1
00:00:00,017 --> 00:00:02,677
I think it was Heather Long at the Washington Post this morning who said it's.

2
00:00:02,677 --> 00:00:04,757
Looking more and more like the U.S.

3
00:00:04,797 --> 00:00:08,097
Inflation battle is done. Are you willing to go that far?

4
00:00:09,177 --> 00:00:15,217
Absolutely. I've been predicting since the summer of 2022 that we get to two

5
00:00:15,217 --> 00:00:20,977
to three percent by the end of last year and early this year.

6
00:00:21,197 --> 00:00:25,557
And we're basically there and we think that we'll get to two percent by the end of the year.

7
00:00:25,977 --> 00:00:29,417
If you take out shelter from the CPI, you're basically there.

8
00:00:29,877 --> 00:00:32,497
You know, when the kids in the backseat ask, are we there yet?

9
00:00:32,877 --> 00:00:36,097
We're there if you take out shelter. or we're at the... Ha, ha, ha, ha.

10
00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:47,760
Music.

11
00:00:47,057 --> 00:00:51,117
Welcome in to episode 23 of This Week in Bitcoin. Congratulations,

12
00:00:51,557 --> 00:00:54,897
everybody. Grab a hat, get Get some champagne.

13
00:00:55,877 --> 00:00:58,437
Mission accomplished. Inflation's been defeated.

14
00:01:00,177 --> 00:01:03,617
You didn't notice? Yeah, according to the world's top financial analyst,

15
00:01:03,777 --> 00:01:06,297
Daddy J-Pow, he's arrived.

16
00:01:06,517 --> 00:01:09,557
The economy is landing soft. He's pulling into the garage right now.

17
00:01:10,097 --> 00:01:13,837
It's good news, everyone, and you should feel really good.

18
00:01:14,717 --> 00:01:20,437
I mean, sure, inflation's up, but it's going up a lot slower. lower.

19
00:01:21,157 --> 00:01:26,217
So that's a win. The economists got this one right. Bang on.

20
00:01:26,397 --> 00:01:31,557
Two tenths increase in the core. Two tenths increase in the headline, just as forecast.

21
00:01:31,877 --> 00:01:35,057
Now, base effects are somewhat hard to measure. So we do see,

22
00:01:35,097 --> 00:01:40,077
even though we're in line with the headline number, we see it drop on a year

23
00:01:40,077 --> 00:01:45,037
over year basis to two point nine percent from three percent. That is better than.

24
00:01:51,437 --> 00:01:56,097
Better than expected is really why I think they're so excited.

25
00:01:57,077 --> 00:02:01,857
I mean, there is some signal in here. Inflation coming lower than expected always

26
00:02:01,857 --> 00:02:04,857
is really well received by the market. But here's the reality.

27
00:02:05,980 --> 00:02:10,280
Inflation at 3%, that's the first time it's gotten that low since March of 2021,

28
00:02:10,540 --> 00:02:11,540
if you go by their official number.

29
00:02:11,620 --> 00:02:16,280
And core inflation has dropped to 3.2%, which is the lowest since April of 2021.

30
00:02:17,420 --> 00:02:21,380
Okay. You know, I mean, I think 3% is still egregious.

31
00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,000
I think these numbers are counterfeit. But it doesn't really exactly matter

32
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,120
that I think that because the Fed follows these, the market follows,

33
00:02:28,300 --> 00:02:36,020
so I guess what matters is what they think, I suppose. I think the consumer is running out of juice.

34
00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,320
And besides looking at this stuff, one of the things that I watch is companies

35
00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:44,160
like Home Depot, because these companies represent new projects.

36
00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:49,820
But also, I think these companies can represent trying to repair what you already

37
00:02:49,820 --> 00:02:52,100
have, trying to keep what you've got already going.

38
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,660
And so where Home Depot goes, so goes the consumer.

39
00:02:55,980 --> 00:03:02,680
And they forecasted they expect things to go down. But its forecast is really the big news here.

40
00:03:02,780 --> 00:03:06,620
The company cut its comparable sales outlook for the year, saying it now expects

41
00:03:06,620 --> 00:03:08,620
a decline of 3 to 4 percent.

42
00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,780
It previously expected a decline of about 1 percent.

43
00:03:11,980 --> 00:03:15,920
While its forecast for total sales went up, that's only because Home Depot added

44
00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,920
sales from the recent acquisition of SRS Distribution.

45
00:03:19,380 --> 00:03:23,680
Otherwise, it would amount to a cut of both comparable sales and its total sales forecast.

46
00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:28,120
CFO Richard McPhail told me Home Depot is contending with a new challenge along

47
00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:29,200
with high interest rates.

48
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:35,260
It's heard that from home professionals like contractors. Pros tell us that

49
00:03:35,260 --> 00:03:38,540
for the first time, their customers aren't just deferring because of higher

50
00:03:38,540 --> 00:03:39,780
financing costs, he said.

51
00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,400
They're deferring because of a greater sense of uncertainty in the economy.

52
00:03:43,740 --> 00:03:47,560
So that's something that's new this quarter that they've been hearing more widely

53
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:49,640
from both those pros and DIY customers.

54
00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,680
DIY customers. In other words, people trying to repair stuff.

55
00:03:53,260 --> 00:03:58,240
And I just think there's no juice left, right? So over 10% of credit card outstanding debt.

56
00:03:59,013 --> 00:04:03,033
He's over 90 days delinquent now. With prices rising, major chains are looking

57
00:04:03,033 --> 00:04:04,233
at how to keep customers.

58
00:04:04,453 --> 00:04:08,193
That includes Starbucks, who replaced their CEO after just a year,

59
00:04:08,373 --> 00:04:10,033
bringing in the head of Chipotle.

60
00:04:10,373 --> 00:04:14,013
Tom Costello explains why he has a tall task ahead.

61
00:04:15,813 --> 00:04:20,033
This morning's news broke just as Americans were sipping their first cup.

62
00:04:20,133 --> 00:04:23,333
Breaking news to bring you, and this is big, Starbucks' CEO.

63
00:04:23,393 --> 00:04:26,573
The CEO of Starbucks, Loxman Nerisman, out. as

64
00:04:26,573 --> 00:04:29,733
the world's most iconic copy brand struggles with

65
00:04:29,733 --> 00:04:36,973
customers who've said no to higher prices Starbucks

66
00:04:36,973 --> 00:04:46,133
new CEO is Brian nickel who turned at Chipotle around after a devastating e

67
00:04:46,133 --> 00:04:52,253
coli outbreak in 2015 improving quality and using technology to speed up orders

68
00:04:52,253 --> 00:04:56,853
doubling Chipotle's revenue and we We thought he would be the right leader for this moment.

69
00:04:57,193 --> 00:05:01,353
Thank you. Have a good one. The new CEO's challenge, luring back Starbucks customers

70
00:05:01,353 --> 00:05:03,793
who've been driven away by inflation,

71
00:05:03,993 --> 00:05:08,853
long waits, and cheaper coffee at competitors. I don't like the prices.

72
00:05:09,433 --> 00:05:14,813
I think they have gone up a lot. It's a good bit cheaper at the local coffee shop.

73
00:05:15,133 --> 00:05:18,633
The move comes as higher prices have turned many Americans away.

74
00:05:19,133 --> 00:05:22,673
KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonald's, all reporting falling sales,

75
00:05:22,673 --> 00:05:28,973
are now offering value meals, while under nickel, Chipotle grew its revenue in the last quarter.

76
00:05:29,193 --> 00:05:33,413
What are the problems Starbucks has had with consumers? What do consumers want?

77
00:05:34,133 --> 00:05:37,353
Consumers are looking for value, and they want to feel like when they spend

78
00:05:37,353 --> 00:05:41,533
money at a premium brand like Starbucks, it's worth both their money and their time.

79
00:05:41,753 --> 00:05:44,793
$6 for a tall, small drink.

80
00:05:45,073 --> 00:05:48,553
Fed up with inflation, more Americans are simply saying no.

81
00:05:48,973 --> 00:05:51,453
Tom Costello, NBC News, Washington.

82
00:05:57,273 --> 00:06:00,233
So let's talk about how Bitcoin does fix this because I've talked a lot about,

83
00:06:01,624 --> 00:06:05,084
recently about how Bitcoin fixes this at the individual level.

84
00:06:06,044 --> 00:06:10,304
And I don't want to talk about that today. I think we have to zoom out because

85
00:06:10,304 --> 00:06:15,284
for the individual to be solved for, that means that every average Joe on the

86
00:06:15,284 --> 00:06:20,704
street has to understand Bitcoin and be hedging against their government, debasing them.

87
00:06:21,164 --> 00:06:23,484
So it just seems like we should zoom out a little bit.

88
00:06:24,584 --> 00:06:30,224
So before I do that, I just want to quickly put into practical terms how Bitcoin

89
00:06:30,224 --> 00:06:31,644
has protected individuals.

90
00:06:32,424 --> 00:06:35,164
Then we'll get into how it can protect the state.

91
00:06:35,744 --> 00:06:44,324
In 2016, the average U.S. house cost $288,400 or about 664 Bitcoin.

92
00:06:44,824 --> 00:06:51,524
In 2020, the average house price was $328,900 or about 45 Bitcoin.

93
00:06:51,984 --> 00:06:57,684
And now in 2024, the average house is $434,700.

94
00:06:58,164 --> 00:07:03,684
I wish they were that cheap in Washington, which works out to be about six Bitcoin.

95
00:07:04,184 --> 00:07:08,264
So do you understand now how Bitcoin protects your purchasing power over time?

96
00:07:08,644 --> 00:07:11,744
The cost of a house has gone up a lot.

97
00:07:12,544 --> 00:07:19,904
2020, just four years ago, they were $100,000 less, but they've gone down in terms of Bitcoin.

98
00:07:20,064 --> 00:07:24,524
They've gone up in terms of dollar and gone down in terms of Bitcoin.

99
00:07:25,584 --> 00:07:29,104
That's really powerful. That's truly protecting your purchase power.

100
00:07:29,984 --> 00:07:32,344
But what about the state?

101
00:07:33,304 --> 00:07:38,484
How can Bitcoin help protect the state, which in theory would help everyone

102
00:07:38,484 --> 00:07:41,044
because it's not good to debase the currency.

103
00:07:41,144 --> 00:07:44,864
It's not good to have a sovereign debt crisis. Nobody really wins from that.

104
00:07:45,684 --> 00:07:50,304
River put out a great article and a great video that talks a little bit about this.

105
00:07:50,444 --> 00:07:53,884
And I want to play a little moment, not all of it, but just a moment of it for you.

106
00:07:54,644 --> 00:07:58,704
Let's take the example of the United States to explain. The U.S.

107
00:07:58,724 --> 00:08:01,284
National debt is over $35 trillion today.

108
00:08:01,884 --> 00:08:05,864
Last year, over a trillion dollars in taxpayer money went towards paying off

109
00:08:05,864 --> 00:08:07,204
just the interest on this debt.

110
00:08:07,624 --> 00:08:12,464
Anything that can help the U.S. pay off its debt strengthens the financial position of the country.

111
00:08:13,597 --> 00:08:17,797
One way to strengthen your position is by holding assets that increase in value over time.

112
00:08:18,077 --> 00:08:22,657
If this happens faster than new money is being printed, then it could help a

113
00:08:22,657 --> 00:08:25,177
country pay off a larger amount of debt in the future.

114
00:08:25,717 --> 00:08:29,817
The orange line represents how Bitcoin has grown by an average of over 60% per

115
00:08:29,817 --> 00:08:31,057
year for the past 10 years.

116
00:08:32,097 --> 00:08:36,457
Bitcoin's value grows so fast because it has a limited supply of 21 million,

117
00:08:36,677 --> 00:08:41,277
making it more scarce than gold, currencies, and other stores of value.

118
00:08:41,277 --> 00:08:43,737
This supply can't be changed.

119
00:08:43,977 --> 00:08:48,077
You would have to convince the vast majority of the network participants that

120
00:08:48,077 --> 00:08:52,217
the Bitcoin they hold will become worth less, and they won't agree to that.

121
00:08:52,537 --> 00:08:56,877
Many people have tried to create copies of Bitcoin, but these never got close

122
00:08:56,877 --> 00:08:58,197
to having the same network effects.

123
00:08:58,957 --> 00:09:02,697
One country that already has a strategic Bitcoin reserve is El Salvador.

124
00:09:02,697 --> 00:09:09,597
It holds around 5,800 Bitcoin, worth around $340 million, and has made a profit

125
00:09:09,597 --> 00:09:12,957
of 38% or around $50 million so far.

126
00:09:13,437 --> 00:09:20,837
The United States already owns 213,246 Bitcoin today, more than any other country,

127
00:09:20,997 --> 00:09:25,157
by confiscating it from the Silk Road marketplace and funds stolen from the

128
00:09:25,157 --> 00:09:27,717
exchange Bitfinex. If the U.S.

129
00:09:27,737 --> 00:09:32,477
Could obtain 5% of all the Bitcoin supply, for example, this could help to pay

130
00:09:32,477 --> 00:09:34,737
off a significant portion of the national debt.

131
00:09:35,237 --> 00:09:40,277
If more countries create a strategic Bitcoin reserve, the price is impacted more.

132
00:09:40,517 --> 00:09:44,457
So being among the first countries to adopt it can be a great strategic move

133
00:09:44,457 --> 00:09:47,077
to increase your wealth relative to other countries.

134
00:09:47,377 --> 00:09:51,817
It forces all countries to consider this decision or risk being left behind. mind.

135
00:09:52,517 --> 00:09:57,117
Bitcoin and all of its individual holders also benefit from this adoption as

136
00:09:57,117 --> 00:09:59,857
owning and using it will keep getting easier over time.

137
00:10:01,277 --> 00:10:04,557
That's really the game theory right there, bringing wealth to everyone.

138
00:10:04,937 --> 00:10:08,817
Now, seven months ago, I'll note that the conversation that seemed crazy to

139
00:10:08,817 --> 00:10:11,737
us then was, what would the banks do with Bitcoin?

140
00:10:11,917 --> 00:10:15,917
Are the banks really going to adopt Bitcoin in some way? Are they going to fight it?

141
00:10:16,337 --> 00:10:18,717
Boy, have we really seen the answer to that this year, haven't we?

142
00:10:18,737 --> 00:10:19,877
With the launch of the ETFs.

143
00:10:19,877 --> 00:10:24,457
I mean, just yesterday, Goldman Sachs, famous Bitcoin haters,

144
00:10:24,657 --> 00:10:32,417
famous Bitcoin haters for years now, revealed they have $418 million in Bitcoin ETFs.

145
00:10:32,657 --> 00:10:38,217
So the conversation, the conversation is turning to how will governments use

146
00:10:38,217 --> 00:10:42,017
Bitcoins to solve their giant, crazy fiscal problems?

147
00:10:42,357 --> 00:10:45,917
You really just, you got to sit back and And sit back, I mean,

148
00:10:45,937 --> 00:10:50,597
and just appreciate the shift in that narrative, even if it's still going to take years. We're here.

149
00:10:51,120 --> 00:11:01,680
Music.

150
00:11:02,614 --> 00:11:06,354
All right, I got a couple of Kathy Wood clips. She is the CIO at ARK Investment,

151
00:11:06,534 --> 00:11:09,554
which she's got some hits. She's got some wins.

152
00:11:09,774 --> 00:11:14,354
But I think she's a very sharp gal. And she put out a video this week,

153
00:11:14,394 --> 00:11:16,134
and I want to play two clips from it for you.

154
00:11:16,174 --> 00:11:21,974
One is her thoughts on why we shouldn't get our hopes on a rate cut to solve

155
00:11:21,974 --> 00:11:24,034
us and save us, I should say, from a recession.

156
00:11:24,174 --> 00:11:30,594
Because actually, there is usually a lull or a dip when the market is expecting rate cuts.

157
00:11:30,674 --> 00:11:36,754
And Kathy explains. Now, why is the consumer going to weaken or continue weakening?

158
00:11:37,034 --> 00:11:41,594
We believe it's because corporations are losing pricing power.

159
00:11:41,714 --> 00:11:45,814
And in order to salvage margins, they're going to be doing two things.

160
00:11:45,814 --> 00:11:50,654
In other words, corporations have raised prices as far as they can get them.

161
00:11:50,754 --> 00:11:53,034
I mean, we just talked about McDonald's and Home Depot.

162
00:11:53,614 --> 00:11:57,174
They can't raise prices anymore. They still have their costs have still gone

163
00:11:57,174 --> 00:12:01,534
up a bit because inflation is still going up. They're raising wages that trickles in.

164
00:12:02,234 --> 00:12:06,414
California just passed a big, you know, a big law that impacts the wages at

165
00:12:06,414 --> 00:12:08,614
all McDonald's in California. They're absorbing those costs.

166
00:12:09,094 --> 00:12:13,934
So their costs are actually still increasing. But they've lost the power to

167
00:12:13,934 --> 00:12:16,374
charge the consumer more because the consumer's tapped out.

168
00:12:16,894 --> 00:12:21,754
Corporations are losing pricing power. And in order to salvage margins,

169
00:12:22,154 --> 00:12:23,654
they're going to be doing two things.

170
00:12:23,754 --> 00:12:32,194
They will be laying people off and they will be accelerating moves to increase productivity.

171
00:12:32,694 --> 00:12:37,074
I would say that we are going into a high alert for layoffs.

172
00:12:37,114 --> 00:12:39,154
We are entering a high alert phase. Yes.

173
00:12:39,704 --> 00:12:42,764
This is something I'm going to watch on the show, and this is for the listeners

174
00:12:42,764 --> 00:12:44,844
that work day jobs, 9 to 5.

175
00:12:45,584 --> 00:12:51,884
Be aware. High alert mode has been issued from this week in Bitcoin.

176
00:12:52,024 --> 00:12:54,764
And it's high alert because Cathie Wood is correct.

177
00:12:54,964 --> 00:12:57,984
They are going to want to maintain profit margins.

178
00:12:59,104 --> 00:13:01,764
Costs of doing business have gone up. They need to maintain margins.

179
00:13:02,464 --> 00:13:05,884
So they're going to have to do layoffs. Additionally, that means hiring is going to be soft.

180
00:13:06,584 --> 00:13:09,584
So layoffs are going to happen. and hiring is going to be soft.

181
00:13:10,524 --> 00:13:13,824
So this is the official warning right here from This Week in Bitcoin. Plan accordingly.

182
00:13:14,964 --> 00:13:17,444
Start building up some dry powder. I don't know what you do,

183
00:13:18,184 --> 00:13:19,724
but just start planning just in case.

184
00:13:20,204 --> 00:13:26,804
And they will be accelerating moves to increase productivity.

185
00:13:27,464 --> 00:13:34,264
So the unemployment rate will go up. That certainly is getting the Fed to change

186
00:13:34,264 --> 00:13:37,164
its spots as we're listening to Chairman Powell.

187
00:13:37,944 --> 00:13:44,124
And I think now that household net worth being hurt by the stock market going

188
00:13:44,124 --> 00:13:49,384
down is another reason that the Fed is going to relent.

189
00:13:49,604 --> 00:13:52,064
Now, one last thought here.

190
00:13:52,404 --> 00:13:57,604
Interest rates coming down should be very positive for the equity markets,

191
00:13:57,884 --> 00:14:02,924
but they will not arrest a recession very quickly.

192
00:14:02,924 --> 00:14:10,144
In fact, if consumers and businesses know that interest rates and maybe prices

193
00:14:10,144 --> 00:14:13,904
are coming down, what will they do? They will wait.

194
00:14:14,384 --> 00:14:19,804
Now, the market in its wisdom, we believe, already understands.

195
00:14:20,564 --> 00:14:24,324
Yeah, so they're already kind of pricing this in. We're kind of watching that develop right now.

196
00:14:24,764 --> 00:14:28,544
It could be. I mean, who knows the way this goes? It could be we avoid the recession,

197
00:14:28,664 --> 00:14:31,004
but it could be that we end up in a recessionary-like period,

198
00:14:31,044 --> 00:14:32,244
a rolling recession, if you will.

199
00:14:32,924 --> 00:14:35,124
That spreads, but our assets pump.

200
00:14:36,454 --> 00:14:39,974
Which would be really, really strange, you know, because you could be getting

201
00:14:39,974 --> 00:14:43,634
richer at the same time you're getting poor, which is essentially what's been happening.

202
00:14:43,714 --> 00:14:46,354
So it seems like we'll just see an acceleration of that, I guess. Not so strange.

203
00:14:48,294 --> 00:14:52,154
Actually, now that I think about it, no, that's about what you'd expect.

204
00:14:52,794 --> 00:14:57,874
All right. Then shifting gears, Kathy also talked about the state of the yen

205
00:14:57,874 --> 00:15:00,854
carry trade, which we talked about quite a bit in the last episode.

206
00:15:00,854 --> 00:15:09,274
It usually means the market is meeting a cathartic moment or is in a cathartic moment.

207
00:15:10,154 --> 00:15:13,294
And it usually means something is changing.

208
00:15:14,394 --> 00:15:20,234
And as you know, we have believed for quite some time that the U.S.

209
00:15:20,314 --> 00:15:26,134
Economy and maybe the global economy has been going through a rolling recession

210
00:15:26,134 --> 00:15:30,154
ever since the Fed started raising interest rates.

211
00:15:30,154 --> 00:15:34,814
Well, the other thing that was happening during that time, apparently,

212
00:15:34,814 --> 00:15:41,554
was an increase in the carry trade involving borrowing yen,

213
00:15:41,894 --> 00:15:50,034
so really shorting yen, and buying dollars and investing them into higher yielding

214
00:15:50,034 --> 00:15:54,654
assets than in Japan, so playing the spread.

215
00:15:55,034 --> 00:15:57,974
The other reason this became a very...

216
00:15:58,852 --> 00:16:03,752
Widespread trade is the yen has been depreciating.

217
00:16:03,912 --> 00:16:13,192
So shorting yen meant that the investor or the speculator was benefiting from the yen going down.

218
00:16:13,332 --> 00:16:20,512
Well, that changed abruptly this week as the Bank of Japan increased rates more

219
00:16:20,512 --> 00:16:23,852
than expected and seemed more determined

220
00:16:24,212 --> 00:16:28,392
to continue increasing rates than many people expected.

221
00:16:28,792 --> 00:16:36,532
So apparently, lots of margin calls and a sell-off in a lot of assets.

222
00:16:36,872 --> 00:16:44,332
And now the VIX has calmed down. Now, we're not sure if the carry trade has unwind completely.

223
00:16:44,912 --> 00:16:51,052
J.P. Morgan is saying we're halfway there. So perhaps we'll We'll see some more volatility.

224
00:16:51,272 --> 00:16:56,452
But I do believe that the Fed now is on high alert.

225
00:16:56,652 --> 00:17:01,072
See, she's kind of couching there, if you notice. She's saying JP Morgan says

226
00:17:01,072 --> 00:17:03,412
that the yen carry trade is unwound.

227
00:17:04,552 --> 00:17:09,132
Well, the reason why she's not saying that she believes that is because it's probably bullcrap.

228
00:17:09,592 --> 00:17:13,392
As long as the yen remains cheaper, the spread exists.

229
00:17:13,652 --> 00:17:17,872
As long as the spread exists, the degens on Wall Street are going to take advantage

230
00:17:17,872 --> 00:17:21,952
of it. In fact, if you look at the charts, it kind of looks like people are

231
00:17:21,952 --> 00:17:25,392
rebounding back into the yen right now, like they're winding back up,

232
00:17:25,452 --> 00:17:26,772
they're winding up, whatever you call that.

233
00:17:27,492 --> 00:17:32,232
So there has been some unwinding, but I don't think this goes away until the

234
00:17:32,232 --> 00:17:35,412
dollar is cheaper than the yen, right?

235
00:17:36,212 --> 00:17:39,212
Because that's why they're doing it. They're doing it so that way they can get

236
00:17:39,212 --> 00:17:42,212
themselves a nice, cheap loan.

237
00:17:42,732 --> 00:17:46,832
And then they can go lever up and get a bunch of whatever, assets or stocks.

238
00:17:46,832 --> 00:17:49,532
And as long as that spreads there, they're going to do it.

239
00:17:53,712 --> 00:17:57,692
Hopefully they're on it, right? Cross your fingers. Hopefully they don't blow the whole thing up.

240
00:17:58,816 --> 00:17:59,776
Moving right along.

241
00:18:03,896 --> 00:18:07,916
I do want to talk about Bitcoin and politics just for a moment.

242
00:18:08,036 --> 00:18:13,756
We're about 90 days out from the election and there's still a lot going on in this area.

243
00:18:15,456 --> 00:18:18,976
Circle had a representative. I don't I don't know if I let me see if I did.

244
00:18:19,056 --> 00:18:20,896
I note it down. See if I noted it down.

245
00:18:21,236 --> 00:18:26,756
Oh, it's the Circle CEO. You know, the guys behind USDC. They sat down on CNBC

246
00:18:26,756 --> 00:18:32,176
and they wanted to ask about crypto in politics because as I record,

247
00:18:32,536 --> 00:18:39,116
the Harris campaign is putting together a crypto for Harris Zoom meeting.

248
00:18:39,256 --> 00:18:41,216
And this is the second one that they've done.

249
00:18:42,116 --> 00:18:45,796
They've also had a little get together at the White House, which is what the

250
00:18:45,796 --> 00:18:51,716
Circle CEO was there to talk about, all in an effort to court the crypto community for Kamala Harris.

251
00:18:52,456 --> 00:18:57,156
Digital currencies should be a nonpartisan issue by now, you would think, but they are not.

252
00:18:57,336 --> 00:19:00,676
Joining us, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire is here.

253
00:19:00,836 --> 00:19:03,836
And you can save me from myself, or at least my voice right now.

254
00:19:04,316 --> 00:19:08,536
What do you think is going on here? And this sort of very interesting political

255
00:19:08,536 --> 00:19:11,436
bifurcation that's taking place in the crypto community.

256
00:19:11,716 --> 00:19:14,336
Says the guy that constantly politically bifurcates Bitcoin.

257
00:19:15,196 --> 00:19:20,816
It's fascinating to watch. As you know, I've been going to Capitol Hill for 11 years almost. most.

258
00:19:20,836 --> 00:19:26,036
First Senate hearing on crypto in 2013 and has spent an enormous amount of time

259
00:19:26,036 --> 00:19:29,936
across Republican administrations, Democratic administrations,

260
00:19:29,936 --> 00:19:31,516
you know, every which way.

261
00:19:31,876 --> 00:19:36,956
What's interesting is that if you look at what happened over the past year,

262
00:19:37,196 --> 00:19:42,156
you actually saw a lot of bipartisan work getting done.

263
00:19:42,276 --> 00:19:45,256
You saw major bills in stablecoin, major

264
00:19:45,256 --> 00:19:48,376
bills in market structure advancing and so

265
00:19:48,376 --> 00:19:51,176
it looked like this was a purple issue and I

266
00:19:51,176 --> 00:19:54,656
actually believe I think crypto is purple and and

267
00:19:54,656 --> 00:19:57,716
you know I think now we're in politics though

268
00:19:57,716 --> 00:20:01,876
we're trying to get people elected and so people are figuring out okay this

269
00:20:01,876 --> 00:20:06,216
is an industry here to stay there's a lot of investment from that industry in

270
00:20:06,216 --> 00:20:10,916
in in the campaigns themselves and so people are staking out these new positions

271
00:20:10,916 --> 00:20:14,896
but it actually reflects in many ways if you'd look two years ago,

272
00:20:15,076 --> 00:20:18,976
it would be very hard to believe that crypto is going to be a presidential political issue.

273
00:20:19,076 --> 00:20:22,416
It would be very hard to believe that there'd be major, major legislation.

274
00:20:22,916 --> 00:20:26,436
The industry would be where it is. You know, two years ago, it was a very different world.

275
00:20:26,856 --> 00:20:33,776
My observation, it is also notable the two different routes that the campaign seemed to be taking.

276
00:20:34,076 --> 00:20:38,776
Trump's route, they went to Nashville, seems to be a little more community focused.

277
00:20:40,524 --> 00:20:44,144
But Vice President Harris's route seems to be more outreach to the industry,

278
00:20:44,244 --> 00:20:48,564
like the Circle CEO, Coinbase, Mark Cuban, for some reason.

279
00:20:49,344 --> 00:20:51,924
They're looking more like they want to build ties with the industry,

280
00:20:52,024 --> 00:20:53,304
probably because that's where the money's at, I guess.

281
00:20:53,924 --> 00:20:58,764
But digging into Kamala Harris's advisor choices, it suggests that her plan

282
00:20:58,764 --> 00:21:02,504
right now, at least, is to keep Biden's advisors on crypto.

283
00:21:03,184 --> 00:21:07,324
Two of whom are key anti-officials in the Biden administration who were the

284
00:21:07,324 --> 00:21:11,484
key architects of Biden admin's anti-crypto crusade known as Chokepoint 2.0.

285
00:21:12,044 --> 00:21:13,344
She's bringing two of them along.

286
00:21:14,524 --> 00:21:18,264
It's possible they're temporary. It's possible they could pivot their policy

287
00:21:18,264 --> 00:21:21,704
because none of them seem to actually tightly hold any of their beliefs around

288
00:21:21,704 --> 00:21:24,124
crypto. They seem to be strategic beliefs around crypto.

289
00:21:24,724 --> 00:21:28,784
But we'll see. I'll keep an eye on how that crypto for Harris Zoom call goes

290
00:21:28,784 --> 00:21:33,024
tonight and report if anything interesting comes out. Now, on the Trump side,

291
00:21:33,184 --> 00:21:37,904
while he's been really good at outreach so far, he's not delivering on follow through.

292
00:21:38,584 --> 00:21:41,724
President Trump released a 20 core promises to America.

293
00:21:42,544 --> 00:21:46,604
It's a list of 20 promises. It's basically his platform in a top 20 style.

294
00:21:47,044 --> 00:21:50,044
There's nothing about Bitcoin or crypto on the list. Number 13,

295
00:21:50,324 --> 00:21:53,224
keep the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency.

296
00:21:53,984 --> 00:21:59,004
You know, maybe the story behind how you do that is via Bitcoin bailout somehow.

297
00:21:59,004 --> 00:22:01,704
But there's nothing on his list about Bitcoin.

298
00:22:01,884 --> 00:22:05,004
And, you know, it's notable after the big splash he made.

299
00:22:05,464 --> 00:22:08,444
There's really been no follow up. So I thought I'd point that out.

300
00:22:08,504 --> 00:22:10,364
But so neither one of them, I'm trying to say.

301
00:22:10,604 --> 00:22:15,384
Also, his sons are launching a new shit coin. So there's that as well.

302
00:22:17,118 --> 00:22:18,998
Nobody's going to have a perfect track record on this, right?

303
00:22:19,098 --> 00:22:23,358
It takes people years, even people that become maxis, it takes them years to sort it all out.

304
00:22:23,798 --> 00:22:28,858
What we really want to see is just that they'll govern from a pro standpoint,

305
00:22:29,138 --> 00:22:31,738
a pro view, because this is a pro human technology.

306
00:22:32,018 --> 00:22:35,778
And so that's what we're really watching to see from either camp.

307
00:22:36,178 --> 00:22:40,438
I feel like that signal is coming stronger, obviously from RFK and obviously

308
00:22:40,438 --> 00:22:44,518
from Trump. But the Harris campaign seems to be kind of fumbling around trying

309
00:22:44,518 --> 00:22:47,538
to figure out how to send that signal. They just they haven't figured it out yet.

310
00:22:49,518 --> 00:22:52,178
Now, I don't know if you spend any time on social media. I hope you don't.

311
00:22:52,258 --> 00:22:53,598
I do. So you don't have to.

312
00:22:53,938 --> 00:22:55,618
And one of the things that I've noticed

313
00:22:55,618 --> 00:23:00,558
is the question of who is Satoshi Nakamoto is rolling around a lot.

314
00:23:01,438 --> 00:23:05,798
Really, since the Bitcoin Nashville conference. I mean, it's a classic question.

315
00:23:05,798 --> 00:23:08,778
And this time conspiracy bacon really

316
00:23:08,778 --> 00:23:11,878
seems to be getting fried around who satoshi might be

317
00:23:11,878 --> 00:23:15,438
and i blame tucker carlson it started

318
00:23:15,438 --> 00:23:18,218
with tucker he was at an event it might have been the trump event something

319
00:23:18,218 --> 00:23:23,498
around the bitcoin conference he wasn't at the bitcoin conference and he claimed

320
00:23:23,498 --> 00:23:27,758
that the cia created bitcoin now i'm going to apologize first of all i don't

321
00:23:27,758 --> 00:23:30,198
usually play tucker carlson clips because it's not a political show and this

322
00:23:30,198 --> 00:23:31,898
isn't a political topic but i want to get into this.

323
00:23:31,938 --> 00:23:37,598
And second reason is, I don't know if this was like on YouTube tinies or some

324
00:23:37,598 --> 00:23:40,898
sort of tick tank or something like that, but it's got obnoxious music in the background.

325
00:23:41,078 --> 00:23:44,958
I apologize about that, but I want you to hear in his own words what he said about Bitcoin.

326
00:23:45,578 --> 00:23:49,478
Crypto people aren't just in it to make a buck. They're in it to change the world forever.

327
00:23:49,718 --> 00:23:53,018
These are not shallow people. These are people who can answer every single question

328
00:23:53,018 --> 00:23:56,458
except who was Satoshi, which they don't answer. Someone should answer that. Nope.

329
00:23:57,318 --> 00:24:01,198
I think we know. Anyway, in fact, I have a friend who's probably sitting here

330
00:24:01,198 --> 00:24:03,878
who told me he did know, but I don't believe him. And I don't care if it was

331
00:24:03,878 --> 00:24:04,998
the CIA, it doesn't matter.

332
00:24:05,138 --> 00:24:08,338
The idea is still a great idea. Obviously it was the CIA.

333
00:24:09,710 --> 00:24:13,030
It's like Signal. They got there first. It's a honey trap.

334
00:24:13,330 --> 00:24:15,930
Yeah, it's a honey trap. It was created by the CIA, he said,

335
00:24:16,010 --> 00:24:22,550
which then caused other investigative journalists like Tim Poole to go research. And he asked ChatGPT.

336
00:24:22,790 --> 00:24:26,350
And because ChatGPT gave him some sort of cryptic answer about who Satoshi Nakamoto

337
00:24:26,350 --> 00:24:29,470
is, he assumed, well, it's clear the CIA invented Bitcoin.

338
00:24:29,670 --> 00:24:33,090
So then you had Tim Poole and Tucker Carlson going around claiming that the

339
00:24:33,090 --> 00:24:35,570
CIA created Bitcoin since the Bitcoin conference.

340
00:24:36,130 --> 00:24:40,970
Now, it's funny because if you go listen to Tucker in another interview in a

341
00:24:40,970 --> 00:24:45,190
totally separate venue later on, he clarifies that he doesn't actually know

342
00:24:45,190 --> 00:24:46,870
that the CIA created it. He was just guessing.

343
00:24:47,230 --> 00:24:51,350
Start the crypto movement. I know you were at the Bitcoin conference recently

344
00:24:51,350 --> 00:24:55,130
and you told them CIA started Bitcoin. They got really angry on Twitter.

345
00:24:55,410 --> 00:25:00,070
I don't know that. But until you can tell me who Satoshi was, I have some questions.

346
00:25:01,290 --> 00:25:06,870
Yeah, sure. Some natural questions. And of course, also at that event where

347
00:25:06,870 --> 00:25:11,250
Tucker said that Bitcoin was created by the CIA, he revealed that he just clearly

348
00:25:11,250 --> 00:25:14,310
doesn't understand it at all. And it's so cringe embarrassing.

349
00:25:14,770 --> 00:25:16,890
Just be totally blunt with you. And I'm sure someone's filming this,

350
00:25:16,910 --> 00:25:21,450
but I don't really care until I can, I don't know, stage a getaway with Bitcoin.

351
00:25:21,790 --> 00:25:26,610
I'm serious. Until I can move from country to country with Bitcoin and not be

352
00:25:26,610 --> 00:25:29,770
tracked as I do it, as is my inalienable human right.

353
00:25:29,870 --> 00:25:32,830
I have the right of free movement as a human being. I had the right of free

354
00:25:32,830 --> 00:25:35,010
will as a human being. That was not granted to me by the government.

355
00:25:35,030 --> 00:25:36,750
I was born with that. It was bestowed by God.

356
00:25:36,910 --> 00:25:41,330
Until I can exercise that with this currency, it's less meaningful to me.

357
00:25:41,370 --> 00:25:46,110
The second I can, it will be something I'd lay my life down for because it's the key to my freedom.

358
00:25:46,550 --> 00:25:50,090
Well, there you go. He says he'd lay his life down. Just wait till somebody

359
00:25:50,090 --> 00:25:51,250
tells him about seed praises.

360
00:25:52,030 --> 00:25:54,970
I mean, that's embarrassingly cringe. It's massively embarrassing.

361
00:25:55,090 --> 00:25:57,870
What's he going to do? Take all of his mainstream media wealth and put it into

362
00:25:57,870 --> 00:26:01,310
gold and backpacks for his entire family and take that across the border?

363
00:26:02,090 --> 00:26:04,930
What does he think one of the advantages of a digital asset is?

364
00:26:05,070 --> 00:26:07,410
It's remarkable. It's just remarkable, the disconnect here.

365
00:26:07,970 --> 00:26:13,390
But also, I think we should just talk about the underlying claim that the CIA

366
00:26:13,390 --> 00:26:14,990
created Bitcoin. Let's talk about this for a minute.

367
00:26:16,336 --> 00:26:19,236
There's no proof provided. I think it's kind of ironic because some of them

368
00:26:19,236 --> 00:26:23,476
now claiming that Bitcoin is created by the CIA were actually folks that originally

369
00:26:23,476 --> 00:26:26,116
said, oh, just ignore Bitcoin. The government's going to ban it.

370
00:26:26,276 --> 00:26:29,236
So now they've gone from the government banned it to the government created it.

371
00:26:29,796 --> 00:26:33,376
And they never say, is this an all of CIA effort?

372
00:26:34,096 --> 00:26:37,796
Or is this like some sort of elite hacker team working inside the CIA in secret

373
00:26:37,796 --> 00:26:40,736
and nobody else knows about it? It's just this vague accusation.

374
00:26:41,536 --> 00:26:44,156
Sometimes they'll throw in like, well, you know, Tor or, you know,

375
00:26:44,196 --> 00:26:45,456
Signal. I think they do Signal, too.

376
00:26:46,336 --> 00:26:48,676
And I always think to myself, wouldn't the NSA make more sense?

377
00:26:48,796 --> 00:26:51,976
They're the crypto people over there. Why wouldn't you assume the NSA created it?

378
00:26:52,236 --> 00:26:57,076
But much like SE Linux, which was actually created by the NSA, it doesn't matter.

379
00:26:57,916 --> 00:27:02,476
Bitcoin is open source, and it has been since the start 15 years ago.

380
00:27:02,856 --> 00:27:08,856
In fact, most of Bitcoin Core has been completely refactored since Satoshi wrote it.

381
00:27:09,256 --> 00:27:11,156
Gloria Zhao, who is a Core contributor,

382
00:27:11,496 --> 00:27:15,316
said just as much on her chat with Natalie Brunel on her podcast.

383
00:27:15,316 --> 00:27:24,116
15 or so years ago when Satoshi first published the proof of concept code to

384
00:27:24,116 --> 00:27:27,596
today, it's evolved so much to be almost unrecognizable.

385
00:27:28,096 --> 00:27:34,336
Yes, yes. Just from a security perspective, I'll just put this out there first.

386
00:27:34,496 --> 00:27:39,136
Bitcoin Core is a very, very security-oriented piece of software compared to almost anything else.

387
00:27:39,396 --> 00:27:42,536
If it doesn't work properly, you might lose all your money.

388
00:27:42,816 --> 00:27:46,056
I don't want to like you know scare anybody but

389
00:27:46,056 --> 00:27:49,856
that you know it is a very security piece of software and it's going to be on

390
00:27:49,856 --> 00:27:53,896
this like anonymous peer-to-peer network and so the threat model is very severe

391
00:27:53,896 --> 00:27:57,536
compared to a lot of other applications that you might run on your computer

392
00:27:57,536 --> 00:28:03,756
and so that bar of security which has gotten higher and higher as the prices

393
00:28:03,756 --> 00:28:05,376
increase as there's been more users,

394
00:28:06,016 --> 00:28:11,096
that's also something where you need you actually need to change the code in

395
00:28:11,096 --> 00:28:12,856
order to do it's not It's not just, you know.

396
00:28:14,535 --> 00:28:22,135
It's actually maybe this is a little too serious but the the analogy that i use is like you know,

397
00:28:23,355 --> 00:28:27,455
democracy as as we know it it's not just like you wrote the constitution once

398
00:28:27,455 --> 00:28:31,235
and then like you're done democracy's fixed like we know how right you know

399
00:28:31,235 --> 00:28:32,635
it's like we see democracy,

400
00:28:33,315 --> 00:28:36,295
undermined all over the world if you're following the stolen election in venezuela

401
00:28:36,295 --> 00:28:40,335
right there's there's a lot of i guess you can call these implementation details

402
00:28:40,335 --> 00:28:44,595
that can undermine the design goal that you had,

403
00:28:44,695 --> 00:28:49,475
even if you outlined it in a very like kind of in very key ways where you're

404
00:28:49,475 --> 00:28:50,495
like, it's a decentralized network.

405
00:28:50,735 --> 00:28:54,875
But there's like all kinds of things that, you know, it's not just like it's

406
00:28:54,875 --> 00:28:56,815
going to be decentralized and then it just is.

407
00:28:56,975 --> 00:29:00,515
It's a constant effort and it's been almost completely rewritten.

408
00:29:00,635 --> 00:29:02,835
So again, it doesn't really matter.

409
00:29:03,395 --> 00:29:07,335
I know the Monero crowd likes to take potshots at Bitcoin for not being like

410
00:29:07,335 --> 00:29:12,375
more obscure or private by default, But Bitcoin's transparency in both its code,

411
00:29:12,435 --> 00:29:16,195
really in its code, its currency, its scarcity, the way the network functions,

412
00:29:16,455 --> 00:29:19,555
that's how people are going to drive trust down the road from Bitcoin.

413
00:29:20,135 --> 00:29:25,155
Now, the question of who is Satoshi Nakamoto, I actually don't know if it's

414
00:29:25,155 --> 00:29:28,775
one we should answer, but Dave Troy is trying to find out who Satoshi is.

415
00:29:28,855 --> 00:29:30,515
He's an investigative journalist out of Baltimore.

416
00:29:31,155 --> 00:29:36,475
Dave Troy is trying to find out who Satoshi's real identity is by sending freedom

417
00:29:36,475 --> 00:29:39,135
of information requests to the FBI.

418
00:29:39,895 --> 00:29:43,755
He's asking for any records they have to identify Satoshi Nakamoto.

419
00:29:44,335 --> 00:29:50,335
And Troy has received a response from the FBI this week. But it wasn't quite what he was hoping for.

420
00:29:50,975 --> 00:29:57,075
In not so many words, the FBI told him, quote, they can neither confirm nor

421
00:29:57,075 --> 00:29:59,955
deny the existence of any records on this person.

422
00:30:00,575 --> 00:30:04,115
Maybe he didn't get what he really wanted, but he thinks he got a win out of this.

423
00:30:04,175 --> 00:30:07,975
So Troy notes on X, he says, quote, Quote, for you FOIA nerds,

424
00:30:07,975 --> 00:30:11,655
this request was made via their all other subjects pathway, not the,

425
00:30:11,675 --> 00:30:13,175
quote, deceased individuals form.

426
00:30:13,395 --> 00:30:17,195
I submitted as a broad general subject request with full context.

427
00:30:17,455 --> 00:30:22,415
So it is the Bureau and not me that is asserting that this is an individual.

428
00:30:23,295 --> 00:30:28,055
Interesting. There you have it. Troy says that the answer he got back is that

429
00:30:28,055 --> 00:30:31,835
it is an it's an individual and not a group or something like that.

430
00:30:31,935 --> 00:30:35,155
I don't know. It could just be word games. He's going to continue to try to

431
00:30:35,155 --> 00:30:40,615
get information via the Freedom of Information Request form that he can fill out.

432
00:30:40,695 --> 00:30:43,235
And he has a couple of different pathways he can take to try to get information.

433
00:30:44,055 --> 00:30:46,275
So I guess I had a question for you.

434
00:30:48,155 --> 00:30:52,815
Do you think the U.S. government created Bitcoin? And do you want to know the

435
00:30:52,815 --> 00:30:54,095
identity of Satoshi Nakamoto?

436
00:30:54,795 --> 00:30:57,855
Do you want to know? Boost in and tell me. Tell me what you think.

437
00:30:59,335 --> 00:31:02,975
Hmm. I'm going to think about it. I'll read your answers and I'll give you my

438
00:31:02,975 --> 00:31:06,095
thoughts. I think I might surprise you.

439
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:16,080
Music.

440
00:31:16,030 --> 00:31:19,350
Your boosts a big batch of project updates, some new questions,

441
00:31:19,750 --> 00:31:22,470
and a final clip of the week if we have time. Jeez.

442
00:31:23,430 --> 00:31:28,110
First, though, I want to mention River. If you want a DCA, I recommend you do

443
00:31:28,110 --> 00:31:29,850
it with a Bitcoin-only company.

444
00:31:30,310 --> 00:31:34,850
River's built out their custody infrastructure, and the only thing they do is Bitcoin.

445
00:31:35,130 --> 00:31:39,010
But also, I think this is just as important, you want a company that supports

446
00:31:39,010 --> 00:31:43,310
Lightning, so you can protect your privacy and easily move your stack stats out cheap.

447
00:31:43,770 --> 00:31:46,770
If you're like me, it also makes it really convenient to dip them in liquid,

448
00:31:46,970 --> 00:31:49,750
consolidate, and then move them to cold storage.

449
00:31:50,330 --> 00:31:52,950
River supports Lightning. They have a lot of different options,

450
00:31:53,070 --> 00:31:56,430
and I think they're one of the best to do a DCA or a smash grab.

451
00:31:57,150 --> 00:31:59,870
Use my link in the show notes to use my affiliate link. It helps you out,

452
00:31:59,890 --> 00:32:01,450
and it helps me out, supports the show too.

453
00:32:02,190 --> 00:32:06,370
You can also check out the Bitcoin Company at thebitcoincompany.com and use the promo code Jupiter.

454
00:32:06,690 --> 00:32:11,150
You get some sats, I get some sats, everybody gets sats. They're on the Lightning

455
00:32:11,150 --> 00:32:14,690
Network as well, so you can convert sats into a gift card super quick when you

456
00:32:14,690 --> 00:32:16,490
need it. That's thebitcoincompany.com.

457
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:30,000
Music.

458
00:32:23,550 --> 00:32:29,730
I'll see you next time. All right.

459
00:32:30,870 --> 00:32:33,810
We got a lot of great boosts this week.

460
00:32:33,910 --> 00:32:41,190
But screw me, guys. Guys, screw me in my dumb ear because I was having node issues like all week.

461
00:32:41,290 --> 00:32:46,110
So only 8% of the total boost amount you sent in actually made it to the show.

462
00:32:46,610 --> 00:32:50,590
That would be because I have a self-hosted node for JB that 8% of the split goes to.

463
00:32:51,630 --> 00:32:55,090
So the good news is it means I got your message. The bad news is,

464
00:32:55,110 --> 00:32:59,570
yeah, I missed out on most of the boosts. But channel issues were my fault.

465
00:33:00,130 --> 00:33:04,030
They kicked my butt this week. but after what has really been weeks of inbound

466
00:33:04,030 --> 00:33:07,950
issues, I believe the issue is not only solved for me, but hopefully for all

467
00:33:07,950 --> 00:33:09,770
future AlbiHub users as well.

468
00:33:10,130 --> 00:33:13,390
And so what I'm gonna do to thank you is I'm gonna credit you for the full amount

469
00:33:13,390 --> 00:33:14,870
that you attempted to boost.

470
00:33:15,570 --> 00:33:20,710
So think of like the boost just being massively on sale this week because my

471
00:33:20,710 --> 00:33:24,090
node was down, so that portion of the split failed, so those stats didn't leave your wallet.

472
00:33:24,490 --> 00:33:28,310
But in the spirit of value for value, I'm going to read out what you intended to boost,

473
00:33:29,426 --> 00:33:32,186
Just because I think that's the right way to approach this. And,

474
00:33:32,206 --> 00:33:36,366
you know, at the end of the day, I'm just glad I got the messages, I guess.

475
00:33:36,866 --> 00:33:40,946
So let's get into it. Ask not what your podcast can boost for you,

476
00:33:41,066 --> 00:33:44,246
but what you can boost for your podcast.

477
00:33:44,506 --> 00:33:49,826
And we start with Dr. Eckhart, who comes in with 200,000 sats. Hey, rich lifestyle!

478
00:33:52,166 --> 00:33:56,366
Keep up the great work and hang in there, Chris. The universe is value for value. Well, thank you.

479
00:33:58,426 --> 00:34:04,326
You are our Baller Booster. Appreciate that, Doctor. Lime Hummingbird comes in with 80,000 sats.

480
00:34:04,426 --> 00:34:06,846
I hoard that which all kind covet.

481
00:34:07,046 --> 00:34:09,126
Well, I'm fairly new to the podcast, and I'm enjoying the content.

482
00:34:09,266 --> 00:34:10,446
Looking forward to new episodes.

483
00:34:11,006 --> 00:34:13,046
Well, thank you, Lime. Appreciate that.

484
00:34:13,666 --> 00:34:19,106
Rotted Mood comes in with 75,000 sats. I hoard that which all kind covet.

485
00:34:19,306 --> 00:34:21,446
Oh, yeah, I remember. We were chatting about this. This is my first boost after

486
00:34:21,446 --> 00:34:24,066
my Albie Hub. Whoa, congratulations. Congratulations.

487
00:34:24,986 --> 00:34:27,726
I know you are having some issues. We talked about this. He says,

488
00:34:27,746 --> 00:34:29,146
by the way, don't try it on a Pi Zero.

489
00:34:30,626 --> 00:34:33,526
Yeah, I don't even know if I'd recommend it on a Pi 4, to be honest with you.

490
00:34:33,546 --> 00:34:40,326
Maybe a Pi 5, maybe an Odroid, but I think 1-liter PCs and up are probably better for a lightning node.

491
00:34:41,975 --> 00:34:45,495
I'd actually be open to hear people's feedback on that, what you think a great

492
00:34:45,495 --> 00:34:48,255
low-cost lightning Bitcoin node machine is.

493
00:34:48,735 --> 00:34:51,055
But in my opinion, the Raspberry Pi no longer cuts it.

494
00:34:52,135 --> 00:34:56,555
Satsquanch comes in with 66,000 sats. Coming in hot with the boost. Yeah.

495
00:34:57,075 --> 00:35:01,075
He says, I'm sitting next to a pizza chef at our Thousand Oaks Bitcoin meetup,

496
00:35:01,095 --> 00:35:04,035
and one of the group handed cash for me to boost to you. So here we go, Chris.

497
00:35:04,375 --> 00:35:07,455
Godspeed. Woo! Make it so. Okay.

498
00:35:09,155 --> 00:35:13,415
Thanks, Satsquanch. That's really great. Great. See, you got a cash trade there. I like it.

499
00:35:14,055 --> 00:35:17,395
User 204 sends in 50,000 sats. Boost!

500
00:35:18,735 --> 00:35:21,195
Satsquanch here just wanted you to know that, Chris, how much we value your

501
00:35:21,195 --> 00:35:23,195
hard work. Oh, a double boost from Satsquanch under a different name.

502
00:35:23,315 --> 00:35:26,155
Just let you know how much we value your hard work, keeping us informed,

503
00:35:26,415 --> 00:35:30,535
keeping track of our Bitcoin HODL adventures. HODL heartily and stay the course.

504
00:35:31,495 --> 00:35:35,795
Thank you. You know what? I hoard that which your kind covet.

505
00:35:35,795 --> 00:35:38,375
You get another dragon there for that. Thank you, Satsquanch.

506
00:35:38,735 --> 00:35:43,155
I like that. Hoddle heartily and stay the course. Could be a good saying.

507
00:35:43,815 --> 00:35:50,955
Listener Jeff comes in with 42,222 sats. The answer to the ultimate question.

508
00:35:51,435 --> 00:35:55,015
Says that was another banger talking about the four horsemen of the market apocalypse.

509
00:35:55,495 --> 00:35:59,055
Keep up the great work. I really don't like the U.S. government buying up so much Bitcoin.

510
00:35:59,475 --> 00:36:04,035
I understand how it can help them, but it's like feeding a rabid dog the steak off your plate.

511
00:36:04,555 --> 00:36:07,315
You're just making it stronger, and you're going to get hungry yourself.

512
00:36:10,475 --> 00:36:16,355
Okay, I like it. He says it comes down to the golden rule. He who holds the gold makes the rules.

513
00:36:16,935 --> 00:36:20,395
Sure, there's no rules driving Bitcoin, but there's underlying rules in economics.

514
00:36:20,635 --> 00:36:24,895
If they hold the majority, they control the price. I prefer this currency to stay in our hands.

515
00:36:25,495 --> 00:36:27,555
Yeah, although I suppose the flip side of that would be true,

516
00:36:27,615 --> 00:36:30,875
too. Like, if they were to, like, irresponsibly sell it and dump it on the market,

517
00:36:31,355 --> 00:36:33,755
the value, like we saw happen to the German government, would crash,

518
00:36:33,755 --> 00:36:34,955
and they wouldn't get much out of it.

519
00:36:35,691 --> 00:36:38,331
I think we're probably going to happen, right? At some point,

520
00:36:38,371 --> 00:36:39,651
we're going to see some event like that.

521
00:36:39,711 --> 00:36:44,911
Some major hodler, like an ETF or a microstrategy or an individual,

522
00:36:45,151 --> 00:36:46,111
an early individual that just

523
00:36:46,111 --> 00:36:48,671
has a massive stack. We're going to see a massive sell-off eventually.

524
00:36:49,311 --> 00:36:52,591
I mean, we see it right now. Today, as I sat down to record tens of thousands,

525
00:36:52,671 --> 00:36:55,391
maybe 100,000 Bitcoin from the US government moved to Coinbase Prime.

526
00:36:56,071 --> 00:36:59,451
People start to go, it's going to sell. It'll happen. It will happen.

527
00:36:59,491 --> 00:37:00,911
I think people will buy it up.

528
00:37:01,431 --> 00:37:07,431
You're going to have to ride the vol. The traders love the Vol. Yeah, exactly.

529
00:37:08,571 --> 00:37:13,431
Jcube comes in with 23,000 sats. Put some macaroni and cheese on there,

530
00:37:13,471 --> 00:37:16,211
too. Says, appreciate what you do, and I just want to say, keep it up.

531
00:37:16,671 --> 00:37:19,731
We love the show. Thank you, Jcube. Love you.

532
00:37:20,591 --> 00:37:25,871
Adversary 17 also came in. 23,000 sats. Put some macaroni and cheese on there,

533
00:37:25,911 --> 00:37:26,971
too. There you go. Double Hank.

534
00:37:27,691 --> 00:37:30,811
Thanks for the FUD link. I'm going to give that a watch. It's an 11 out of 10

535
00:37:30,811 --> 00:37:33,111
episode, Chris. Love it. Wow. Thank you, man.

536
00:37:33,711 --> 00:37:37,051
That's really nice. I appreciate that a lot. I wasn't sure, you know,

537
00:37:37,051 --> 00:37:39,751
if the people liked the mission-focused episode or not.

538
00:37:40,131 --> 00:37:47,071
The Podfather, Adam Curry, comes in with 22,222 sats, also known as a McDuck.

539
00:37:47,171 --> 00:37:49,311
Things are looking up for old McDuck.

540
00:37:49,771 --> 00:37:51,771
Just thanks for the, quote, emergency podcast.

541
00:37:54,631 --> 00:37:58,231
Yeah, you're right, of Trump at the Bitcoin conference.

542
00:37:58,451 --> 00:38:01,831
I pulled several clips from it and credited you no agenda. Still weren't a full

543
00:38:01,831 --> 00:38:04,051
roll of ducks. Thank you, Podfather.

544
00:38:04,371 --> 00:38:07,251
You know, somebody's got to do it. You got the live-to-tape equipment.

545
00:38:08,071 --> 00:38:11,171
Why do all the TikTokers and YouTubers get to have all the fun?

546
00:38:11,751 --> 00:38:14,211
Right? I want to sit down and have the fun, too.

547
00:38:14,831 --> 00:38:18,191
And really, I just, you know, I want to help put things in perspective while

548
00:38:18,191 --> 00:38:20,011
the topic is hot and people are interested, too.

549
00:38:20,694 --> 00:38:25,114
Look at this, Crashmaster also coming in with 22,222 ducks.

550
00:38:25,294 --> 00:38:29,374
This old duck still got it. Here's an additional boost to my regular 100-sat

551
00:38:29,374 --> 00:38:32,214
streaming. Thanks, Chris. Well, thank you, Crashmaster.

552
00:38:32,874 --> 00:38:37,494
Mix comes in with 21,000 sats. There's coffee in that nebula.

553
00:38:37,974 --> 00:38:41,614
I like the concise updates on the important topics. I listened to that episode right away.

554
00:38:42,134 --> 00:38:43,954
Had to top off my wall to boost, though.

555
00:38:44,974 --> 00:38:51,174
Thank you for doing that. I appreciate that. LazyLox comes in with 20,000 sats. This is the way.

556
00:38:52,154 --> 00:38:55,254
Boosting and another boost. Thank you, LazyLux. Appreciate that.

557
00:38:55,374 --> 00:38:58,814
Halleck also came in with 20,000 sats. Everything's under control.

558
00:38:59,334 --> 00:39:02,354
Double my normal boost for the bonus episode. I appreciate the conference coverage.

559
00:39:02,574 --> 00:39:04,394
The politicians are not going to save us.

560
00:39:04,894 --> 00:39:08,154
But I'm blown by the movement of the overtone window. Yeah, me too.

561
00:39:08,274 --> 00:39:09,634
And I may have read that one before.

562
00:39:09,854 --> 00:39:12,694
Some of these may be dupes from my node. But thank you either way.

563
00:39:12,694 --> 00:39:13,974
Either way, I want to give you a shout out. And you're right.

564
00:39:14,374 --> 00:39:18,714
That is it. That is really it. This is the way. It's the movement of the overtone

565
00:39:18,714 --> 00:39:19,694
window that's really changed.

566
00:39:20,494 --> 00:39:22,414
Faraday Fedora sent in, RoaDucks.

567
00:39:23,694 --> 00:39:27,634
At the comment from the other listener who's saying that ETH has more use than

568
00:39:27,634 --> 00:39:31,354
Bitcoin, are these innovative services in the room with us right now?

569
00:39:31,934 --> 00:39:35,134
Also, the irony that that is coming in a boost on the lighting network.

570
00:39:35,294 --> 00:39:37,714
Well, you got to give them credit for using all technologies, right?

571
00:39:38,434 --> 00:39:41,174
At least they're informed on how boosts and sats work.

572
00:39:41,934 --> 00:39:45,354
I wonder, what is the major utility for Ethereum and Solana?

573
00:39:45,494 --> 00:39:50,074
If you get rid of all of like the meme coins. I think it's stablecoins, right?

574
00:39:50,294 --> 00:39:52,574
That's the use case, is stablecoins.

575
00:39:52,934 --> 00:39:56,774
I think the PayPal stablecoin. I could be wrong. I don't really follow this super closely.

576
00:39:57,194 --> 00:40:00,394
But I think the PayPal stablecoin is on Solana.

577
00:40:01,214 --> 00:40:03,854
And I think, you know, like USDC is on Ethereum.

578
00:40:05,094 --> 00:40:08,294
Coinbase is in so hardcore with Ethereum. They created Base,

579
00:40:08,514 --> 00:40:10,774
and it uses Ethereum as the base gas.

580
00:40:10,914 --> 00:40:13,514
It's so weird. It's a fair day. I don't understand how it works.

581
00:40:13,534 --> 00:40:16,214
But thank you for the boost. I appreciate it.

582
00:40:17,003 --> 00:40:22,403
Jordan Bravo sent in 11,110 sats. That's not possible. Nothing can do that.

583
00:40:22,703 --> 00:40:26,183
At the conference in Nashville, I visited the Start9 booth and saw their upcoming

584
00:40:26,183 --> 00:40:31,343
product, a plug-and-play router preloaded with their own fork of OpenWRT.

585
00:40:31,883 --> 00:40:35,043
They showed off the custom GUI they're building for it. I think the idea is

586
00:40:35,043 --> 00:40:38,243
that folks who don't want to deal with network configurations such as port forwarding

587
00:40:38,243 --> 00:40:41,843
can have a simple out-of-the-box solution. No release date was given yet.

588
00:40:43,003 --> 00:40:46,743
Thoughts? Hmm, that would make it simpler to manage firewall problems.

589
00:40:46,743 --> 00:40:50,523
I guess that's generally the problem with a lot of these start nine umbral type

590
00:40:50,523 --> 00:40:55,483
things is they have to use Tor to get around people's NAT and that kind of sucks.

591
00:40:56,143 --> 00:40:59,563
I don't know. I don't know if I want them changing the firewall rules.

592
00:40:59,663 --> 00:41:03,523
I'd rather they set up VPN mesh network like Tailscale or Nebula or something like that.

593
00:41:04,103 --> 00:41:06,383
Interesting product though, Jordan Bravo. I'll keep an eye out for it.

594
00:41:06,603 --> 00:41:10,943
He continues, DCing into Bitcoin allows me to ignore the panic in the market

595
00:41:10,943 --> 00:41:14,363
because I know I'm saving in the scarcest asset in existence.

596
00:41:14,363 --> 00:41:17,703
I appreciate the peace of mind that comes with not thinking about the,

597
00:41:17,723 --> 00:41:18,743
in the first place. Yeah.

598
00:41:19,263 --> 00:41:22,583
And not having to keep track of the fiat price. My goal is to increase the number

599
00:41:22,583 --> 00:41:25,003
of sats I hold and I'm gradually and continually achieving that goal.

600
00:41:25,103 --> 00:41:26,083
Thanks for the great show.

601
00:41:26,743 --> 00:41:31,243
That's a great way to think about it, Jordan. I agree. And thank you very much. Appreciate the boost.

602
00:41:31,823 --> 00:41:36,043
The tone record comes in with a space balls boost. One, two, three, four, five sats.

603
00:41:36,143 --> 00:41:40,003
So the combination is one, two, three, four, five.

604
00:41:40,683 --> 00:41:45,003
Drop in a shout-out to all the talented musicians showcasing Value for Value

605
00:41:45,003 --> 00:41:46,743
model in Nashville last weekend.

606
00:41:47,443 --> 00:41:50,763
Wavelake, which just hit 1,000 artists on the platform, and Toonster with video

607
00:41:50,763 --> 00:41:54,583
streams on Noster allowing zaps and boosts. It was epic.

608
00:41:55,883 --> 00:42:00,683
Massive, massive plus one to that shout-out. Really awesome to see what's happening

609
00:42:00,683 --> 00:42:01,703
with Value for Value music.

610
00:42:02,363 --> 00:42:05,543
Let's hope that the next Bitcoin conference is integrated deeply into the conference.

611
00:42:05,543 --> 00:42:12,723
And I think ultimately the Bitcoin conference folks are missing out massively

612
00:42:12,723 --> 00:42:14,883
on podcasting 2.0 and Boost.

613
00:42:15,343 --> 00:42:21,663
What we have done here with Boost and peer-to-peer sat transfer with Zaps and Boost is important.

614
00:42:21,843 --> 00:42:24,963
But I think even more important, which they should really tune into,

615
00:42:25,183 --> 00:42:28,323
is the medium of denomination is sats.

616
00:42:28,783 --> 00:42:31,943
I don't say you boost it in with $2.35. cents.

617
00:42:32,543 --> 00:42:34,663
I don't ever actually even convert

618
00:42:34,663 --> 00:42:37,803
these to USD. I don't know what the USD value even is. I don't care.

619
00:42:38,303 --> 00:42:42,803
Like Jordan, I'm just stacking sats. Like we all are. I don't care right now what the USD price is.

620
00:42:43,423 --> 00:42:48,203
But it is a massive shift to start denominating things in sats,

621
00:42:48,243 --> 00:42:52,463
let alone the fact that we're sending and streaming sats and paying for music

622
00:42:52,463 --> 00:42:56,523
artists to create great songs that lets them play on podcasts that was never

623
00:42:56,523 --> 00:43:00,363
accessible for like huge shifts that they're just completely missing over there.

624
00:43:01,003 --> 00:43:03,963
Hopefully, maybe the next Bitcoin conference. I really think it's something

625
00:43:03,963 --> 00:43:06,103
they should be paying more attention to. And one of the ways they could do that

626
00:43:06,103 --> 00:43:07,343
is integrate those great musicians.

627
00:43:08,083 --> 00:43:11,283
I'm glad they were kind of around the area, though. That might be the very first

628
00:43:11,283 --> 00:43:15,263
start to wider recognition. Thank you, ToneWrecker. Appreciate that boost.

629
00:43:17,013 --> 00:43:20,033
OrangePillLawyer25. Nice. Are you actually a Bitcoin lawyer?

630
00:43:20,313 --> 00:43:21,513
Comes in with a row of ducks.

631
00:43:22,713 --> 00:43:27,073
Am I sacrificing privacy by putting my XBub into BlueWallet to track my cold

632
00:43:27,073 --> 00:43:28,753
card balance? No, I don't think so.

633
00:43:29,093 --> 00:43:32,113
I don't think BlueWallet does any kind of uploading to a cloud server.

634
00:43:32,753 --> 00:43:35,573
And you're just reading the keys. You're not writing to the blockchain.

635
00:43:35,913 --> 00:43:37,173
You're not sending transactions.

636
00:43:38,053 --> 00:43:40,653
So I don't think you're making any kind of privacy mistake there.

637
00:43:40,693 --> 00:43:41,933
Now, I'm not a BlueWallet expert.

638
00:43:42,533 --> 00:43:45,073
So you just want to double check they're not doing like a cloud backup up that

639
00:43:45,073 --> 00:43:48,253
might be readable by their servers, I would doubt it. I have seen BlueWalt.

640
00:43:48,333 --> 00:43:49,913
I have used it. It's just been a long time.

641
00:43:50,093 --> 00:43:52,393
So from my recollection, your tote's fine.

642
00:43:52,893 --> 00:43:57,173
The Golden Dragon comes in with 18,100 sats.

643
00:44:00,093 --> 00:44:04,513
I'm not really a fan of the U.S. having a reserve. Yeah, I think we did talk about that.

644
00:44:04,913 --> 00:44:06,513
But he says the folks that came

645
00:44:06,513 --> 00:44:09,733
out of the woodwork to bash Bitcoin in the hard times just don't get it.

646
00:44:09,753 --> 00:44:13,373
It's incredibly obvious that they just want to keep us entrenched in fiat for their own good.

647
00:44:13,813 --> 00:44:17,093
He says, I find immense value from these breaking type shows. Thank you, Dragon.

648
00:44:17,933 --> 00:44:21,993
I agree. It's got to be at this point, like Aaron Sorkin. What are you doing,

649
00:44:22,053 --> 00:44:25,813
buddy, over there? Like, what are you doing? Figure it out. Really incredible.

650
00:44:26,773 --> 00:44:31,453
Bitcoin Lizard comes in with 10,000 sats. Yeah, all right. Fun will now commence.

651
00:44:32,493 --> 00:44:35,353
Albie Hub Test Boost, always happy to open a channel to your new node to give

652
00:44:35,353 --> 00:44:36,733
you some extra inbound liquidity.

653
00:44:36,913 --> 00:44:39,613
Thank you, Bitcoin Lizard. I have been rearranging channels as you might have

654
00:44:39,613 --> 00:44:42,533
seen from your self-hosted node. I mean, that might be a good option.

655
00:44:43,233 --> 00:44:48,793
I think I'm okay right now wallet of Satoshi has been really beneficial to open

656
00:44:48,793 --> 00:44:52,973
a channel to but you have to minimum right now 5 million sats so that's one

657
00:44:52,973 --> 00:44:55,413
of the great things about the boosts as they come in is I can turn it around

658
00:44:55,413 --> 00:44:59,093
and use it for channel liquidity so I really appreciate that can put those sats to work right away,

659
00:45:00,449 --> 00:45:04,989
Ace Ackerman comes in with 4,444 sats. Ah, fuck!

660
00:45:05,409 --> 00:45:08,349
You know, Chris, sometimes it takes a while before people recognize real quality.

661
00:45:08,469 --> 00:45:09,869
Just keep providing great content.

662
00:45:10,169 --> 00:45:13,689
And here's a row of ducks, which is much better than cuck bucks.

663
00:45:13,889 --> 00:45:15,369
Because Sorkin is a psyop.

664
00:45:15,969 --> 00:45:20,389
You know what? I agree with you on that one. What is his deal?

665
00:45:22,209 --> 00:45:27,249
Podbun comes in with 5,000 sats. Mr. Bustin with happiness seeing you again.

666
00:45:27,489 --> 00:45:30,289
Great coverage as always. Just getting back into listening to podcasts.

667
00:45:30,609 --> 00:45:33,629
Hope everyone is well. Podbun, I'm glad you're getting back into podcasts.

668
00:45:34,169 --> 00:45:40,449
I recommend it. It is a high-fiber media diet. Much better than the mainstream media fast food crap.

669
00:45:42,509 --> 00:45:46,529
Mug Daddy comes in with 10,000 sats. It's over 9,000!

670
00:45:47,349 --> 00:45:50,549
See how there's no chance the U.S. government is going to return stolen Bitcoin?

671
00:45:50,809 --> 00:45:53,889
I'd rather they toss them in a strategic reserve than just randomly sell

672
00:45:53,889 --> 00:45:56,709
them that's a good point because that's

673
00:45:56,709 --> 00:45:59,509
probably what they're going to do also recognizing the

674
00:45:59,509 --> 00:46:02,489
absurdity and expecting consistency a strategic reserve would

675
00:46:02,489 --> 00:46:05,269
treat it as a currency rather than a security which is cool

676
00:46:05,269 --> 00:46:09,949
for tax purposes love the show that's a great boost mug daddy great to hear

677
00:46:09,949 --> 00:46:17,509
from you thank you piter come no piger piger p-y-j-t-r p-y-j-t-r piger i don't

678
00:46:17,509 --> 00:46:21,609
know how you say that man but i appreciate the boost thank you for the valuable

679
00:46:21,609 --> 00:46:22,889
content greetings Greetings from the EU.

680
00:46:23,349 --> 00:46:26,249
Oh, man, thank you for... You know, I don't hear from a lot of folks from the

681
00:46:26,249 --> 00:46:30,069
EU because I feel like Bitcoin has such a bad reputation across the pond in

682
00:46:30,069 --> 00:46:31,809
general, in the EU and in the UK.

683
00:46:31,949 --> 00:46:34,369
And so it's really nice to hear from listeners over there. Thank you.

684
00:46:34,389 --> 00:46:35,169
I appreciate that boost.

685
00:46:36,309 --> 00:46:40,309
ReadyTake4 is back. I love it. With 10,000 sats. That's not possible.

686
00:46:40,449 --> 00:46:42,289
Nothing can do that. ReadyTake4 did.

687
00:46:42,849 --> 00:46:46,749
Plus one for the focused episodes. Always appreciate the high signal. Okay, roger that.

688
00:46:47,749 --> 00:46:51,349
I will keep doing them. You know, I won't overdo them. I'll just do them when

689
00:46:51,349 --> 00:46:53,569
they seem appropriate. but I will keep at it.

690
00:46:54,921 --> 00:46:58,181
Digital Farmer, I think I got these boosts before, but I loved it because they

691
00:46:58,181 --> 00:47:01,941
were new and they just got boosting set up and they're using Breeze.

692
00:47:02,161 --> 00:47:05,701
And they sent in a boost that I thought was particularly funny.

693
00:47:06,361 --> 00:47:09,521
And you know what? I'm going to read it. Hopefully, he says,

694
00:47:09,641 --> 00:47:14,901
there's no issue in taking my sats as they were converted from altcoin staking rewards. Roger that.

695
00:47:16,561 --> 00:47:21,701
You know what? Sats are sats, man. You cashed out those staking rewards and

696
00:47:21,701 --> 00:47:25,301
you bought a hard asset. set. So I can't complain about that.

697
00:47:26,781 --> 00:47:30,381
It's the first time I've ever seen that, and it did make me laugh.

698
00:47:30,501 --> 00:47:31,541
I really appreciate that.

699
00:47:32,521 --> 00:47:36,981
Anonymous comes in with 5,100 sats. Everything's under control.

700
00:47:37,141 --> 00:47:38,221
Keep up the good work, they say.

701
00:47:38,461 --> 00:47:41,161
And Glacier came in with a row of ducks.

702
00:47:42,361 --> 00:47:45,221
First time booster and a party member. Oh, thank you.

703
00:47:46,161 --> 00:47:49,721
Appreciate that. I'm new to Bitcoin, but I'm learning fast thanks to this show.

704
00:47:49,801 --> 00:47:53,161
I was watching the markets carefully on Monday and was excited to see this episode

705
00:47:53,161 --> 00:47:57,541
come out and hear your take keep up the great work with increasing centralization

706
00:47:57,541 --> 00:48:01,221
of tech your show keeps me optimistic about the future of independent media,

707
00:48:01,741 --> 00:48:07,141
hey plus one to that right i i tell you i hope so let's see let's round it out

708
00:48:07,141 --> 00:48:09,941
there's so many boosts i really appreciate you guys really what it is is some

709
00:48:09,941 --> 00:48:12,741
of them are dupes some of them i missed before and i want to get in here but

710
00:48:12,741 --> 00:48:16,621
we're going to round it out bit cryptic says thanks for the thanks from the

711
00:48:16,621 --> 00:48:19,041
southern hemisphere he sent 2048 sets.

712
00:48:20,974 --> 00:48:24,514
And that right there is all of the boosts I could track with a message.

713
00:48:24,594 --> 00:48:26,154
And that's not all the boosts we got.

714
00:48:26,274 --> 00:48:32,414
I actually had 68 boosts that I was able to scrape together across 49 individual boosters.

715
00:48:32,654 --> 00:48:40,674
There was also 46 individual SAT streamers who streamed a total of 64,523 SATs,

716
00:48:40,674 --> 00:48:42,054
bringing the show's total.

717
00:48:42,054 --> 00:48:51,914
Total, total sats collected for this episode, when you include everything, 884,311 sats.

718
00:48:56,214 --> 00:49:01,794
Now, the reality is only about 8% of that made it to this show, but that's on me.

719
00:49:01,994 --> 00:49:04,574
But I'd love it and invite you to consider boosting again.

720
00:49:05,334 --> 00:49:08,134
Truly now, for the love of Satoshi, my node should be working.

721
00:49:08,234 --> 00:49:10,674
I need to know if it's not working, so there's that as well.

722
00:49:11,374 --> 00:49:12,354
Lightning's so easy, guys.

723
00:49:13,114 --> 00:49:16,834
Everybody knows it. Lightning's so easy. What's your problem?

724
00:49:16,954 --> 00:49:18,454
I don't understand. It's fine.

725
00:49:19,274 --> 00:49:23,874
Man, talk about a bad week to have node problems, but so grateful for all of

726
00:49:23,874 --> 00:49:26,854
the incredible support there, and I would love to hear from you if I did miss

727
00:49:26,854 --> 00:49:28,134
your boost, which is possible.

728
00:49:28,934 --> 00:49:32,594
Please let me know. Send another note back in, and I'll try to go find it.

729
00:49:32,654 --> 00:49:33,934
And also, consider boosting again.

730
00:49:34,114 --> 00:49:37,054
Really appreciate it, and I'd love to keep the support rolling for this week in Bitcoin.

731
00:49:39,054 --> 00:49:42,954
How about some project updates? lightning.pub

732
00:49:42,954 --> 00:49:46,394
has reached a huge milestone this is

733
00:49:46,394 --> 00:49:49,214
a noster native lightning node that allows you to share your

734
00:49:49,214 --> 00:49:53,274
node with other noster accounts so essentially their noster id becomes their

735
00:49:53,274 --> 00:49:59,854
key to use your lightning nodes kind of like a you know like a semi uncle john

736
00:49:59,854 --> 00:50:05,654
jim kind of setup and it also has well they promise at least automatic channel

737
00:50:05,654 --> 00:50:07,814
management which sounds Sounds really, really nice.

738
00:50:07,974 --> 00:50:13,514
And this week, they announced one-line deployments to get up and running with Lightning Pub.

739
00:50:13,674 --> 00:50:16,834
I'll play a little bit. The dev over there, Justin, who's a Lightning developer

740
00:50:16,834 --> 00:50:21,854
and a head over at ShockNet, he demoed it. And I got a little bit of that demo for you.

741
00:50:23,396 --> 00:50:26,456
Howdy folks, it's Justin from ShockNet. I just wanted to share something with

742
00:50:26,456 --> 00:50:32,216
you that we shipped today, and that is a one-line deployment for LightningPub,

743
00:50:32,256 --> 00:50:35,156
which is a Nostr-powered LightningNode.

744
00:50:35,256 --> 00:50:39,536
It makes it the easiest way to set up a LightningNode, and it integrates Nostr

745
00:50:39,536 --> 00:50:44,696
as an account system, so you can connect apps and family and friends to your

746
00:50:44,696 --> 00:50:49,296
LightningNode as guest users without any complicated networking.

747
00:50:49,296 --> 00:50:52,056
Working so this means you can use like an old laptop you know

748
00:50:52,056 --> 00:50:55,036
from your home or literally a five dollar vps we're using

749
00:50:55,036 --> 00:50:58,156
neutrino just like a mobile lightning node so

750
00:50:58,156 --> 00:51:03,816
it's super light and going to super cheap vps and there's no easier way to spin

751
00:51:03,816 --> 00:51:06,836
up a lightning node and share it with friends and family and all that stuff

752
00:51:06,836 --> 00:51:09,316
so i'm going to show you right here let me tell you anything that's going to

753
00:51:09,316 --> 00:51:12,336
make lightning easier to get up and going and work for people i'm a big fan

754
00:51:12,336 --> 00:51:17,116
of and along that same line zeus has launched two new olympus integrations olympus

755
00:51:17,116 --> 00:51:18,076
is our liquidity provider,

756
00:51:18,356 --> 00:51:21,936
one with lightning.pub, and another with Mutiny Wallet.

757
00:51:21,936 --> 00:51:24,856
Now, Mutiny Wallet, and I'll put a link to this, has announced that the team

758
00:51:24,856 --> 00:51:29,796
behind it is retiring and shutting down, which is a damn shame because it's fantastic technology.

759
00:51:30,616 --> 00:51:36,556
But even though the project is shutting down, it's open source and it's self-hosted.

760
00:51:36,576 --> 00:51:38,496
So it's going to continue to be used by users.

761
00:51:38,636 --> 00:51:40,996
And this integration will work with that self-hosted version.

762
00:51:41,056 --> 00:51:45,556
In fact, it'll just become the default if you want to open up a lightning channel in Mutiny.

763
00:51:46,376 --> 00:51:49,996
Zeus's LSP just makes that really easy. It already works in the Zeus app super well.

764
00:51:50,016 --> 00:51:54,396
So to see them kind of expand beyond the Zeus app is an interesting play for

765
00:51:54,396 --> 00:51:55,556
them, and I think a good development.

766
00:51:56,276 --> 00:51:59,316
Moving on, there's more OpenSAT grants this week.

767
00:51:59,456 --> 00:52:04,076
Now, OpenSAT has a nonprofit set aside just for Nostra, and OpenSAT sends,

768
00:52:04,276 --> 00:52:10,456
well, they're a Bitcoin-focused funding group that primarily sponsors Freedom Tech projects,

769
00:52:10,716 --> 00:52:14,596
has announced a sixth wave of Nostra grants, awarding nine projects.

770
00:52:15,196 --> 00:52:18,476
Yeah, there's six wave of NostraGrants from their Nostra Fund.

771
00:52:18,636 --> 00:52:22,176
The organization has also granted long-term support for a developer who will

772
00:52:22,176 --> 00:52:27,456
use it to improve the Snort client and develop native apps for Zap.Stream,

773
00:52:27,616 --> 00:52:32,076
including a new backend to create a marketplace of streaming providers.

774
00:52:33,056 --> 00:52:36,376
That's interesting to me. I'll have to watch that one. I think it could be very

775
00:52:36,376 --> 00:52:39,836
interesting. And then the last project I want to mention this week is Fetty.

776
00:52:41,203 --> 00:52:44,083
The first full release of what they're calling their super app,

777
00:52:44,243 --> 00:52:48,003
at least in their live stream, has been announced. The app is now available on Android and iOS.

778
00:52:48,183 --> 00:52:51,323
Fetty is currently, quote, source available, meaning the code is available for

779
00:52:51,323 --> 00:52:52,263
inspection by the public.

780
00:52:52,703 --> 00:52:56,023
But the project isn't set to actually transition to a full AGPL open source

781
00:52:56,023 --> 00:53:00,083
license until January of 2026, although it seems they've already locked that in.

782
00:53:00,683 --> 00:53:06,003
Fetty is interesting. To me, all this technology is so early that right now I stick with Liquid.

783
00:53:06,443 --> 00:53:09,703
But it doesn't mean it won't be something that I'll play around with in the future.

784
00:53:11,203 --> 00:53:15,743
All right. So I wanted to answer some noob questions and I'm already running tight on time.

785
00:53:16,063 --> 00:53:21,023
So I'm going to get to just one. In episode 21, Monty33 boosted in a batch of

786
00:53:21,023 --> 00:53:23,343
great newbie questions that I think I should answer.

787
00:53:23,443 --> 00:53:27,323
So that way, people from the JB audience or the podcasting to the audience that

788
00:53:27,323 --> 00:53:32,463
have found this show that don't really know Bitcoin yet can get a few fundamentals under their belt.

789
00:53:33,203 --> 00:53:35,763
And I'm going to start with one big question that Monty asked,

790
00:53:35,863 --> 00:53:37,543
and we'll get to the other ones in future episodes.

791
00:53:37,863 --> 00:53:43,043
And that question simply was, why does Bitcoin have value?

792
00:53:43,683 --> 00:53:47,663
I'd love to hear your answer if you want to pause right now and send it in your answer.

793
00:53:48,263 --> 00:53:52,283
But I think to understand this, you need to understand the four things that

794
00:53:52,283 --> 00:53:55,063
gives money in general utility and value.

795
00:53:55,523 --> 00:53:58,743
For money to be good money, it must be a medium of exchange,

796
00:53:59,083 --> 00:54:03,843
a store of value, a unit of account, and I'd say it probably needs to be accepted

797
00:54:03,843 --> 00:54:06,303
as a means to settle a debt or an obligation over time.

798
00:54:07,243 --> 00:54:11,983
Bitcoin is pharmaceutical-grade money. It is the best version of these things.

799
00:54:12,083 --> 00:54:14,343
It is a much, much better medium of exchange.

800
00:54:14,763 --> 00:54:17,883
It has its own built-in network. It's peer-to-peer.

801
00:54:18,483 --> 00:54:20,723
It's much faster than the dollar to transmit.

802
00:54:21,483 --> 00:54:25,423
It is a great store of value. Anybody that's held Bitcoin for more than a few

803
00:54:25,423 --> 00:54:28,983
years has made money. No one's ever lost money over four years of holding Bitcoin.

804
00:54:30,193 --> 00:54:32,613
Bitcoin is already being used as a unit account all over the world.

805
00:54:32,673 --> 00:54:35,593
Well, this is growing, but an example right here is on this podcast.

806
00:54:35,853 --> 00:54:39,033
Your sats that come in for a boost are a unit of account.

807
00:54:39,793 --> 00:54:44,233
Bitcoin is the ultimate money. And so its utility is inherent because of that.

808
00:54:44,633 --> 00:54:46,553
It's the best version of money.

809
00:54:47,293 --> 00:54:50,473
Additionally, it's scarce. There's a fixed supply capped at 21 million.

810
00:54:50,773 --> 00:54:55,033
It's decentralized and it operates independently of banks or government,

811
00:54:55,033 --> 00:54:59,033
it, which means it operates without the risk of sovereign debt,

812
00:54:59,333 --> 00:55:02,093
sovereign crises, or bank collapse.

813
00:55:02,713 --> 00:55:06,873
Its security is top-notch. It's considered the highest secure network out there.

814
00:55:07,093 --> 00:55:11,013
It has so much compute power behind it. It has a huge network effect.

815
00:55:11,213 --> 00:55:14,493
More and more people trust it. More and more value comes from it every day.

816
00:55:14,773 --> 00:55:17,813
It's transparent. All transactions are recorded on public ledger.

817
00:55:17,873 --> 00:55:18,753
The network is transparent.

818
00:55:19,313 --> 00:55:21,853
The coin is transparent. The code is transparent.

819
00:55:22,533 --> 00:55:27,093
It's divisible. It can be divided into very small units, enabling microtransactions

820
00:55:27,093 --> 00:55:28,653
like you see here in these podcasts.

821
00:55:29,153 --> 00:55:34,833
And it's portable. It can be moved and transferred globally without physical limitations.

822
00:55:35,313 --> 00:55:39,733
It is the best form and utility of money man has ever created.

823
00:55:40,033 --> 00:55:42,833
And money naturally flows to where it's treated the best.

824
00:55:43,893 --> 00:55:49,013
And Bitcoin's created by proof of work. Proof of work uses a real world commodity, energy.

825
00:55:49,453 --> 00:55:53,853
So Bitcoin is created from something valuable. So that sets the floor price

826
00:55:53,853 --> 00:55:57,393
for Bitcoin long term because these mining operations have to make money.

827
00:55:57,833 --> 00:55:59,033
They have the cost of mine.

828
00:55:59,533 --> 00:56:03,813
They got staff. They got a whole business operation. There's a floor there.

829
00:56:04,413 --> 00:56:07,353
And that can also set the price long term. Well, sometimes, of course,

830
00:56:07,473 --> 00:56:11,253
the volatility will buck away from that price. Sometimes it'll dip below it.

831
00:56:11,373 --> 00:56:14,653
But ultimately, it has to at least be at that cost to mine Bitcoin.

832
00:56:14,653 --> 00:56:18,973
The last time I looked, I think the floor cost is somewhere in the mid-50s to

833
00:56:18,973 --> 00:56:21,473
mine Bitcoin, a single Bitcoin right now, $50,000.

834
00:56:21,733 --> 00:56:24,053
It's really expensive. It's an incredible cost.

835
00:56:24,853 --> 00:56:28,673
That cost is also that security because it means in order to try to overwhelm

836
00:56:28,673 --> 00:56:31,713
the Bitcoin network, the cost to do so would be so incredibly expensive,

837
00:56:31,813 --> 00:56:32,613
you might as well just buy Bitcoin.

838
00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:37,200
So Bitcoin has value because it is the best form of money we've ever created.

839
00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:41,040
It's pharmaceutical grade money. Bitcoin has value because of how it's created.

840
00:56:41,540 --> 00:56:45,480
And it has value because it's scarce. And it's mathematically provably scarce.

841
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:50,000
And every coin can be accounted for. These are some of the things that I think

842
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:52,920
make Bitcoin valuable. But I'd love to hear from the audience if I've missed something.

843
00:56:53,500 --> 00:56:58,420
Coming up, I want to answer what KYC is, custodial versus non-custodial wallets,

844
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:03,440
Bitcoin savings flows, how to move Bitcoin around in larger chunks,

845
00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:05,840
So what's the right amount? How fees can work in these scenarios?

846
00:57:06,340 --> 00:57:10,920
The differences between holding the ETF, putting in an IRA versus just stacking

847
00:57:10,920 --> 00:57:12,620
sats directly. We're going to answer more of those.

848
00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:15,540
And if anybody else has any newbie questions, please do boost them in.

849
00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:18,880
I'm going to start collecting them and then I'll try to get to them as time allows.

850
00:57:19,460 --> 00:57:22,740
When things are really busy, I may skip a week, but then when we have a little

851
00:57:22,740 --> 00:57:23,880
time, I'm going to try to get there.

852
00:57:24,260 --> 00:57:27,600
And I've just been meaning to for a week. So I wanted to cover that one this

853
00:57:27,600 --> 00:57:30,400
week, even though we are a little tight on time. Let's move along.

854
00:57:30,480 --> 00:57:39,440
Music.

855
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:34,320
I got a final clip of the week.

856
00:57:37,620 --> 00:57:42,840
Speaking of utility, Alex Gladstein had a great talk at the Bitcoin Nashville

857
00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:46,640
conference that was really for anybody that ever said Bitcoin is worthless.

858
00:57:46,940 --> 00:57:50,860
It was an entire talk that addresses the utility of Bitcoin,

859
00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:54,260
even in scenarios where there's no Internet and et cetera.

860
00:57:54,380 --> 00:57:57,520
And I'll play for you the introduction of the talk and I'll link to the full

861
00:57:57,520 --> 00:58:00,160
thing. Not that long, actually. The actual talk's pretty short.

862
00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:03,400
And then there's a follow-up interview with him where he goes into a few more details.

863
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:09,360
But here is just a taste of Bitcoin's global utility with Alex Gladstein.

864
00:58:09,580 --> 00:58:13,980
As was hinted at, we live in a world where governments and some of the most

865
00:58:13,980 --> 00:58:19,640
powerful people on our planet continue to tell us that Bitcoin is useless or worse or dangerous.

866
00:58:20,100 --> 00:58:23,180
This has been happening for more than a decade. decade, people continue to be

867
00:58:23,180 --> 00:58:27,820
gaslit by the media and the government in every country, essentially,

868
00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:33,300
you know, save for maybe a few, into thinking that this thing is risky and dangerous

869
00:58:33,300 --> 00:58:36,100
and maybe bad for the planet and bad for people and good for criminals.

870
00:58:36,500 --> 00:58:40,340
And it's just such an incredible global brainwashing operation.

871
00:58:40,720 --> 00:58:42,700
I mean, it's one of these things that in 10 years, we're going to look back

872
00:58:42,700 --> 00:58:44,460
in time and be like, I can't believe that happened.

873
00:58:44,580 --> 00:58:48,840
I can't believe all of these important, you know, People that were supposed

874
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:54,220
to be leaders in the world were telling us that this technology was bad when it is far from it.

875
00:58:54,360 --> 00:59:00,280
So what I hope to do today and tomorrow is walk you through in detail what Bitcoin

876
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:03,120
does around the world and how transformative it is.

877
00:59:03,200 --> 00:59:07,620
And how it's changing lives and how it's changing our relationship with freedom

878
00:59:07,620 --> 00:59:10,060
and commerce and electric power.

879
00:59:10,880 --> 00:59:16,940
So we're going to start with our friend Jamie here. So I have a few slides with

880
00:59:16,940 --> 00:59:21,000
people who, you know, are trusted by Wall Street, by Washington,

881
00:59:21,260 --> 00:59:22,240
you know, by world leaders.

882
00:59:23,874 --> 00:59:27,094
They're just completely wrong. I mean, this is somebody who really should know

883
00:59:27,094 --> 00:59:30,394
better. You know, this is something he said. I personally think Bitcoin is worthless.

884
00:59:31,614 --> 00:59:35,314
Warren Buffett has said that Bitcoin has no unique value at all.

885
00:59:35,514 --> 00:59:38,474
It's a delusion, basically. It's rat poison squared.

886
00:59:39,214 --> 00:59:43,314
Bill Gates has said that Bitcoin is a pure greater fool theory type of investment.

887
00:59:44,454 --> 00:59:47,894
Charlie Munger, rest in peace, said, I hate the Bitcoin success.

888
00:59:48,274 --> 00:59:52,574
I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization.

889
00:59:53,494 --> 00:59:59,014
The Fed's Neil Kashkari said just a couple months ago that more than a decade

890
00:59:59,014 --> 01:00:01,774
later, there's still no legitimate use case for Bitcoin.

891
01:00:02,194 --> 01:00:07,614
This is someone who has a very senior role in the world's most important monetary body.

892
01:00:08,234 --> 01:00:12,934
And probably one of the most prestigious English language publications going

893
01:00:12,934 --> 01:00:14,174
back a century is The Atlantic.

894
01:00:14,374 --> 01:00:17,554
And just a couple months ago, they said in an essay that they published,

895
01:00:17,814 --> 01:00:22,614
15 years into its existence, Bitcoin has yet to demonstrate any serious use case.

896
01:00:22,994 --> 01:00:30,034
So again, the world is so lost. And the crazy part is there's so many amazing use cases for Bitcoin.

897
01:00:30,294 --> 01:00:34,974
Now, I think that most people at this conference understand that the primary

898
01:00:34,974 --> 01:00:36,394
use case for Bitcoin is savings.

899
01:00:36,634 --> 01:00:39,954
I don't necessarily have to get too into that. It's been the best performing

900
01:00:39,954 --> 01:00:42,114
asset in the world since it was created.

901
01:00:42,334 --> 01:00:46,554
It is a profoundly effective wage technology, technology, savings technology.

902
01:00:46,834 --> 01:00:50,014
It protects your purchasing power. I think, you know, most of the content at

903
01:00:50,014 --> 01:00:53,754
the conference here is talking about, you know, why that's the case.

904
01:00:53,854 --> 01:00:57,154
And people talk about the technology of that and the effect of that and why

905
01:00:57,154 --> 01:00:58,914
you should join the Bitcoin movement.

906
01:00:59,354 --> 01:01:03,354
So I don't really need to cover savings, but I wanted to cover three other areas

907
01:01:03,354 --> 01:01:05,614
where Bitcoin is really transforming the world.

908
01:01:05,874 --> 01:01:09,574
One is commerce, one is freedom, and one is power. So today we're going to talk

909
01:01:09,574 --> 01:01:10,494
about commerce and freedom.

910
01:01:10,874 --> 01:01:14,274
Tomorrow, same time, I'm going to come back and talk to you guys about power.

911
01:01:15,254 --> 01:01:18,534
Like I said, you got to catch the whole talk. It's for anybody that ever said

912
01:01:18,534 --> 01:01:19,834
Bitcoin doesn't have any utility.

913
01:01:20,014 --> 01:01:23,734
He's got the receipts and real world examples all around the world.

914
01:01:24,034 --> 01:01:27,394
And that does bring me to the end of this week's episode. Links to everything

915
01:01:27,394 --> 01:01:30,234
I talked about are over at thisweekinbitcoin.show.

916
01:01:30,934 --> 01:01:34,214
You'll look for episode 23 and you'll find it there in our show notes.

917
01:01:34,294 --> 01:01:37,134
Please do boost in. Tell me what you think about what was covered,

918
01:01:37,194 --> 01:01:40,414
what maybe I should have covered. I'm always down to hear that as well.

919
01:01:41,034 --> 01:01:44,474
And again, if you have somebody you can mention the show to that might be interested

920
01:01:44,474 --> 01:01:47,814
in learning about Bitcoin, send them a link our way. We're always happy to have them on board.

921
01:01:48,094 --> 01:01:52,774
I'm going to wrap it up with one of my absolute favorite value for value tracks.

922
01:01:53,154 --> 01:01:56,314
It's one of the songs I just keep coming back to and bopping my head to.

923
01:01:56,534 --> 01:01:58,394
It's One Night by Daddy Nat.

924
01:01:59,120 --> 01:04:45,746
Music.