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Preliminary data from the University of Michigan shows consumer sentiment.

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Or how people feel about the economy, declined for a second straight month.

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And it all comes as January saw a decline in spending, which has some economists

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warning the U.S. could face a possible recession.

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Music.

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Welcome in to episode 50 of This Week in Bitcoin.

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My name is Chris, ChrisLAS.com, JupiterBroadcasting.com.

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I think us Bitcoiners know this feeling a little too well.

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Sometimes you come to an idea maybe a little too early, And you look around

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and you wonder, why is nobody else thinking this way?

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Am I missing something or are they all missing something?

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But it seems like these days, instead of waiting years for people to catch up,

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you only have to wait a few weeks. And then everyone else seems to start catching up.

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And I guess the so-called market experts are just a bit slow.

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After last week's episode, like a row of dominoes kicking off,

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everything Bitcoiners have been talking about, especially I have been talking

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about on the show, seems to have caught up with the so-called economists.

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On the CBS Money Watch, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson today would not rule out a recession.

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He also downplayed stock market turmoil as a sell-off has taken the S&P 500 into correction.

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The benchmark index is down more than 10 percent from its February 19th record high.

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Still, some Americans are feeling squeezed, defaulting on car loans at a record

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level. It is interesting.

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Before, I guess, 2025, I was watching

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these delinquencies on car loans and delinquencies on credit card bills.

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And I thought it was strange that the mainstream media wasn't reporting it.

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And now here we are in 2025. Maybe it's post-election. I don't know.

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They're opening the CBS Weekend News with this item. And I thought,

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well, am I tracking the wrong stats here?

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Because what I'm seeing seems rather alarming. But now they're just openly discussing

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it. I leave it to you to speculate as to why.

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Still, some Americans are feeling squeezed, defaulting on car loans at a record level.

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CBS's Andres Gutierrez in Los Angeles reports.

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How much are you paying each month? 930. Troubling times on the American road.

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Two years ago, Alejandra Graciola bought her EV for $60,000.

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Okay, I don't mean to be this guy, but do you think this report's going to bring

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up the fact that maybe she shouldn't have bought a brand new $60,000 EV for

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$900,000, almost $1,000 a month?

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I mean, that should be what your mortgage payment is. I realize it's not that,

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but that's what the mortgage payment should be.

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And two years later, we're surprised to discover that this gal can't afford $1,000 a month EV.

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Like that just seems obvious on its face. That was never going to work.

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Not going to be part of the coverage, though. I realize I'm being a little bit

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of a tough guy here, but there is some personal responsibility when it comes to taking out loans.

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When you get $1,000 a month car, you have to think about not just the payment

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for the next few months, but you have to think about the payment for whatever

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it might be, eight years, five years, whatever it could be.

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And you have to think about making that payment every single month,

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even when there's Christmas, even when there's issues, even when prices of eggs go up. 930.

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Troubling times on the American road. Two years ago, Alejandra Graziola bought her EV for $60,000.

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Is that pretty high for you? I mean, does it break your budget? It is.

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Graziola isn't alone. In 2024,

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more than 4% of auto loan holders had car payments of $1,000 or more.

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That's up from 1% in 2020.

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And almost $1,000 for our car is just, you know, it's a little crazy, but.

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Driving up prices, a double whammy of rising vehicle costs and higher finance costs to buy them.

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If we look at the average price people are paying for a new vehicle, it's north of $47,000.

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Unused, it's $25,000.

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With the economy showing signs of

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stress, Jessica Caldwell of Edmonds says borrowers are feeling the pitch.

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So people that are kind of in the middle of their loan, they may be hitting

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the point where cost of living has gotten to them and they can no longer make

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these payments. That actually kind of would make sense.

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You buy the car a couple of years ago, inflation kicks in, now it's feeling really tight.

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And how could you possibly forecast that inflation would go up like 22% in a couple of years?

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That would just be unusual for most people.

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A lot of people that are crazy enough to make decisions like buying a $60,000

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car when they can't afford it haven't been around long enough to experience,

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say, inflation in the 70s and interest rates in the 80s. So this is their first

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go around and it's caught them and it's tough.

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Americans are feeling the pinch and it would make sense they should be after

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a couple of years of tough inflation.

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But now that data and that sentiment data is making its way into the hands of

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economists. And that's where some of the panic is coming from.

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Renewed fears about an economic slowdown have rattled Wall Street and beyond

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in recent weeks, stoked by President Donald Trump and his top economic officials'

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refusals to rule out a recession.

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This is a report by Forbes, and it kind of underscores the general vibe of the last few days.

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Also, the UCLA's Anderson forecast issued their first ever recession watch.

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They say it's mostly due to Trump's proposed policies, if fully enacted,

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could lead to an economic downturn. In fact, the report is titled,

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quote, Trump policies, if fully enacted, promise a recession.

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Right. Now, the thing that's interesting is this is the first time they've ever put this indicator out.

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And they also highlight labor shortages and reduce federal spending as a factor in the economy as well.

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These things are what's sort of leading to these types of reports right now.

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The technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative

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growth in gross domestic product.

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The official quarterly GDP stats haven't turned negative yet, but JPMorgan Chase,

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the country's biggest bank, calls for a weak but still positive 1% GDP growth

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rate during Q1, though Wall Street recession indicators tilt towards higher odds of recession.

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And perhaps the most concerning signal is a breakdown in everyday Americans'

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conviction in the economy, as the University of Michigan's closely-watched Consumer

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Sentiment Survey tumbled this month to its lowest level since 2022.

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Many have pointed to the stock market as a reason to fear a recession.

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Stock prices don't completely correlate with economic growth,

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but the S&P 500 dove into a 10% correction last week, wiping out some $5 trillion

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in market value in less than a month's time.

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Trading in two of the world's most precious commodities, signals that investors

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are looking for safe assets to invest in, certainly point to the prospect of a global recession.

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Gold prices are up more than 10% this year to a record $3,000 per troy ounce,

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and an international benchmark for oil prices sunk to its lowest level since 2021.

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Yeah, so gold's up, oil's down, that spooks people.

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Then you have a combination of tariff policy fears, the stock market,

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and some stocks are down, you know, 40, 50%, some are down much less.

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That, combined with a softening consumer outlook, has all kind of just spooked everyone.

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But have you noticed that the White House hasn't said much about tariffs in

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the last few days? There's been a few things.

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No tweets from the president, though. And the market's calmed a lot since that,

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really since the last mean tweet about tariffs.

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And it kind of goes back to what I was saying last episode.

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A lot of this policy uncertainty, which is playing a major factor here,

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is just driven by the White House jawboning.

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So if you ignore the tweets and you listen to the staff around Trump,

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I think you'll find that they're laying out a very clear game plan.

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And I have to admit, for the second week in a row, the Damn All In podcast has some clips on the show.

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Music.

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This is actually pretty good. So Freeberg and Chamath made it to D.C.

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To sit down with the Treasury Secretary.

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And they had a pretty good conversation. It meanders a bit. I'll link to the

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full conversation in the show notes.

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But they did get him to lay out his three point plan pretty simply.

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And I think you can just listen to the words from the Treasury Secretary directly

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and figure out what the game plan is. But plan one, we're going to delever the

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government via the spending.

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We are also going to shed excess labor from the government.

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So on that side, and then on the other side, we're going to deregulate the financial system.

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The regulated financial system's really been in what I call a regulatory corset

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for a long time. And as we deregulate that, then the private sector can re-leverage.

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So government de-leveraging, private sector re-leveraging, and the employment

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or the folks who lost their government jobs will be picked up by the private sector.

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Okay, so part one is shifting productivity to the private sector.

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And then part two is? The other side of getting prices down is getting real wages up.

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So on getting real wages for working people up, it goes back to the Main Street versus Wall Street.

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And the second plan is to reorder the international trading system and bring

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manufacturing jobs back to the US and reinvigorate the middle class.

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Because again, through tariffs, well, to use tariffs that were needed to bring other countries back.

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Into line. And to create an economic incentive to onshore for some industries and some supply chains?

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Well, so there's tariffs.

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Then I think there's three other things we can do, which are the centerpiece of the administration.

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We can have the low and predictable taxes.

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We can substantially slash regulations because regulations are the equivalent

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of- That'll drive investment dollars, private investment dollars.

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And predictability in regulations, and then cheap energy.

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Right. And sorry. So, you know, cheap energy, reordering world trade, redoing regulation.

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These are ginormous goals.

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And I think when a lot of the market forecasting and panicking is being worked

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in, they're picturing like that UCLA post I told you about, They're picturing

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a world where they accomplish 100% of this.

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I don't, I mean, what would it take, 30 years to accomplish 100% of that?

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They're going to get, you know, a baseline. They're going to get maybe 20%.

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I don't know. I'd like to hear your speculation.

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Because you can hear how big the goals are. Now, Scott never really fully gets

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to part three of the plan, although I suspect cheap energy was part of it.

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But I think they kind of covered part three in this discussion.

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So, sorry, does tax cuts get made up with tariffs? or does tax cuts get made

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up with cutting government spending?

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Well, tax cuts will... So tax cuts and deregulation will...

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Change the growth trajectory. Well, grow GDP. If trend line has been 1.8,

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if you can move the growth to three or above, then you really change their trajectory.

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And if you can keep expenses flat or do the unthinkable and cut expenses,

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then you can really... So this is important.

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So sorry, government revenue as a percent of GDP can go lower if you have lower

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expenses and a faster growing economy.

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Yes. I think that's like really important for folks to understand that relationship.

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And so in isolation, tax cuts might reduce revenue.

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But when done with reduced government spending and deregulation and a reordered

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international trade model, you theoretically will accelerate economic growth

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in this country, increase government revenue overall, even with a lower tax rate.

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That's kind of the theory. And

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I'll tell you, shame on me. I was in the investment business for 35 years.

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I talked very confidently over that CBO scoring says this.

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And it turns out I didn't know you know what about CBO scoring.

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Like when you're on this side of the wall, you realize how crazy it is.

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Now, the idea of lowering taxes and bringing up revenue at the same time and

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cutting costs, all of it seems, again, like quite the target to hit.

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But I think what you hear in there is a strategy, at least. And from that,

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we can kind of deduce the steps that they're going to have to take.

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And ARK Investments' Kathy Wood seems to think there could be some decent results

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if given time. assets, Bitcoin or otherwise, how do you know that we're not at the lows?

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So one of the things we think is going on right now is, and Treasury Secretary

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Besant today said, he does not believe that we're going into a recession.

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We think we've been in a rolling recession and that we are actually going to

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see some negative quarters here.

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And that's because the velocity of money is collapsing as people,

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the labor force is worried that, and we're talking about federal, state, and local,

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quasi-government categories like education and health care, there's a lot of

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fear around job security right now.

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So we see the saving rate going up, we see the velocity of money coming down,

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and we do think we'll see one or two negative quarters.

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What we believe that will do is set this administration up and the Fed up with

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more degrees of freedom for tax cuts and perhaps lower interest rates or at

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least ending quantitative tightening.

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So in the short term, the velocity of money goes down, which probably means

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Bitcoin doesn't really pump.

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And we can kind of figure out there's just two big questions from that that

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the market really should be worried about.

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They can stop panicking and they can ask themselves just two things.

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Is this strategy going to work?

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Will it work? Even if it partially works, is it worth it?

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And then I think the next big question, especially if you believe what Kathy

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just said there, how long will this take?

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Because the sell, the upside, the reason why we're going to eat the veggies

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is because on the other side of this, liquidity is going to be loose.

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Money is going to be pumping. The velocity of money will be high.

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People will be buying Bitcoin. They'll be buying stocks. They'll be buying all kinds of stuff.

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We're going to have a strategic asset reserve. We're going to have a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

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It's going to be just boomtown once we get through this, is what the promise is.

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If that's true, well, then how long? Is it just a quarter?

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Is it a year? Is it 2028? How long does it take? I'd like to know what you think.

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So boost it and tell me how long. And do you think this is a strategy that's going to work?

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Because Bitcoin tries to teach us to be patient, right?

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We should be looking at this as a massive buying opportunity.

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If it takes six months, if it takes a quarter, we don't know.

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But this window is a massive opportunity.

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And the reason why I say that is because I feel like after the election,

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a lot of us plebs thought, well, we're kind of priced out of Bitcoin.

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You know, I heard a few people say, I'm just shutting off my DCA now.

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I'm just pissing into the wind.

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But now, all of a sudden, look at this. Well, Bitcoin's on sale.

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And the prices, I think, are wildly low. And why do I say wildly low?

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Because this Fed seems to be low-key ending quantitative tightening.

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They're still jawboning, but in the background, they seem to be low-key ending tightening.

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The dollar is tanking. Long-term yields are falling.

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Global M2 is pumping to new highs. And the U.S.

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Government is telling us that they're going to buy as much Bitcoin as possible

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and that you should never sell your Bitcoin.

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This is President Trump's executive director on digital assets,

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and he was talking about ways that they're trying to acquire more Bitcoin.

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Well, you know, we delivered on the president's promises that he made on the campaign trail.

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You know, the president was adamant about creating the SBR. We wanted to make

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sure that we did it right in a way that respected Bitcoin for being so unique

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and also gave credence to innovation and other spaces in the digital asset world.

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So, you know, for us here, we look at Bitcoin.

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It's not a security, it's a commodity. It has intrinsic stored value that's

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traditionally accepted.

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It has, as David likes to describe, the immaculate conception. There's no issuer.

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And that's why, as you saw in the executive order, we compared this to digital gold.

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It's something that's imperative for the United States to have,

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retain, continue to build on.

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And I think that's worth pointing out that the way that this is constructed,

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we talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget neutral ways that won't

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cost the taxpayer a dime.

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And what I like to say about this president, I think it's high time that our

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president started accumulating assets for the American people,

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which is what President Trump is doing, rather than taking it away.

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And I think that's one thing that we really wanted to make clear in this executive order.

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And we're looking forward to working with our partners at Treasury and the Secretary

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of Commerce in order to find those budget neutral ways in which we can acquire more.

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You know, I've been asked all the time, it's like, how much do you want?

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I said, well, that's like asking a country, how much gold do you want?

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Right? I mean, as much as we can get.

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I think Bitcoiners that have been around for more than a couple of years,

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They are all probably realizing what an incredible opportunity this low 80s

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Bitcoin price is. I know people don't believe it when I say it.

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But right now, at this particular point in time, while all of this is happening,

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I'd rather take low 80s K Bitcoin than 120 K Bitcoin.

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There's just opportunity here like we've never seen before in the Bitcoin community.

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And this is BlackRock's Robbie Michnick. He is the global head of digital assets.

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And I think he's feeling the same way.

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You know, and I'm talking to some of the most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators.

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They're pretty excited about this dip that, you know, they see this as a buying opportunity.

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They certainly don't look at economic headwinds and say that's that's bad for Bitcoin.

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They say that's probably a catalyst for Bitcoin. Well, to be fair, they are always pretty.

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That's true. That's true. But but some of them, you know, we're taking chips

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off the table a little bit in the in the hundreds. and now they see this correction

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and a lot of them view it as sort of an irrational sell-off based on short-term factors.

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I don't know whether that's true or not, but certainly there's a lot yet to

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be sort of understood and processed about this asset and how people think about

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it from a risk return perspective and in a portfolio and how the correlation

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should play out over the long run.

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So we're trying to play a role in that. Lots of other financial institutions

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that have come into this space are trying to bring some quantitative rigor.

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Music.

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Now, I want to take a moment and zoom out. We got to look at the bigger picture.

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You know, I often set the stage for each episode's discussion by looking at

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the macro picture in the United States.

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I've talked about why I do that. I think I have some pretty good reasons.

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But we need to remember there's a lot more than just the United States when it comes to Bitcoin.

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And there are some really big things playing out on the world stage that will

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absolutely be factors in Bitcoin's adoption.

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This came from the Digital Asset Summit that was held in New York this week.

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This is a traditional economist who I've in the past not been particularly impressed by.

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It's Egyptian-American economist Mohammed, probably getting this wrong.

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It's Al-Rarian, probably wrong.

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And he was asked about Bitcoin's role in a macro environment where nations are

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increasingly worried about the weaponization of the dollar and SWIFT system.

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Does that lead down a path where we could see Bitcoin become this neutral asset

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that's used for global trade flows?

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So when I travel around the world, the question I get asked the most is, how did Russia do it?

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Do what? Not invade Ukraine. How did Russia continue to trade while not being

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part of SWIFT, while not being allowed to use the dollar?

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How does it do it? And if you analyze it, it does it by using four different

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currencies. it's a really inefficient system, very inefficient.

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But it allows them to both export and import without going anywhere near the dollar.

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And the reason why I get asked that question is because countries are worried

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about the weaponization of the payment system.

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They're worried about the weaponization of investments, not just trade.

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They're worried about assets being frozen for political reasons.

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And they're trying to look at substitutes. That's why gold is doing what it's doing.

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Gold has broken every single historical correlation it's had. Why?

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Because central banks are buying on a consistent basis as they seek to diversify

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at the margin away from the dollar.

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So if you were to let this system run, suddenly Bitcoins has a role to play internationally.

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You think? You think it might? In fact, there's been rumors that they have been using it for trade.

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I can't really get much confirmation on that because I've seen those before

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and then they kind of get dismissed.

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But it just makes sense to me. It just, it absolutely makes sense.

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Because right now, when they're not using cash and they're not using currencies,

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there's also reports that sometimes they're just straight up trading barrels of oil,

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which could you imagine just the logistics of like buying a couple million dollars

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worth of goods and then trying to orchestrate the payoff with barrels of oil

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compared to just doing a lightning transaction or something,

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or maybe even just on chain.

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It'd just be crazy. I want to turn to the EU for a moment while we're talking

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about the worldwide stage, because it's been interesting to see that Bitcoin

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and other digital asset adoptions actually been growing pretty quickly in the EU.

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Now, if you just look at their ETF equivalent assets under management,

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it's actually been increasing by 46% in the first half of 2024,

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which is all the data I have for right now, but it's 11.7 billion euros.

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It seems European investors, particularly the younger generation,

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have showed increased interest in digital assets.

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For example, in France, 9% of the population owns cryptocurrencies,

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which surpasses stock ownership.

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And it's likely even higher than that because the state is a couple of years old.

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So that might be why the European Central Bank is moving really fast.

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And I mean, really fast for a central bank to roll out their own CBDC later this year.

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Here's the president of the European Central Bank, your buddy, Christine Lagarde.

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Fabio Panetta on the board and then Piero Cipollone, who has replaced Fabio,

328
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have, taken the lead together with a very, very good team which is focused on accelerating the pace.

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And hopefully campaigning enough with all the stakeholders, meaning European Parliament,

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meaning European Council, meaning European Commission, so that we can eventually,

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you know, not put to bed, but put to reality this digital euro.

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The deadline for us is going to be October.

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Of 25 and we are getting

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ready for that deadline but we will

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not be able to move unless the other

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parties the stakeholders as i call them commission council

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and parliament actually complete the legislative process without which we will

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not be able to move and i think it is critically important and it seems to the

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00:24:32,762 --> 00:24:35,522
agnostic or the skeptics it

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seems to be more relevant and more of an imperative now than ever before.

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Ooh, October. Happy Halloween.

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Why do you suppose they're rushing right now?

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And does it spook you like it spooks me? Even though I'm in the States,

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it still spooks me that Western nations are going to start implementing a CBDC.

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And what she's saying in that clip is essentially the bank's putting pressure

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on the lawmakers to enshrine it in law.

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00:25:07,082 --> 00:25:09,042
Why? Why by October?

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And does it spook you like it spooks me? And I also have another question for

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00:25:13,002 --> 00:25:14,662
you. So guess what? I want you to boost in.

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00:25:15,662 --> 00:25:18,982
You heard the Treasury Secretary's three-point plan there. Do you think something

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00:25:18,982 --> 00:25:20,502
like that is actually going to play out?

352
00:25:20,882 --> 00:25:23,722
How many quarters does it take? One, two, a year?

353
00:25:24,162 --> 00:25:28,122
And then the big thing I want to know, sometimes it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

354
00:25:28,122 --> 00:25:31,502
Do you think we are going to slide into a recession?

355
00:25:32,222 --> 00:25:37,562
Seems to be the sentiment that is slowly sweeping across the quote-unquote market.

356
00:25:37,762 --> 00:25:40,522
I'd like to know what you think. Boosting on all of those things,

357
00:25:40,702 --> 00:25:44,822
why now is CBDC, why by October is the three-point plan going to work?

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00:25:44,882 --> 00:25:47,862
How long will it take? And are we about to slide into a response?

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Music.

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00:26:06,991 --> 00:26:09,911
Well, don't go anywhere because coming up in the show, I've got your boost,

361
00:26:10,091 --> 00:26:14,791
some important updates, and a stone cold killer clip of the week.

362
00:26:15,331 --> 00:26:19,011
We have to play that. But first, I want to let you know you can support the

363
00:26:19,011 --> 00:26:20,171
show by doing what you do.

364
00:26:20,491 --> 00:26:23,631
Go buy your sats. Go DCA. Go smash buy.

365
00:26:24,031 --> 00:26:27,071
Go use River. If you're in the States, I think it's the best way to stack sats.

366
00:26:27,191 --> 00:26:29,731
They've got that 3.8% interest in sats.

367
00:26:29,911 --> 00:26:33,031
Then you can sit there in a cash and then smash buy when the price dips.

368
00:26:33,031 --> 00:26:37,711
And they support Lightning and proof of reserve, which is awesome. Great, great company.

369
00:26:38,291 --> 00:26:43,051
The Bitcoin Well is an amazing automatic self-custody platform great in the U.S. and Canada.

370
00:26:43,531 --> 00:26:47,811
You buy and sell directly from your wallet. They never hold your Bitcoin.

371
00:26:48,251 --> 00:26:50,951
Now, if you're ready to spend your Bitcoin, that's the Bitcoin company.

372
00:26:51,571 --> 00:26:54,871
You can spend your sats via Lightning into a gift card for hundreds of companies

373
00:26:54,871 --> 00:26:57,111
in just a second. Log in via Lightning, no account needed.

374
00:26:57,451 --> 00:27:00,711
The Bitcoin company, link in the show notes. You want to stack sats when you

375
00:27:00,711 --> 00:27:03,111
use your debit card or pay bills? That's the fold card.

376
00:27:03,331 --> 00:27:06,991
I've stacked over 200,000 sats now in rewards just by paying my bills.

377
00:27:07,471 --> 00:27:10,491
Link to that in the show notes. And if you want to get access to your Bitcoin

378
00:27:10,491 --> 00:27:15,451
without selling it, i.e. access to that sweet, sweet liquidity, check out Salt Lending.

379
00:27:15,631 --> 00:27:18,251
That's how I use when I need to take a little loan out of Bitcoin.

380
00:27:18,531 --> 00:27:23,331
And I got links to all of that in the show notes. You can support the show by doing what you do.

381
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:37,200
Music.

382
00:27:37,761 --> 00:27:42,301
And we do have some boosts to get into. Four score and seven boosts to go.

383
00:27:42,501 --> 00:27:44,361
Thank you, everybody who supports the show directly.

384
00:27:44,741 --> 00:27:51,581
A-Train is our first booster this week with 20,000 sats. Things are looking up for old MacDuck.

385
00:27:51,841 --> 00:27:54,721
He says, thanks for the content. And I think I agree with your assessment that

386
00:27:54,721 --> 00:27:57,801
this admin is using their ability to inject volatility, i.e.

387
00:27:57,801 --> 00:28:00,141
Through tariffs, to try to get some cheap financing.

388
00:28:00,561 --> 00:28:03,681
Trump isn't perfect, but he has a pretty good record of forecasting and making

389
00:28:03,681 --> 00:28:06,621
strategic moves for the long run. We shall see.

390
00:28:06,821 --> 00:28:09,641
And like you said, if we don't get the Strategic Reserve past Congress,

391
00:28:09,661 --> 00:28:11,681
it will remain on the shaky grounds.

392
00:28:11,901 --> 00:28:14,961
In the meantime, I'm enjoying the cheap sats. You got it, dude.

393
00:28:16,421 --> 00:28:22,001
Yeah, nailed it. Thank you for the boost. I appreciate it. Ace Ackerman comes in with a row of ducks.

394
00:28:23,121 --> 00:28:28,281
Ooh, Trump is playing digital 3D chess. Go to the moon, orange man. I hope so, Ace.

395
00:28:28,761 --> 00:28:31,821
I hope so. I might be a little more comfortable if it was 4D,

396
00:28:31,981 --> 00:28:34,421
but that's probably asking for too much. Nice to hear from you,

397
00:28:34,481 --> 00:28:35,161
Ace. Thanks for the boost.

398
00:28:35,681 --> 00:28:38,881
Spectrus is here with a Jar Jar boost. That's 5,000 sats. You suppose?

399
00:28:39,541 --> 00:28:43,101
So I was storing my on-chain in the blue wallet on iOS, but now you've made

400
00:28:43,101 --> 00:28:46,581
me go get a cold card Mark IV and link that up with Sparrow.

401
00:28:46,721 --> 00:28:48,321
Next up is spinning up my own Bitcoin node.

402
00:28:48,881 --> 00:28:52,461
I guess this is where you say, sorry, not sorry. Yeah, I think I might.

403
00:28:52,641 --> 00:28:55,781
That's such a great setup. The Sparrow cold card with your own node.

404
00:28:56,121 --> 00:29:01,801
You are your own bank. You are your own settlement network. You are your own truth of source.

405
00:29:02,401 --> 00:29:05,301
Source of truth? That's so awesome, Spectrus, right? I mean,

406
00:29:05,381 --> 00:29:08,401
it feels good, right? Admit it, Spectrus. And thanks for the boost.

407
00:29:09,141 --> 00:29:15,201
Mix is here, and it's with 10,000 gorgeous-looking sats. It's over 9,000!

408
00:29:15,761 --> 00:29:20,681
It says, thanks for the best explanation I heard of the Bitcoin reserve and the crypto stockpile.

409
00:29:20,941 --> 00:29:23,301
I was glad to hear Sax's interview. I hadn't heard that one.

410
00:29:23,541 --> 00:29:26,181
Really great to hear that this is being done with transparency and accountability.

411
00:29:26,421 --> 00:29:28,961
Thanks for bringing the best coverage. Well, thank you, Mix,

412
00:29:29,041 --> 00:29:30,141
and thanks for returning the value.

413
00:29:30,641 --> 00:29:33,961
That's really how it should work. I appreciate that. I was relieved to hear

414
00:29:33,961 --> 00:29:36,241
some of Saks' statements. I have to be honest with you.

415
00:29:36,881 --> 00:29:41,621
Not initially super pleased with the Saks appointment just because I knew of his Solana history.

416
00:29:42,407 --> 00:29:47,127
And, you know, he was on his podcast kind of joking about how he was dumping on retail.

417
00:29:47,487 --> 00:29:52,267
Didn't really like that. I do respect that the fact the man had to sell off

418
00:29:52,267 --> 00:29:55,287
like over 200 mil worth of investments and cryptocurrency.

419
00:29:56,067 --> 00:30:00,647
And I did see that later in the week it was reported by I can't remember,

420
00:30:00,747 --> 00:30:05,347
but it was reported that Saks had, quote, dumped his digital assets.

421
00:30:07,007 --> 00:30:09,427
So, you know, there's no winning. There's no winning. Right.

422
00:30:09,487 --> 00:30:12,507
But at least we know what the reality is. Right, Mix. Thank you for the boost.

423
00:30:13,307 --> 00:30:17,407
Gene Beans here with 7,222 sats.

424
00:30:17,647 --> 00:30:21,067
Well, I'll be dipped. That's right. He says the thought experiment of there

425
00:30:21,067 --> 00:30:25,087
being a plan for cheap debt is a good one. It'd be nice if that happens and ends up being true.

426
00:30:25,447 --> 00:30:29,367
No idea, though. Just pump the brakes right there. I know. We just have to wait and see.

427
00:30:29,787 --> 00:30:32,047
He says, on a different note, I've been impressed with Aqua Wallet,

428
00:30:32,147 --> 00:30:36,247
especially after learning it's built on the green SDK by former Blockstream employees.

429
00:30:36,527 --> 00:30:40,767
It makes pegging into liquid really easy. It can do easy peg out to Bitcoin.

430
00:30:40,767 --> 00:30:43,727
But sideswaps fees are higher than Boltz.exchange.

431
00:30:43,867 --> 00:30:48,827
Lastly, Aqua does support USDT Tether on Liquid and I hear that Tether has become

432
00:30:48,827 --> 00:30:52,467
a really common way to move money around Latin America. I don't want USD Tether

433
00:30:52,467 --> 00:30:54,607
but I thought the data point was interesting.

434
00:30:54,987 --> 00:30:58,547
Yeah, you got it. That's it. Well, that's very good, buddy. It is very popular

435
00:30:58,547 --> 00:31:00,407
outside the United States in general.

436
00:31:00,827 --> 00:31:04,427
Access to dollars in Tether is just super popular. I think Aqua's pretty good.

437
00:31:05,007 --> 00:31:09,347
I sometimes worry about like some of the automated swapping failing But so far,

438
00:31:09,487 --> 00:31:12,107
the little bit that I've used it, it's never been a problem.

439
00:31:12,187 --> 00:31:15,607
I have encountered a few bugs, but I think the team behind it is very dedicated.

440
00:31:16,207 --> 00:31:20,187
And I think it's a good temporary wallet. I don't know if I'd make it my long-term

441
00:31:20,187 --> 00:31:23,827
wallet. He says, okay, so which would you prefer for Lightning Wallet for a kid?

442
00:31:24,367 --> 00:31:29,127
Using the friends and family feature of AlbiHub or BlueWallet's LND?

443
00:31:31,247 --> 00:31:32,587
Hub. Well...

444
00:31:33,477 --> 00:31:36,957
You know, Gene, I'll just tell you what I do, because I'm not sure if it's the right way.

445
00:31:37,137 --> 00:31:41,877
But I started with essentially the Blue Wallet setup, and I've migrated to friends and family.

446
00:31:42,397 --> 00:31:46,797
I just think friends and family paired with the Albi Go app is a real winner

447
00:31:46,797 --> 00:31:50,757
for spouses, family, things like that.

448
00:31:50,917 --> 00:31:56,257
The Go app, simple, works, and it just connects in so easily with the Albi Hub.

449
00:31:56,497 --> 00:32:01,257
But maybe somebody else has another idea for doing hosted lightning wallets

450
00:32:01,257 --> 00:32:03,697
for family. It's a good question, Gene. Nice to hear from you.

451
00:32:04,997 --> 00:32:06,217
StackSats123 is here with the Row of Ducks.

452
00:32:07,657 --> 00:32:12,537
My general rule that I use when it comes to orange-pilling friends,

453
00:32:12,617 --> 00:32:17,117
oh, good, is that they need to show interest in savings and investment first.

454
00:32:17,797 --> 00:32:23,077
Oh, that's a great data point. He says, saving for your future isn't fun for most people.

455
00:32:23,177 --> 00:32:28,357
They'd rather drive around in a vehicle they can't afford while sipping on a fancy coffee.

456
00:32:28,517 --> 00:32:32,257
Glad to have you back this week. Well, StackSats, if the first clip didn't prove

457
00:32:32,257 --> 00:32:35,897
you right, the first clip of the show, man, it proved you right.

458
00:32:36,037 --> 00:32:38,297
That gal with her $1,000 EV payment, right?

459
00:32:39,737 --> 00:32:43,737
That's such a good, like, I don't know, I'm trying to think of like benchmark

460
00:32:43,737 --> 00:32:46,997
or waterline or whatever it is, is if they show interest in investment,

461
00:32:46,997 --> 00:32:49,477
that means they're thinking in the right mindset.

462
00:32:49,777 --> 00:32:53,377
And if they don't think in that mindset, they're not going to get hard money.

463
00:32:53,497 --> 00:32:54,757
They're not going to get store value.

464
00:32:55,357 --> 00:32:58,197
That's a great boost. Thank you, StackSats. Nice to hear from you.

465
00:32:58,957 --> 00:33:03,117
VFX Up is here with a row of ducks. That's 2,222 sats.

466
00:33:04,197 --> 00:33:07,177
Hey, first time booster. Shoot, look at that.

467
00:33:09,077 --> 00:33:13,437
Love all the shows and the JB podcast, though I thought I'd say hello just getting

468
00:33:13,437 --> 00:33:14,937
to Bitcoin over the last few months.

469
00:33:15,117 --> 00:33:18,557
Well, VFX, it is great to hear from you and welcome aboard.

470
00:33:18,777 --> 00:33:22,237
And if you have any questions, I'm always happy to answer new to Bitcoin questions

471
00:33:22,237 --> 00:33:25,077
in the booths. So please send them in. It's nice to hear from you too.

472
00:33:25,617 --> 00:33:30,897
That's exciting. Oh man. I guess I haven't heard from a brand newbie in a while, so it's great.

473
00:33:31,892 --> 00:33:36,952
BHAM 182 is here with three, four, five, six sets. Why you got to put numbers and letters together?

474
00:33:37,212 --> 00:33:40,332
Why can't you just go f*** yourself? So I took a look at the Bitcoin Wells,

475
00:33:40,512 --> 00:33:45,172
per the show's recommendation, and it allows direct deposit into a self-custody wallet.

476
00:33:45,292 --> 00:33:48,752
But I've noticed that it seems to list the price higher than anywhere else.

477
00:33:49,372 --> 00:33:52,232
Is there a legitimate reason for this? I don't want to point any fingers,

478
00:33:52,412 --> 00:33:54,292
but it does come off as a little sus.

479
00:33:54,612 --> 00:33:58,092
And then he continues. So I did some digging and I found out what's going on.

480
00:33:58,372 --> 00:33:59,732
They are pretty transparent about

481
00:33:59,732 --> 00:34:03,212
it. They're just not it's just not said directly on the purchase page.

482
00:34:03,652 --> 00:34:09,132
Verified users buy Bitcoin at one one point two percent higher than cost and

483
00:34:09,132 --> 00:34:12,212
sell at one point two percent lower than cost.

484
00:34:12,452 --> 00:34:16,612
Now, light users are at three percent. So you can expect to pay twelve dollars

485
00:34:16,612 --> 00:34:21,552
in fees for every one thousand in Bitcoin bought, which not horrible,

486
00:34:21,652 --> 00:34:26,432
really, than other exchanges, especially when you consider it is directly deposited into your wallet.

487
00:34:26,912 --> 00:34:28,952
But over time, the fee could add up.

488
00:34:29,592 --> 00:34:34,032
That's a great, great bit of information. Thank you, Bam. It's good to know

489
00:34:34,032 --> 00:34:36,512
that they have a 1.2% lower on the sell side too.

490
00:34:37,312 --> 00:34:41,932
$12 in fees for every 1,000 in Bitcoin doesn't seem too unreasonable if you

491
00:34:41,932 --> 00:34:44,932
also consider you're never going to have to move it again.

492
00:34:45,792 --> 00:34:48,952
Now, it depends on the exchange, but a lot of exchanges you buy and you stack

493
00:34:48,952 --> 00:34:52,152
and you stack, and then you have to move it on-chain at some point.

494
00:34:52,252 --> 00:34:54,372
Sometimes you pay an on-chain fee, sometimes you don't.

495
00:34:54,832 --> 00:34:57,672
At least with Bitcoin, well, you're going directly to your wallet.

496
00:34:59,737 --> 00:35:02,917
That is really great digging. Thank you for the information and the boost.

497
00:35:03,637 --> 00:35:05,257
So Achilles is here with 4,000 sats.

498
00:35:06,277 --> 00:35:09,237
Now bear with me here, but I think the SEC is right.

499
00:35:09,717 --> 00:35:13,757
The poop coins aren't securities. They're actually a new form of gambling.

500
00:35:14,017 --> 00:35:15,857
At least that's how I see it.

501
00:35:16,457 --> 00:35:21,817
Okay, Zach, so do you think that gambling fits with their new trading card collectible,

502
00:35:22,297 --> 00:35:23,937
analogy that they're trying to go with?

503
00:35:24,077 --> 00:35:29,017
Oh, well, you see, meme coins are collectibles and certain brands will be valuable

504
00:35:29,017 --> 00:35:32,237
and other brands won't be, sort of like trading cards.

505
00:35:32,637 --> 00:35:35,337
Do you buy that? That sort of sounds like what they tried to say about NFTs.

506
00:35:35,817 --> 00:35:41,197
But I do think there are certain brands, you know, maybe Trump's one of them,

507
00:35:41,377 --> 00:35:45,777
that do have enough clout that people want to own some sort of theoretical stock

508
00:35:45,777 --> 00:35:46,837
in the brand or something.

509
00:35:46,997 --> 00:35:49,037
And if that's represented with a meme coin, maybe.

510
00:35:49,397 --> 00:35:52,057
We'll have more on that in a bit. Thanks, Zach, for the boost.

511
00:35:52,757 --> 00:35:56,397
Clarkian's here with 5,000 sats. Use a boost. Trust the plan.

512
00:35:56,657 --> 00:35:58,677
Indeed. Indeed, trust the plan.

513
00:36:00,077 --> 00:36:05,417
Thanks for the boost. Turn the punch bowls here with 4,000 sats. Oh, man.

514
00:36:05,697 --> 00:36:09,557
Never tell me the odds. There's, I don't know, Fruit Loops in that drawer?

515
00:36:09,737 --> 00:36:13,237
Oh, my God. This drawer is filled with Fruit Loops. Okay, so he had some problems

516
00:36:13,237 --> 00:36:16,437
boosting, but he says, I work in an industry that has many components imported

517
00:36:16,437 --> 00:36:17,637
from China, Mexico, and Canada.

518
00:36:17,997 --> 00:36:20,837
I have seen many announcements of the future price increases,

519
00:36:21,337 --> 00:36:25,697
but not many actual files containing the details of said price increases.

520
00:36:25,697 --> 00:36:31,197
My theory is manufacturers and suppliers are waiting out the Trump tariffs that

521
00:36:31,197 --> 00:36:36,077
are on and off constantly, simply announcing the possibility of a future increase

522
00:36:36,077 --> 00:36:38,397
so it's not a surprise to their customers or partners.

523
00:36:39,661 --> 00:36:42,161
They can't actually operate in this environment where tomorrow could be 25,

524
00:36:42,501 --> 00:36:44,861
zero the next day, or 100% the day after.

525
00:36:45,901 --> 00:36:50,141
Yeah. So with that in mind, I wonder if the dip in inflation could simply represent

526
00:36:50,141 --> 00:36:53,961
a pause while people try to make sense of the admin's economic and foreign trade policy.

527
00:36:54,341 --> 00:36:59,181
Then they cut, so they only do a cut once versus a change the prices every other day type thing.

528
00:36:59,421 --> 00:37:04,421
Maybe more relevant to my industry with publicly known and followed MSRPs. Curious your thoughts.

529
00:37:05,041 --> 00:37:09,461
I definitely think it's part of it. I also think a big part of the inflation

530
00:37:09,461 --> 00:37:11,921
dip is so it's people pausing.

531
00:37:12,121 --> 00:37:14,161
It's a reduction in federal spending.

532
00:37:14,421 --> 00:37:16,661
Right. That's going to be a big part of it.

533
00:37:17,061 --> 00:37:21,221
And I also think that just a lot of things that have been put in place over

534
00:37:21,221 --> 00:37:24,561
the last couple of years, including rising interest rates and other policies

535
00:37:24,561 --> 00:37:26,861
are beginning to have an effect.

536
00:37:26,861 --> 00:37:32,061
And I think consumer demand in general is slowing simply because people,

537
00:37:32,301 --> 00:37:37,241
as time goes on and prices aren't coming down and wages aren't really going up anymore.

538
00:37:37,261 --> 00:37:41,521
So they're getting tapped out and they're getting more and more tapped out as time goes on.

539
00:37:41,941 --> 00:37:47,041
Now, Besant there says the solution to that is to start raising real world wages.

540
00:37:47,081 --> 00:37:49,841
We'll see about that. That takes time.

541
00:37:51,081 --> 00:37:54,881
But you would have to think if all of what I just said holds to be true,

542
00:37:55,161 --> 00:37:59,261
then if the economy were to turn around, you would start to see things like

543
00:37:59,261 --> 00:38:03,381
the cost of oil rip, which would add inflationary pressures.

544
00:38:03,541 --> 00:38:09,161
And you would see the supply chain constraints start to constrain,

545
00:38:09,321 --> 00:38:10,061
I guess. What am I trying to like?

546
00:38:10,241 --> 00:38:15,041
You know, the supply chain that was pretty disrupted during the covid lockdowns

547
00:38:15,041 --> 00:38:16,961
hasn't been fully repaired.

548
00:38:17,521 --> 00:38:22,321
Trump is engaging in some warfare with the Houthis to try to open up certain

549
00:38:22,321 --> 00:38:23,661
shipping lanes again, which could help.

550
00:38:24,101 --> 00:38:27,801
But that also takes time. I mean, the more I think about it,

551
00:38:27,821 --> 00:38:30,281
the more I'm starting to think it's 2028. You know what I mean?

552
00:38:31,065 --> 00:38:35,405
Anyways, all I have to say is if you're not listening to 40 hours of podcasts

553
00:38:35,405 --> 00:38:36,205
a week, what are you doing?

554
00:38:36,385 --> 00:38:39,845
Thank you, everybody who boosts in above the 2000 sat cutoff. I appreciate it.

555
00:38:40,385 --> 00:38:44,365
We had one here that I wanted to pull forward. It was Axelrod00 who came in

556
00:38:44,365 --> 00:38:47,305
with a thousand sats. Coming in hot with the boost.

557
00:38:47,825 --> 00:38:51,745
A thousand twenty one, I should say. Is owning real estate an investment and

558
00:38:51,745 --> 00:38:55,345
the American dream or should we rent as cheaply and possible and invest all

559
00:38:55,345 --> 00:38:56,665
disposable income into Bitcoin?

560
00:38:57,045 --> 00:38:59,165
Maybe we could be happy and only own Bitcoin.

561
00:38:59,825 --> 00:39:02,905
Thanks for sharing your personal living experiences. Makes the show all the more amazing.

562
00:39:03,285 --> 00:39:07,465
Thank you, Axelrod. The reason why I wanted to pull that forward is this is

563
00:39:07,465 --> 00:39:14,145
me being, you know, a crazy Bitcoiner, but I do kind of follow this philosophy, at least for now.

564
00:39:14,585 --> 00:39:17,505
Housing prices are ridiculous. Rates are too high. Now, remember,

565
00:39:17,545 --> 00:39:20,505
I live in the Pacific Northwest, too, so it's really bad here pricing-wise.

566
00:39:21,305 --> 00:39:25,285
And I would rather buy something that I can own fractions of at a time.

567
00:39:25,285 --> 00:39:30,565
I can put just a few dollars into it at a time over a 5, 10-year period and

568
00:39:30,565 --> 00:39:36,825
doesn't decay, doesn't suffer the universe's entropy, you know?

569
00:39:37,365 --> 00:39:40,345
And so I can live cheaply in an RV.

570
00:39:40,985 --> 00:39:47,225
It's a nice RV, but it's, you know, saved me so much money. It's ridiculous.

571
00:39:48,045 --> 00:39:53,885
And instead direct that money into Bitcoin. And I suspect long-term that will be the better play.

572
00:39:54,365 --> 00:39:57,165
Even if I had put that same money into a real estate payment,

573
00:39:57,325 --> 00:39:58,985
I think I'll still come out on the top.

574
00:39:59,125 --> 00:40:01,405
So thank you for the boost. Thank you, everybody who boosted in.

575
00:40:01,525 --> 00:40:03,825
We had 50 of your stream sats as you listened.

576
00:40:03,925 --> 00:40:08,305
So we stacked 98,760 sats via the streamers.

577
00:40:08,445 --> 00:40:14,005
And you sat streamers, you did the heavy, heavy lift this week because we had,

578
00:40:14,185 --> 00:40:18,825
when you bring in the boost, we stacked a total of 165,925 sats.

579
00:40:19,245 --> 00:40:23,665
Not too bad, not too bad. But this show is a lot of work. So if you get value

580
00:40:23,665 --> 00:40:24,945
out of it, I'd really appreciate it.

581
00:40:25,125 --> 00:40:27,885
You know, it's about an hour or two, seven days a week.

582
00:40:28,724 --> 00:40:31,764
Maybe not Sunday. Maybe only about a half hour on Sunday.

583
00:40:32,564 --> 00:40:36,624
And then Wednesday morning, I'm up at 5 a.m. working on the show to get this

584
00:40:36,624 --> 00:40:40,404
thing out in the afternoon so you have something for your afternoon and evening commutes.

585
00:40:40,764 --> 00:40:43,684
So if you've got some value for this show and want to return it back to me,

586
00:40:43,804 --> 00:40:45,904
I sure would appreciate it. You can do it with a boost.

587
00:40:46,484 --> 00:40:50,644
And I'd also like your opinion on advertisers. We've had advertisers approach

588
00:40:50,644 --> 00:40:52,344
the show. Bitcoin advertisers.

589
00:40:53,024 --> 00:40:56,964
I'd say decent Bitcoin companies. But I've always been a little hesitant because

590
00:40:56,964 --> 00:41:02,784
if you've been in Bitcoin a long time, you'll see companies come and go, I should say.

591
00:41:03,264 --> 00:41:07,064
So it's a bit of a roll of the dice. But I do sometimes wonder if we can make

592
00:41:07,064 --> 00:41:08,724
the show sustainable with boosts alone.

593
00:41:08,964 --> 00:41:11,364
And, of course, the use of the affiliate links in the show notes.

594
00:41:11,824 --> 00:41:15,904
Just because it is an expensive show to produce, right now I'm keeping it locked

595
00:41:15,904 --> 00:41:18,724
in on the 100% direct audience support.

596
00:41:19,104 --> 00:41:22,004
But I would be interested in your opinion, especially if you've boosted on the

597
00:41:22,004 --> 00:41:24,224
regular, if you're feeling exhausted and can't keep it up.

598
00:41:24,784 --> 00:41:29,104
How do you feel about sponsors coming in to pick up the slack as we hit episode

599
00:41:29,104 --> 00:41:31,144
50 and I start thinking about the next 50 episodes?

600
00:41:31,364 --> 00:41:36,004
It does cross my mind. And I think the first place to go is to get your advice.

601
00:41:36,004 --> 00:41:38,184
So boost in and let me know your thoughts on that as well.

602
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:49,040
Music.

603
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:52,900
I haven't talked about the Samurai Wallet hearing in a minute.

604
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:55,760
There's actually a few things going on here.

605
00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:00,220
And I think it's important we touch on this. So the criminal trial of the Samurai

606
00:42:00,220 --> 00:42:06,500
Wallet co-founders, Rodriguez and Hill, is gaining momentum with key pre-trial dates now set.

607
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:09,200
And The Rage has been doing a fantastic job of covering this.

608
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:10,500
I'll put a link to them in their show notes.

609
00:42:10,500 --> 00:42:15,600
The pair face a charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and operate

610
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:19,460
an unlicensed money transmitting business, largely stemming from their creation

611
00:42:19,460 --> 00:42:24,760
of the privacy focused Bitcoin wallet that used, quote, mixing to obscure transaction histories.

612
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:29,800
Importantly, they are not charged directly with laundering money or even running

613
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:30,900
a money laundering business.

614
00:42:31,220 --> 00:42:35,880
So it's kind of a weak case because some of the things don't really seem to

615
00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:38,580
click, but it is proceeding.

616
00:42:38,580 --> 00:42:45,620
And it will have, I believe, rather large ramifications for open source software

617
00:42:45,620 --> 00:42:50,480
development in general, if open source software is used to facilitate a crime.

618
00:42:50,740 --> 00:42:55,260
And you could think of all kinds of scenarios where things like Firefox or Linux

619
00:42:55,260 --> 00:43:00,240
or just a basic command line application could get you like Nmap could get used in a crime.

620
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:07,360
So the direction this goes could have large ramifications even outside of just

621
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,000
Bitcoin. So here are the key dates we need to know about.

622
00:43:10,340 --> 00:43:14,360
May 7th, we're going to get the pretrial motion filings. We might get some information

623
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:15,460
out of that. I'll keep my eye out.

624
00:43:16,260 --> 00:43:21,400
July 15th and August 8th, the government and the defense expert do their witness disclosures.

625
00:43:21,660 --> 00:43:24,600
I don't know if we will get that publicly, but we may get a witness list.

626
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:28,740
On July 16th, oral arguments on the motions begin.

627
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:33,880
And then later this year, November 3rd, the trial actually starts.

628
00:43:34,580 --> 00:43:38,660
So you're getting a sense here of just the timetable and how long this is going to take.

629
00:43:39,590 --> 00:43:42,530
Now, Hill has been excused from pretrial appearances due to travel costs,

630
00:43:42,690 --> 00:43:44,610
while Rodriguez remains under home restrictions.

631
00:43:45,430 --> 00:43:48,470
The P2P Rights Fund is trying to support their legal defense,

632
00:43:48,470 --> 00:43:49,970
if you want to look into somebody to support.

633
00:43:51,050 --> 00:43:55,090
And this sort of has, you know, the echoes of the Tornado Cash case recently.

634
00:43:55,650 --> 00:44:00,910
Now, it is believed that Samurai folks earned $4.5 million in fees and did operate

635
00:44:00,910 --> 00:44:01,910
their own mixing servers.

636
00:44:02,330 --> 00:44:06,070
So that's where prosecutors may try to claim that they had active control.

637
00:44:06,070 --> 00:44:11,450
But civil liberties groups, easy for me to say, warn that applying FinCEN's

638
00:44:11,450 --> 00:44:15,970
outdated definitions to newer, modernized, decentralized tools is a distortion

639
00:44:15,970 --> 00:44:21,030
of the law and obviously could have a future impact on financial privacy tools.

640
00:44:21,270 --> 00:44:25,670
And I said, like I mentioned, the wider open source use in criminal cases.

641
00:44:25,910 --> 00:44:30,090
So that one I'm watching closely, and it's going to be a while before we really

642
00:44:30,090 --> 00:44:31,250
start to get any resolution.

643
00:44:32,230 --> 00:44:37,030
How about some good news, though? Zeus version 0.10.0 is out.

644
00:44:37,170 --> 00:44:39,870
The Zeus wallet is one of the best.

645
00:44:40,270 --> 00:44:43,570
And it works great with your AlbiHub if you have one too. A couple of new features

646
00:44:43,570 --> 00:44:45,970
in here that I'm going to highlight, but there's a whole bunch linked in the show notes.

647
00:44:46,330 --> 00:44:51,770
Number one, renewable channels. Users can now renew and extend channel leases

648
00:44:51,770 --> 00:44:53,530
from Zeus's liquidity provider.

649
00:44:53,890 --> 00:44:59,510
They can upgrade channels and they can get like discounts and reduced fees and all kinds of stuff.

650
00:44:59,670 --> 00:45:03,630
You can also receive push notifications via Nostra DMs or on the phone.

651
00:45:03,970 --> 00:45:07,570
When channels are close to expiring, and that's really nice,

652
00:45:07,830 --> 00:45:10,170
they also added Nostra Wallet Connect.

653
00:45:10,870 --> 00:45:14,070
So Zeus now supports Nostra Wallet Connect as a connection method,

654
00:45:14,210 --> 00:45:18,670
which means it's even easier to connect to your AlbiHub or LNBits or Coinus

655
00:45:18,670 --> 00:45:20,390
or Cashew or whatever it might be.

656
00:45:20,810 --> 00:45:24,830
And also, this is where Zeus just continues to blow my mind.

657
00:45:24,830 --> 00:45:30,710
You can now run multiple embedded LND nodes in the phone wallet.

658
00:45:30,710 --> 00:45:34,350
So you can have multiple different lightning nodes

659
00:45:34,350 --> 00:45:37,210
in your pocket so maybe

660
00:45:37,210 --> 00:45:41,810
you want to separate out funds between work and personal or maybe wife and kids

661
00:45:41,810 --> 00:45:47,150
or whatever and you don't want to run a full on server like a linux box you

662
00:45:47,150 --> 00:45:51,950
could actually do that you could have individual lightning nodes in the zoos

663
00:45:51,950 --> 00:45:56,530
app in your pocket or maybe it's like an android device just on the wi-fi or something,

664
00:45:57,210 --> 00:45:59,030
I mean, incredible.

665
00:45:59,270 --> 00:46:02,810
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The Zeus app is absolutely amazing.

666
00:46:03,290 --> 00:46:08,130
And it's one of my favorite Bitcoin apps out there. And version 0.10.0 just

667
00:46:08,130 --> 00:46:09,650
adds a bunch of great stuff.

668
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:21,680
Music.

669
00:46:22,117 --> 00:46:27,037
I want to come back to MemeCoins for a moment. This will be our final clip of the week.

670
00:46:28,457 --> 00:46:33,257
And I played ARK's Cathie Wood earlier in the show, but later in her interview,

671
00:46:33,417 --> 00:46:35,737
I didn't play this part for you, but I want to now.

672
00:46:36,037 --> 00:46:41,037
They asked Cathie about MemeCoins, about Trump's coin, and all of that stuff.

673
00:46:41,357 --> 00:46:46,117
And she just has like a stone-cold killer's take on MemeCoins.

674
00:46:46,517 --> 00:46:49,857
Cryptocurrency. You just spoke about the easing regulatory environment around

675
00:46:49,857 --> 00:46:54,477
crypto. I'm curious, though, what you think about President Trump's relationship with crypto.

676
00:46:54,637 --> 00:46:57,837
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family has held deal talks with

677
00:46:57,837 --> 00:47:00,897
finance following that guilty exchange plea.

678
00:47:01,217 --> 00:47:04,097
And then also you have the president getting into meme coins.

679
00:47:04,097 --> 00:47:05,657
You have World Liberty Financial.

680
00:47:06,017 --> 00:47:10,437
Are you at all concerned that the Trump family is too close to crypto?

681
00:47:11,217 --> 00:47:15,537
Well, I think the Trump family is very supportive of crypto,

682
00:47:15,737 --> 00:47:20,697
which is great. It's completely different from the environment we had been in.

683
00:47:20,837 --> 00:47:25,337
Our view on meme coins, we're not as focused on them.

684
00:47:25,617 --> 00:47:30,497
We would not be putting them into our various private funds.

685
00:47:31,237 --> 00:47:37,677
And I think the combination of AI and blockchain technology is creating millions,

686
00:47:37,757 --> 00:47:40,397
millions of these meme coins.

687
00:47:40,617 --> 00:47:44,737
We think most of them are not going to be worth very much. We think there are

688
00:47:44,737 --> 00:47:52,277
just going to be a few crypto assets that will gain most of the spoils in the entire ecosystem.

689
00:47:52,837 --> 00:47:57,137
Kathy, even some of the people who believe most firmly in the crypto story here,

690
00:47:57,317 --> 00:48:01,397
they are still worried about those meme coins and a lot of retail investors

691
00:48:01,397 --> 00:48:02,997
being stuck holding the bag.

692
00:48:03,417 --> 00:48:06,797
And another thing that's happening at the same time is you have a lot of exchanges

693
00:48:06,797 --> 00:48:08,657
looking to loosen their listing standards.

694
00:48:08,657 --> 00:48:14,937
Do you worry that this could go too far, that too many coins that are going

695
00:48:14,937 --> 00:48:18,857
to hurt retail investors ultimately will be listed on too many exchanges?

696
00:48:19,657 --> 00:48:27,937
Well, I think that the SEC did a very important thing in declaring these meme coins not securities.

697
00:48:28,217 --> 00:48:33,837
What they essentially were saying is we are not going to regulate them and it's

698
00:48:33,837 --> 00:48:39,737
buyer beware. And so if I have one message for those listening who are buying

699
00:48:39,737 --> 00:48:41,677
meme coins, buyer beware.

700
00:48:42,017 --> 00:48:45,097
And I think the message is loud and clear from the regulators.

701
00:48:45,137 --> 00:48:50,877
What we think will happen is there will be some fearsome declines in the prices

702
00:48:50,877 --> 00:48:52,517
of some of these meme assets.

703
00:48:52,917 --> 00:48:57,337
And, you know, there's nothing like losing money for people to learn.

704
00:48:57,337 --> 00:49:03,037
And they'll learn that the SEC and regulators are not taking responsibility for these meme assets.

705
00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:15,600
Music.

706
00:49:15,474 --> 00:49:18,834
Check in on the state of the network before I scoot. This episode is wrapping

707
00:49:18,834 --> 00:49:23,234
up at block height 888,514.

708
00:49:23,594 --> 00:49:28,954
The current price is $84,380 to one Bitcoin.

709
00:49:29,414 --> 00:49:34,774
That means our sats per dollar, 1,185 sats to one U.S. greenback.

710
00:49:34,994 --> 00:49:44,934
We are down 22.7% from our all-time high, which was 58 days ago on January 19th, 2025, $109,160.

711
00:49:45,514 --> 00:49:49,594
I don't care, though. I'm enjoying the cheap sats. It's not like I was planning

712
00:49:49,594 --> 00:49:50,914
to spend my Bitcoin right now.

713
00:49:51,114 --> 00:49:54,634
Anyways, I look at it as a great sale.

714
00:49:54,934 --> 00:49:58,054
And I'm impressed how well Bitcoin's

715
00:49:58,054 --> 00:50:03,034
holding up around and even above the 200-day moving average price.

716
00:50:03,534 --> 00:50:07,874
In that way, it's really kicking butt, and the state of the network is strong.

717
00:50:08,240 --> 00:50:18,640
Music.

718
00:50:18,734 --> 00:50:22,474
Links to what I talked about today at thisweekinbitcoin.show.

719
00:50:22,474 --> 00:50:24,874
I hope you enjoyed the show and got some value out of it.

720
00:50:25,954 --> 00:50:29,634
I would love it if you shared it with somebody else. Maybe somebody who's a

721
00:50:29,634 --> 00:50:32,754
little Bitcoin curious, is looking for a little signal above the noise.

722
00:50:32,934 --> 00:50:36,314
And also let me know how I did with a boost and boost in what you would like

723
00:50:36,314 --> 00:50:38,954
to hear or see from the show or what you thought I missed.

724
00:50:39,894 --> 00:50:46,994
Now, as I wrap up episode 50, I want to leave you with a Bitcoin-specific value-for-value track.

725
00:50:47,214 --> 00:50:52,114
I'll give a little bit of love and exposure to an artist who is making music

726
00:50:52,114 --> 00:50:53,594
about our beloved Bitcoin.

727
00:50:53,774 --> 00:50:57,834
And this week, our track is Satoshi Statue.

728
00:50:58,640 --> 00:54:52,313
Music.