This Week in Bitcoin

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Inflation climbs, but Bitcoin shines. In this episode, I'll dive into pivotal executive orders, banks stepping into Bitcoin lending, and the growing reserves trend across nations, states, and corporations. Then, I'll zoom out, and we'll see how it all fits together.

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Episode Links:

• US Inflation Rises to 2.9% in December 2024
• Core inflation rate slows to 3.2% in December, less than expected - YouTube
• U.S. spent $308B on debt interest in first quarter of FY2025 - YouTube
• Starting to See More Wealth Advisors in Crypto: BlackRock's Mitchnick - YouTube
• BlackRock says Bitcoin adoption is still in early stages.
• Bitcoin's going to be one of the best performing assets this year, says Fundstrat's Tom Lee - YouTube
• Trump's potentially historic first day in office - YouTube
• Elon Musk isn’t the only tech leader helping shape the Trump administration - The Washington Post
• Intesa Makes First Spot Bitcoin Buy - YouTube
• Fred Thiel Mara CEO Says THings Get Intresting when the Banks can lend Against Bitcoin
• Donald Trump's SEC to Revamp Crypto Policy & May Pause Enforcement
• Watch Sunday Morning: Jamie Dimon on the economy - Full show on CBS
• LIVE: US Government Selling Bitcoin? BTFD with Jack Mallers, Matt Odell, Marty Bent, & Calle - YouTube

Music

• 21 Million by Rundance

[00:00:00] Unknown:

There's a lot of people that are nodding with you because we can deflate our   way out of some of the step.   But the difference between 2% and 3% compounded for the dollar is devastating.   And I don't know, for you to just blow it off is a little weird.   I mean, there's a reason they want 2%. Anyone can move goalposts.   I mean, if you compound 3%, that's 50% higher than 2%. Do you know where 2% comes from?   I don't, I'm not. No, no, but 2% comes from. It would make all of us feel awful in 10 years.   2% comes from the Bank of New Zealand in the early 90s. It seems like a good   number to me. But it's an arbitrary number.  

What you've got to take into... Well, 5 is an arbitrary number.   I mean, if you want to deflate $36 trillion, let's go to 10 then.   I don't want to pull the rug from under U.S. economic exceptionalism.   I think we are outpacing the rest of the world. You're starting to at 3%.   I think we are investing in the economies of tomorrow, in the growth drivers   of tomorrow, The government?   No, the private sector, everything else. If you push this economy into recession—   The private sector is now what causes the inflation.   Joe, if you push this economy into recession, you will not just lose current   standard of living, you will lose future standard of living.  

We are in a very good position. Three percent loses the future standard of living. That's the problem.   Two and a half to three is what I said. You went immediately to three.   Well, if you say three at the high end, you're okay with it.   As long as inflation expectations are stable, you can navigate.   Better buy some Bitcoin, Mohammed.   Music.   Welcome in to This Week in Bitcoin, Lucky 42.   My name is Chris, chrisles.com, jupiterbroadcasting.com. Don't you just love   it when a plan comes together?   We're really on the verge of a new era for Bitcoin.   Not just because of a changing administration and a pro-crypto administration   coming in, but because of the macro environment that is setting up.  

You heard in that intro clip, Joe's arguing about how inflation impacts people   and their guest is arguing about inflation expectations.   This is the new messaging here, and I think Bitcoin is really lined up for some   wins, and I'm going to get into some specifics this week, tell you where I see that.   And I think we should start with this higher inflation report for December.   Now, CNBC's guests might have been playing this off, but U.S.   Inflation rose to 2.9%. Now, these are the official numbers.   It did fall in line with what many had projected U.S.   Inflation would be at. Now, if you ask me, 2.9 percent is still too damn high.  

It's basically 3 percent. And we all know that the real inflation number,   especially in certain areas, is much, much higher.   Not all of the numbers are bad, depending on your lens.   But when it comes to inflation, not entirely clear cut for investors as to what   it means for the Fed. Steve Leisman here with more.   Steve, does this change anything? Not immediately. And, Sarah,   I like the way you led into that, saying it's not entirely clear cut for investors.   And so it's also not going to be clear cut for the Fed either.   Even though the numbers, as you reported, better than expected,   it's not a green light for the Fed to cut rates, at least not anytime soon.  

Let's go through the number. 04 is what we got a tick worse than the prior month. It's up 04.   So what he said there is sort of true.   But the other side of that also means it's not a green light to raise rates.   So if you go by the official data, the surge was primarily driven by higher   prices for energy, which that's hopefully going to be reflected down in the next report.   Eggs are way up, and so are used cars.   So I guess if you're looking to sell a used car, now is the time to do it.   Now, this means that the Fed is likely not going to increase rate cuts or decrease   rate cuts right now at this point in time.  

But I don't care about that. What I care about, I'm wondering if you noticed.   Bitcoin ripped on inflation being   up. Now, it kind of depended on the expectation getting nailed, right?   If it was way over, way under, I don't know how Bitcoin would have performed.   So part of this is the market wasn't spooked.   But the data, even with their Cook data, shows that inflation is continuing to tick up.   And on the news, people bought Bitcoin.   Equities and bonds are rallying as consumer prices are kind of moderately continuing   to go up. I think that's interesting.  

What it tells us is investors see this as an acceptable amount of dollar debasement   because it helps their equities.   In other words, the rich and the government are both incentivized for the currency to be debased.   Both the wealthy and the government benefit from controlled currency debasement.   It inflates asset prices. It reduces the real value of debt for both the wealthy and the government.   And it boosts government tax revenues.   So there is a real incentive that gets created to allow inflation to continue   without getting out of control.  

And it's it's all these insidious things that line up from the people who have   a lot of assets and money to the governments that want to run a lot of debts.   The lever you have pulled.   And 2025 is off to a ripper of a start for U.S. debt.   We've got some more breaking news this time out of Washington.   The monthly look at how much the federal government is spending.   Megan Costella has the details. Kelly, this time it is more than ever.   The government spending $1.8 trillion so far in fiscal year 2025.   That's about 6% more than the first quarter of last year and setting an all-time   record in spending for the first three months of the fiscal year.  

Treasury has taken in just about $1.1 trillion in the same time frame.   So the government has also set a record for the size of the deficit at this   point in the fiscal year, running at $681 billion.   These are big numbers. So total spending, $1.8 trillion.   Total revenue, $1.1 trillion. Deficit of $681 billion.   That's 26% higher than the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Now,   as for what's causing this record, spending a big chunk of it is interest on the public debt.   The U.S. spending $308 billion in interest the first three months of this year.   That's a 7 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago.  

And then looking across the agencies, they're spending a bit more, too.   A couple highlights here. Spending was up 41 percent, $9 billion at the Department   of Homeland Security. Most of that due to FEMA spending more on hurricane and disaster relief.   Spending at the Department of Veterans Affairs up 13 percent or 11 billion.   That's a response to Congress's move to expand benefits for veterans.   Social Security also up 6 percent so far this year.   And EPA also spent an extra 21 billion dollars so far this year to put towards   its greenhouse gas reduction fund. Guys.  

All right, Megan. Thank you. Thank you, Megan. So this is bullish for Bitcoin because here we are.   Inflation is ticking up. People are looking for an inflation hedge.   You see the results already.   Bitcoin skyrocketed on the news.   We were also entering, more than ever, an era of populist policies.   And whichever political figure leans more into populism is probably going to do better.   And so they can't really cut out the handouts right now. In fact,   with the situation everybody's in, they're likely going to need to increase it.   And then you add in the situation with the California wildfires,   which, man, And, you know, I got a story about somebody that lost their stash, and it really hit me.  

You know, because I'm right, you know, I'm up here in Washington.   I can see the same thing happening here.   Our government is just as screwed up as California's government is when it comes   to managing that kind of stuff. And these things add cost.   We're talking billions and hundreds of billions of dollars in California's case   that's going to have to go on somebody's balance sheet. So we got debt ticking   up at a faster than ever pace for the first fiscal quarter of 2025 for the U.S.   Government, which sounds like it's already three months in.   So debt's ripping. Inflation's ticking up just in time for year two of the Bitcoin ETFs.  

Music.   Robert Michnick, stopped by Bloomberg, he is BlackRock's go-to guy for the Bitcoin   ETFs, for their iBit ETF.   And he had a little chat about how the first year has gone and how year two is going.   And what's incredible is, you know, my take, and I want you to listen for this,   is he basically says they just had the most successful ETF launch in history.   Oh, and by the way, we're just getting started. Yeah, well, I think big picture,   it was a pretty incredible first year for iBit. obviously record setting on   a lot of dimensions, including inflows and asset accumulation.  

And, you know, as we come into year two now, we're focused on a lot of the same   stuff that we were in year one, which is really being a valuable resource and   an education partner to many of our clients.   As we've talked about in the past on this show, we're still quite early days   in terms of the adoption of the wealth advisory and the institutional segment.   So they're going to focus on education, which means marketing.   They're going to sell. They're going to sell, sell, sell. That's what that means.   And even though they've had the most successful ETF launch in history,   there's still early days in the big money.  

There's still big money, and that's who they're reaching out to.   That's who they're selling to right now.   That's the next wave for year two. Early days in terms of the adoption of the   wealth advisory and the institutional segment.   And so we're spending a lot of time engaging with those types of clients.   Is that where the growth is? We just heard from Kavita Gupta,   Delta Blockchain, who said institutional is the next catalyst in 2025?   I mean, how much opportunity is there? Well, certainly the third bucket,   which we refer to as an investors direct, was gangbusters out of the gates, right?  

And these other two categories, wealth advisory and institutional,   there are much greater hurdles in terms of their process and the research and   diligence that they go through.   All right, a quick translation. He's saying retail has basically instant access   to whatever money they have.   You know, you've got your accounts. You don't have to go get approval from a   committee or a board. You can go buy your spot Bitcoin ETF.   And small businesses, small companies can already do that.   But large organizations, they have complicated processes that take a long time.   No, there are much greater hurdles in terms of their process and the research   and diligence that they go through.  

Of those two buckets, which is a bigger opportunity? It's hard to pick one,   but probably Wealth Advisory,   actually, because there's a lot of momentum around firms that are working through   their expedited approvals processes to allow advisors to actually put these   ETPs in client portfolios.   So he's saying there, and I apologize that the co-host is typing in the background.   That's not me. That's them. What he's saying here is that, yes,   we've had the most successful ETF launch.   It's incredible how much asset. It's already under management.   But the next group is even larger than that group. There are expedited approvals   processes to allow advisors to actually put these ETPs in client portfolios.  

But institutional is very significant as well.   And that's an education journey for many that's been playing out over the year.   We're starting to see more of them emerge, particularly over the last quarter, I would say.   You saw more institutions and a little bit more wealth advisory in the overall mix of inflow.   I am so excited to hear that. Bring it. Pump it.   This, to me, is a very viable way for businesses to get in and get some exposure.   There is a bit of mystery in the air as I record, because this is the week before   Donald Trump takes office.  

And his team has been signaling expectations should be high.   President-elect Donald Trump reportedly told Republican senators that he's preparing   more than 100 executive orders to sign on day one, according to the Associated Press.   The Fact Check team's Janae Bowens is back.   OK, so break down the difference between executive actions and executive orders.   I'm going to leave this in. I wasn't planning to, but boost in and tell me if   the extra explanation was helpful to you.   Yeah, Didi. So to put it simply, executive action is the broad term for what the president can do.   Now, this includes memorandums, proclamations and executive orders.  

Now, executive orders are official, legally binding mandates to certain federal   agencies on how to interpret and carry out federal law.   Now, they are printed in the federal register and do not require congressional approval.   They can be challenged in court   if deemed unconstitutional. Who has issued the most executive orders?   Yeah, so Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only president who served more than two   terms, signed 3,721 executive orders.   Wow. Now, most of them dealt with measures to help the country fight the Great   Depression and World War II.  

Now, Trump signed 55 executive orders his first year in office.   President Joe Biden signed 77 in his first year.   So there you go. So Trump did 55 his first term and 100 this time around.   And we are to believe that some of them, too many of them, will be about crypto   and Bitcoin. Why are we believing that?   Because the Trump team leaked to the Washington Post and said that this is essentially   going to be the situation. Here is a quote from the article.   Sachs and members of the Trump transition team have been working closely with   crypto leaders to finalize a legislative strategy.  

And Trump is expected to issue executive orders on the first day of his presidency   that may address issues including debanking and the repeal of the controversial   crypto accounting policy requiring banks holding digital assets to count them   as liabilities on their bank's own balance sheet,   according to a person involved with the conversations,   i.e. probably David Sachs.   Quote, the Trump team has made it very clear that this is a priority, the person added.   Additionally, the Washington Post shed some lights on some of the presentations   and prepping the Trump team has been doing.  

David Sachs previewed the administration's plans at Mar-a-Lago right before   Christmas on December 20th to a group of tech investors who flew down to the   Palm Beach residence to host for this hosted lunch event.   They dined on black cod with mushroom miso broth while David Sachs gave a presentation.   I thought it was notable that Kathy Wood from ARC was there.   So I don't think she's spoken publicly about this, but she apparently knows   pretty implicitly what the Trump team's plans are.   And what I got out of the article is that Sab 121 is back on the chopping block.   Now, you might recall there was a fight over this. I covered it on the show.  

It passed, but Biden vetoed this.   And this essentially comes down to allowing banks to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheet.   And it is one of the three catalysts that Saylor is famous for saying we need   to hit in order to get to $5 million a coin. The first one was a Bitcoin ETF.   The second one, I mean, these are not exactly in order, but these are ones that   have already happened. The second one which has happened is the fair accounting   value rules that just went into effect.   The third thing that had yet to happen was this SAB-121. But there are three   things that are massive catalysts that cause an acceleration.  

And I don't think that those three things don't take us to 500,000.   They take us to 5 million a coin.   Those three things are a spot ETF where someone can go ahead and buy $100 million   of Bitcoin by a security, an ETF security. I think that's one.   Two is your bank is going to custody it for you and lend against it.   And three is I can mark it up or mark it down on my balance sheet based on fair value.   Parapasue, it'll be parapasue to the way I'd handle Apple stock or at least   that good. if it's if you have property with fair value accounting,   by the way, it becomes parapassu to the way you'd handle treasury bonds on a   treasury balance sheet.  

Treasuries are better than stocks because treasury is property,   whereas a stock is a security and you're capped out at 40 percent of your balance sheet of security.   So so it would be a major, major breakthrough if you saw any of those three things.   And I'll end with this one observation. I tweeted this last week,   but I still I think it's very powerful.   It's if the banks can hold this stuff on their balance sheet,   then a whole new class of investors are going to buy it.   People are going to put in billion and multi-billion dollar orders to buy it as a treasury asset.   Nobody's going to sell it because there's no reason to sell it if you can borrow   against it at LIBOR plus or SOFR plus 50 basis points.  

Right. So you'll be you'll be barring against Bitcoin at SOFR   plus 50 or SOFR plus 100 basis points no one's   ever going to sell it and then as i joked you won't be able to afford it i mean   you will be able to afford it but you know everybody gets bitcoin at the price   they deserve when the banks normalize it and you can draw 100 million dollar   credit line at 100 basis points from an fdic insured bank at that point right   we're going to blow through the market cap of gold by a factor of 10.   So sales pretty bullish about sab 121 getting repealed and you know While all   of this might sound like fantasy and things that are going to take forever,   in that clip, he thought this could take 36 months before it happened.  

This was a little while ago.   But we're actually already seeing this play out.   Music.   Game theory is playing out at the bank level. Italy's largest bank just bought 11 Bitcoin.   But what's so crazy bullish is why they bought the 11 Bitcoin.   This is what makes it the game theory.   You know, it's interesting to see companies starting to get into this too,   particularly a bank. What was the rationale?   So I think in this case, their CEO said today at an event that they were actually   not planning to become a Bitcoin company or broker,   But they just thought that they needed to get ready in case some of their bigger   clients get interested in buying Bitcoin. Can you believe this?  

They needed to have some just in case it catches on.   Italy's largest bank has bought around a million dollars worth of Bitcoin.   They did it back in November.   And they're holding it, you know, just in case some of their clients, you know, need to use it.   And we've reported earlier this year that they had a prop crypto desk.   But so far, they've only been doing derivatives, which is really what other   banks have been mostly up to. So it's not a big buy for a bank.   One million euros is not a lot for a bank, as the CEO said as well.   But it is a big signal, right, that they're moving into spot.  

Because, as you know, to buy spot   Bitcoin, you need to have the right infrastructure. You need to custody.   So the step in the signal is quite significant.   Yeah, it's great. I mean, it's wild to see banks getting in at this.   And Mara's CEO, Fred Thiel, he's talked about this before. And I almost played   this clip, I think, about a week ago. I'm glad I held it.   And I think you're going to find people viewing Bitcoin as something you're   going to want to own because when banks can lend against Bitcoin as a normal   asset and you take away some of the crazy things that the SEC put in place,   all of a sudden you're going to find lots of liquidity for people who hold Bitcoin.  

And so now that generates more of an ability to invest, which I think is just   going to drive the market even higher.   I'd like to hear your thoughts on this one, because I've never been Gary Gensler's biggest critic.   The SEC chair did do a lot of enforcement by law, didn't really seem to tell   some of the players like Coinbase what the rules of the road were.   But at the same time, there are a lot of securities and scams out there that   are trying to pass themselves off as a commodity, that are trying to pass themselves   off as the next big investment.  

And the SEC and Gary's reign was during some of the craziest scams we saw, at least so far.   His reign of terror is coming to an end, and he stopped by CNBC for an exit interview.   And old Joe from CNBC asked him the hard questions. And I want to hear your   thoughts on Gary and on this interview, because I really got to respect the line of questioning.   What you think is going to happen or whether you're thinking has evolved,   it almost sounded like you wanted to separate Bitcoin from the rest of the industry.   And I'm wondering whether you're actually warming to the idea of at least Bitcoin.  

And whether, again, people are tweeting that I said you either stood in the   way of an extraordinary industry or were utterly unable to prevent a massive bubble. Wow.   That is an incredible statement to say to the SEC chair. Either,   look, man, you blew it either way.   Either you got in the way of something incredible or you failed to pop the biggest bubble in history.   Which one is it? People are tweeting that I said you either stood in the way   of an extraordinary industry or were utterly unable to prevent a massive bubble.   What do you think the future holds? Do you have a feeling on which it is?  

Do you think Bitcoin has inherent value and is a store of value?   Or do you feel that when we look back on it 10, 15, 20 years from now,   it's going to be something from the 18th century with tulips?   Whatever. Joe, it's it's hard to predict. I think I really do like you,   because I know that you think I'm going to out you think negatively on many   of these coins. You, Joe.   But in terms of in terms of Bitcoin, we at the SEC have never said it's a security.   I have not. What do you think?   It's you taught at MIT. I think, you know, I think you've got to have some kind   of feeling. You've read the books, Bitcoin Standard?  

Yeah, I think that Bitcoin is a highly speculative, volatile asset,   but with 7 billion people around the globe,   7 billion people want to trade it, just like we do have gold for 10,000 years.   We have Bitcoin, it might be something else in the future as well.   So I want to make it clear that these government officials, they consider gold a speculative asset.   And so it's wild to me that they even get mentioned in the same breath years.   We have Bitcoin. It might be something else in the future as well.   These other thousands of projects need to show their use case and show that   they actually have fundamentals underlying them or they won't persist.  

Oh, my God. You own Bitcoin.   That's where the public. That's why the public needs disclosure.   That's what it's – you love it. I've never – You love it. You don't like those other coins.   I've never owned any of these, and I've been consistent for seven or eight years on this.   Well, now you can because you won't be an SEC chair anymore.   We live in a timeline now where when – now you can because you won't be the   SEC chair anymore. God, Joe's on fire.   We live in a timeline now where the outgoing exit interview with the SEC chair,   they talk about Bitcoin.  

It's absolutely wild. Unfortunately, we also live in a time where Jamie Dimon talks about Bitcoin.   Yeah, Jeffrey Epstein's banker visited the CBS Sunday morning show and decided to crap on Bitcoin.   You said that it's as useless as a pet rock. What do you really think?   You're going to have some kind of digital currency at one point.   So I'm not against crypto.   By the way, there was a hard cut there. My mocking laugh covers it up.   But any of you that have an audio editing ear can hear that they do a hard cut after her question.   You said that it's as useless as a pet rock.  

What do you really think? You're going to have some kind of digital currency   at one point. So I'm not against crypto.   You know, Bitcoin itself has no intrinsic value. It's used heavily by sex traffickers,   money launderers, ransomware.   So I just don't feel great about Bitcoin. I applaud your ability to want to buy or sell it.   Just like I think you have the right to smoke. But I don't think you should smoke.   Since he... Ha ha ha ha.   This guy. Jamie Dimon got bailed out after the 2008 Great Financial Collapse.   They essentially print money out of thin air by lending it. They have a history   of laundering money for drug cartels.  

They've underperformed every 80 IQ pleb who just hoddles Bitcoin for the last decade.   And they legitimately banked Jeffrey Epstein, even though they had internal   documentation warning that they shouldn't.   And what's really happening here is, at least this is my conspiracy,   Bacon, they want the world to use JPM coin.   I think they now call it Connexus. They used to call it Onyx.   But they have a blockchain.   And they're trying to get more and more institutions to use it.   And, you know, this argument that it's used for all this illicit activity,   I have talked about this.  

I have given you the numbers three different times on this show.   It's somewhere roughly around 0.12% of the trillions of dollars of value exchanged   on the Bitcoin network is for illicit activity.   Now, these numbers can vary a little bit depending on the source,   but they're always below 1%.   Stablecoins is where all the action is at. And, of course, Jamie Dimon's banks.   Literally. I'm not even kidding. But yet they continually use this line of attack,   and it gives all the ignorant fools watching an opportunity to absorb it.   You know, there's 4 million people, roughly, that watch the CBS Sunday morning program.  

So Jamie Dimon just compared buying Bitcoin to smoking cigarettes in front of 4 million plebs.   And J.P. Morgan, for example, has been fined for manipulating the silver market.   Their big trader got busted for manipulating the trader market,   the silver trade market.   You know, I don't, I mean, I've never followed this very closely,   but I know that they got in a lot of trouble and the fine was minuscule compared   to the revenue they made.   That trader is still in jail and JP Morgan is still the largest silver custodian.   So they're still doing business with silver, even though they were caught manipulating   the market and their trader went to jail.  

So they have a history of doing this. And I have a clip from like two years ago or something.   I don't know why I have. I've had this clip for a long time because it was one   of the first times that the Glenn Beck show, not a big follower of Glenn Beck,   but I am a follower of when media outlets cover Bitcoin.   And one of the first times that Glenn Beck talked about Bitcoin,   they laid out the J.P. Morgan strategy. And I want to play it for you.   On September 12th, Jamie Dimon says Bitcoin is a fraud. He says he'll fire anyone   of his traders buying Bitcoin.  

Bitcoin drops 24 percent. When Jamie Dimon speaks, people listen. People listen.   So that weekend, we found out that the largest buyer of a Bitcoin fund that's   in Europe that buys physical Bitcoin, right?   The largest buyer was Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan. And that's not illegal.   He says it's a fraud. It says you'd buy anyone that buys it.   Yes. And at the same time, his company is buying it. His company is buying it.   So, it's just, I mean, so unethical. This is what they do. This is what they do.   So, you know, you compare it to smoking. What do you think the end game is here   for Jamie Dimon? Is it this crappy JPM coin thing?  

Is it a CBDC? Boost it and tell me, what is your conspiracy bacon? I shared mine.   What's your conspiracy bacon around Jamie Dimon's end game here?   And then also, I have two questions for you this week.   On January 15th at 7.22 a.m., Cynthia Lummis tweeted the following. Just a little reminder.   As things are about to get crazy, emotions and excitement can run high.   Don't send Bitcoin or crypto to some random wallet address or QR code.   As ever, do your own research.   Do you think perhaps Senator Lummis knows something?   Why would she be tweeting just a little reminder as things are about to get   crazy and excitement can run high. Why would she tweet that?  

So I invite you to lock in your executive order predictions before Trump takes office.   Get him into the show before he takes office and tell me what you think. Lock him in.   I want to know what you think if he's going to do a reserve.   I want to know if you think he's going to repeal SAV-121, if they're going to pause SEC enforcement.   What do you think is going to happen on day one of the Trump administration?   Good or bad lock it in before it   happens or if it does happen and you're listening after the fact boosting your   reactions to it I think this is something I'd like to hear from you early into   it we won't spend a lot of time on it but seems like now is the time to talk   about this kind of thing if we are gonna do it there's a lot going on and I'd   like to hear your thoughts.  

Music.   The story of another Bitcoin mine that's sparking some controversy,   lots of updates, final clip of the week, and of course, the state of the network and more.   So before we go on, I want to mention you can support the show by doing what you do.   Buy your sats on River. It's the best way to stack sats here in the U.S.,   especially if you're going to keep them on a custodian, because River has proof of custody.   They let you withdraw over lightning, set up automatic DCAs,   and they have a savings account where you get 3.8% APR on cash,   but that's in sats and then you know you kind of have like an emergency smash buy fund,   now if you're all about self-custody like me i want to tell you   about the bitcoin well i have a link to this as well the bitcoin   well slash jupiter lets you stack sats directly to your private wallet yeah   lightning on chain you buy and sell right from your own private wallet self   custody first with the bitcoin well in canada and the u.s now are you ready   to spend your sats Got them already on the Lightning Network?  

The Bitcoin Company. Promo code Jubilee, thebitcoincompany.com.   Spend your sats via the Lightning Network right into a gift card. Takes just seconds.   You can also stack sats by the Fold card. That's what I do. I pay all my bills   using Fold, and I stack sats for every single transaction.   And then when I need a little access to my Bitcoin without selling it, I use Salt Lending.   I have a link to all of these.   You can support the show by using those by doing just what you do thank you for supporting us.   Music.   Oh, and we have a nice batch of boost to get into.  

And Satsquatch is here with our baller boost this week with 66,668 sets.   Says, I love the Milton Friedman clips. They're as true today as they always were.   Satsquatch, crazy story. So I went on a little romantic vacay with the wife for our anniversary.   And I was watching, because, you know, You know, like limited selection of stuff   you can watch. And so we were watching, is it All in the Family, that Michael J.   Fox sitcom from the early 80s where he's like a son.   And Michael J. Fox's character is a Milton Friedman fanboy.   And the girl he meets is also a Milton Friedman fanboy. And they go to like   a Milton Friedman speech.  

And they're talking about the Federal Reserve and everything in this episode.   I couldn't believe it because I played those clips and   then we left for our romantic little vacay like our little   three-day getaway and I watched this and they're   talking about Milton and all of it it was if you   know what I only was it was in season one I don't know which episode but probably   one of the early episodes I couldn't believe it blew my mind I says my sister   lost her house in the fire in the Cali fire she just bought her first 1k of   bitcoin a week before if she keeps stacking, she'll be okay.  

Oh, good. So she didn't lose the Bitcoin in the fire. Oh, good.   I thought that's where you're going because I have heard those stories so far.   You know, these fires, and I wonder if this is true for some of you out there   too, these fires have been really making me just think through self-custody   and multi-sig and honestly, the advantage too of platforms like River and Fold.   Fold has, I think like it's up to $250 million.   They have a massive insurance policy by BitGo. Now, I'm not comfortable with   those for my main storage, but I always want to remain open-minded why people   might want to consider it.  

Thanks for the boost, SatSquanch, and thanks for being our baller. Really appreciate it.   Drekkar is here with 20,000 sats. I hoard that which your kind covers.   Chris is back with the best Bitcoin podcast, kicking off 2025 strong.   Thank you, Drekkar. Appreciate the boost. It's nice to hear from you.   Gene Bean's back with a row of ducks.   A better understanding of inflation and debasement have driven me to focusing saving via Bitcoin.   The only challenges so far is I'm not sure how to account for the impact of   capital gain taxes when it comes time to utilize my savings later in life.  

I think, Gene, first of all, congrats. I think this is a very,   I don't know much, but I do know this is my strategy.   I don't think Bitcoiners need to worry about capital gains quite as much as they have.   If you're talking long-term capital gains here, you might want to look in your   state, but you might find that it's not as egregious as you think.   And especially if you consider how much Bitcoin is likely to appreciate.   And it's going to be a percentage of the appreciation. So there's that to consider as well.   You can't rely on it. You're always going to want to talk to somebody who knows who's an expert.  

But you can start by asking things like perplexity, what the capital gains laws   are in your area, and then just go about verifying that that's true.   But it will help you very simply understand it.   And when I did that, I found it to be a lot less concerning.   Additionally, depending on the state here, at least in the U.S.,   you may be able to spend a certain amount before capital gains even kicks in.   That is true in Washington state as well.   So I think Bitcoiners often get very concerned about this.   Additionally, I just played clips earlier in the show, banks are going to start holding Bitcoin.   If SAB-121 gets repealed next week or soon after, U.S. banks are going to start   holding Bitcoin. Why would they do that?  

So that way they can do Bitcoin-backed loans. They're going to have the infrastructure   for it. It's going to become a product over the next year or two.   And then you might not even need to sell your Bitcoin, depending on how much   you stack and how much you need access to.   And, you know, for solutions right now, there's salt lending as well.   If you want to keep your stack and not sell it, you got to be careful.   I want to make sure you're over collateralized. We've talked about this before.   There are downsides, but there are upsides as well.   Nice to hear from you, Gene. Let me know what you think. Keep on stacking.  

Sir, Lurksalot is here with 6,666 sets.   Hey, Lurks. So I've been lurking so long I forgot to check out my username.   Oh, so you didn't have it set up. Okay. I just heard you read my anonymous boost. Aha.   Yep. Last week. I get what you're saying about River looking for a low-friction   user experience. Oh, yeah, talking, of course, about Plaid or Plaid.   He says, I really did miss boosting. Glad to have everything up and running   again. I'm glad you're back after a deserved holiday break.   Well, thank you, lurks. He says, I also listened to the full Bitcoin dad pod,   and I remember your trip to El Salvador. I don't remember you talking about them using Nix.  

I talked about it in LUP. I talked about it in LUP.   They're using their – it's called like the My Bonk is the group.   And they're producing a little like mini PC that runs Nix in a Bitcoin node.   Lurkslot says he's running Umbral on a Pi 4. Oh, until it died.   But now he's running Core Lightning on Nix Bitcoin.   Oh, okay. So why Core Lightning?   I've been really, I've been really kind of core lightning curious,   and I would love to hear your thoughts on that lurks.   Let me know why you chose that. He says also boosts are fun.   And he zapped our, our, our artists, our music artists for last week.  

Thank you lurks. That's three, right? I'm counting. I'm just counting up now.   Yeah. Three solid boosts. Appreciate that.   Clark Ian's here with 10,000 sats.   My general strategy has to been just yolo all the extra cash into bitcoin especially   now that it's easy to push bitcoin to fold as cash on my card for spending i   pay off less credit card debt,   okay here we go i here we go i pay off less credit card debt and i just push   more into bitcoin so long as i can service the debt payments i still fight the   urge to pay off all my credit cards with year-end bonuses instead of buying   bitcoin you might want to do the math on that strat.  

You know, consider that if you did pay off the credit cards,   then you would have potentially the ability to build up some dry powder and   buy a big dip should one roll around, probably inevitably.   There's just something to consider there, because as long as interest rates   are going down, this might be a decent-ish strategy.   But if interest rates remain high or go up at all, the credit card interest rates are not fixed.   You understand? So they can go up and up and up, potentially.   Just something to be aware of. So just keep your eye on it, depending on your   rate and your balance and all of that. I think it's a, you know, it's a strategy.  

I think it's more of a no-brainer if you get something like 4% interest rate,   5% interest rate. Man, I'd be like, hell yeah.   At like a 22% interest rate? Yeah, Bitcoin's probably going to outperform that.   But you're also limiting your future buying potential.   It's just a calculation. I bet you it's one a lot of people are trying to make.   So I really appreciate you talking about it. And it's one that I think we should   all do the math on because there's also the aspect of debasement of the currency, right?   So you put $5,000 on a credit card and then in five years, that $5,000 is worth   like $3,000 or something.  

So it's a tricky bit of math to do. I appreciate the boost.   Bobby Pins here with a 5,000 sap boost. That's a Jar Jar boost. Use a boost.   Do you know of a good value-for-value music app or website?   I've listened to music in Fountain, but was hoping there's a good music-focused   app. By the way, if you haven't checked out the Fountain radio stuff, that's pretty cool.   If you're looking for something that's just value-for-value music, check out LN Beats.   It's a web app that you can also use on your phone because it's a progressive   web app, and it is entirely focused on value-for-value music.  

There are a couple others out there, but that's the one that I use.   Thanks for the boost, Bobby Penn.   Nakamoto 6102 is also here with a Jar Jar boost. You so boost.   He says, thanks for the value. And I say, thank you.   Appreciate that. Ace Ackerman's back with a Rodux.   Oh, the Bitcoin bear market poll bottom just hit 83,333.   Right on the nose. He says, how spicy is that? Oh, boy. They want them. I guarantee.   I guarantee that's spicy. Yeah, I watched that.   I watched that. And of course, Bitcoin is cracking 100K as I record.   We've been in a pretty volatile range recently. But really, the real bottom   we saw was 90-ish, the low 90s.  

I'm taking 90,000 Bitcoin all day long. I'll be honest with you.   In fact, I might have my numbers wrong, guys. Maybe somebody wants to double check.   Pretty sure the S&P has corrected harder than Bitcoin has in overall terms since the election.   Pretty sure the S&P lost nearly, now it might be on the correction now,   but lost nearly all its gains for a couple of days there since the election.   Bitcoin's down, you know, a little bit.   So I'm feeling pretty good. Nice to hear from you, Ace. Todd from Northern Virginia   is here with 11,101 sats. Well, I'll be dipped.  

For anyone looking to run their own Bitcoin and Lightning Node,   I highly recommend checking out the Ministry of Nodes YouTube channel.   Keaton does an incredible job   walking you through the process of creating self-hosted nodes on Ubuntu.   Not only does he explain the technical steps, but he also breaks down what each   service does and how they interoperate.   And some of the privacy considerations you should keep in mind.   Even if you opt for solutions like NixBitcoin or something like Start9,   this series will give you a solid understanding of the underlying technologies.   He does a refresh on the series every couple of years, too.  

He just released a new one last month, So go check it out.   Todd, that's a great tip. Again, that channel, Ministry of Nodes on YouTube.   Thanks, Todd. I will check that out myself, even though I already run some nodes.   Maybe I'll learn something new. Appreciate that.   Army guy 6902 is here with 10,000 sats.   I definitely understand the bias against the banks and the liquidity needs.   Oh, we're talking about taking a Bitcoin back loan versus a regular loan out.   Maybe once Strike releases their lending service, we'll see a reasonable rate.   Yeah, their rates are still too high. I don't know.  

You know, I think Strike probably won't be as competitive as a major bank that   you can just lend directly, right?   Because Strike's going to be getting its money from some larger institution,   and they're going to be selling it to Strike at a rate.   So then Strike's going to need to make a profit on top of that.   So it's going to take a while, I think, for them to be as competitive as a bank   that could lend you directly.   It's a great episode. Keep up the work. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do.   Hmm. Thank you, Army Guy. And thanks for troubleshooting the boost problems.   Whomever whiz comes in with 10,011 sats. That's not possible.  

Nothing can do that. That's a good name.   Regarding Played. So this, by the way, for those of you who don't know, Played,   I don't know if I'm saying it right, But this is the service where you put your   online banking credentials into it, and then it goes and it logs into your bank   and, like, reads all your account information and then sets up your ACH transfer   for whatever. And lots of service uses this, and so does River.   And so this has been a topic of conversation. And whomever whiz,   there you go, said, quote, I wound up logging into Play directly and manually   disconnecting it from River.  

Ah. ah, River, as well as any other fintech service I had ever connected to   it. So we deleted all of them.   Then I deleted my Played account entirely and requested them to delete all of   my data, which they do have a process for.   Through the terms of service, you give Played permission to view your balance   and other transaction info.   And they have been accused of selling or misusing this information, at least in one lawsuit.   But you can, in fact, use River without divulging your bank account login credentials.   I did this to reconnect my bank after disconnecting from Played.  

During the account linking process, when played appears and asks you to choose   your bank, just put gibberish into the search bar until you're given the option   to, quote, set up manually or some other option like that.   This will then verify using your routing and account number using a micro deposit.   It does take a day or two, but my privacy is well worth the sacrifice.   Man, is that a killer boost here. Thank you. Here's a little value eagle for that.   I really appreciate that. And whomever whiz is really laid out the strategy here.   So when the played screen comes up, put gibberish in, choose manual,   put your ACH routing details in and take the day or two to do the confirmation deposits.  

As he was saying that I realized this is why companies like River use played   because it bypasses this delay.   People don't want to wait a day or two. They want to buy right now.   And that's why they've ended up using this service. But that's a great tip,   and it's great to know you can also delete the connections in play and tell   them to remove all your data.   I hope you enjoy the Eagle. That's for you, sir. And thank you for that boost.   Scuffed comes in with 11,000 and 110 sats.   Just pump the brakes right there. He says, I tried Bitcoin well in the U.S., but not impressed.   There's no Lightning Wallet support and no recurring buys?  

No ETA from support either. So there is Lightning Wallet support, but I think you got a bug.   So I contacted their support about this too. So I escalated this myself.   They definitely support Lightning, but I think when you were in the buy screen   and you chose where you wanted to take the funds from and choose which wallet   you wanted to send the results to, because this is how it works in Bitcoin well,   is you can have multiple wallets.   They have a wallet management screen and you can add multiple Lightning and on-chain wallets.   And then when you're in the buy screen, You choose where you want the money   to come from, like your bank account, or if you have like a small reoccurring   balance on the Bitcoin well, which is the fastest way.  

You choose where you want the source of the money to come from,   like your bank account. And then you choose the destination wallet,   which has to be one of your wallets you've set up.   And I think it's bugged right now where the Lightning wallet doesn't get listed   there. Or in the U.S. it only supports on-chain. I'm not sure,   but I have escalated it as well.   We'll see if we get anything back. Look, if you do want, like,   just an auto DCA system, I still think River might be the way to go in the States.   If you're in Canada, I think the Bitcoin well is the way to go.   Both are winners. And I got links in the show notes, of course.  

And I'll let you know what I hear if I hear it.   Appreciate that boost. Anonymous is here with 12,000 sats.   Plus one for having the Bitcoin dad on as a guest. But forgive me if this is asking too much.   You mentioned last episode that inflation has had a positive impact on your   family. What sorts of impacts?   Yeah, I think it's had good second-order impacts on my family.   My wife and I had to start working together more seriously around our finances   and really figure out where we could cut back.   And we also figured – and then what we – from there, I guess I should say,   we realized food was a major source of cost for us.  

And if there was ways that we could buy from a bulk source or what we started   doing is buying from like a butcher directly for our beef and then buying from   – I think it's called Azure something for some of the bigger bulk supplies and   then making more from scratch.   And so over the last three years, we just started making more and more things from scratch.   And we didn't do it for the health reasons. We did it for cost savings.   But I think as a result, there has been health benefits as well.   But there's also been the skills.   I think skills is probably the bigger. I could have just said that,   skills. We've had to learn how to fix things ourselves.  

I never was really up for working on my cars. Now I do the oil changes on my   vehicles. I'll do small maintenance, fix things, you know, replace small parts   that are accessible to me.   Basically anything you can do without a lift. I got a jack, you know, and I got jack stands.   So if I can just jack up a corner, I'll try to do it, you know,   like my brakes. But anything major, I still have to take it into the shop.   But I didn't even have any inclination to build some of these skill sets or   like things around repairing the RV until it was priced out of my reach.   And so we had to invest in ourselves. So it enforced an investment in skills.  

It forced us to get a little bit more fiscally disciplined and it kind of forced   us to create more of a plan that before I think we just didn't really have to.   Now, it's also there's been a lot of costs, but that's the positives.   Thank you for the boost and sharp ears.   Adversary 17 is here with 7,000 sats. I am programmed in multiple techniques.   And Adversary says, Chris, I tried to sign up with the Bitcoin well when I used   the link you had in the show notes, but then I got an invalid referral code,   so I thought I'd let you know. You could try again.   Let me know if it's not working. Also, you can always use their generic sign   up and use the promo code Jupiter, but the link in the show notes should be working.  

He's also responding to somebody who boosted in about River and Play.   He says, my River account does not have the option of doing a wire transfer.   It's under the add cash button as a separate tab. Oh, it does have the option   of doing a wire transfer. Yeah, you could do a wire transfer. I don't know.   This is where stable coins are kind of nice. I mean, you got to buy them.   So, you know, you got to do this process somewhere.   But like if I just had one account where I had access to stable coins and then   I could move that over to River and buy Bitcoin with it, it would make or,   you know, well or whatever.  

Like every place I have to set up my frickin' bank credentials and I have to   go through a KYC process just so I can access to my own damn money. You know?   I'm so tired of the existing banking system. It's so archaic.   And we've bolted all these crap things on top of it that invade our privacy   and are really just Band-Aids and lipstick.   That's how I feel about it. All right. Well, thank you, everybody.   That's all our 2,000 and above boosts that we do for time. We did have 44 of you stream sats.   Thank you. So, wow.   The streamers were really stepping up. We stacked 102,817 sats. Thank you, streamers.  

Really appreciate that. And when you combine it with the boost,   we had 57 unique senders.   With a grand total of 283,360 sats.   283,360 sats. Not a blowout week, but a week where the show continues.   You know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to complain about that.   And I'm not going to come and brag to the wife about that.   But we got it done. Thank you, everybody, for supporting episode 42 of This   Week in Bitcoin. This is a value-for-value production.   There is no company paying me to do this. We have our affiliate links that you   can use when you're getting yourself something. And we have the boost.  

And I really appreciate everybody who steps up to support this production.   It means a lot to me and keeps the show on the road and it's a great way to   interact. Probably my favorite way to interact.   If you'd like to get started, I'll have links in the show notes.   There's lots of great podcast apps at podcastapps.com.   Fountain makes it really easy to get started or you can go all the way down   the self-host route with Albie Hub and hook it up to all kinds of apps.   There's lots of choices. Thank you, everybody.   Music.  

In increasing the energy capacity, and there's a new nuclear-powered Bitcoin   mine being proposed in a town called North Tonawanda, I believe it is.   It's in New York, and they have a plan to monetize this new nuclear power plant,   but the locals, they ain't so happy about it.   And friends, I have to say, I think this is always going to be a problem.   Even though we all agree nuclear power is fantastic, Nobody wants it in their damn backyard.   A new partnership could bring advanced nuclear technology to a crypto mining   plant in Niagara County.  

The goal is to convert the current plant in North Tonawanda to carbon free energy.   So it's an existing crypto mine and they're going to use these newer,   smaller reactors, which how many times have you heard about these micro reactors   and small nuke reactors?   And it's always been this fantasy.   Well, they're real and they're fantastic and they can apparently be deployed   at an existing data center.   The community is raising concerns with the idea of bringing nuclear technology to Western New York.   Our Trina Katterson spoke with North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylik for some answers.   This crypto mining facility has been the talk of the city of North Tonawanda   for months. And now it's gaining even more attention.  

DigiHost, which currently operates here, is looking to partner with another   company whose main focus is nuclear energy.   It's sparked some concerns when anyone hears nuclear.   There's a lot of questions that come to be. North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylik's   office has been flooded with questions from residents following the announcement.   On December 12th, Digihost and Nanonuclear signed a non-binding contract to   bring nuclear reactor technology to the current plant on Erie Avenue.   Right now, we're really digging into the details with it. There's not a ton of information.   This sort of nanonuclear is a new energy source.  

It's smaller nuclear. According to a press release from Nanonuclear Energy,   the main reason for the collaboration is to improve the environmental concerns   at the current DigiHost plant.   The founder of Nanonuclear said, quote, This MOU marks a significant step toward   delivering carbon-free, scalable energy while ensuring operational reliability.   So this is really interesting. And I'm not really very familiar with this story   other than just what they report here.   But to me, it's checking a lot of boxes, right?   Carbon-free, scalable energy, reliable.  

Like, these are good things here. But Mayor Tylek says the idea of nuclear power   and industrial waste sites in North Tonawanda is causing some pushback.   The questions that come to be are, what happens to the waste?   Is there, you know, any potential for explosions? These are all things that   we've brought up or have heard concerns about.   Is it going to make super mutant fish that have three eyes?   Tilek says currently North Tonawanda does not have any zoning categories to   regulate something like nanonuclear.   But he plans on working with local environmental activists and neighboring lawmakers to change that.  

For residents out there that are wondering, we are aware that there are concerns   with this type of industry. And we're going to make sure we get to the bottom of it.   Mayor Austin Tylek emphasized that nanonuclear says their target date for reactor   integration isn't until 2031.   So he'll be making sure that he takes the time to answer all of the residents'   questions and hears all of the concerns they might have.   Reporting in North Tonawanda, Trina Katterson, News 4. Tonawanda, 2031.   Oh, this is all going to take so long. And we can't even agree it's the right   thing to do. Meanwhile, people want EVs. They want AI.  

We want sound money, like power. I want, you know what I want?   I want a holodeck. I want a replicator. I want a transporter. I want a warp drive.   These things all use power. Now we're either going to burn up the earth resources   doing it, or we're going to find a way that everybody can live with.   I just, I find this energy debate so frustrating and yet so,   so critical to the growth of society. Music.   Music.   River has a new feature. This week, River introduced Forcefield.   Man, they're really setting the bar with the proof of reserves.   And now this is a new value they're adding to their Bitcoin storage offering.  

And they say it's designed to protect you from being targeted by social engineering.   If you're physically threatened with a wrench attack, if your device is lost   or stolen, or if your login credentials are stolen or compromised.   They're trying to come up with a way to protect you from that.   And the product that they're announcing is called Force Field.   And I'll play their, well, I'll play their promo video. It's kind of adorable.   1.3 million Bitcoin have been stolen by hackers and scammers over the past 15 years.   Your Bitcoin should be impossible to steal.  

Introducing Forcefield, the new standard to secure your Bitcoin.   It's built to protect your Bitcoin from scams, phone theft, account compromise and physical threats.   With Forcefield active, even if an attacker gains access to your account,   they still won't be able to empty it.   Forcefield lets you turn off or limit Bitcoin sends.   Forcefield deactivation triggers a series of alerts with a five day deactivation   delay to give you time to respond to any threat.   Activate a forcefield for your Bitcoin today.   I mean, it's very clever marketing, right? Because what you're doing is you're   combining a spend limit with a five-day deactivation delay, which is pretty smart.  

So you can say, you know, you can't spend more than $1,000 or,   you know, 1,000 sats out of this account in a week.   And if you want to disable that limitation, there's a five-day cooldown where   you can interrupt it and say, no, no, no, that wasn't me.   And then obviously you're combining this force field feature with things like   two-factor authentication around the account, their proof of reserves,   and other security systems that River has.   I think it's very respectable. And while I wouldn't say put your family's life-changing   wealth into a River account,   I would feel very comfortable about DCAing there for a while or having a little   hot sats for sending around over the Lightning Network.  

I think they're doing the right stuff, and I think other custodians should follow   suit. The best route is just not to be a custodian, right?   But I mean, if you're going to be a custodian, that's the way to do it.   That's the way. All right. Well, I did a lot of reading for you this week.   We have multiple strategic Bitcoin reserve legislations landing in three different   states just this week, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and one that just,   just was announced as I was going into the studio to record, Oklahoma.   Let's start with the first two, New Hampshire and North Dakota.  

They have both introduced legislation to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve,   if you can call it that, indicating at least, I think, interest in just not   at the country level, but at the state level.   So I read through these bills so you don't have to. They're not super thick   bills. They're pretty thin on the details. Let's start with New Hampshire.   The New Hampshire bill does not specify an exact monetary amount,   but it specifies a limit of 10 percent of the total amount of public funds and authorized assets.   Authorized assets include precious metals, cryptocurrencies, and stablecoins.  

I don't know why they'd be investing in stablecoins. You're not going to get   much of a return on that one.   Just whatever. Bitcoin is not even explicitly mentioned in the New Hampshire bill.   What they just say is digital assets with a market capitalization of over $500 billion.   And they don't mention inflation or debasement at all in the bill.   But North Dakota's did. So let's look at the North Dakota bill, NDHCR 3001.   It specifically mentions inflation, and it says inflation erodes the purchasing   power of state funds and that investment diversification is encouraged to preserve   the state's financial resources and protect against inflation. Nailing it over there.  

The bill does not specify an exact amount or percentage, But it encourages the   state treasurer and state investment board to allocate portions of the general fund,   the budget stabilization fund and the legacy fund to digital assets,   to digital assets and precious metals as well.   Now, also in the North Dakota bill, like New Hampshire, Bitcoin is not explicitly mentioned.   They turn digital assets, which encompasses Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,   and is left up to interpretation by the state's treasurer or an investment board.   So that's where they're going to define what assets, digital assets,   they can invest in. Now, Oklahoma is a little bit more interesting.  

It's got a bit more meat on this bone here, and I'll have a link to all these   bills in the show notes. The last bill is the Oklahoma one.   It's similar to the others in some sense. The state treasurer is allowed to   invest public funds in Bitcoin and other digital assets that have market caps   that exceed $500 billion, just like we heard before.   And they also say they can invest in stablecoins.   And the investments are limited to 10% of the total public funds in relevant accounts in Oklahoma.   And the funds are eligible for investment include the state general fund,   the revenue stabilization fund, and the constitutional reserve fund.  

Oklahoma's bill does explicitly discuss Bitcoin as a key investment vehicle   for the state and defines in detail its origin and use in financial instruments,   which was pretty great to see. So there you have it.   Just this last week, since the last episode, New Hampshire, North Dakota and   Oklahoma are all introducing strategic crypto bills in one form or another.   Could you imagine if there's a strategic reserve or at least a stash or a cash   at the federal level and then multiple states start stacking in Bitcoin as well?   And then you combine that with the stacking that companies are doing.  

Bitwise did a little research and they say that companies buying Bitcoin is   one of the most overlooked megatrends recently. I'll link to this in the show notes.   You know, when we first started talking about the strategy on the show,   it was basically Michael Saylor over at MicroStrategy.   But as of today, as I record, there are now 70 publicly traded companies holding   Bitcoin on their balance sheets.   And there's a lot more private firms that are doing it, but they don't have to report it.   We know, though, that the public companies collectively, excluding MicroStrategy,   the public companies collectively, excluding Mikey, hold 141,302 Bitcoin.  

MicroStrategy is somewhere around 400,000 Bitcoin. And we know also about some of the private firms.   We know SpaceX and Block have some Bitcoin.   I think the last number we saw   for them collectively is around 368,000 Bitcoin between the two of them.   So if this is true, if these numbers are true, 141 for public companies and   368, these are the hundreds of thousands,   for SpaceX and Block and Tesla, That means that microstrategy now represents   less than 50% of the corporate Bitcoin market,   even though they've been doing crazy buys every single Monday.   That's how big of a trend companies adding Bitcoin to their treasury is.  

Then you combine that with states and countries stacking.   And then, like I talked to the top of the show, investment firms and the plebs   that are trying to hedge against inflation, they're stacking.   Everybody's a Bitcoin buyer from the individual up to the nation level and massive   corporations in between. And I think over 2025, you're just going to see more   corporations get on board.   Meta just had a proposal put in front of them, just like the Microsoft one that   essentially says they should buy Bitcoin.   I still think it's a long shot, although I suppose if any company was going   to do it out of the group that have recently been propositioned,   it would be Meta because Zuckerberg does have more control over there.  

And I have reason to believe that the Zuck is a Bitcoin fan.   Music.   Waller, CEO of Strike, was doing a podcast down at a meetup.   It might have been Puerto Rico. They were a little vague on the location.   But there was just a big Bitcoin meetup down in Puerto Rico.   And it sounds like it went incredible.   There's no real Bitcoin infrastructure or companies down there.   But the people are passionate. And folks traveled from all over the world to   help train locals on Bitcoin.   And Jack was sitting down to do his Money Matters podcast.   And the topic of Bitcoin versus real estate and Ethereum came up.  

And I just think this is one of his best succinct explanations of why Bitcoin   is different than everything else. The reality is Bitcoin is just a much bigger use case.   That I don't think people realize, meaning there's $900 trillion worth of stuff   people own in the world, right?   That's real estate, equities in stock, fine art, precious metals,   collectibles, Bitcoin, $900 trillion of stuff in the world people own.   It's estimated that about half of that people have monetized as a savings account.   They own their house not to live in it, but because they need to save their money.   They own the stock not because they believe in leadership and because they believe   in the product and because they're invested in future earnings,   but because they have a 401k.  

They own the art not because it's consumed on their wall, but because they're going to sell it later.   So half of the stuff people own in the world they're using as money.   Bitcoin is a better money, it's the best money in human history.   I estimate safely that Bitcoin is going after a $400 to $500 trillion in today's   purchasing power opportunity.   If we're at about a trillion dollar market cap today, I think Bitcoin's got   at least a $400 to $500X left in it in purchasing power terms,   not in dollar terms, because we know that will continue to get debased.   Okay, so that is a massive, you can solve half the world's problem by supporting   Bitcoin and it being adopted as the world's money.  

And it will what? Bitcoin will fix housing. People will sell their excess homes and buy Bitcoin.   People will sell their excess art and buy Bitcoin. People will sell their equities and buy Bitcoin.   It will restore the ability for everyone to consume the market goods that they   need and save the time, energy, labor, work, effort that they want. Now, what is Ethereum?   What's the Ethereum market opportunity? Is it $500 trillion?   No. What's the market cap of Amazon? $2 trillion.   If Ethereum is half as good as Amazon, it's a 1 500th of Bitcoin.   And so I think what people don't understand is Bitcoin is the only money.  

These things are technologies.   When someone says I'm going to decentralize dentistry, what's the market opportunity of that?   $100 million if you're the Steve Jobs of defying dentistry?   So these things are not nearly as ambitious enough and not nearly creating enough   value for society to even be in the same sentence.   Music.   Let's take a look at the state of the network. Bitcoin mining difficulty hit   a new high of 110.45 terahash, making it the eighth consecutive upward adjustment   for the mining difficulty.   As I record, Bitcoin is flirting with $100,000, sitting at $99,760.  

My favorite statistic? So close.   Sats per dollar, 1,003 or 2, fluctuating as I record. Just above the 1,000 sat to dollar parity.   So close. Love that parity. Now, as I look, there are 20,589 reachable Bitcoin nodes on the network.   Nice, but I think we need to get that number up. Let's think it's slacking.   Slacking. We are 7.8% down from our all-time high, which was 29 days ago on December 17th, 2024.   Which was $108,280 in U.S. greenbacks.   Transactions continue. The network produces yet another block.   State of the network is good.   Bitcoin is lining up for a great year. Thank you so much for joining me.  

Links to what I talked about this week are at thisweekinbitcoin.show.   This was episode 42. You can find everything over there.   And, of course, I'll play a value-for-value track. And if you boost in during   that track, 90% of your sats go to the artist.   And it's opened up a whole new world of music for podcasters.   So I really appreciate the support when you share it with them.   Also love it when you share the show with somebody.   Word of mouth is the number one way. It's really the only way for podcast marketing   to work. If you're going to listen to something this long, you need somebody   to trust and recommend it to you. So thank you for sharing the show with somebody.  

Okay. I'll leave you with our value for the value track. It is 21 million by Rundance.   Yeah. In the land of the optimist.   Probably watching too much Antonopolis.   Contemplating the irony of   free markets. While I'm sinking deeper into the depths of green tar pits.   I got debt up to my armpits. So far I'm farming fiat.   Far from the dreams I see not. Got a vision to be living.   As one of the elite, I just gotta get back up on my feet and opt out of the   Ponzi It is zombie economy in this horror turned comedy Scarsity is novelty,   Max Keiser put it best to the nation This is the global insurrection against   banker occupation It's hard enough when your credit cards weigh a ton Waiting for unemployment,   stimulus hasn't come You're waiting for anything to break out,   make a run Man, fuck 2020, I'm ready for 21.  

Music.   Can't mask these violent crimes. Giant lies while I'm waiting in giant lines.   Stocks crash as Brian flies. My tired eyes. The blocks slide back. The clocks turn wise.   So crank the hydrant assholes. And flood the nation with free capital.   Right up to your clavicles.   Strip the system of its assets and scrap it all.   Pull the trash out onto the backs of the taxpayer. Add the gas of passive cash and light a match.   Music.   Watch it all burn down in ashes and hashtags. What will it be?   Fragile bubbles impact Gatsna. Rather I   stay humble and stack sats And at the end of   the tunnel I see a light that is brilliant I'm just   praying I'll be just one of 21 million And   in the wake of the Fed printing them trillions I only wanna   be one of 21 million From the corner of Chicago   and 38th Street Came a movement moving toward us.  

Music.   At the speed of a tweak Now there's gluten in community So   rude and obscene We turn stupid and rude They label COVID-19   YouTube's glued while grandma's zooming Assuming you're lacking   grooming and a group and together unless you're stuck on a cruise ship so who's   the loser who's the bullet that you gotta outmaneuver who's the future who's   the boomer who'd have turned to when that news turns into rumors who's that   person in the mirror you're accusing it's you sir broken systems bleed social   distance breeds covid symptoms breathe police victims not to mention the feds unholy.   Music.