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Music.

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Welcome in to This Week in Bitcoin, episode 60.

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

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Well, can you feel it? It should feel pretty good, a little different.

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Because Bitcoin has been staying above the $100,000 USD mark for 30 consecutive

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days for the first time ever.

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It's actually led some to argue that we're going to see a new style of dip in the future.

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Something new for Bitcoin, which I'll get to that in a little bit.

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And while I'm at it, I'm also sort of surprised this week that Bitcoin knots

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hasn't reached at least 11% node market share after this week's news,

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which we'll get to in a moment.

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But to set the stage, we got to start with some quick macro news of the week

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in both the states and abroad.

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And the inflation report for May is out in the U.S.

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It shows inflation ticking up by 0.1%, which is lower than expected.

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And that has some market bearers like Bob Lane admitting they've been getting

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it wrong for the past four months.

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I want to start on the inflation data. We saw the market have a significant

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move to the upside. We're coming

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in just a bit off of that. How would you describe the market reaction?

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Quite a bit of a surprise, Maddie. I was looking for a little bit of an increase

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in inflation over the prior month, over April, and we came in with a 0.1 print on the core number,

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which is a number that the Fed really paid much more attention to than just

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the headline number, even though the headline number did come in actually a

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little bit less than expected as well, 2.4% annualized.

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I think it's important to recognize

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that inflation over the last three months has been heading lower.

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Just one print is not all that important. But as the Fed has talked about in

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the past, Chair Powell has mentioned in several of his press conferences.

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What's important is to pay attention to the trend.

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And the trend, what he looks at is something like about three to five months worth of data in a row.

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So now we have three prints in a row. We have March, April, and May that have

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shown very much lower inflation.

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Prices are starting to stabilize, which is what the Fed is looking for.

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I think now that rate cuts are back in the conversation at next week's meeting.

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And I know some people have already come out and started talking about that

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as well, too. But I think it's a serious conversation that the Fed has to have.

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I think the last projections that they had back

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in march maddie was for two rate cuts in

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2025 i still don't think that's going to change next

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week when they set the new projections coming out in june but

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i i do think that there's going to be a a legion of people on the fed in the

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voting block of the fed that's going to start saying hey listen you know what

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the the proof is in the data here we've been paying attention to the data we

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need to start talking about rate cuts well if the data shows that rates are

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going down And if Bob is saying here,

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then would the Fed be late?

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So the consumer price index increased by 0.1%.

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So that puts the official overall inflation rate at 2.4%. But the one that the

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Fed looks at is the core CPI, which came in at 0.1% and 2.8% if you look at it holistically.

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But the core CPI excludes food and energy. But that's the one the Fed goes by.

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It's really weakness in energy prices that helped with the inflation costs.

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I think the White House likely had a heads up on this news.

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They know a day or so. And so, accordingly, they have been increasing their

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public pressuring and pushing of the federal chair, J-Pow, to lower rates.

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And, I mean, it's both Trump and J.D. Vance that are out there.

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Every opportunity they get asked about it, they push and push.

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And this is Trump during a press junket on Air Force One.

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And if we had a good Fed chairman, you would lower rates.

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And you know what? If inflation happened in a year from now or two years, let them raise rates.

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But we're going out for long-term debt or

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short-term debt we have a lot of debt coming due because biden had

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all short-term debt mostly and we would

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get a lower rate and a lower interest rate if this guy

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would lower rates we get a lower interest rate it's unbelievable and he's worried

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about inflation if he worries about inflation any longer all he has to do is

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get the lower rate let us go out borrow at a much lower rate much lower you

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could go down a point or two but go out borrow And if in two years inflation

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comes back, he raises rates.

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But he keeps them the same. It's just, it's insane.

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What's your next Fed share? Are you already thinking about who your next Fed

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share would be? I know it's 2026 when he's termed.

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So you're already thinking about it. It's coming out very soon.

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But I don't think I have a pretty good idea.

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All right, let's stop there. So before we get to the Fed chair stuff, so Trump is there.

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He's openly pushing and he's saying, yeah, we're thinking about our next Fed chair.

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And he might be right on rates if the inflation date is correct.

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I think if it wasn't for the tariff trauma, the Fed might have already cut rates.

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Where Trump's wrong is it's not one man's decision. It's not just J-PAL.

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It's a committee that votes on it, although I'm sure he has a lot of weight.

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But so far, it seems like what happened was the Fed was sort of geared to cut

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rates and then the tariff stuff started and they didn't know where that would lead things.

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And so the tariff stuff kind of put things on hold.

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However, it may be that we look back at the tariff stuff and think it was mostly an overreaction.

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Goldman Sachs, chief U.S. economist David Miracle joining us here.

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Good to see you, David. Welcome.

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Thanks. That's four months of missing the estimate.

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Is Sarah right about us misreading the impact of tariffs?

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I think it's possible that the tariff effect is a little bit smaller.

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In particular, this month, we were only looking for a five-basis point effect

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because we had seen the auction price data on cars looked fairly soft,

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even though photos are something that's been hit with a large tariff.

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I think the other thing, though, that we're learning is that there are meaningful

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offsets to any potential tariff effect that we got this month and might get in coming months.

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In particular, I think you saw that in the shelter category,

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where for quite a while we've had this catch-up inflation, keeping inflation

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a little bit elevated month to month.

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As CPI prices catch up to kind of market prices, that should gradually go away.

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Now, these data can be a little bit erratic from month to month,

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but gradually we've seen that theme play out. So do they just miss that earlier?

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Or were they overreacting? So now they're not. But, you know,

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who knows what happens later in the year?

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I mean, the reality is these things do take a while. We could see it in the

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second half or something, perhaps.

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But so far, it doesn't seem like it's been nearly as bad as was expected.

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So maybe the Fed was wrong to pause because the inflation data is looking better.

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And one of their counterparts, the ECB, just did their eighth rate cut of the year.

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They're now down over there at the ECB to 2% interest rate.

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The governing council today decided to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points.

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In particular, the decision to lower the deposit facility rate,

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the rate through which we steer the monetary policy stance,

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is based on our updated assessment of the inflation outlook,

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the dynamics of underlying inflation, and the strength of monetary policy transmission.

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So she's looking at some of the same data the Fed is, but is deciding to cut rates.

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They also are expecting just an increase in spending because of their military buildup.

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So we'll see. But I think what we're going to witness now is a maneuvering from the White House.

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They're going to start talking more and more about their next possible Fed chair pick for 2026.

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And it's just simply political maneuvering to put pressure on J-Pow and to take

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power away from him, to kind of convert him into a lame duck and get people

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essentially looking at the new Fed chair before he's even in.

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And it also, since this doesn't happen until 2026 and it's starting right now,

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it gives trump time to pick someone who will

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work with him who will be transactional i

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want to go to one point that you made in that blueprint that

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you laid out and that this here is paul tudor

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jones probably recognize the name he's pretty famous for being

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a pretty savvy investor and he's on bloomberg and they're talking about who

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the next fed chair pick will likely be comes to appointing the most dovish fed

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chair possible jerome powell's turn ends in may 2026 we've heard from the president

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recently that he's going to announce some contenders sometime soon.

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Bloomberg News has reported in the past 24 hours that Scott Besson has emerged

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as a pick. Kevin Warsh is under consideration.

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I mean, if you had your pick, who do you think is best suited for the chair?

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Those are two great names. Those are two fabulous names.

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Again, if I was president, if I just think about President Trump,

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he's just a he's a growth guy, right?

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He's a he's a loyalty and growth guy.

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You're going to be my pick if you're loyal to me. You're going to be my pick if you're a growth guy.

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And I'd pick a growth guy and probably Scott would be more in line with that than Kevin would.

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I suppose just to quickly translate, a growth guy would be somebody who cuts

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rates, right? Right. You cut rates.

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You make money easier. You get access to loans easier. People invest.

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They build things. They buy things, et cetera.

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It creates and stimulates growth when you lower rates. So by a growth guy,

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he means somebody who will lower rates essentially.

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They will have had a really close working relationship at that point.

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I also think, again, the playbook's pretty clear historically and right now.

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We are fiscally constrained. We're in a debt trap.

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You're going to have to run negative real rates to get out of it.

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That's what we did in the 50s. If you'll remember, we had a variety of prices

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fixed by the Treasury while we had 5% and 6% inflation for a period of time.

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We're going to have negative real rates. And that's why you have to think about

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what is facing our policymakers in this debt trap as you construct your portfolio.

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So what would an ideal portfolio be in something like that?

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Well, what has worked so far? What has worked so far has been some combination

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of stocks, which won't do great,

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which would do terribly if we ever actually had, if they called us out and the

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bond market actually gave us an accident that then spilled over.

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But it would be some combination of probably gold, vol-adjusted, Bitcoin, gold, stocks.

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That's probably your best portfolio to fight inflation.

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Vol-adjusted because the vol of Bitcoin is obviously five times out of gold.

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So you're going to do it in different ways.

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You said at one point you would allocate one or two percent of your portfolio to Bitcoin. Is it still?

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Yeah, I mean, I think you just. He doesn't really answer the question here,

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but I'm going to let it play because to me, it essentially sounds like the answer

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is probably more than one or two percent.

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But he just doesn't want to take the risk on air of saying it.

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Particularly now that the roadmap is clear. Then I mean, the.

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Again, if I'm a policymaker, I'm going to run really low real rates.

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I'm going to have inflation running hot and I'm going to tax the American consumer

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to get out of my debt trap.

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And that's exactly what Japan, who's the most fiscally constrained in the world, doing.

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And it works until until the population throws you out because you let inflation get too hot.

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So maybe you're in a world with 3, 3.5% inflation and 2.5% overnight rate,

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and you're kind of trying to run hot and grow your way out of it.

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So he's saying the next Fed chair is likely going to lower rates,

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stimulate growth, which will stimulate inflation.

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And as soon as the U.S. economy or any of the Western economies really starts

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popping, oil will start going back up, which will also stoke inflation.

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So what he's saying here is the playbook is clear. The White House is laying

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it out right here, and you better have some Bitcoin.

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And while we're looking at inflation rates month to month, ticking up 0.1% or whatever it might be,

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as we love to say, if you zoom out and look at the compound inflation rate,

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and I go by the Truflation dashboard, which I think has held up extremely well

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and is actually more generous than the CPI numbers are right now. But it says the U.S.

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Compound inflation rate since January of 2020, when we really started kicking

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off some of the more recent money printing, is 28.15%.

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The compound inflation rate since January of 2020, the compound inflation rate is 28.15%.

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And billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones just said, you should probably own

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some Bitcoin because the next guy is going to stoke growth, cause inflation

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to go up, and the government's going to embrace it because they need to inflate away their debt.

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So the game plan has just been laid out by both the White House and Paul Tudor Jones.

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And they say Bitcoin is the answer.

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At the same time, the White House is establishing a Bitcoin reserve.

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And there's legislation working in different states to purchase Bitcoin.

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I mean, it all kind of connects here.

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These are not individual events.

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There is a greater consensus that has happened around what the future of the U.S.

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Dollar is and the movements in place that we see now with like state reserves

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and the Federal Reserve and corporate

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reserves and private reserves with individuals and family offices.

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These are becoming more popular in common terms because it's becoming clearer and clearer.

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And as we get closer to the inevitability of the problem, even the signals from

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the White House and investors and the Treasury are very clear about what's to come.

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And it is all routes lead to Bitcoin.

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That's why I think you could make a pretty serious argument that it's a damn

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shame the Bitcoin community is really wrapping or wrecking or ripping themselves

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apart to some degree or another.

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It really comes all around to, you know, how people view Bitcoin should be used

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as a pure monetary asset or as a decentralized blockchain that stores all kinds

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of things that people assign economic value to.

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And this week, there was a change in the Bitcoin Core's transaction relay policy.

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Poll request 32406, which uncaps data carrier size to allow larger op return

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data up to 100,000 bytes, was merged.

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Which we've talked about this potentially allows non-monetary data like NFTs

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or other things onto the blockchain.

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The change was made in the hope that it would reduce network bloat from unprunable methods.

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Gloria Zhao commented on the merge, quote, to elaborate.

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This poll request helps avoid a world in which economically relevant volume

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of transaction is sent using direct submission.

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We move closer to that world when large economic actors, layer twos,

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exchanges, etc., choose to build direct relationships with large miners in order

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to get non-standard transactions mined.

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If widely used, central submission services undermine the permissionless design

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of proof-of-work-based consensus, hurt the censorship resistance and privacy

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of transaction broadcast,

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and destroy the fast block propagation that our network has enjoyed for many years.

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All, while not preventing the non-standard transactions we dislike,

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such services exist or in use today, and it is worth trying to reduce the reasons to use them.

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Now, of course, the counter objections are about enabling more spam.

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Gloria counters those specific objections by saying that the op return is in

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fact prunable, it's expensive, and does not threaten validation efficiency or incentive models.

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Others argue some of the workarounds are cheaper than Opratern and will still get used.

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So for you, what you need to understand, the practical thing for those that

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may maybe run a node or considering run a node or want to know how this impacts

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node operators, this poll request changes the default value of the dash data carrier size flag.

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So when you're starting up Bitcoin Core, the defaults are getting changed as of version 30.

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You can still set your own limits. You can override these limits and you can

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still use Bitcoin core 30 and

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override the default limits, but the default limits are getting changed.

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If you do override the defaults from 30 going forward, you're going to start

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getting a warning message that they're discouraged and that you shouldn't use them.

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There is currently no timeline or plan to remove the flag options though.

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So you can now override these new data carrier size, this new data carrier size default.

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I think a lot of node operators are left feeling like these changes,

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which could make some sweeping impacts to their nodes.

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I mean, that is a legitimate thing. You may have to store more data on your node.

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I think they feel like these changes are all of a sudden, like they're being rushed.

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Like there was this big blow up about it and went quiet. Now,

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all of a sudden, all this stuff is arriving.

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But the Bitcoin core developers argue that, well, this debate's been raging

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for years. It kind of simmered down. It was recently renewed.

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Only this time when it was renewed, it was a lot more productive.

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PRs were submitted, discussions happened, code was reviewed,

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and now things are just getting merged.

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That's the timeline of things. Things really kind of kicked off a few months ago.

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Now for you, the reality is none of this stuff is going to even ship until October.

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And even then you're going to be able to override the defaults.

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Throughout all of this, there has also been the issue around communication.

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Who represents Bitcoin Core? if Bitcoin Core represents something broader than

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just one of the interpretations of the protocol, etc.

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And a statement was released by a large group of Bitcoin Core developers.

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I don't know who made the post, you know, these things, but they posted a statement

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trying to defend their position, trying to say that, you know,

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these policies didn't work.

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We're trying to come up with something that prevents workarounds.

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They argue it's better for Node software to reflect a realistic mining behavior

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rather than act as gatekeepers.

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And there's a bunch of signatories that affirm their commitment to policies

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that align with Bitcoin's long-term success.

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They say they're really focused on the technical stuff. They don't want to be

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led around by social media. And there's a lot of people on the list,

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including Gloria Zhao that I just quoted earlier.

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But I have a few observations around all of this stuff. The positioning,

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these PRs getting merged, along with how they've been communicated,

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they're all sending us an actual signal that I think most Bitcoiners have been missing.

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And Gloria Zhao just said it out loud recently on X, quote, Bitcoin Core is

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just one protocol implementation that can be copied and modified by anybody.

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The only thing that makes it special is the way its contributors make decisions.

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This, I think, tells us, this statement tells us a little bit how the Core developers see Bitcoin Core.

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They see Core not as a baseline MVP implementation that sets the Core standard

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for everyone in the network.

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They see it as one of the possible implementations that's taking a more opinionated

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position on certain things.

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Now, the reality is Bitcoin Core is the default. It's the king of the node network.

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There are other implementations, but it's the most popular. Bitcoin Noughts,

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the second most popular is around 10.5% of the node network,

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which is impressive because it's grown quickly, but it's only 10.5%.

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You're going to have more people running Bitcoin Core 30 with these defaults

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overrided than you probably will have people running Noughts.

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Now, some have argued that core policy changes, including these most recent

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ones, essentially constitute de facto governance and are dictating Bitcoin's

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rules unilaterally, which is outside of true consensus and acts as a centralizing force.

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And Bitcoin core developers argue, look, you could just do your own implementation.

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Maybe you should. And probably they should. Someone probably should do their

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own implementation. But my question to you, isn't this kind of dispute,

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these kind of directions inevitable?

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If you've been around for a minute, haven't we seen this play out,

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say, for example, with Linux and other open source projects?

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They start with this unbelievably attractive dream of changing computing for

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the better that enables humanity in a significant way. That's what free software and Linux was all about.

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It's hard to picture now, but in the late 90s and the early aughts,

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there was a dream of freeing the world from commercial software and Microsoft in particular.

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The idea that Microsoft would work with free software and open source was ludicrous.

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It was like matter and antimatter coming together.

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But as time went on, corporations found value in open source Linux and free software.

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And they began using it for their own purposes and contributing it to their

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own purchase, you know, scratching their own itch, their own purposes.

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And we saw things evolve in a direction that was not what the Dreamers,

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not what Richard Stallman saw.

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But yet it still contributes a significant improvement to the state of technology for humanity.

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It's created a generalized technology platform that brings with it disk and

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networking and security and a development lifecycle and APIs and an ecosystem

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of just billions of different libraries and apps.

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Something you could never do if you just created your own OS to run your own device these days.

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And right now, I'm staring at a Linux desktop. And right next to it,

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I'm recording on a Linux desktop.

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So for some of us, it is the year of Linux on the desktop. But it hasn't really

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arrived for the rest of the world.

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But that doesn't take away from how important free software and how important Linux is.

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The dream is always powerful in the early days. But then we have to learn to

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either live with it or get out. And I think that's what's happening with Bitcoin.

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This is where I want your insights.

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Will there be a place in Bitcoin for the believers, just like there still is

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00:22:02,062 --> 00:22:07,042
for Linux today, even though corporations like Microsoft and Samsung and others

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are using Linux to ship and sell devices and ship services?

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I'm still using free software on my desktop. Do you think there will be a place

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00:22:15,822 --> 00:22:18,062
like that in Bitcoin? What will it be like?

329
00:22:18,702 --> 00:22:22,742
And as a Bitcoiner, how do you stay focused on what matters?

330
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What are the things you laser focus on in Bitcoin?

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Boost that in. Let me know what you think. I'll read those on episode 61 and into the future.

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Music.

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Pulled. Breaks is not in service. Please make a note of it. Well,

334
00:22:50,537 --> 00:22:53,137
just a bit more on stablecoins.

335
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I played clips from Lynn Alden and Safe last week on stablecoins,

336
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and Safe had a really good talk at Bitcoin 2025 conference.

337
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But they had a podcast together where he had some follow-up thoughts that didn't make him into his talk.

338
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So I'm going to play those for you in just a moment. But to set the scene,

339
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after hearing way too much about stablecoins over the last few weeks,

340
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I was more than happy not to talk about them this week.

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But we have news, and I think we have news that we'll look back on as significant.

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Let's get to the biggest story of the day. Circle's public debut,

343
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the stablecoin issuer listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker

344
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CRCL after a multi-year push to bring the company onto U.S. markets.

345
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Shares opened at $69.50 after pricing at $31 per share the night before.

346
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A 124% gain and far above the initial range of $27 to $28 expected earlier this week.

347
00:23:49,257 --> 00:23:54,217
Shares soared as high as 235% at one point. Yeah, they popped up to $235.

348
00:23:54,517 --> 00:24:02,037
I think they had to halt trading. It was nuts. The enthusiasm around stablecoins is becoming unhinged.

349
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It's becoming ridiculous, and I think it's going to have consequences for Bitcoin.

350
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But first, let's pour a little cold water on this hype.

351
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Safe has done the math, and he's run a couple of scenarios.

352
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And assuming Tether grows like bonkers, you know, there's different projections out there.

353
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But assume they grow something like a $20 trillion market cap,

354
00:24:20,557 --> 00:24:24,857
something really crazy, which is conceivable but unlikely.

355
00:24:24,857 --> 00:24:30,797
And it's not because the technology, because of how many treasuries they can

356
00:24:30,797 --> 00:24:36,157
buy, but SAFE says simply because the earth is already kind of awash in dollars

357
00:24:36,157 --> 00:24:39,797
and there's demand for dollars, but not like there used to be.

358
00:24:40,768 --> 00:24:47,348
If Tether got to $20 trillion, then I think in terms of the impact that it would

359
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have on the debt by 10 years' time, it would make about $3.7 trillion difference.

360
00:24:54,128 --> 00:24:59,328
So the debt would be, instead of being about $69.5 trillion,

361
00:24:59,568 --> 00:25:01,348
it would be $65.7 trillion.

362
00:25:01,588 --> 00:25:04,668
That's basically it. this is in this

363
00:25:04,668 --> 00:25:08,488
scenario where tether debt purchases grow

364
00:25:08,488 --> 00:25:14,168
enormously and they have a significant impact that they bring down yields by

365
00:25:14,168 --> 00:25:21,128
one percent they reduce the cost of servicing the debt for sure but the magnitudes

366
00:25:21,128 --> 00:25:26,608
involved are so enormous and the market for money outside of the U.S.

367
00:25:27,108 --> 00:25:32,908
Has already got so much dollars in it that I don't see, even in the most optimistic

368
00:25:32,908 --> 00:25:37,288
growth scenarios, there's just not that much room for bag holders.

369
00:25:37,488 --> 00:25:40,728
It's not 1945 anymore where nobody had dollars outside of the U.S.

370
00:25:41,288 --> 00:25:45,968
Now everybody's swimming in dollars already. So, yeah, they can always buy more

371
00:25:45,968 --> 00:25:50,528
dollars, sure, but it's not going to make as much of a difference as in 1946

372
00:25:50,528 --> 00:25:55,568
when they were going from very little dollars abroad, right?

373
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So a concern of mine is we're going to see a summer of stablecoin hype.

374
00:26:02,208 --> 00:26:06,428
Any chain out there that has any kind of like a semi-series,

375
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but definitely the ones that have a serious stablecoin play,

376
00:26:08,988 --> 00:26:12,748
I suspect we're going to see a bunch of capital rush into those.

377
00:26:12,868 --> 00:26:17,108
And we'll also probably see a rash of altcoin ETFs start to get approved and

378
00:26:17,108 --> 00:26:21,908
then money rush into them. And my main concern here would be that we'll see

379
00:26:21,908 --> 00:26:26,568
Bitcoin ETF holders sell their Bitcoin ETF to buy some of this crap.

380
00:26:27,008 --> 00:26:32,008
And we'll also see liquidity that should be going to spot Bitcoin flow to these

381
00:26:32,008 --> 00:26:33,688
altcoins and soak up liquidity.

382
00:26:34,088 --> 00:26:37,108
You know, that's just short term stuff. But it's something that's on my mind

383
00:26:37,108 --> 00:26:40,308
is there seems to be this ludicrous appetite for stablecoins.

384
00:26:40,448 --> 00:26:46,288
And as Safe points out, there's demand for dollars. But even if you do really,

385
00:26:46,608 --> 00:26:52,368
really optimistic math on Tether, it's just scratching the surface, just tiny stuff here.

386
00:26:52,508 --> 00:26:58,928
And so the only only possible solution is maybe lots of stable coin issuers

387
00:26:58,928 --> 00:27:00,328
beyond just Tether and Circle.

388
00:27:00,548 --> 00:27:05,508
But Bank of America has a stable coin and PayPal, all these companies,

389
00:27:05,788 --> 00:27:07,828
you know, they all become buyers of debt.

390
00:27:08,068 --> 00:27:10,728
All of a sudden, all these corporations, they're not even banks,

391
00:27:10,788 --> 00:27:12,688
they're just corporations are going to become buyers of debt.

392
00:27:12,688 --> 00:27:16,008
And maybe collectively they get to something that really matters.

393
00:27:16,128 --> 00:27:21,668
But the only way you get there is if you have this really Wild West stablecoin ecosystem.

394
00:27:22,888 --> 00:27:26,508
Man, just the more I think about it, the more I don't like it.

395
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:45,520
Music.

396
00:27:45,494 --> 00:27:48,994
You can support the show just by doing what you do. If you're going to buy sats

397
00:27:48,994 --> 00:27:52,714
on River, which is one of the best way to stack sats in the U.S., use our link.

398
00:27:53,194 --> 00:27:56,234
Use our link in the show notes and support the show as you stack sats.

399
00:27:56,574 --> 00:28:00,254
If you're all about that self-custody, if you're in Canada, you're in the U.S.,

400
00:28:00,254 --> 00:28:03,534
the Bitcoin Well is an amazing automatic self-custody platform.

401
00:28:03,574 --> 00:28:06,214
Buy and sell directly from your own wallet.

402
00:28:06,454 --> 00:28:09,394
Now, if you've got some sats in Lightning and you want to get something quick,

403
00:28:09,554 --> 00:28:13,714
convert them to a gift card in seconds, no login required, the Bitcoin company.

404
00:28:13,874 --> 00:28:16,294
I just signed in with Lightning. We have a link in the show notes.

405
00:28:16,434 --> 00:28:20,314
If you want to stack sats by paying your bills, doing your debit card purchases,

406
00:28:20,654 --> 00:28:23,974
that kind of stuff, the Fold Card is an audience favorite. Link to that.

407
00:28:24,194 --> 00:28:27,714
Last but not least, if you want to get access to your Bitcoin value without

408
00:28:27,714 --> 00:28:31,234
selling it, you've looked at Strike and you don't like their rates or their

409
00:28:31,234 --> 00:28:33,614
minimums, go check out Salt Lending. It's what I use.

410
00:28:33,894 --> 00:28:37,554
Link to that in the show notes. Use those services as you would and support

411
00:28:37,554 --> 00:28:40,494
the show as you stack and whatnots. Appreciate it.

412
00:28:50,594 --> 00:28:58,834
And it is time to get to the boost. And now it is time for le boost. I just said that.

413
00:28:59,134 --> 00:29:01,854
And our first boost this week is from Mr.

414
00:29:02,734 --> 00:29:08,094
Adam Curry, the podfather, coming in with a baller of a baller boost.

415
00:29:08,314 --> 00:29:13,294
Ladies and gentlemen, 600,000 sets.

416
00:29:16,354 --> 00:29:23,674
You're the best around Nothing's gonna ever keep you down You're the best around.

417
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:36,400
Music.

418
00:29:36,564 --> 00:29:40,104
He's a real good guy. No, he's a great guy. And he writes, I've been listening.

419
00:29:40,104 --> 00:29:42,624
On my light phone a lot recently. Oh, interesting.

420
00:29:43,164 --> 00:29:47,764
So it was time to catch up on returning some value. Congrats on 60 shows.

421
00:29:48,824 --> 00:29:52,404
Here is 10,000 sets for each one.

422
00:29:53,104 --> 00:29:56,824
Woost! Wow. Thank you. I think that's got to be one of the biggest boosts ever

423
00:29:56,824 --> 00:29:59,904
into the show. Man, oh man. Really appreciate that.

424
00:30:00,604 --> 00:30:03,144
There you go. Show's over right there. That's good, right?

425
00:30:04,944 --> 00:30:09,664
Wow. Stop it. Get some help. Thank you, Podfather. Appreciate it.

426
00:30:10,124 --> 00:30:17,104
Our next boost, it's also a very generous boost, comes from Satsquatch with 52,888 sats.

427
00:30:17,224 --> 00:30:20,024
I don't understand what the heck is going on here.

428
00:30:20,264 --> 00:30:23,624
He says, what a wonderful song. One of the best so far, in my opinion.

429
00:30:23,864 --> 00:30:28,304
I'm not against Bitcoin treasuries. However, they may blow up for some reason.

430
00:30:28,444 --> 00:30:32,464
So I'm just going to stay away and just humbly stack sats.

431
00:30:32,644 --> 00:30:36,204
Putting together my second node on an old Optiplex with Nick's Bitcoin.

432
00:30:36,564 --> 00:30:40,504
I'm sticking with Podverse boosting through AlbiHub on my plug-and-play start

433
00:30:40,504 --> 00:30:42,704
9, which so far has been rock solid.

434
00:30:42,884 --> 00:30:45,804
Please talk about tools to get on a Bitcoin standard and off of fiat.

435
00:30:46,564 --> 00:30:50,604
Okay, so are you talking like ways of spending money or are you talking about

436
00:30:50,604 --> 00:30:53,584
self-sovereign banking, like Node, Lightning?

437
00:30:54,604 --> 00:30:59,704
What are you talking about when you say that? Or are you talking about strategies

438
00:30:59,704 --> 00:31:04,824
to take your whole paycheck in Bitcoin and then only sell what you have to to pay for bills?

439
00:31:04,824 --> 00:31:09,464
Or are you talking about putting all of your expenses on a credit card and then

440
00:31:09,464 --> 00:31:13,064
doing one Bitcoin transaction a month to pay off that credit card?

441
00:31:13,324 --> 00:31:14,784
Let me know what you're thinking, Satsquanch.

442
00:31:15,064 --> 00:31:18,624
Thank you to the Podfather and Satsquanch for being our baller boosters.

443
00:31:19,144 --> 00:31:24,984
Just, woof, loving that. Wow. I mean, I think I'm taking the wife out for a

444
00:31:24,984 --> 00:31:27,324
hamburger tonight. That's what I'm doing. I'll tell you what.

445
00:31:29,844 --> 00:31:33,004
It's going to be fancy with a hamburger, and we're going to put some mac and

446
00:31:33,004 --> 00:31:35,084
cheese on it. Put some macaroni and cheese on there.

447
00:31:35,264 --> 00:31:38,564
Yeah, that's how you know we're getting fancy when the mac and cheese comes out.

448
00:31:38,824 --> 00:31:42,244
Thank you very much. Live long and prosper. All right.

449
00:31:43,181 --> 00:31:47,641
Drekkar comes in with 30,000 sats. That's right, everybody. It's that time of

450
00:31:47,641 --> 00:31:49,401
year again. Happy birthday.

451
00:31:49,961 --> 00:31:53,201
He says, as a professional shadow man myself, I had to boost the artist.

452
00:31:53,321 --> 00:31:56,481
So he sent 10,000 sats to our artist. That's fantastic.

453
00:31:56,741 --> 00:32:00,681
And 20,000 sats to the show just to say thank you. Well, thank you very much.

454
00:32:01,121 --> 00:32:04,781
Appreciate that, Drekkar. And thank you for supporting our artist, too. You make their day.

455
00:32:05,461 --> 00:32:09,221
Atones here with 2,222 sats. That's a row of ducks.

456
00:32:10,041 --> 00:32:16,581
And he says, nothing stops this boost. Yes. The traders love the ball. Yes. Thank you, sir.

457
00:32:17,301 --> 00:32:22,081
Jordan Bravo is here with 5,000 sats. Oh, my God. This drawer is filled with Froot Loops.

458
00:32:22,241 --> 00:32:26,441
He says, I would argue that this is the highest signal technical Bitcoin. Oh, the highest.

459
00:32:26,661 --> 00:32:31,481
I would argue that the highest signal technical Bitcoin conference is TabConf in Atlanta.

460
00:32:32,061 --> 00:32:36,081
You should try to attend October if you can. I would love to go to TabConf.

461
00:32:36,541 --> 00:32:39,461
Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Well, that's Eric Goodbody. No, I would.

462
00:32:39,921 --> 00:32:43,261
October, though, I'm already scheduled to go to Texas Linux Festival.

463
00:32:45,481 --> 00:32:50,101
Jordan Bravo, are you going? If anybody is going and would like to do like a

464
00:32:50,101 --> 00:32:53,141
little spot on the show with me, do a little interview about it or send me a

465
00:32:53,141 --> 00:32:56,521
report, would definitely be down for that. Let me know. That's pretty funny.

466
00:32:57,081 --> 00:33:00,621
Next caller. Thank you for the boost. Ace Ackerman's back with a row of ducks.

467
00:33:01,701 --> 00:33:05,101
Value for Value episode 60, Salvatore Super Boost.

468
00:33:06,181 --> 00:33:10,421
Thank you, Ace. Nice to hear from you. Cosnow is here with 2,500 sats.

469
00:33:11,041 --> 00:33:13,641
Love the show. Well, thank you, sir. Appreciate the value.

470
00:33:14,541 --> 00:33:16,861
Oppie1984 is here with 4,000 sats.

471
00:33:21,461 --> 00:33:25,781
He says, thank you and congratulations on episode 60. Thank you,

472
00:33:25,861 --> 00:33:29,061
Oppie. Appreciate the episode 60 call out. Thanks for the boost.

473
00:33:30,526 --> 00:33:34,786
HGW39 is here with 5,000 sats. This is a tasty burger.

474
00:33:35,146 --> 00:33:39,366
He says, I agree with your take. To me, Sparrow is the best desktop wallet out there.

475
00:33:39,506 --> 00:33:42,726
The developer behind it is a machine, and I encourage anyone to read or listen

476
00:33:42,726 --> 00:33:44,886
to his takes on the Bitcoin ecosystem and privacy.

477
00:33:45,306 --> 00:33:49,546
What's your pick for a mobile-only wallet, especially if you're running a Lightning node?

478
00:33:49,726 --> 00:33:52,966
I'd love, I would love, and boost to see some specific and structural content

479
00:33:52,966 --> 00:33:57,226
from you on important Bitcoin tools and the things we need to be sovereign.

480
00:33:57,366 --> 00:34:01,446
Thanks again for the great show. So, okay, well, to answer your first question,

481
00:34:01,686 --> 00:34:02,886
I mean, I hope you've checked out Zeus.

482
00:34:03,466 --> 00:34:07,586
If you're looking for either a lightning node in your phone or you're looking

483
00:34:07,586 --> 00:34:10,706
for something that works fantastic with your own lightning node,

484
00:34:11,186 --> 00:34:14,786
Zeus is great. Zeus is great.

485
00:34:15,226 --> 00:34:17,666
If you're looking for something really easy, Blockstream just upgraded their

486
00:34:17,666 --> 00:34:19,886
wallet, and they have some lightning and liquid support in there.

487
00:34:20,166 --> 00:34:22,526
But Zeus is best for the self-sovereign setup.

488
00:34:22,946 --> 00:34:25,966
There are others. Bitbox makes a great phone wallet as well.

489
00:34:26,686 --> 00:34:29,526
But I really like Zeus a lot. I like the developer behind Zeus.

490
00:34:29,686 --> 00:34:33,746
I think the combo out there, if you're going for a free software wallet stack,

491
00:34:34,346 --> 00:34:38,726
Sparrow on the desktop, Zeus on the phone, you are, you're just set.

492
00:34:38,806 --> 00:34:41,106
You're set for years with that setup.

493
00:34:41,366 --> 00:34:46,206
Solid developers, solid apps, long trajectories for good features and being maintained.

494
00:34:46,466 --> 00:34:50,226
So Sparrow on the desktop, Zeus on the phone, although I'm totally open to others.

495
00:34:50,226 --> 00:34:52,066
I always love to see other apps and stuff.

496
00:34:52,526 --> 00:34:55,246
Those are just so great. Thank you for the boost. Great question.

497
00:34:55,246 --> 00:34:59,886
And I'll think more about tools, instructional content, actually,

498
00:35:00,046 --> 00:35:01,566
for tools Bitcoiners need to be sovereign.

499
00:35:01,826 --> 00:35:04,726
Sort of the same question I got earlier. I don't 100%...

500
00:35:07,069 --> 00:35:09,449
Well, I guess if you think about it from like purchasing and selling Bitcoin,

501
00:35:09,589 --> 00:35:12,929
I guess like, OK, I would like a little more instruction, but I think I'm starting

502
00:35:12,929 --> 00:35:14,829
to put something together. Thank you for the boost.

503
00:35:15,669 --> 00:35:20,929
Northern HODL's here with 2,121 sats. Boy, they are doing a lot with mayo these days.

504
00:35:21,229 --> 00:35:25,589
Thanks for the continued great work. Moscow time under 10 for 30 plus days.

505
00:35:26,349 --> 00:35:29,089
Under 10. You mean like I'm getting it? Do you mean I'm getting it out on a

506
00:35:29,089 --> 00:35:32,649
certain time? I'm going to be late this week. Let me tell you, new OS in the studio.

507
00:35:33,309 --> 00:35:37,789
Lots of clipping had to do. Woo. Did you buy that from a certified vendor?

508
00:35:37,969 --> 00:35:39,949
It was rough. It was pretty funny.

509
00:35:40,469 --> 00:35:42,529
Next caller. Thanks, Northern Hoddle. Appreciate it.

510
00:35:43,309 --> 00:35:46,269
Wine Eagle's here with 4,444 sats.

511
00:35:50,609 --> 00:35:53,789
Which is really too Rosa Ducks. He says, it's a great show. I don't have to

512
00:35:53,789 --> 00:35:56,869
listen to the stupid finance shows thanks to you. Thanks for suffering.

513
00:35:58,529 --> 00:36:03,309
I'm doing it on our behalf. Dude, thank you, Wine Eagle, for recognizing.

514
00:36:04,409 --> 00:36:09,649
I know the podfather knows this, but some of these news networks are so monotonous. They're so dumb.

515
00:36:09,809 --> 00:36:12,669
It really does drain the soul sometimes watching them.

516
00:36:12,769 --> 00:36:15,809
But then, you know, you get this rush when you get a nugget,

517
00:36:15,969 --> 00:36:19,949
when you find that needle in that haystack and you're like, this is going to

518
00:36:19,949 --> 00:36:21,729
be a great clip for the show. And then you feel great.

519
00:36:23,089 --> 00:36:26,849
It's a real up and downer, let me tell you. So thanks, Wine Eagle. I appreciate that.

520
00:36:28,269 --> 00:36:32,389
I am clipping so you don't have to. That is for sure. At least I try.

521
00:36:32,389 --> 00:36:33,989
I try to get all the good stuff. Thanks for the boost.

522
00:36:35,836 --> 00:36:41,216
Hello there is back with a row of ducks. And we've done it. So we'll do it. There we go.

523
00:36:41,876 --> 00:36:45,016
Yeah, you got another one in there? Oh, there it is. No message,

524
00:36:45,116 --> 00:36:48,996
though. Just sending us a row of ducks. Thank you, sir. Anonymous is here with 2,000 sats.

525
00:36:50,496 --> 00:36:58,716
No message, though. Okay, okay. And Orange Pill Lawyer 25 is here, also with 2,500 sats.

526
00:36:58,896 --> 00:37:01,336
They're real and they're spectacular.

527
00:37:01,756 --> 00:37:03,036
He says, boost!

528
00:37:03,536 --> 00:37:06,836
Boost! Thank you, Orange Pill Lawyer. Nice to hear from you.

529
00:37:06,996 --> 00:37:11,076
All right. We had a banger of a show. We had a banger of a show. Thank you, everyone.

530
00:37:11,556 --> 00:37:15,836
I think this probably was one of the best performing episodes ever,

531
00:37:15,836 --> 00:37:17,876
and I really appreciate it.

532
00:37:17,956 --> 00:37:21,036
I have been putting in a lot of extra work recently, and I've felt the value

533
00:37:21,036 --> 00:37:23,396
come back in the show. It's kind of an incredible system.

534
00:37:24,056 --> 00:37:28,916
And we had a lot of support this week. We had 22 folks streaming sats as they listened.

535
00:37:29,496 --> 00:37:33,896
It's pretty awesome. Oh, 52. I'm sorry. I said 22. 52. Read the wrong number.

536
00:37:33,896 --> 00:37:36,276
52 folks streaming sats as they listened.

537
00:37:37,176 --> 00:37:41,436
That's great. You know, that number's ticking up. And you sat streamers stacked

538
00:37:41,436 --> 00:37:48,096
216,575 sats for episode 60, the big 6-0 of this week in Bitcoin.

539
00:37:48,296 --> 00:37:54,456
When you combine that with our boosters and of course the Podfather's big old 600,000 sat boost,

540
00:37:54,596 --> 00:38:03,596
that big old baller boost, this episode stacked a record-breaking 936,827 sats.

541
00:38:08,456 --> 00:38:09,236
All right.

542
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:20,080
Music.

543
00:38:19,983 --> 00:38:24,543
Woo! How about that? Let's go! Thank you, everyone who supports this show.

544
00:38:24,903 --> 00:38:28,703
This is just really a banger of an episode. Of course, they won't always be

545
00:38:28,703 --> 00:38:30,743
this way, but I'm extremely grateful for the support.

546
00:38:31,103 --> 00:38:35,163
If you want to get in, get your message on the show, support This Week in Bitcoin,

547
00:38:35,443 --> 00:38:39,643
give a little value back. You can do it really easily with a podcasting 2.0

548
00:38:39,643 --> 00:38:41,163
app. That's how you send a boost.

549
00:38:41,623 --> 00:38:45,283
Fountain makes it easy because they host everything, fountain.fm,

550
00:38:45,403 --> 00:38:49,263
and they also integrate really easily with Noster, so you can start that adventure as well.

551
00:38:49,263 --> 00:38:53,963
But there is a plethora of podcasting apps, including the ability to just boost

552
00:38:53,963 --> 00:38:58,223
from the podcast index if you have Albi.

553
00:38:58,403 --> 00:39:03,523
So check out podcastapps.com for all of those. The idea is you're using the

554
00:39:03,523 --> 00:39:06,763
Lightning Network to send a little value and a message to the creator,

555
00:39:06,963 --> 00:39:09,943
to the podcast app creator, and also the podcast index.

556
00:39:09,963 --> 00:39:14,463
So you're supporting this show and a bit of the podcasting 2.0 ecosystem with

557
00:39:14,463 --> 00:39:20,623
no middleman, nobody taking a cut. thank you everybody who supported this episode and,

558
00:39:23,983 --> 00:39:28,583
I hope you'll considering I hope you'll consider supporting episode 61 it's

559
00:39:28,583 --> 00:39:33,183
such a such a great episode I'm a little concerned about next week but I'm going

560
00:39:33,183 --> 00:39:35,443
to take it in stride however it goes and thank you everyone.

561
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:45,200
Music.

562
00:39:47,003 --> 00:39:51,003
Well, I have some updates for you, and I thought this was a bit interesting.

563
00:39:51,223 --> 00:39:56,043
The block is summarizing a warning from an investment bank.

564
00:39:56,423 --> 00:40:01,103
This says that strategy and similar firms are undermining Bitcoin's credibility

565
00:40:01,103 --> 00:40:05,923
as a central bank reserve asset by aggressively amassing Bitcoin through leverage.

566
00:40:06,823 --> 00:40:10,803
And they're concerned that strategy is now around almost 3% of the total supply,

567
00:40:10,963 --> 00:40:14,343
and that highlights the risk of centralized holdings, distorted liquidity,

568
00:40:14,483 --> 00:40:15,723
and reduced volatility.

569
00:40:16,363 --> 00:40:19,543
Which are all factors that are critical to institutional trust.

570
00:40:19,903 --> 00:40:23,203
Essentially, they're saying strategy is becoming too much of a risk for central

571
00:40:23,203 --> 00:40:24,563
banks to want to use Bitcoin.

572
00:40:25,363 --> 00:40:29,143
We'll see about that. But I thought, you know, we've talked a lot about what

573
00:40:29,143 --> 00:40:32,223
about centralizing control, et cetera, et cetera. Those are not risks that I

574
00:40:32,223 --> 00:40:33,243
was really concerned about.

575
00:40:34,563 --> 00:40:40,383
But other folks thinking it's too risky to have a strategy or Capital 21 or

576
00:40:40,383 --> 00:40:45,623
whatever it is, or a meta planet that is collecting all this Bitcoin, we'll see.

577
00:40:45,723 --> 00:40:49,583
Just sort of a side note, if by chance, and this is a long shot,

578
00:40:49,743 --> 00:40:55,383
but if by chance Bitcoin were to close out Q2 above 119,000,

579
00:40:55,643 --> 00:41:00,243
strategy would probably post the largest quarterly earnings in human history.

580
00:41:01,321 --> 00:41:03,281
Because, you know, there's some new accounting rules come into effect.

581
00:41:03,341 --> 00:41:07,221
And if the price went up, I mean, they would just report quite the banger of a quarter.

582
00:41:07,481 --> 00:41:12,201
I don't know about risk. You know, I think as these become more and more successful,

583
00:41:12,321 --> 00:41:15,441
the price becomes higher and it becomes further and further out of their grasp.

584
00:41:15,561 --> 00:41:19,501
So I'm not sure it's a concern, but it's a new angle on the issue.

585
00:41:21,041 --> 00:41:28,441
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has flown past the $700 billion mark for assets under management.

586
00:41:29,261 --> 00:41:34,021
This is massive. It's achieved this milestone in just 341 days,

587
00:41:34,201 --> 00:41:40,081
which makes it five times quicker than the gold-backed ETF that launched years ago.

588
00:41:40,621 --> 00:41:44,561
Bloomberg analyst Eric highlighted the rapid ascent, noting that IBIT launched

589
00:41:44,561 --> 00:41:50,321
when Bitcoin was around $30,000 and lingering concerns around FTX and bank when

590
00:41:50,321 --> 00:41:51,581
fraud were still going around.

591
00:41:51,741 --> 00:41:59,761
It now trades closer to $110,000, returning seven times greater than the S&P 500 during that time.

592
00:42:01,421 --> 00:42:04,781
And they believe it's really just getting started.

593
00:42:05,281 --> 00:42:10,621
In fact, they were at a conference and were talking about how it's going to fly past gold.

594
00:42:10,861 --> 00:42:13,681
Look at this. Gold ETFs, obviously, you know they were a big hit.

595
00:42:14,001 --> 00:42:18,661
This is the assets historically of gold and Bitcoin ETFs. You can see how quickly

596
00:42:18,661 --> 00:42:20,241
the Bitcoin ETFs matched gold.

597
00:42:20,641 --> 00:42:23,561
Now, gold had a hell of a Q1, so its assets went up pretty good.

598
00:42:23,981 --> 00:42:28,841
This chart's a little old. That Bitcoin line is almost up to gold as we speak

599
00:42:28,841 --> 00:42:34,661
today. We think Bitcoin ETFs will probably get triple the gold ETFs in the next three to five years.

600
00:42:35,661 --> 00:42:39,121
Nobody's out talking about gold. I go to these things all the time.

601
00:42:39,341 --> 00:42:45,341
I go to TradFi events, crypto events. The energy behind Bitcoin and the wholesalers, huge.

602
00:42:45,881 --> 00:42:48,981
Everyone's very excited talking about it. There's nobody talking about gold

603
00:42:48,981 --> 00:42:49,981
except for like Peter Schiff.

604
00:42:52,241 --> 00:42:55,061
Nobody's talking about gold except for Peter Schiff.

605
00:42:55,241 --> 00:42:58,801
Everybody's talking about Bitcoin, he says. So 70 billion assets under management

606
00:42:58,801 --> 00:43:01,481
for their customers in just 341 days.

607
00:43:01,721 --> 00:43:04,761
They're now over 76 billion in digital assets.

608
00:43:04,981 --> 00:43:09,721
They rode Bitcoin from 30,000 to 110,000 so far. Pretty awesome.

609
00:43:10,121 --> 00:43:14,421
Pretty awesome to see. And it's, you know, this new kid on the block comes along.

610
00:43:14,561 --> 00:43:19,941
These ETFs, they're no slouch on Wall Street. They're a serious product, very popular product.

611
00:43:20,201 --> 00:43:24,001
And the Bitcoin ETF comes along and it's the biggest success in ETF history.

612
00:43:24,827 --> 00:43:28,907
I just love to see it. But let's stop talking about Wall Street and talk about

613
00:43:28,907 --> 00:43:30,127
something a little more real.

614
00:43:30,867 --> 00:43:36,327
Bitcoin was introduced by a firm in a what is being called not by me,

615
00:43:36,487 --> 00:43:40,827
but by the AP as Africa's largest urban slum.

616
00:43:42,287 --> 00:43:47,607
And it's made a big difference in the people's lives there. And it's a short clip.

617
00:43:47,827 --> 00:43:50,487
Not all of it's in English. So I'll do some live translation for you,

618
00:43:50,567 --> 00:43:51,287
but it's pretty powerful.

619
00:43:54,827 --> 00:43:59,647
So this is in Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya. I started using Bitcoin last year.

620
00:43:59,907 --> 00:44:02,447
I sell vegetables, and I accept Bitcoin.

621
00:44:05,247 --> 00:44:08,087
So far, around 9 to 5 people use Bitcoin on a good day.

622
00:44:08,247 --> 00:44:14,347
I like it because it's cheap, it's fast, and it doesn't have any transaction costs.

623
00:44:14,487 --> 00:44:16,727
When people pay using Bitcoin, it becomes my savings.

624
00:44:17,167 --> 00:44:19,847
And from cash transactions, I restock vegetables.

625
00:44:20,987 --> 00:44:24,647
I would like Bitcoin value to be rising so that I can at least make a profit.

626
00:44:30,387 --> 00:44:32,747
I have been using Bitcoin for close to a year and a half.

627
00:44:36,867 --> 00:44:39,587
Secondly, first I started using Bitcoin. It has been a good experience.

628
00:44:39,787 --> 00:44:43,407
Secondly, it helps us not carry cash in the pocket, which is unsafe.

629
00:44:45,347 --> 00:44:48,807
Cash in your pocket makes you a target for thieves, and your life will be in danger.

630
00:44:51,427 --> 00:44:55,647
Because with Bitcoin, you can scan and make a payment. This is community empowerment,

631
00:44:56,067 --> 00:45:02,787
and this is by using Bitcoin tools to empower and provide knowledge to these communities.

632
00:45:03,247 --> 00:45:08,527
Right now we work with merchants and the waste management groups.

633
00:45:08,787 --> 00:45:15,387
These are the heartbeats of the Kibra community, and they represent about 80%

634
00:45:15,387 --> 00:45:22,627
of the population that does not have access to the traditional banking system.

635
00:45:22,627 --> 00:45:24,587
Literally, they are their own banks.

636
00:45:24,847 --> 00:45:29,747
No one controls that. And that gives them the foundation, you know, for financial freedom.

637
00:45:31,407 --> 00:45:35,787
I mean, that is pretty great. They go from having no access to the banks to being their own bank.

638
00:45:36,467 --> 00:45:40,147
And they've gone straight to smartphones. No one in that video had a laptop.

639
00:45:40,567 --> 00:45:42,287
Everybody was using smartphones.

640
00:45:43,427 --> 00:45:49,287
It's interesting and similar to the stories I heard in El Salvador when I was visiting El Salvador.

641
00:45:50,327 --> 00:45:52,967
My favorite thing to do is talk to Uber drivers about how they use Bitcoin.

642
00:45:53,387 --> 00:45:56,587
The younger Uber drivers were all about it. The older ones were a little more skeptical.

643
00:45:57,007 --> 00:45:59,467
Some of them were saving in Bitcoin. Some of them were avoiding it altogether,

644
00:45:59,927 --> 00:46:01,387
but very similar trajectories.

645
00:46:02,700 --> 00:46:05,300
You know, you love to see the way different people adopt it organically,

646
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:07,140
but incentives are incentives.

647
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:13,640
So Opportunity Cost has been released, and it is a browser extension that instantly

648
00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:20,200
converts fiat currency prices into the Bitcoin Satoshi equivalent as you browse the web.

649
00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:24,620
So you can see essentially the opportunity cost of buying something in Satoshis.

650
00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:26,620
You're on Amazon or whatever it might be.

651
00:46:26,780 --> 00:46:32,600
Now, it's a semi-open source. It's a view-only license. So the source code is viewable.

652
00:46:32,700 --> 00:46:36,020
Permission is granted to view the source code of the software for

653
00:46:36,020 --> 00:46:39,060
transparency and education and auditing but you cannot copy or

654
00:46:39,060 --> 00:46:41,900
reuse any of the source you cannot modify or distribute the

655
00:46:41,900 --> 00:46:46,640
source and you cannot use the source code in any of your projects now on their

656
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,700
website they say does it collect any of my browsing data they say no opportunity

657
00:46:50,700 --> 00:46:54,040
cost runs entirely in your browser and doesn't send your data to any remote

658
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:58,740
servers your privacy is respected it pings the coin gecko API for the Bitcoin

659
00:46:58,740 --> 00:47:00,960
price, and then it does the calculations locally.

660
00:47:01,240 --> 00:47:04,660
I believe Marty Benton team are behind this, or at least helping work with the

661
00:47:04,660 --> 00:47:05,840
developers to create this.

662
00:47:05,980 --> 00:47:10,340
It's available for Chromium-based browsers right now, not yet available for Firefox.

663
00:47:10,740 --> 00:47:15,940
It's an interesting idea. I actually do think that there is some wisdom in thinking

664
00:47:15,940 --> 00:47:17,820
about buying things in Satoshis.

665
00:47:17,940 --> 00:47:22,320
So that way you're always considering, is this worth buying over sats?

666
00:47:22,660 --> 00:47:27,060
I think it is a decent way to think about stuff, or at least large purchases.

667
00:47:27,060 --> 00:47:29,720
So you can visualize how much Bitcoin you're burning.

668
00:47:30,340 --> 00:47:34,280
You're essentially shorting to buy that. So it's called Opportunity Cost,

669
00:47:34,380 --> 00:47:35,640
and I'll have a link in the show notes.

670
00:47:35,660 --> 00:47:38,860
If you try it out, let me know what you think.

671
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:42,880
I'd be curious to know your experiences. I'm not going to try it yet because

672
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:44,940
I'm a Firefox user, and I want to hear some reports on it.

673
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:53,700
And our last update of the week, it's a Coinbase ad. It's a Coinbase ad, but it's a Bitcoin ad.

674
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,040
In fact, they don't even say the word Coinbase in the ad.

675
00:47:56,180 --> 00:48:00,640
They do put the text at the end of it, but it's a highly stylized cartoon.

676
00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:07,960
It almost looks like AI-generated cartoon of a more realistic version of the Pixar cartoon Up.

677
00:48:08,500 --> 00:48:13,460
And in this video, while they're narrating, the house begins to float up into

678
00:48:13,460 --> 00:48:14,980
the air and kind of float away.

679
00:48:15,300 --> 00:48:19,680
Sort of a la Pixar's Up, but with a more realistic kind of styling.

680
00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:23,080
But it's actually the message of the ad that matters.

681
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:53,520
Music.

682
00:48:54,064 --> 00:48:58,704
Pretty good way to position that there at the end. If it's falling in Bitcoin,

683
00:48:58,704 --> 00:49:02,524
why is it rising in dollars? Not too bad.

684
00:49:08,044 --> 00:49:10,704
We are at the final clip of the week and I'm doing it again.

685
00:49:10,844 --> 00:49:15,104
I'm playing two clips. It's supposed to be the final clip, but I'm doing the final clips of the week.

686
00:49:15,804 --> 00:49:19,724
Last week, I was a bit hard on Saylor. I got some pushback from some of you.

687
00:49:19,884 --> 00:49:23,204
You argued that, you know, he might have been right about funding Bitcoin Core.

688
00:49:23,364 --> 00:49:27,524
And you're arguing that maybe he's right about proof of reserves and the security risk.

689
00:49:27,904 --> 00:49:30,804
I'm not so sure on that. I appreciate that feedback.

690
00:49:32,144 --> 00:49:35,804
I think we'll wait and see. He was definitely getting his flowers this week.

691
00:49:35,864 --> 00:49:41,984
As more and more companies are copying his strategy, you're seeing a shift in

692
00:49:41,984 --> 00:49:47,404
the authority and tone which his responses seem to carry with the news pundits or the news actors.

693
00:49:47,684 --> 00:49:52,584
And he was on Bloomberg this week and he was kind of swatting down bearish questions

694
00:49:52,584 --> 00:49:55,104
with some ease. I thought I'd play a little bit of it for you.

695
00:49:55,804 --> 00:50:02,144
How do you expect the asset to continue a price increase at these levels that we've seen?

696
00:50:02,324 --> 00:50:06,564
I mean, can it keep that up over the next five years, over the next 10 years?

697
00:50:06,824 --> 00:50:10,224
This is a combination of, am I too late to Bitcoin?

698
00:50:10,404 --> 00:50:13,984
How can Bitcoin possibly go up from here? How could there be any more buyers

699
00:50:13,984 --> 00:50:15,944
at this price? It's so crazily expensive.

700
00:50:16,724 --> 00:50:21,444
People truly don't understand how it's possible it could go up any further. They don't get it.

701
00:50:22,164 --> 00:50:26,544
Even Bloomberg news analysts don't understand how it's possible it could go up any further.

702
00:50:26,944 --> 00:50:31,044
110 is the top. It can't go any further than that because the money just isn't there, right?

703
00:50:31,284 --> 00:50:37,864
And at what point do we see winter coming again? Because that's been a permanent

704
00:50:37,864 --> 00:50:43,304
fixture of this asset class, right? It's gone. Right, volatility, it's scary.

705
00:50:43,504 --> 00:50:47,004
Bad volley, bad ball. We don't want vol. No, the volley's scary.

706
00:50:47,464 --> 00:50:50,364
It's always that question. Well, won't it crash here? It gets to 110.

707
00:50:50,604 --> 00:50:51,544
Sure, it might get to 130.

708
00:50:51,704 --> 00:50:55,504
But, you know, I've seen it crash down. So what if it goes from 110 to 50,000

709
00:50:55,504 --> 00:50:56,564
again? Isn't that going to be horrible?

710
00:50:56,744 --> 00:51:02,724
And from zero or 1,000 to 20 and then back down to three or four and then up

711
00:51:02,724 --> 00:51:07,264
to 50 and then back down to 15 and now up to 110. Like, when does it drop again?

712
00:51:08,224 --> 00:51:12,564
Winter's not coming back. We're past that. We're past that phase.

713
00:51:12,744 --> 00:51:16,464
If Bitcoin's not going to zero, it's going. So when he says winter isn't coming

714
00:51:16,464 --> 00:51:20,724
back and this is getting a lot of play, I think he's talking about in the long

715
00:51:20,724 --> 00:51:23,924
term sense, like in the 200 day moving average sense.

716
00:51:24,104 --> 00:51:27,864
I think that's what he's talking about. He's not talking about in the hourly candle.

717
00:51:28,064 --> 00:51:32,384
He's talking about the 200 day moving average. We're not going to zero for him.

718
00:51:32,524 --> 00:51:35,324
Winter would be like sustained 30,000.

719
00:51:35,484 --> 00:51:37,564
Right. And he doesn't think we're going there. But.

720
00:51:38,151 --> 00:51:43,151
You know, in his sailor-esque way, he just says winter's never coming back. When does it drop again?

721
00:51:43,911 --> 00:51:48,431
Winter's not coming back. We're past that. We're past that phase.

722
00:51:48,591 --> 00:51:51,631
If Bitcoin's not going to zero, it's going to a million dollars.

723
00:51:52,211 --> 00:51:55,311
And you have all the evidence you need to determine that, right?

724
00:51:55,411 --> 00:51:58,711
The president of the United States has determined he supports Bitcoin.

725
00:51:58,711 --> 00:52:00,571
The cabinet supports Bitcoin.

726
00:52:00,971 --> 00:52:06,151
Scott Peasant supports Bitcoin. Paul Atkins has shown himself to be an enthusiastic

727
00:52:06,151 --> 00:52:08,771
believer of Bitcoin and digital assets.

728
00:52:09,371 --> 00:52:15,291
Kintez at CFTC feels the same, Ray. The banks are going to custody Bitcoin.

729
00:52:15,931 --> 00:52:21,851
Bitcoin has gotten through its riskiest period. The accounting has been corrected.

730
00:52:22,691 --> 00:52:26,891
There's now only 450 Bitcoin a day available for sale by natural sellers.

731
00:52:27,071 --> 00:52:31,691
That's the miners. At this level, that works out to about $50 million of Bitcoin

732
00:52:31,691 --> 00:52:33,591
available for sale every day.

733
00:52:33,991 --> 00:52:38,691
If that $50 million is bought, then the price has got to move up to find any

734
00:52:38,691 --> 00:52:41,611
seller that's price sensitive.

735
00:52:42,011 --> 00:52:45,731
I actually think these numbers are interesting because you hear about IBIT buying

736
00:52:45,731 --> 00:52:51,031
X amount of Bitcoin, or every Monday you hear that MicroStrategy bought X number of Bitcoin.

737
00:52:51,371 --> 00:52:55,211
It's actually worth remembering there's only so much Bitcoin produced per day,

738
00:52:55,211 --> 00:52:59,451
only so much Bitcoin produced per month, and only so much Bitcoin produced in a year.

739
00:52:59,571 --> 00:53:04,691
The miners, at this level, that works out to about $50 million of Bitcoin available

740
00:53:04,691 --> 00:53:09,911
for sale every day. If that $50 million is bought, then the price has got to

741
00:53:09,911 --> 00:53:14,031
move up to find any seller that's price sensitive.

742
00:53:14,431 --> 00:53:18,731
Now, if you do the math, you'll actually see the Bitcoin treasury companies

743
00:53:18,731 --> 00:53:22,251
by themselves are buying the entire natural supply. Yeah.

744
00:53:22,571 --> 00:53:27,191
BlackRock and the ETFs are buying another measure of that.

745
00:53:27,451 --> 00:53:30,931
And we've got nation state actors coming into the space.

746
00:53:31,131 --> 00:53:36,651
So I think when Bitcoin rallies, if it surges to five hundred thousand or a

747
00:53:36,651 --> 00:53:41,091
million dollars, then maybe we could talk about it crashing down by two hundred

748
00:53:41,091 --> 00:53:42,371
thousand dollars a coin.

749
00:53:42,371 --> 00:53:47,871
But at the current price levels, it only takes $50 million to turn the entire

750
00:53:47,871 --> 00:53:50,651
drive shaft of the crypto economy one turn.

751
00:53:50,871 --> 00:53:54,871
And you've got the Trump media organization announcing $2.5 billion.

752
00:53:55,171 --> 00:54:00,231
You've got GameStop announcing $500 million. You've got my company that's raising

753
00:54:00,231 --> 00:54:02,051
billions and billions of dollars.

754
00:54:02,251 --> 00:54:04,591
So the writing is on the wall. Bitcoin's moving higher.

755
00:54:05,031 --> 00:54:09,111
Yeah, the writing's on the wall. Bitcoin is moving higher. Of course,

756
00:54:09,171 --> 00:54:11,091
they would say that. But I think he's kind of right.

757
00:54:12,009 --> 00:54:15,989
Think he is right. It's obvious, really. He got around this week.

758
00:54:16,289 --> 00:54:22,389
He was also on Peterson's podcast, and maybe he did his best job yet explaining

759
00:54:22,389 --> 00:54:25,709
to the situation that led him to find COVID.

760
00:54:25,849 --> 00:54:30,789
And he kind of talks about his mindset and where he was at during COVID and

761
00:54:30,789 --> 00:54:35,249
the lockdowns with Peterson and explains how that led him to Bitcoin.

762
00:54:35,249 --> 00:54:39,849
I had a guy, after 30 years in business and in engineering education,

763
00:54:40,689 --> 00:54:44,449
reasonably educated, but not a classically trained economist,

764
00:54:44,669 --> 00:54:45,689
not an Austrian economist.

765
00:54:45,889 --> 00:54:49,789
I am struggling with the time-honored question, what is money?

766
00:54:50,869 --> 00:54:54,149
I need a liquid, fungible asset

767
00:54:54,149 --> 00:54:59,529
which will store my economic energy for an indefinite period of time.

768
00:55:00,509 --> 00:55:03,369
And so what is money? I'm looking for money.

769
00:55:03,369 --> 00:55:06,769
And I you know eventually I get to gold and

770
00:55:06,769 --> 00:55:09,729
I'm like I'm thinking should I buy 500 million dollars of gold and

771
00:55:09,729 --> 00:55:12,529
you know my attorney he looks at me goes you know Mike I

772
00:55:12,529 --> 00:55:15,469
remember when gold was 800 dollars an ounce back in

773
00:55:15,469 --> 00:55:19,749
the 70s or the 80s and then it went nowhere for 20 years and you should be careful

774
00:55:19,749 --> 00:55:25,109
about that and it might not it's kind of dead money and then I so I'm sitting

775
00:55:25,109 --> 00:55:30,489
at this table and I'm watching the world burn while all the Wall Street guys

776
00:55:30,489 --> 00:55:35,149
get rich and the talking heads on CNBC say what they're saying.

777
00:55:35,369 --> 00:55:39,649
And I'm looking out at Miami Beach and I'm looking at Collins Avenue and every

778
00:55:39,649 --> 00:55:44,049
car is not, there's no cars on the road except for an Amazon truck,

779
00:55:44,089 --> 00:55:45,409
which just makes me angry.

780
00:55:46,069 --> 00:55:51,309
One Amazon truck going by. And I've got 82 birds in my backyard and they're

781
00:55:51,309 --> 00:55:54,649
hunting for worms because all the restaurants in Miami Beach shut down.

782
00:55:54,789 --> 00:55:59,989
So whatever, whoever was feeding them is not feeding them. So I'm watching us

783
00:55:59,989 --> 00:56:04,889
strip the world back to the Stone Age, right? A devolution.

784
00:56:05,389 --> 00:56:10,029
And I'm staring over my pool. I look at Eric and I say, Eric.

785
00:56:11,109 --> 00:56:13,109
Tell me about that Bitcoin thing again.

786
00:56:13,189 --> 00:56:18,129
And Eric was a crypto entrepreneur and he had been investing in digital assets

787
00:56:18,129 --> 00:56:22,249
and crypto. And I had dismissed him two years earlier in 2018.

788
00:56:22,249 --> 00:56:26,089
I was like, oh, that's probably just a scam coin that's going to collapse.

789
00:56:26,809 --> 00:56:29,789
But you know everybody finds this

790
00:56:29,789 --> 00:56:32,709
when you you know if i tell you you got six

791
00:56:32,709 --> 00:56:35,869
months to live you would go looking for a cure and if

792
00:56:35,869 --> 00:56:38,849
i told you every asset that you hold in canada

793
00:56:38,849 --> 00:56:42,829
is going to be seized from you within six months that could happen you would

794
00:56:42,829 --> 00:56:46,129
think about how you're going to get your money out of canada yeah we already

795
00:56:46,129 --> 00:56:49,849
thought about that you know and like and the point is you didn't think about

796
00:56:49,849 --> 00:56:54,869
it for the 20 years of your career when it just wasn't the priority and then

797
00:56:54,869 --> 00:56:57,349
when you're faced with a crisis,

798
00:56:57,769 --> 00:57:00,129
a challenge, you start thinking.

799
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:10,960
Music.

800
00:57:10,803 --> 00:57:14,503
Let's check in on the state of the network as I wrap up. We're at block height

801
00:57:14,503 --> 00:57:18,383
900,829. The current U.S.

802
00:57:18,743 --> 00:57:25,543
Price is 108,580 for one Bitcoin to U.S. dollar.

803
00:57:25,763 --> 00:57:28,943
That makes the sats per U.S. dollar 921.

804
00:57:30,203 --> 00:57:36,043
Let's check in on a few vital stats. We have 22,108 reachable nodes on the network.

805
00:57:36,583 --> 00:57:41,703
And I have to say, Bitcoin knots climbing faster than I thought.

806
00:57:42,343 --> 00:57:46,703
It was at, well, no, now it's down.

807
00:57:46,943 --> 00:57:52,043
Well, it was up 10.5%, but now it's at 10.49%. Still, though, not too bad.

808
00:57:52,363 --> 00:57:59,583
Of course, the most dominant node software is Core 28.1, followed by 29, then 26.

809
00:58:00,723 --> 00:58:03,843
Looking over at things, things are looking really good on the Bitcoin network.

810
00:58:03,843 --> 00:58:09,263
We're just 3% down from our all-time high, which is basically in the landing

811
00:58:09,263 --> 00:58:11,643
zone about 20 days ago is when we hit that.

812
00:58:12,183 --> 00:58:14,363
It's pretty neat. You'll love to see it.

813
00:58:14,963 --> 00:58:18,663
State of the network is strong. The Lightning Network is rocking, too.

814
00:58:18,703 --> 00:58:21,323
I was trying to find some stats right there real quick on that,

815
00:58:21,423 --> 00:58:23,283
but I don't have it on this dashboard.

816
00:58:23,583 --> 00:58:26,123
But the transactions on the Lightning Network is getting crazy, too.

817
00:58:26,683 --> 00:58:29,103
So you can still open and close channels and move things around.

818
00:58:29,423 --> 00:58:33,163
You still have people that are recognizing the value and building on top of Bitcoin.

819
00:58:34,463 --> 00:58:38,483
And watch lightning grow. Watch some of the layer twos come along like ARK.

820
00:58:38,643 --> 00:58:41,543
It's pretty cool. Lots of innovation in Bitcoin.

821
00:58:46,843 --> 00:58:50,223
That's it for me this week. Links for everything I talked about and more at

822
00:58:50,223 --> 00:58:51,543
thisweekinbitcoin.show.

823
00:58:51,943 --> 00:58:57,243
This was episode 60. I hope I got pretty close to my goal this week of creating

824
00:58:57,243 --> 00:59:00,563
something that doesn't get distracted by emotions or the noise or the drama

825
00:59:00,563 --> 00:59:04,063
and just focuses on the signal for you. So let me know how I did with the boost.

826
00:59:04,203 --> 00:59:07,283
And of course, boost in if I missed anything or more that you'd like to see

827
00:59:07,283 --> 00:59:10,823
from the show. I always take that very seriously. And I'm taking notes on all of that.

828
00:59:10,963 --> 00:59:14,003
I'm going to leave you this week with a value for value song like I do.

829
00:59:14,183 --> 00:59:19,323
So if you boost in during the track, 95% of the sats will go to the artist.

830
00:59:19,483 --> 00:59:25,063
And with all the recent dust ups and drama and infighting around Bitcoin policies,

831
00:59:25,863 --> 00:59:29,423
I thought we should focus on something with a positive message.

832
00:59:29,423 --> 00:59:32,323
And I came across this week's song and I thought, wow, this is just it right

833
00:59:32,323 --> 00:59:33,423
here. I like this message.

834
00:59:33,623 --> 00:59:38,363
It's Decentralized by Zaza Wow Wow. See you next week.

835
00:59:44,720 --> 01:02:23,677
Music.