This Week in Bitcoin

Share on social media:

A breakdown of Bitcoin credibility attacks this week, plus a review of some macro-sickness and the no-good, real lousy month for Bitcoin miners.

Affiliate LINKS:

• Buy Sats on River
• The Bitcoin Company
• Fold Card

Links

• Americans Are Really, Really Bullish on Stocks - WSJ
• Economic & Market Update | J.P. Morgan Asset Management
• "Nikkei 225 down 3.7% and the usd/yen headed lower. Looks like we are about to find out how much of that Yen Carry Trade is still out there.
• Government hiring is inflating jobs numbers.
• Ueda Reiterates That BOJ Will Lift Rates If Outlook Realized - Bloomberg
• Bank of Canada delivers third straight interest rate cut, bringing policy rate down to 4.25 per cent
• Mining: revenues drop in August and difficulty at all-time highs
• Bitcoin miners sold 2,655 $BTC over the weekend, worth around $154 million!
• CNBC reports that almost half of all corporate money raised for the presidential election is from Bitcoin and crypto.
• New FTC Data Shows Massive Increase in Losses to Bitcoin ATM Scams | Federal Trade Commission
• North Korea Aggressively Targeting Crypto Industry with Well-Disguised Social Engineering Attacks

Music

• Free by Tony Salomone

[00:00:00] Unknown:

Music.   Welcome in to This Week in Bitcoin, episode 25. My name is Chris.   It feels good to be back. Sorry I missed you last week. I was traveling,   and I think it was worth it.   You know, towards the end of the summer, things kind of slow down,   and I'm sure, as you've heard now a thousand times, September stinks for the market.   So really, we should just take the whole month off, friends.   You know, one day when you're so rich from your Bitcoin stash,   that's what you'll do. You'll just take September off, right?   What a crazy couple of days. You know, the week I took off, not too much shocking happened.  

But in the last three days, it has been wild.   And of course, it's all happening while there's an election here in the states   pending, which the market's, of course, trying to wrap their heads around.   It seems like it keeps changing which direction they think it's going to go.   And there's this underlying confusion, debate, concern that we're going to be   slipping into a recession, which can happen after rate cuts, I have to say.   In fact, we see that in a lot of the outcomes if you look at the data.   And this week we learned that private sector job growth as a percent of the   total payroll growth fell to 38% in July, which the reason why that matters   is that's the lowest since the 2020 pandemic,   which was really low.  

Historically, every time the private payroll growth share falls below this 40%   threshold, you know, it's not set in stone, but historically,   when we fall below this 40% threshold, we're just like two percentage away.   The U.S. economy was already in a recession at that point when we reviewed the data.   It also tells us that most of the employment growth over the last few months   has come almost entirely from government jobs.   In fact, over the last one and a half years alone, the government created nearly   1 million jobs, which is the most that the government's ever created since the 1990s.  

And the private sector has slowed in their hiring. So while the federal government   is increasing job creation.   Private sector hiring fell to 3.7%, which is the lowest since April of 2020.   COVID again. So you put all that together with the fact that the market just   spooks itself about September.   And it doesn't really matter what the Fed's about to do or might do.   It might do 25 basis points, might do 50 basis points.   What really matters is this overall, we have to sort out this recession question   and we have to sort out this election question.   All right. The futures at this hour in the red, modest declines at this point,   relatively speaking to yesterday.  

Dow futures down another 70 points. S&P futures down by 21. The Nasdaq off by 133.   Let's bring in Ed Yardeni. He's the president of Yardeni Research.   And Ed, let me just ask you, it's September.   It's back to school. It's back to work. And the market vomited a little bit   yesterday. How are you feeling this morning?   Well, that's that's that's That's a good expression for what happened yesterday.   Absolutely. And it's kind of reminiscent also of what happened at the beginning of August.   We're seeing quite a bit of choppiness going on in the market here.   I think it may continue until the elections. And then I think we'll resume to new record highs.  

Of course, much will depend on who wins. And I'm going to say, does it matter who wins?   Well, well, I'm rooting for gridlock. So I think it matters if we get a sweep   of the Democrats or a sweep of the Republicans, I don't think the market's going   to look forward to those kind of regimes.   I think the market much more prefers gridlock. I think he's right.   It's almost not so much who wins the White House.   It's does any one party walk away with a sweep in the lower houses of government?   Because then that means things are going to change and change is bad for business.   Now, a hiccup, they use the term, a market throw up.  

Let's put this in perspective, right?   In the last couple of days, we learned that the DOJ is subpoenaing,   if subpoenaing, has a subpoener for NVIDIA over an antitrust investigation.   So the current administration is essentially destroying the stock value of the   most important stock in the entire world. Very bold strategy two months before an election.   The Meg-7, as a result, erased $550 billion in market cap on Tuesday.   In fact, if you zoom out, this puke that the market had was one point zero five   trillion dollars of value wiped out of the stock market.   So basically, damn near the entire entire value of Bitcoin just wiped out from the U.S. stock market.  

And then JP Morgan came out with an estimate when all of this is going down, that U.S.   Households now have 42 percent of their financial assets in stocks.   Because, of course, what are they going to do? Put it in savings and just let it get inflated away?   So they're looking for riskier and riskier places to put their money so they   can try to get some sort of return on investment because their money is broken.   This is the highest percentage on record. Now, we only have records going back   to 1952, but that's pretty alarming.   And it's clear, I mean, to me, it seems clear that it's because inflation.  

You know, the consumers are viscerally aware of that. They know the rates are high.   They know something's wrong. Just like up in Canada.   Canada just raised, or just cut rates this morning as I'm recording.   Bank of Canada cut rates by 25 basis points again.   That's their third straight interest rate cut, which now brings their overall interest rate to 4.25%.   Canada's moving quick.   To me, that is a signal that things are a little bit worse than they really   want to tell us. And on top of all of this, you have the Bank of Japan signaling   that they may continue to raise rates as well.  

You'll recall that's what brought up the whole yen carry trade conversation just about a month ago.   The yen carry trade is back on investors' minds after Bank of Japan Governor   Kazuo Ueda submitted a document to a government panel suggesting that the central   bank will continue to raise interest rates if the economy and prices perform as the BOJ expects.   Weider submitted the document Tuesday to explain the BOJ's July policy decision   to the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, a government panel chaired by   Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.  

Following news of Weider's unchanged stance, the yen slightly strengthened to the dollar.   The document suggested that Ueda believes the economic environment remains accommodative   even after the July hike, as real interest rates remain significantly negative.   Remember, the yen strengthening means that it costs more to borrow in yen.   Which means that carry trade gets disrupted again, and we didn't see it fully unwind a month ago.   So we may see that come back. Now, back here in the States, it seems like we   are likely 15 days away from the first Fed cut of this cycle.  

Now, Brett over on WeaponX did some math for us. He writes that using that same   time frame, he overlaid the following past rate cuts, one in 81,   one in 90, one in 2000, one in 2007.   The four cutting cycles match the same data that we're seeing currently.   Unemployment rate curving up, the 10-year, 2-year inversions, et cetera.   A lot of the stats that we keep talking about kind of lined up in these four   rate cycles as well that he looked at.   And history shows when you look at them and they all kind of do line up,   the market pumps on average for 25 days after rate cuts.  

And then there's usually, get ready for this, and I hope this isn't true,   a 13-month sell-off. So who knows?   There's so many things up in the air, what we, you know, ultimately what we   know, and this is why I bring this up is when you zoom out, a lot of the fundamentals remain the same.   The Fed is lowering rates. The Treasury is pumping the system full of liquidity.   M2 money supply is going up.   Inflation will return to those that use fiat soon.   Maybe it'll take a little while. Maybe it'll be post-recession.   But the fundamental mechanics that caused inflation last time are once again revving back up.  

We also know that Bitcoin is a liquidity black hole. and when liquidity begins   to go into excess, Bitcoin soaks all of it up. Now, right now, we're not there.   Arthur Hayes has a great piece that explains kind of why we are not seeing,   even though the M2 money supply has been increasing for a couple of months now,   it hasn't left the coffers of those closest to the money spout.   The contillion effect is fully enforced right now.   And first, their coffers, they have this great overnight trade that they can   do, gives them pretty good safe bet, you know, as safe as these kinds of things   get with a nice little stupid return and they're happy making that money right now.  

But as liquidity increases, they'll have to find more and more riskier places   to stash that money. That's when they'll go into the wider market.   And those mechanics have already begun, kind of regardless if we enter a 2025 recession or not.   Personally, I feel like we have been asking this recession question for two   or three years now and I'm sick of it.   I wish we could just move beyond this. And maybe after the election,   and maybe if we don't see a massive 13-month long sell-off, maybe we can finally   put this recession question to bed.   It just seems likely that if all of the Western banks are lowering rates and   beginning in money supply expansion, you're going to see people feel a little richer.  

It's like when you're hungover, I actually have never done this,   but I'm told that if you're hungover and you have a drink in the morning,   like a tail of the dog kind of thing, you'll actually feel better because your   body is actually jonesing for that alcohol now.   That's what's going to happen with the economy. They're not improving the health   of the liver and the overall system.   They're not clearing the way they think. Things aren't going to get properly priced.   We're going to have inflation. There's going to be ridiculous financialization.   You're going to see stupid things like nfts selling   for way too much money i don't know if it's going to be nfts but   things like that you're going to see all of that that indicates there's   actually a sickness in the body but the body itself the overall feeling of the   consumer is going to be better so i have to imagine with all of the western   banks participating in this tale of the dog or whatever it's called morning   drink we probably won't see a 13 month a 13 month month-long sell-off. I don't know.  

But the reason why I say this is in the past, in the four examples we cited,   that's when the U.S. was raising rates or lowering rates and doing fiscal policy   implementations on its own.   But now they're doing it in conjunction with all of the West.   Truly wild. And it's in the background of a halvening year too, right?   All of this up in the air. And it's been a bad, bad August for miners.   There is, of course, just a higher difficulty. You're getting less block reward.   Nine Bitcoin miners stopped operating in Paraguay because of power fee hikes   and other issues with the government there.  

There have been seizures in Russia of mining facilities.   Collectively over this last weekend, Bitcoin miners sold 2,655 Bitcoin just   to keep their heads above water, which worked out to be around 150 million,   maybe 155 million in fiat.   It is rough for the miners in August and September likely won't be much better.   The last time the miners had a month this bad, it was a year ago.   It's been a year since they've had a month this bad. So we'll see.   It's hash rates going up. their cost is   going up in fact i think this this week we saw the   hash rate hit all time new highs of 740 exa   hashes per second which is just so damn cool i'm really i'm really hoping that   you know we get through this chop and maybe by october november everybody's   feeling a little bit better but i hear from you out there don't worry just hold   tight it's gonna be all right,   It's actually a great time to stack. These are great prices to DC at.  

Who knows if we'll be back here in a year.   Music.   So the mainstream media,   loves to just attack Bitcoin when we're in these kinds of periods of time.   And I'm going to get into some just unrelenting, scare the crap out of the consumer   FUD that they have pumped out this week.   But first, I want to take a moment and cover CNBC digging into crypto money   into the elections, because you're starting to see people panic about how much   crypto money influence is pumping into elections.   A few years ago, former President Trump called Bitcoin a scam.   But just last month, he spoke at the year's biggest Bitcoin conference and praised   Bitcoin, comparing it to the steel industry a century ago.  

A great story on CNBC.com today about how Trump went from skeptic to believer.   And joining us is a reporter behind the story, Mackenzie Sigalos. Mack, welcome.   Hey, Tyler. So for months now, I've been talking to the people who have quietly   been helping to orchestrate Donald Trump's total about face on crypto behind closed doors.   The former president's 180 on digital tokens goes back to at least March.   Now, that is when three Bitcoiners living in Puerto Rico got in touch with the   Trump team and joined a chorus of voices, a group that includes Trump's family   and friends, that has been actively pushing pro-crypto talking points.  

We're talking secret meetings at Trump Tower in Nashville and Mar-a-Lago.   Plus a slew of sideline fundraising events.   Now, all in, they have promised him $100 million and 5 million votes.   They've raised $25 million so far, and I'm told that an updated fundraising   figure is coming my way soon.   Now, Trump is listening, leaning into increasingly pro-Bitcoin talk on the campaign trail.   People telling me that he's been learning, as experts have explained that the   industry is real and not overrun with criminal activities.   But there's also the matter of all that cash being raised and donated by crypto   executives and businesses.  

In fact, almost Almost half of all corporate money raised this cycle is from crypto.   They're outspending big oil and banks. And so far, where the crypto cash is   going in the primary races, wins have followed.   Let's stop here. So this little stat.   48% of corporate money is from the crypto industry has some panicking.   And this is the most balanced coverage I could find you. Others were just hyperbolic about this.   And, you know, it's the clear corruption of crypto, all this dirty money in   crypto now coming into politics as if it didn't happen in the last election cycle with FTX.   But that aside, what the hell do they expect?  

This is what's so funny to me.   The Biden administration just spent the last two years trying to destroy an industry.   They didn't organize like this until the Biden administration started attacking them.   This is the process.   Groups of interest organize to protect their interests.   And right now, the way they do that is by lobbying. We all would do it.   If you were rich enough, if you were Bezos rich, and it   was pocket change to buy off some Congress critters   and get something changed that made your life and your family lives better or   made something in the the country you felt strongly about different you do it   and boost it if you wouldn't do it and tell me why because i just don't believe   it i think if you have the access the means and the capability you would and   you'd probably justify it somehow as doing something good this is how the system works,   we always talk about taking money out of politics this is how it works these   groups represent the interest of the crypto industry quote unquote at large   and if you attack that industry they're going to take the money they do have   and they're going to organize and they're going to learn how to work the system.  

That's exactly what's happened here.   And if you hadn't attacked them in the first place, they wouldn't have needed to do it.   And now the fact that 48% of corporate money is coming from the crypto industry   tells you how dramatic and significant the attacks have been.   And if you can't figure that out, if you can't get the signal from these numbers,   then you probably shouldn't be doing this job.   And you definitely shouldn't be commenting on it. Of course,   that never stops them, does it?   Thanks. And so far, where the crypto cash is going in the primary races, wins have followed.   We're talking a more than 85% win ratio so far when pro-crypto super PAC money is involved.  

So these are pro-crypto forces that are donating this money.   They're not necessarily donating it in crypto.   Some of them are, actually. Some of them are, but I'm sure. A mix of Bitcoin,   Ether, USDC, more than $4 million worth of cryptocurrencies going to the Trump campaign.   So these would be companies, these would be lobbying groups,   professional organizations.   How does this work? I don't understand. Cryptocurrencies going to the Trump campaign.   So these would be companies, these would be lobbying groups,   professional organizations, etc.  

And it's especially the companies that are battling the SEC and Chair Gensler.   Ripple and Coinbase are two of the biggest backers of pro-crypto super PACs,   not necessarily the Trump campaign in particular, but certainly Fairshake is   one of the biggest spenders.   Quick response to the Harris campaign. What do they say on crypto?   Last week at the Democratic National Convention, we heard from a senior campaign aide.   And when he was specifically asked about her stance on crypto,   he said that the VP would embrace policies that support emerging technologies.   Meanwhile, Coinbase's chief policy officer saying that they've been meeting   with the Harris team behind closed doors and they're very pleased about those talks. Fantastic.  

Mackenzie, thanks. It's a great way of recounting to how you curry influence and power.   Cut her off, cut her off. Now, obviously, there's been a ginormous difference   in how the Trump campaign has reached out to the Bitcoin community and how the   Harris campaign has coordinated with some of the largest U.S.   Companies in crypto. There's a very different style there.   I don't know if I, I guess I find to me, well, we'll get to this actually.   I have a followup, I have a followup clip, but I think we have to build to there   just to set the stage actually. So if you'll allow me to switch gears.  

I wanna get into just scaring the crap.   Out of the, probably, honestly, the boomers. They're trying to scare boomers   out of getting the Bitcoin ETF and buying Bitcoin because they don't want you   to protect your assets either, I guess. You've had your share, I suppose.   And you'll see what I'm saying here, and you'll understand why I transitioned   to this in a moment. We'll start with NBC's National News Report this morning.   It shows up as a security pop-up alert on your screen, warning you to call a   number for immediate help to protect your money. It happened to Marilyn Lacazio   when she was browsing on her iPad.  

Over two days, a gang of scammers drained her of more than $30,000,   she says, convincing her to deposit money into an ATM typically used to convert   cash into the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.   Oh, and here it begins.   I just called the number without thinking, you know, it would be anything other than Apple.   You thought you were protecting your money. I thought I was because after the   gentleman from Apple, he then connected me with someone who was supposed to   be a representative of my bank.   So she still thinks, in a way, she still talks about it like it was Apple.   She got a text message, you know, and somehow she's able to be convinced that   Apple knows that her bank has an issue.  

And then the other reason why I think boomers, because they're kind of,   you know, they're not maybe tech natives, like the generations that preceded   them and came after them.   And then also, like millennials don't have $30,000 generally sitting in a checking   account somewhere, right?   That's their parents have that money.   Most not. No, probably some. Sure.   Congratulations. But most millennials can't lose $30,000 via a text message, right?   It's so it really is something that prize on the boomers, particularly because   they're not, you know, tech native.  

So they don't maybe question that. Why would Apple be involved in this?   And they trust those brands probably a little bit stronger as well.   Well, they're bank brands as well.   So there's some there's a lot of vectors there that make them a little more   vulnerable, in my opinion.   And I think it's something that if, you know, if we can, we should help our   friends and our family out there.   He told her because of a fraudulent charge on her account, she should withdraw   cash and deposit it into a specific Bitcoin ATM, promising the money would show   back up in her bank account the next day. I mean, imagine imagine this.  

Like, why would Apple even be coordinating this in the first place?   I know nothing about Bitcoin.   I didn't realize that once you get in there, you can't get your money back.   Boy, now that's the key message. That's the quote. We want that out there. The problem is Bitcoin.   And once you put your money, be warned, once you put your money into Bitcoin,   you'll never get it back. I know nothing about Bitcoin.   I didn't realize that once you get in there, you can't get your money back.   The Federal Trade Commission reports a spike in scammers using Bitcoin ATM machines,   stealing more than $65 million in just the first six months of this year,   up nearly tenfold since 2020.  

When your heart starts thumping that there's something seriously wrong,   it may very well be that while you're trying to protect yourself from fraud,   you're actually being defrauded.   Scammers pretend to be tech support, your bank, even the government.   In Marilyn's case, they said her social security number was frozen until she   deposited the money. What does that even mean?   It actually sounds like, can I get my social security? I'd like my social security   number frozen. I'd like that frozen. I'd like my credit frozen.   Please do freeze my social security. Experts say don't click on or respond to unfamiliar links.  

Slow down. Scammers try to create a sense of urgency, and they'll often ask   for you to withdraw cash, buy gift cards, or deposit money into a Bitcoin ATM.   Oh, watch out for that Bitcoin ATM.   So that's the national report here in the States this morning.   Let's go to a local affiliate and see how they covered it. Maybe they did a better job.   Money Moments on 4, sponsored by Gregory Rixon Associates, the Total Wealth Authority.   6.15 in this morning's Money Moment, the Federal Trade Commission warns scam   activities related to cryptocurrency teller machines are on the rise.   Now, is it fair? I'd like to know, How would you categorize this?  

Is this fair to categorize it as a problem with cryptocurrency teller machines?   Or is it more of a social manipulation by people pretending to be tech support scammers?   Because the core issue seems to be that they're pretending to be tech support   and they're scamming you. And the symptom seems to be that they use a Bitcoin ATM.   But that's not how this is phrased. The Commission warns scam activities related   to cryptocurrency teller machines are on the rise.   Don't use them, guys. They're scammy. They're just shrouded in scams.   Bitcoin telemachines, or crypto ATMs, can be found at convenience stores, bars, and gas stations.  

Instead of letting you withdraw cash, users can buy or sell digital currency   using their real cash or their cards.   Using their real cash. So...   This jackass is saying that you can buy fake crypto, you know,   like provably scarce Bitcoin with your fiat, that the people that are in charge   of things just print for free. And he calls that your real money.   Another difference is that these ATMs are linked to a digital crypto wallet,   not a bank account at a regulated financial institution.   Ooh, a crypto wallet? That sounds scary.   The Better Business Bureau says scams using these types of ATMs are common.  

They say among their most common financial scams.   Criminals often target older customers, with people 60 years and older being   three times more likely to fall victim.   A fraudster may claim your computer or bank account has been hacked and linked   to some criminal activity and then instruct you to withdraw cash from your real   account and then send a QR code for you to put that money into a crypto machine,   sending it to the thief's wallet.   And once that happens, it's nearly impossible for you to recover your money.   I guess I don't really, what's the difference between that and having them go   to an ATM, withdraw the cash, like they're doing in some of these cases,   and then just putting the cash in a box and leaving it on the corner somewhere   for the thief to come take? You're not getting that cash back either.  

I just don't understand why this has to be like this. Like, just help them understand   how to avoid the scam in the first place.   And of course, state level attorney generals are getting in on the action.   So you've got federal level, you've got state level. Everybody is getting in   on what a big deal this is just this week.   Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird issued a warning today in regards to a rise   in cryptocurrency scams.   Scammers will sometimes try to befriend someone over platforms like Facebook   before coaxing them into sending the scammer money.   Bird's statement says in part, remember to never send money to someone you met online.  

And if someone sends you to a cryptocurrency ATM, it is a scam. Oh!   It's important to never provide personal information of any kind to someone you meet online.   Well, there you go. You know if you're using a cryptocurrency ATM at all, it's a scam. at all.   So, you know, it's just better watch out.   You should probably only use safe, well-known financial instruments that your   financial advisor recommends you that are tied into the overall stock market   that lost a trillion dollars yesterday. That's the safe play.   This is Dennis Keller, and he brings us full circle back to the elections again.  

He's the CEO of Better markets.   And he's been behind the scenes advising the Kamala campaign to avoid crypto   altogether because no one likes it.   It has absolutely no value and no use, according to Dennis.   I think first and most importantly is crypto is not among the top 10,   20 or 50 concerns of the American people, frankly.   You know, the industry's put out a lot of propaganda about exaggerated numbers   of Americans who care about crypto.   But the Fed has surveyed this, the Federal Reserve, And only about 18 million   Americans have even used or owned crypto.  

And there are, what, 340 million Americans?   Oh, so Dennis is disingenuous right off the top. First of all,   how many Americans vote?   Of the voting bloc, how many of them have issues that are of utmost importance to them?   18 million voters that are single-issue voters is a massive voting bloc. He knows that.   He knows that. And then to cite the Federal Reserve numbers,   which would obviously behoove them to downplay the crypto adoption,   is disingenuous at best.   So he knows because the Trump campaign and the RFK campaign and others have   clearly seen a visible boost in the polls and in coverage in a positive way   when they embrace crypto.  

So we already know that when they spoke positively about Bitcoin,   it benefited them. That's happened.   It's been demonstrated in the marketplace already.   So there's very, very few people who care about this.   And it's interesting of the 88 percent of Americans who have heard of crypto,   a super majority, 75 percent of them have a negative or hostile view of crypto.   Now, could that be because we have top to bottom reports going out throughout   the country saying that if you even touch a crypto ATM, it's a scam and that   once you put your money into Bitcoin, you never get it back?  

The FBI issued a very vague warning this week, saying North Korea is aggressively   targeting Bitcoin ETFs.   How you even do that? How do you attack an ETF? They didn't give us any details. I actually don't know.   I'll link you to their notice. They don't tell you how this works.   But you need to stay away from the Bitcoin ETF, says the FBI,   because North Korea might target you. So you're a scammer if you use an ATM.   You never get your money out if you put in a Bitcoin. And if you get a Bitcoin   ETF, North Korea attacks you. That all came out in the last three days.   And that's just the tip of the iceberg of the nonchalant FUD scare propaganda   that comes out constantly.  

And these people are all people that could, the people that buy this,   even the boomers that eat this stuff up, they very, very, very much are impacted   by inflation, by bad fiscal policy, by the people that control the money supply.   They're all their lives and their retirements and their cost of living.   Everything is impacted by this. And all of them could benefit from a digital   scarce asset. And so all of them are getting fudded into ignoring something   that could improve their lives.   And if they at scale adopted it, it would be incredible for all of us.   It would be a tide that rose all boats.  

So they have to continue to fud. And really importantly, if you're running for president,   there was this great survey that showed between 61 and 75 percent of voters   in six of the key swing states had a negative view of crypto.   So there's a lot of reasons, but primarily the American people,   the vast majority of them don't care about it.   Secondly, look, after 15 years of effort and claims that crypto has some value   or use, there's still no legitimate, valid, socially acceptable use of crypto.   I don't understand why store of value isn't considered an acceptable use.   I don't understand why Bitcoin being the or one of the best performing assets   in the last 15 years isn't considered valuable.  

Because if it was a shiny piece of metal that did those things,   it's considered immensely valuable.   Such to the point that it's worshipped and worn by some.   But Bitcoin does the same thing and manages to do it in a fraction of the time   that gold does. And that's not valuable.   But additionally, it shows you how unaware he is of any of this and how he interchanges   Bitcoin and crypto as well. But we won't get there. That's just a side thing.   Every time you boost a podcast, you're proving this son of a bitch wrong.   Every time you zap somebody on Noster, you're proving this son of a bitch wrong.  

Every time you buy a gift card at the Bitcoin company, you're proving this arrogant prick wrong.   Every time you stack sats and improve your savings, your life energy savings,   you improve your fiscal situation for your entire family, you're proving this   son of a bitch wrong. And he hates it.   That crypto has some value or use, there's still no legitimate,   valid, socially acceptable use of crypto. So there's also a lot of couching here.   No valuable, sociably acceptable.   I don't know, zapping, boosting seems pretty socially acceptable.   In fact, it seems like one of the most positive social things I've seen develop   on the internet in a long time. It's used by financial predators and criminals worldwide.  

We don't even need to bother with this one. We have statistical data that shows us that's not true.   The least harmful use of crypto at the moment is just wild speculation and gambling.   And even that That is mostly resulting in wealth extraction.   Now, here's again, in order to bolster his argument, he blurs the line between   Bitcoin and, say, meme coins, where this would be a fair accusation to meme   coins and NFTs and most altcoins.   But it's not true of Bitcoin because it's demonstrated a store of value over   the long term and a high performing asset.  

So it's clearly not its only use case because, again, data.   But he cherry picks, well, I'll take this horrible thing from this area of the crypto industry.   I'll take this little thing from this area and then I will blur it all together   as if it's one thing. It's just wild speculation and gambling.   And even that is mostly resulting in wealth extraction, not wealth creation.   There's a third reason that Vice President Harris should not bother with crypto,   and that's because it has a lawless business model.   It basically takes the position that the securities, commodities,   and banking laws don't apply to it.  

And Vice President Harris, when she was Attorney General and District Attorney,   and even as Vice President, has a long and strong record of investor protection,   consumer protection, and financial stability.   She stood up to the banks, and she's leaning into that in the campaign now,   and she stood up to be a protector.   Again, she's against junk fees and protecting investors and consumers.   Oh, well, if she's going to protect me from junk fees, then I don't need to   worry about 20% inflation, right?   If she's going to protect me from junk fees, then I don't need to worry that   a small group of people set the price of money for the rest of us.  

If she's going to take care of junk fees and she's going to be tough on the banks, Thanks.   Well, then I don't need to worry that I can't get access to credit.   But if I have Bitcoin, I can get a Bitcoin backed loan without a credit check.   I don't need to worry about any of those things because she's going to eliminate junk fees.   I don't need to worry about somehow storing my today effort,   my energy today, that the things, the output, everything I create today and   putting that forward into, like, say, my children's generation.   I don't need to worry about that.  

Because she's going to kick junk fees out. They're done. No more junk fees.   So that $5 on my plane ticket, that's gone. And that's going to fix everything.   So I'm silly and stupid for wanting something outside this system,   because mommy's going to fix everything for me, and she's going to take away   the mean junk fees, and she's going to tell the mean banks they can't make my   credit card rate more than 28%.   So it's going to be just fine. So why do I need crypto at all?   Says the rich Dennis Keller. That in the campaign now, and she stood up to be a protector.   Again, she's against junk fees and protecting investors and consumers.  

That's the opposite of crypto. And finally, and importantly,   crypto targets, preys upon and victimizes communities of color disproportionately. proportionately.   Look, they're rightly skeptical for decades of discrimination against them.   They're skeptical of the traditional financial system appropriately.   But that doesn't mean that the gimmick of crypto, which actually is going to   cost more money and make them lose money more than the traditional financial   system, and therefore they're being victimized disproportionately.   And that's another reason why Vice President Harris should stick to the core   elements of the financial system and the banking system,   support them, and support a growing economy that creates wealth rather than   extracts wealth, and stay away from an industry that has no valid use,   that's largely used by criminals and predators,   and disproportionately hurts communities of color.  

Disproportionately hurts community of colors, largely disproportionately used   by criminals, says the rich fiat man.   Hilarious. Hilarious. So let's talk about, is Bitcoin disproportionately bad   for people of color? I would never make a statement as broad as he is because   I feel like I would not be in a position to speak for those people.   But he clearly doesn't worry about that.   However, I recently told you about God Bless Bitcoin, the documentary.   And one of the things they talk about in that documentary is how beneficial   Bitcoin is for people of color and those that are unbanked. I'll play you a   small excerpt. All of human history.  

So because Bitcoin can't be printed out of thin air, it gives us money we can trust.   And what's more, it's inclusive and open to everyone around the world.   You know, if you are one of the 50% of the planet who does not have a bank account,   you are shut off from the global economy.   You can't go shopping on the internet if you don't have access to a credit card   or some form of digital payment.   So there's a huge amount of people around the world that are frozen out of the.   Financial system and the ability to improve their life circumstances.   Bitcoin, it is designed ultimately to replace both the monetary system and the financial system.  

It is a math-based system where at its core, it is trying to remove politics from money.   The beautiful part about that is that anyone, anywhere in the world can use   Bitcoin at any time for any reason.   No one can censor them. No one can stop them.   No one can tell them that their use of money is wrong or not allowed.   No one is going to change the rules on them halfway through.   And everyone operates by the same rules. It doesn't matter if you're a billionaire.   It doesn't matter if you're a president. It doesn't matter who you are.   You have the exact same rights within the Bitcoin system that the person who   makes one dollar a day has.  

Do I believe that it can help people rise up out of poverty and give them opportunity   to do business where they weren't able to before? Yes, I do.   And it's certainly been the case around the world where people have had gotten   access to a financial system that they didn't have access to before.   For example, talk about financial inclusion, for instance. The current financial   system excludes a large amount of people from being able to access financial services.   If you looked at a continent like Africa, one of the reasons they can't crawl   out of poverty is because the currencies in every country in Africa,   they're either broken completely,   completely defective, or they're impaired, and they're continually siphoning   economic energy from the working class and from the businesses and those economies   into the hands of the politicians that control the corrupt currencies.  

You, in essence, don't really have any hope of accumulating wealth if you're   paid in a defective currency, and the currency is continually collapsing.   Couldn't have said it better myself. And I, you know, the more I look back,   I think that was a pretty good little documentary for an introduction to people.   I'll put links to some of that in the show notes. I have a question for you.   What do we do to help with this problem with the boomers getting essentially preyed upon.   It's making Bitcoin look bad. This is how Bitcoin gets associated with scams.   When these kinds of things happen in the Linux community, we as a community   came together to educate our friends and our family.  

And I don't know if it was 100% successful, but early on, Linux was looked at   as like this crazy hippie thing that was worse than what, especially here in   Washington, worse than what Microsoft was doing, likely stolen from SCO or IBM.   And it took community just educating people. So how do we solve this?   Boost it and tell me what you think there. And also, I've been wondering, do you have a plan C?   Like, just looking at all this, let's just say things went really bad in your home country.   You know, maybe they become anti-Bitcoin. Have you thought about where you might   pick up and go or what your plan would be? Would you just hunker down?  

Do you think about those kinds of things? Boost in and let me know.   I'll read them in next week's episode.   Music.   All right. It's time to move right along.   I want to thank everyone who's been stacking their sats with River.   I have my affiliate link in the show notes. It's a great company.   They only do Bitcoin and they're on the Lightning Network, which is one of my   requirements if you're going to DCA.   So go buy sats on River with the link in my show notes. That helps out the show.   And then if you've got some sats you want to spend and they're on the Lightning   Network, which is my recommended way to spend them, it's a little more private,   it, use the Bitcoin company.  

They'll sell you a gift card with sats. You even get sats back,   and you use the link in our show notes. It helps the show out. I get a few sats as well.   They're a Bitcoin-only company that focuses on making it easy to go from sats   to gift card in just seconds.   Sometimes it is the right time to spend your Bitcoin, and sometimes it's the   right time to stack Bitcoin.   I'm also going to put a shout out. I don't have an affiliate link yet,   but I've been looking at the Bitcoin well, because I heard from so many Canadians   out there, they They said, Chris, I don't know where to get Sats in Canada. I can't use Strike.  

Well, the Bitcoin Well, again, a Bitcoin-only company, they're based out of   Canada, and I believe they're on the Lightning Network, too,   and they really promote self-custody.   So I like that a lot. So if you're going to stack Sats, use my link,   River, in the show notes.   If you're going to sell Sats to get some gift cards, the Bitcoin company.   And if you're in Canada and you're looking to buy or stack or you want to get   some Sats to boost in, the Bitcoin Well, bitcoinwell.com.   Looks like a pretty solid place thank you everybody who supports the show or   sends in a boost let's get to those boosts.  

Music.   Have a good batch of boosts since I took a week off. We had some extra roll in.   And ByteBandit comes in as our baller booster this week, sending 106,969 sats.   I always like the show.   I feel like it's underrated and undervalued compared to the other JB shows.   So this time I'm trying to do my part.   I really like the more targeted episodes as well. I received an immense value   from the show and the Bitcoin Dad podcast before that.   So here's some sats for the excellent episode and all the hard work you do.   Ah, thank you very much. He also comments, ByteBandit also comments,   I connected Fountain to Nostra with my own relay, and that took the opportunity,   and I took that opportunity to change my name and better reflect who I am as a person.  

Before, I was Boosting as ByteBandit. The name change seems to have changed   my 100K boost. Oh, to Anonymous.   Oh, that was the Anonymous boost. Ha ha.   Very interesting. Okay. Yeah, the new Fountain FM Nostra integration It's pretty   sweet, but I will keep an eye out for people who maybe got a name swap. I did not.   I imported my existing Nostra identity, though.   He also wants to know some more details about my Nix Bitcoin setup.   All right. I have more on that in a moment.   Thank you, ByteBandit, for boosting in. You are our baller booster this week.   And I'll follow up on that Nix Bitcoin question in a bit.  

CraftNix also comes in with a baller boost. 103 sets. Rich lifestyle.   Coming in hot with the boost. Make it so. Kraftnix writes, I've been on a break   this whole year, so here's a big chunky boost.   Thanks for keeping the same takes rolling in. That VPS WireGuard Nix Bitcoin   setup, it's very reliable and a low-cost way to run a Bitcoin node,   and as well as other internet-facing home servers.   Not only is this my home lab setup, but I've been running this setup for clients   for both Bitcoin infrastructure and SME-sized server infrastructure for a few years.   It's marginally more complicated if you don't know WireGuard or if you don't   use Tailscale, but it's 100% worth it.  

Right on, Kraftnix. So that is how I am doing my new node.   Well, I actually have two nodes at the moment. I still have my AlbieHub cloud   because I want to keep a couple of toes in that water.   I actually think it's great for Noster. There's a lot of things I like about   AlbieHub too, and I want to keep an eye on AlbieHub cloud.   So I actually have that node, though I'm not having my boost sent there at the   moment. And then I set up a new Nix Bitcoin node, something that I can control   myself and take care of the edge cases that I couldn't take care of with Albie Hub at the moment.   And that uses a VPS with Nginx.  

And when the inbound lightning or outbound lightning connections come,   it redirects those over tail scale to my node actually running on my LAN.   That lets me avoid having inbound ports on my firewall here at my studio firewall.   It means that Comcast has no idea what I'm doing because all the traffic's over   Tailscale and it's encrypted with WireGuard.   And third, it means I can move my node because the VPS is sending to the Tailscale IP.   Well, when I pick up and physically move that node and plug it in somewhere   else, Tailscale reconnects, the Tailscale IP never changes.  

So that node can be physically anywhere, which is great for a nomad, as you can imagine.   The Podfather, Adam Curry, comes in with 55,000 sats. I hoard that which your kind covet. B-O-O-S-T.   Happy birthday to you, too. Belated happy birthday, Podfather.   He says, some boost got lost in the great node shuffle, so I'm making up for   it now. I love the show, brother.   And then he also sent 5,000 sats to the artist, saying, I love it,   and I heard it on This Week in Bitcoin. I love it when you guys do that, by the way.   Because I will not always, but it is kind of becoming more common to hear from the artist.  

They will reach out on Nostr or send me an email and say, hey,   thanks for featuring the song when you guys boost them.   That's pretty great. Thank you, Podfather. Appreciate that boost,   and I appreciate you supporting the artist as well.   Bob B's in with 50,000 sats. All right.   These are great. Thank you, everybody.   He writes, hey, Chris, now you understand why I wanted something like Oak to send sats regularly.   Regularly i've been negligent and boosting on the regular so i'm sending   you a bunch of sats keep up the great work and i   hope to chat in toronto when you're up here we did bob b   and i got to chat bob also introduced me to a   friend of his who is just learning bitcoin so that was really cool and bob i   don't know if you've played around with albie hub but albie hub does have a   scheduling sats over lightning app in there i suppose you could call it so you   could check Check that out if you want to use Albie Hub.  

Odyssey Westrick coming in with a low of ducks. Live right there.   And he just finally set up fountain. Congratulations, Odyssey.   Thank you for boosting in.   Jeff, our man. Listener Jeff, our guy on the ground with Meshtastic. He's our expert.   Comes in with a row of McDucks. That's 22,222 sats.   He's looking up for all the ducks. And I'm going to also throw in there for   you, Jeff, just because I want you to have a hearty meal, a little mac and cheese.   Put some macaroni and cheese on there, too.   He says, I'd like a little extra mac and cheese for the racking and stacking,   hoping to continue the encouragement to take some time off as well.  

Yeah. Yeah, that was nice. I will say, you know, when I was traveling,   it was nice not to try to like record in the hotel room, which I totally have done in the past.   But every time I do that, TSA has to go through my bags and I made it through.   And this was international flights too.   I made it through without getting stopped, both coming home and flying out there,   which has almost never happened when I bring my podcast gear. So that was really cool.   I may take another day off in September for the wife's birthday,   but I don't know that, that, that kind of stuff.  

It's like when I'm, when I don't have anything super like firm commitment,   it's like, if it's nice to do, I will.   But if there's something breaking in the news, I'm going to sit down and cover   it because I don't know how else to do it.   The tone wrecker comes in with a row of ducks diving into a new episode tonight.   Thank you. Tone wrecker. Nice to hear from you.   JSE comes in with a space balls boost, 12,345 sats. Yes. That's amazing.   I've got the same combination on my luggage. Love the show. Keep it up.   He says, all right, deal. You keep Keep boosting. I'll keep it up.  

Oppie 1984 is back with 4,000 sats. Good, good. Glad you're getting some value   out of the blog post. No worries about missing it in the previous episode.   I've just heard you talking about Meshtastic on multiple shows and wanted to   make sure you knew about my guide.   By the way, I've seen some talk on the Bitcoin transactions over Meshtastic.   Whoa. Wow. Really?   Huh. Wouldn't that be something? That would be a great answer to what happens   if the Internet goes out. But as of right now, he says it's not possible.   The closest you can get is the   Helium network, which runs on the same LoRa base, but it's not Bitcoin.  

It's yet another ship coin. Fly safe.   Okay, Oppie. Well, if that changes, I very much would like to know.   Zach Achilles comes in with 2,048 sats. Hey, Chris.   I can't boost in every week, but I just want to say I love the show and most   of the JB shows. Keep up the great work. Thanks for everything.   Thank you. It's great to hear from you, Zach Achilles. I hope to hear from you   sometime in the future, too. Oh, we got 10,000 sats from Halleck. It's over 9,000!   And he says, boost.   Boost! There you go, Halleck. Thank you very much. Rotted Mood also comes in   with 10,000 sats. It's over 9,000!  

And he writes, I'm sure you've discussed this before, but what's a good physical hardware wallet?   I've been trying different digital wallet setups, such as Albi and the Hub in   the Cloud, and I think I just want cold storage for some of my sats.   But every hardware wallet seems to have its own pros and cons.   I like LB Cloud, but my problem with it is that I could get expensive with the price of 21,000 sats.   Yeah, that's true. It's 21,000 sats per month.   Also, what happens if your hardware wallet dies? So the 21,000 sats per month,   if you think about what LB Hub Cloud is doing...  

It's essentially a lightning VM. It's on 24-7. It's not necessarily a low resources job.   Stability and reliability, software maintenance they're doing.   We'll see. I guess, yeah, if the price of Bitcoin went up quite a bit,   they'd have to re-evaluate that price.   So to answer your hardware wallet,   I don't want to just say cold card Mark IV or Mark III or whatever.   But I'll tell you what I look for. I look for a hardware wallet that only does Bitcoin.   Bitcoin you only want something that has one attack surface Bitcoin   I also don't want a hardware wallet   that has a battery I want the thing to sit in a drawer for   10 years I don't want to have to worry about a lithium-ion battery expanding   or if the thing you know like if it's inert and water gets on it if you dry   it out properly it's probably going to be fine there's a lot of things around   the cold card design that I really appreciate including things you can do to   permanently destroy certain types of wireless communication if you don't want   that it isn't the simplest list,   you know, block has one that might be a little simpler.  

The jade might be a little simpler, but for my money, I feel like I have the   most confidence in the longevity of the cold card, something that I can just   forget for a decade and come back to when I need.   You only need to use your cold card also when you're signing transactions to   send or your cold wallet.   So you don't have to have your wallet around every time you want to just add sats to your stash.   My recommended setup is, why not both?   Keep some sats in Albie Hub on a lightning node, So that way you can participate   in the value for value economy. It's just growing and getting larger and larger all the time.  

There's more and more Nostra apps all the time.   That's your checking account. And then your savings account is something like   a software wallet you trust, like Green or Sparrow, and a hardware wallet that   backs that up. And that's where you do your long-term savings.   Just like you would with fiat. Only instead of using fiat, you're doing Bitcoin.   Let me know if that helps, Rotted Mood, if you have any other questions.   I'm glad you're thinking about those kinds of things.   Abel James comes in with 5,000 sats. But that's not possible. Nothing can do that.   You're welcome, Abel James. He says you rock. That's one of our artists right   there. Sending in a little value right back for featuring their songs.  

It's great music by Abel James. Great to hear from you.   Podhome comes in with 8,000 sats. The traders love the vol. It's Podhome. Hey, Podhome.   Another great episode. I love the newbie corner and the macro perspectives. I'm all in on Bitcoin.   And I also bet some money on other things like XRP with fiat that I can afford   to lose. What are your thoughts on Ripple's utility?   Man, you know, that's it's so hard. It's so hard to say, Podhome,   on these kinds of things.   And if I'm characterizing this wrong, please, somebody correct me.   But my characterizations of Ripple's elevator pitch value would be,   you know, the banks are going to need like a CBDC like currency that they can   use to exchange between each other.  

And Ripple's going to essentially be like this currency is a service that they   will adopt and it'll be valuable because of that.   And, you know, you'll constantly hear about deals with banks and stuff like   that seem to indicate this is perpetually building.   But I've been hearing that same story for like three or four years.   And I look around at like all the CBDC experiments and the internal transfers   between banks that seem to be like, you know, big sums of money.   They're always creating their own system. them. They're creating their own CBDC   or they use their own mechanisms.  

I don't generally see the big private banks adopting a commercial solution like   Ripple to do something that they would likely just create in-house.   Perhaps they should because they generally create crap in-house,   but I don't know if I buy it.   I don't know if I buy it. And I think one of the things that undercuts Ripple's   credibility is, why does Ripple's creator feel it's so necessary to constantly attack Bitcoin?   Remember, they're the ones that donated a ton of money to Greenpeace to go after   Bitcoin to create that stupid volcano and create all of these Bitcoin drains,   entire swimming pools type research.  

That's funded by the guy that is behind Ripple.   And if Ripple is such a solid value prop, why do we need to attack Bitcoin?   Why is he spending his money attacking Bitcoin?   It would suggest to me that Bitcoin is probably a better product.   And if I'm looking for something to rip, Ripple would maybe rip if some major   announcement happened.   But in the meantime, it seems like if you priced it in Bitcoin long term,   you're probably better off.   But that's as far as I've ever looked into it. I'm not a Ripple expert,   not a financial expert, not advice from me.  

But I'd be curious to know your take or anybody else's take on that one. I do hear that a lot.   I do hear that everybody thinks Ripple is going to have long-term value.   I'm just not seeing it, but I also haven't dug deep enough.   Gene Bean comes in with 3,072 sats. Analysis mode, password 80085.   He asks if I'm running Helipad on my next Bitcoin node, and the answer is yes.   That's thanks to a little West magic. I could probably try to get an explainer   from him how he set that up.   But if I recall, I think it's either a Go app. I think Helipad's a Go app,   so it's pretty simple to get going.  

And Helipad is a fantastic dashboard that podcasters can use to see the boost   come in in real time. So you've got to have it. You've got to have it.   He also boosted Swamp Thing, our track, last week. Thank you, Gene Bean.   Lazy Locks comes in with 10,000 sats. It's over 9,000!   Hope your rack and stack trip goes well, brother. Thank you,   Lazy Locks. It went super smooth.   Shout out to listener Steven and Alex from Self Hosted. They did all the preparation   to make sure that when we showed up, it was really a matter of we did some server upgrades.   And then we racked and stacked. If you go look at my buddy Alex's,   Alex KTZ, I think is his channel name. You'll go look him up on YouTube and   you can find a video of us racking and stacking.  

Anonymous sent in 13,125 sats. You're doing a good job. No message though.   So if that was you, let me know and I'll follow up with you.   Ace Ackerman came in with a row of ducks.   Hey, Chris, I was wondering if you have used unchained capital or if you have an opinion on it.   That is a great question, Ace. Thank you for sending that in.   So Unchained Capital, I think, looks like a legitimate, viable solution for   small businesses that want to have a Bitcoin treasury,   that want to have some Bitcoin on their balance, especially a multi-owner situation   or a situation where you've got somebody that's in charge of the finances,   like a CTO and you have a CEO.  

And I think Unchained Capital solves so many internal problems that businesses   have to deal with when it comes to holding Bitcoin.   The fact that they also allow you to do a multi-sig, I think is fantastic.   And if you're a small business, they also let you take a Bitcoin collateralized   loan against your Bitcoin, which I maintain you shouldn't do.   But if you're going to sell your Bitcoin, a loan is better than selling your   Bitcoin because you'll get margin called if the price goes crazy.   You can either add more collateral or you'll get margin just for the difference.   It's still, you're coming ahead.  

You're still coming out ahead. And I could be wrong, but I don't think that's   a capital gains if you get margin called.   So, you know, to me, a Bitcoin loan looks like a better way to go than selling   Bitcoin straight up because you might not lose it at all.   And Unchained Capital seems to offer the most trusted Bitcoin backed loans,   but they only offer it to small businesses.   So I don't know if, I don't think it's something I would use for myself personally,   unless I was concerned about losing my Bitcoin.   But I do think it's something I would consider for Jupyter Broadcasting in the future.  

I like the self-sovereignty aspect of Bitcoin.   You know, there's a real peace of mind when you have like an exchange that's   collapsing and your Bitcoin's sitting in your cold wallet, right?   You know, proverbially, metaphorically, I should say.   Unchained Capital is still a company. There's still some third party risk.   Yes, there's multi-sig, but with a business, I feel like it's It's a different   set of risk factors, and I think it's just a no-brainer.   Great question, and I'd love anybody else's insights on that as well.   We got 10,000 sats from user 38.  

This is a great show. Keep it up. Thank you. The Mirror Mortals podcast is back. Holy crap!   That's not possible. Nothing can do that. This is the way. With 2,999 sats.   You're killing me, Chris. I just left Toronto. Oh, no way.   I had an absolute blast going through North America and meeting a lot of podcasting   2.0 and value for value communities.   Oh man, if you have some free time, reach out to Pitar.   Oh, okay. It was actually me boosting from his phone last week.   I was introducing him to the show.   Normally just streaming, but I felt the need to say thanks for everything you do.   You were hanging out with Batard? That's so cool. Wow.  

Nice to hear from you, Mere Mortals. He also loved the tune.   He sent 777 sats to the artist for the song, for Abel James.   Thank you, everybody, for doing that. Digital Farmer came in with 12,000 sats.   That's little shit. Little.   I love the SNES sound effects during the show. Keep them up.   All right. You know what? I was thinking about getting more of those.   I think I will. Let's-a go.   Breeze makes it easy to boost. I send on-chain Bitcoin to Breeze,   and I boost in Sats. I'm in Canada, so not many other options.   I use Breeze to boost only because Antenapod is still the best podcast app.  

Can't wait for them to embrace podcasting 2.0.   I know, right? It really would be great if Antenapod came on board.   I think it's just a matter of hands, right? They're an open-source project.   They would need somebody to do that development work for them.   And if you can do that work, you're probably already doing your own podcast   app. That may, you know, that just may be the thing.   Spectaurus rounds us out with a row of ducks.   Chris, can you discuss your node setup a bit more? I'm newer to Bitcoin,   and I would love to replicate this.   Nix Bitcoin with your VPS frontend via Tailscale is what I'm picking up on? Yes.  

So I don't know if I fully recommend Nix Bitcoin to everybody,   because you have to know Nix.   If you're going to use Bitcoin and Lightning in a business environment,   then you should use Nix Bitcoin. coin.   It is a level up more reliable than anything Umbral or Start9 can ever do because   it's a different way to build Linux distributions where every update goes through a build process.   That build has to check and pass. Kind of like when you build a Rust app.   If the build fails, you can't update. So if there's a problem,   if there's a conflict, if there's something that's going to go wrong,   the build aborts and then it gives you an output and tells you what you need   to go fix. You go fix that thing and you try to build it again.  

If it builds successfully, you then switch into that snapshot.   And if you boot into that snapshot and something's wrong, you just roll back.   And it's flawless. And this is the kind of like appliance level reliability you need.   This is the kind of thing like CrowdStrike that took out Windows.   If Windows had this capability, it would have been a non-issue.   It's the kind of reliability you want when you're dealing with something that's   essentially handling incoming and outgoing transactions from your customers.   So if you're running a business, I really think you should investigate NixBitcoin.  

For personal use, I think Start9's pretty great. I think Umbral's another consideration.   You can also, of course, just run these things directly on Linux.   But ultimately, what you want to consider, if you are going to run a Lightning   node, is you will need some channel liquidity.   You can buy inbound and outbound liquidity, but it's something you're going   to have to figure out. Albie Hub helps you with this. They have pre-provided partners.   You're going to need it running 24-7. You cannot receive a transaction if your node's offline. line.   So these are things that like rough things you need to think about.  

The nice thing about Nick's Bitcoin is that you set it up once and it is replicatable.   So I don't know if I'm going to share my config yet, but my config could just   be deployed in another system and you essentially would recreate my setup.   So I like those things about it. And what I'm going to try to do is   break this down in more detail in an episode of Self Hosted that'll   probably be out on the week you're hearing this episode let's   see so if today is wednesday the 4th you   should see it come out on friday september 6th   and i'll have a breakdown of some of the different tiers of bitcoin options   from like a you know an uncle jim setup where you're using somebody else's node   to hosted options to fully self-custodial options and alex my co-host has been   asking about that so i'm going I'm gonna try to do a breakdown in there.  

So catch that as well. And then I'll try to get an idea where everybody still   has questions and then address those, because I want you guys to be able to figure this out.   And I don't necessarily want to push you to the direction of Nix Bitcoin.   You can tell I'm a little hesitant to do that because it is complicated. You have to learn Nix.   If you already know Nix, then this is absolutely a direction you should go.   And if you don't, maybe do that first.   If you don't know Nix, maybe learn, you know, you could put it on Ubuntu. You can put it on a Mac.   You can start to learn how to use Nix without installing NixOS,   without using Nix Bitcoin.  

And just learn the tooling and then maybe go from there. Something to consider.   I'm not your dad. So I don't know.   Yeah, you can still tell I got a little crap in the throat. Thank you, everybody.   That was a great batch. I was gone a little long. So I was gone a week extra.   So it was a little extra long.   So I don't know if we'll have a big drop off next episode. I hope not.   So I'd love to hear from you. Here's the details. Here's the deets.   We had 63 different people participate in Value for Value.   You know, it's a pretty small number of the overall listenership.   So you guys that participate, I am so extremely grateful for you.  

We had 51,000 sats that got streamed in just by you listening and streaming   those sats. Thank you, everybody.   And when you bring it all together, we had a grand total of 498,601 sats.   Nice to see a lot of you trying out the new Fountain FM 1.1 update.   I saw a Boosie a Lion here. There's a lot of different, of course,   Breeze is in here. I've seen Breeze again coming back kind of strong recently.   Podverse is well represented in here as well. Podcast Guru from Podhome there.   I see you all. Thank you, everybody who boosts in however you do it.   I love hearing from you. They're great questions.  

It's the most organic moment in the show, and when I think back,   it's the part of the episode that I always enjoy a lot.   If you'd like to boost in, you can do it with Fountain FM or any of the other   great podcast apps. Just check out podcastapps.com.   The trick is you need some sats, but I'm going to tell you something.   You need some sats regardless if you're boosting in or not. So why not get a   little sats and boost in too?   Because things are only going in one direction, my friend.   The lever you have pulled breaks. He's not in service. Please make a note of it.   Music.  

All right, some important project updates before we scoot, because we're getting   long here. That's what happens when I take a week off.   We have a timeline for the Mutiny wallet shutdown.   And I want to put this in front of your face because you need to know about this.   Mutiny wallet users need to move funds out of their channels and close those channels.   You can send them to a Bitcoin wallet. You can send them to another Lightning   wallet. You can send them to a Fedament, but you can't keep them in your channels.   You can self-host Mutiny. Mutiny, speaking of StartOS, it's got a one-click deployment for Mutiny.  

It's open source code. It's still going to get some love.   The team overall isn't going anywhere, so they're still going to be around.   But we do have a timeline. So August 5th, they announced the shutdown.   It looks like September 3rd, we got this FAQ telling us about the timeline.   The drop-dead date that you need to really know about seems to be December 31st.   App.mutinywallet.com shuts down. Apps pulled from the app stores.   So December 31st, 2024, that's when the site shuts down. God, it's sad.   I really liked that project. Really liked that project. I'm glad it's still   available as a self-hosted thing. Man, that's so sad.  

So December 31st is your drop-dead date. Better start working on it, though.   Strike has some great news. They're rolling out Bolt 12 into Strike.   Now, this is their initial integration.   So basic offer payment flow. but they're paving the way here for more advanced   Bolt 12 features over time.   If you're not familiar, Bolt 12 was introduced in September of 2020 by Rusty   Russell, which was one of my nicknames in middle school.   And the Bolt 12 specification enables features that I think overall are needed   for the Lightning user experience.   One of my favorite features is reusable QR codes, great for static displays,   like on a website, a flyer, billboards. My wife could put a QR code up in her   clinic, and you don't have to generate an invoice every time.  

That seems obvious, right? Bolt 12 also has enhanced security by leveraging onion messages.   So that's obviously great. And there's other advanced functionalities like ATM   style withdrawals that were previously impossible with Lightning without adding   other stuff and strapping LNURL on top of it all.   Now it's native to the protocol. It's great.   And I do think Bolt 12 and Bolt 11 will have a role in podcasting 2.0 and value for value.   So very nice to see Strike getting there already. ready.   Even if it is only initial, initial support. It's very nice to see.   Albie Hub 172 is out. And this update introduces a new friends and family app in the Albie app store.  

So they have their own section of things that are compatible,   like with Noster Wallet Connect, and you can integrate really easily with Albie.   And more and more apps keep showing up in there. But this friends and family app is slick.   You create essentially a sub wallet on your Albie Hub for a friend or a family   member and you give it a name.   And then when it's done, they get their own podcasting 2.0 value block.   They can pair their own Albie app to it and their own Noster apps to it.   It's essentially like they have their own hub, although it's using your hub's   liquidity, which means that they don't have to manage one of the trickier parts of Lightning.  

I could see podcast networks using this. You know, this seems really valuable,   not just for friends and family, but definitely for friends and family   other updates include receive only point of sales app is   in there a new savings balance withdrawal ui they   tweaked that a little bit they change some other things when you're pending   channels mac users also benefit from several fixes it's all in there albie hub   is looking really really good and i'm still using it even though i have my nix   bitcoin i'm also still using albie hub cloud kind of dual try trying seeing   which one really truly works the best.  

Perhaps a mistake? We shall see. Okay, let's get out of here.   We gotta go. I'm going way, way too long. I'm sorry about this.   I'm gonna cut clips. I already have more clips I'm cutting. I apologize.   Jeez, I really try to... I'm trying to go for 45 minutes.   This is a slow news week, too. But I want to play a sound money explanation   for you, because I didn't have time for the newbie corner. As you can tell,   I'm going way too long today.   And I still have something for you newbies, though. because I think this is   an important part of the show and we're covering some really important fundamental stuff.  

So I want to play a clip from that God Bless Bitcoin documentary that I also   caught when I was looking around in there.   And this one, it's a shorter one, and it's about sound money,   which you need to understand to appreciate why Bitcoin is valuable.   What is sound money? The term sound money originated back when we used gold coins as currency.   Oftentimes, as a way to create more money, kings and queens would mix in common   cheaper metals with gold.   That way, they could create a coin that looked like it was pure gold,   but really, it was diluted.  

And that allowed them to create more coins with the same amount of gold.   So instead of 10 ounces of gold being able to create 10 coins,   now they could use that 10 ounces of gold mixed with junk metals and create 14 coins.   It was a very sneaky theft of the people's money.   The public got wise to this scam and found   a simple but clever way to test if their coins were pure if   they dropped them a pure gold coin would make   a different sound than a diluted one today when   we refer to sound money we mean money that cannot   be diluted bitcoin is the soundest form of money humans have ever created because   no matter how hard anyone tries you can't dilute bitcoin by creating more of   it there will only ever be 21 million for all of human history. Yep, it's that simple.  

And that scarcity is one of the things that will always give it value,   because that's how humans work. Links to what we talked about today at thisweekinbitcoin.show.   I'd love to have you boosted with what you'd like to hear from the show.   If you missed something from it or have thoughts on something that was covered,   please do let me know and share it with a friend.   I'd love this to be the number one Bitcoin news podcast for the Jupyter Broadcasting   community and the Podcasting 2.0 community and in the world.   I'll be back next week, but I   am going to leave you with a Value for Value track, and this one is free.  

Music.