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Welcome to The Bitcoin Brief for Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026.

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I'm an AI-generated version of Marty Bent.

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The stories and opinions you're about to hear come from The Commoner,

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today's newsletter written and curated by the real Marty and his AI assistant.

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In the newsletter's 12.17pm Eastern snapshot,

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Bitcoin was trading at $86,156 with block height at $968,164.

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Today, why I think people are dramatically undervaluing Bitcoin.

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Then, Amazon's fight with personal AI agents.

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who wants to set the rules for Frontier AI,

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strategy's latest purchases,

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and an important update for core Lightning operators.

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Let's get into it, freaks.

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I have a hard time looking at everything happening outside of Bitcoin

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and deciding that Bitcoin's simplicity is a problem.

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AI is advancing at a pace that makes it difficult to keep up

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with what these tools can do from one week to the next.

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Countries are competing more aggressively over energy,

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industrial capacity, and trade.

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Governments are piling more debt on top of promises

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they were already struggling to keep.

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And in the middle of all that,

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people are complaining that Bitcoin is boring. I think they're dramatically undervaluing what it

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offers. I'm excited about AI. I've been taking my first spin with Muse this morning, and I want more

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people to get these tools into their hands. There's an incredible amount of useful work they can help

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people do. But being excited about the technology doesn't mean I know which businesses are going to

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come out ahead. Think about a company that spends years building a product, hiring people, and

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convincing customers to pay for it. Then a growing amount of that work becomes something a customer

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can do another way. Maybe the company adapts. Maybe somebody else delivers the same service

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for a fraction of the cost. There are going to be a lot of investment decisions wrapped up in

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figuring that out. Now add a more fractured geopolitical order. A supply chain that looked

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efficient becomes a liability. A trading relationship you took for granted becomes less

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reliable. Governments respond with more spending while already carrying enormous debt burdens.

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I don look at that combination and think I should put more faith in their ability to manage my money With Bitcoin I can understand the monetary rules without having to predict how all of those decisions turn out The issuance schedule is public There a limit of 21 million

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I can run software that verifies those rules.

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I can hold my own keys and send Bitcoin

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without asking a central account administrator

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to approve the transfer.

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A government getting itself into trouble

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doesn't give it the ability to make my node accept extra coins.

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The exchange rate is going to move around.

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We all know that.

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What I value is being able to verify the terms

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of the monetary system I'm saving in.

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Jason Calacanis described Bitcoin last week as a boring store of value, trusted as that,

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before comparing it to CDs in the age of Spotify and DVDs in the age of Netflix.

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I keep coming back to the trust part. Getting people to trust that their money will operate

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on terms they can understand and verify is a pretty important accomplishment,

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especially when so many of the alternatives depend on people who keep changing the terms.

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There is sophisticated engineering underneath Bitcoin, and there's plenty of work to do on

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wallets, payments, privacy, and the other tools people use. I want those tools to improve.

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I also want to understand the money underneath them.

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Another protocol being flashier doesn't do much for me

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if it introduces more people I need to trust

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or more monetary decisions somebody needs to manage.

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I have enough moving parts to keep track of.

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I'd like fewer of them involved in my savings.

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Keep it simple, stupid.

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Now, that excitement about AI

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is already running into some very predictable resistance.

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Meta's Muse gives people an agent

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with its own cloud computer and browser.

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That's a meaningful step beyond typing questions into a chatbot.

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It opens up the possibility of having software

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go do things for you. Amazon says it has blocked Muse, citing identification and credential concerns.

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Those are the concerns Amazon is stating. But there's also a business question here that

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Bucko Capital raised and that I think is worth watching. What happens when an agent does your

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shopping? If it compares products and makes a purchase for you, Amazon has less control over

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what you see along the way. The browsing experience matters to Amazon. An agent acting on your behalf

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could change that relationship I interested in watching that fight develop And being excited about Muse doesn mean ignoring what you trusting Meta with Meta operates the cloud computer Training is opt Its confidential VM is still forthcoming

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Understand those terms before handing an agent sensitive work.

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That question of trust carries straight into the debate about who gets to police AI development.

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Data Republican has an essay examining effective altruism's influence over AI governance and promising a network map.

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But there are already public proposals we can examine directly.

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Dario Amadei is calling for embedded third-party evaluators,

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naming Metter as an example,

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alongside government-supported coordination over frontier development.

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Metter publishes funding disclosures and conflict policies,

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including restrictions on frontier company funding and financial interests.

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Read them.

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If evaluators are going to help determine the limits placed on AI development,

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their incentives and decision-making deserve scrutiny.

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Who pays them?

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How are the standards chosen?

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What happens when they get an assessment wrong?

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How does a developer challenge it?

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I don't want government-backed coordination to become a way for the largest labs and their preferred evaluators to keep competitors out.

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The people asking for authority need to explain how they'll be held accountable.

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Back to Bitcoin, Strategy's latest announcement is worth reading beyond the purchase headline.

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The company reported buying 950 Bitcoin for $75.7 million during September 14th through 20th.

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That brought its reported holdings to 846,000 Bitcoin.

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It also spent $174 million buying back STRC preferred shares.

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Both purchases came from its USD cash balance.

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Strategy reported no shares sold through its at-the-market program that week.

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Separately, $57.4 million from its USD reserve went toward preferred dividends and debt interest.

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If you own these securities, management's decisions about the financing structure matter.

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You're evaluating obligations, cash resources, and capital allocation alongside the Bitcoin holdings.

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Those are additional considerations you don't have when you're holding Bitcoin in your own wallet.

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Understand the particular bet you're making.

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And while we talking about monetary decisions Chicago Fed President Austin Goolsbee gave a speech in London yesterday about persistent supply shocks His argument was that policymakers can simply look through those shocks indefinitely

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Monetary policy works on demand.

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If the missing supply doesn't return, bringing demand into line with that reduced supply means accepting less output and employment.

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These were Goolsbee's views, not a new FOMC decision.

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But it's worth thinking through what that means for ordinary people.

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They're already paying more for things they need.

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The central bank's tool is to make it harder for them to spend.

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An interest rate decision doesn't produce the missing oil or refined products.

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I'd much rather see more of those goods getting to market and improving people's lives.

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Now, a practical item for anyone running Core Lightning.

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The maintainers strongly recommend upgrading to version 26.06.8 as soon as practical.

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This release includes fixes for responsibly reported vulnerabilities alongside ordinary bug fixes.

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Some tests are being withheld temporarily to give operators time to upgrade before additional technical details become available.

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Read the operator notes before touching your node.

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In particular, if you've run development builds,

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the newer database schema prevents a simple downgrade to the 26.06 series.

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Make time to review this.

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Don't leave it sitting in a tab you intend to get back to.

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We'll finish with something useful for people running BTC Pay server.

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You can prepare a payment on the server without giving that server the keys that spend your Bitcoin.

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The BTC Pay and Sparrow guide walks through exporting a partially signed Bitcoin transaction,

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opening it in the corresponding Sparrow wallet,

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and signing with a supported hardware device.

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Follow the compatibility settings, including the non-witness UTXO option where required.

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Start with a small test.

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Check the destination, amount, and fee on the signing device before you approve anything.

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You do not need to type your hardware wallet's recovery words into BTC Pay.

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The server can prepare the payment while you retain the authority to sign it.

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That's a useful separation to get comfortable with,

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particularly if different people are preparing and approving payments.

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That's your Bitcoin Brief for Tuesday, September 22nd.

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For all the links, sources, and the full written analysis, read today's edition of The Commenter.

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You'll find it on the TFTC website, and you can subscribe free through the Bitcoin Brief page.

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Forward it to a friend who would find it useful.

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Stay humble, stack sats.

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I'll see you tomorrow.