doing what you do. If you want to buy

438
00:30:08,947 --> 00:30:10,867
sats on River, use my link in the show notes.

439
00:30:10,967 --> 00:30:14,627
It's one of the best ways to stack sats in the U.S. You can click that link. It supports the show.

440
00:30:14,787 --> 00:30:17,547
If you're in Canada and the U.S. and you're all about self-custody,

441
00:30:17,667 --> 00:30:20,007
the Bitcoin Well, an incredible platform.

442
00:30:20,147 --> 00:30:22,787
They don't host the wallet. They got lightning services, all kinds of stuff.

443
00:30:22,887 --> 00:30:25,587
They're always adding more. Check out the Bitcoin Well link in the notes keys.

444
00:30:26,027 --> 00:30:31,287
The Bitcoin company helps you spend your sats over lightning in just seconds. Sats to gift card.

445
00:30:31,707 --> 00:30:33,987
No logging required. You can log in with the lightning network.

446
00:30:34,167 --> 00:30:37,247
And the only thing they deal with is Bitcoin. unlike some of those other places

447
00:30:37,247 --> 00:30:38,827
out there. That's the Bitcoin company.

448
00:30:39,107 --> 00:30:42,727
If you want to passively stack your stats, passively while you're paying your

449
00:30:42,727 --> 00:30:47,107
bills, things like that, FoldCart, only in the US, but it's a favorite in the audience.

450
00:30:47,367 --> 00:30:50,087
FoldCart, link in the show notes. Now, if you want to get access to your liquidity

451
00:30:50,087 --> 00:30:52,727
without having to sell your Bitcoin, Salt Lending.

452
00:30:52,967 --> 00:30:56,567
Salt Lending gives you up to like, I think the minimum is 5,000,

453
00:30:56,627 --> 00:30:58,147
but you can go more than that depending on what you got.

454
00:30:58,407 --> 00:31:02,867
You can set your different ratios and they got stops for like stablecoin conversions

455
00:31:02,867 --> 00:31:06,047
if the price drops like crazy. It's a pretty neat platform.

456
00:31:06,447 --> 00:31:09,507
It's pretty neat. And there's links to all that stuff in the show notes.

457
00:31:24,249 --> 00:31:31,229
Ask not what your podcast can boost for you, but what you can boost for your podcast.

458
00:31:31,649 --> 00:31:34,869
All right, let's get to this week's supporters. And we start with our baller,

459
00:31:35,049 --> 00:31:36,889
Booster, who is Bitcoin Lizard.

460
00:31:37,069 --> 00:31:40,269
He's back with 101,000 sats.

461
00:31:50,032 --> 00:31:53,692
Bitcoin Lizard writes, happy belated 100. To celebrate 100 episodes,

462
00:31:53,712 --> 00:31:57,612
I'd love to hear from Bitcoin, Dad. I know. I was just talking to the wife about that, too.

463
00:31:59,572 --> 00:32:02,292
I should hit him up on Matrix, if he's still on Matrix. If you really want to

464
00:32:02,292 --> 00:32:06,012
go crazy, you should step into the Wayback Machine and check on Alan and Drew from Plan B.

465
00:32:06,712 --> 00:32:10,372
Yeah, I hope, not Editor Drew, but a different Drew. I hope he stuck with Bitcoin

466
00:32:10,372 --> 00:32:13,172
to find out their current thoughts. Thank you so much for the great show.

467
00:32:13,432 --> 00:32:16,412
Don't boost often, but I'm always listening and streaming those stats.

468
00:32:16,852 --> 00:32:20,792
Thank you, Lizard. I really do appreciate that. Make it so. You are our baller

469
00:32:20,792 --> 00:32:22,772
booster this week. Thank you, sir.

470
00:32:23,432 --> 00:32:27,252
Northern Hoddle is here with 34,543 Satoshis.

471
00:32:32,552 --> 00:32:36,372
Congrats on 100, and I appreciate the work. Thank you, and I appreciate the

472
00:32:36,372 --> 00:32:39,952
value. Okay, Groovy is here with 30,000 sats.

473
00:32:43,532 --> 00:32:48,112
No message, just value. Army Guy is here with 26,500 sats.

474
00:32:49,032 --> 00:32:52,532
Hello, sir. Been down for a few weeks with a full mouth reconstruction surgery.

475
00:32:52,692 --> 00:32:54,212
Oh, my God. That's my worst case fear.

476
00:32:55,325 --> 00:32:59,465
Oh, my God. So I listened to 98, 99, and 100 back to back. I wanted to send

477
00:32:59,465 --> 00:33:01,645
a bit of value and say, I hope you keep going.

478
00:33:02,045 --> 00:33:04,885
Definitely my favorite podcast is a truck driver and one I recommend anyone

479
00:33:04,885 --> 00:33:08,945
new to Bitcoin. As far as Bitcoin being an asset versus money, I think it could be both.

480
00:33:09,485 --> 00:33:11,945
For me, I have a retirement plan with a mountain of Bitcoin,

481
00:33:12,125 --> 00:33:18,025
but I also have Bitcoin I boost with and use for a rare Bitcoin merchant.

482
00:33:18,245 --> 00:33:20,945
I always love the show, and I hope you continue to keep up the great work.

483
00:33:21,145 --> 00:33:22,205
Much love from Southern Texas.

484
00:33:22,685 --> 00:33:25,905
Also, crazy boost for episode 100. You deserve it, sir. Well, wow, thank you.

485
00:33:26,065 --> 00:33:29,945
I really appreciate that. And my question to you, Army Guy, is do you ever look

486
00:33:29,945 --> 00:33:33,305
at the BTC map when you're out there driving around? And have you ever stopped somewhere?

487
00:33:33,705 --> 00:33:35,985
I mean, I got to imagine it's tricky, right? Because it's got to accommodate

488
00:33:35,985 --> 00:33:39,305
the truck and tractor and the tractor and the trailer. I guess is that the terminology?

489
00:33:39,505 --> 00:33:44,725
And then you've got to like park it somewhere and go in. So I bet that doesn't happen often.

490
00:33:45,085 --> 00:33:48,865
But I'd be curious if you're on the road if you've ever if you ever come across

491
00:33:48,865 --> 00:33:51,025
it on the BTC map and just go in and spend some sats. Thanks,

492
00:33:51,165 --> 00:33:52,305
Army Guy. It's nice to hear from you.

493
00:33:52,765 --> 00:33:57,485
Fat Bean is here with 21,000 sats. It's a long, point, 21 gigawatts.

494
00:33:57,625 --> 00:33:59,305
I want to boost more often, but money has been tight.

495
00:33:59,445 --> 00:34:03,825
However, I recently switched jobs and will most likely more than double my income,

496
00:34:03,825 --> 00:34:07,025
and a lot of that is due to Linux and the self-hosted knowledge that I've grown

497
00:34:07,025 --> 00:34:08,645
over the past years while listening to your shows.

498
00:34:08,905 --> 00:34:12,705
This podcast has also made me push harder into holding more Bitcoin than ever before.

499
00:34:14,285 --> 00:34:18,005
Yeah, Fat Bean, that's great. Thank you. Coming in hot with the boost. I like that.

500
00:34:18,265 --> 00:34:22,185
Thank you for the 21,000 sats, and glad to hear you got a new gig.

501
00:34:22,305 --> 00:34:23,665
That sounds awesome, man. Congratulations.

502
00:34:24,485 --> 00:34:26,085
OB comes in with 21,000 cents.

503
00:34:28,685 --> 00:34:32,205
I've heard many that know Saylor personally guess that he's actually far more

504
00:34:32,205 --> 00:34:33,525
of a revolutionary than he appears.

505
00:34:33,685 --> 00:34:37,465
And his message is just carefully curated for the powers that be. And I agree.

506
00:34:38,025 --> 00:34:40,105
Yeah, I asked if he was downplaying Bitcoin on purpose.

507
00:34:40,925 --> 00:34:44,665
I know he's like part of like some Anne Ryan society or something like that. Anne Ryan or...

508
00:34:47,331 --> 00:34:52,391
I'm trying to remember the name of it now. But, you know, yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe.

509
00:34:52,711 --> 00:34:55,991
He could be intentionally playing down the currency aspect, just not to spook people.

510
00:34:56,631 --> 00:35:01,811
I don't know if I like that more or less. That's kind of like a weird 4D chess

511
00:35:01,811 --> 00:35:04,731
manipulation kind of a thing, Obi, if what you're saying is true.

512
00:35:05,491 --> 00:35:08,231
I suspect it might be. I suspect it might be.

513
00:35:09,571 --> 00:35:15,271
Vince Nation comes in with 20,000 sats. Hands down, the best Bitcoin cast out

514
00:35:15,271 --> 00:35:17,211
there. Thanks for all your great work. Well, thank you.

515
00:35:17,931 --> 00:35:19,851
Ha. Thank you. Appreciate you.

516
00:35:22,931 --> 00:35:28,671
Ripcord comes in with 6,666 sats. The traders love the vol. Congrats on 100.

517
00:35:28,911 --> 00:35:30,291
Keep them coming. Well, all right.

518
00:35:30,791 --> 00:35:39,711
I will. You make me want to be a better man. Dude comes in with 9,666 sats. It's over 9,000!

519
00:35:40,271 --> 00:35:42,911
Of course, sailors underselling the monetary aspects of Bitcoin.

520
00:35:43,251 --> 00:35:45,871
Earlier in the episode, you heard Rubio mention the loss of ability to sanction

521
00:35:45,871 --> 00:35:50,711
other currencies. The last thing Sailor needs is a regulatory resistance to his stacking strategy.

522
00:35:50,891 --> 00:35:52,931
Thus, he downplays those properties to an extreme.

523
00:35:53,611 --> 00:35:57,291
Woo, that is a big game. And I think you guys might be right.

524
00:35:59,491 --> 00:36:02,371
I mean, think about that. Think about the level he's playing at there and the money.

525
00:36:04,171 --> 00:36:06,571
I mean, that's the kind of ass that eventually gets your stuff seized,

526
00:36:06,711 --> 00:36:08,651
doesn't it? I don't know. Thanks, dude, though. I think you might be right.

527
00:36:08,751 --> 00:36:10,231
I'm sure it's just something that's a strategy.

528
00:36:12,011 --> 00:36:16,071
Wow. Huh. That makes me think. All right. Ace Ackerman's back with a row of duckles.

529
00:36:17,011 --> 00:36:20,351
Oh, look at those ducks. Glad to hear Twibble continue with his great coverage

530
00:36:20,351 --> 00:36:23,171
of Bitcoin news. Should at least go to episode 333. Oh.

531
00:36:24,391 --> 00:36:28,991
All right. Yeah, well, 21, I was going to say 21,000, but that's a lot. That's a lot.

532
00:36:29,531 --> 00:36:33,071
Thanks, Ace. Appreciate it. Code 27 is here with 5,000 sats.

533
00:36:42,682 --> 00:36:49,042
No mess, it's just value. And then Gene Bean is here with 7,777 sats.

534
00:36:49,242 --> 00:36:51,342
Oh my God, this drawer is filled with fruit loops.

535
00:36:52,122 --> 00:36:55,162
I'm 100% behind you doing the show you prepped for. For what it's worth,

536
00:36:55,262 --> 00:36:57,382
I love Linux Action News. That was super short.

537
00:36:57,962 --> 00:37:00,202
Remind you that quality isn't tied to show length. Oh yeah, sure.

538
00:37:00,622 --> 00:37:02,282
You know, it's more about...

539
00:37:05,045 --> 00:37:08,085
Things that I know happened that I didn't get a chance to talk about. You know what I mean?

540
00:37:09,025 --> 00:37:12,805
Like a thing that I expect you would want to hear about that I didn't get a

541
00:37:12,805 --> 00:37:15,905
chance to prep. That's probably what I should have. I should have explained it.

542
00:37:16,285 --> 00:37:19,765
A tight news update with additional content and reading boosts will always be awesome.

543
00:37:20,725 --> 00:37:23,085
Analogous to when you pre-recorded love. Thanks for all you do.

544
00:37:23,245 --> 00:37:27,705
Thank you, Gene. Always good to hear from you. Paranoid Coders here with 4,000 sats.

545
00:37:29,165 --> 00:37:36,125
No message, just value, though. Kiwi Bitcoin Guides here with 4,567 sats. This is a tasty burger.

546
00:37:36,385 --> 00:37:39,225
I enjoyed episode 100 a lot. Happy to hear Twib will keep going.

547
00:37:39,425 --> 00:37:42,985
Don't know where my week would be without my Twib Thursday. I wanted to ask you a question.

548
00:37:44,065 --> 00:37:47,665
Imagine you had a team of five humans or agents working on Twib full time.

549
00:37:48,105 --> 00:37:50,545
What would you want them to do? And what would your vision of Twib be?

550
00:37:50,705 --> 00:37:53,385
What would it look like? What would you wish Twib had right now?

551
00:37:53,625 --> 00:37:56,325
Some food for thought. Oh, geez, that's a big question.

552
00:37:58,105 --> 00:38:00,885
Oh, man. I mean, I definitely would love a the first thing that came to me.

553
00:38:00,965 --> 00:38:03,905
I still want to do more investigative reporting around mining.

554
00:38:04,085 --> 00:38:10,045
And I need some help there, I'd love to have somebody who's really a mining

555
00:38:10,045 --> 00:38:12,525
industry expert because it is such its own niche.

556
00:38:13,005 --> 00:38:16,205
So I think that's an area that could benefit the show, even if it wasn't a huge

557
00:38:16,205 --> 00:38:17,145
area of the show covered.

558
00:38:17,365 --> 00:38:20,745
And it is one of the reasons I'm interested in eventually us having a community

559
00:38:20,745 --> 00:38:23,405
mining pool just so that we all get a little experience and I get a little more

560
00:38:23,405 --> 00:38:27,765
hands-on experience because it's been a decade plus since I've mined Bitcoin.

561
00:38:28,145 --> 00:38:29,365
So it's time to try again.

562
00:38:29,845 --> 00:38:35,245
Just to get re-familiarized with the terms and the technology and the software, et cetera, et cetera.

563
00:38:35,985 --> 00:38:40,665
So I think that's an area. I would love to also be able to go to cover a couple of events a year.

564
00:38:40,765 --> 00:38:42,885
Not a lot. I don't want to do like all the big flashy stuff,

565
00:38:42,925 --> 00:38:46,145
but I do think there's a few high signal events, sort of like there's a few

566
00:38:46,145 --> 00:38:49,205
high signal Linux events that give me a bunch of insights and connections and

567
00:38:49,205 --> 00:38:51,925
networking and relationships. So I'd like to build that out.

568
00:38:52,165 --> 00:38:55,505
I'd really like to have a swag person on the team because I think we could have

569
00:38:55,505 --> 00:38:58,945
a little bit more sustainable income coming into the show outside of just boosts,

570
00:38:58,985 --> 00:39:02,625
which could be something like swag or memberships. you know somebody helps me

571
00:39:02,625 --> 00:39:05,085
expand the membership program that could be good too those are things that's

572
00:39:05,085 --> 00:39:06,065
not the top of my head kiwi.

573
00:39:07,587 --> 00:39:13,687
Um, I mean, yeah, the news prep and stuff that really kind of needs to be me

574
00:39:13,687 --> 00:39:17,927
because it needs, I need to be the one ingesting the material coming up with

575
00:39:17,927 --> 00:39:22,207
the, with, with the, uh, the, the ideas, the hype, whatever you want to call it. Right.

576
00:39:22,447 --> 00:39:26,067
That's sort of, you can't really externalize that. I think the show would be a lot worse if I did.

577
00:39:26,447 --> 00:39:30,007
Uh, but there are a lot of other areas that would probably get filled out pretty quickly.

578
00:39:30,367 --> 00:39:33,407
Swag store would be cool. Wouldn't it? Just a few things that rotate from time

579
00:39:33,407 --> 00:39:36,587
to time. I don't know. I need more shirts. That's for sure.

580
00:39:37,287 --> 00:39:39,127
Thanks for making me think, Kiwi. Appreciate the boost.

581
00:39:40,670 --> 00:39:44,150
And now I'm going to be thinking about that for the rest of the week, I bet.

582
00:39:44,450 --> 00:39:47,950
Well, I'll be dipped. Yeah, I think it's just one of those, that's a question that sticks with me.

583
00:39:48,010 --> 00:39:52,950
It's like, what would I do if I had ultimate budget? What would I do?

584
00:39:53,830 --> 00:39:56,570
Undeffable's here with 10,000 sats.

585
00:40:01,830 --> 00:40:05,450
Undead fable, not undeffable. That's what I get for reading from across the room.

586
00:40:05,730 --> 00:40:09,490
10,000 sats to say thank you for episode 100 so far, and hopefully many more

587
00:40:09,490 --> 00:40:12,790
to come. Your insight and knowledge into Bitcoin is always welcome. I learn a lot each week.

588
00:40:12,990 --> 00:40:14,830
Always looking forward to the next episode. Keep up the good work.

589
00:40:14,950 --> 00:40:17,910
Well, thank you, Undead. Appreciate that.

590
00:40:18,950 --> 00:40:22,230
Nice, Titan. To the point. Thank you, sir. Nice to hear from you.

591
00:40:23,910 --> 00:40:28,210
Nakamoto 6102. Back with 3,500 sats. Thank you for the value.

592
00:40:28,370 --> 00:40:29,670
Thank you for the value, Nakamoto.

593
00:40:30,190 --> 00:40:34,590
Thank you. And Hodler comes in to round us out with 2,100 sats.

594
00:40:35,190 --> 00:40:36,610
Boost! Just says boost!

595
00:40:38,890 --> 00:40:42,750
Thank you, everybody. Also, thanks to everybody below the 2,000 sat cutoff.

596
00:40:42,930 --> 00:40:46,810
I see you, Chris21million, and others out there that had nice notes in there.

597
00:40:48,230 --> 00:40:50,450
Ah, Faraday, good to see you in there, too. I'm just scrolling through the list

598
00:40:50,450 --> 00:40:56,650
right now. But shout out to a good handful of you below the 2,000 sat cutoff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

599
00:40:57,370 --> 00:40:59,710
Nice little batch there. Thank you, everybody. Plus, our sat streamer.

600
00:40:59,770 --> 00:41:01,070
Shout out to our sat streamers.

601
00:41:01,590 --> 00:41:08,730
31 of you sent in 80,261 sat. So you guys, collectively, as our sat streamers,

602
00:41:08,810 --> 00:41:10,950
would be like our number two baller this week.

603
00:41:11,090 --> 00:41:14,770
I hoard that which your kind covet. Thank you very much. Appreciate that,

604
00:41:14,870 --> 00:41:18,410
sat streamers. When you combine that with our boosters, 101 had a really good showing.

605
00:41:18,610 --> 00:41:22,390
A grand total of 421,262 sats.

606
00:41:39,761 --> 00:41:42,181
Everybody who supports this show, it is a value for value production.

607
00:41:42,401 --> 00:41:45,881
I put it out there for free with no advertising, hoping that if you get a little

608
00:41:45,881 --> 00:41:49,841
value from it, you send it back to the show. And a boost is a great way to do that.

609
00:41:50,161 --> 00:41:53,481
It's a great use case for the Lightning Network, and you get your message read on the show.

610
00:41:53,841 --> 00:41:56,501
I have some plans for the membership program through Fountain FM.

611
00:41:56,561 --> 00:41:58,881
And, of course, you can support this show and all the shows that you put it

612
00:41:58,881 --> 00:41:59,721
up parting with the membership.

613
00:42:00,081 --> 00:42:04,401
And I'm happy to say with this episode and 100, things have turned around.

614
00:42:04,981 --> 00:42:10,261
We have gone from support being down 13% in the last month to now up 12%.

615
00:42:10,261 --> 00:42:13,061
We're 12% in the green now. It's a nice turnaround.

616
00:42:13,641 --> 00:42:17,241
Downloads have also turned around from 10% down over the last 30 days to now

617
00:42:17,241 --> 00:42:23,621
up 5.4%, which is a nice, again, turnaround considering after I took some time

618
00:42:23,621 --> 00:42:28,001
off to cover Planet Nix and Scale, we saw a drop-off there in both support and downloads.

619
00:42:28,141 --> 00:42:32,441
And it looks like perhaps things are turning around for the show along with

620
00:42:32,441 --> 00:42:35,701
the support, along with the downloads. It's just really, really great to see,

621
00:42:35,881 --> 00:42:38,121
and I hope it keeps on going. Thank you, everybody.

622
00:42:45,561 --> 00:42:50,081
All right, I got a few updates for you. This first one, I cannot believe,

623
00:42:50,081 --> 00:42:57,981
just a week later, there is another Satoshi Nakamoto documentary dropping,

624
00:42:58,001 --> 00:43:00,281
and it's another one of these Who is Satoshi?

625
00:43:00,281 --> 00:43:04,981
But the buzz and the vibe around this one, it seems a little different.

626
00:43:05,921 --> 00:43:09,801
Bitcoin is one of the most groundbreaking innovations in decades.

627
00:43:10,321 --> 00:43:13,141
The inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, completely disappears.

628
00:43:13,701 --> 00:43:18,781
One of the wealthiest people in the world. It's not human nature to not touch a massive fortune.

629
00:43:19,661 --> 00:43:24,601
We've got a window into our main suspects. You don't want to answer who.

630
00:43:24,701 --> 00:43:26,481
I don't play the speculation game.

631
00:43:27,181 --> 00:43:32,721
Who is Nakamoto? Who is Nakamoto? Bill, I know who Satoshi is.

632
00:43:38,281 --> 00:43:39,761
Coinbase is involved with this one.

633
00:43:41,472 --> 00:43:45,392
Some others in the industry. I almost wonder if this is a plant.

634
00:43:46,512 --> 00:43:51,592
You know, like a Satoshi Psyop. I don't know. My gut is, I haven't seen it yet.

635
00:43:52,552 --> 00:43:57,552
My gut is they're going to pin it on Hal Finney. So the New York Times was pinning on Adam Back.

636
00:43:57,812 --> 00:44:02,252
This time, they're going to pin it on Hal Finney, which, well,

637
00:44:02,492 --> 00:44:05,412
I'm just not a big fan of this.

638
00:44:06,052 --> 00:44:10,632
Because when you pin it on Hal, you ended up pinning on his widow.

639
00:44:11,552 --> 00:44:16,392
Who survives and continues to get harassed because people believe Hal is Satoshi.

640
00:44:17,492 --> 00:44:20,672
So it doesn't really end well for anybody, but I'll keep an eye on it.

641
00:44:21,192 --> 00:44:24,172
I don't know why we're just, isn't this interesting? We're just seeing these

642
00:44:24,172 --> 00:44:29,032
back-to-back like this, and this one's a movie that they're going to put on streaming services?

643
00:44:29,192 --> 00:44:31,632
Really? Okay, is there that much interest?

644
00:44:32,572 --> 00:44:34,672
Is there? I don't know.

645
00:44:35,992 --> 00:44:40,012
Anybody that follows the Linux news, you might know that the Linux Foundation

646
00:44:40,012 --> 00:44:44,212
and IBM have been working together on different blockchain technologies.

647
00:44:44,392 --> 00:44:46,792
And I wonder, because they've been doing it for five, six years now,

648
00:44:47,152 --> 00:44:51,272
slowly building away at these different platforms. And I've been wondering, what's the point?

649
00:44:51,472 --> 00:44:55,092
What are they doing? Well, they may have been waiting for their moment after all.

650
00:44:55,412 --> 00:44:57,752
Tell us what we need to know here about IBM's move.

651
00:44:59,412 --> 00:45:03,892
So obviously IBM is a very popular vendor with big banks and corporates and

652
00:45:03,892 --> 00:45:07,032
governments. So they're launching a platform that will let a big bank,

653
00:45:07,172 --> 00:45:11,752
for instance, start offering stable coins or other sort of digital assets.

654
00:45:12,052 --> 00:45:17,852
And it's important because, as I said, you know, these firms are already clients of IBM, possibly.

655
00:45:18,032 --> 00:45:21,952
And so this makes it easier and faster for them to get into the space in which

656
00:45:21,952 --> 00:45:24,152
we've seen many of them sort of rush to get in.

657
00:45:24,632 --> 00:45:28,912
And what's the timeline for this? How quickly can they roll this out?

658
00:45:30,967 --> 00:45:34,787
So the platform, they're going to have the first version, which is a software

659
00:45:34,787 --> 00:45:37,287
as a service, will be available in this fourth quarter.

660
00:45:37,527 --> 00:45:41,687
And then they're going to do an on-prem version. So that helps with banks when

661
00:45:41,687 --> 00:45:44,527
they need to keep data in their own servers.

662
00:45:45,207 --> 00:45:49,227
They will launch that, they said, in the second quarter of next year.

663
00:45:49,487 --> 00:45:54,367
And are they doing this on their own? Now, don't call it a blockchain,

664
00:45:54,707 --> 00:45:56,487
right? They're not calling it a blockchain anymore.

665
00:45:56,647 --> 00:46:00,587
They would have five years ago, but now, three years ago, two years ago.

666
00:46:00,587 --> 00:46:02,967
But now it's a digital assets platform.

667
00:46:03,247 --> 00:46:05,587
Now it's a digital assets platform. Okay. All right.

668
00:46:05,927 --> 00:46:09,207
Well, maybe one day you'll be working somewhere where an IBM digital assets

669
00:46:09,207 --> 00:46:11,167
platform is running on-premises for you.

670
00:46:12,347 --> 00:46:16,947
Macro analyst Jordy Visser is back, and he went on CNBC this time.

671
00:46:17,616 --> 00:46:20,176
Put my neck out on the line here and say the next time I see you,

672
00:46:20,196 --> 00:46:22,136
Bitcoin will be significantly higher.

673
00:46:22,496 --> 00:46:26,996
There's two catalysts that are happening. Last week, when he said this, Bitcoin was at $74,800.

674
00:46:27,256 --> 00:46:30,976
Bitcoin outperformed software significantly. If you go back to when the stock

675
00:46:30,976 --> 00:46:36,976
market started to rally, we saw breaking correlations between crude trading higher by $11.

676
00:46:37,376 --> 00:46:40,696
And yet the S&P 500 finished slightly up to unchanged on a Friday.

677
00:46:40,876 --> 00:46:41,876
And then we came in the next day.

678
00:46:42,396 --> 00:46:45,296
Why don't you kind of break those correlations between things where people think,

679
00:46:45,476 --> 00:46:47,596
oh, software is down, that means Bitcoin should go down.

680
00:46:47,956 --> 00:46:51,996
Software was down hard last week, but Bitcoin was up. And so I think we broke

681
00:46:51,996 --> 00:46:54,896
that correlation. But there's one important thing, and I highlighted this in

682
00:46:54,896 --> 00:46:56,016
a paper I wrote this weekend.

683
00:46:56,816 --> 00:47:01,736
We're getting into negative real rate territory. So year-over-year CPI is now at 3.3%.

684
00:47:02,176 --> 00:47:05,956
The next time we get a CPI print, you're going to have year-over-year CPI above

685
00:47:05,956 --> 00:47:07,796
where three-month bills are.

686
00:47:08,056 --> 00:47:11,276
The best returns for Bitcoin have been when we've had negative real yields.

687
00:47:11,276 --> 00:47:14,416
And I think we're going to be in a situation with negative real yields for quite

688
00:47:14,416 --> 00:47:17,536
some time because I don't think inflation is going to come down sharply.

689
00:47:17,536 --> 00:47:20,136
And I think we're going to have a problem with how the Fed is going to deal

690
00:47:20,136 --> 00:47:23,316
with inflation with slowing growth and with the affordability issues.

691
00:47:23,436 --> 00:47:27,416
So all of these things feed into a very positive backdrop for Bitcoin.

692
00:47:27,416 --> 00:47:32,156
And you have some positive technical signals with a weekly MACD crossover.

693
00:47:32,276 --> 00:47:34,456
I'm going to go with Bitcoin's higher the next time I see it.

694
00:47:34,556 --> 00:47:36,296
Well, Safari's right. We'll see if it holds.

695
00:47:36,356 --> 00:47:39,356
But we hit 78 and people didn't think it would get above 75.

696
00:47:39,356 --> 00:47:41,596
Now, I want to go to my next topic.

697
00:47:42,276 --> 00:47:47,256
I love just tracking the Trump-Bessent relationship because how the Trump-Bessent

698
00:47:47,256 --> 00:47:50,256
relationship goes, the stability of the market goes.

699
00:47:50,496 --> 00:47:53,976
And Trump seems to be quite aware of this. Really a respected guy,

700
00:47:54,096 --> 00:47:56,156
a great guy, too. He's difficult.

701
00:47:57,516 --> 00:48:01,056
This guy. He's sitting right next to Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary.

702
00:48:01,456 --> 00:48:03,136
He's difficult. He's difficult.

703
00:48:04,156 --> 00:48:08,076
But he's great. And, you know, when he speaks, the whole market gets soothed.

704
00:48:08,076 --> 00:48:11,436
See, he knows. When I speak, the market goes a little jittery.

705
00:48:12,620 --> 00:48:15,360
They say, Scott, go out there, clean it up for me, Scott.

706
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:20,520
But now he's a fantastic guy. And, Scott, you're going to say a few words and

707
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:22,520
then we're going to hear from a few of the people.

708
00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:25,140
So there was something that Scott needed to go, quote unquote,

709
00:48:25,420 --> 00:48:28,080
clean up. And that is the issue of affordability.

710
00:48:28,620 --> 00:48:29,960
I'm not so sure you did a great job.

711
00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:34,180
Why aren't we seeing this sentiment? Why are people feeling better?

712
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:39,300
Well, I, you know, I when I was in the investment business, there are consumer

713
00:48:39,300 --> 00:48:44,580
surveys. But I used to look at what are the people really doing?

714
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:50,880
So at Treasury, we have loads of CEOs come through, whether they're in retail, credit card, the banks.

715
00:48:51,100 --> 00:48:54,780
So I, you know, I rub shoulders and elbows with the mucky mucks.

716
00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:59,160
And when I'm at fancy events or when they're coming here to try to buy me off,

717
00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:01,780
we chat about how the economy is doing and how they're doing.

718
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:09,460
And the consumer, while they may be sounding grim, is actually quite buoyant.

719
00:49:09,460 --> 00:49:13,420
Yeah, you see, the CEOs are doing great and the consumer, you know,

720
00:49:13,500 --> 00:49:16,240
they may be complaining, but they're actually fine.

721
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:23,280
They're just fine. And the consumer, while they may be sounding grim,

722
00:49:23,620 --> 00:49:25,100
is actually quite buoyant.

723
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:29,800
So we are seeing spending has been very solid across most categories.

724
00:49:30,020 --> 00:49:32,160
I wonder if that's because everything's so freaking expensive.

725
00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:36,980
So they might not feel good, but. Well, look, in the heart of hearts,

726
00:49:36,980 --> 00:49:39,800
they feel good. I'm not sure what they're telling the survey people.

727
00:49:40,060 --> 00:49:42,680
You guys, in your heart of hearts, you're actually feeling fine.

728
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:48,000
Yep, yep, yep. You might be spending $80 a tank on gas, and,

729
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:53,280
you know, you think you hate that, but in your heart of heart, you love it.

730
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:58,320
Now, one last clip in this category, because I think it's, well,

731
00:49:58,380 --> 00:49:59,340
I think it's truly revealing.

732
00:49:59,340 --> 00:50:03,420
I have personally wondered if Trump just hates the PAMP, you know,

733
00:50:03,500 --> 00:50:08,240
because if this guy had gotten into office, and he hadn't done the tariff stuff

734
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:11,900
last year and then we hadn't done the Iran stuff this year.

735
00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:14,520
Now you can argue if they had to be done or not. I'm just,

736
00:50:15,726 --> 00:50:17,646
We're talking about maybe a different version of the simulation,

737
00:50:17,646 --> 00:50:18,786
if that makes it easier for you.

738
00:50:19,846 --> 00:50:24,906
If he hadn't done the tariff upset, the Fed probably would have cut rates.

739
00:50:26,226 --> 00:50:30,506
Right. And if we hadn't gone into the war, we probably wouldn't be looking at

740
00:50:30,506 --> 00:50:32,886
energy prices that are about to be catastrophic.

741
00:50:34,306 --> 00:50:37,286
And the PAMP still continues despite all that.

742
00:50:37,406 --> 00:50:39,686
But just think of without those those headwinds. And I wondered,

743
00:50:39,946 --> 00:50:44,106
does the guy just love a challenge of trying to knock the market down and bring

744
00:50:44,106 --> 00:50:47,466
it back up? Is there some kind of thrill he gets out of it?

745
00:50:47,726 --> 00:50:51,666
I don't know if it's that, but it's definitely the state of the market seems

746
00:50:51,666 --> 00:50:53,886
to be playing a role in when Trump makes decisions.

747
00:50:54,286 --> 00:50:58,226
And I bring this up because it means every time the market really starts to

748
00:50:58,226 --> 00:51:01,546
get up there, he takes an intentional cut.

749
00:51:02,886 --> 00:51:07,766
He intentionally cuts it. He does something that he feels he has the political

750
00:51:07,766 --> 00:51:12,006
capital to expend, and he lets the market cool down for a bit.

751
00:51:12,566 --> 00:51:15,566
Instead of just letting, I don't know what his, well, we'll get to it.

752
00:51:15,686 --> 00:51:16,626
We'll get to it here in a moment.

753
00:51:16,766 --> 00:51:22,946
But I want you to listen to this because it's the exact kind of crap he hates J-Pow for.

754
00:51:23,386 --> 00:51:27,966
He has criticized Jerome Powell for raising rates every time the economy really

755
00:51:27,966 --> 00:51:29,926
starts ramping, which then cuts the pump.

756
00:51:30,606 --> 00:51:35,626
He's criticized J-Pow for that. But then he admits to doing exactly the same

757
00:51:35,626 --> 00:51:37,426
thing in this interview with CNBC.

758
00:51:37,926 --> 00:51:41,346
But let's talk about Iran first. uh iran

759
00:51:41,346 --> 00:51:44,146
if you i'm looking at your numbers now as i

760
00:51:44,146 --> 00:51:48,486
speak i mean the market's up we're going to be at 50 000 that's where we were

761
00:51:48,486 --> 00:51:52,866
just a little while ago when it started and when i hit 50 000 on the dow and

762
00:51:52,866 --> 00:51:57,726
7 000 on the s p i said well i hate to do this to everybody but i'm gonna have

763
00:51:57,726 --> 00:52:02,326
to journey down to a place called iran when i hit 50 000.

764
00:52:04,969 --> 00:52:09,069
When I hit $50,000, I made a decision. $7,000 on the S&P.

765
00:52:09,209 --> 00:52:12,929
I said, well, I hate to do this to everybody, but I'm going to have to journey

766
00:52:12,929 --> 00:52:18,149
down to a place called Iran and not make sure they don't have a nuclear weapon

767
00:52:18,149 --> 00:52:21,269
because they will blow up the world. You want to see a bad stock market?

768
00:52:21,389 --> 00:52:24,989
Try blowing up the Middle East and then Europe, and then they come for us,

769
00:52:25,069 --> 00:52:27,009
right? And we're not going to let that happen.

770
00:52:27,469 --> 00:52:30,249
So I said to the people, I said to my people, the world gathered,

771
00:52:30,389 --> 00:52:31,489
all these wonderful guys.

772
00:52:31,709 --> 00:52:36,209
Imagine you're Scott Bessent and others, and you've been tasked by Trump for

773
00:52:36,209 --> 00:52:39,849
a pump like no other president has seen, right? He wants the biggest, greatest pump ever.

774
00:52:40,309 --> 00:52:46,409
And so Scott's job is, you know, sell bonds, get this economy as hot as possible,

775
00:52:46,609 --> 00:52:51,129
despite a Fed that hasn't cut rates, make this work, don't collapse the housing

776
00:52:51,129 --> 00:52:52,329
market, you know, et cetera, et cetera, right?

777
00:52:52,329 --> 00:52:57,309
Like all of these plates that Scott has to spin to try to get the economy running

778
00:52:57,309 --> 00:53:01,149
the way that Trump wants, at least his part of it, his little corner of it, right?

779
00:53:01,149 --> 00:53:04,349
So he and, you know, he's doing everything he can. He's going out there trying

780
00:53:04,349 --> 00:53:08,009
to soothe markets every time that Trump upsets markets and all of that.

781
00:53:08,129 --> 00:53:13,269
And so he's doing absolutely everything he can, as well as the others on the team.

782
00:53:13,789 --> 00:53:17,189
And then Trump comes down and says, we're going to a little place called Iran.

783
00:53:17,589 --> 00:53:20,229
Sorry about your market. And we're not going to let that happen.

784
00:53:20,529 --> 00:53:23,489
So I said to the people, I said to my people, they're all gathered,

785
00:53:23,529 --> 00:53:26,809
all these wonderful guys, Scott Bassett, the whole group, Howard,

786
00:53:26,949 --> 00:53:28,009
they're all doing a good job.

787
00:53:28,529 --> 00:53:31,769
I said, fellas, I got a little bad news for you. I'm going to put a little wrinkle

788
00:53:31,769 --> 00:53:33,309
in your numbers. Why, sir?

789
00:53:33,549 --> 00:53:37,489
We're going down to a place called Iran, and we're going to make sure that they

790
00:53:37,489 --> 00:53:39,929
never have a nuclear weapon because they'll use it to blow up,

791
00:53:40,049 --> 00:53:44,889
because they're religious fanatics, and they will use that weapon to blow up

792
00:53:44,889 --> 00:53:47,269
the world, but they'll start with Israel in the Middle East,

793
00:53:47,289 --> 00:53:48,549
and we're not going to let that happen.

794
00:53:49,089 --> 00:53:52,009
And they said, wow, that's going to be bad. I said, yes.

795
00:53:54,509 --> 00:53:58,069
Wow, that's going to be bad. Yeah. I think they were thinking,

796
00:53:58,329 --> 00:54:01,849
oh, we're going to lose the midterms. That's what they're thinking right there. They're thinking, oh.

797
00:54:03,106 --> 00:54:05,446
We're going to lose the midterms. We're going to start with Israel in the Middle

798
00:54:05,446 --> 00:54:07,046
East, and we're not going to let that happen.

799
00:54:07,526 --> 00:54:10,866
And they said, wow, that's going to be bad. I said, yeah, it's going to hurt

800
00:54:10,866 --> 00:54:15,486
the market, and it's going to drive up the price of oil and whatever it is,

801
00:54:15,566 --> 00:54:19,146
but that's peanuts compared to... Okay, now here I'm going to steel man this.

802
00:54:19,766 --> 00:54:24,606
Let's say we live in a world of fiscal dominance, and the pump is on by default

803
00:54:24,606 --> 00:54:28,766
because of the debasement trade, and that the train only goes in one direction,

804
00:54:28,806 --> 00:54:30,826
and it ain't going to get stopped anytime soon.

805
00:54:30,826 --> 00:54:34,486
And if you just know that, let's say they have made that calculus,

806
00:54:34,866 --> 00:54:39,206
then you almost would have a strategy here that is sensible in that,

807
00:54:39,526 --> 00:54:42,286
you know, you can take temporary hits to a healthy mark. Well,

808
00:54:42,426 --> 00:54:43,966
quote unquote healthy to a pumping market.

809
00:54:44,126 --> 00:54:48,206
Let's call it a pumping market because the debasement trade is on.

810
00:54:48,366 --> 00:54:49,906
The default direction is in one way.

811
00:54:50,106 --> 00:54:54,346
It's going to go back up after you're done, assuming you pull it all off.

812
00:54:55,126 --> 00:54:58,706
That has to be the mindset there is, well, it's going to go back up.

813
00:54:58,806 --> 00:55:01,166
We've got it here. We can take a hit for a little while.

814
00:55:01,306 --> 00:55:06,466
And I guess in some sort of weird way, if you're if you are panicked about Trump

815
00:55:06,466 --> 00:55:12,506
being a a dictator that is, you know, just bombing and whatever. I don't know.

816
00:55:13,646 --> 00:55:17,506
Well, guess what? Sounds like he's got a built in breaking mechanism, doesn't it?

817
00:55:17,726 --> 00:55:21,046
It sounds like to me, if you just sort of decode what he said there,

818
00:55:21,206 --> 00:55:23,026
the market is his brakes.

819
00:55:23,991 --> 00:55:28,591
The Trump theory about the market being the ultimate breaking mechanism for

820
00:55:28,591 --> 00:55:30,671
Donald Trump's policies, I think, holds here.

821
00:55:31,151 --> 00:55:37,611
And in a way, that means the wisdom of crowds and predictions is what is his break.

822
00:55:37,851 --> 00:55:40,771
And so I guess you could interpret this as that.

823
00:55:42,011 --> 00:55:46,371
It's just what I took from it is he's watching.

824
00:55:46,731 --> 00:55:50,251
You know, he said it's almost at 50. He was at 49. So it was at 50,000 when

825
00:55:50,251 --> 00:55:54,031
we started this thing. We're almost back at 50,000. And he's paying attention to those numbers.

826
00:55:54,231 --> 00:55:57,091
And then when they're going down there and he's talking to Lutnick and he's

827
00:55:57,091 --> 00:56:00,891
talking to Besson, you know, he's, hey, I'm going to take you're going to take a hit to your numbers.

828
00:56:00,951 --> 00:56:04,091
Like, I think there was a lot of revealed and how they think and look at the

829
00:56:04,091 --> 00:56:08,431
market and how they view ownership of that stuff or how Trump's team has to

830
00:56:08,431 --> 00:56:09,451
take ownership of that stuff.

831
00:56:09,831 --> 00:56:12,091
All right. One last update for you.

832
00:56:13,071 --> 00:56:17,511
Now, I had to play this simply because it is topic du jour right now.

833
00:56:17,511 --> 00:56:23,351
And in every possible different sector, everybody's panicking about Mythos from

834
00:56:23,351 --> 00:56:27,771
Anthropic and the potential for taking down XYZ industry.

835
00:56:28,351 --> 00:56:32,311
And now the panic has come to crypto. A recent report from Anthropic says its

836
00:56:32,311 --> 00:56:36,911
Mythos AI model found flaws in some of the basic security software that helps

837
00:56:36,911 --> 00:56:40,051
protect digital systems. So what does that mean for cryptocurrency?

838
00:56:40,651 --> 00:56:44,111
Nobody asked, but she's going to tell you. The risk is less in the blockchains

839
00:56:44,111 --> 00:56:47,891
themselves and more around the software stack that crypto companies depend on

840
00:56:47,891 --> 00:56:50,011
to give owners access to their holdings.

841
00:56:50,211 --> 00:56:57,471
And of course, they have B-roll of Bitcoin, Bitcoin mining, the BTC ticker, the BTC price chart.

842
00:56:57,611 --> 00:57:00,531
So when she's saying about the software infrastructure and all of that.

843
00:57:01,332 --> 00:57:03,872
For some reason, you know, they're putting they're talking about crypto generally,

844
00:57:03,872 --> 00:57:06,632
but then when they say the scary stuff, they put Bitcoin on the screen.

845
00:57:06,792 --> 00:57:10,672
And more around the software stack that crypto companies depend on to give owners

846
00:57:10,672 --> 00:57:11,912
access to their holdings.

847
00:57:12,132 --> 00:57:15,412
So where do we see the threats from AI in the crypto space?

848
00:57:15,812 --> 00:57:18,012
It's really to centralize companies.

849
00:57:18,312 --> 00:57:23,132
This is Jan from Swan and pretty disappointed in this interview.

850
00:57:23,552 --> 00:57:27,572
Pretty disappointed. He's their CTO and co-founder over at Swan. And it starts OK.

851
00:57:27,572 --> 00:57:32,472
But really what they're talking about broadly here is they're talking about

852
00:57:32,472 --> 00:57:36,992
software libraries and software infrastructure, you know, operating systems,

853
00:57:37,192 --> 00:57:40,312
the libraries that applications use, vulnerabilities and applications themselves.

854
00:57:41,072 --> 00:57:50,052
If you are a one-person team or a 100,000-person company, that threat vector remains the same.

855
00:57:50,052 --> 00:57:54,392
What changes is how widely deployed your software is and how nimble your team

856
00:57:54,392 --> 00:57:55,992
is at resolving the issue.

857
00:57:55,992 --> 00:57:59,292
So when they say that the companies and the infrastructure that crypto depends

858
00:57:59,292 --> 00:58:02,972
on are the real threat, what they're actually saying is the humans that run

859
00:58:02,972 --> 00:58:06,712
those companies probably don't have their shit together enough to solve problems.

860
00:58:06,852 --> 00:58:11,492
From AI in the crypto space, it's really to centralize companies,

861
00:58:11,692 --> 00:58:16,472
companies that run security programs to secure their customers' assets. You know, like Swan.

862
00:58:16,712 --> 00:58:19,592
It's not the cryptographic keys of the Bitcoin network or the cryptographic

863
00:58:19,592 --> 00:58:23,692
keys of any other coin that are securing your assets. It is actually the company itself.

864
00:58:28,303 --> 00:58:31,963
Anthropik's mythos is getting attention because it is reportedly very good at

865
00:58:31,963 --> 00:58:34,023
identifying vulnerabilities in software.

866
00:58:34,363 --> 00:58:38,363
The company also says that mythos is more autonomous and more capable at software

867
00:58:38,363 --> 00:58:43,683
engineering and cybersecurity than prior models, which makes it better at working around restrictions.

868
00:58:43,983 --> 00:58:46,723
Now, none of these are actually specifically talking about crypto,

869
00:58:46,743 --> 00:58:48,843
but they're using this to set a context.

870
00:58:49,023 --> 00:58:52,363
Well, crypto is software, so therefore crypto is vulnerable to this.

871
00:58:52,703 --> 00:58:56,123
However, it's a very dynamic, fast responding industry. So if any industry is

872
00:58:56,123 --> 00:59:01,323
really posed to take advantage, poised to take advantage of incoming fixes and

873
00:59:01,323 --> 00:59:05,423
security identifications, it's probably going to be the crypto industry over just about any other.

874
00:59:05,543 --> 00:59:07,803
And I'm no fan of shit coins, but that's just the reality.

875
00:59:08,563 --> 00:59:13,503
That means it can help spot flaws in code that humans or existing security tools may have missed.

876
00:59:13,743 --> 00:59:19,043
But in some cases, Mythos is capable of turning those vulnerabilities into working exploits.

877
00:59:19,503 --> 00:59:23,243
Anthropix says the model found thousands of high and critical severity vulnerabilities.

878
00:59:23,943 --> 00:59:28,423
Anthropic's documentation around Mythos suggests one of the key issues here may be speed.

879
00:59:28,903 --> 00:59:32,483
The company says the AI can shorten the time between a bug becoming known and

880
00:59:32,483 --> 00:59:34,703
attackers figuring out how to weaponize it.

881
00:59:34,863 --> 00:59:39,763
In other words, once a vulnerability is disclosed, defenders may have less time to react.

882
00:59:40,143 --> 00:59:45,583
At this point, AI is becoming a new class of thinker. It's doing things that humans have never done.

883
00:59:45,863 --> 00:59:50,303
We recently heard the release of the new Mythos algorithm from Claude from Anthropic.

884
00:59:50,303 --> 00:59:53,123
And this algorithm is... Wait, wait, wait.

885
00:59:54,963 --> 01:00:02,023
Is your expert on CNBC from Swan referring to a model as an algorithm?

886
01:00:04,970 --> 01:00:08,510
Oh, boy. You see what I'm saying here?

887
01:00:08,630 --> 01:00:13,550
These people are getting worked up over nothing. I mean, it's not nothing. I shouldn't say that.

888
01:00:13,970 --> 01:00:19,050
Equivalently nothing. And the only reason I say that is because if you are in

889
01:00:19,050 --> 01:00:25,010
your 40s or older, which I know a good chunk of you are, you have lived through a lot of these.

890
01:00:25,650 --> 01:00:30,990
Let's be real. I mean, the most poignant example I have, because it was such

891
01:00:30,990 --> 01:00:34,210
a big deal early in my career, was the Y2K bug.

892
01:00:35,110 --> 01:00:38,850
Man, did I not spend a year replacing hardware and software.

893
01:00:39,770 --> 01:00:44,410
Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by school districts just to replace hardware

894
01:00:44,410 --> 01:00:47,270
that, quote unquote, could not be fixed, was unfixable.

895
01:00:47,750 --> 01:00:52,730
Which, by the way, ended up in my office in a stack and worked just fine. It was just fine.

896
01:00:53,290 --> 01:00:57,790
The numbers just, what happened is the two-digit year just ticked over. It's fine.

897
01:00:58,830 --> 01:01:03,790
Like, for all the stuff I ran. But, man, if I didn't spend a year prepping and

898
01:01:03,790 --> 01:01:11,770
then I spent New Year's Eve 1999 huddled out in my buddy's house near our main data center,

899
01:01:12,370 --> 01:01:14,230
so that way at 12.01 a.m.

900
01:01:14,230 --> 01:01:17,710
We could get in the car and go to work and spend the entire evening,

901
01:01:17,950 --> 01:01:21,950
the rest of the morning, doing a systems check for absolutely nothing.

902
01:01:23,190 --> 01:01:26,870
And then when the Internet was coming around, it was going to be the end of

903
01:01:26,870 --> 01:01:29,350
newspapers. It was the end of radio.

904
01:01:29,550 --> 01:01:33,350
It was the end of all of these things. Mail. All of it. The end. The end.

905
01:01:33,850 --> 01:01:36,850
Newspaper. The news industry is dead over and over again. We're still hearing it today.

906
01:01:39,268 --> 01:01:43,068
So if you go through these cycles a few times, you learn that the reality is

907
01:01:43,068 --> 01:01:45,128
often much, much, much more in the middle.

908
01:01:47,588 --> 01:01:52,388
And the really disappointing truth that we should internalize as Bitcoiners

909
01:01:52,388 --> 01:01:57,488
as well is that the vast majority of humanity never properly takes advantage

910
01:01:57,488 --> 01:01:59,188
of the technological evolution.

911
01:02:00,168 --> 01:02:03,328
On the extremes, you'll have governments and groups that abuse it.

912
01:02:03,788 --> 01:02:06,968
You'll have geeks and nerds that understand and learn and push it.

913
01:02:07,828 --> 01:02:12,988
But the average folk out there, they're driving around in a car that's 14 years

914
01:02:12,988 --> 01:02:15,188
old. That's the average age of a vehicle on the road right now.

915
01:02:16,348 --> 01:02:22,108
And they're perfectly fine using the nav and the infotainment system that's

916
01:02:22,108 --> 01:02:24,408
14, 15 years old. That's slow as hell.

917
01:02:24,848 --> 01:02:27,508
I mean, of course, all of us will put up with something like that if we have

918
01:02:27,508 --> 01:02:29,488
to. But there's some folks, they don't even give a thought to it.

919
01:02:29,548 --> 01:02:32,368
Doesn't even register as something that they wish could be different. They don't care.

920
01:02:34,268 --> 01:02:38,528
It's a weird esoteric point I'm making but when I just reflect on all of the

921
01:02:38,528 --> 01:02:42,808
technologies that we have innovated and the capabilities that we have and how

922
01:02:42,808 --> 01:02:45,848
few of them actually get taken advantage of in the real world,

923
01:02:48,343 --> 01:02:52,923
I subscribe to the idea that it's actually nearly impossible to change the entire

924
01:02:52,923 --> 01:02:56,183
world by more than 1% or 2% at any given time for any particular thing.

925
01:02:58,723 --> 01:03:03,883
So this concern that all of a sudden crypto is vulnerable because of mythos.

926
01:03:04,543 --> 01:03:09,143
Like we just last week, we started to put some of the quantum FUD to bed.

927
01:03:09,743 --> 01:03:15,863
And just as the quantum FUD closes its sleepy little eyes, the mythos FUD wakes up.

928
01:03:16,783 --> 01:03:21,023
The mythos FUD wakes up. And now we're going to find vulnerabilities because

929
01:03:21,023 --> 01:03:26,823
it turns out the entire industry apparently was dependent on obscurity of security

930
01:03:26,823 --> 01:03:30,143
by obscurity and and you not knowing about any of these things.

931
01:03:30,323 --> 01:03:34,683
And if you just had the ability, if more eyes, apparently, apparently the old

932
01:03:34,683 --> 01:03:37,203
adage that more eyes was just completely false.

933
01:03:37,323 --> 01:03:41,163
And we now that we have more eyes, well, it turns out we're just completely screwed.

934
01:03:42,043 --> 01:03:45,243
Like it's a real hard shift. The industry wants us to believe.

935
01:03:46,843 --> 01:03:48,683
I'm having a tough time with it.

936
01:03:59,605 --> 01:04:04,365
All right. This final clip of the week, I think, is one of the bangers of the week.

937
01:04:04,585 --> 01:04:11,185
A top U.S. Pacific commander called Bitcoin a valuable computer science tool

938
01:04:11,185 --> 01:04:13,625
for national power and security.

939
01:04:13,885 --> 01:04:18,105
This is I'm going to I think I'm going to try to I'm going to try to get the

940
01:04:18,105 --> 01:04:20,025
last name right. No disrespect intended.

941
01:04:20,445 --> 01:04:24,305
Admiral Samuel Papero. He is in the U.S.

942
01:04:24,425 --> 01:04:28,745
Indo-Pacific Command, and he was speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

943
01:04:28,745 --> 01:04:30,305
And he said this about Bitcoin.

944
01:04:30,665 --> 01:04:35,065
To another subject, our competition with China is... This is the question being asked.

945
01:04:35,185 --> 01:04:39,125
...just about military strength. It also includes monetary strength as well.

946
01:04:39,445 --> 01:04:43,225
You know, last year, the Chinese Communist Party's main monetary think tank

947
01:04:43,225 --> 01:04:47,805
published research on Bitcoin as a strategic asset.

948
01:04:48,405 --> 01:04:52,485
You know, this came after President Trump moved to establish a strategic Bitcoin

949
01:04:52,485 --> 01:04:56,625
reserve. Admiral, how does leadership in Bitcoin impact leverage resilience,

950
01:04:56,805 --> 01:04:59,165
deterrence for Indopaycom against China?

951
01:04:59,345 --> 01:05:04,845
And do you think that a strategic Bitcoin reserve helps America compete against China?

952
01:05:05,885 --> 01:05:11,885
Senator, our research into Bitcoin is as a computer science tool.

953
01:05:11,885 --> 01:05:16,745
It's the combination of cryptography, a blockchain, and a proof of work.

954
01:05:16,745 --> 01:05:23,745
And Bitcoin shows incredible potential as a computer science tool that through

955
01:05:23,745 --> 01:05:30,005
the proof-of-work protocols actually imposes more cost than just the algorithmic

956
01:05:30,005 --> 01:05:32,825
securing of networks and our ability to operate.

957
01:05:33,505 --> 01:05:41,165
And Bitcoin is a reality. It is a valuable computer science tool as a power projection.

958
01:05:42,065 --> 01:05:47,165
And outside of the economic formulation of it, it has got really important computer

959
01:05:47,165 --> 01:05:49,145
science applications for cybersecurity.

960
01:05:49,885 --> 01:05:54,705
Thank you. What recommendations do you have for us here in Congress on how the

961
01:05:54,705 --> 01:05:56,745
U.S. can lead on Bitcoin competition?

962
01:05:59,567 --> 01:06:03,187
You know, I have to go deeper on that with you for the record,

963
01:06:03,187 --> 01:06:08,687
and I can go deeper on that case, but Bitcoin is a reality.

964
01:06:09,607 --> 01:06:15,487
It is a peer-to-peer, zero-trust transfer of value.

965
01:06:15,727 --> 01:06:19,807
Anything that supports the all instruments of national power for the United

966
01:06:19,807 --> 01:06:21,687
States of America is to the good.

967
01:06:22,407 --> 01:06:25,947
Thank you. I'll have to go back and listen to that answer to kind of decipher

968
01:06:25,947 --> 01:06:28,407
it. Most of us entered your way over our head.

969
01:06:39,287 --> 01:06:43,567
All right i'm wrapping up at block height 946 207

970
01:06:43,567 --> 01:06:46,767
bitcoin going up going

971
01:06:46,767 --> 01:06:52,967
up us dollar one bitcoin now coming at 79 130 000 that makes our sats per dollar

972
01:06:52,967 --> 01:07:02,147
1 264 we are now under the 40 decline at a 37.3 decline 197 days out from our

973
01:07:02,147 --> 01:07:03,627
all-time high on october 6.

974
01:07:04,187 --> 01:07:07,787
Retarget date for The difficulty adjustment is May 1st. Currently,

975
01:07:07,947 --> 01:07:10,567
because it's fresh, it's a difficulty adjustment of 0%.

976
01:07:11,327 --> 01:07:17,087
We'll see that shift. There are 21,378 nodes on the network continue to decline a bit.

977
01:07:17,487 --> 01:07:21,467
Perhaps the great knots and core wars are over, and we're seeing some people

978
01:07:21,467 --> 01:07:23,047
decommission their nodes.

979
01:07:23,607 --> 01:07:29,507
Bitcoin is up 6.7% in the last seven days. We're up 10.6% in the last 30 days.

980
01:07:30,167 --> 01:07:33,627
Things are moving right along. The network is healthy.

981
01:07:43,347 --> 01:07:47,187
If you made it this far, I got links at thisweekinbitcoin.show.

982
01:07:47,367 --> 01:07:50,787
I'd love to see you at LinuxFest Northwest this weekend. If you're in the Pacific

983
01:07:50,787 --> 01:07:52,747
Northwest area, make the drive up to Bellingham.

984
01:07:52,867 --> 01:07:56,827
Come say hi. The weekend, I think, is going to be beautiful weather-wise.

985
01:07:57,267 --> 01:08:00,727
I hope at least. I'd love to talk a little Bitcoin in person, so come say hi.

986
01:08:01,087 --> 01:08:03,647
Now, if you can't make it, don't worry. We'll have another show for you.

987
01:08:03,727 --> 01:08:05,987
There's always the RSS feed, so you get every show automatically.

988
01:08:06,467 --> 01:08:11,767
My goal here is to do a show that doesn't get distracted by the emotions around

989
01:08:11,767 --> 01:08:15,207
what's happening, but it focuses on the signal for you so that way you can plan

990
01:08:15,207 --> 01:08:18,867
for yourself, your friends, your family, your business, whatever it might be.

991
01:08:19,007 --> 01:08:22,367
So let me know how I did with the Boost. It is a value-for-value show, after all.

992
01:08:22,847 --> 01:08:27,127
Also, speaking of Boost, if you send your Boost while the music plays this week,

993
01:08:27,387 --> 01:08:30,527
95% of your sats will go to our artist.

994
01:08:30,747 --> 01:08:36,507
And this week, our song is Pony Up Daddy by $2 Holla.

995
01:08:36,607 --> 01:08:40,027
I'll see you back here next week and maybe at LinuxFest Northwest.