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LearningTranscript
00:00:00 Good afternoon everybody, welcome to crypto big chatty forehead talk fest.
00:00:06 We're still working on the marketing for all of this.
00:00:08 But, what are the top ten inventions that have changed the world?
00:00:14 Top ten inventions that have changed the world.
00:00:17 This is from a, one of the most popular engineering accounts on X.
00:00:22 Waterwell's steam engine.
00:00:26 Give me steam!
00:00:28 Waterwell's steam engine, what else?
00:00:30 Come on, what do you got? Internet, yeah.
00:00:32 Radio, radio.
00:00:35 Kill video, kill the radio star, yes that's right.
00:00:39 Very first, very first video ever played on MTV.
00:00:42 Actually it's a great song, it's a really great song.
00:00:46 Um, internet, radio, yeah steam engine, what else?
00:00:49 What else have you got? What else have you got?
00:00:52 Bitcoin and dogecoin?
00:00:56 Meme coin.
00:01:00 Last top at 69k felt topish, but now when hovering around 70, feels really cheap.
00:01:07 Yeah, it's funny, this is, I mean this is an addiction, right?
00:01:10 An addiction is any time you need to escalate to get the same, right?
00:01:15 So, if bitcoin, what did it go from like 20, I'm talking Canadian dollars,
00:01:20 went like from 22 to 98, right?
00:01:23 And rather than saying, my god that's four times or more,
00:01:27 it's the greatest thing ever, you're like, why isn't it at 100?
00:01:31 Right, so that's how you go, you gotta battle that.
00:01:34 And any time you get frustrated with bitcoin,
00:01:38 there's just one simple thing you need to do.
00:01:40 There's one simple thing you need to do any time you ever get annoyed,
00:01:43 or frustrated, or feel that bitcoin is stagnant, just zoom out.
00:01:47 You know, you can go to wherever, just zoom out.
00:01:49 Zoom out five years, zoom out ten years, zoom out fourteen years,
00:01:53 and you'll feel fantastic.
00:01:56 So, yeah, if you zoom in, it's annoying, if you zoom out, it's like, hallelujah.
00:02:01 Right, so, the bow, computers, the printing press, containers,
00:02:09 lots of recency bias with the interventions, bow, electricity, light bulb,
00:02:13 alright, three phase AC power.
00:02:16 Alright, so, this is what is said, again, this is one of the biggest engineering,
00:02:23 I don't know where they get their data from, obviously, I don't know.
00:02:26 I don't know, but, and of course, tips are welcome.
00:02:32 So, this is the top ten inventions that changed the world.
00:02:35 One, the wheel.
00:02:37 Two, the nail.
00:02:40 Three, the compass, and it's funny because the age of discovery is past,
00:02:45 so we don't think of the value of the compass,
00:02:47 but without the compass, there really wasn't the age of discovery.
00:02:50 Four, electricity, or as my daughter said when she was a toddler, "Electriscity."
00:02:55 Five, the internal combustion engine, also known as my bow's post-Indian food.
00:02:59 Six, the telephone.
00:03:00 Seven, the light bulb.
00:03:01 Eight, penicillin.
00:03:02 Nine, contraceptives, maybe related to nailing, I'm not sure.
00:03:06 And ten, the internet.
00:03:07 Now, I would obviously put in bitcoin, though it's early days,
00:03:11 I would add the printing press, but because,
00:03:14 so they're looking for technology, not literacy, because they are engineers,
00:03:19 but this is the argument.
00:03:23 Sextant, also related to penicillin, contraceptives, and nailing.
00:03:28 Yes, I would put a couple of other things in there,
00:03:31 but that's what they got, and I thought it was an interesting start.
00:03:37 All right.
00:03:39 So, let's just dive straight into the data.
00:03:41 What percentage of internet users own crypto?
00:03:48 We know 1% of the world's what percentage of internet users own crypto?
00:03:51 Not bitcoin, just crypto as a whole.
00:04:00 So, 2%?
00:04:09 It's 4% of internet users own crypto.
00:04:12 Very early days.
00:04:14 Very early days.
00:04:15 All right.
00:04:16 So, Bitwise CEO says, "A major national US wealth platform selected
00:04:20 and approved a visor access to their spot bitcoin ETF this week."
00:04:26 So, what does this mean?
00:04:30 Well, it means that financial advisors can now discuss bitcoin ETFs
00:04:35 with their clients.
00:04:37 So, I don't know if you've ever worked in the finance industry.
00:04:42 I did as a programmer on one of Canada's largest trading platforms,
00:04:48 and all that, and of course, I've gone through a fair amount
00:04:52 of brutal financial education, buying, or selling a variety of companies
00:04:57 that I co-founded or a company multiple times, and all of that.
00:05:01 So, it means, so a lot of times there's a barrier.
00:05:04 You can't discuss X, Y, and Z until it's approved by the central board, right?
00:05:10 And so, now, now, financial advisors are now officially allowed
00:05:17 to discuss bitcoin ETFs with their clients.
00:05:20 So, that's interesting.
00:05:24 The US Treasury has issued $7 trillion worth of debt in just three months.
00:05:29 $7 trillion worth of debt in just three months.
00:05:31 That means about a third of the US debt has been papered
00:05:35 in the last three months.
00:05:38 That's wild.
00:05:39 Now, that is actually a level of debt issuance that matches the worst
00:05:43 of COVID, but there's no pandemic.
00:05:47 And it's double the previous record that had stood for 231 years.
00:05:53 The economy, the entire US economy, not just the US economy,
00:06:00 but the economy of late-stage fiat currency environments is,
00:06:05 I don't know if you've ever been hot air ballooning,
00:06:08 but I'll give you an example.
00:06:11 There we go, hot air ballooning.
00:06:13 The visual joke.
00:06:15 A visual joke.
00:06:17 So, hot air ballooning, you've got to keep the heat, right?
00:06:20 You've got to keep the heat because hot air rises.
00:06:22 So, you've got to keep the heat, and there's a massive crank.
00:06:27 There's a massive crank of heat that is required to keep
00:06:31 the hot air balloon up in the air.
00:06:32 And the colder the air, the more heat you need, right?
00:06:36 So, the economy is kind of held aloft with the money printer
00:06:41 go brrrr kind of thing, right?
00:06:43 And so, when you look at the economy and how much debt
00:06:48 is required to keep it in a mild growth scenario,
00:06:53 we are in the late stages of the addiction, right?
00:06:58 You understand that.
00:06:59 When you need more stimulus to achieve the same outcome,
00:07:03 then you are in a situation of addiction, right?
00:07:07 Which is why it's important to be happy that crypto's up
00:07:10 and not look at, "Oh, it hasn't gone up much today," right?
00:07:13 And so, or Bitcoin.
00:07:16 So, the US economy is, well, the economies of the West
00:07:23 as a whole are held aloft by money printing,
00:07:26 and the money printing is escalating, but there's not
00:07:31 a concomitant increase in economic productivity,
00:07:36 in economic wealth, in economic value.
00:07:39 So, when you have to crank up the debt, but the needle
00:07:42 of the economic growth doesn't budge much,
00:07:45 then you are in a challenging situation, to put it mildly.
00:07:49 And of course, you know, this is happening because
00:07:51 they want to create the illusion economy or the economy of,
00:07:55 the illusion of a robust economy through the election.
00:08:01 So, that's pretty wild, and I had some more data on that, right?
00:08:05 So, this is from, let me just, I just want to make sure
00:08:08 I get the right date in here, I think this is the day I do.
00:08:11 March 26th, so a couple days ago.
00:08:14 So, this is wild stuff.
00:08:21 US federal debt totals 26.2 trillion at the end of 2023,
00:08:24 about 97% of gross domestic product.
00:08:28 The nonpartisan independent agency, CBO, expects the debt to GDP ratio
00:08:32 to rise past the Second World War high of 116% by 2029
00:08:37 and reach as high as 166% by 2054.
00:08:41 Seems a bit optimistic, but that's what they say.
00:08:46 The bigger the debt, the greater the pressure to keep real
00:08:49 or inflation adjusted interest rates and bond yields artificially low.
00:08:53 Higher rates and higher debt levels push the government's interest expenses
00:08:56 higher, aggravating debt concerns, right?
00:09:00 So, this is the challenge, right?
00:09:02 So, if we had some sort of magical way that every time
00:09:05 additional dollars were added to a relatively stagnant economy
00:09:09 that the price increases would be immediate, right?
00:09:13 The price increases would be immediate, then there would be no point
00:09:15 printing money, but because the price interests are delayed,
00:09:18 the people who get the money first get to buy the money,
00:09:20 get to spend the money at greater value than those who receive it later,
00:09:24 who get to spend it at much less value.
00:09:26 So, if you're handed the first million dollars that's been printed,
00:09:29 you get to spend it at full value, and then the people who get,
00:09:33 like the million people who get the last dollar out of that,
00:09:37 get to spend it at 50% of their value.
00:09:39 So, it really is just stealing from the poor.
00:09:41 It's just, it's brutal.
00:09:45 So, you've got to keep these interest rates low and real interest rates
00:09:50 and the bond yields have to be kept low, otherwise you don't get to profit
00:09:54 from all of that, right?
00:09:57 So, negative real rates often lead investors to move money
00:10:00 out of fixed income investments and into high risk, high return assets
00:10:03 like technology, stocks, cryptocurrencies, and havens like gold.
00:10:07 And of course, we saw that in 2020 to 2021.
00:10:10 So, if inflation is running at 8% and yet you're only getting 4% return,
00:10:17 then on your fixed income investments, then you've got to move your money out
00:10:22 because you're going to lose it, like the US dollar has lost
00:10:25 almost a quarter of its value just since 2020.
00:10:29 That's, I mean, staggeringly brutal, right?
00:10:33 I mean, if you saved a million dollars and you put it in the bank,
00:10:37 you've lost a quarter of a million dollars in less than half a decade.
00:10:41 That's rough.
00:10:44 Now, of course, US bonds, US treasuries are traded around the world
00:10:48 as if they're cash, right?
00:10:49 And if there's any doubt about the long-term viability of these,
00:10:53 there's going to be a significant readjustment.
00:10:56 And people are going to be looking for other investments.
00:11:01 The safe haven is sort of the phrase, right?
00:11:04 So, if you're out there on the ocean and the weather is great,
00:11:11 you're not going to put into a sketchy port, right?
00:11:13 Some port where your sailors will go and visit houses of ill repute
00:11:19 and possibly get syphilis, go insane, and crash your ship, right?
00:11:23 So, it's some sketchy port where they might let you take on new provisions,
00:11:29 but they also might rob you of half your goods, right?
00:11:32 So, it's a really sketchy port.
00:11:34 So, you're like, "We're going to sail past a sketchy port.
00:11:36 I'm going to keep going," because it's smooth sailing,
00:11:38 glass, good wind, and all of that glass sees good wind.
00:11:42 But, of course, if a massive storm is coming,
00:11:45 then you're going to go into the safe haven, right?
00:11:48 Even though it's kind of sketchy, it's safer than being out on the water.
00:11:50 So, Bitcoin for a lot of investors is that sketchy port,
00:11:53 but as long as they can sail past it, they will.
00:11:57 But if there's a big storm coming in, there's a possibility.
00:12:00 I know this is an analogy, and analogy is not proof,
00:12:03 but that's a general mindset that I've sort of seen.
00:12:10 This is from the newsletter service London Crypto Club.
00:12:14 It said, "In a highly indebted economy, negative real inflation-adjusted rates
00:12:19 and financial repression are a necessary condition to keep the system running,
00:12:23 and fiat currency debasement remains the escape valve."
00:12:27 I don't want to get out, right?
00:12:32 The founder said, "Gold continues to signal that the macro sands are shifting.
00:12:37 Should net ETF inflows turn positive this week,
00:12:39 don't be surprised if Bitcoin catches the macro winds and accelerates to new highs."
00:12:45 The Nasdaq listed spot ETFs accumulated of 15 million on Monday,
00:12:51 snapping a five-day streak of outflows.
00:12:54 Bitcoin changed hands at US $70,780 at press time,
00:12:59 representing a 5% gain on a 24-hour basis.
00:13:04 The CoinDesk 20 index, a measure of the broader crypto market, added 5.5%.
00:13:09 Again, this is from a couple of days ago.
00:13:15 All right, let me sort of get to some more data here.
00:13:29 Larry Fink said on TV that demand for Bitcoin ETFs have been by retail.
00:13:34 This is because big whales have a 90-day trading delay that ends in the beginning of May.
00:13:38 April 2024 will therefore be the last month ever for normal people to become a whole coiner.
00:13:43 Use April well, he said, right?
00:13:48 So, seems relevant.
00:13:50 Again, you know, the usual standard caveat, none of this is trading advice.
00:13:53 Don't make any buying or selling decisions based on anything that I'm saying.
00:13:57 I'm a rank amateur, not certified, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:14:00 This is all just my opinion and it's all on you.
00:14:04 Do your own research, make your own decisions.
00:14:06 Don't do anything based upon what I'm saying.
00:14:08 Now, the Bankman Freed situation is interesting as you probably heard.
00:14:12 He got 25 years this week and boy, just imagine.
00:14:22 If he'd just been able to keep the scam going for six more months,
00:14:27 then his customers could have been made whole by this crypto rally.
00:14:32 Isn't that wild?
00:14:34 Now, maybe he would have stolen all of that money too,
00:14:37 but he would have probably been able to make his customers whole
00:14:41 because he had an AI startup bet that turned 500 million into 5 billion.
00:14:45 That was a wild crypto rally.
00:14:47 So, timing, timing, timing, timing, timing.
00:14:54 So, if Bitcoin hits 72,000, according to one researcher,
00:14:59 if Bitcoin hits 72,200, 1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin short positions will be flushed out.
00:15:07 So, yeah, it's pretty wild.
00:15:10 Yeah, there was a YouTube fellow who went to, speaking of the sort of unsafe ports,
00:15:15 there was a YouTube fellow who went there to interview the head of the Haitian,
00:15:22 whatever you'd call it these days,
00:15:24 and I think he's been kidnapped, they want 600,000.
00:15:29 That's, I don't know, I don't know why people do these interesting things.
00:15:33 It's a mystery to me.
00:15:34 Okay, now, if Bitcoin reaches the gold market cap, right,
00:15:39 this is not any kind of prediction, obviously, but this is an interesting number.
00:15:44 If Bitcoin reaches the gold market cap,
00:15:49 then Bitcoin's US dollars will be worth almost $770,000 per Bitcoin.
00:15:55 What's that close to a mil Canadian?
00:15:57 So, yeah, if Bitcoin, obviously, there's a long way to go,
00:16:00 but if Bitcoin reaches the gold market cap,
00:16:03 which is roughly to say that if people accept that Bitcoin is a store of value roughly equal to gold,
00:16:11 it's an inflation escape valve roughly equal to gold,
00:16:15 then we're talking $769,852 per Bitcoin if it reaches the gold market cap.
00:16:27 So there was a good quote here that said,
00:16:30 "Bitcoin is the math class you never had, the history class you never had,
00:16:34 the finance class you never had, the physics class you never had,
00:16:37 and the economics class you never had."
00:16:40 And it's true, you know, normally studying economics is called the dismal science, right?
00:16:44 So normally studying economics is just depressing.
00:16:48 It's really depressing.
00:16:49 But studying economics, if it's paid off for you in crypto,
00:16:55 I guess it's been worth it, right?
00:16:58 I guess it's been worth it.
00:17:00 Available Bitcoin supply is shrinking at a super rapid pace,
00:17:03 only 1.77 million left on exchanges.
00:17:07 Only 1.77 million left on exchanges.
00:17:09 This is a rough rule of thumb, of course, as you know,
00:17:12 that people take off--they take the Bitcoins off exchanges
00:17:16 if they are putting them in cold storage or believe that the price is going to go up,
00:17:19 or if they're just saying--not that anybody really does this,
00:17:23 but, you know, mentally they say, "I'll check in in 6 to 12 months
00:17:26 and see what the price is, but I'm not going to trade," right?
00:17:28 So if Bitcoin is leaving the exchanges,
00:17:31 usually that's an indication that people are thinking it's going to go up,
00:17:36 and if Bitcoin is going on the exchanges, people may be more inclined,
00:17:39 or it may be a signal that they're more inclined to sell.
00:17:43 And none of that changes the fundamental economic arguments for Bitcoin,
00:17:49 which don't exist independent of what people believe, right?
00:17:51 So a thing has value if people think it has value, right?
00:17:54 That's what I was talking about with the Austrian economics show I did a couple of weeks ago,
00:17:57 which you should really listen to, but it wasn't particular to Bitcoin
00:18:01 and its movements at the time, but if people believe something has value, it has value.
00:18:06 But it doesn't have intrinsic value.
00:18:09 Like, there's this thing called intrinsic that you can just attach to something
00:18:13 to determine whether people should value it or not.
00:18:15 Isn't that weird? Isn't that weird?
00:18:19 It's Platonism, basically.
00:18:21 So Platonism says that there's an essence to something that exists independent of it
00:18:25 and is somehow infused or attached to it, but exists prior to it, it exists after it,
00:18:30 like the soul, right, so to speak.
00:18:31 Oh, no, the soul, I think, is created with the body.
00:18:34 So people have this belief that there's this thing called intrinsic value
00:18:40 that is somehow attached to something that raises its value.
00:18:45 But there is no such thing as intrinsic value.
00:18:48 Oh, no, food has intrinsic value. Nope.
00:18:51 A lot of people, if they are, they'd rather feed their kids than themselves,
00:18:56 so the kids have higher value than their food.
00:18:58 There are people going on hunger strikes, there are people dieting
00:19:01 to whom food has negative value, so, "Ah, but water!"
00:19:05 It's like, "Eh, you know, I get that, I get that."
00:19:07 But the value of water is still only dependent upon you.
00:19:15 Yes, the show is 5-4-3-4, Bitcoin versus economists.
00:19:23 "Steph, do you think the money printing this round is worse than COVID
00:19:26 because during COVID we didn't have all the refugees?"
00:19:29 I mean, certainly the spending on this sort of situation is very high
00:19:36 and will likely escalate.
00:19:40 Yes, whether the flood water has negative value,
00:19:44 if you're already carrying a lot of water and somebody offers you,
00:19:47 "Sell you more water that's heavy," because all water is crazy heavy
00:19:50 and 600 times denser than air, if I remember rightly,
00:19:53 then you're not going to find it to be of value.
00:19:56 If you are an alcoholic, water doesn't have much value
00:19:59 relative to beer and so on.
00:20:01 So, this idea that there's this thing that I can imagine,
00:20:08 that I can mentally attach to something to raise its value
00:20:11 in the eyes of others, is funny.
00:20:14 I mean, it's funny to me.
00:20:16 I mean, virtue has value.
00:20:20 I think, I mean, I've made that sort of case.
00:20:22 Virtue has value, but I can't just attach virtue to something
00:20:25 that I could say it now has value,
00:20:27 and therefore people are going to want it more.
00:20:29 Like, you willing the price of something to rise
00:20:31 because you're attaching imaginary thing called intrinsic value to it,
00:20:35 it's just kind of funny to me, and it's just absolutely not true.
00:20:39 Absolutely not true.
00:20:41 Respecting property rights has value,
00:20:43 not if you want other people's property, and it doesn't.
00:20:47 It's only if you want to keep your own.
00:20:49 All right, so I just wanted to sort of mention that.
00:20:52 I think that's it.
00:20:53 I've got a bunch of notes here, but I think that's it from the first one.
00:20:59 The CEO of Bitcoin miner, Ayrin, explains why they liquidate
00:21:02 all the Bitcoin they mine.
00:21:04 And he said, this is Daniel Roberts, he said,
00:21:05 "Investors shouldn't be paying for us to hold Bitcoin on their behalf.
00:21:08 If people want to own Bitcoin, go and buy it and put it in cold storage."
00:21:12 Because the people are saying, "Well, even the miners don't keep their Bitcoin."
00:21:18 I mean, if you're a miner and you want to own Bitcoin,
00:21:26 if you have a bunch of money, let's say, I don't know,
00:21:28 let's say it takes $5 million to start up a mining rig,
00:21:31 a mining organization, you would just buy Bitcoin with those $5 million
00:21:35 if you wanted to have Bitcoin.
00:21:37 So the fact that miners sell Bitcoin, I don't know, it's kind of funny, right?
00:21:42 All right, asset classes by market capitalization.
00:21:46 This is from Blockware Solutions.
00:21:49 Real estate, $326 trillion.
00:21:54 Debt, $303 trillion.
00:21:58 Equities, $108 trillion.
00:22:00 Base money, $30.4 trillion.
00:22:02 Gold, $12 trillion.
00:22:04 Bitcoin, teeny, teeny, teeny, 1.3, 1.3.
00:22:11 So real estate, just think of it this way,
00:22:14 real estate, $326, Bitcoin, $1.30.
00:22:18 $1.30, we used to use that when we'd talk about a really skinny guy.
00:22:22 "Ah, it's $1.30," 130 pounds, right?
00:22:24 So you've got some land whale at 326 pounds.
00:22:28 Oh no, that's even more, that's even more.
00:22:31 So yeah, $326 versus $1.30, right?
00:22:35 Gold is $12 versus Bitcoin's got $1.30.
00:22:38 Is it impossible for money to flow out of gold
00:22:41 or these other things into Bitcoin? Well, sure.
00:22:44 So real estate is taking a blow for a variety of reasons, right?
00:22:48 Commercial real estate has taken a massive blow
00:22:50 because of COVID and working from home and all of that,
00:22:53 and people just save you money that way.
00:22:55 So demand for--and people are starting fewer companies these days
00:22:59 because regulatory hurdles are just getting higher and higher.
00:23:01 Companies aren't growing as well because when you grow,
00:23:05 you hit all of these regulatory requirements,
00:23:07 and diversity, and different kinds of HR requirements, and so on.
00:23:11 So companies aren't growing, and so they just don't need as much real estate,
00:23:14 and people are trying to find ways to decentralize.
00:23:16 People are coordinating work with people in other countries,
00:23:20 so you don't need real estate.
00:23:21 So commercial real estate is kind of getting hollowed out.
00:23:24 And of course, people still need places to live,
00:23:27 but there's much less flipping and growth these days
00:23:30 in the real estate market because people are saying this all over the place.
00:23:33 "Well, if I sell my house, maybe I make some money,
00:23:35 but I've got to buy some other new house that's crazy expensive."
00:23:38 And there is kind of a shiver that's going through the West,
00:23:43 and in particular in America at the moment,
00:23:47 which is--have you heard of the squatters thing right there?
00:23:53 There are places where there's a lot of expertise
00:23:56 in how to take over someone's house if it's not being lived in for a while.
00:24:02 It could be some rental property or maybe on extended vacation.
00:24:04 You just move into somebody's house,
00:24:06 and there's a certain series of steps you can take
00:24:08 where it's virtually impossible to get you out.
00:24:11 And this is sort of a blowback or unintended effect
00:24:15 of these squatters' rights things.
00:24:19 So getting people out of your apartment,
00:24:22 if they're not paying rent, for instance,
00:24:24 or if they've really trashed it and they've blown past their security deposit,
00:24:29 getting people out of your apartment if you're a landlord is really tough.
00:24:32 There was actually an old Michael Keaton movie called Pacific Heights about this.
00:24:35 It was one of the very few pro-property rights movies that has ever been made.
00:24:42 But trying to get people out.
00:24:44 So, of course, the people who rent are--
00:24:48 they vastly outnumber the people who own properties.
00:24:52 So if you've got an apartment building,
00:24:55 you own an apartment building with 40 apartments,
00:24:57 there's 80 to 100 people, and you're just one guy.
00:25:00 So they're going to outvote you, so the politicians are going to respond to the tenants,
00:25:03 not the landlords.
00:25:05 Wasn't there an old crappy police song about the landlord?
00:25:10 And landlords are kind of hated.
00:25:14 So what happens is if some-- let's say some woman,
00:25:18 some single mom-- it's kind of a typical scenario--
00:25:20 some single mom doesn't pay her rent
00:25:27 or is doing something illegal or just not taking care of the place,
00:25:32 maybe trashing the place a little, having too many parties,
00:25:35 then the landlord wants to get her out.
00:25:37 And so he cancels her lease, he cancels her rent,
00:25:40 or he cancels her right of occupancy, and then she becomes a squatter.
00:25:43 And then he can call the sheriff's department and say,
00:25:46 "Here's a squatter, here's all the paperwork.
00:25:48 You've got to get the squatter out."
00:25:51 And then, of course, what happens is all of the sentimental people
00:25:55 or the people who are wanting to wreck the system,
00:25:59 they come and they say, "Oh, you know, there's a social media--
00:26:03 the sheriff comes and this woman, she's crying,
00:26:06 and the kids are crying, and they're being dragged out of the place,
00:26:09 and their stuff's on the lawn, and everyone is like,
00:26:11 'Oh no, it's cold,' or 'It's terrible,' or 'It's bad,' or whatever."
00:26:15 And they say, "Well, we can't have that happen."
00:26:19 Right? "We can't have that happen."
00:26:25 And so they pass these laws that say, "You can't evict squatters!"
00:26:30 Because declaring-- again, I'm no landlord, this is my understanding.
00:26:34 Of course, I could be wrong about all of this,
00:26:36 but my understanding about how it works.
00:26:38 So if somebody's a squatter, it's really tough to evict them.
00:26:44 This is what Joe says, "If you live for 30 days in the house,
00:26:47 you might get evicted." It's crazy.
00:26:49 And of course, it's completely mad, right?
00:26:51 I mean, it's completely crazy.
00:26:53 But what's happening is the concerns that people have
00:26:58 about leaving properties unattended have gone up.
00:27:01 And of course, the Airbnb issues, where Airbnbs aren't working out that much,
00:27:05 because Airbnbs require a high-trust society,
00:27:08 so Airbnbs aren't working out that much,
00:27:10 and so the value of real estate might be--
00:27:13 I mean, I think it is going down in a lot of places.
00:27:17 So real estate values may be declining.
00:27:22 I think they are in some places,
00:27:25 and so it may not be the guarantee of the money printing, right?
00:27:29 The central bank prints a lot of money,
00:27:32 and then people think that their deed to their house
00:27:34 is also going to "print" a lot of money
00:27:36 by raising the value of their house and all of that.
00:27:39 And of course, as economic conditions in the West
00:27:44 get worse and worse and worse,
00:27:46 some of the people who might immigrate to the West
00:27:51 may not do so, they may not choose to do that,
00:27:56 or they may choose to move back if things get really bad.
00:28:01 And they seem to be in a lot of places.
00:28:03 So is it possible that things go out of real estate
00:28:09 and into other things like Bitcoin?
00:28:11 I think it's possible.
00:28:13 The London Stock Exchange is going to launch
00:28:15 Bitcoin and Ethereum Pitui exchange-traded notes market.
00:28:20 The USSEC approved the first spot Bitcoin ETFs,
00:28:23 of course, leading to significant success within 50 days.
00:28:26 Following this, the UK announced plans
00:28:28 to delve into digital asset exchange-traded markets.
00:28:31 The London Stock Exchange will introduce
00:28:33 a Bitcoin and Ethereum ETN market,
00:28:37 accepting applications until April 15th,
00:28:39 with a launch date set for May 28th, 2024.
00:28:42 This move comes after the notable success
00:28:44 of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US,
00:28:46 popularized by major asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity.
00:28:51 That's interesting.
00:28:54 If you know, where are the Bitcoin,
00:28:58 sorry, where are the Ethereum fees at the moment?
00:29:01 Me have minor issues with Ethereum
00:29:04 because the fees were just crazy high.
00:29:08 Or, you know, I guess if you want to move a million bucks,
00:29:11 they're low, but if you want to sell something for 20 bucks,
00:29:15 sometimes the fees seem to be higher, right?
00:29:22 So, yeah, supply and demand of immigration
00:29:27 is going to change based upon the capacity
00:29:30 for economic success in the host country.
00:29:34 Real estate has gone up from boomers
00:29:36 who want some last-minute money before they retire or die.
00:29:39 Maybe they might decide Bitcoin scratches that itch
00:29:42 now that it's through proper investment sources.
00:29:45 Maybe, maybe.
00:29:46 So Bitcoin is a test of humility, right?
00:29:49 Bitcoin is a test of humility and a test of vanity
00:29:52 because it's very, very hard for people to admit how wrong they were.
00:29:58 Isn't it? Isn't it?
00:30:00 I mean, I think that it's an essential aspect
00:30:03 of any kind of intellectual or emotional maturity
00:30:06 to be able to admit you messed up, right?
00:30:13 And a lot of the boomers,
00:30:15 and I say this being a year shy at the boomerville,
00:30:17 but a lot of the boomers were told about Bitcoin.
00:30:20 A lot of people were told about Bitcoin.
00:30:22 I mean, I've been talking about it since 2011 or so, right?
00:30:24 So a lot of people were talking about Bitcoin
00:30:26 and they were all like, "Ah, it's magic internet,
00:30:28 nonsense cash backed by nothing.
00:30:30 It's a scam. It's a bubble. It's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
00:30:34 You know, it's really-- thank you for the tip.
00:30:36 It's really tough for people to say, "I was totally wrong."
00:30:43 And that's painful, right?
00:30:44 Because you look at the money maybe that you've left on the table
00:30:46 by pooh-poohing something and all of that.
00:30:49 It's wild.
00:30:52 So, "Gas fees are so bad with Ethereum,
00:30:56 it makes central banking look good."
00:30:58 Well, I mean, if you can't even get close to the fees
00:31:01 that Visa charges, we have some challenges.
00:31:05 We have some challenges.
00:31:07 Somebody says, "Thank you for the tip."
00:31:09 Michael Saylor.
00:31:12 "Bitcoin will only collapse if Michael Saylor smiles."
00:31:16 I mean a full-on cheese-eating grin.
00:31:18 All right, "Michael Saylor is advising people and companies
00:31:20 to go into debt to buy Bitcoin as the return on Bitcoin
00:31:23 is better than the cost of debt."
00:31:25 This is almost like the Dave Ramsey versus Robert Kiyosaki debate.
00:31:29 No debt versus cash flow, optimal indebtedness.
00:31:33 Like Dave says, "If you have no debt,
00:31:35 you just sleep better at night versus the other."
00:31:37 I'm also not sure if the debt-based approach
00:31:39 has better outcomes at the end of the day.
00:31:43 Your philosophical thoughts on this.
00:31:49 "Advising people and companies to go into debt to buy Bitcoin
00:31:52 as the return on Bitcoin is better than the cost of debt."
00:31:55 I mean, I think mathematically that's hard to argue, for sure.
00:32:01 "If you have no debt, you just sleep better at night versus the other."
00:32:05 Well, anybody who talks about debt without talking about inflation,
00:32:12 I'm not saying that these people do that or not,
00:32:15 but let's say there's some guy named Bob who's talking to me about,
00:32:19 "Well, don't go into debt because you'll sleep better at night."
00:32:21 It's like, "Well, how well do you sleep at night
00:32:23 knowing that your cash has dropped over 20% in value
00:32:25 over the last couple of years?"
00:32:28 I mean, your money ain't safe if it's just sitting there.
00:32:33 So you want to think of, unfortunately, you want to think of fiat cash,
00:32:37 in my humble opinion, as a big pile of grain with birds around it.
00:32:43 The birds are pecking at the grain.
00:32:44 You say, "Well, I'm just going to leave my grain there."
00:32:46 Well, you're going to end up with virtually no grain
00:32:48 and some very fat-ass birds.
00:32:50 Your grain is disintegrating. It's dissolving. It's going bad.
00:32:54 It's rotting on the vine.
00:32:59 So sleep better under a bridge rather than have a mortgage.
00:33:05 Well, and I mean, saying that there's just debts like it's one big blob
00:33:11 is retarded. It's ridiculous.
00:33:16 I mean, let's say that you have a job interview
00:33:20 and you've got to have a nice suit,
00:33:22 and you go out and spend, I don't know, 500 bucks on a nice suit
00:33:25 because you want to ace this job interview,
00:33:27 and because of that you get a job that pays you $150,000 a year.
00:33:31 But you went into debt to buy the suit.
00:33:34 It's like, no, that's an investment.
00:33:36 I mean, if you want to drive Uber, you need a car,
00:33:38 so you buy a car so you can drive Uber.
00:33:40 Oh, no, but you're in debt because of the car.
00:33:42 It's an investment.
00:33:44 So I don't understand these people who just say,
00:33:47 "Well, if you don't have any debt, you sleep better at night."
00:33:49 Really? Under what roof?
00:33:52 Under what roof do you sleep if you don't have any debt?
00:33:56 I don't have any hostility to debt at all.
00:33:59 Now, if you go into debt to buy things that lose value,
00:34:05 well, that's not great.
00:34:08 I mean, if you go into debt to buy frou-frou stuff
00:34:15 that you use a couple of times and never use again,
00:34:18 and it just clutters up your garage or whatever it is,
00:34:20 well, that's not good.
00:34:22 If you go into debt to buy a home gym
00:34:24 and then you never use your home gym,
00:34:26 then, yeah, you've wasted your money.
00:34:34 So, yeah, if you go into debt, I don't know,
00:34:37 like let's say you buy, I don't know,
00:34:40 three lattes a day and it's 15 bucks a day, right?
00:34:46 I mean, that's not ideal.
00:34:49 What's that, 450 bucks a month?
00:34:51 So, yeah, if you're in debt for three lattes a day,
00:34:54 I mean, that's not ideal.
00:34:56 But if you're putting your money into something
00:34:58 that's going to help you make more money,
00:35:01 then that's an investment.
00:35:03 So people who talk about debt and don't differentiate
00:35:05 between investment or things that increase in value
00:35:12 versus things that decrease in value,
00:35:14 people say, "Oh, well, cars decrease in value,
00:35:16 therefore you shouldn't go into debt for a car."
00:35:18 Complete nonsense.
00:35:22 It bothers me more than I can tell you
00:35:24 when people come up with these nonsense rules
00:35:26 with no reference to circumstances.
00:35:29 It is perfectly valid and valuable
00:35:32 to go into debt for a car that is very expensive.
00:35:37 And I know this personally because when I was
00:35:39 in the business world, I got a car allowance,
00:35:42 700 bucks a month.
00:35:44 They gave me a car allowance.
00:35:46 Now, my cheap-ass brain was like, "Excellent!
00:35:49 I can go and buy a Beater and pocket that money!"
00:35:54 Or, you know, maybe return it to the company
00:35:56 so we can hire half a person or something, right?
00:35:59 And what did the board tell me? Right?
00:36:04 They said, "No, we're giving you 700 bucks a month
00:36:07 so you can buy a nice car, a good car,
00:36:10 a decent car, a new car,
00:36:12 so that when you go and pick up
00:36:15 the director of IT from some Fortune 100 company
00:36:18 at the airport, you're not showing up
00:36:21 in the Adam Sandler car of seven different colors
00:36:25 that you've got to open the lock with a coat hanger!
00:36:28 Buy a good, nice, decent car.
00:36:30 Because if you're saying, "Hey, you should buy
00:36:32 my software for a million dollars,
00:36:34 come up and have a look at the operation,"
00:36:36 and you show up in the "Bah-huh! Bah-huh!"
00:36:38 cough car, then you're just going to look ridiculous
00:36:41 and nobody's going to buy from you.
00:36:43 Is that going to save you money? No!
00:36:46 Yeah, Flintstones chic. That's right. Right.
00:36:50 You know, the car that the guy's got to help you
00:36:52 push it downhill to bump start it,
00:36:54 that's not going to spell success, is it?
00:37:00 I don't know, man.
00:37:02 You know, buying sun--
00:37:05 if you go into debt to buy sunscreen,
00:37:07 then, okay, so maybe you don't have sunscreen
00:37:09 and maybe you get skin cancer.
00:37:11 I don't know. You've got to pay for that.
00:37:15 I don't know. It's just--
00:37:17 people just come up with these just stupid rules.
00:37:21 "A car loses value, so you shouldn't invest in a nice car."
00:37:25 It's like, why not?
00:37:27 If you're an Uber and you get to drive people around
00:37:29 in a nice car, maybe you get to charge people more.
00:37:31 Right? If you're ferrying clients around
00:37:33 from Fortune 100 companies, you need to have a nice car.
00:37:35 So I picked myself up a nice '98 Volvo S70 Red,
00:37:39 like the matchbox cars I played with as a kid.
00:37:41 Loved that car.
00:37:43 Drove that thing into the dirt.
00:37:45 13 years I got out of that car.
00:37:48 That was nice. That was nice.
00:37:51 And occasionally in my list, in my mind,
00:37:53 I would go through all the things that were wrong with it.
00:37:55 Like the radio didn't work, one of the locks didn't work,
00:37:57 I had a dent in the door,
00:37:59 but that was after I was in the business world.
00:38:01 And I just drove that thing until I got pity money
00:38:06 when I traded it in.
00:38:08 I was like, wow, that is pity money.
00:38:11 You know, the car that screams,
00:38:13 "Please let me die."
00:38:15 [laughs]
00:38:17 Mr. CEO from Fortune 500, help me load the beater
00:38:19 into the tow truck.
00:38:21 Or if you can't get the car started
00:38:23 and you're supposed to pick the guy up
00:38:25 from the airport, how does that look?
00:38:27 So, I don't know, just like, don't buy cars.
00:38:29 They lose value.
00:38:31 You lose half the value of the car.
00:38:33 You drive it off the line, you lose half the value.
00:38:35 Well, then why do people,
00:38:37 saying that everyone who makes
00:38:39 different economic decisions from me is stupid,
00:38:41 is stupid.
00:38:43 So, I get, if you're not making much money
00:38:46 and you buy some stupid vanity car
00:38:48 that is going to cost you a fortune
00:38:50 and doesn't make you any money,
00:38:52 okay, that's a bad idea.
00:38:54 That's a bad idea.
00:38:56 I thought I was doing good for getting a decent used car,
00:38:58 but I've torched $4,000 or so
00:39:00 in issues over the last four months.
00:39:02 Oh, yeah.
00:39:04 My car has 364,000 kilometers on the clock,
00:39:07 but still looks good.
00:39:09 Would not know the mileage is that high.
00:39:11 Save you money to buy assets and settle all debt
00:39:13 as soon as possible. So good.
00:39:15 But you understand, that's a little lucky, right?
00:39:17 That's a little lucky.
00:39:19 One of the things that used cars will often do
00:39:21 is they'll mess with your cash flow.
00:39:23 You're really rolling the dice.
00:39:25 With a new car, you're not really rolling the dice.
00:39:27 It's a new car, you get some extended warranty.
00:39:29 I can sell you some, just kidding.
00:39:31 But if you've got a new car,
00:39:33 your cash flow is predictable, right?
00:39:35 Because it's going to be, what I thought, the car payment,
00:39:37 and then you know ahead of time what the costs are going to be.
00:39:39 You're covered by the warranty.
00:39:41 Whereas if you get a used car,
00:39:43 you might be super lucky, right?
00:39:45 You might be super lucky, or you might be really unlucky.
00:39:47 And of course, this is what happens
00:39:49 when people get old cars.
00:39:51 My car was 13 years old and had this or that
00:39:53 and the other problem, and it's like,
00:39:55 so it's going to cost me X amount of dollars to fix,
00:39:57 and maybe I'll get another five years out of it
00:39:59 without a lot of costs.
00:40:01 It'll be crazy costs over the next year or two.
00:40:03 "Steph, have you seen that new cars are having issues?
00:40:09 Seems clowns are putting them together."
00:40:11 I mean, we know all of this, right?
00:40:13 We know why.
00:40:15 So, yeah, I don't know.
00:40:17 I think you've got to make the case for value,
00:40:25 as I've sort of been doing with Bitcoin.
00:40:27 One case that I would make for Bitcoin value
00:40:29 is governments can't use Bitcoins to fund wars.
00:40:31 You can invest in a fiat or fiat-derived assets,
00:40:39 which raises the value of fiat,
00:40:45 and fiat is used to start wars.
00:40:47 I try not to pass too much money through my hands
00:40:51 that has blood all over it.
00:40:53 Doesn't that seem kind of weird?
00:40:55 Like if somebody hands you a $20 bill
00:40:57 of blood, wouldn't you be like, "Whoa,
00:40:59 I really don't want to touch this.
00:41:01 I want to get my fingerprints on blood bill."
00:41:03 Personally, that's the way I look at it.
00:41:05 It's a piece in reason.
00:41:07 From X, "BlackRock held a closed-door meeting
00:41:15 for their top clients last month
00:41:17 where they said a 28% allocation
00:41:19 to Bitcoin was optimal.
00:41:21 What would happen if the entire world
00:41:23 rebalanced their portfolios to match
00:41:25 what a BlackRock maths quant suggests?"
00:41:27 All right. So this is from Luke
00:41:29 M-I-K-I-C.
00:41:31 You can follow him
00:41:33 if you want on X, Luke M-I-
00:41:35 K-I-C-21.
00:41:37 Of course, this is
00:41:39 I mean,
00:41:41 this is, you know, finance
00:41:43 crack, right? But the math is interesting,
00:41:45 right? So again, this is all
00:41:47 math
00:41:49 and not suggestions. So what would
00:41:51 happen if the entire world rebalanced their portfolios
00:41:53 to match what a BlackRock maths quant suggests?
00:41:55 If the entire world puts
00:41:57 28% allocation into Bitcoin,
00:41:59 okay, let me ask
00:42:01 you, what would be
00:42:03 the price of a Bitcoin
00:42:07 if the world went 28%
00:42:09 asset allocation to Bitcoin?
00:42:11 While we're waiting for that,
00:42:15 James says,
00:42:17 "Right, when you learn about the diamond market,
00:42:19 it's hard to translate that into a
00:42:21 symbol of love and devotion
00:42:23 for an engagement ring."
00:42:25 Right.
00:42:27 300 a month over two years
00:42:29 versus 6,000 for a car plus 5,000
00:42:31 in maintenance costs.
00:42:33 If you have
00:42:35 it's funny because if you have
00:42:37 if you're buying a used car because
00:42:39 you're low on cash, you have to
00:42:41 be concerned about
00:42:43 like you're going to worry about something. You're either concerned that
00:42:45 you're going to have maintenance issues, which can be very expensive
00:42:47 with older cars because it's tough to get parts
00:42:49 and expertise.
00:42:51 You can, and of course the cars these days
00:42:53 you really can't fix yourself because they're basically
00:42:55 half Death Star computers.
00:42:57 So, maybe you'll
00:42:59 be lucky, maybe you won't. But if you have the
00:43:01 excess money because you need to allocate
00:43:03 more money for the maintenance on a used car, if you have
00:43:05 that extra money, maybe you should just buy a new car.
00:43:07 Or, you know,
00:43:09 my particular, like the car I'm driving
00:43:11 at the moment, I bought it used
00:43:13 but
00:43:15 with a warranty.
00:43:17 That seems to be alright.
00:43:19 Seems to be alright.
00:43:23 Bitcoin price
00:43:25 prediction before halving, I guess, plus or minus
00:43:27 85,000 US.
00:43:29 Okay.
00:43:31 So, the amount of money that's in assets, of course,
00:43:33 is massive in the world,
00:43:35 right? So, if every
00:43:37 place in the world
00:43:39 if the entire
00:43:41 world rebalanced their portfolios
00:43:43 to match the 28%
00:43:45 allocation
00:43:47 that a BlackRock maths quant
00:43:49 suggested, so we got 900 trillion
00:43:51 times 28%
00:43:53 is 252 trillion.
00:43:55 So, the multiply effect
00:43:57 252 trillion
00:43:59 4x is a huge number
00:44:01 which is
00:44:03 48 million dollars per bitcoin.
00:44:05 48 million dollars
00:44:07 per bitcoin.
00:44:09 And again, you know, can I
00:44:11 validate this math? It's just very interesting.
00:44:13 I'm sure he's done the math, seems like a smart
00:44:15 guy. But if
00:44:17 people follow this
00:44:19 investment advice from the BlackRock
00:44:21 guys
00:44:23 for the, so, closed door meeting for their top clients
00:44:25 28% allocation bitcoin was
00:44:27 optimal. That's what the guy says.
00:44:29 So,
00:44:31 48 million dollars
00:44:33 per bitcoin. That's really something.
00:44:35 BlackRock and Fidelity
00:44:37 now own a combined 379
00:44:39 151 bitcoins.
00:44:41 Oh,
00:44:43 these guys.
00:44:45 I mean,
00:44:47 they know something.
00:44:49 A slightly used car might be better.
00:44:51 A lot of the new high efficiency engines are
00:44:53 overworked and aren't expected to last as long.
00:44:55 Yeah.
00:44:57 For me, the sweet spot is slightly used.
00:44:59 Although, I did buy a used
00:45:01 computer.
00:45:03 I bought a used
00:45:05 tablet computer
00:45:07 for walking around and doing
00:45:09 call-in shows.
00:45:11 And unfortunately, I couldn't really think
00:45:13 about this, but the
00:45:15 battery was just too sad.
00:45:17 I guess the battery had been worked too hard.
00:45:19 And I went to a place and said, "Hey, can you replace the battery?"
00:45:21 They're like, "No, not on these ones, because the moment we try to open it up
00:45:23 the screen cracks and it's bad as a whole."
00:45:25 Not a wise
00:45:27 purchase, but it happens, right?
00:45:29 Alright, so
00:45:31 NILAM Resources in partnership with
00:45:33 ZyberData announced plans to
00:45:35 acquire a special purpose entity called MindWare
00:45:37 to gain access to 24,800
00:45:39 bitcoins without detailing how it would finance
00:45:41 the billion dollar cryptocurrency purchase.
00:45:43 Amid financial uncertainties with NILAM
00:45:45 projecting 2 million in EBITDA,
00:45:47 that's earnings before interest, taxes,
00:45:49 depreciation, and amortization,
00:45:51 and the needed 1.2,
00:45:53 sorry, EBITDA and ZyberData
00:45:55 holding 70 million in shareholder funds, but
00:45:57 only 1.5 million cash, the firms
00:45:59 face questions on raising the needed
00:46:01 1.2 million dollars.
00:46:03 NILAM will issue new Class C stock for the
00:46:05 transaction following a stock price surge.
00:46:07 Ex-CEO Ron
00:46:09 McIntyre resigned, citing the move as
00:46:11 a pump and dump schema and signaling a potential
00:46:13 FINRA
00:46:15 investigation.
00:46:17 I leave that for you to
00:46:19 cook and bubble about.
00:46:21 Now, the San
00:46:23 Bankman Freed,
00:46:25 the man who fried the bank,
00:46:27 is
00:46:29 interesting because
00:46:31 he's been sentenced to
00:46:33 25 years and 11 billion dollars
00:46:35 in restitution.
00:46:37 So, that's
00:46:41 interesting because it signals
00:46:43 that people who scam
00:46:45 in the world of crypto are facing
00:46:47 significant punishments, right? I mean, obviously
00:46:49 25 years in prison, 11 billion dollars in restitution.
00:46:51 I mean, I assume some
00:46:53 of that 11 billion dollars has been,
00:46:55 the crypto hasn't vanished, I assume, so
00:46:57 people have got a hold of the crypto, the crypto's gone up
00:46:59 enormously in value since
00:47:01 what did this all happen in 2022?
00:47:03 So, the moral hazard has been reaffirmed
00:47:07 in the crypto space, that if you
00:47:09 scam, it's going to be
00:47:11 really, really bad
00:47:13 for you, right?
00:47:15 So, let's see here.
00:47:19 I don't know if the investors are going to be protected.
00:47:21 The EU committees have approved
00:47:23 a ban on anonymous crypto transfers
00:47:25 via hosted wallets.
00:47:27 The recent anti-money laundering
00:47:29 legislation imposes certain limits for cash transactions
00:47:31 and anonymous cryptocurrency payments.
00:47:33 A majority of the European
00:47:35 Parliament's lead committees
00:47:37 have approved a ban on cryptocurrency transactions
00:47:39 of any value made through hosted crypto
00:47:41 wallets. This comes amid
00:47:43 the European Council and
00:47:45 Parliament provisionally agreeing to expand parts
00:47:47 of the European Union's anti-money laundering
00:47:49 and counter-terrorism financing laws
00:47:51 to cover the cryptocurrency
00:47:53 market. According to an
00:47:55 ex-post by Patrick Breyer, a member of the European Parliament
00:47:57 for the Piratenpartei
00:47:59 Deutschland
00:48:01 Piratenpartei Deutschland
00:48:03 Pirate Party of Germany.
00:48:05 You know, it's pretty cool that there's a pirate
00:48:07 party in the landlocked country, but hey,
00:48:09 a "majority of the EU
00:48:11 Parliament's lead committees" approved
00:48:13 the new AML laws on March 19th.
00:48:15 The new AML legislation applies
00:48:19 certain limits for cash transactions and anonymous
00:48:21 cryptocurrency payments. Under the new rules,
00:48:23 anonymous cash payments over 3,000 euros
00:48:25 will be banned in commercial transactions, and
00:48:27 cash payments over 10,000 euros will be completely
00:48:29 banned in business transactions.
00:48:31 The new legislation is expected to be
00:48:33 fully operational within three years from its entry
00:48:35 into force. However,
00:48:37 Dylan Eustache, an Ireland-based
00:48:39 law firm, expects the legislation to become fully
00:48:41 operational earlier.
00:48:43 Many cryptocurrency networks function
00:48:45 within permissionless environments, allowing anyone
00:48:47 to create a cryptographic private key and granting
00:48:49 unrestricted anonymous entry into the system,
00:48:51 a fundamental principle of
00:48:53 crypto. In a press release
00:48:55 after the lead committees approved the legislation,
00:48:57 Breyer outlined why he opposed
00:48:59 the bill, saying it compromises economic independence
00:49:01 and financial privacy. He said it considers
00:49:03 the ability to transact anonymously a
00:49:05 fundamental right.
00:49:07 The crypto community has had mixed
00:49:09 responses to the regulatory measures. Some believe
00:49:11 the new AML laws are necessary,
00:49:13 while others fear they may infringe on
00:49:15 privacy and restrict economic activity.
00:49:17 So, but the
00:49:19 question is, does it legitimize
00:49:21 crypto in the eyes
00:49:23 of the normies, right? And so,
00:49:25 I get that there's pluses and minuses
00:49:27 to this, but that's
00:49:29 sort of important as well. So, does it
00:49:31 get normies to say,
00:49:33 "Well, you know, it's this anonymous,
00:49:35 it's been handled
00:49:37 under anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering
00:49:39 thing, therefore it's more legit, therefore
00:49:41 it's something I'm comfortable investing in,"
00:49:43 and so on, right?
00:49:45 [silence]
00:49:53 Um, the
00:49:55 researcher, this is Jared,
00:49:57 "Is he eye-roll maxing?" As the cool kids
00:49:59 might say, "We got some straight-person
00:50:01 Saylor tweets, he got that riz for real, for real,
00:50:03 all cap, underscore, exclamation mark."
00:50:05 Anyway.
00:50:07 Saylor responds to an investor asking if he should just buy
00:50:09 micro-strategy stock.
00:50:11 And
00:50:13 he basically said,
00:50:15 and this is interesting, he said, "Bitcoin's a commodity,
00:50:17 it's an asset without an issuer. Whenever
00:50:19 you invest in a company, you're talking, you're taking
00:50:21 counterparty risk. In order to invest in my
00:50:23 stock, you should reasonably read a thousand pages
00:50:25 of disclosures." And I'll make the obvious
00:50:27 point, people in Nigeria can't self-custody
00:50:29 micro-strategy stock, so we're
00:50:31 trying to solve the problem of creating integrity, sovereignty,
00:50:33 you know, truth, and hope for the world.
00:50:35 It's going to be done via protocol,
00:50:37 right? Micro-strategy is simply a high-performance
00:50:39 business, right? There's a lot
00:50:41 of other businesses, and every business does their thing
00:50:43 in the world as best they can. So we offer
00:50:45 a very particular thing to us.
00:50:47 We offer convertible debt to
00:50:49 convertible arbitrageurs,
00:50:51 and they have billions of dollars
00:50:53 of capital, and they can only
00:50:55 convert arbitrage.
00:50:57 So if we
00:50:59 didn't give it to them, their capital wouldn't come
00:51:01 in the ecosystem. So that's
00:51:03 1.4 billion that I got, came
00:51:05 from them. They went into Bitcoin,
00:51:07 I need to do something for them. It's a
00:51:09 complicated something. There's a lot of volatility
00:51:11 to it, right? There's a limit to how much
00:51:13 we can do. Okay, so, sorry, it's a bit
00:51:15 more than we need to know, but yeah, so
00:51:17 if you invest in
00:51:19 a stock, you generally can't
00:51:21 self-custody, and
00:51:23 he's just basically saying you should go
00:51:25 straight to Bitcoin, which I think is quite
00:51:27 quite interesting.
00:51:29 Michael Saylor,
00:51:31 of course,
00:51:33 performance
00:51:35 since August 10th, 2020.
00:51:37 Performance since August 10th,
00:51:39 2020, this is from a day or two ago,
00:51:41 and bonds are down
00:51:43 19%, silver's down 13%,
00:51:45 gold is up 7%, Nasdaq up 50%,
00:51:47 Standard & Poor's up 56%,
00:51:49 Bitcoin up 432%.
00:51:51 Now,
00:51:53 what's interesting to me is I would
00:51:55 assume those numbers are far wider.
00:51:57 Far wider, because
00:51:59 the other
00:52:05 You know, it's sort of like if
00:52:07 you're at the gym and people are really, really,
00:52:09 really helping you lift,
00:52:11 you're not as strong as the guy who's lifting with
00:52:13 additional weights, people trying to hold it down, right?
00:52:15 So if you're benching 200 and people are
00:52:17 really helping you, you may only be benching 120,
00:52:19 130, 140. If you're benching
00:52:21 200 and other people pushing down like crazy,
00:52:23 you might be benching 300, right?
00:52:25 So, all of the non-crypto assets
00:52:27 are to some degree inflated by
00:52:29 money printing and
00:52:31 Bitcoin. I get, you know, people are
00:52:33 fleeing from the money printing to Bitcoin, but Bitcoin
00:52:35 can't be supported directly in that same way.
00:52:37 So, yeah, it seems quite important.
00:52:43 Let's look at Bitcoin
00:52:47 versus traditional assets, ROI,
00:52:49 versus US dollars.
00:52:51 So, the Standard & Poor
00:52:53 over 14 years
00:52:55 is up 346%.
00:52:57 I don't believe that's inflation adjusted,
00:52:59 so who knows how much it is. Gold is up
00:53:01 36%. Bitcoin
00:53:03 is up 2.2 billion percent
00:53:05 over 14 years.
00:53:07 2.2 billion percent.
00:53:09 Bitcoin Archive reports
00:53:13 on BlackRock, head of digital statement,
00:53:15 quote,
00:53:17 "For our clients, Bitcoin
00:53:19 is overwhelmingly the number one focus."
00:53:21 For our clients, Bitcoin is overwhelmingly
00:53:23 the number one
00:53:25 focus.
00:53:29 Bitcoin halving! As of this recording,
00:53:31 we've got 18 days,
00:53:33 4 hours, 37 minutes, and 28,
00:53:35 27, 26,
00:53:37 I'll just keep doing this for the rest of the show seconds.
00:53:39 So, that's important.
00:53:41 The network growth rate is enormous in Bitcoin.
00:53:45 XOEH,
00:53:47 XO hash per second.
00:53:49 One XO hash is one quintillion
00:53:51 hashes. A quintillion
00:53:53 has 18 zeros, or one million
00:53:55 trillions. Now I want a hash brown.
00:53:57 It took Bitcoin roughly 7
00:53:59 years to reach one XO hash. The network
00:54:01 recently went from 500 XO
00:54:03 hashes, XO hashes, sorry, to
00:54:05 600 XO hashes in 69 days.
00:54:07 Hopefully at 4.20 in the afternoon.
00:54:09 So,
00:54:11 let me just go through that again. It took Bitcoin
00:54:13 roughly 7 years to reach one XO hash.
00:54:15 The network recently went from 500
00:54:17 XO hashes to 600 XO
00:54:19 hashes in 69 days.
00:54:21 In terms of security, this means that the network is that much
00:54:23 harder, and more
00:54:25 expensive to attack or attempt to
00:54:27 undermine.
00:54:29 It's truly
00:54:35 wild. I mean, the entire infrastructure.
00:54:37 Somebody says,
00:54:41 "Unlike a house, Bitcoin is real property because
00:54:43 neither the state nor squatters can
00:54:45 take it away from me."
00:54:47 I mean, hit me with a
00:54:49 why if you've ever been kind of shocked
00:54:51 at
00:54:53 how much
00:54:55 owning a house costs.
00:54:57 "Oh, but
00:54:59 you're saving all of this money and
00:55:01 buying a house. Hello."
00:55:03 It's really something,
00:55:05 right?
00:55:07 It's really something.
00:55:09 Alright, let me just
00:55:11 get to your comments.
00:55:13 It's really something.
00:55:15 Alright, let me just
00:55:19 get to your comments.
00:55:21 "Five bucks for a Starbucks egg sandwich."
00:55:23 And they also
00:55:25 basically radiate
00:55:27 them into neutron stars, don't they?
00:55:29 Don't warm it, because if I
00:55:31 get it, it's going to melt through my hand like
00:55:33 a lava rock.
00:55:35 Alright, Steph spitting facts for real for real.
00:55:41 Let's see here. "In the gold
00:55:45 space, they advise to wait for the opportune
00:55:47 time to convert gold to real value,
00:55:49 creating assets. Do you think companies or people
00:55:51 will sell their companies or assets for Bitcoin
00:55:53 when fiat finally dilutes completely?"
00:55:55 Well, when fiat finally dilutes
00:55:57 completely, who knows what it's going to
00:55:59 look like.
00:56:01 Yeah, so owning a house
00:56:05 is crazy. I don't just mean
00:56:07 the buying it, right?
00:56:09 So, do you have to
00:56:11 pay repetitive property tax of
00:56:13 1.5% of the value of your Bitcoin to hold
00:56:15 Bitcoin? You do not. Does Bitcoin
00:56:17 need occasional repairs? Do things break
00:56:19 down? Do cracks
00:56:21 appear in the basement windows?
00:56:23 Does your air conditioning break down? Do you need to
00:56:25 clean its ducts? Do you need, like, all of
00:56:27 these things, right?
00:56:29 So,
00:56:31 you know, houses are kind of like vampires.
00:56:33 They're on your neck, and they're just
00:56:35 a house to drain your money.
00:56:37 Right?
00:56:39 So,
00:56:41 yeah.
00:56:43 So, yeah, it's still the idea,
00:56:49 well, real estate, you know,
00:56:51 do you get mice in your Bitcoin? Yeah,
00:56:53 that's another thing, too. A friend of mine
00:56:55 had
00:56:57 trash pandas in the walls.
00:56:59 You could hear them slithering back and forth in the walls.
00:57:01 Crazy.
00:57:03 I mean, the number of things that can go wrong
00:57:05 with a house is pretty much
00:57:07 infinite, and houses are
00:57:09 just like 80s bullies that pick on you for no
00:57:11 reason. They just turn on you viciously.
00:57:13 Even new houses.
00:57:15 I mean, the list of things.
00:57:17 What's some crazy stuff that's happened to you with regards
00:57:19 to houses?
00:57:21 Yeah, you know, you get stuff in the,
00:57:23 you get critters in the attic,
00:57:25 and you get stuff in the
00:57:27 ducts, and, you know, stuff breaks
00:57:29 down on a regular basis, and
00:57:31 you know, every house owner's nightmare
00:57:33 is, you know, the pause, right?
00:57:35 Oh, there's some cracks in the foundation, and the guy
00:57:37 comes and he says, "Oh.
00:57:39 Oh.
00:57:41 Oh."
00:57:43 Yeah, a lot of
00:57:45 people in this state,
00:57:47 they do want, yeah, do you get bad
00:57:49 neighbors moving in next to your Bitcoin? Yeah,
00:57:51 that's true. That's true, right? That's important
00:57:53 as well.
00:57:55 And of course, yeah, so, I mean, governments are looking to
00:57:57 grab a hold of any money now, and they don't want to
00:57:59 wait for the capital gains tax, which only kicks in when
00:58:01 you sell. So, yeah.
00:58:03 In an economic
00:58:05 Armageddon scenario, could the government
00:58:07 claim or steal everyone's Bitcoin
00:58:09 and regulate it? I don't think so.
00:58:11 I don't think so.
00:58:13 But,
00:58:15 Andreas
00:58:17 Antonopoulos
00:58:19 is the guy. He's the guy who gives you the
00:58:21 best answers as to whether people can take
00:58:23 over the Bitcoin network.
00:58:25 Antonopoulos.
00:58:27 A-N-T-N-O-N-O-P-O-U-L-S.
00:58:29 Something like that. But, yeah,
00:58:31 that's the guy. That's the guy
00:58:33 to go into with that.
00:58:35 Alright, let's finish up
00:58:37 here.
00:58:39 I think I'll, with all due respect, Jared,
00:58:41 I think I'll skip the power law.
00:58:43 But, it does seem quite
00:58:45 important.
00:58:47 Cathy Wood has
00:58:49 called Bitcoin a financial
00:58:51 superhighway, reiterates a 1.5
00:58:53 million per Bitcoin price
00:58:55 target.
00:58:57 She said, "There are signals
00:58:59 that not all is well in the world," she said,
00:59:01 "countries like Nigeria, one of the biggest
00:59:03 adopters of Bitcoin because of the strong
00:59:05 depreciation of the country's currency.
00:59:07 Because of that, Wood sees Bitcoin as
00:59:09 a risk-off asset and a risk-on
00:59:11 asset."
00:59:13 Oxford Bitcoin ETF has become
00:59:15 one of the more successful Bitcoin ETFs
00:59:17 among the 10 funds issued in January.
00:59:19 Wood said that with more
00:59:21 institutions entering the space,
00:59:23 mathematically speaking, Bitcoin's price could easily rise
00:59:25 above 3.5 million. However, she wouldn't give a new
00:59:27 specific price target. "Bitcoin has
00:59:29 miles to go," she said instead and pointed out
00:59:31 to her previous call of 1.5
00:59:33 million price target.
00:59:35 It's tough, you know, because there's going to be
00:59:39 a lot of people who wait until inflation
00:59:41 is so high before they start looking into Bitcoin,
00:59:43 but because inflation is so high, they can't
00:59:45 afford to buy Bitcoin because inflation is so high.
00:59:47 Can Bitcoin renovate its
00:59:51 flat living below you from 8am to 5pm
00:59:53 7 days a week with only power drills on max?
00:59:55 Oof, yeah.
00:59:57 That's true.
00:59:59 A chimney repair I was not prepared for
01:00:01 and too cheap to pay 3k to fix, so I found myself
01:00:03 five stories up doing it myself.
01:00:05 If you aren't rich
01:00:07 and want to own a house, you need to be handy.
01:00:09 But, time is not free.
01:00:13 Right? And people
01:00:15 say, "Well, I save money by doing it myself."
01:00:17 Time is not free.
01:00:21 Right? You understand, you can always make
01:00:23 more money. You can't make
01:00:25 more time. Well, I suppose you can make more time
01:00:27 in a sense by exercising and eating
01:00:29 well and maintaining a healthy weight. That's probably
01:00:31 going to extend your lifespan, but
01:00:33 people are like, "No, no, it's free because
01:00:35 I did it myself." It's like, no, it's not.
01:00:37 The opportunity cost of everything else you could have been doing.
01:00:39 Maybe when you were
01:00:41 repairing your chimney
01:00:43 like some Victorian 6-year-old,
01:00:45 you could have been out there meeting
01:00:47 the girl of your dreams.
01:00:49 So, nothing is free.
01:00:51 Well, we all know that, right?
01:00:53 Alright, tips people!
01:00:55 Come on, think of the value that
01:00:57 I'm offering and have over the last 18
01:00:59 years. If you haven't tipped
01:01:01 for a while, now's an excellent time
01:01:03 to do it. If you haven't tipped for a while, of course
01:01:05 if you're listening to this later, you can go to freedomain.com/donate
01:01:07 to help out the show
01:01:09 that way. That's freedomain.com/donate
01:01:11 and
01:01:13 I would really
01:01:15 appreciate that.
01:01:17 Let's see.
01:01:19 What has happened to
01:01:21 itty-bitty-ditty coins
01:01:23 over the course of this show?
01:01:25 They have gone up.
01:01:27 Yes, they have.
01:01:29 We are now at almost 95,000
01:01:31 Canadian
01:01:33 or
01:01:35 if you translate that to Bitcoin,
01:01:37 $94,868.13 per Bitcoin.
01:01:43 If you translate that to Bitcoin,
01:01:45 it's one Bitcoin. One Bitcoin equals one
01:01:47 Bitcoin. I just do that math in my head
01:01:49 because I just love to show off my autistic math
01:01:51 skills one to one.
01:01:53 One to one.
01:01:55 Alright. Well, thanks everyone
01:01:57 so much for dropping by today. A great pleasure. Thanks to Jared
01:01:59 for doing the research for some
01:02:01 of this stuff.
01:02:03 Stuff.
01:02:05 I wish you the very best.
01:02:07 Have yourself a great weekend. We'll talk tomorrow at 11am
01:02:09 for a regular old show.
01:02:11 Lots of love from up here.
01:02:13 I hope you do well. I know it's insane math skills, isn't it?
01:02:15 I can do that one to one thing
01:02:17 without even using my colon.
01:02:19 Alright. Have yourself a great
01:02:21 afternoon. And again, if you're listening to this later,
01:02:23 freedomain.com/donate
01:02:25 and
01:02:27 take care everybody. Talk to you soon.