Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Bitcoin Banter. Greer and Tony are with me.
And guys, we have some bullish news to kick it off. So first of all, we have eight straight
days of green daily candles as Bitcoin pushes toward $75,000 per Bitcoin news. And at the
same time, and this is a really interesting development, gold is down, Bitcoin is up during
a war. So it looks like maybe some people are beginning to wake up to what the real store of
value is. Because historically, obviously, TFTC notes Bitcoin gets dumped first in geopolitical
chaos. But this is something worth watching. Tony, is this the gradually then suddenly moment?
Or do you think we still have a ways to go? I think we still have a ways to go. But this is
definitely a hallelujah moment. Some people are starting to snap out of their delusional coma
around precious metals in a digital world,
which of course does not work.
As you can see here,
physical items like gold pose a risk.
First of all, to actually have gold,
you need to be holding it yourself
and you need to be 100% sure it's real gold.
The only way you're going to do this
is to melt it, which most people don't.
So assuming it's real,
in places where gold was predominantly available,
folks are finding it very hard to sell the gold.
And when they do, they are also getting another surprise
of a 20 to 30%, sometimes more haircut
on the price of that gold.
So, so much for it being a store of value
versus the tremendous risks of you carrying it.
So again, precious metals had their time 5,000 years ago.
It's a good world.
This doesn't work anymore today.
And so if you want real money, first of all, it needs to be digital gold,
the digital money, Bitcoin in full self-custody,
and outside the reach of those who can manipulate and corrupt it.
Gold is not outside the reach of those who can manipulate and corrupt it.
So people are starting to understand Bitcoin.
I understand the resistance to it because it's new.
It comes from the world of tech.
You need to learn something new.
people don't like that but you know when push comes to shove and you've run out of options
well you know you're going to have to sit down and pay attention yeah i completely agree and the
other comment about gold is it really depends on where you are we talked a week or two ago about
dubai and how people are selling having to sell gold at a discount because they can't get it out
so it's it's discounted because it's not as useful when it has to stay stuck in one place which by
the way it tends to live in a bank vault for a long time anyways. Greer, what's your take on this?
Yeah, I hope you've had enough time to stack at these levels. It was five months ago,
October 10th, when the price dropped and there was so much fear and so much negative sentiment.
But we've been here before, we've seen this movie, and this has been just an incredible time to stack
sats if you were diligent and spending a little bit of money every single week to buy Bitcoin.
You know, get to that number that you've got in your head. We're going to go higher. And I think you're going to look back if you haven't taken advantage and just kick yourself. You know, this is the classic meme of wishing you bought it at the top and then being too scared to buy it at the low. You know, Bitcoin is baked. Everybody knows what it is. Everyone wants it. Don't get left out.
I agree with that. I still think we have, like, I could see the tide turning here a little bit,
where if the geopolitical chaos continues, it becomes uncertain. We're going to talk about
Cuba here in a little bit. I don't know where it's going. I could see Bitcoin dipping again.
I could also see it taking off, right? Like, I'm not, I don't really have like a thesis over the
next six or 12 months as to what happens, but I think it is probably very dependent to some degree
on what happens on the geopolitical landscape.
I think it's going higher.
Six to 12 months, way higher.
Easy.
That's an easy call.
Okay.
Our bolt hard.
Alrighty, guys, let's talk about the economy.
So this happens all the time.
So this is not like breaking news.
I can't believe this happened.
But the US GDP Q4 numbers were revised.
They were cut in half from almost 1.5% to 0.7% growth.
And at the same time, I saw this.
We talked about this on the live stream with Tony and I yesterday. At the same time, we see families really struggling. And so really, all the numbers that come out actually align when they're providing something close to a real and not fake value.
So the median family income in the US since 1971 has done a 10x increase from about $10,000 to $106,000 today. At the same time, so 10x, keep that in mind. The median cost of homes has increased 17x. The median cost of cars has increased 14x. The median cost of college has increased 16x.
And here's the real kicker. If you want to get health care, your health care per person has increased 42X from $350 to $14,600.
So the economy is weakening and you are getting poorer if you are saving in fiat terms.
You can't keep pace with this in the S&P 500 or the Dow or anything like that.
Greer, what's your thought on the implications of this?
You can't argue with the numbers. The economy is cooked.
The government ruined it. And the other thing that I keep seeing is people saying, hey, we're losing our jobs to AI.
Facebook, Meta, they fired 20,000 people yesterday. We've seen all of these massive layoffs.
And the alternative or the antidote is that everyone can go be a plumber.
The problem is, I don't think I have that many plumbing issues at home.
I've called a plumber like once or twice. Are we all going to be plumbers and roofers?
I don't think so. And the answers that were being given, you've got to learn a trade, learn a skill.
To me, that is just another way for the elite, the wealthy to put the middle class into a box.
We don't matter. And I think that we really need some new answers here.
We need to stop the spending. We need to have sound money and we need to create value for people.
But right now, it's completely impossible to get ahead based on what you just described.
You know, even making $140,000 a year is considered poverty in the United States.
It's just unfathomable what they've done to the money.
And there's no coming back from this.
We need something new.
I think that's Bitcoin, but we'll see how long that takes.
Yeah, become a plumber, learn a trade.
That it reminds me of, remember like 10 years ago when they were saying, just go learn to code.
Learn to code.
Yeah, learn to code.
Like that was it.
Like that was the solution.
Everyone just needs to be a software developer.
and a ton of people did that.
And now I didn't even see the news, Greer.
25,000?
20,000, 25,000?
20,000.
20,000 yesterday.
Yeah, and I guarantee you
lots of developers included in that.
It's insane.
Tony, what's your reaction?
The thing is, man,
you're going to have to learn something new
in this new world.
So maybe it's not a plumber,
but sitting around and hoping
that what you know
is going to be good enough for where we're going,
that's a serious mistake in my view.
And the fact that they're lying about the numbers,
I mean, why is that so surprising?
You have a group that created money to steal.
And of course, they're going to lie about its performance.
The fact is that money is dead.
It's been dead for many years.
It's crystal clear by the rate at which no one can afford anything.
And so the issue I find is that most people don know where to look right Like they keep looking within that same broken ecosystem rather than focusing on the exit And the exit is Bitcoin in self
It's just that the majority of individuals,
I don't know if they haven't heard of it,
but they're just, despite how bad their circumstances are,
they just don't give it enough time, right?
Like they think they're somehow going to miraculously
figure out a way within that same bankrupted dollar system or fiat system, wherever they may be.
And that's just like putting yourself off a cliff. There is no win with that mindset.
And I don't know how long it takes before most people start to react. Maybe folks literally have
to be out on the street with restricted access, which by the way is coming. I've been predicting
capital controls for a while now. And I think we're reaching the point where it's imminent.
And so if you can't afford anything, and you can't access anything, well, you know,
that combination is usually very, very hostile. I would add to all of this, depending on the
skill set that you have in your willingness to adapt and learn a new skill that maybe AI isn't
taking over today or for the next year or two. I think that what becomes increasingly important
is how you preserve the value of what you do produce. And you might only have a couple of
years of utility value at this point, depending on the type of job and work that you do.
So my non-financial advice, but suggestion is study Bitcoin, start stacking hard, because I
think that price is going to get away from you to where you're going to have a lot fewer sets than
if you had started today or yesterday or a year ago. And it might be your only hope because you
might not be able to, you might not have the job that you have planned on having for the next 20
years probably isn't going to exist. It's just a matter of time, I think. Alrighty, guys, we've got
some more news. So this is, Tony, I'm going to let you take this one first. So the Alexander S.
Bloom of Two Prime discussed, he said, for the first time in our history, we actually had to
liquidate a client and sell off a couple 10 million of Bitcoin. So another person learned
the hard way. You F around, you find out that you put your Bitcoin up as collateral for a fiat
loan, you might end up just losing your entire stack. So I'll let you give the warning,
but I'm going to assume that this is probably someone who was stacking for quite some time.
To get to 10 million Bitcoin, the average person is DCAA,
that sort of thing versus just a whale buying $10 million of Bitcoin in one fell swoop.
What's your warning, Tony?
Absolutely, man. This is why I never recommend these products. When you use them, you are diving
headfirst into serious counterparty risk. There might be a type of individual that may be able
to navigate all this, but $10 million, I'm assuming this is somewhat of an experienced person.
And if he got destroyed that way, that should be like a serious alarm bell for everyone else.
First of all, if you don't have enough collateral, backup collateral to fill in when prices drop, you're going to lose your Bitcoin.
If you are risking your pristine asset, that once in a lifetime generational wealth or worthless toilet paper, in my mistake, that is a serious mistake.
If you need money, you can't afford something, then just don't buy it and wait until you can't afford it and do it properly, headache-free and risk-free.
These carrots are not for 99% of the population.
But, you know, they're marketed in such a way that, look, we're safe.
We have reserves.
We have this.
We have that.
But what they don't tell you is that the fiat volatility that nukes these products is controlled by a group of people that have always manipulated markets and will always continue to manipulate markets.
These price swings, they're not, oh, shit, look what happened.
These are coordinated moves, right?
These guys have eyes on everything on that chessboard.
When they see too much leverage, whether it's up or down, they see it.
And when it gets ripe enough, they rug pull everyone, which of course causes a cascading effect.
And people start to scram for the hills, which in turn drops the price far enough to liquidate these poor suckers that aren't paying attention or maybe don't have the backup collateral to put back into the system so they don't get margin call.
So the moral of the story is these legacy games have always been risky.
They've always been rigged.
They've always been manipulated.
This has become crystal clear since the invention of sound money where you cannot play these games.
But as long as people want to fit Bitcoin into this shitty world, they're going to learn this lesson a violent and harsh way by losing their funds.
I hope this wasn't this guy's entire life savings.
If it was, my heart goes out to him.
I hate reading stories of people losing funds that way because they are 100% avoidable.
Just using a little bit of common sense.
I agree, man.
It's terrible.
Greer, what do you think about all this?
Yeah, pure pain.
I can only imagine that the person who opened this loan thought they'd never have to work again.
Bitcoin will never drop 50 percent and they'll be able to just refinance the debt year after year or however long the term is.
And that's the harsh reality is it doesn't it doesn't work that way always.
Maybe the rich can do it in some way. But, you know, for 10 million dollars of Bitcoin, this is just a monster amount.
I mean, trying to get this amount today is is literally one of the most challenging things for the average pleb.
So, you know, some of life's lessons have to be learned the hard way.
This is one that, you know, hopefully everyone else can learn from this mistake.
Yeah, I agree. It is heartbreaking.
The thing I would add is even if you're analyzing sort of what's happened the last couple of months with like Jane Street and you just don't buy it.
You say, you know what, I don't think this was market manipulation.
I think the OG Bitcoiners are selling off.
what you have to understand is that just because it was or wasn't happening now doesn't mean that
bitcoin isn't a small enough asset class so to speak that it can't be manipulated it definitely
can we're you know we're to what one one and a half we're sub two trillion right now at current
fiat denominated exchange rates and that's something that the big players can mess with
We need Bitcoin to go to the moon and become a global asset that 10, 15, 20% of people hold in some meaningful way.
And then we can probably relax a little bit and be less concerned about market manipulation.
In the meantime, I would just assume that someone's coming for your bag.
And I think it's probably very likely that that's what's going on with this recent dump and a lot of these liquidations we've seen from the Bitcoin-backed loan community.
One other thing is we're in the accumulation phase of Bitcoin's history. This is not the point where you sell it or you borrow against it. This is the point where you try to get as much as possible. In 10 years, maybe you can start thinking about these things once Bitcoin is in the millions of dollars, in my opinion. But you have to see where we are. For the next 10 years, you should be trying to get as much Bitcoin as possible.
Yes, well said.
Okay, we've got back-to-back stories here.
We got some big high names just dunking on Bitcoin So Boris Johnson he said I long suspected Bitcoin is a giant Ponzi scheme and now I hearing tales of woe that make me fear I right Yeah Okay And then we got
Stanley Drunkenmiller. So I wasn't expecting this one. He's been something of a Bitcoin bull for a
while. And now he said in a recent interview that Bitcoin, I think he said crypto, we're not going
to watch the whole video, but it's a solution looking for a problem. I'm sad that it ever
happened, it wasn't needed as a store of value. Why don't you tell that to the people in Iran who
can't get out with their gold and most of them probably don't have any gold and their banks are
shut down? I don't know. This stuff just pisses me off. Tony, I'll let you take it away because
this is probably very close to home when you think about the way that it saved your life.
Yeah, of course, man. This is this type of very delusional arrogance that these dinosaurs have,
I mean, these two remind me of these sore losers that just can't get over the fact that they've lost.
And they keep pitching excuses and try to badmouth and try to come up with all sorts of nonsense just to somehow make themselves look like they're still the intelligent ones.
They're not.
These are corrupt individuals, man, that have made a ton of money in broken, corrupt, in the corrupt system.
Their incentives don't like the fact that there's a competitor that, given enough time, is going to obsolete them completely if they remain in that system.
The bad news is that they are able to also shift their wealth into Bitcoin.
That's the part that I'm not a fan of, but that's the trade-off of having neutral money.
It's available for people you like in the same way that for people that you don't like.
The fact that they're back-mouthing Bitcoin is the signal as to why you should be scrambling to get as much of it as possible.
Because we have real-life proof of people in very dire situations that have had their lives saved with money that is no longer controllable or manipulated by scumbags like these.
The fact that people are still dependent on a product that is controlled by these losers is mind-boggling to me.
You understand that this is a criminal organization that you have deliberately put in charge of your wealth, your time and energy.
How long do you think before your turn comes for you to be hit by the ramifications of their of their of their dynasty?
Right. There's no place on this planet where anyone is safe because, you know, fiat money, that system is global.
So whether you think you live in Beverly Hills or the slums of some jurisdictions, if you're using the dollar or any fiat currencies, you are headed to zero because that entire mothership is done and it's crashing down.
The more we hear these stories, to me, it's more confirmation that you should get out as quickly as possible.
Yes, well said.
Greer, I didn't have it on my bingo card that Stanley Drunkenmiller would be one of the people dunking on Bitcoin.
Boris Johnson, I mean, par for the course, right? But what's your thought on all of this?
Yeah, my guess is he sold. No matter how much you kick and scream, Bitcoin is not going anywhere.
And I think most importantly, Bitcoin is for the curious. And second most important,
it's for people who are humble. You have to be willing to study something that's unfamiliar to
you, understand why it has so much hate, the system that it's trying to disrupt,
And then what Bitcoin offers you, which is a way to store all your energy and time and wealth offline where no one can take it away.
That is the solution that Bitcoin provides.
And if someone doesn't understand that, it means they haven't learned enough.
They sold too early.
They missed their chance and they're not humble enough to get back in.
And that's what Bitcoin requires.
It is not easy to hold it, but that's what it requires if you're going to be in it.
Yes, well said.
All righty, guys.
So this is an interesting one.
Paraguay is now requiring all Bitcoin transactions over $5,000 to be reported to the government.
So if you transact with Bitcoin over 5K, you got to report it.
They've issued this resolution, 4726,
mandated disclosure of wallet addresses, transaction hashes,
and network details for every qualifying transactions.
This is why.
It covers purchases, sales, mining, staking, airdrops, lending, payments,
and even transfers between your own wallets.
do you want to move from one wallet to another? You can't. Sorry, guys. You got to let them know.
It's interesting because Paraguay is one of those jurisdictions that a lot of people have talked
about is like a plan B, a place to escape all the chaos. And it looks like the surveillance state
is coming to Paraguay, maybe in a way that people hadn't anticipated. Greer, you surprised by this?
I am surprised by this. Who's behind this? I want to know the people that are pushing this from the
top down. I think that this is definitely a chilling effect for anyone in Paraguay.
There is a lot of Bitcoin mining that I've seen just because they have abundant hydroelectric
sources. So, you know, this is definitely not a good thing. I'm also skeptical that they'd be
able to track your transactions to yourself, wallet between wallet. I guess it's up to you
to determine whether or not you report that. But, you know, wow, there are so many other places to
live in paraguay uh this one would not be on my plan b list i i completely agree with that that
that's the insane thing though but once you make the mistake of giving up this information then it
becomes much if you tell them i have this wallet well now and if you want to move to another wallet
you don't even have to report it they're going to know right like this is what a public ledger
means so tony what's your thought on paraguay and uh would you uh consider moving there well you
Not all Plan Bs are created, right?
And this is like a shining example.
But this is what corrupt and inefficient governments do.
They get desperate and they hope these things actually work.
The problem is if you're buying from KYC platforms,
they have your information.
Now, whether they're able to track where you send it to
and who owns the address where you're sending it,
that's a whole different ballgame.
Whether people comply with this nonsense,
That's also a different story in and of itself.
The thing is, you know, if the Bitcoin is in your self-custody and you own your private keys, it doesn't matter what they say.
They cannot touch those coins.
They cannot confiscate them.
They cannot take them away from you.
But if you don't like the new rules and regulations, well, you know, it's very easy.
You pack your bags and you move to jurisdictions that don't have this garbage, right?
And there's always going to be more intelligent places that you could move to that actually embrace innovation, that want people to come and invest their time and energy positively and boost the economy.
These are clear signs of a decaying country.
It sucks because, you know, a lot of people were speaking highly of Paraguay.
I'm sure it's a nice place, but when you've got a cancer eating it from the inside, well, you just have to get out of the way.
Well said.
All righty, guys.
In more geopolitical chaos, Cuba's been having some issues the last couple of weeks with their grid, and now the entire electrical grid has collapsed, plunging the country into a blackout.
This is according to CNN.
I mean, Greer, I'm going to let you take this one first, because I know you've been sort
of keeping a little bit of an eye on what the Trump administration is saying.
You think this is like a power play by the US.
What's your thesis on what is unfolding in Cuba?
Yeah I do have a tinfoil hat for this one but I think it pretty obvious that the US is putting Cuba in a position where their regime their leadership is willing to work with the United States There was talk yesterday about Trump
saying he can do whatever we want. Maybe it'll be the next territory of the United States.
But I think this really has a strategic maneuver. Cuba's history, they've been aligned with some of
America's enemies. To me, this is just the next chapter in the book of hemisphere dominance for
the United States under Trump. So what's going to happen? We don't know. If the regime there,
if the president decides to work with the United States, maybe there's a silver lining where the
Cuban people will have a better standard of living. They've obviously suffered immensely
from the trade embargo that's lasted for 70 years. But I don't know. We don't know what's
going to happen here. It looks like the U.S. is just asserting its dominance, and they are the
next one in the domino line. Well said, Tony. Yeah, man, just another example of the bullies
going after the weak and the helpless. And of course, the people pay the price. I think I read,
if I'm not mistaken, that there's been like a pushback, a revolt in Cuba, where they've been
going after like politicians' homes and stuff of that sort. And which is, you know, completely
expected, I guess, you know, when you've had enough, you know, not everyone's going to remain
silent. So how this plays out, it's anyone's guess, man. But this reminds me a bit of Lebanon,
which has been in blackout for like 30 years with occasional spurts of electricity because
the politicians there, they don't care about the grid. You know, they siphon all the funds into
their own accounts and, you know, the people can live on candlelight and whatever other creative
ideas they come up with. And as long as the people tolerate this, you know, well, you know,
the abuse keeps getting worse and worse and worse, which is why I keep saying that most of the
problems that we have around the world can be resolved very quickly if enough people just say
no. But as long as the majority lives in fear and complies, the situation drags on for decades.
and you know i guess we've we're reaching a point now where enough people are drawing the line in
the sand especially because we have a tool at our disposal that allows us to do this to opt out
right because if you don't control your money you don't control your life and this is you know this
is the the lever that corrupt governments use against the people because you know they've always
done it. And so I'm just hoping more people understand this finally and snap out of this
brainwashed coma that we've been in for a very long time and start reprogramming their lives
properly with better protections, financially speaking, better jurisdictions if they can. Just
do something rather than complain all day. Absolutely. All righty, guys, up last, some
Good news for the Bitcoin network. If you're one of these folks who has bought into any of the FUD
around Bitcoin, it's going to go down. There's quantum, whatever. This is one that I found very
interesting. So from Bitcoin news, nearly 75% of all undersea fiber optic internet cables carrying
99% of global internet traffic would need to fail to have a significant impact on Bitcoin,
a study finds. So I think a lot of people probably underestimate. They're like, well,
what if they're, you know, an EMP, what about, and like there,
there's needs to be a lot of damage to the global network. And candidly,
I think that Bitcoin is going to be the least of your worries in that sort of
situation. If 75% of undersea fiber optic internet cables go down,
like we we've got some big, big issues that extend way beyond money.
And I think people, you know, people are smart and adaptable.
They'll figure out a way to, to continue and make do.
It would be obviously catastrophic though. Generally, Tony,
Pretty interesting data point here.
Yeah, of course, man.
I completely agree with you.
If this scenario were to unfold,
Bitcoin would really be the last of your concerns
because you'd be panicking about 100 million things
outside of Bitcoin.
And the thing is, this doesn't affect Bitcoin.
Bitcoin functions without the internet.
And even if they did cut out all these cables,
what about satellite connections?
Those also magically disappear.
I mean, there's 100 million ways to communicate now
And people are very quick at finding solutions under dire situations.
So this is just you can categorize it under one of the many putting attempts around Bitcoin.
It just amuses me to no end when we keep seeing that same rubbish come back every once in a while.
It disappears and then it makes like a comeback.
And then as if it's going to make a difference then and there.
Bitcoin is not going anywhere.
That is the bottom line. Learn how to use it. Use it as money. Saving it.
Yeah. And just sleep in peace at night, knowing that 75 percent of underwater fiber optic cables aren't going to probably just magically go down overnight.
Greer, if they did get cut, I would say AI might not be taking your job.
But this is this is like the most consistent reply that I got from anyone in my friend group when I was early in my Bitcoin journey.
What happens when the internet goes down? It's like, dude, are you serious? You're worried about
the internet? You'd have so many more problems. We're so dependent on it. It is literally running
so many aspects of our lives. So it's great to see that Bitcoin is not dependent on the internet,
unlike everything else that we enjoy. But I agree with you. If this were to happen,
it's back to the stone age. Yeah. Just try accessing your banking app
when the internet goes down
and getting your money out
that they didn't have to begin with.
I think that's about all people need to understand.
All righty, guys.
I think that's a good place for us to wrap.
Thank you for taking time with me today.
For everyone who joined,
really appreciate you being here.
Stick around for another minute.
You can learn a bit about the Bitcoin way,
how we can help you take self-custody,
all the things that we do.
Plan B, if you were thinking about Paraguay,
I think we've got a better option perhaps
for you to consider.
And Tony, Greer, always fun.
Look forward to catching up with you later this week.
Thanks, guys.
Thanks.
Cheers.
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