We're on the verge of a significant shift in Western Central Bank monetary policy, and I'll bring the receipts to back it up. Plus, some interesting data coming out of the Mt Gox and German government selling and a critical project update.
Links:
Affiliate LINKS:
Links:
- Fed faces cooling job market and persistently high prices, Powell says to Congress | AP News
- US economy no longer overheated, Fed’s Powell tells Congress
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell says ‘some pain’ is on the horizon.
- April, May revised down
- German Government has sold 76% of its Bitcoin
- Eric Balchunas on X
- Mt Gox Repayment Plan PDF
- Wasabi Wallet on X: "We have been informed that a coordinator named WasabiCoordinator is trying to slowly siphon funds from its users using a sophisticated attack.
- Primal Android v1.0.3
- BitfinexCelsius is going after over 5000 people that withdrew their money from Celsius within 90 days of their bankruptcy.
- God Bless Bitcoin Documentary on X: "God Bless Bitcoin OFFICIAL TRAILER!
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Unknown:
Welcome in to episode 18 of This Week in Bitcoin. My name is Chris. I'll have some crazy stats that are going to melt your brain about Bitcoin this week. But before we get there, I want to talk a little macro. I guess, you know, they knew I was going on summer break. And so the central management team of the U.S. economy, a.k.a. The Federal Reserve, seems to clearly be gearing up for a new cycle. Why do I say that? Well, I don't know what you were doing this week, but I spent the last two days watching the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testify on Capitol Hill.
And it's question after question where Jay Powell manages to kind of give the same answer without saying the same thing. The guy could give a master class in doing this. It's really impressive. But watching him, it became clear that there's been a flip of the script. And it has to do with the narrative around jobs. And jobs have always played a strong role in if we raise the rates or if we lower the rates because it's part of the, quote unquote, the Fed's dual mandate. How you have a dual mandate, I don't know. But the reality is, is why J-PAL? Well, J-PAL's up there, you know, and he's given his testimony and he's kind of trying to say things without saying things, which is what he does.
There's U.S. economic data coming out that looks worse and worse, and it doesn't matter how you slice it. 74% of the jobs came from government and health care and education. So that's where the bulk of the jobs are. The rest of the jobs, not doing quite so well. Leisure and hospitality, which have been a big source of job growth, just 7,000. Retail, we've had some strength there, down 8,500. And then temporary help, which is a potential leading sign, minus 48,000. So you have this kind of dual sector economy. By the way, it's not the federal government. A lot of it is local government jobs.
They seem to be still hiring in those places or those municipalities. And it's the hospitals up 22,000. So that's where a lot of the job growth is coming from. Yeah, so you hear these headline numbers about job growth, but the reality is only 26% of those numbers came from, like, the private sector, from businesses. And I've been telling you that this job data that the Fed depends on for their decisions is shaky at best. But we're starting to see a real slide here that even their most rosy interpretation of the numbers can't seem to hide.
The jobs report numbers for 2024 have been revised downwards four out of five months so far. And that trend continues this week. For April, the revision was 57,000 less jobs. All right, so they took 57,000 jobs off of the April report. And in the May report, they took off 54,000 jobs. You combine that, that is 111,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported by the government. Yeah, well, I'm surprised that I thought they might have actually even been a little higher than that. The other number I'd like to see if someone has access to it is what happened with, you know, those numbers you're reporting on the jobs or the establishment survey.
If somebody has those household survey numbers, because those are the two reports. But look, I think we all agree the economy is softening. It's starting to bump down and that should be very concerning. And we have a big election coming up in a few months. And the last thing Biden or Kamala Harris want is an economy on the descent. And, you know, we've seen this, by the way, in the small business surveys, in the consumer consumer surveys. People are getting nervous about this economy. Look, we all agree. You know, even though a month ago we were saying inflation is just made up and you don't appreciate how great the economy is.
Now, this month we're saying, yeah, we all agree it's on the downtrend. But you heard him right. They revised down one hundred eleven thousand jobs and you combine April and May and they're going to do the same for June when they revise June next month. So really, we should just be ignoring the headline number when it comes out and just wait for the revision each time. And I know it's painful. These are real numbers. We know it's painful because J-PAL told us it would be painful when they started the rate hike process. While higher interest rates, slower growth and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses.
These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. What can we do? What can we do? We can't leave inflation too high. They only have one lever. So sorry, you're going to feel some pain. We've had revisions all year. The largest revision from 353,000 to 256,000, taking 97,000 out, took place in January. Over the past two months, part-time employment is up by 336,000 workers. That's part-time. But full-time employment is down by a massive 653,000 workers losing full-time jobs. 653,000 over the same amount of time over the last two months. So we're adding half of those to part-time, but still half are just out.
This is just data straight up from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, 11% of men aged 25 to 54 don't have a job and are not looking for one. 11% of men in the United States age 25 to 54 which what I would imagine is probably some of the ideal working age that's more than triple the percentage recorded in 1995 which is just 3% when I was a kid, It's 11% now. Again, straight from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So jobs are not looking so good. And jobs matter in their decision process. The strength of the job market or the lack of has been J-PAL's go-to card to play for years. Even when inflation was quote-unquote transitory and people were starting to raise alarm bells that inflation was coming and that we needed to raise rates, Jay Powell back then used low employment as a reason to keep rates lower for longer. Yes, lower for longer.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell will paint a bleak picture of the labor market, Melissa, and how far the U.S. has to go to get back to where it was, and also connecting that to a very strong case to keeping the Fed's easy monetary policy in place. Powell will say the Fed will maintain a low target rate until employment and inflation near their goals. The Fed will also maintain assets and asset purchases at $120 billion per month, and it will not tighten slowly, solely in response to a strong job market. It says we are a long way from a strong labor market, and the labor market recovery requires continued policy support.
See that labor market, you got to support that labor market. And this week, that script completely flipped 180 degrees. Same kind of emergency possible conditions are coming, you know, because the Fed always, you know, we have to do something. It's an emergency. Sure, we created the emergency, but we have to do something. And now they completely will flip. So they have used jobs as the reason that they needed to tighten. You know, Jay Powell was once talking about 4.7% on inflation was his target. And then once they get there, they just flip the script. Let's get to Steve Leisman as Powell's prepared remarks just crossed the tape. Steve.
This is from today. The clip I played for me just a moment ago that sounds just like this one was from three years ago when we were saying, or maybe almost four years ago now, when inflation was transitory and rates were low. That's what I just played. Now I'm playing you from today. It's almost exactly the same script. It's just, you know, things get tweaked a little bit. Let's get to Steve Leisman as Powell's prepared remarks just crossed the tape. Steve. Yes, Fed Chair Jay Powell will tell the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs that the labor market conditions have cooled while remaining strong.
Most recent inflation readings, he says, have shown modest further progress. And he calls monetary policy restrictive and says restrictive monetary policy is putting downward pressure on inflation. The committee, however, is still seeking greater confidence inflation is declining before reducing rates. He quotes that part of the statement, which says that. Then he uses the phrase, more good data, he says, would strengthen our confidence that inflation is heading towards it. And he's really referring back to the most recent inflation reports we've had. Elevated inflation, he says, is not the only risk we face.
So he's talking much more two-sidedly about the risk. And he yet goes on to cite the risk of moving too early and too late, as he has done in the past. The risks to achieving the employment and inflation goals are coming into better balance, the Fed chairman says. And the economy continues to expand at a solid pace, moderating in the first half after strong growth in the second half of last year. Here's what he sees on the economy. Solid increases in consumer spending, moderate growth in capital spending, a pickup in residential investment, and labor market strong, he says, but not overheating.
I love these terms, strong, but not overheated. The reality is... They're starting to plan for rate cuts. Probably nothing major, right? Nothing major. But it seems like the table is being set right now. This is Goldman chair and former Dallas Fed president kind of just saying the quiet part out loud. I think if I were sitting in my former seat, I'd be getting ready to cut the rates in September. I wouldn't make any commitments between now and then, but I think they're positioning to cut rates in September. and they'll take it then one meeting at a time. There's enough cross currents that I think the smart thing to do is be short on prognostications and long on risk management.
And I think risk management will dictate a rate cut in September. And you wouldn't have a problem with that. It's not moving the goalposts per se of inflation. I think as long as they see continued progress, I think you've seen enough cooling in the economy that I think they could justify a cut in September. But again, they'll wait right up until game time to make that decision. Yeah, so we don't know. We won't know, but it seems like the table is being set for it because we have the cooling job market. We also have the Eurozone slipping into recession.
And the timing on all of this, when they make these moves, is a world of difference in the outcome. come. I cannot stress it to you enough. The entire key element to them successfully kicking the can. Depends on timing. And it's not just me saying that. In fact, Jay Powell says it keeps him up at night. The number one thing that just does keep me awake at night is the balance that I talked about before, which is we're at the critical time of inflation is coming down, the labor market is cooling, and we want to get it right for the benefit of the American people. We want to get inflation down 2%, but we want to keep a strong labor market too.
And trying to make decisions that give that the best chance to happen, that is the thing that I think about in the wee hours. I hope he's also thinking that long term, this is just going to make things worse, especially when it comes to the rising cost of goods. The fiat supply will go up. People will have a temporary increase in purchase power, which will cause them to buy, buy, buy, especially people closer to the money supply and businesses. Scarce in-demand commodities like oil and shipping capacity, I guess, will become tight. Costs will go up.
Stocks will pump lockstep with M2 supply, so businesses will feel rich again, but it's all going to be paper gains. Bitcoin is the only solution here that is available to the average person to hedge against this. I can't go buy $50 of real estate today, but I can go buy $50 of Bitcoin if I have a little bit extra cash today. It's accessible to my 13-year-old kids. You can get the Cash app at 13 years old and be sponsored by a parent. It's accessible to people all over the world that have this even worse outside the Western countries. Bitcoin is available to us. The central banks, they have no choice but to cut.
The politicians who win the popularity contest of a vote have no choice but to spend. But you have the choice to opt out of all of this crap in the long term by buying Bitcoin. And the good news is, in the short term, Bitcoin seems to be on sale. So there's that. The Bitcoin ETFs, though, are snapping this up like crazy. There was a big debate if the Bitcoin ETFs would have lettuce hands and if they would freak out on the first dump and sell, but that seems to be the opposite. They have taken in $654 million in the last three trading days. Tuesday, BlackRock's iBit took in $121 million alone.
To put $121 million in a single day for an ETF into context. Eric Balkenhaus, who is the Bloomberg ETF analyst, wrote, quote, just for kicks, I ran the numbers last year, there were about 500 ETFs launched. We're halfway through 2024, and 76% of those are still under $121 million in assets. sets. Raising 100 million total in the ETF teradome is hard for a newbie, yet iBit has taken over 100 million in a day 60 times since launching. In other words, BlackRock's ETF takes in, in the last week, has taken in individually, like on Tuesday alone, more than 76% of all of the other ETFs that launched in the last year have taken in total of their entire run.
So the scale is massive. Also, permanent Bitcoin hodlers, those who have custodial wallets or just wallets where there's been no outflows for a year or more, those. Addresses have accumulated 85,000 Bitcoin in the last 30 days. People are snapping up this dip. Almost, not quite, but almost all of the coins that are available on the market right now are are getting snapped up. It's really kind of impressive. So we're seeing the exact opposite, I think, of what people expected. And we might look back at the selling that's happening, like for example, by the German government right now, who's selling at a discount.
We might look back at that as a historic transfer of wealth from one nation to another. We could be watching pizza day on steroids in real time right now. So let's talk about those Germans. Music. Last week, I told you they had about 50,000 Bitcoin to sell, and boy, have they been just selling. It's been going really since June 17th, so we are pretty far into their process. In fact, I'd estimate about 76% of their stash has been sold. They seem to have somewhere around 13,000, maybe a little less, Bitcoin left. But they have been selling tens of thousands a day. For example, on June 17th, they sold 49,878 Bitcoin.
June 24th, 47,178. June 30th, 46,191. Let's just skip over it because they sold on July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th. They didn't sell on the 7th, but they sold on the 8th, the 9th, and the 10th. So July 4th, America Day, the German government sold 42,273 Bitcoin. July 10th, which is the last day I have data on right now, 18,110. So it's slowing down a little bit. But the foolish thing they're doing is they're selling it on spot. So they're driving down the price of the market. And so every time, every subsequent sell they're doing, they're getting less and less for their coin. And they could have probably sold the whole lot at a reasonable discount OTC.
They could have sold the whole lot in one go OTC at like a smaller discount. account. So it's just really funny to see them blow this so badly. I mean, I feel bad for the citizens over there because a lot of US ETFs are snapping this up. A lot of long-term hodlers are snapping this up. And you got to give Bitcoin some credit. I mean, the German government's liquidated close to a billion in Bitcoin in a single day in some cases. And the price moves like 2%, 5%. I mean, really kind of impressive. And that's at the same time we've got the Gox bomb, And to understand the Goxbomb hype, I think you've got to go back in time about 10 years with me.
Bad news for some Bitcoin holders. Mt. Gox, once the world's biggest exchange for the virtual currency, says it has lost around €350 million worth of them. Mt. Gox's chief executive, Mark Capelles, blamed the loss on hacking into its faulty computer system. He spoke as the exchange filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors in Japan. Angry investors have been seeking answers for what's happened to their holdings of cash and Bitcoins on the unregulated Tokyo-based exchange, which froze withdrawals earlier this month. I mean, it might not be an exaggeration to say that Mt. Gox has inflicted emotional damage to Bitcoiners.
We'll see how big the sell actually is as they just are returning now coins back to, some of their coins back to original holders but this has been hanging over us for 10 years we're finally clearing this out I lost coins on Mt. Gox probably more than 5 I don't really know I thought a couple of times about trying to figure it out. And then every time I start to try to put it together, I decide I don't want to know. But Bitcoiners have been sitting through years of finger pointing and fighting, years of legal disputes, years of figuring out who's going to get their coins and how much. Years of then worrying about when those coins would get sold.
Mt. Gox has been a ticking time bomb of a black swan event that has been hanging over Bitcoin for longer than most people have known Bitcoin exists. this. And to me, it just feels like a huge relief that we are at the stage now where the coins are being returned to owners. The Bitcoin plunge, collapsed exchange Mt. Gox, I think I said that right, is beginning to reportedly pay back the nearly $9 billion in Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash. It owes to customers from its bankruptcy in 2014, stoking fresh investor fears that the customers might quickly sell the coins.
The All Finance's Jared Blickery has more on this. Jared. Brian, I'm guessing you're not a Mt. Gox customer, but good news for them. Over the next 60 to 90 days, they're going to get repaid. This was a bankruptcy that happened. Well, it was actually a theft, a heist that led to a bankruptcy about 10 years ago. This was a Japanese-based exchange. They lost over 700,000 coins, Bitcoin specifically. And now the trustee is set to return about 140,000 to the market. It's almost like a software platform that was built to trade Magic the Gathering cards. Wasn't the appropriate platform for a scarce digital asset that was going to be massively in demand at an exponential growth time. Almost like that.
I just really think it's maybe the most bullish thing I've talked about in a while, that this has finally passed us. Yeah, some of these people are going to sell their coins, but some of these people are going to keep on hodling. And if they've been following the news at all, I think they'd very wisely just keep on hodling for a bit. But I'm curious. So boost it and tell me, have you ever lost some sats? Have you lost a lot of sats? And was it an exchange thing? I have heard from listeners that have lost coins in some of the exchanges that went bust after FTX. So I'm curious if you've ever lost any sats. Boost in and share your pain.
I don't know. I want to know, I guess. Might make me feel better. Music. I'll see you later. All right. Well, coming up, your boosts, some important project updates, and a banger of a final clip. So I want to thank our sponsor, Podhome.fm. Use my promo code TWIB and take the first three months off for free when you use the podcasting 2.0 hosting platform that I use. It's got unlimited shows and episodes. It's powered by unlimited Podhome AI. It'll balance your audio, transcribe your podcast, create chapters, clips, and even help you figure out episode titles and descriptions.
It's also got the best 2.0 live streaming support, so if you want to do some live shows built right into the podcast app, Podhome makes it crazy easy. The UI makes it so simple to add, like, value-for-value music or add somebody to your splits. It focuses on solving the things that make podcasting a grind, and you can try it for free for three months when you use my promo code TWIB. Go try it out at podhome.fm. Also, if you're looking to sell those sats that are burning a hole in your pocket, try out the Bitcoin company. It's all on Lightning. You can purchase gift cards with sat rewards over Lightning.
And if you use the promo code Jupiter, we both get some extra sats back. When I do spend sats, the Bitcoin company is how I do it. And when I buy sats, I buy those sats on River. I have links to both of those in the show notes. Another great way to support the show. And thank you, everybody, who does that. I really appreciate it. It's pothome.fm and links to River and the Bitcoin Company in the show notes. Let's get to the boosts. And we've got a nice batch of boosts here to take me out on my summer break. And our baller booster is Satsquanch coming in with 67,890 sats.
You are our lobster, sir. He writes, I look forward to listening every week, Chris. I've been mining for the past three years with Compass, but would love to move my rigs over to Barefoot when something opens up. I only stack my mining earnings after I pay for electricity with Dirty Fiat, converted to lightning for anonymity it would be interesting to hear your take. On the pros and cons of different pools and hosting outfits for guys like me okay i don't want to be super negative, squanch but when i've done the math on this stuff it almost always just works out to just, stack bitcoin especially at times like right now as i record when it's on sale, that's my funny way of saying the price is down uh it just seems like i mean could you help me you understand that math i almost because here's why i bring it up if you're looking at moving over to barefoot well maybe when you're moving from compass to barefoot maybe that's the time to hit pause on this and just you know ask yourself if i don't know i mean if you still need to earn your money back on the rigs that's one thing but you know what i mean squanch um also i think you know if i were looking at mining although i'd appreciate anybody's feedback on this i'd probably highly consider ocean right now myself uh just to help distribute that hash a little bit and it seems Seems like they've got a pretty good system over there.
But I'd love some follow-up on that. Anybody mining, oh, man, I'd love to pick your brain on that. That is fascinating. Ready 1, take 4, comes in with a Jar Jar Boost, 5,000 sats. You supposed! I'm in the camp of no power company controlling my thermostat. Way too creepy for me. Yeah, so, Ready, I was talking to family and friends about this between shows. And universally, they're all anti-thermostat manipulation. Manipulation. But then when I ask them how they feel about me remoting and adjusting that they're fine, So I guess take that for what it's worth. I think that's interesting because I do.
I have the studio and my home both are tied into Home Assistant, and then I remotely control temperatures using that. So family can be home, and I'll be like, I'll suggest that. I try not to, but I think it's happened. I don't know if they find that creepy or not. It doesn't seem so. Halleck comes in with 10,000 sats, and, you know, 10,000 is over 9,000. It's over 9,000! I used to stream 50 sats a minute, but I felt like it sort of punished tighter shows like this one. I think way too much about boosting your streaming. Well, I appreciate, Alec, that you're giving consideration. I think a lot about the show, so I appreciate that you think a lot about the value.
Oppy1984 comes in with 4,000 sats. Everything's under control. Obviously, I don't know your exact location, but there seems to be a lot of MQTT nodes, internet-connected nodes, in Washington, particularly near the coast. Post, non-MQTT might not show up. So there's probably a lot of nodes that won't show up on the map. But here's a map, and he sends me to meshmap.net. We've been talking about mesh radio systems. I didn't realize they're using MQTT. Fascinating. Man, I've used MQTT back in the day for messaging between Windows applications and System 390 mainframe applications.
And then Home Assistant uses MQTT a lot for messaging between low-power nodes. Fascinating. I got MERS radios, which are nothing like this, but I got M-U-R-S MERS radios for our road trip. I wanted something that doesn't have a lot of traffic, something that doesn't need licensing right now just because it's for the kids and us to play around with while we're on the road, caravanning or whatnot. And they're okay. You know, boy, their range sucks. I got cheap ones, but I really do think I want a better radio solution eventually. Okay. One dull geek comes in with 3,333 sats. The traders love the vol.
I don't know. It doesn't seem so dull. You asked if we should become less maxi. If you should become, oh, me. You asked if you, he's talking about me, me. If I should become less maxi. My vote is no. Do what you need. But if you ever start promoting shit coins, I'm out. Now, I wasn't asking if I should be less maxi. I was asking if the audience out there has been fooling around with alt coins. You know because i can come down pretty hard and pretty negative and then in the back of my mind i'm like you know there's probably somebody listening that has a little eth or something i mean sometimes i'll be honest with you a little eth does happen uh it happens i had a credit card that gave me eth reward once i don't even know what to do with it what do you do with eth.
I'm not gonna put it like i can't put it on a cold car like it's silly uh so sometimes it happens But, you know, not intentionally. Faraday Fedora comes in with 5,000 sats. You supposed! The most important thing you get from getting your ham license is knowledge. A ham using unlicensed radio like Meshtastic or FRS is way more effective than a non-ham using ham radio. Channel your inner Shiela Boof and just do it! That's a great point. The knowledge that I understand even when I'm not using licensed radio stuff. Thank you. That is a pretty good little insight right there.
I appreciate that. that gene beans coming in hot with a boost coming in hot with the boost 2048 sets i'm behind um but don't touch crypto much as you've described in the past don't worry i'm not asking about me i was asking about you guys so oh here we got worked up todd from northern virginia comes in with 11 101 sets that's not possible nothing can do that yeah you might be right scotty there's no message. But thank you, Todd. I do appreciate that value. And user 849 comes in with 2,221 sats. User got to set that username I found. Says, you asked about how maxi the audience is. Ah, user, you got the question.
I did have some altcoins and some scoins. One got so hot it melted. Dang Celsius. Yeah, I know, right? However, there is one coin that we We can't sell, and currently the only option is to hold it, and that coin is Pi. I would very much get rid of it to be fully maxi. Maybe also have some bad on Brave. However, I don't have dollars. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. I guess dollars might be the ultimate S coin. Yeah, you know, because I've been around forever, I've been around during some of the Bitcoin forks and ended up with other Bitcoin forks and then would log into an exchange and be like, Oh, there's Bitcoin cash on here. or I can't even remember if that's what it was.
But let's just say it was. And then like I went to go sell it and no, no. Like no place could you really sell it. Like I just took a total L on that one. Don't mess around with the crap coins, kids. It really is. It really leads to pain. The podfather, Adam Curry, comes in with 10,000 sats. This is the way. Take the leap, brother. Hams will save the world. 73s from K5ACC becoming a beaconing, sorry, on 20 meters VAR AC with 12 watts and a wire. Okay, I understand, like, I think 60% of that. Definitely the 12 watts. I get that with a radio and a wire, using that as an antenna.
And, of course, I understand the call sign. And 73s, but beaconing on 20 meters, VAR AC, woo, Podfather, I have much to learn. I do not understand, but I want to. I really want to. You know, if I could get one of my kids into it, it'd be a no-brainer. Or a buddy. You know, if I could do it with somebody else, it'd be a no-brainer. But otherwise, I'm always just so heads down on the shows. I really should take a breather. Well, I mean, I am going on summer break, but I'm taking the family to Montana. Ace Ackerman comes in with a row of ducks. I've owned many alt coins and think that few could have you been useful uh but have chosen to focus my time and energy on bitcoin which is the only one i consider a form of money or a store of value thanks for all your hard work yeah you know i know there there's some okay here's another example people that are big monero fans hate it when i discount monero because you know it's more private um but i agree when it comes to genuine money and a store of value uh i wouldn't i I wouldn't hodl Monero.
Maybe, you know, could I see using it for a daily transaction? Maybe. I would just prefer to use Lightning, though, to tell you the truth. So I'm not sure. But it's the Monero folks I do hear from. I definitely hear from the Monero folks. Jen from Matix back with 2,000 sats. B-O-O-S-T. Hi, Chris. I became a Bitcoin maxi thanks to you and the Bitcoin dad pod. The show that made it click for me, though, was Office Hours Episode 9, We Hate Crypto 2. How about that office hours episode 9 that's a that's a blast from the past at the end of 2022 i removed all my bitcoin and altcoins from binance and coinbase and closed these accounts not to be tempted to go back again i went self-custody with sparrow walt thanks to robosats and btc sessions in 2023 since then i've loved reading stacker.news and i laugh every me monday i love me monday.
I know i've turned into a guy that likes memes i like bitcoin memes and stacker news is great I'm Chris Hellyes over there. It says, my favorite place to buy sats is RoboSats and RealA. Oh, I know. I figured out how to pronounce that. Reali? No. Dang it. It's not Relai AI either, which is what I have in my head from Red Hat. Really? I can't remember now. I'm sorry. But also, I have read Thank God for Bitcoin and Fiat Ruins Everything from Jimmy Song. Those are great reads and I surely recommend. That's how little max I am for now. Next step is to run a node on Start9 and do my own SeedCider. Yeah, SeedCider does seem like a cool project. And let me know how you like Start9.
Appreciate it. It says, thanks for the excellent value as always. Thank you. Wotsy came in with a row of ducks. B-O-O-S-T. And a row of ducks, I said. Thank you. Ah, but no message. Just sending some value. We had 14 boosters across 15 boost total. And we stacked 127, 492 sats. Thank you, everybody. Not bad. Not bad. And you'll have a couple extra weeks to boost in, so we could possibly have a banger when we come back. I don't know if you've ever wondered why I tell you the totals there, but I believe in radical transparency with this project. We're all adults here, and I think we all know that something that's bespoke and handmade takes time and effort and is not necessarily cheap.
And so I put the totals out there so you know how we're doing. And if the totals don't do great for a long time, you understand where we're at. We're clear. You know the show isn't really, you know, paying for itself or you know the show is doing great and that gives you a sense of growth. And, you know, if you think about it, it's a really strong signal that gets completely hidden from you with the advertiser model. But with value for value, part of the value I want to give back to you is transparency here and how this is all working. And so that's why I read the totals here at the end.
Just kind of give you an idea. And I appreciate everybody who does boost in. It means a lot not only to read your message and have this opportunity to chat with you on the show, but also just to see that value roll in throughout the week as I'm working on the show. It's a nice little motivator. And you can send a boost in with the new podcast app over at podcastapps.com. Fountain is just going from win to win, and they've integrated Strike. And Strike is now available in 100 countries, including the UK, and it's on the Lightning Network. So it's a really nice workflow.
But Podverse is something to look at as well because it's cross-platform, available on the web, Android, and iOS. And then I really love Castomatic on iOS. But there's a bunch of great apps, including things like True Fans and other ones over at podcastapps.com. Then you can boost in and support the show. And, you know, much appreciated because it's a value for value podcast. So if you got a little value out of it and you want to contribute back. Music. Wasabi Wallet has issued a warning that the WasabiCoordinator.io coordinator is silently stealing funds.
According to the project, they're using a sophisticated attack to slowly siphon funds from users. They say, quote, we will release a new version that prevents this. They also said that their Windows installer had the MSI on GitHub replaced earlier with a bogus installer for Windows. Windows so you need to check that out go follow up on that if you have Wasabi on Windows some good news one of my favorite Nostra clients Primal for Android version 1.0.3 is out and it seems like the team feels like this is really the app they feel like it's worth promoting they say it's a milestone where it's stable and feature complete and then in the absolutely bonkers category we We mentioned Celsius in the boost.
Bitfinex Celsius is reporting on Weapon X that Celsius is going after 5,000 people. Celsius, the company that's, you know, like bankrupt and being sued, you know, all of that is going after 5,000 people that withdrew their money from Celsius within 90 days of their bankruptcy. Bankruptcy so imagine you withdrew your funds from a crypto exchange that was lying about what they do with your money lying to you lying to your face over and over again and within 90 days of their bankruptcy you decide to take your funds out now you're getting sued.
Just another reason to avoid keeping your funds in any of these institutions. This is probably a worst case example, hopefully one of the worst cases. Who knows? Things could change. But I plead with you, do not keep your Bitcoin on any of these. Even if they offer you some kind of yield or something like that. It's just not worth it. All right. Final clip of the week time. We're moving right along. It is the summer after all. This is a really interesting clip. It starts pretty intense, but I think it's brilliant. And it goes for a hard shift, about 60% in.
This is a sales pitch of masterful degree. The team behind this, I want to meet and shake their hands. They're absolutely brilliant. It's a trailer for a documentary called God Bless Bitcoin. It takes a deep dive into the moral and ethical aspects of Bitcoin and the impact that Bitcoin can have on the world. Now, it's a pretty typical trailer with the boom, boom, boom, booms and the quotes and lots of different celebrity voices you'll partially recognize. But stay with it, because like I said, about 60 percent of the way in, it takes a pretty hard turn.
And I think it's pretty brilliant. We'll break down why on the other end. Music. The dollar will dramatically lose its purchasing power. The more they print, the more it gets diluted. Who it's good for is the people at the tippy top. Because in order to keep the system going, they have to keep printing money. And Bitcoin is that tool that allows us to beat the money printer. Bitcoin is powerful in a way that is money that does not discriminate. Bitcoin is built by the people for the people. We're in a phase transition of society. It's more than a financial revolution.
Government fiat currency is not just money. It steals from the poor and gives it to the rich. If you don't have the choice of how you spend or save your money, You don't live in a free society. If you have cell phones and a smartphone, you can have your bank with you everywhere. You can be anywhere in the world and there's an ability to transfer it or use it. That's a huge advantage. And that's why I think that the magic of the Bitcoin is. I'm excited for the future of Bitcoin because we're just really beginning to understand the advantages of it.
Bitcoin economically arms everybody. Be a place of great mischief. My perspective is that Bitcoin does fix Now, we're about just over halfway in. The trailer has been pretty much what you'd expect from, you know, a documentary that's very, very pro-Bitcoin, obviously. But see if you can catch the tone shift or really the message shift. Bitcoin does represent freedom. Bitcoin is truth. Anyone can be a part of the Bitcoin economy. It's like a good church. Because it's an ethical ideology, there are many people that feel very spiritual about it. I think that Bitcoin has those characteristics to be not just the most Islamic form of money, but the most Jewish and the most Christian form of money as well.
Bitcoin is just another step in the technological development of how we can serve God better. It is trying to remove politics from money. Bitcoin can make the world a better place. And there's nothing you can do to stop it. Music. God bless Bitcoin. Now, there you go. So why do I think this is very clever? By the way, it releases July 25th. I think this is extremely clever because the Republican Party just made crypto part of their platform. And in there, they call for the end of the crypto crackdown, you know, Operation Chokepoint 2.0. They call for a ban on CBDCs. They call for the right to mine, the right to self-custody, and whatever the right to transact freely means.
But it's it's a big prominent part of the new Republican platform. And the reason why I bring this up is because that means people that consider themselves part of the Republican Party are going to be seeing this for the first time or at least hearing about this getting added to the platform and are going to be curious what the hell this is. And some of the people that are adjacent to the Republican Party and next to it are the religious base. And so if you can make a documentary that's God bless Bitcoin, that talks about how Bitcoin is ethical money that serves God's people, you're going to help explain it to people in a context that they're ready to receive the information.
Right. It just makes sense. Like one of the things that drew me to Bitcoin is that it's free software. But that's not what draws other people. You know, that's a lot of people don't care that it's free software. But that was the context that it mattered to me that opened my eyes and made me pay attention. I don't know, almost 13, 14 years ago. But for some people, it's 2024 because the party that they're a member of, and this could be boomers in some cases, the party they're a member of all of a sudden has made a GOP platform that includes a prominent section about crypto. And they're going to have questions.
And right as the conventions are coming, God bless Bitcoin comes out to help explain it to them. Now, is it going to be a movie I watch, a documentary I watch? Maybe. I pretty much watch everything Bitcoin. But I don't think it's one that's going to be trying to preach to the already converted. It's an introduction. The stroke of brilliance is somebody, I suspect, somewhere understands the timing of all of this. If this is all just coincidental, the way all the timing of this is lining up, then so be it. But if there is somebody, maybe the people behind the documentary or whoever, that have recognized the timing of all of these things aligning and that this base would be looking to understand what this is.
And so they have a documentary for them that, I mean, it's just intensely insightful if somebody figured all of this out. Maybe they didn't, and maybe I'm giving people too much credit, but I kind of suspect they did plan it this way. So God bless Bitcoin, July 25th. I don't know. Let me know if you watch it. I'd be curious to know what you think. All right, that's it for the last episode before I take a two-week break. So I'll be gone. I'll be in Montana with the family for the next couple of weeks. But links for this episode are at thisweekinbitcoin.show. And you can find all of the previous episodes over there as well.
I'd love to hear from you. So please do boost in during the break. Let me know what you'd like to see from the show, more of or less of, or any feedback to anything we talked about. Also could be a great time to share one of your favorite episodes with a friend who's also Bitcoin curious. I'd love for this to become the number one Bitcoin podcast in the podcasting 2.0 community. We're trying to support as many of the 2.0 features, including, I haven't figured it out yet, but at some point I want to do some lit streams. I don't know when, but for something I want to do some lit streams in the future.
I do record all of this live to tape, so it would work perfectly well in a live format. So if you've got somebody who's Bitcoin curious, share it with them. If you've got somebody who's hip to podcasting 2.0, share it with them. I'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening. We're going to wrap up with a value for value track. This one I had to play just because it's hilarious. It's actually been out for a little while, but it just made me chuckle through the entire song. It's called Fiat Prison Blues. Fiat Prison Blues. Music.
Welcome in to episode 18 of This Week in Bitcoin. My name is Chris. I'll have some crazy stats that are going to melt your brain about Bitcoin this week. But before we get there, I want to talk a little macro. I guess, you know, they knew I was going on summer break. And so the central management team of the U.S. economy, a.k.a. The Federal Reserve, seems to clearly be gearing up for a new cycle. Why do I say that? Well, I don't know what you were doing this week, but I spent the last two days watching the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testify on Capitol Hill.
And it's question after question where Jay Powell manages to kind of give the same answer without saying the same thing. The guy could give a master class in doing this. It's really impressive. But watching him, it became clear that there's been a flip of the script. And it has to do with the narrative around jobs. And jobs have always played a strong role in if we raise the rates or if we lower the rates because it's part of the, quote unquote, the Fed's dual mandate. How you have a dual mandate, I don't know. But the reality is, is why J-PAL? Well, J-PAL's up there, you know, and he's given his testimony and he's kind of trying to say things without saying things, which is what he does.
There's U.S. economic data coming out that looks worse and worse, and it doesn't matter how you slice it. 74% of the jobs came from government and health care and education. So that's where the bulk of the jobs are. The rest of the jobs, not doing quite so well. Leisure and hospitality, which have been a big source of job growth, just 7,000. Retail, we've had some strength there, down 8,500. And then temporary help, which is a potential leading sign, minus 48,000. So you have this kind of dual sector economy. By the way, it's not the federal government. A lot of it is local government jobs.
They seem to be still hiring in those places or those municipalities. And it's the hospitals up 22,000. So that's where a lot of the job growth is coming from. Yeah, so you hear these headline numbers about job growth, but the reality is only 26% of those numbers came from, like, the private sector, from businesses. And I've been telling you that this job data that the Fed depends on for their decisions is shaky at best. But we're starting to see a real slide here that even their most rosy interpretation of the numbers can't seem to hide.
The jobs report numbers for 2024 have been revised downwards four out of five months so far. And that trend continues this week. For April, the revision was 57,000 less jobs. All right, so they took 57,000 jobs off of the April report. And in the May report, they took off 54,000 jobs. You combine that, that is 111,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported by the government. Yeah, well, I'm surprised that I thought they might have actually even been a little higher than that. The other number I'd like to see if someone has access to it is what happened with, you know, those numbers you're reporting on the jobs or the establishment survey.
If somebody has those household survey numbers, because those are the two reports. But look, I think we all agree the economy is softening. It's starting to bump down and that should be very concerning. And we have a big election coming up in a few months. And the last thing Biden or Kamala Harris want is an economy on the descent. And, you know, we've seen this, by the way, in the small business surveys, in the consumer consumer surveys. People are getting nervous about this economy. Look, we all agree. You know, even though a month ago we were saying inflation is just made up and you don't appreciate how great the economy is.
Now, this month we're saying, yeah, we all agree it's on the downtrend. But you heard him right. They revised down one hundred eleven thousand jobs and you combine April and May and they're going to do the same for June when they revise June next month. So really, we should just be ignoring the headline number when it comes out and just wait for the revision each time. And I know it's painful. These are real numbers. We know it's painful because J-PAL told us it would be painful when they started the rate hike process. While higher interest rates, slower growth and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses.
These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. What can we do? What can we do? We can't leave inflation too high. They only have one lever. So sorry, you're going to feel some pain. We've had revisions all year. The largest revision from 353,000 to 256,000, taking 97,000 out, took place in January. Over the past two months, part-time employment is up by 336,000 workers. That's part-time. But full-time employment is down by a massive 653,000 workers losing full-time jobs. 653,000 over the same amount of time over the last two months. So we're adding half of those to part-time, but still half are just out.
This is just data straight up from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, 11% of men aged 25 to 54 don't have a job and are not looking for one. 11% of men in the United States age 25 to 54 which what I would imagine is probably some of the ideal working age that's more than triple the percentage recorded in 1995 which is just 3% when I was a kid, It's 11% now. Again, straight from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So jobs are not looking so good. And jobs matter in their decision process. The strength of the job market or the lack of has been J-PAL's go-to card to play for years. Even when inflation was quote-unquote transitory and people were starting to raise alarm bells that inflation was coming and that we needed to raise rates, Jay Powell back then used low employment as a reason to keep rates lower for longer. Yes, lower for longer.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell will paint a bleak picture of the labor market, Melissa, and how far the U.S. has to go to get back to where it was, and also connecting that to a very strong case to keeping the Fed's easy monetary policy in place. Powell will say the Fed will maintain a low target rate until employment and inflation near their goals. The Fed will also maintain assets and asset purchases at $120 billion per month, and it will not tighten slowly, solely in response to a strong job market. It says we are a long way from a strong labor market, and the labor market recovery requires continued policy support.
See that labor market, you got to support that labor market. And this week, that script completely flipped 180 degrees. Same kind of emergency possible conditions are coming, you know, because the Fed always, you know, we have to do something. It's an emergency. Sure, we created the emergency, but we have to do something. And now they completely will flip. So they have used jobs as the reason that they needed to tighten. You know, Jay Powell was once talking about 4.7% on inflation was his target. And then once they get there, they just flip the script. Let's get to Steve Leisman as Powell's prepared remarks just crossed the tape. Steve.
This is from today. The clip I played for me just a moment ago that sounds just like this one was from three years ago when we were saying, or maybe almost four years ago now, when inflation was transitory and rates were low. That's what I just played. Now I'm playing you from today. It's almost exactly the same script. It's just, you know, things get tweaked a little bit. Let's get to Steve Leisman as Powell's prepared remarks just crossed the tape. Steve. Yes, Fed Chair Jay Powell will tell the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs that the labor market conditions have cooled while remaining strong.
Most recent inflation readings, he says, have shown modest further progress. And he calls monetary policy restrictive and says restrictive monetary policy is putting downward pressure on inflation. The committee, however, is still seeking greater confidence inflation is declining before reducing rates. He quotes that part of the statement, which says that. Then he uses the phrase, more good data, he says, would strengthen our confidence that inflation is heading towards it. And he's really referring back to the most recent inflation reports we've had. Elevated inflation, he says, is not the only risk we face.
So he's talking much more two-sidedly about the risk. And he yet goes on to cite the risk of moving too early and too late, as he has done in the past. The risks to achieving the employment and inflation goals are coming into better balance, the Fed chairman says. And the economy continues to expand at a solid pace, moderating in the first half after strong growth in the second half of last year. Here's what he sees on the economy. Solid increases in consumer spending, moderate growth in capital spending, a pickup in residential investment, and labor market strong, he says, but not overheating.
I love these terms, strong, but not overheated. The reality is... They're starting to plan for rate cuts. Probably nothing major, right? Nothing major. But it seems like the table is being set right now. This is Goldman chair and former Dallas Fed president kind of just saying the quiet part out loud. I think if I were sitting in my former seat, I'd be getting ready to cut the rates in September. I wouldn't make any commitments between now and then, but I think they're positioning to cut rates in September. and they'll take it then one meeting at a time. There's enough cross currents that I think the smart thing to do is be short on prognostications and long on risk management.
And I think risk management will dictate a rate cut in September. And you wouldn't have a problem with that. It's not moving the goalposts per se of inflation. I think as long as they see continued progress, I think you've seen enough cooling in the economy that I think they could justify a cut in September. But again, they'll wait right up until game time to make that decision. Yeah, so we don't know. We won't know, but it seems like the table is being set for it because we have the cooling job market. We also have the Eurozone slipping into recession.
And the timing on all of this, when they make these moves, is a world of difference in the outcome. come. I cannot stress it to you enough. The entire key element to them successfully kicking the can. Depends on timing. And it's not just me saying that. In fact, Jay Powell says it keeps him up at night. The number one thing that just does keep me awake at night is the balance that I talked about before, which is we're at the critical time of inflation is coming down, the labor market is cooling, and we want to get it right for the benefit of the American people. We want to get inflation down 2%, but we want to keep a strong labor market too.
And trying to make decisions that give that the best chance to happen, that is the thing that I think about in the wee hours. I hope he's also thinking that long term, this is just going to make things worse, especially when it comes to the rising cost of goods. The fiat supply will go up. People will have a temporary increase in purchase power, which will cause them to buy, buy, buy, especially people closer to the money supply and businesses. Scarce in-demand commodities like oil and shipping capacity, I guess, will become tight. Costs will go up.
Stocks will pump lockstep with M2 supply, so businesses will feel rich again, but it's all going to be paper gains. Bitcoin is the only solution here that is available to the average person to hedge against this. I can't go buy $50 of real estate today, but I can go buy $50 of Bitcoin if I have a little bit extra cash today. It's accessible to my 13-year-old kids. You can get the Cash app at 13 years old and be sponsored by a parent. It's accessible to people all over the world that have this even worse outside the Western countries. Bitcoin is available to us. The central banks, they have no choice but to cut.
The politicians who win the popularity contest of a vote have no choice but to spend. But you have the choice to opt out of all of this crap in the long term by buying Bitcoin. And the good news is, in the short term, Bitcoin seems to be on sale. So there's that. The Bitcoin ETFs, though, are snapping this up like crazy. There was a big debate if the Bitcoin ETFs would have lettuce hands and if they would freak out on the first dump and sell, but that seems to be the opposite. They have taken in $654 million in the last three trading days. Tuesday, BlackRock's iBit took in $121 million alone.
To put $121 million in a single day for an ETF into context. Eric Balkenhaus, who is the Bloomberg ETF analyst, wrote, quote, just for kicks, I ran the numbers last year, there were about 500 ETFs launched. We're halfway through 2024, and 76% of those are still under $121 million in assets. sets. Raising 100 million total in the ETF teradome is hard for a newbie, yet iBit has taken over 100 million in a day 60 times since launching. In other words, BlackRock's ETF takes in, in the last week, has taken in individually, like on Tuesday alone, more than 76% of all of the other ETFs that launched in the last year have taken in total of their entire run.
So the scale is massive. Also, permanent Bitcoin hodlers, those who have custodial wallets or just wallets where there's been no outflows for a year or more, those. Addresses have accumulated 85,000 Bitcoin in the last 30 days. People are snapping up this dip. Almost, not quite, but almost all of the coins that are available on the market right now are are getting snapped up. It's really kind of impressive. So we're seeing the exact opposite, I think, of what people expected. And we might look back at the selling that's happening, like for example, by the German government right now, who's selling at a discount.
We might look back at that as a historic transfer of wealth from one nation to another. We could be watching pizza day on steroids in real time right now. So let's talk about those Germans. Music. Last week, I told you they had about 50,000 Bitcoin to sell, and boy, have they been just selling. It's been going really since June 17th, so we are pretty far into their process. In fact, I'd estimate about 76% of their stash has been sold. They seem to have somewhere around 13,000, maybe a little less, Bitcoin left. But they have been selling tens of thousands a day. For example, on June 17th, they sold 49,878 Bitcoin.
June 24th, 47,178. June 30th, 46,191. Let's just skip over it because they sold on July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th. They didn't sell on the 7th, but they sold on the 8th, the 9th, and the 10th. So July 4th, America Day, the German government sold 42,273 Bitcoin. July 10th, which is the last day I have data on right now, 18,110. So it's slowing down a little bit. But the foolish thing they're doing is they're selling it on spot. So they're driving down the price of the market. And so every time, every subsequent sell they're doing, they're getting less and less for their coin. And they could have probably sold the whole lot at a reasonable discount OTC.
They could have sold the whole lot in one go OTC at like a smaller discount. account. So it's just really funny to see them blow this so badly. I mean, I feel bad for the citizens over there because a lot of US ETFs are snapping this up. A lot of long-term hodlers are snapping this up. And you got to give Bitcoin some credit. I mean, the German government's liquidated close to a billion in Bitcoin in a single day in some cases. And the price moves like 2%, 5%. I mean, really kind of impressive. And that's at the same time we've got the Gox bomb, And to understand the Goxbomb hype, I think you've got to go back in time about 10 years with me.
Bad news for some Bitcoin holders. Mt. Gox, once the world's biggest exchange for the virtual currency, says it has lost around €350 million worth of them. Mt. Gox's chief executive, Mark Capelles, blamed the loss on hacking into its faulty computer system. He spoke as the exchange filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors in Japan. Angry investors have been seeking answers for what's happened to their holdings of cash and Bitcoins on the unregulated Tokyo-based exchange, which froze withdrawals earlier this month. I mean, it might not be an exaggeration to say that Mt. Gox has inflicted emotional damage to Bitcoiners.
We'll see how big the sell actually is as they just are returning now coins back to, some of their coins back to original holders but this has been hanging over us for 10 years we're finally clearing this out I lost coins on Mt. Gox probably more than 5 I don't really know I thought a couple of times about trying to figure it out. And then every time I start to try to put it together, I decide I don't want to know. But Bitcoiners have been sitting through years of finger pointing and fighting, years of legal disputes, years of figuring out who's going to get their coins and how much. Years of then worrying about when those coins would get sold.
Mt. Gox has been a ticking time bomb of a black swan event that has been hanging over Bitcoin for longer than most people have known Bitcoin exists. this. And to me, it just feels like a huge relief that we are at the stage now where the coins are being returned to owners. The Bitcoin plunge, collapsed exchange Mt. Gox, I think I said that right, is beginning to reportedly pay back the nearly $9 billion in Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash. It owes to customers from its bankruptcy in 2014, stoking fresh investor fears that the customers might quickly sell the coins.
The All Finance's Jared Blickery has more on this. Jared. Brian, I'm guessing you're not a Mt. Gox customer, but good news for them. Over the next 60 to 90 days, they're going to get repaid. This was a bankruptcy that happened. Well, it was actually a theft, a heist that led to a bankruptcy about 10 years ago. This was a Japanese-based exchange. They lost over 700,000 coins, Bitcoin specifically. And now the trustee is set to return about 140,000 to the market. It's almost like a software platform that was built to trade Magic the Gathering cards. Wasn't the appropriate platform for a scarce digital asset that was going to be massively in demand at an exponential growth time. Almost like that.
I just really think it's maybe the most bullish thing I've talked about in a while, that this has finally passed us. Yeah, some of these people are going to sell their coins, but some of these people are going to keep on hodling. And if they've been following the news at all, I think they'd very wisely just keep on hodling for a bit. But I'm curious. So boost it and tell me, have you ever lost some sats? Have you lost a lot of sats? And was it an exchange thing? I have heard from listeners that have lost coins in some of the exchanges that went bust after FTX. So I'm curious if you've ever lost any sats. Boost in and share your pain.
I don't know. I want to know, I guess. Might make me feel better. Music. I'll see you later. All right. Well, coming up, your boosts, some important project updates, and a banger of a final clip. So I want to thank our sponsor, Podhome.fm. Use my promo code TWIB and take the first three months off for free when you use the podcasting 2.0 hosting platform that I use. It's got unlimited shows and episodes. It's powered by unlimited Podhome AI. It'll balance your audio, transcribe your podcast, create chapters, clips, and even help you figure out episode titles and descriptions.
It's also got the best 2.0 live streaming support, so if you want to do some live shows built right into the podcast app, Podhome makes it crazy easy. The UI makes it so simple to add, like, value-for-value music or add somebody to your splits. It focuses on solving the things that make podcasting a grind, and you can try it for free for three months when you use my promo code TWIB. Go try it out at podhome.fm. Also, if you're looking to sell those sats that are burning a hole in your pocket, try out the Bitcoin company. It's all on Lightning. You can purchase gift cards with sat rewards over Lightning.
And if you use the promo code Jupiter, we both get some extra sats back. When I do spend sats, the Bitcoin company is how I do it. And when I buy sats, I buy those sats on River. I have links to both of those in the show notes. Another great way to support the show. And thank you, everybody, who does that. I really appreciate it. It's pothome.fm and links to River and the Bitcoin Company in the show notes. Let's get to the boosts. And we've got a nice batch of boosts here to take me out on my summer break. And our baller booster is Satsquanch coming in with 67,890 sats.
You are our lobster, sir. He writes, I look forward to listening every week, Chris. I've been mining for the past three years with Compass, but would love to move my rigs over to Barefoot when something opens up. I only stack my mining earnings after I pay for electricity with Dirty Fiat, converted to lightning for anonymity it would be interesting to hear your take. On the pros and cons of different pools and hosting outfits for guys like me okay i don't want to be super negative, squanch but when i've done the math on this stuff it almost always just works out to just, stack bitcoin especially at times like right now as i record when it's on sale, that's my funny way of saying the price is down uh it just seems like i mean could you help me you understand that math i almost because here's why i bring it up if you're looking at moving over to barefoot well maybe when you're moving from compass to barefoot maybe that's the time to hit pause on this and just you know ask yourself if i don't know i mean if you still need to earn your money back on the rigs that's one thing but you know what i mean squanch um also i think you know if i were looking at mining although i'd appreciate anybody's feedback on this i'd probably highly consider ocean right now myself uh just to help distribute that hash a little bit and it seems Seems like they've got a pretty good system over there.
But I'd love some follow-up on that. Anybody mining, oh, man, I'd love to pick your brain on that. That is fascinating. Ready 1, take 4, comes in with a Jar Jar Boost, 5,000 sats. You supposed! I'm in the camp of no power company controlling my thermostat. Way too creepy for me. Yeah, so, Ready, I was talking to family and friends about this between shows. And universally, they're all anti-thermostat manipulation. Manipulation. But then when I ask them how they feel about me remoting and adjusting that they're fine, So I guess take that for what it's worth. I think that's interesting because I do.
I have the studio and my home both are tied into Home Assistant, and then I remotely control temperatures using that. So family can be home, and I'll be like, I'll suggest that. I try not to, but I think it's happened. I don't know if they find that creepy or not. It doesn't seem so. Halleck comes in with 10,000 sats, and, you know, 10,000 is over 9,000. It's over 9,000! I used to stream 50 sats a minute, but I felt like it sort of punished tighter shows like this one. I think way too much about boosting your streaming. Well, I appreciate, Alec, that you're giving consideration. I think a lot about the show, so I appreciate that you think a lot about the value.
Oppy1984 comes in with 4,000 sats. Everything's under control. Obviously, I don't know your exact location, but there seems to be a lot of MQTT nodes, internet-connected nodes, in Washington, particularly near the coast. Post, non-MQTT might not show up. So there's probably a lot of nodes that won't show up on the map. But here's a map, and he sends me to meshmap.net. We've been talking about mesh radio systems. I didn't realize they're using MQTT. Fascinating. Man, I've used MQTT back in the day for messaging between Windows applications and System 390 mainframe applications.
And then Home Assistant uses MQTT a lot for messaging between low-power nodes. Fascinating. I got MERS radios, which are nothing like this, but I got M-U-R-S MERS radios for our road trip. I wanted something that doesn't have a lot of traffic, something that doesn't need licensing right now just because it's for the kids and us to play around with while we're on the road, caravanning or whatnot. And they're okay. You know, boy, their range sucks. I got cheap ones, but I really do think I want a better radio solution eventually. Okay. One dull geek comes in with 3,333 sats. The traders love the vol.
I don't know. It doesn't seem so dull. You asked if we should become less maxi. If you should become, oh, me. You asked if you, he's talking about me, me. If I should become less maxi. My vote is no. Do what you need. But if you ever start promoting shit coins, I'm out. Now, I wasn't asking if I should be less maxi. I was asking if the audience out there has been fooling around with alt coins. You know because i can come down pretty hard and pretty negative and then in the back of my mind i'm like you know there's probably somebody listening that has a little eth or something i mean sometimes i'll be honest with you a little eth does happen uh it happens i had a credit card that gave me eth reward once i don't even know what to do with it what do you do with eth.
I'm not gonna put it like i can't put it on a cold car like it's silly uh so sometimes it happens But, you know, not intentionally. Faraday Fedora comes in with 5,000 sats. You supposed! The most important thing you get from getting your ham license is knowledge. A ham using unlicensed radio like Meshtastic or FRS is way more effective than a non-ham using ham radio. Channel your inner Shiela Boof and just do it! That's a great point. The knowledge that I understand even when I'm not using licensed radio stuff. Thank you. That is a pretty good little insight right there.
I appreciate that. that gene beans coming in hot with a boost coming in hot with the boost 2048 sets i'm behind um but don't touch crypto much as you've described in the past don't worry i'm not asking about me i was asking about you guys so oh here we got worked up todd from northern virginia comes in with 11 101 sets that's not possible nothing can do that yeah you might be right scotty there's no message. But thank you, Todd. I do appreciate that value. And user 849 comes in with 2,221 sats. User got to set that username I found. Says, you asked about how maxi the audience is. Ah, user, you got the question.
I did have some altcoins and some scoins. One got so hot it melted. Dang Celsius. Yeah, I know, right? However, there is one coin that we We can't sell, and currently the only option is to hold it, and that coin is Pi. I would very much get rid of it to be fully maxi. Maybe also have some bad on Brave. However, I don't have dollars. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. I guess dollars might be the ultimate S coin. Yeah, you know, because I've been around forever, I've been around during some of the Bitcoin forks and ended up with other Bitcoin forks and then would log into an exchange and be like, Oh, there's Bitcoin cash on here. or I can't even remember if that's what it was.
But let's just say it was. And then like I went to go sell it and no, no. Like no place could you really sell it. Like I just took a total L on that one. Don't mess around with the crap coins, kids. It really is. It really leads to pain. The podfather, Adam Curry, comes in with 10,000 sats. This is the way. Take the leap, brother. Hams will save the world. 73s from K5ACC becoming a beaconing, sorry, on 20 meters VAR AC with 12 watts and a wire. Okay, I understand, like, I think 60% of that. Definitely the 12 watts. I get that with a radio and a wire, using that as an antenna.
And, of course, I understand the call sign. And 73s, but beaconing on 20 meters, VAR AC, woo, Podfather, I have much to learn. I do not understand, but I want to. I really want to. You know, if I could get one of my kids into it, it'd be a no-brainer. Or a buddy. You know, if I could do it with somebody else, it'd be a no-brainer. But otherwise, I'm always just so heads down on the shows. I really should take a breather. Well, I mean, I am going on summer break, but I'm taking the family to Montana. Ace Ackerman comes in with a row of ducks. I've owned many alt coins and think that few could have you been useful uh but have chosen to focus my time and energy on bitcoin which is the only one i consider a form of money or a store of value thanks for all your hard work yeah you know i know there there's some okay here's another example people that are big monero fans hate it when i discount monero because you know it's more private um but i agree when it comes to genuine money and a store of value uh i wouldn't i I wouldn't hodl Monero.
Maybe, you know, could I see using it for a daily transaction? Maybe. I would just prefer to use Lightning, though, to tell you the truth. So I'm not sure. But it's the Monero folks I do hear from. I definitely hear from the Monero folks. Jen from Matix back with 2,000 sats. B-O-O-S-T. Hi, Chris. I became a Bitcoin maxi thanks to you and the Bitcoin dad pod. The show that made it click for me, though, was Office Hours Episode 9, We Hate Crypto 2. How about that office hours episode 9 that's a that's a blast from the past at the end of 2022 i removed all my bitcoin and altcoins from binance and coinbase and closed these accounts not to be tempted to go back again i went self-custody with sparrow walt thanks to robosats and btc sessions in 2023 since then i've loved reading stacker.news and i laugh every me monday i love me monday.
I know i've turned into a guy that likes memes i like bitcoin memes and stacker news is great I'm Chris Hellyes over there. It says, my favorite place to buy sats is RoboSats and RealA. Oh, I know. I figured out how to pronounce that. Reali? No. Dang it. It's not Relai AI either, which is what I have in my head from Red Hat. Really? I can't remember now. I'm sorry. But also, I have read Thank God for Bitcoin and Fiat Ruins Everything from Jimmy Song. Those are great reads and I surely recommend. That's how little max I am for now. Next step is to run a node on Start9 and do my own SeedCider. Yeah, SeedCider does seem like a cool project. And let me know how you like Start9.
Appreciate it. It says, thanks for the excellent value as always. Thank you. Wotsy came in with a row of ducks. B-O-O-S-T. And a row of ducks, I said. Thank you. Ah, but no message. Just sending some value. We had 14 boosters across 15 boost total. And we stacked 127, 492 sats. Thank you, everybody. Not bad. Not bad. And you'll have a couple extra weeks to boost in, so we could possibly have a banger when we come back. I don't know if you've ever wondered why I tell you the totals there, but I believe in radical transparency with this project. We're all adults here, and I think we all know that something that's bespoke and handmade takes time and effort and is not necessarily cheap.
And so I put the totals out there so you know how we're doing. And if the totals don't do great for a long time, you understand where we're at. We're clear. You know the show isn't really, you know, paying for itself or you know the show is doing great and that gives you a sense of growth. And, you know, if you think about it, it's a really strong signal that gets completely hidden from you with the advertiser model. But with value for value, part of the value I want to give back to you is transparency here and how this is all working. And so that's why I read the totals here at the end.
Just kind of give you an idea. And I appreciate everybody who does boost in. It means a lot not only to read your message and have this opportunity to chat with you on the show, but also just to see that value roll in throughout the week as I'm working on the show. It's a nice little motivator. And you can send a boost in with the new podcast app over at podcastapps.com. Fountain is just going from win to win, and they've integrated Strike. And Strike is now available in 100 countries, including the UK, and it's on the Lightning Network. So it's a really nice workflow.
But Podverse is something to look at as well because it's cross-platform, available on the web, Android, and iOS. And then I really love Castomatic on iOS. But there's a bunch of great apps, including things like True Fans and other ones over at podcastapps.com. Then you can boost in and support the show. And, you know, much appreciated because it's a value for value podcast. So if you got a little value out of it and you want to contribute back. Music. Wasabi Wallet has issued a warning that the WasabiCoordinator.io coordinator is silently stealing funds.
According to the project, they're using a sophisticated attack to slowly siphon funds from users. They say, quote, we will release a new version that prevents this. They also said that their Windows installer had the MSI on GitHub replaced earlier with a bogus installer for Windows. Windows so you need to check that out go follow up on that if you have Wasabi on Windows some good news one of my favorite Nostra clients Primal for Android version 1.0.3 is out and it seems like the team feels like this is really the app they feel like it's worth promoting they say it's a milestone where it's stable and feature complete and then in the absolutely bonkers category we We mentioned Celsius in the boost.
Bitfinex Celsius is reporting on Weapon X that Celsius is going after 5,000 people. Celsius, the company that's, you know, like bankrupt and being sued, you know, all of that is going after 5,000 people that withdrew their money from Celsius within 90 days of their bankruptcy. Bankruptcy so imagine you withdrew your funds from a crypto exchange that was lying about what they do with your money lying to you lying to your face over and over again and within 90 days of their bankruptcy you decide to take your funds out now you're getting sued.
Just another reason to avoid keeping your funds in any of these institutions. This is probably a worst case example, hopefully one of the worst cases. Who knows? Things could change. But I plead with you, do not keep your Bitcoin on any of these. Even if they offer you some kind of yield or something like that. It's just not worth it. All right. Final clip of the week time. We're moving right along. It is the summer after all. This is a really interesting clip. It starts pretty intense, but I think it's brilliant. And it goes for a hard shift, about 60% in.
This is a sales pitch of masterful degree. The team behind this, I want to meet and shake their hands. They're absolutely brilliant. It's a trailer for a documentary called God Bless Bitcoin. It takes a deep dive into the moral and ethical aspects of Bitcoin and the impact that Bitcoin can have on the world. Now, it's a pretty typical trailer with the boom, boom, boom, booms and the quotes and lots of different celebrity voices you'll partially recognize. But stay with it, because like I said, about 60 percent of the way in, it takes a pretty hard turn.
And I think it's pretty brilliant. We'll break down why on the other end. Music. The dollar will dramatically lose its purchasing power. The more they print, the more it gets diluted. Who it's good for is the people at the tippy top. Because in order to keep the system going, they have to keep printing money. And Bitcoin is that tool that allows us to beat the money printer. Bitcoin is powerful in a way that is money that does not discriminate. Bitcoin is built by the people for the people. We're in a phase transition of society. It's more than a financial revolution.
Government fiat currency is not just money. It steals from the poor and gives it to the rich. If you don't have the choice of how you spend or save your money, You don't live in a free society. If you have cell phones and a smartphone, you can have your bank with you everywhere. You can be anywhere in the world and there's an ability to transfer it or use it. That's a huge advantage. And that's why I think that the magic of the Bitcoin is. I'm excited for the future of Bitcoin because we're just really beginning to understand the advantages of it.
Bitcoin economically arms everybody. Be a place of great mischief. My perspective is that Bitcoin does fix Now, we're about just over halfway in. The trailer has been pretty much what you'd expect from, you know, a documentary that's very, very pro-Bitcoin, obviously. But see if you can catch the tone shift or really the message shift. Bitcoin does represent freedom. Bitcoin is truth. Anyone can be a part of the Bitcoin economy. It's like a good church. Because it's an ethical ideology, there are many people that feel very spiritual about it. I think that Bitcoin has those characteristics to be not just the most Islamic form of money, but the most Jewish and the most Christian form of money as well.
Bitcoin is just another step in the technological development of how we can serve God better. It is trying to remove politics from money. Bitcoin can make the world a better place. And there's nothing you can do to stop it. Music. God bless Bitcoin. Now, there you go. So why do I think this is very clever? By the way, it releases July 25th. I think this is extremely clever because the Republican Party just made crypto part of their platform. And in there, they call for the end of the crypto crackdown, you know, Operation Chokepoint 2.0. They call for a ban on CBDCs. They call for the right to mine, the right to self-custody, and whatever the right to transact freely means.
But it's it's a big prominent part of the new Republican platform. And the reason why I bring this up is because that means people that consider themselves part of the Republican Party are going to be seeing this for the first time or at least hearing about this getting added to the platform and are going to be curious what the hell this is. And some of the people that are adjacent to the Republican Party and next to it are the religious base. And so if you can make a documentary that's God bless Bitcoin, that talks about how Bitcoin is ethical money that serves God's people, you're going to help explain it to people in a context that they're ready to receive the information.
Right. It just makes sense. Like one of the things that drew me to Bitcoin is that it's free software. But that's not what draws other people. You know, that's a lot of people don't care that it's free software. But that was the context that it mattered to me that opened my eyes and made me pay attention. I don't know, almost 13, 14 years ago. But for some people, it's 2024 because the party that they're a member of, and this could be boomers in some cases, the party they're a member of all of a sudden has made a GOP platform that includes a prominent section about crypto. And they're going to have questions.
And right as the conventions are coming, God bless Bitcoin comes out to help explain it to them. Now, is it going to be a movie I watch, a documentary I watch? Maybe. I pretty much watch everything Bitcoin. But I don't think it's one that's going to be trying to preach to the already converted. It's an introduction. The stroke of brilliance is somebody, I suspect, somewhere understands the timing of all of this. If this is all just coincidental, the way all the timing of this is lining up, then so be it. But if there is somebody, maybe the people behind the documentary or whoever, that have recognized the timing of all of these things aligning and that this base would be looking to understand what this is.
And so they have a documentary for them that, I mean, it's just intensely insightful if somebody figured all of this out. Maybe they didn't, and maybe I'm giving people too much credit, but I kind of suspect they did plan it this way. So God bless Bitcoin, July 25th. I don't know. Let me know if you watch it. I'd be curious to know what you think. All right, that's it for the last episode before I take a two-week break. So I'll be gone. I'll be in Montana with the family for the next couple of weeks. But links for this episode are at thisweekinbitcoin.show. And you can find all of the previous episodes over there as well.
I'd love to hear from you. So please do boost in during the break. Let me know what you'd like to see from the show, more of or less of, or any feedback to anything we talked about. Also could be a great time to share one of your favorite episodes with a friend who's also Bitcoin curious. I'd love for this to become the number one Bitcoin podcast in the podcasting 2.0 community. We're trying to support as many of the 2.0 features, including, I haven't figured it out yet, but at some point I want to do some lit streams. I don't know when, but for something I want to do some lit streams in the future.
I do record all of this live to tape, so it would work perfectly well in a live format. So if you've got somebody who's Bitcoin curious, share it with them. If you've got somebody who's hip to podcasting 2.0, share it with them. I'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening. We're going to wrap up with a value for value track. This one I had to play just because it's hilarious. It's actually been out for a little while, but it just made me chuckle through the entire song. It's called Fiat Prison Blues. Fiat Prison Blues. Music.
Welcome into 18
JPOW Week
Revisions in Job Reports
Job Market Importance
Labor Market Conditions
Testimony Comparison Over Years
Speculation on Rate Cuts
Impact of Bitcoin on Inflation
Opting Out with Bitcoin
German Government Selling Bitcoin
Mt. Gox Bankruptcy
Listener Boosts
Loss of Sats in Exchanges
Radios for Road Trip
Focus on Bitcoin as Money
Warning on Wasabi Wallet
Trailer for Documentary "God Bless Bitcoin"
Ethical and Spiritual Aspects of Bitcoin
Trailer Breakdown
See you after the break!
