40 Burst results for "Echo"
The Bitboy Crypto Podcast
A highlight from 3 Steps To CRUSH The Next Crypto Bullrun!
"I have three tips to master the upcoming bull run in crypto. You follow these three steps and you will set yourself up for financial freedom. Bitcoin bull run season is almost upon us and you want to make sure you have the tools to succeed. So kiss that mayo sandwich goodbye, it's time to make some real bread. Our first tip is have a clear game plan. That means a beginning, middle and end to your investment strategy. And that begins with your entry point on that coin you're buying. What you don't want to do is chase pumps and get caught up in buying just because everyone else is buying. You need to make a price target and stick to it. Do not fall for FOMO. And arguably more important than your entry is your exit. A coin doing 100x means nothing if you don't take profit and all the gains melt away. The best way to avoid that happening to you is to have multiple sell orders at multiple price targets. Personally, I hold a little Cardano and I plan on selling some as low as $4, even though I think it's going higher. And guess what? If it does go higher, I'll sell even more. I have price targets all the way up to $7 in case Cardano does a 20x from these current levels. It's important to realize you can't call the exact top. So sell over a period of time to hedge your bets. And to prevent your game plan from failing after you're hypnotized by high prices, visualize your goal from investing. If you're saving up for a car, a boat or a home down payment, it's much easier to hit that sell button if you're thinking of those goals. Picture yourself enjoying the fruits of your timely investment. Imagine you're already in that kitchen remodel. The boat is already in your driveway. Visualize that Rolex. Sure, that JPEG of that cartoon monkey looks cool. But imagine getting out of your mom's basement. To me, that looks a little cooler. But make sure you adjust your plan accordingly. New partnerships could inflate your favorite coin's value, meaning you might need to tweak your exit points. Heck, imagine the SEC loses a case against your favorite protocol. Or an overall bearish trend could hit the markets, making all your targets look like an absurd moon boy's fantasy. So have a strong game plan, but adjustments are key. Second tip, go all in. Going all in means doing thorough research on your own and then only investing in the number of coins that you can reasonably keep track of. Don't spread yourself too thin. So learn about the tokenomics and the protocol's future plans. Read the white paper and even potentially join a community discord. But if I were to give one warning, it's to pay attention to your sources so you can avoid an echo chamber. Avoid maxis and check for biases. If the name of the channel you watch is SafeMoon Lambo Club, well, they might be biased. And then figure out your bandwidth. Are you living at your parents or on disability with nothing but time on your hands? Well, you can follow and research many more coins than a doctor working 80 hours a week. So use your time wisely, but be realistic about how much time you actually have. But more important than any of that is to not lose interest. Don't get lulled out by sideways price action. Ironically, the point at which you should be doing the most buying is the point in which the markets are at their worst. So you enter while it's boring and then you can exit while it's soaring. Third and final tip, take profits, take profits. Did I mention take profits? Taking profits is the number one thing separating the winners from the losers in crypto. Most people will just hold on to their coins, afraid of missing out on possibly higher gains. That's normal. It's FOMO and we've all been there. This is why you need a plan for selling your coins. My favorite selling strategy is DCA out or dollar cost average. You sell gradually and don't try to sell them all at the very top because it's impossible to predict. But if I could give a warning is to be aware of how quickly crypto can move. This isn't the stock market or precious metals. Prices can go up quickly, but they can fall even faster. So you have to be careful. Which leads us to if a coin's price is suddenly tanking, don't buy more just because it's cheaper. It might keep going down for a very long time. We call these falling knives and never try to catch a falling knife. Don't give back all your profits getting swept up in a relief rally. By following these three steps, you're putting yourself in a position to become a millionaire in the upcoming bull run. You're not just hoping for financial freedom, you're actively creating that reality. Think about what you can gain from your hard work and keep your eyes on the prize. Your journey in crypto is a big deal, and you're in charge of writing your own success story. I'm DZ with Discover Crypto, and I'll see you at the top. Thank you.
Bloomberg Daybreak
Fresh update on "echo" discussed on Bloomberg Daybreak
"White House national security spokesman John Kirby says U the .S. hopes the ceasefire could be extended so more Americans can be freed. I don't want to give you a handicap here on this or nods. bet I can just tell you that we want to see all the hostages out. The way to do that is these pauses. White House spokesman John Kirby spoke with reporters outside Air Force One. One CIA director Bill Burns is in Qatar for talks about extending the ceasefire. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be back in Israel later this week. And in a post on X, President Biden called for an end to the fighting. He says Hamas fears nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace. Well in other news, Nathan, the financial world is mourning and remembering the life of Charlie Munger. Munger helped build Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett, and he died yesterday at the age of 99. We have more with Bloomberg's John Tucker. John. And Karen with with wisdom and one liners. Charlie Munger served as Warren Buffett's alter ego, often telling him with brutal honesty what wouldn't work. Munger was known for steering Buffett away from purchasing what Buffett called cigar butts, mediocre companies that had a puff of smoke left and could be bought for very cheap prices and instead favoring quality. A lawyer by training Munger recalled how he was steered toward investing. When I met Warren, he immediately started telling me how much better his way of making a living was than mine and that I was too smart to stay in such a silly business as law practice when I could go into his business of running an investment partnership and it took me about two or three years to realize he was right. His death leaves Buffett without his longtime sounding board. For investors, maybe his most enduring legacy is Berkshire's performance. Under their management Berkshire averaged an annual gain 20 of % from 1965 through 2022. And Berkshire's at annual meetings in Omaha, Charlie Munger was known for his roles as straight and man scold of corporate excesses. Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Matthew Palazzolo remembers Munger's with Warren Buffett. individual They're recalling meetings that they had, you know, 40, 50 years ago and Buffett is forgetting a couple things and Munger's reminding him of, well this guy said that and we said this and we made this much money in these meetings. I mean it was, you truly a partnership for all of that time and their interaction was just amazing. They would finish each other's sentences. Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Matthew Palazzolo. Munger died yesterday at a California hospital. He was a longtime resident of Los Angeles Well Nathan, we want to turn to the markets and specifically the economy. Billionaire Investor Bill Ackman is betting the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates sooner than markets are expecting. I think there's a risk of a hard landing if the Fed doesn't start cutting rates, you know, pretty soon. So, you know, I think the market expects sometime middle of next year. I think it's more likely probably as early as Q1. Bill Ackman that added he's not convinced the U .S. economy is headed for a so -called the soft landing. The billionaire investor made the comments in an upcoming episode of The David Rubenstein Show Peer -to -Peer Conversations on Bloomberg Television. And those comments from Bill Ackman come as two of the Federal Reserve's most hawkish rate setters are signaling they could be comfortable holding steady for now. Here's what Fed Governor Christopher Waller told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. I am increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2%. Chris Waller's view was echoed by Fed Governor Michelle Bowman who said she remains willing to support rate hikes if inflation progress stalls, but she stopped short of endorsing an increase next month. Well in Washington, Nathan, the House of Representatives may be voting on whether to expel George Santos today or tomorrow, and Bloomberg's Ed Baxter has story. the Motions in the House have been formally introduced saying ethics findings violate the accepted policies of body. the Now many of those members who voted against the first one, November 1st, are saying will they vote to expel now, and Santos has responded saying the body is just theater. I went to San Diego last week. It is terrible, terrible. That's what we should be putting our energy on, not censuring one another, expelling one another, witch hunts against the political class. Nobody cares. Congress has 48 hours to act under the resolution. Ed Baxter, Bloomberg Radio. Okay, Ed, thank you. The COP28 climate summit gets underway in Dubai tomorrow, and while President Biden won't be there, Vice President Kamala Harris will. Let's get the details from Bloomberg's Amy Morris. Harris will join Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US officials at the two -week event that begins tomorrow. She is expected to address the summit this week. Formal negotiations at COP28 will center on the response to warnings that countries are falling short in cutting their emissions and possible commitments to phase down fossil fuels. In Washington, Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio. Alright, Amy, thanks. Well, in corporate news and a surprise memo, Jack Ma urged Alibaba Group to correct course, the billionaire call for fundamental change across the company he co -founded decades ago. Futures higher this Researchers are lower. It's 27 degrees in New York. It's going to stay chilly today in the sunshine, only going into the upper 30s, the down to low 30s tonight in the city upper 20s in the suburbs. Michael Barrs here with more on Michael. Thank you very much, Nathan. New York Mayor Eric Adams' top fundraiser has been reassigned weeks after the FBI searched her home amid a campaign fundraising controversy. Brianna, she's no longer doing fundraising the for campaign. The announcement on Brianna Suggs something was of a reversal after he said earlier that he had full confidence in the 25 year old. Adams not did go into the reasons for the change. Suggs' home was searched involving questions whether there were illegal foreign donations from the Turkish government. A private burial will take place in South Georgia today former for First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Yesterday Mrs. Carter was remembered by hundreds of people at a farewell service in Atlanta.
Crypto News Alerts | Daily Bitcoin (BTC) & Cryptocurrency News
A highlight from 1460: How Much Will One Bitcoin Be Worth After BlackRock ETF?
"And here's your prescription. I know just the pharmacy to get this filled. Who are you? A pharmacy benefit manager. A middleman your insurer uses to decide which medicines you can get, what you pay, and sometimes even which pharmacy you should go to. Why can't I go to a pharmacy in my neighborhood? Because I make more money when you go to a pharmacy I own. No one should stand between you and your medicine. Visit PHRMA .org slash middleman to learn more. Paid for by pharma. In today's show, I'll be breaking down the latest Bitcoin technical analysis as the funding rates echo a $69 ,000 Bitcoin price action. And quoting the high priest of Bitcoin, Max Kaiser, money existed before the state. Bitcoin separates money from state. Bitcoin will kill the state. Also breaking news, the CBOE to launch both a Bitcoin and Ethereum margin futures trading in January already with 11 firms supporting it. We'll also be discussing Bitcoin institutional inflows top $1 billion in 2023. Amid the ongoing Bitcoin supply squeeze, we'll also be discussing the number of Bitcoin millionaire wallets literally tripled this year in 2023. Where my Bitcoin millionaires at? Make some noise. We'll also be discussing Bitcoin about to go supersonic and recapture $60 ,000 a lot sooner than many anticipate according to this top analyst. We'll also be discussing the spot Bitcoin ETF approval can literally come this week, according to the experts, as the window is open until the 17th, giving us four more days to make it happen. We'll also be discussing what will the Bitcoin price action be after the Bitcoin BlackRock ETF and the Bitcoin halving in 2024. I'll be breaking down these predictions from the top asset managers in the world. We'll also be taking a look at the overall crypto market. All this plus so much more in today's show.
Bloomberg Daybreak Europe
Fresh update on "echo" discussed on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe
"The rally on bond markets continuing as well the 10 -year bond shield in germany three basis points lower 2 .45 percent the two -year treasury yield four basis points lower this morning now to our top this morning the famed investor Charles Munger has died at the age of 99 as Warren Buffett's hand right man for almost 60 years he helped transform berkshire Hathaway from a failing textile maker to a global conglomerate Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Matthew Palazzola remembers the pair's special relationship they're recalling individual meetings that they had you know forty fifty years ago and and profit is forgetting couple things amongers reminding him of well said this guy that we said this and we made this much money in these meetings I mean it was you know truly a Partnership for all of that time and their interaction was just amazing they would finish each other's sentences Bloomberg Intelligence's Matthew Palazzola there talking about Charlie Munger's impact at Berkshire Hathaway between 1965 and 2022 the firm's share price rose by 3 .8 million percent that compares to a gain of almost twenty five thousand percent for the S &P 500 two of the Federal Reserve's most hawkish rate setters have signals they could be comfortable holding steady for now the comments forcing expectations that the central bank's current hiking cycle is over Governor Michelle Bowman says she remains willing to support rate hikes if inflation progress stalls but stopped short of endorsing an increase next month Bowman's view is echoed by fellow FOMC member Christopher Waller who said policy is well positioned to return inflation to target also weighing into the Fed debate billionaire investor Bill Ackman is betting the Fed's going to start cutting rates sooner than markets are predicting and policymakers are signalling speaking to David Rubenstein for Bloomberg the Pershing Square founder said the firm is betting on the move we have another one on as we speak actually we're betting that the Federal Reserve is going to have to cut rates more quickly than people expect that's the the current macro bet that we have on. Blackman's comments are at odds with traders who are fully pricing a first rate cut in June with the chance of a cut in May at about 80 percent the activist investor also told David Rubenstein's peer -to -peer conversations that he's already seeing weakness in the US economy Spanish inflation is unexpectedly eased for the first time since June thanks to drops in the cost of fuel and tourism data shows that consumer prices rose by 3 .2 percent from a year earlier in November that compares with three and a half percent the previous month and to five market expectations for an acceleration the numbers offer a glimpse of how inflation is faring across the eurozone with ECB rates now on hold following a bout of rapid hikes and finally Saudi Arabia's public investment fund will buy a 10 % stake in Heathrow Airport as part of a shareholder reshuffle the purchase makes the PIF a partial owner in one of Europe's busiest airports alongside the Qatar Investment Authority the funds buying the stake from Spanish multinational Ferrovial which is selling down its 25 % holding there are top stories we're going to be bringing you an interview with the CBI CEO and director next -general that's Ray Newton Smith stay with if a baby is giggling interactive brokers charges USD margin loan rates from 5 .8 3 % to 6 .8 3 % rated the lowest margin fees by stockbrokers .com their clients can also earn extra income by lending their fully paid shares of stock join Interactive Brokers clients from 200 plus countries and territories to invest in stocks, options, futures, funds and bonds on 150 global markets rate subject to change learn more at kr slash .com compare when you get your news from Bloomberg you don't just get the story you get the story behind the story how your EVs battery may not be as green as it seems why a decrease in global birth rates could send countries scrambling to increase immigration you get context and context changes how you see things how you change things because context changes everything go to bloomberg .com to get in the backseat they're probably happy baby is crying in the backseat they're probably hungry but if a baby is sleeping in the backseat will
Hearing Jesus: Daily Bible Study
A highlight from What if God is Silent? With Special Guest Addison Bevere
"Do you sometimes doubt if you're truly hearing God's voice or if it's really your own? Or have you been in a season where it feels like He's completely silent? Have you been praying for a way to learn how to hear His voice more clearly? Hey friends, I'm Rachel, host of the Hearing Jesus podcast. If you are ready to grow in your faith and to constantly step into your identity in Christ, then join me as we dig deep into God's word so you can learn to live out your faith in your everyday life. Well, hey everyone, welcome back to the Hearing Jesus podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Grohl, and today we have my friend Addison Bevere on the show. Addison, thanks for joining us today. Rachel, thanks for having me. It's good to be here. Yeah, so I invited Addison on the show today because he has a message with his new book that so clearly echoes the message that God has burned my heart with. And Addison, I thought it might be good for you just to kind of introduce yourself and maybe a little bit about this book and what led you to write this new book. Yeah, absolutely, Rachel. I love that you said that it's an echo of what God has spoken to you and what you've been walking through. For me, even the first chapter of Words with God, it's entitled The Voice, and I take the reader on a journey into the canyon, into that place where we hear echoes, that place where we wonder, are we hearing the voice of God or is that an echo of our own thoughts, echo of our own fears, our own concerns, our own desires? And I think for so many of us, that's a wrestling. And I went through a season, and I share about this in a five years of insomnia, where so much about what I knew of God, what I knew about purpose, came under attack in ways that just they'd never come under attack before. And I had reasons to question God's faithfulness, his presence, his goodness that I hadn't encountered before. It was a series of different things that happened in my life, and it led me to the end of myself and really a complete breakdown. So that's a bit of my story. I come from a great family. I have an amazing mom, amazing dad. They're both authors and speakers. And then I have a passion for prayer, and specifically a prayer that integrates our lives, a type of prayer that brings everything together so we can experience the wholeness and the peace and the promise of what it is to walk in communion and union with God. And so I've been married for 15 years, and I have four kids, ages 13, 12, 8, and 6, two boys, two girls. And I live in Nashville, Tennessee. So that's a bit about me. And I know we're going to get into the book and get into this idea of hearing God's voice. So yeah, I'll touch on more of that later. Yeah. So your kids are about the same age as some of mine, so we need extra prayer in this next week.
Bloomberg Daybreak Europe
Fresh update on "echo" discussed on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe
"Morning from London, I'm Caroline Hepker. And I'm Stephen Carolluli. And I'm Stephen Carolluli listening to Daybreak Europe live on London DAB radio. And let's start by looking at the markets this morning. The dollar is falling for a fifth day a in row. More discussions around whether we've reached a peak rate, whether there'll be interest rate to any more interest rate increases. So Fed speakers at the Treasury market rallying this morning. Ten -year Treasury yields are currently down by four basis points, 4 .28%. Stock also futures for Europe. US stocks 50 futures this morning trading low around a tenth one of percent. S &P 500 evening futures though up a tenth of one percent. The hang saying they're slumping 2 .4 % this morning and that is a look at the markets. Our top stories this morning. The famed investor Charles Munger has died at the age of 99 as Warren Buffett's right hand man for almost 60 years. He helped transform Berkshire Hathaway from a failing textile maker into a global conglomerate. Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Matthew Palazzola remembers the pair's special relationship. For the company that they've built, you know, They talk about it actually being, quote, easy, you know, which is, I guess, a very humble understatement. But I think they buy good companies, they let them run and, you know, this machine they've built will go on for, you know, all time, really. Bloomberg's Matthew Palazzola there talking about Charlie Munger's impact at Berkshire Hathaway. Between 1965 and 2022, the firm has returned 3 .8 million per cent. That compares to a return of 25 ,000 per cent for the S &P 500. Now, two of the Federal Reserve's most hawkish rate setters have signalled that they could be comfortable holding steady for now. The comments reinforcing expectations that the central bank's current hiking cycle is over. Speaking of American the Enterprise Institute in Washington, Governor Christopher Waller said that policy is well on inflation to target. I am increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2 per cent. Waller's view was echoed by fellow FOMC member Governor Michelle Bowman, who says that she remains willing to support rate hikes if inflation progress stalls but stops short of endorsing an increase next month. Meanwhile, billionaire the investor Bill Ackman is betting the Fed will begin cutting interest rates sooner than markets are predicting and that policymakers are signalling. Speaking to David Rubenstein for Bloomberg, the Pershing Square capital management founder said such a move could happen in the coming months. I think there's a risk of a hard landing if the Fed doesn't start cutting rates pretty soon. So I think the market expects sometime middle of next year. I think probably as early as Q1. Bill Ackman's comments are at odds with traders who are fully pricing in a first rate cut in June, with the chance of a cut in May at about 80%. The activist investor also told David Rubenstein's peer -to -peer conversations that he's already seeing evidence of a weakening US economy. Now, Saudi Kingdom Holdings has bought a $450 million stake in Citigroup. The purchase of shares previously owned by the company's chairman, Prince Alwaleed, announced just this morning Kingdom's stake in the bank now stands at 2 .2%. To Middle the East Hamas has reportedly turned over 12 more hostages to the Red Cross. The captive release comes despite earlier competing claims of violations of the deal that had brought a temporary pause to the war. The agreement has been extended by two days and will now expire tomorrow morning. This Gaza resident says he wants the pause in fighting to continue. Thank goodness now we're in a truce and hopefully the truce will be the long one. To be honest with you The voice is there of one person living in Gaza. It's understood that US officials are seeking to further extend the ceasefire and hostage releases with Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to visit Israel and the West Bank this week. Morgan Stanley is trying to overturn a French court ruling ordering it to pay 1 .4 million euros in bonuses to a banker who quit the firm. The case at the Paris Court of Appeals is considering whether or not the bank can choose to pay a bonus once an employee has resigned. It's a case that could have major repercussions about banks in France. Lawyers for the former employee say that the bonus is performance -based and that French law prevents requiring staff to stay on in order to be paid for completed work. The latest bonus clash echoes a spate of earlier disagreements involving bankers at the firm including the firm. And London's iconic black cabs will be available on Uber for the first time. Bloomberg's Tia Adebayo has the details. Once sworn enemies, London's cabbies have consistently protested against Uber's presence in the city. Hundreds of black cab drivers demonstrated in London in 2014 as part of Europe -wide protests against the app, citing loss of business and safety issues. But from next year, Uber will offer customers the option of choosing a black cab and its more than 15 ,000 taxi drivers. Steve McNamara, General Secretary of Trade Body, the Licence Taxi Drivers Association, criticised the plans, saying no taxi trade groups were consulted before the announcement. The move is the latest step in the company's aspirations to become a one -stop transportation destination. In London, Tiwa Adebayo, Bloomberg Radio. And those are our top stories for you this morning. And to ten -year US treasury yields, down 4 basis points at 4 .28 % for yields. Now in a moment we'll be discussing the revival of a market that many had presumed dead. The riskiest banking debt. AT1s are back. Switzerland's at the heart of it. We'll be speaking to our credit reporter Tasos Vassos about that in just a moment. But first, the investment world, of course, mourning the loss of Charlie Munger, the man who helped build Berkshire Hathaway over almost 60 years, also King of the one -liners, as we heard from so many of those investment meetings in Omaha as well. Casino in drag. He once described derivatives trading deaths as he talked about digital assets being partly fraud and partly delusion. Which is just amazing, isn't it? What a quip. Yeah. I mean, look, he was somebody who was very well known to those who invested in Berkshire Hathaway, those in the investment community, but also the groupies, as he described them, those people used to turn out for the Berkshire Hathaway AGMs in Nebraska every year. We've got Bloomberg's Charlie Wells with us, who's been looking into this story for us. An extraordinary life, Charlie Munger had. Sharp -weighted ability to deliver outsized returns, too. Yeah, you know, in the end it goes back to poker. I think that really is the strategy that helped make Charlie Munger so successful. So, born in Omaha in 1924, famously the same hometown as Warren Buffett, he was stationed in Nome, Alaska during World War II, and that is where he learned this game and the strategy, and I think that's really informed his business strategy going forward, was sort of twofold. If you need a fold, fold early, he said, but if you have the upper hand, keep it and go even bigger. And you really see that from the time he was in World War II to the time that he died yesterday, looking for companies that were not just undervalued, but also excellent, that had pricing power that really could have brand recognition. And this ranges from the likes candies, and that is a confectioner that I grew up with in California that they invested in in 1972 to the likes of Coca -Cola. Yeah, absolutely. Look, it helps that he was a math genius, right? He talked about being able to ace pretty much any maths course when he was a young man. It is one I think of business journalists, sort of enormous misses if you didn't manage to get to Omaha, Nebraska and see one of those huge events with thousands of Berkshire Hathaway investors there just to sort of get close to that magic, that magic duo really Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett. What do you think his investing philosophy was? How different was it to Buffett's because he seemed very much also as someone who was the foil to Buffett too. Yeah, one time Buffett actually Munger called the abominable no man because he said no to a lot of things and he in a lot of ways could keep Buffett focused. You know Warren Buffett famously likes attention and he's okay to be front and center whereas Munger you know from Omaha relocates to Los Angeles stays and there for much of his life. He actually passed away in a hospital in Santa Barbara but as far as their philosophy I think it was keeping each other honest and from the moment that they met in sort of a chance encounter in Omaha in 1959, you know really until the day that he died they spoke almost daily on the phone for hours and Buffett has said that you know they could really finish each other's sentences so I think it was keeping each other honest having difficult conversations with each other even though their views very often from investing to politics were very different. Yeah was there ever tension in that relationship Charlie? That's a really good point I mean they never had an argument famously but they did disagree and there were often points when Munger would tell Buffett you know I'm right and you're smart and so sort of you know it sounds positive but it also sounds negative I and think you know the ability to kind of seek out investments and to kind of like change Warren Buffett's investment strategy so when he started out Buffett himself said he sort of invested in what would be thought of as cigarette butt companies so these sort of failing firms that weren't that were cheap and Munger famously helped kind of pivot that strategy basically saying to Buffett forget what you know
Simply Bitcoin
A highlight from Why MrBeast NEEDS to Adopt Bitcoin | EP 864
"It's all going to zero against Bitcoin. It's going up for everyone. You're against Bitcoin, you're against freedom. Yeah, welcome to another episode of Simply Bitcoin Live. We're your number one source for the peaceful Bitcoin revolutionary, groundbreaking news, culture, and matter of warfare. We will be your guide through the separation of money and state. Today, we're going to talk about the most famous and most successful YouTuber on the face of the planet, MrBeast. And I know what a lot of you guys are thinking. This Bitcoin show, what are we like? Why are we talking about that? Well, we talk a lot about the concept of breaking the Bitcoin echo chamber. Bitcoin content creators and just Bitcoiners in general, we talk a lot about Bitcoin because we love it and we understand how it's going to fundamentally change the world. But what happens more often than not is that we're preaching the gospel to other Bitcoiners. Our challenge is to break through, break through that so -called echo chamber so that the ethos, the ideas of Bitcoin start to seep into mainstream consciousness. We win over the culture. We win over the information war. Our challenge is how do we get Bitcoin culture into the mainstream? That's our battle over the next five, ten years. Corey Clipston, CEO, founder of Swan, wrote the race to avoid the war. It is vital for us to orange pill as many people as humanly possible before the inevitable clash happens between the nation state governments and Bitcoin. You're seeing that with Elizabeth Warren. We have a thread today about the European Union. They're so happy. They announced the rollout of the digital ID that's going to be paired with a digital wallet. Remember how they said that that was a conspiracy theory for so long? That's coming. You have Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank, basically getting all giddy talking about the introduction of the European Central Bank digital currency. You have the Fed now that's being rolled out here in the United States. They just sued Bitcoin magazine for making fun of them, right? So it might seem like it's a big nothing burger. It might seem like noise. But the reality is that as Bitcoiners, we have to break this Bitcoin echo chamber because the reality is that our opponents, right, central banks, fiat money, really, they don't really have the truth on their side. Like if people had all the facts and they're like, OK, you're completely informed. You get to choose between one and the other. Ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of people would pick Bitcoin. Obviously, it's deflationary and it's censorship resistant. Governments are always going to want to censor and they're always going to want to inflate because that's how they pay for themselves. So when we talk about Joe Rogan, we talk about Russell Brand, we talk about Mr. Beast, even though it might not seem Bitcoin related, it's really, really important that these people use their platform because it's a lot of normies, a lot of people that are not necessarily into Bitcoin. And they use their platform to talk about Bitcoin. You've seen Tim Pool do this. You've seen Joe Rogan do this all in a positive light, of course. I'm not sure if Russell Brand has mentioned Bitcoin. And this has all happened because the likes of Max Keiser have done the rounds on these shows. And Max Keiser was telling people to buy Bitcoin since 2013. And they heard this and they chose not to listen. And then the number go up, does its thing. Right. And eventually number go up. You know, it's a very harsh teacher. And then people are just like, you know what? Max was pretty right about this Bitcoin stuff. And then they see what's going on with the government money. And they're like, OK, this is crazy. Now, we did have confirmation that Mr. Beast did mention that he owned one point five million dollars with the Bitcoin on Logan Paul show. So he does have Bitcoin. I don't think he takes it very seriously. But what I wanted to cover today is this legacy media hit piece on Mr. Beast, basically criticizing him for him making a video where he. Made wells and he supplied water, clean drinking water to five hundred thousand people in Africa.
Morning News with Manda Factor and Gregg Hersholt
Fresh update on "echo" discussed on Morning News with Manda Factor and Gregg Hersholt
"Accumulating snow at the mountain passes by Friday night in the coma for Weather Center meteorologist Kristen Clark 40 degrees in downtown Seattle Northwest News time 1236 we now know how two of three accused teens of escaping from echo Glen juvenile detention facility got out Sunday night and to link to serious crimes more from coma forest Michelle Esteban we learned one of the three teens a 16 year old is serving for time first -degree murder second -degree murder and assault according to his defense attorney and court records I am going to find that the respondent based on the reasons that he was being held at echo Glen in the first place Well, this is other criminal history in one of those cases a 54 year old convenience store owner was shot and outside killed his rent in store in a drive -by shooting the defendant was just 14 at the time because they're juveniles the judge ordered they not be identified but we learned in court the second teen accused also serving time for felonies the state agency which runs echo Glen facility said the first was apprehended in about four minutes on the grounds near a maintenance facility another teen was found there too a third was hiding in the woods discovered after early two hours coma force michelle esteban reporting northwest news time 1237 sports with sports in just three minutes I smart Christopher how many times in life now have you said wow I wish they would have taught us this in are school you thinking about retirement yet those of us when we get around to doing it we rely on these traditional and outdated retirement planning rules there's more available now but who's going to teach us I've got a guy for you it involves a free planning workshop hosted by attorney Rajeev the guy edge using outdated retirement planning tools continue retirement dreams of travel playing golf spending time with friends living where you want to live not being a burden to your family how about the institutional care settings I don't want to end up there and you don't either so let's start putting together a plan for you that works and it starts with a Harvard Trust crafted by attorney Rajeev the join guy Rajeev in his next free workshops December 5th in Federal Way December 7th in Puyallup or 9th in Bellevue register for these free workshops by going to lifepointlaw .com let's make a better retirement plan for you and let's start right now Join doctors Kopstein and King from K2Vision RLE to learn about refractive lens exchange and have your questions answered they're hosting a free live webinar Thursday December 7th at noon why is K2Vision RLE a permanent solution to glasses contacts and readers how is it that you'll never develop a cataract after K2Vision RLE and how is RLE different from LASIK we'll answer these questions and more at our upcoming K2Vision free live webinar Andy what are some of the other questions you hear how long is the procedure and recovery or who's a good candidate for RLE and we'll also answer how much does RLE cost is there financing available does insurance pay for RLE find out how K2Vision RLE is the permanent solution to glasses contacts and readers and cataracts too right no more cataracts the webinar is Thursday December 7th at noon space is limited register now at RLE K2Vision .com RLE .com in this market you'll find Fisher Investments is different than other money managers different how aren't we all just looking for the hottest stocks nope we use diversified strategies to position our clients portfolios for their long -term goals you don't just provide cookie cutter portfolios no we tailor our clients portfolios to their goals and needs but you still sell investments that commissions for you right no we don't sell Commission based products we're a fiduciary the highest standard of care care for a financial advisor it means we're obligated to act in our clients best interest so when do you money make more only when your clients make more money yep we have one transparent management fee structured so we do better when clients our do better sounds like you really look out for your clients we do because our priority is helping them achieve a comfortable that retirement might be why most of our clients come from other money managers visit fisherinvestments .com to find out why investors like you switch to
Thinking Crypto News & Interviews
A highlight from BIG CRYPTO NEWS! CUSTODIA BANK BITCOIN CUSTODY, A16Z WEB3 INVESTMENT, ETHEREUM WHALE LOSES PASSWORD
"Caitlin Long's Custodia Bank has officially launched their Bitcoin custody platform. A16Z leads a $4 .2 million seed round investment into a UK Web3 infrastructure firm. Kraken is looking to launch its own Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution to compete with Coinbase. And an Ethereum whale who bought 250 ,000 ETH at 30 cents has lost his password. Let's break it down. Welcome to the Thinking Crypto Podcast, your home for cryptocurrency news and interviews. If you are new here, please hit that subscribe button as well as the thumbs up button and leave a comment below. If you're listening on a podcast platform such as Spotify, Apple or Google, please leave a five star rating and review. It supports the podcast and it doesn't cost you anything. Well, folks, I want to start off by highlighting the hypocrisy of Nouriel Roubini. If you don't know who he is, he is a fake economist hack. And I call him that because he has been trashing Bitcoin crypto in the industry for years. But look at this, Binance CEO CZ called him out because apparently he is working on a project that has a token. So look at that, right, folks? I always say watch what they do, not what they say. Nouriel Roubini has been a very vocal critic and he's getting exposed. So CZ said some people are shameless after attacking Binance publicly on stage a year ago, now issues a token and puts Binance logo on their website without permission. So unbelievable. There's even a BlackRock Goldman Sachs logo here. I don't even know that's legit. Now, the name of the project, CZ blurred that out. And I understand why he doesn't want to give these guys any type of press here or any try to drive people there to invest in whatever token they're building. But this guy, Nouriel Roubini is a piece of shit, in my opinion. And I hope he's listening. Nouriel, you're a clown. Now let's move ahead to some really big news, folks. So Custodia Bank, which is owned by Caitlin Long, who I've had on the podcast many times, has officially launched their Bitcoin custody platform. Custodia is a bank built by Bitcoiners and we offer segregated custody accounts on our custom built Bitcoin custody platform. They tweeted out, they also said, our Bitcoin custody service is purpose built for businesses, fiduciaries, investment advisors, fund managers and corporate treasurers. We're currently offering some of our services in various U .S. states. As a non lending bank, we offer integrated Bitcoin custody and U .S. dollar services, which is not FDIC insured under one roof, which simplifies other operations and reduces risk. We recently earned approval from Wyoming Division of Banking to go live with our Bitcoin custody service. Since we built our Bitcoin custody platform in -house, we're especially grateful to those willing to help us by providing user feedback. This is great news, folks. This is a bank built out of the crypto industry. Caitlin Long, of course, being very bullish on Bitcoin, has been fighting for crypto regulations for a long time. And we saw the Fed did not want to give Custodia a master account. And Custodia, in fact, sued the Fed. The Fed tried to get the lawsuit dismissed, but then the judge said, no, no, no, you're not dismissing this. Right. So we're seeing just the operation choke point from the government and the pushback against crypto to protect the TradFi incumbents. But we're winning in the court. So Caitlin's bank is a big win, folks, going live. It's a big win. And I hope she wins her lawsuit against the Fed and she's able to get that master account, folks. So huge, huge news. Now, Caitlin was also tweeting out because she's at the DC FinTech Week, which Gary Ganser, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and other crypto industry leaders will be at. And the current OCC acting chair, whose last name is Sue, if I'm saying that right, she said he unfortunately displayed a fundamental misunderstanding of crypto at DC FinTech Week. He supports private blockchains for tokenization to solve settlement problems, but then said crypto is only for speculation and criminals. Unbelievable. So you know what he's supporting there, right? He is supporting JPM coin, the private blockchain, a centralized blockchain controlled by the biggest bank in the world. That's what he wants. So you can tell who's pulling his strings, right? He's a puppet. His talking points are probably coming straight from JP Morgan, but we've seen these wall gardens are not going to succeed. They're going to work within their own ecosystem. So JP Morgan and all its branches can use their JPM coin, but no way in hell is a bank of America or a Citibank and these folks going to trust that coin, right? You're creating just a new centralized system where people are not going to trust each other. So this is why the public permissionless blockchains are the way to go and setting up the proper rules. So this guy's clearly a puppet for the TradFi folks. She said, Caitlin continued, she said, I've complimented Sue multiple times in the past, but must call this out. His remarks ring hollow when the federal bank regulators green light the big banks like BNY Mellon to provide Bitcoin and Ether custody, but block startups like Custodia Bank. And they ring hollow when a giant incumbent BlackRock is in the pole position for a Bitcoin spot ETF approval over upstarts whose applications have been pending for years. Great context, right folks? I've been talking about it. These two things happening in parallel, Gary Gensler and the SEC, the Fed, and these different folks weaponized against crypto startups, yet BNY Mellon gets crypto custody license, BlackRock applying for Bitcoin spot ETF, right? Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Citadel launch a crypto exchange. Mastercard and Visa are expanding their use of crypto and blockchain. PayPal launches a stable coin. See the two things running in parallel, right? That's not by coincidence or accident. It's a clear agenda. And Caitlin is absolutely right. She highlighted here that Mike Keagney just spoke the truth. Public blockchains are useful, but private blockchains aren't. Might as well use a database instead. She said, this is on target. I hope federal bank regulators learn this. Keagney's right. The tokenization that federal bank regulators want is only useful on public blockchains. So clearly this guy who is the acting chair, he is a TradFi puppet and probably, you know, given his talking points from JP Morgan and whoever else. Now here, Omid Malikin weighed in on Caitlin's comments and said, I want to echo what Caitlin said. Sue's comments are more evidence that US regulators care more about protecting incumbents than embracing innovation or inclusion. Private blockchains are exclusionary by design, not to mention useless. I wouldn't say they're useless. They're useful within those ecosystems, right? You want a private blockchain, have at it, go for it, right? But don't expect anybody to use it outside of your company. So like I said, JP coin is probably working really well between the JP Morgan headquarters and all the different branches around the world. That's fine. Good luck to you, right? Best of luck for you. That's right. But nobody outside is going to use it.
Stephanie Miller
Fresh "Echo" from Stephanie Miller
"Political columnist for Esquire .com. Why is always everybody laughing with me? Oh, hi, Charlie Pierce. Hi. Good morning all. Good morning, Jodie. Good morning, Charlie. Anyway, everyone Was it Thanksgiving? Yeah. Yeah, it was good. It was good. It was festive. In my orange jacket. Chris was out in the woods. Yeah, I was. Yes. It's doing his Sequoia impersonation. Yeah, I know. One of his photos, I believe, was captioned, Chris Lavoie left Giant Sequoia. So people wouldn't get confused. By the way, I had to press Chris into service to yesterday carry something heavy for me because the guy showed up. Like your house? Is he moving your house further away from the coyotes? It was a couch. And I said to the guy, I'm like, why do you see this guy? Chris comes up the stairs like Paul Bunyan. He's like, oh, well, he can carry that himself. I'm like, no, these are show muscles. They had no use whatsoever. So, Charlie, we were talking at the top of the show, think I Eric Swalwell said something I said about just and Claire McCaskill echoed it too. I think just this Middle East crisis that, you know, I think Joe Biden, by all accounts, is doing a masterful job, you which know, is what, you know, 40, 50 years on the world stage, I guess will do for you. I've said it over and over Gaza would a be parking lot and all the hostages would be dead if Donald Kennedy, because he would let that full BB Netanyahu do whatever he wanted. Thank you. Thank you. That was, I mean, it's bad enough. He's dropping 2000 pound bombs on a piece of land the size of Rhode Island. Yeah. But listen to what Eric Swalwell said. I also like to step back when I see some of the heat President Biden is taking and think, what would the alternative be if Donald Trump was elected or if Donald Trump was president at this time? Can you imagine what the scenario would be in the Middle East? It would probably be the United States and Israel and a world war three like scenario with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. Yeah. I mean, the mind reels, right? Uh, yeah. I mean, it's, it's, you know, just imagine who's going to be like secretary of state state, secretary of defense in a second Trump administration. Yeah. I mean, it'd be, it'd be, you know, cash Patel and, you know, pony speak it away. I, by the way, I just mentioned Nikki Haley earlier because I, I'm sorry, I get it that compared to a lot of the other lunatics, you know, you sit over the Nikki weekend, Haley top what we previously considered her worst idea. You said Nikki Haley's no bargain. First of all, she's a Republican in 2023, which makes her prima facie a fringe candidate. Second, at least judging by her campaign rhetoric, she's too a bit dedicated to the proposition that performative belligerence constitutes a foreign policy. And finally, she's a well font of terrible ideas. Um, she, Oh, she, we were talking about her calling for an end to anonymity on the tubes, as you call them. But I just think it is in relation to these other lunatics that she seems ish. sane But I agree with you. I think she's still, you know how bad it is. jumped She on an idea first proposed by Vivek Ramaswamy, who is the guys who is the geyser of bad ideas. Yeah. Yeah. You know, she's gonna, she's gonna, she's gonna term limit what she calls government bureaucrats. You know, we serve five years in the same job. Well, I'm sure that like, and, food inspectors you know, the EPA and stuff would gladly like turn over their entire personnel every five years to a bunch of rookies. Yeah. I mean, it's once again, the Republicans demanding to run the government so they can show you that It doesn't work. Yeah. It's been a game plan for a long time. Yeah. No, exactly. By we, the way, we mentioned earlier, uh, John Carl's reporting that, uh, you know, Mike Pence was not going to go to, you January know, six that he, Oh, we hurt my friend's feelings, referring to Donald Trump, the guy that wanted him hung, but he, uh, you know, what do you mean he wasn't, what do you mean he wasn't going to go? He wasn't going to go to the Senate or the House? Yes, he was. That's why it appears Chuck Grassley thought he was going to be presiding. So, so much for this. Oh, Mike Pence at is least the one Patriot in the Republican party. No, it wasn't. Once again, once again, we have to thank Dan Yes. Who apparently stuffed the guts back into it. Yes. He did everything he could to not do his institutional duty apparently. And this new reporting is even worse that he was just going to skip it, just not because, go oh, it's too, too fraught and too whatever, right? Yeah, well, I mean, then that he would have been easier to find and they could have like dangled him from a retweeted us. Senator Mike Lee defended his role in the January 6th conspiracy by claiming he was secretly investigating the plot rather than assisting it. And you say it did take away from his efforts to help LJ find the real killers. Um, I mean, beyond, I mean, besides the the former president saying he was really being sarcastic when he said Obama instead of Biden. That's the strangest thing I heard all weekend is Mike Lee trying to, trying to, trying to profit his way out being of involved in the white shoe end of the insurrection. Yeah, I was really, I was really an undercover super spy. Right. Yeah. I mean, I still wonder, you know, if all of these other people are going to see any kind of justice for January I don't know. I mean, do you mean that you mean the, uh, the congressional, the congressional people? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't know that we ever will. See any of them all before the bar. Well, that's depressing. If they take over both houses of Congress. Yeah. You know, next, next year, which is another Yes, exactly. Exactly. Because of, well, I'll tell you why, because of this lady, a reporter of a Trump said this week that there was a limit to her devotion, but said she would need to see her idol do something incredibly extreme, such as a wanton act of child abuse. Iowa Trump supporter, Ashley long, you know her, I'm sure she said she would abandon Trump. If he did something super heinous, it would have to be a video of Trump punting a
The Bitboy Crypto Podcast
A highlight from MASSIVE XRP PUMP! (Ethereum Not Done Yet!)
"Today is a great day to have a new set in crypto. How are we all doing today? It's 11 -6. It's November 6th. It's 11 -32. Sorry. It's 10 -33am. How are we all doing today? We got a new set. We got some new people. This is going to be phenomenal. Look at that lighting down below, folks. It's lovely. I'm loving it. Hey, chat, let us know what you think about it. But guys, we're going to be talking about XRP. Why is XRP pumping? What is going on with Ethereum? Is there more activity? XRP is the crypto market's back is all -coin season starting. Also some huge Bitcoin ETF news as well and Grok AI, the AI that most resembles a caveman's name. But yeah, we got Drew and Kelly. I don't know which way to look. Do I look at the camera? Do I look at chat? Do I look at these two lovely gentlemen? Look me in my eyes. All right. Let's maintain eye contact for the entire show. Love the new set. It looks amazing. Nice. Nice. Okay. A little bit of an echo. Special shout out to our entire team here at Hit Network, BJ, Aaron, and Joel, and Bobby, and Owen. There's so many people who just work tirelessly. If I forgot anybody's name, a lot of you. Love you all. We appreciate how much hard work you do. Really special shout out there. Drew, any message on the beginning of the set? How do you feel about it? Man, it's just - You helped carry some things. Yeah, no, it's nice to have a fresh start. And I mean, this is just, it feels as professional as we act every day. Oh, that's not at all. I mean, I don't know. We bring the heat. So we have a new set up here. It's nice to be able to conversate back and forth with you guys, bounce ideas by each other a little bit more organically as we go through the news. So - Legit, because he DZ being a future Jimmy Kimmel. No, I will never be the CIA's puppet master. Okay. I will never be their puppet. All right. Let's get right into the show here, folks. Guys, let's see if I can share your screen. Make sure you're following us on Discover Crypto. We just put out two phenomenal videos over the weekend. In this Cardano video, I also added it to my pin tweet here, if you want to see it. But I highly recommend you go check it out on YouTube. Get in there, get in the chat, leave a couple of questions, we'll start replying to the videos. I don't know how I'll do it with the next video, working on some top three tips to master the bull run for the first hour that the video's out, we'll go ahead and maybe we'll engage with you. So if you've got any questions, I'll jump in there. Also, we did another video on Jimmy Bitcoin. The heist Bitcoin is stronger than any Bitcoin heist in history, billions of dollars. So it's a really, really good video. I recommend it. He's like the Bitcoin heist meister. He's the heist meister. Yeah, yeah. He's not Heisman, but he's the heist man. All right, folks, make sure you go to hit merch as well. And I think it's time for us to just get right into this Ripple story, folks. Ripple gaining momentum, $850 million, and whale buys push price above 75 cents here. You see it broke out above a critical 65 cents resistance, and now it looks like it's off to the races. So over the last two weeks, crypto whales have been spotted buying XRP aggressively. Not only are the whales buying, they're buying aggressively, folks. As of 2023, the event edges is now the best time to get crypto. You know what? I can see why Bobby's wanting me to move left. I tend to lean to my right. All right, between October 24th and November 6th, the whales, how much XRP did they acquire? 1 billion .26 XRP, folks. And if XRP does say go to $2, $2 .50, even $4, talking about billions of dollars here. So they're bringing their new balances to a new 2023 peak. So we're at a new peak for XRP balances on the whale wallets here. Now there is a big event coming. It's the 2023 edition of Swell Digital Asset Conference in Dubai later this week. It's an invite -only event. So we'll feature keynote speeches and dialogue with some leaders, regulators, and innovators. Now Drew, you're kind of Mr. XRP here. I think you're probably the biggest fan of XRP. The whales are buying. Now are they going to start dumping? No, I mean, we'll always see a little bit of sell pressure, but I think that banks being even just slightly willing to test out XRP and its remittance payment systems and these continuing patterns growth that I see for Ripple in general, I think that things across the world are seeing this. The US still has the gray area, but the rest of the world is feeling ready for it. So I don't think that that'll be on us anytime soon, a big dump. All right. All right. More conspiracy talk. You guys are always on point. No, no, no. We got to get off the rails here. Poor Jimmy. You know what? Poor Jimmy Zong. That's the only Jimmy I like talking about. All right. Here we have the social dominance chart. So this blue line is where people mentioned XRP. So when you see a little bit of spike in social media chatter, oftentimes you're going to see a little bit of a price increase as well. But sometimes social media chatter precludes the pump. Sometimes it's after the pump. They're just, it depends because as a coin doubles in price over a month, people will just start talking about it naturally, even if nothing else is going on. But so here's the social dominance metric is showing the percentage share of a cryptocurrency in comparison to the 50 most talked about projects in the crypto media channels. So they'll just look at keywords, how many TikToks are being made and compare it to the other 49 coins there. But having cleared the resistance at $0 .65, XRP price now faces minimal resistance on the road to $0 .70 as well. So not only that, though, we also have Deaton coming out. He was coming out in favor. So there's a little bit of a settlement with the SEC versus XRP months ago where, hey, programmatic sales, hey, that seems fine. But when you're selling to a hedge fund, that seems bad. So we had one win, we had one loss, and we're saying, so this is like a 50 -50, right? This is like a 50 -50 win -lose. So Deaton's coming out saying it is not 50 -50, it is 90 % win, 10 % loss. So we're looking at more of a 90 -10 ratio here. So here, let's just get his quote out here. In a recent post, he strongly refuted the idea that the result was close to a 50 -50 outcome here. The people who argued that the SEC got a 50 -50 victory in the ripple crates are 100 % right wrong here. I'm still messing around with it. It was more like a 90 -10 in Ripple's favor. If Ripple ends up paying $20 million or less, it's a 99 .9 % legal victory. Did it feel like a 99 .9 % legal victory, Drew? Yeah, I mean, absolutely. A lot of the talk from famously like Pomp when we first got the Ripple case laid out, he's like, oh, you're holding securities, but kind of dancing on the graves of people that held XRP, even in the retail, which I think was just an absolute spit on the face disservice and a to our freedom to transact and to have new systems come about to do those transactions. So seeing even these chunks of wins from XRP and Ripple are massive, massive gains in confidence for people across the world. Now they're looking at this thing and many people are calling it the most regulated crypto on earth just from these recent wins. You brought up gains of confidence. You think I care about the gains of confidence? I don't care about the gains of confidence. I only care about the gains in price. And that's where we're going to go to Kelly here. Kelly, we have some charts here. I don't know if you're looking at XRP, but yeah, 65 cents, 70 cents. Is that all just a facade or is there a real support and resistance happening here? Well, it's throwing it here to the chart. We can see that this is essentially a chart I've been looking at for some time. And interestingly, we have this sort of uptrend parallel channel that on this break to the upside, which is when we have that initial news breaking of the sec the court case stuff that we got this massive pump and essentially rejected right here at a known level that goes all the way back. I mean, this goes all the way back to this base point here, December, 2020. So this is a pretty interesting when the price was going, I was looking at this suggesting, and this is going to be likely turnaround point. We got a stiff rejection off that until we broke down and tested the lower bound here. Got a deviation below. Now why will we have a deviation below is because these smart money people out there, these the people that really understand how to move the markets, they try to do everything they can to trigger those of you and those of me and drew DZ. Everybody that's in this market is subject to emotions. And those that are in control of their emotions and have a sound strategy and risk management doesn't get triggered by this consistently. But those, somebody sold down here cause they thought it was going lower. Oh man. It gave that opportunity for a lower entry for a long, okay. Now we're seeing here, especially where we're at in relationship to the having coming up and we have all this stuff on the horizon about the the IPO for ripple. And we have all these court cases winning into to your point earlier. I don't think they're going to win a hundred percent, but I think that's baked in. I think in the sense that at 99 .8 % or whatever, they're going to have to have some concession not to make Gary Gensler feel like he completely has, you know, a full face of egg on it. So there's going to be some sort of small fine paid or some concession that they have to make, but it's literally just going to be the fee of doing business. We see this also, it's not, it's not the end of the world. We look at you know, traditional banking, they've had $40 billion in fines since 2000 traditional banking. And yet there's, you know, they're able to continue doing business because it's the price of doing business. Now, are these levels that you're talking about? You said 65 cents. Yeah. 65 cents. And then a lot of resistance at 70 cents as well. 65 cents is right here. This previous range high that we broke through. I do think if we come back down, this is a great area. If we're very bullish, this is a great area for price to bounce on. It doesn't mean if we lose this, it's not bullish anymore. In fact, we can come all the way back down here to this horizontal line. That's in perfectly a basically cross section right here to that 60 cents level. This would be a great opportunity for another, you know, still bullish pullback if we come back to this level. Now, if it does continue to run, where is it going to go? Are you going to buy DZ? Are you going to buy on the way up if we get two candles in a row that are still bullish and we break 85 cents, is that a signal for you to buy and prices just running higher? You know, as much as I like candles, I don't like buying wicks. And so just I even when it hurts me, I just I'm averse against buying wicks. Yeah, no, I hear that. And so the point here is if things are running, that's a signal that there's a lot of stuff going on. Let the pullback let the chart come to you in your strategy so you can so you can make a smart buy. Now, let's go ahead, look at Bitcoin, Bitcoin and an interesting sort of channel that it's it's trading here. A lot of people are speculating. Is this going to be a setup for a sort of kind of flopsided bar pattern where the price action actually continues chopping in here only to break down and, you know, to this level? But why is that level important to previous high level that thirty two thousand dollars? Now, whether we continue higher or pullback down there now, at some point, I do think we're going to test below this range that we're in right now. Things are I mean, we see the momentum here is trending down while the price is still slightly turning higher. So there is some signs that we may be having some issue here coming up fairly shortly. I think C90 says the best. We're too far away from the having to not have at least one pullback. I don't know if it's going to start tomorrow. I don't know if it's going to start two months from now, but we're looking at an April twenty twenty four halving date. There's I'm assuming it's going to be much more likely than not in those six, five, six months. We'll experience a pullback now. Everybody want and I just did a video on this on the bit lab morning stream talking about the pump season. It's holidays. Everybody not only has a bias that they wanted to go up because you want to feel happy during the holidays, but there is data out there. There's data out there that shows that on average, November has a thirty seven percent pump to the upside. But that doesn't that doesn't mean every November is a thirty seven percent pump. There are some November's that have been negative. Basically, you've lost value in November. And we can see on this chart right here, this is seasonality. This is Q4. These these yellow bars, horizontal bars. This is Q4. And yes, we had a pump here. But look, we had a dump here, consolidation here, pump here, break down here. So you have to you have to take it into the context of where you're at in the market cycle compared to the halving. So as it stands right now, I do think we very well could get a pump. But look how far we still are from having to me if we do get that pump, I'm going to be looking for an opportunity coming into the halving for still some lower prices to whatever level we pump from pump two. So I would just urge caution. The higher we go, start looking for opportunities for prices on a pullback. All right. Let's say what is the coin you want to get more of during a pullback? I'm just going to say boring Bitcoin. I feel like I don't have enough Bitcoin. So if there is a pullback, I think I'm a scoop up some more bitty. What about you two? I'm going to be going after Cardano next. That's the next big bag. I have too much of it. What about you, Kelly? Well, I'm torn because I mean, look at pull up this chart real quick, because we see dominance is coming into a known zone. Not a carry off. Do you like Natalie and Bruglia? I'm told that's how I was trying to think of the song is that I'm still coming into this zone. Dominance is pulling back. We're seeing a little bit of capital rotate out of Bitcoin. And we also see the Ethereum dominance broke. Everybody wants to see this breaking, thinking every alts are just going to moon. But we still could very well have those alts pull back. So it's still a little bit. Everybody wants this to be an alt season because we're seeing some pretty big gains, you know, also because we're all overexposed in alts. That's why. Yeah. You know, one of those ones, everybody was kind of taking a little doodoo biscuits on was right here. Albert Rand. Everybody was saying they thought it was dead because they're also doing that rebrand. But look at this 45 percent pump. But it's pushing higher. But don't get lost in the bias just because you're feeling good in a green candle. Look for those pullbacks. If I had to pick one, it would be Bitcoin.
Coin Stories with Natalie Brunell
A highlight from Weekly News Block: NYT Finally Gets Inflation? Cost of Living Crushing Gen Z, Trillion-Dollar Budget Deficits, Vanguard Won't Join Spot Bitcoin ETF Race, SBF Guilty of All Charges
"Welcome to the CoinStories news block. I'm Natalie Brunell and in the span of just 10 minutes, roughly the same time it takes to mine a new Bitcoin block, I'll provide you with concise, insightful updates on Bitcoin and the global financial landscape so you're well informed on the week's top stories. Everything you need to know in one place, in one block. Let's go. This week, something caught my eye in a New York Times article. The Times seems to finally recognize what we all know and feel. Prices are still stubbornly high, even though they say inflation is down. The article highlighted how prices skyrocketed since President Biden took office. The price of bacon is up 21%, the price of coffee beans up 33%, and the price of gasoline is up a whopping 73%. Here's a key line in the piece. It reads, quote, Yes, inflation has fallen sharply this year, but most prices have not fallen. Only the rate of increase has. Now this seems simple, but it's critical. A lot of people out there think inflation coming down means prices will return to where they used to be, but that's just not the case. This concept of how the inflation rate has declined but not prices themselves is also crucial to understanding why inflation is often referred to as a hidden tax. So when central bankers say that inflation has come down, what they really mean to say is the rate at which we are devaluing your money is slower than before. It's atypical to see this kind of straight talk coming from the New York Times. You know, they usually publish pieces by folks like Paul Krugman, who just last month gaslit the world yet again by declaring the war on inflation is over. That is, as long as you exclude used cars, food, energy, and shelter. You know, basically everything people need. CPI today is still eating away at our paychecks at a rate of nearly 4 % instead of more than 8 % at this time last year. But either way, our paychecks are losing value, making it harder to afford the things we need, and squeezing our ability to save. This is likely one reason why younger generations are not even thinking about long -term savings anymore. A recent survey from Intuit found that Gen Z is all about soft saving. Soft saving means preferring to spend and live in the moment instead of prioritizing saving for the future. So what was the main reason cited for the new soft saving trend? You guessed it. Inflation. More than half of the respondents said that the high cost of living is a barrier to their long -term financial success, and two -thirds of them said they wouldn't have enough for retirement anyways, so what's the point? Why save? Now this survey shed some light on that underlying sense of hopelessness that younger generations feel today when it comes to their finances. They no longer feel like they can save for their futures, and instead of planning for important milestones like buying a home, starting a family, or retirement, they are instead deciding to spend on experiences, anything to make them feel a little bit better about their lives. I actually talked about this in my most recent episode with Carla and Walker, aka The Crypto Couple. This is precisely why having a money that can't be debased, like Bitcoin, is so important. It can bring hope for a generation that increasingly feels like the rising cost of living is making their financial goals unreachable. In other words, Bitcoin can fix this. As Greg Foss often says, Bitcoin is for the kids. Hopefully these younger generations do get some relief soon, but unfortunately it doesn't seem likely given that the government can't stop spending. A recent Treasury report says the government is looking to borrow another $1 .6 trillion over the next six months alone. They're issuing more debt to spend more money that we don't have. Interesting enough, the Treasury Borrowing and Advisory Committee published a report that recognized some of the risks of continuing to borrow trillions of dollars. It basically lays out the dreaded debt spiral that James Lavish explained in detail in an interview I did with him earlier this year. So to summarize it, the Treasury is flooding the bond market with new supply, which is making interest rates on the bonds rise. The higher the rates, the more we have to pay back, and that's a big problem given the huge mountain of debt that we have. If interest rates keep rising, then that's more money the government has to spend to service the debt, which increases the amount of money they have to borrow even more, which could lead to more inflation, which leads to higher rates, and on and on it goes. Now for now, it seems to be business as usual, but we know it's not sustainable over the long term. To hear the Treasury recognizing these risks shows they are well aware of the debt spiral problem. And the solution? Well, they can either choose to stop spending and risk a financial crisis given the amount of debt in the system, or they can choose to try to print their way out of it. You know I've got my bets on which option they'll go with. If the government continues to print more money, then investors will need to find assets that are scarce and resistant to inflation, like Bitcoin, and a spot ETF Bitcoin approval would make it more accessible than ever before. Many firms like BlackRock, Fidelity, ARK Invest, they're vying to become the first spot Bitcoin ETF to hit the US market, and they all currently are awaiting SEC approval. But one firm that isn't throwing its hat in the ring is Vanguard, the second largest asset management firm in the country. Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley made headlines over the weekend when he said Vanguard won't join the Bitcoin ETF race, saying quote, Vanguard focuses on asset classes with an intrinsic value and capable to generate cash flows like equities and bonds. With all due respect, Mr. Buckley, Bitcoin's intrinsic value is linked to the properties that make it a superior form of money. It's scarcity, portability, divisibility. Yes, it doesn't offer a yield, because just like gold, if someone holds it, it doesn't have any counter party risk. If Vanguard is only in the business of cash flowing assets, then it makes perfect sense for why they wouldn't be interested in offering a spot Bitcoin ETF. All eyes now are on the January 10th deadline when the SEC needs to make a decision on ARK Invest's ETF application. But a lot of people are speculating that the real delay has to do with the legal issues surrounding Grayscale and its parent company DCG. Maybe we'll go into that another week. But there are definitely some out there wondering if BlackRock plans to buy Grayscale and seed its eventual ETF with the more than 600 ,000 Bitcoins in the trust. To be continued. Switching gears now to the courtroom. The verdict is in on Sam Bankman -Fried, and as you probably know by now, he was found guilty on all seven counts. The so -called trial of the century has come to a close. It marks the end of the stunning collapse of FTX, which saw billions of dollars stolen from millions of victims in one of the largest financial frauds in history. For Bitcoiners, the verdict represents a moment of cleansing and the industry maturing as it moves forward on more stable ground. Michael Saylor explained this idea well in a recent Bloomberg interview. I think it's an important milestone in the growth and the maturation of the industry. The crypto industry has been plagued by inexperienced entrepreneurs like Sam, unreliable custodians like FTX, incompetent creditors, a dozen went bankrupt in the last year or two, unscrupulous promoters. And their failure is a necessary rite of passage for an industry that's going to lead to a new, more stable, more scalable ecosystem that will be based on Bitcoin. Public companies like Block, MicroStrategy, Marathon, a dozen Bitcoin miners that are public, institutional money managers like Fidelity and BlackRock, and regulated banks when they eventually become custodians. The offshore crypto exchanges, the stablecoins, the crypto tokens, the DeFi projects, they're going to shrink, fade into background and decouple from mainstream and institutional digital assets marketplace that will be based on Bitcoin. The FTX case highlighted the difference between Bitcoin and crypto. This fraud was only able to grow to the size that it did because SPF could print FTT tokens out of thin air. No one can do that with Bitcoin because no one can control the network or manipulate it. That's what makes it so different. And that's why criminals like SPF don't like it so much. Miller Value Partners portfolio manager Bill Miller IV echoed this sentiment in another interview. Bitcoin is very different from crypto. So crypto was convicted yesterday. Bitcoin is still going very, very strong. The network's as strong as it's ever been. There's more users than there's ever been. So we continue to see very positive trends in Bitcoin, not so much in crypto. Bill isn't wrong either. Bitcoin's hash rate just reached a new all -time high last Saturday. The network's security has never been stronger. As crypto has faltered, Bitcoin has strengthened. For too long, Bitcoin's reputation has been tarnished by scams and frauds littered throughout the broader cryptocurrency industry. US Attorney Damian Williams, the prosecutor in the FTX case, delivered a strong message to the crypto space after the conviction. He said, quote, this case is also a warning to every fraudster who thinks they're untouchable, that their crimes are too complex for us to catch, that they are too powerful to prosecute, or that they are clever enough to talk their way out of it if caught. Those folks should think again and cut it out. And if they don't, I promise we'll have enough handcuffs for all of them. SPF faces a maximum sentence of 115 years behind bars and his sentencing date is set for March 28th. After this verdict, perhaps scammers might think twice before launching their own token or offshore exchange. Who knows? Maybe more of them will choose to work on Bitcoin instead. A girl can dream. That's it for the news block, your weekly Bitcoin and economic news update. I'm Nathalie Brunel. Make sure you're subscribed to Coin Story so you never miss an episode. This show is for educational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. Until next time, keep stacking.
Evangelism on SermonAudio
A highlight from Evangelism and the Trinity
"Let's pray and ask God's blessing upon the preaching of his word. Father, we do come before the preaching of your word now. What a great blessing it is that we can have your word given to us in so many different ways. Lord, we hear it. We see it. And soon we will sense it, we will taste it, we will touch it. You surround us with so many great blessings, simple though they may be, simply water, bread and wine, and word, Lord, you use these simple elements to strengthen our faith, to point us towards our Savior Jesus Christ who is alive today in heaven. We pray you would do this through this sermon now, in Christ's name, amen. Well, Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20, actually let's just begin in verse 16 and we'll go to the end. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go and therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. This ends the reading of the word of the Lord. So this week as I was preparing for our evening service and I was reflecting on us that we got to have a baptism today, our evening service, in the next couple weeks we're going to go over the question of how many persons are there in the Godhead? And as Christians we believe there are three persons. We do not just simply a singular person God, I mean he is one being in substance, but he is three persons. He's Father, Son and Holy Spirit as we hear in this text today. And as I was reflecting on this I thought, man, this is a great occasion. For a sermon on Matthew 28. But as I was thinking about it something interesting came across my mind of what happens in this passage. That here at the very outset of the Christian life is the name and the truth of the Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact one of the most, if not the most, mysterious doctrines of the Christian faith is where we begin the Christian life. And so I'd like us to take a few moments to see what this means for us. And also that it has interesting implications, important implications for evangelism. That's precisely what Jesus is calling his eleven disciples here to go do. To evangelize not the nations. And how should we think about this? Well I'd like to point us in three different ways in this passage to what we see here. First that we receive a new name. And then what is that name that we receive? Secondly. And then lastly the benefits and calling of this name. We receive a new name. What that new name is. And the benefits and calling of this new name. So what does it mean to be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? The first thing that you will notice here is that it's the word, the word for name is singular. Because it goes immediately after that and lists three people or three persons more properly. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But it doesn't say baptize them into the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It says baptize them into the name. And this is where we begin to understand our doctrine of the Trinity. That there is one being, one God, one essence, one substance as our catechism says of who God is. There are not three different gods. There is one singular God. Come back this evening and worship in our evening service and you'll hear more about this. But there is one singular God. But we also have three names given to this God. And we see throughout scripture that there are three ways that God reveals himself. There are three persons that God has revealed himself. Three actors, if you will, in God. Three individual persons who do things. And in this we are receiving this three tripart name applied to ourselves. And so what does it mean to be baptized into this name, this one name of three different names, if you will? Well, as we just heard a moment ago, it means that we're identified as God's covenant people. We heard Acts chapter 2 verses 38 and 39 that this covenant is for God's people, for those who believe in him for their children and all who are far off. Now God is calling people not to come and join the nation of Israel and now he is saying no this word of our gospel is going out to the nations and call them to believe in faith in Jesus Christ. And as we saw in baptism, we're explicitly marked out as those who belong to God. In some ways, if you were here yesterday for the wedding ceremony of the Holmans, you got to see something interesting about a wedding ceremony is that a wife takes the name of her husband. It's like a wedding ceremony. But you're now in this, you're being incorporated into the family of God. You're being brought into his covenant as his child. And the Old Testament testifies to what it means to take the Lord's name. Isaiah chapter 44 says, this one will say, I am the Lord's. Another will call on the name of Jacob and another will write on his hand the Lord's and name himself by the name of Israel. That's what it means to have the name of God put upon you. It is identifying yourself with the Lord. It's the wife taking the name of her husband, identifying herself with her husband. She shares in all that belongs to him and she comes under his protection and care. This is a covenant ceremony. In the old covenant, you would make a covenant usually or most often with somebody who was more powerful than you, with a greater king. But God is the king making a covenant with us of protecting, of caring, of sharing all of his goodness, his benefits with us. And he is applying his name saying, you are now, you now belong to me. We belong in a covenant relationship with the Lord. And that's what's happening as God sends, as Jesus sends his disciples out into the world to apply this sign, to baptize them, to make them belong to the covenant that God has made. So we receive a name. That's the purpose of it. It's to show that we belong to the Lord. And some of that might already be understood by you, but it's important to establish this. But then what is this name that we receive? What is the name? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? And like I said at the very beginning is that this is fascinating to me. And I hope it's fascinating to you that the very beginning of the Christian life is the most mysterious doctrine that we can conceive of. Three persons in one being, being applied to somebody at the very moment they are welcomed into the church. Jesus sets out the most profound mystery for his followers at the very beginning. And what's an implication of this is the importance of doctrine in the Christian life. If we begin with the doctrine of the Trinity, the most complex, the most mysterious doctrine, we must understand that we can't ignore doctrine as if it's not important for the Christian life. Too many Christians say, oh, we don't need to know doctrine. That's where people divide. That's where people fight. That's where people don't get along is when they talk about doctrine. And what Jesus is showing here is, no, doctrine begins at the very beginning of your Christian life. In fact, Father, Son, Holy Spirit is how you are identified. And it's essential as we grow as Christians to further and further understand this as best we can. So this is what is being called to as Christians. We are called to a doctrinal life as Christians who grow in our understanding. And as we see this, we grow in our understanding of how these names appear and what they do There's two particular places I'd like to point us to of how we can begin to understand this name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That what's happening here is actually in some ways a mirror of creation. You say, how in the world do you get that, Pastor Nate? Well, I'll get there. But in the beginning, God, Genesis chapter 1, created the heavens and the earth. In verse 2, the Spirit hovers over the waters. So we here have God, what we would refer to as the Father, creating all things, and the Spirit active in that work of creation, Father and Spirit. And then in the New Testament, the Apostle John tells us that also the Son was present there. This is John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Then all things were made through him, through this Word. And without him was not anything that was made. And without him was not anything made that was made. So there at the very beginning, Father, Son, Holy Spirit active in creating and bringing into existence everything. So there we see the trifold God, or trifold persons of God, they're active at creation. But then another event that I will point to as showing forth a little bit more of this creative act of God is what's happening at Jesus' baptism. Mark chapter 1, verses 9 through 11 says, In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters at creation now, the Spirit is hovering over Jesus Christ like a bird. And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son. With You I am well pleased. Here we have the Son identified, we have the Spirit identified, and if there is a Son this must be the voice of the Father speaking, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit active in this moment of Jesus Christ being identified with the people of God. That ultimately he need to be identified with them truly in order for him to bear their sins. He must be one of them, he must represent all of them. And baptism is ultimately an act and a witness to both of those events. And it is those events coalescing into one. It is the act where God regenerates us. He brings us back to life from the dead. He is giving life where there is none. In creation God created everything out of nothing. There was no life, but he brought life into existence where there was none. And this is what he is doing in the baptism of Christ. Is that he is bringing life where there is none. Ultimately where he would bring it on the cross, pointing towards his work on the cross and resurrection. And then just so you know I'm not making this up, this is what our catechism says about our confession of faith says that baptism is to be unto him or her a sign and seal of the covenant of grace of his engrafting of Christ and his regeneration. Regeneration is simply to give new life where there is none. To regenerate something, to bring it back to life. And so we see Father, Son and Holy Spirit operative in both creation bringing life where there is none and doing this out all three of them at work again Father, Son and Holy Spirit as Jesus is baptised. And it is a witness to what God does in giving life. And this is where it relates to evangelism. This is how we get to evangelism. Now first off when we talk about evangelism our immediate feeling is we need to grow. It's like prayer. When somebody says do you pray and you obviously think well not as much as I ought to right. And they say well do you evangelise? Well not as much as I ought to. Evangelism is one of those things that we all want to grow in but it seems a bit of a struggle often. One pastor I read this week he talked about confession of sin and reading of Psalm 51 David's Psalm that he wrote after his great sin with Bathsheba and then killing her husband. And he said this one of the chief reasons we do not pray is because we don't know how to pray. He says we do not instinctually know how to pray. We do not instinctually instinctively know how to evangelise. We need to learn. And I believe that this tripart name of God given here, trifold name is a model for us. It is actually a framework for us to learn how to evangelise. There's two ways to do this or two things that I think are really helpful for us as we think about evangelism. There's what I say and many other reformed for throughout the generations have said is the law and the gospel and now also a Trinitarian framework. So you say okay what's my plan for evangelism? Here you go. The law and the gospel and the trinity. The Heidelberg Catechism puts it this way about law and gospel says how many things are necessary for you to know that this comfort that in this comfort the comfort of being united to Jesus Christ, that in this comfort you may live and die happily. What do you need to know? Three things. The first, how great my sin and misery is, second, how I am redeemed from all my sins and misery and third, how I am to be thankful to God for such redemption. And in this we hear the law and the gospel and then the calling that flows from this gospel. The law tell people that they're sinners, not fun business. Tell people that they are miserable without God. Without God in the world, without God in your life, you are lost in your sins and you have no hope. But then we tell them what God has done to save sinners, what God has done to rescue them and bring them into his kingdom. But as we tell this gospel there's a Trinitarian framework that we can set what God the Father has done. He sent his son to save sinners. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We tell them what the son then does. God the Father sent his son to save us. What son the himself then does, being sent by the Father he came as a man like one of us to live perfectly for all of us who did not live perfectly, who failed in every way to keep God's commands. And not only did he live the perfect life that we needed, he paid the penalty for all the sins that we've committed. And then he gives us his eternal life, his righteous life for our sake, giving us his resurrection life. And then we tell them about what the Holy Spirit does. What God the Spirit does is then the Spirit comes into you as God applies all these benefits. He says, yes Jesus died on the cross but he died for you and he applies all these benefits to you. He comes and dwells in you. The third person of the Trinity dwelling inside of you. He takes the forgiveness that Christ accomplished and he applies it to you. So now you are one known as forgiven by God. He gives you faith so that you can know these benefits, believe in them and trust in them and rest in them. So that is this tripart name, the threefold name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit that refers to each person of him. And it is a calling for us as we evangelize that we are to go into all the world baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And now the benefit and the calling. The benefit of this going into all the world is that the end of this passage, verse 20, teaching them all I command you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age. This is the great benefit of this calling as Christians. Not only has God called us into his family, baptizing us with his name, making us apart, setting us apart from the rest of the world, he has incorporated us and he makes this amazing promise to us, I am with you always. He has united us to himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Father, Son, Holy Spirit united to us in our whole lives. And because of that bond that is established between the Trinity, God cannot forsake us. We are surrounded in front of us, behind us, underneath us, above us, inside of us and outside of us, everywhere. We belong to Jesus Christ and to each person of the Trinity. He cannot forsake us because if God were to forsake us, he would be forsaking himself and it would undo the bond of God itself. You belong to him and Jesus Christ promises to you that I am with you always. But there is also a calling in this as we go into this world to evangelize. Now this phrase, I am with you always, shows up in an interesting place in scripture, in the book of Joshua. If you read the opening section of Joshua chapter 1, you'll hear this echoed in there. And it's interesting what's happening there versus what we see happening in Matthew chapter 28. Joshua, Moses' servant, who takes over as the leader of Israel right as they're about to enter the Promised Land. Moses dies and Joshua is appointed as the new leader in Israel to bring the people of Israel into the Promised Land, to go conquer it for the people of God. And Joshua is commissioning them to go in, to wipe out all the nations who are evil in there and that make this God's holy dwelling place. And then Joshua gives them this promise as they're about to go in. No man shall be able to stand, this is Joshua chapter 1 verse 5, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. This is God speaking. God says, just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. And it's fascinating what is happening in that passage when we compare it with what's happening here. Joshua is sending all these people to go into the land of Israel to conquer it for the people of God, exhorting them to be courageous and not be afraid because God is with them. But what is Jesus doing here? He's not sending them into the land of Israel, this geographic place on the planet, to go conquer it, wiping out the nations that are there, the Romans. No, he does something quite different. He now turns it to the outside. Go into all the world, go into all the nations, go out. He does not send his people to conquer the land of Israel with the sword, now he puts that sword away because he has taken that sword in himself. And he gives his people a new weapon to go bring the nations in to God's kingdom. And he sends his disciples out from Jerusalem to all the nations as one who has already conquered all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Jesus has already conquered. And now he gives his church, his people of God, a new instrument. No longer the sword of judgment but the word of salvation. And we bring people into this kingdom not with a sword threatening them but with a word of gospel, a word of good news, a word of grace. That God is a God who saves sinners, that he has executed his judgment not against the world but against his son. Now that day is coming, the end of the age will come and all who do not repent of their sins will be judged. But this gospel is what is to go out. God's saying go into all the nations, make disciples of them, baptize them, teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And the strength that we do that in now is like what was given to the people of Israel but it's far more. The strength we do that in now is that Jesus Christ is with us as we go into all the world and proclaim this gospel. That he is with us to the end of this age. Whether that is tomorrow or whether we die before that day comes. Jesus Christ is with us. So my hope for us today is to see that as we receive this name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit we belong to the Lord and he has united himself to us and now he sends us out into this world. Maybe we're not going to be evangelists, that is not very many people's calling in life but you certainly can't evangelize. You can tell people about Jesus. And the great promise that you have is regardless of how people respond to you, God is with you. He is with you always because he has shown you in your baptism. He has claimed you as his own and that is your hope as you go out into this life. So remember what Jesus Christ has done for you, uniting you to himself, giving you this beautiful sign of baptism that you can continually look back to as a sign of God's covenant with you, his promise to you and have hope as you go into this world and tell people about our Savior Jesus. Let's pray and ask God to bless us the word that we have heard preached. Lord, we do thank you for this word that we have from Matthew chapter 28. Lord, we pray that you would apply it to our hearts and make it fruitful in us that we would be those who would be bold and courageous, that we would not fear what this world throws at us but we would see ourselves as those marked out by you in our baptism and that we can give testimony and testify to the grace of God that you have shown to us in Jesus Christ. Give us the courage and strength we need. We pray this in the name of Christ. Amen.
Simply Bitcoin
A highlight from Fidelity Just Said Bitcoin is Exponential Gold! | SIMPLY OG CLIP
"You can see the distribution of the positive versus the negative returns for Bitcoin is much more positively skewed than it is for silver and gold. And so to me this is why Bitcoin is kind of the new version of gold and silver is because of its convexity. It's like a more convex version of gold because of its network effects and its increased scarcity that this has become kind of the leader in terms of hedging against monetary inflation. Getting pretty hard to deny that the Bitcoin bull has arrived. And that was Fidelity's global macro director Jurien Timmer dropping a bombshell on the Bitcoin versus gold debate. And he didn't stop there. He said Bitcoin is in its own stratosphere and projects that possibly Bitcoin could hit 700k this cycle. Is he insane? I don't know. We're getting a lot to cover. Let's get it. So Jurien Timmer, the global macro director of Fidelity Investments said that although often compared to gold, Bitcoin can increase in value faster than the yellow shiny rock. Quote, in my view Bitcoin is a commodity currency that aspires to be a store of value and hedge against monetary debasement. Now we've heard digital gold but Timmer says I think of it as exponential gold. Now let's see why. Alright, let's go ahead and run through Timmer's thread here. Bitcoin is volatile but its scarcity and adoption curve create potential for it to be a high powered hedge against monetary shenanigans. I think of it as exponential gold. This rally is way beyond the rumor. I think the rally today is about a flight to quality with all the issues around the Israeli war now. Global terrorism. And I think there's more people running into a flight to quality whether that is in treasuries, gold or crypto depending on how you think about it. And I believe crypto will play that type of role as a flight to quality. Next he gets into Bitcoin's adoption. One of the attributes of Bitcoin is that it's a network asset and as such its adoption curve has followed the typical S curve shape. We've seen many of these throughout history but man that Bitcoin line is pretty steep. So where is Bitcoin along the S curve? A network asset value driven by its adoption so the slope of that curve does matter. As we know the supply of Bitcoin is already fixed, set, its monetary schedule is known. The only variable then to add in is demand. And Timmer may echo some of us. When we first went down the Bitcoin rabbit hole its adoption curve which he defines as the number of non -zero addresses was very steep. It resembled the S curve for mobile phones during the 1980s and 90s also echoing Michael Saylor who called that one and was one of the first ones on Wall Street to get in other than Jerry and Timmer because Fidelity got involved in 2015 even been mining as far back as such. So let's get into more of what Timmer was talking about. Bitcoin is exponential gold but what makes it valuable? Well monetary debasement. Bitcoin was designed to be the safe haven. Now more into Timmer's projections as he hints at a bullish Bitcoin future. If history rhymes, say it followed 2011 and 2013 trends, he believes this could catapult Bitcoin to 700k. A more modest outlook mirroring 2017 suggests a rise to 200 -300k. We talked about it yesterday. We kind of talk about it all the time but there appears to be an awakening to the understanding that there is Bitcoin and then there is everything else from Larry Fink and we got more of that coming. Michael Saylor, this FTX debacle was a great advertisement for why Bitcoin and not crypto but right here and this is again Jerry and Timmer. He created this risk reward chart for investment assets and the report stated that Bitcoin's risk reward is in a different universe and they're not wrong. Think about FTX. FTX is creating its own token. It was not a defi. It wasn't a ledger that was open to the world. It was a closed ledger. It was not distributed. So the whole foundation of what crypto is is supposed to be a distributed ledger that is across the system. I actually believe this technology is going to be very important. Man, it's very interesting. Take a look at the past couple days of Simply Bitcoin Live and yesterday's episode, kind of getting into this, but everyone is flying to quality, flying to safety but what are they fleeing from? And that is essential and it is the insane economic damage that has been caused by central planners, the Fed and inept politicians for way too long and Bitcoin is here to rebalance the scales and give that power back to the people. Really? Yes. I'm encouraged by how many people are focusing on it. I'm encouraged about the narrative but I don't believe we should think about crypto as a substitute of currency but I am fascinated by it as an asset class. Specifically on Bitcoin, we're a believer in digitization of products and we do believe it could revolutionize finance. It's digitizing gold in many ways as a hedge against inflation, a hedge against the devaluation of your currency. Bitcoin is an international asset and so it can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative. The foundation of BlackRock is about hope. The floodgates institutional are about to open and it is epic that we've had the opportunity to front -run these people. But be sure to self -custody your Bitcoin, get them off exchanges and if you need any help using Bitcoin best practices or have questions on what wallets, what nodes, things of that nature, well, we got just the guys to get you started. As your dedicated Bitcoin IT team, the Bitcoin way is here to guide you from start to finish on your journey to properly self -custody your Bitcoin. What's more, they've recently introduced 100 % privacy -focused collaborative custody services where you benefit from advanced multi -sig security, inheritance planning and much more while remaining 100 % in control. Book a free 30 -minute call to get started using that link below. So much major bullish news coming out the past few weeks and it looks like Vanguard and VanEck and BlackRock are kind of projecting the ETF to be approved by the end of this month. So buckle up, guys. Make sure to like, subscribe, share that sound money gospel. We got some more fun stuff coming your way this weekend. So make sure to set those notifications and follow us on Twitter where we're getting all the breaking news out there. Follow all things simply and we will be your guide through the peaceful Bitcoin revolution. I'll catch you all tomorrow. Peace.
HASHR8
A highlight from Bidens AI Executive Order, Core Scientifics Exiting Chapter 11 and Tethers $600M Loan
"Welcome back to the mining pod. We got a great news roundup. Actually, a lot of stuff happened in Bitcoin mining this week, so we have much to get into. The shows have been getting slightly longer. We apologize for that. I think it's because we really like Bitcoin mining, so we just ended up talking about it a lot. As always, Charlie and Matt are joining me today. We'll get into the news in just a moment, but first a word from our sponsors. Did you know that you can make more money by merge mining other networks? Check out makemoremoneymining .com for information on BIPs 300 and 301, a proposal to bring more revenue to Bitcoin miners through sidechains and merge mining, called drivechains. Increase your mining revenues and learn more about participating in Bitcoin governance by visiting makemoremoneymining .com. Are you a miner who wants to activate Bitcoin improvements? Check out activation .watch. See what Bitcoin improvements the Bitcoin community, developers, and miners are considering, and show support by signaling from one of many BIPs up for consideration. Activation .watch. Is your mining operation happening ready? Take control of your own future with the right energy strategy. Lyncoin Energy Trading Platform is a tool used by miners to design, monitor, and seamlessly orchestrate sophisticated energy strategies within electricity markets such as ERCOT, New York, and PJM. Avoid penalties, participate in demand response programs, and capture hundreds of thousands of dollars per megawatt per year by deploying the right block and index strategy. Secure your competitive edge at lyncoin .com. Are you a retail or institutional investor interested in Bitcoin mining companies? The Miner Mag brings you free data and analysis from all major Nasdaq -listed Bitcoin mining operations to know who stands out. Check out visualized metrics and data -dependent stories at theminermag .com. Hey, MiningPod. I'm Lee Bratcher, President of the Texas Blockchain Council. The Texas Blockchain Summit is now the North American Blockchain Summit. The same emphasis on policy, energy, and Bitcoin mining, but now expanded by working with our partners across the country. We've got great sponsors lined up like Riot, Marathon, GDA, Cleanspark, BitDeer, Lanceum, Kormit, Compass, HTS, Crypto Power, Priority Power, Sunoda, and many more. Solidify your next deal or JV or just come for the networking on November 15th through 17th in Fort Worth, Texas for the third annual North American Blockchain Summit. We'll see you there. Okay, welcome back to the show. On the docket, four different topics this week. First, we're going to start off with a little sidebar from Michael Saylor talking about Bitcoin miners dumping on the market. We'll get a little video here in a second, some responses to that. Then we're going to go into the meat of today's conversation. Biden administration putting out an executive order around AI and compute, then moving over to Core Scientific and its notice to move out of Chapter 11 in the coming months, and finishing off with Tether and its recent unsecured loan to Northern Data. So I'll first throw this video up on the screen. Let's take a listen now. Michael, Bob Pisani here. Bitcoin is going to be having a halving next year. That's a rare event. Can you sort of educate the viewers on what happens when that occurs and what, if any, effect that'll have on Bitcoin's price? Well, most of the natural sellers of Bitcoin in the market right now are Bitcoin miners, and they have to sell to pay their electricity bill and their capital cost and retire their debt. That's about a billion dollars a month's worth of selling into the market. The protocol forces that to be cut in half as of about next April, late April. So you're going to see $12 billion of natural selling per year converted into $6 billion of natural selling a year, at the same time as things like Spot, Bitcoin, ETFs increase the demand for Bitcoin. So that's why all of us are fairly bullish over the next 12 months. Demand's going to increase, supply is going to contract, and this is fairly unprecedented in the history of Wall Street. All right, I'll start off with this one. Yes, please do. Okay, so his assumption is that every coin that is mined is going to be sold basically immediately by a miner. Where I agree with him is that miners are natural market participants, and they are natural sellers in some degree in the sense that that is how they receive their revenue through mining, earning Bitcoin, and then they do have operational costs that they have to pay. But as we've seen clearly by public miners, right, in a very public fashion, people hold Bitcoin. Miners particularly hold Bitcoin in our long Bitcoin. He also makes it sound like this is a kind of a lot of spot market sell volume, when he said about a billion a month, which that's the upper bound. Where daily spot Bitcoin market volume is like this year, I would say average probably five to seven billion a day, right? And that's probably on a subset of exchanges, not globally. So we're talking about a pretty small market impact with not necessarily right numbers. Not to completely call them out, but I don't know, Charlie, what do you guys think? He can call them out. I'll echo what you said, Matt. I mean, miners are a natural seller of Bitcoin to cover opex. And this has kind of been a part of the conversation. Are miners the primary seller? Are they kind of the primary driver of this selling pressure in the market? If we back test it, if we look at real numbers, it's pretty clear they're not the primary driver. They're not the main seller of Bitcoin that happens kind of for other market reasons and other market participants. So I think it's actually pretty well understood of a phenomenon now or kind of mechanic in the market where I would say sailors kind of wrong characterizing it like this is not entirely wrong talking about the other things such as issuance and supply and demand ramping up. But as far as like sell pressure, I think that's a mischaracterization. Yeah, so I saw this video this morning on my feed, and I got a little annoyed because I do think like there's a lot of misinformation around Bitcoin selling into the market. I think it's just like the easy swing to take at people. And he does have like a lot of broad strokes answers within the CNBC interview. And I understand why he's talking to like a boomer market. They're not necessarily going to get it. They can understand that there's these miners and they sell. So that's why they like make everything so abstract. That being said, a billion dollars a month is not what we're seeing. So I looked at two metrics, just to sort of understand how miners are selling right now. One being this one from CoinMetrics, which takes a look at the one hop addresses, which would probably be Bitcoin miners. That's the best we can kind of guess. And how often they are selling based on what is their supply? Is their supply decreasing over a certain time period? And from August to October, it decreased by about a billion dollars USD over like a 60 to 90 day period you can see here on the screen. But it's actually rebounding right now. So that means miners are probably holding more. The second metric we looked at was the percentage of cells or the amount of Bitcoin sold by public miners. So we have that information from their statements they put out every month, and we have about 20 of these public miners. And they put out how many Bitcoin they sell every single month. And I just went back and looked at the last month that we have numbers for in September. And above 15 public miners took a look at, they sold about 165 million dollars worth of Bitcoin over that time period. And that's possibly like between 20 and 25 percent of network cash rate. So to get to Michael Saylor's number of one billion dollars sold per month, you'd have to assume that all these other Bitcoin miners are also dumping on the market and they're also dumping on like a price point that would push it towards a one billion dollar volume. It just seems like a little nonsensical to me. And then the other thing I wanted to mention was he talks about like this cell pressure is always there when it's not. You can look at this chart right here. You can see like Bitcoin miners are typically accumulating. They're not really selling. A lot of the miners we've tracked over the last year or so have been accumulating. It's only been the last few months that they're selling and they're really only selling their production. They're not selling their treasuries. They typically have very large totals. But we've probably beaten that subject to death unless Matt, you have a follow up? I was just going to say if what Saylor was saying is true, that chart would be a flat line, right? Because it's a cumulative amount held by the addresses. But very different, yes. Well, actually, you should you should relay that it's in dollar terms. You should relay the Bitcoin price over the chart. But you can see on that chart that in May 2020, it was going up, right? So when the previous halving hit, actually the amount held by miners was increasing as coins were being issued at one half the rate. Maybe that'll happen again. I do like starting off an episode with a modest Saylor pushback. So a modest proposal for Saylor. That's okay. He bought more Bitcoin this week. So I guess we'll take it. Well, we'll appreciate what he did. Let's go over to another video clip. The Biden administration this week put out an executive order relating to general compute and AI, essentially stating that if you're over a certain size of compute, then you need to register with the national government so they can keep an eye on you. Very interesting executive order that made a lot of people in the tech industry unhappy. I saw Marc Andreessen tweeting about this. I saw numerous people tweeting about this in the tech industry, saying you can pry this GPU out of my cold, dead hands is basically the tagline. Now for the gist of it, I do want to get into it in a second. It does seem like the regulations are such a high hurdle or threshold at this point that's not really going to affect the industry. It's like a forward -looking regulation. But it is somewhat concerning. Before we go into that, I do want to show this clip from Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. He testified in May to Congress about the need for regulation in AI. And to me, this is sort of where the whole story begins. So I get this video first before we dive into anything else. But it is absolutely true that the number of companies that can train the true frontier models is going to be small just because of the resources required. And so I think there needs to be incredible scrutiny on us and our competitors. I think there is a rich and exciting industry happening of incredibly good research and new startups that are not just using our models, but creating their own. And I think it's important to make sure that whatever regulatory stuff happens, whatever new agencies may or may not happen, we preserve that fire. Charlie, I'll hand it over to you to get your take on it. This pissed off a lot of people in the tech industry, as I think it should. But where do you think you draw the line for regulation? Dude, I'm really not that qualified to talk about regulation on AI. I think this should be a careful scrutinized industry, but I don't know how we should scrutinize it. Sam Altman tends to be a divisive figure and kind of rubs me the wrong way as far as like how much trust him to be the figurehead for this new frontier, as he says, but I really don't have a strong take on this. I'll throw it over to Matt. I will give my consumer's perspective, but I guess like Sam Altman is, and that's the first time I've seen that clip, but he's like in a line of these notorious tech founders, Zuckerberg, Elon, coming to Congress and saying, we are open, please regulate our industry. I can't help but think, of course they want that. It just gives them a bigger moat if there's more regulatory capture, if there's more licenses that need to be done that restricts open competition. My worry is that in the AI industry particularly, if there is a higher barrier to compete, that when we interact with AI, there will be kind of a standard truth among them that spits out a lot of very plausible, believable answers, but if you've interacted with any of the earlier large language models of today, they can be very believable, but they can also be incorrect if you are asking them about things that you yourself are a subject matter expert on. I think open competition is a very good thing in the sense that other perspectives or more truths can be relayed to you from interacting with AI. That was a bit of a rant, but the general sense is that open competition, I think, is pretty important in the AI space, especially with how big people are forecasting it will become. I went to see the Oracle of All Truth, which has read it to better understand this executive order, and the executive order said, quote, any model trained with over 280 million H100 hours, H100 being a model of GPU, or any cluster with 10 to 20 FLOPS, which is 50 ,000 H100s, so it gave this very generalistic metric for understanding what is going to be regulated by the government or must be regulated by the government, and for most people, it's like, I have no idea what that is, but according to Reddit, the idea here is that this is a very, very high threshold. Only a few companies would be able to do this. The Microsofts, meet that threshold at this point, but that does give the government the ability to start incrementally regulating this industry as it gets going and off the ground, very much in the same way that they tried to do this with early compute in the 70s and 80s. They tried to do with cryptography in the 90s. Typically, all these things fail over time, but it does present a large hurdle and or does create monopolies within the new tech sector. I'll say it seems ridiculous to me to define an amount of compute at the legal or at the structural level. This is the fastest moving industry, so by the time this becomes enshrined into law or policy, then we will already have been Moore's law 18 months, doubled the amount of compute or whatever. It seems crazy to me to define it like that. I have not had a lot of faith in our regulators to tech understand at a level well enough to regulate it, so I'm not super optimistic that we'll know what we're doing this time around.
Flight of ideas
Why Some Bosses Favor "Yes-Men"
"In the complex web of organizational dynamics, one pattern that emerges time and again is the tendency of some leaders to surround themselves with employees who always agree with their decisions. While a cohesive team that aligns on decisions is important, a culture of constant agreement, especially when decisions are harmful, can be detrimental to an organization. Let's delve into why some bosses might favor, yes men. 1. Desire for validation. For many leaders, being in a position of power comes with insecurities. Having employees who always validate their choices can provide a false sense of security and boost their ego. It's comforting to believe one's decisions are always right. Fear of dissent. Leaders who fear opposition might see dissenting voices as threats to their authority. By surrounding themselves with agreeable employees, they can maintain an illusion of control and minimize confrontational situations. Having a team that quickly aligns with the leaders' decisions can expedite processes. However, this short -term efficiency can come at the cost of long -term effectiveness if not all perspectives are considered. Lack of awareness. Some leaders genuinely believe that their decisions are always in the best interest of the organization. They might not recognize the value of diverse opinions and the potential pitfalls of their choices. Avoiding accountability. When things go wrong, it's easier for a leader to shift blame onto a collective decision rather than take personal responsibility. If everyone agrees, then the fault is diffused. The risks involved. Organizations that lack diverse opinions risk becoming echo chambers. This can lead to poor decision -making, stifled innovation, and an inability to adapt to changing circumstances. It's crucial for leaders to recognize the value of constructive dissent and foster an environment where employees feel safe to voice their opinions. In conclusion. While it's natural for leaders to seek validation, it's essential to differentiate between genuine agreement and mere acquiescence. For an organization to thrive, it needs a balance of unity and diverse thought.
Coin Stories with Natalie Brunell
A highlight from News Block: What's Driving Bitcoin Rally (Will It End?), Billions to Flow into ETF, SBF Testifies, Bitcoin White Paper turns 15
"Welcome to the CoinStories news block. I'm Nathalie Brunel and in the span of just 10 minutes, roughly the same time it takes to mine a new Bitcoin block, I'll provide you with concise, insightful updates on Bitcoin and the global financial landscape so you're well informed on the week's top stories. Everything you need to know in one place in one block. Let's go. All right, let's get into another eventful week as Bitcoin's price once again dominates the headlines. At the top of the month, we talked about the historical pattern of October and Bitcoin certainly delivered this October. It's up more than 25 percent in the last two weeks alone and more than 100 percent in 2023. So many people are asking, what's behind this latest rally? Well, some analysts say it's the market preparing for a spot Bitcoin ETF approval, while others are saying it's bigger than that and pointing to the U .S.'s dire return and was asked his thoughts on why Bitcoin's price has doubled this year. And he replied, prepare for the halving. The halving is coming, referring to next April when the amount of Bitcoin issued every block will get cut in half. But whether it's the halving, outbreak of war, stickier inflation or investors worried about the sustainability of the debt or a potential ETF, it's safe to say there is a confluence of developments right now that together are forming a strong tailwind for Bitcoin and investors are taking notice, including institutions. According to a recent report from analysts at JP Morgan Chase, they believe that this recent outperformance has been driven by increased institutional demand. The report chose CME Bitcoin futures volumes as a good metric of this demand because institutions prefer to trade these futures products on a highly regulated trading venue like the CME. And those trading volumes have ballooned. CME open interest, which refers to the number of unsettled active Bitcoin futures contracts, hit a record high last week, eclipsing volumes seen even at the peak of the last bull market in 2021. In fact, CME open interest surpassed more than 100 ,000 Bitcoin for the first time in history. Some more metrics that support JP Morgan Chase's claim can be seen on chain in the Bitcoin spot markets. Addresses holding at least $100 ,000 and at least $1 million have seen large increases over the last two weeks. So big investors appear to be accumulating. And with a spot Bitcoin ETF seemingly around the corner, demand that could flow into this scarce asset could be significant. Multiple firms have attempted to estimate exactly how much money could flow into Bitcoin after a spot ETF is approved and how that would boost Bitcoin's price. Recently, Galaxy Digital released a report estimating that a minimum of $14 billion would flow into an ETF resulting in the Bitcoin price appreciating around 75 % in its first year. Their model further predicts that $36 billion could flow into the ETF by its third year. The analysts say their estimates are actually conservative, given they made the assumptions that only 10 % of large brokerage firms and registered investment advisors would choose to allocate just 1 % into Bitcoin and kept those assumptions unchanged for the next three years. But the other dynamic that could be contributing to the recent Bitcoin price action is related to the options market. Bitcoin options are financial contracts that allow someone to bet on the future price of Bitcoin, giving them the choice to buy or sell Bitcoin at a set price on a certain date. Investors use options to hedge their positions or to make leveraged bets on Bitcoin's price movements. And this week, there are interesting dynamics happening in the options market. For starters, open interest on options volumes has surpassed record levels. Some analysts have pointed out that options dealers are currently positioned in a manner where if Bitcoin's price keeps climbing, for every 1 % move upwards, these options dealers will need to buy a lot of spot Bitcoin to cover their positions. Think $20 million per 1 % that Bitcoin climbs. Now, this could cause the price to rise even more rapidly. And we actually saw this dynamic in the options market play out when Bitcoin crossed the $30K mark and exploded quickly to $34 ,000. Options dealers were forced to buy Bitcoin to hedge and cover their bets. But remember, leverage works both ways. And if Bitcoin's price takes a breather, these options markets could also accelerate any decline as well. Now, one interesting development that has happened in the overall macro market over the past month is that gold and Bitcoin continue to outperform other asset classes like stocks and bonds. Gold recently broke through its critical resistance level of $2 ,000 per ounce just as Bitcoin blasted through the $30 ,000 level. And that's at a time when equities and bonds are both down on the month. Many are viewing this recent outperformance as evidence that investors are beginning to finally view Bitcoin as more of a safe haven asset in the face of rising global economic uncertainty. This sentiment was echoed by billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller in a recent interview with billionaire trader Paul Tudor Jones when they discussed the problems in the current traditional financial system, including the unsustainable nature of government spending and rising debt levels. After explaining how the numbers absolutely don't work, it's a fantasy, when describing the debt, Druckenmiller said, quote, so I like them both, referring to gold and Bitcoin. I don't own any Bitcoin to be frank, but I should. With the government on track to run a $2 trillion deficit this fiscal year, inflation still running hot and public debt increasing to more than $33 .5 trillion, investors are turning to harder forms of money. They see the writing on the wall that the government will have to debase the currency to keep the fiat system afloat. But despite Bitcoin being a potential solution for everyday Americans to protect their savings from debasement, some politicians continue to choose to remain ignorant and are fighting against it. This past month, we've seen anti -Bitcoin rhetoric heat up with a few prominent politicians, placing the spotlight on crypto's overstated use in financing terrorist operations. It began with an article from the Wall Street Journal that falsely claimed terrorist groups, including Hamas, received tens of millions of dollars in funds via digital assets. However, multiple on -chain analysis firms, including Chainalysis and Elliptic, refuted the journal's But that revelation didn't stop politicians from using the erroneous figures to ramp up pressure in DC to crack down on Bitcoin. In a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week, crypto finance terrorism dominated the discussion. Senator Sherrod Brown, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that the panel will quote, crack down on the use of crypto to fund terrorism and evade sanctions. Meanwhile, U .S. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Representative French Hill of Arkansas sent a letter to the Department of Justice to quote expeditiously investigations conclude and reach a decision on criminal charges against Binance and Tether concerning the possible aid to terrorist organizations. This was notable for two reasons. One, both Hill and Lummis have historically been major supporters of Bitcoin and two, they specifically named Binance and Tether as businesses to investigate for alleged illicit activity. But there were some senators in the hearing who pointed out the said these figures are disputed and per independent analysis reported this week could be overstated by 99 percent. Now, nearly two weeks after the article was published, the journal has finally included a short correction at the bottom. It goes to show the power of social media and how when an industry unites like the Bitcoin community did, its collective voice grows stronger. Turning now to an update on the FTX trial, where SBF took the stand in his own defense. SPF was grilled with questions around just how separate FTX and SPF trading firm Alameda Research really were. Remember, Alameda traded on FTX alongside millions of retail customers. And a key moment came when SPF was asked why he sent tweets and emails saying Alameda Research played by the same rules as every other FTX account, when in reality, Alameda had special privileges like being allowed to run a negative account balance and withdraw billions of dollars via loans. In response to the line questioning, SPF replied, I'm not sure. SPF's testimony so far can be summarized as pushing all of the blame on his inner circle, like former FTX co -founder Gary Wang and former CEO of Alameda Research slash ex -girlfriend Caroline Ellison, all the while portraying the image that he was a well -intentioned entrepreneur who was just in over his skis. SPF blamed Ellison for the pushing strategies that caused Alameda tens of billions of dollars in losses. He tried to paint her as incompetent and emotional. Meanwhile, Ellison's own testimony made it clear that she acted at the direction of SPF and verbalized repeatedly to him that she didn't feel qualified to run Alameda. Side note, for anyone interested in this case, you can read Michael Lewis' book, Going Infinite, which dives into the backstory of the whole company and let me just say, Ellison is one of the most fascinating characters. SPF's testimony will continue this week and we'll make sure to keep following it for all the developments. Finally, we can't end this episode without acknowledging that this week marks the 15th anniversary since the Bitcoin white paper was published. Bitcoin represents the promise of separating money from the state and removing the ability for any person or group to manipulate or control it. I think Satoshi Nakamoto describes it best. As a new form of money that is not tied to any government or bank, Bitcoin represents a revolutionary step forward in the evolution of financial systems. It's been 15 years and the Bitcoin ecosystem has grown immensely since that nine page white paper was published on an obscure mailing list. But the Bitcoin revolution is just getting started. That's it for the news block, your weekly Bitcoin and economic news update. I'm Nathalie Brunel. Make sure you're subscribed to Coin Story so you never miss an episode. This show is for educational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. Until next time, keep stacking.
CoinDesk Podcast Network
A highlight from SBF TRIAL Podcast 10/30: Sam Bankman-Fried Takes The Stand For a Third Day In FTX Fraud Trial
"Welcome to the SBF trial, a Coindesk podcast network newsletter bringing you daily insights from inside the courtroom where Sam Bankman -Fried will try to stay out of prison. Follow the Coindesk podcast network to get the audio each morning with content from the Coindesk regulation team and voiced by Wondercraft AI. Sam didn't do it. He didn't defraud anyone. He didn't steal customer funds. He just built a company, which turned out basically the opposite of the product he envisioned when he founded FTX. A lot of people got hurt, customers, employees, and the company ended up in bankruptcy. At least that's his story. The biggest mistake was, we did not have a dedicated risk management team. We didn't have a chief risk officer, he told the court Friday. We had a number of people who were involved to some extent in managing risk, but no one dedicated to it and there were significant oversights. Bankman -Fried finally took the stand to try and convince the 17 people overseeing his criminal fraud trial that FTX and Alameda Research's collapse were the result of screw -ups and errors and of his handpicked lieutenants' screw -ups and errors, not a deliberate fraud committed by the 31 -year -old. Bankman -Fried's testimony echoed key parts of his attorney Mark Cohen's opening statement from the beginning of this month. Issues happened because ex -Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison didn't hedge, because FTX was a fast -moving company doing big things quickly because a number of market shocks hit and because Sam was just one person who couldn't be everywhere or do anything. We got a preview of sorts on Thursday, but Friday was the first time we saw Bankman -Fried really present his own case for why he shouldn't go to jail. The first half of Friday's testimony was basically a history of FTX presented by Samuel Bankman -Fried. For those following the case over the past year, nothing new. For those of us who have been tracking FTX since its founding, maybe a bit of useful detail, but basically really nothing new. But we're not the intended audience. The jury is. One audience member in the overflow room who said she did not have much familiarity with FTX or Bankman -Fried said she found it useful. And I overheard a few people at the end of the day Friday say they found Bankman -Fried's version of events plausible. Shortly after lunch, Bankman -Fried's defense team strategy continued to become clearer. It's not just that Sam didn't do it, it's that the Department of Justice's key witnesses are all lying. Bankman -Fried didn't say that, of course, but that seems to be the implication with a number of details. Take FTX's insurance fund. Former Chief Technology Officer Gary Wang told the court on October 6th that this was functionally a random number that was posted to FTX's website and later posted to social media. Bankman -Fried said he did not calculate the numbers implying what? I'm not entirely sure. My interpretation is he's implying someone else had the idea of putting a random number on the site or maybe FTX's 2021 revenue. Former head of engineering Nishad Singh testified that Bankman -Fried directed him to find a way to show that the company had generated over $1 billion in revenue for the year and to backdate revenue details to do so, which he ultimately did by marking staking rewards from EcoSerum to FTX's balance sheet at Bankman -Fried's direction. Sam proposed charging EcoSerum to the account that paid the interest, he said. On Friday, Bankman -Fried said he had not thought of EcoSerum staking at all and that he did not remember discussing backdating any documents tied to this. On hedging, Bankman -Fried said he discussed Alameda's risks with Ellison, the company's CEO at the time. She ultimately said that she would look into hedging Alameda's exposure, but I interpreted her to be far less enthusiastic than I was about it, he said. And while he discussed hedging with her every month or two through June 2022, this ultimately never happened. The June 2022 spreadsheet that keeps coming up this trial documenting Alameda's balances and liabilities once again showed its face, though not the infamous one that ultimately led to last year's bankruptcy. Ellison said on October 11th that Bankman -Fried suggested I should prepare some alternative ways of presenting information about the figures, which led to her creating a sheet with seven alternative presentations. She later reiterated that it was Bankman -Fried's idea to do this. On Friday, Bankman -Fried said it was Ellison who had thought about a few different ways of constructing the balance sheet. Intriguingly, Bankman -Fried said he didn't find out about Alameda's $8 billion hole, as documented by the fiat at FTX .com account, until October of 2022. But there are also parts that, at least as of Friday, have not yet been addressed. Assistant U .S. Attorney Nicholas Roos asked Wang why Bankman -Fried said Alameda Research should take on loss from a mobile coin exploit during their discussion about the insurance fund. He said that FTX's balance sheets are more public than Alameda's balance sheets, that investors have access to FTX's finances but not Alameda's finances, Wang said. While Cohen asked Bankman -Fried about Alameda taking on the mobile coin loss, the topic of investors having access to FTX's finances did not come up, and Ellison had previously testified that while she and Bankman -Fried had discussed hedging Alameda's risks and that Bankman -Fried blamed her for not hedging, in her view it was his decision to make venture investments and other financial decisions which put Alameda in an unrecoverable position by the fall of 2022. I felt that the fundamental reason we were in this situation was that we had borrowed these billions of dollars in open -term loans and used them for illiquid investments, all of which were Bankman -Fried's idea, she said. Ellison had also testified that Bankman -Fried knew the only way for Alameda to pay its lenders was using the line of credit, which meant using FTX customer assets. Again, these specific details did not come up. There's also the various group chats and written documents prosecutors have tied Bankman -Fried to, such as the one Singh testified about where Bankman -Fried, Bankman -Fried's brother, former FTX Digital Markets CEO Ryan Salame, or political consultants, organized political donations. On Friday, Bankman -Fried said he did not direct Salame or Singh to make specific donations, but he did hire political consultants, such as Guarding Against Pandemics, which his brother helped run. Bankman -Fried is going to continue his testimony on Monday, with Cohen estimating maybe two more hours of direct examination. Unfortunately for Bankman -Fried, and maybe the narrative he's crafting, that means that he'll again face Assistant U .S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, you know, the prosecutor who figuratively punched him in the face repeatedly last Thursday for what she described as a significant cross -examination. She said she doesn't think the cross will take a day and a half, but it'll certainly go into Tuesday. The latest plan in what's frankly a pretty dynamic situation is this. Cohen will continue his direct examination of Bankman -Fried on Monday and expects to wrap up before noon. Sassoon will start her cross -examination and that will wrap up sometime Tuesday. AUSA Thane Ren anticipates a two -hour rebuttal case. In other words, that'll probably go through to the end of Tuesday. Reuss and Cohen both anticipate about two or three hours for their respective closing arguments. There will then be a charge conference, which Judge Lewis Kaplan anticipates might be somewhat protracted, which is where everyone will argue over their various proposals for jury instructions. Judge Kaplan will deliver said instructions and jury deliberations may begin sometime Thursday, Friday, or conceivably Monday. Want to follow along? Sign up for Coindesk's new daily newsletter, The SBF Trial, bringing you insights from the courthouse and around the case. You can get the podcast each day right here by following the Coindesk Podcast Network. Thanks for listening.
Audio
St.-Elizabeth-of-Trinity-Day-9 - burst 1
"Day 9, for the grace to become the praise of the glory of the Holy Trinity. In the heart of the Holy Trinity, the music of eternal praise echoes without ceasing in an eternal now. The Son reveals to the Father His glory in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, the Father blesses His Son anew. This blessing is not a reality of the past or future, but of the eternal present. This means that this very moment we have together resounds with this canicle of love that the three divine persons share with one another. The world came from this music and is directed to it, and the contemplative soul helps this mystery be realized. The praise of glory.
Audio
A highlight from St.-Elizabeth-of-Trinity-Day-9
"A novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Day 9, for the grace to become the praise of the glory of the Holy Trinity. In the heart of the Holy Trinity, the music of eternal praise echoes without ceasing in an eternal now. The Son reveals to the Father His glory in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, the Father blesses His Son anew. This blessing is not a reality of the past or future, but of the eternal present. This means that this very moment we have together resounds with this canicle of love that the three divine persons share with one another. The world came from this music and is directed to it, and the contemplative soul helps this mystery be realized. The praise of glory. St. Elizabeth believed that this was her vocation, the secret name that God had given her from all eternity. She believed that St. Paul had revealed it to her. In Ephesians, we learn that we have been predestined in Christ, the Beloved of the Father, for this great purpose. This is the Father's plan of love for us. This praise of glory is what the Holy Spirit produces in us if we will surrender ourselves completely to His divine touch. St. Elizabeth sees us as musical instruments capable of joining in the Holy Trinity's great hymn of praise. This music is beautiful, but to produce it, the Holy Spirit must tune us first. This is painful. As long as we get caught up in internal emotional storms or else allow ourselves to be distracted by the things that are not God's will, we are out of tune. Conversely, the more our interior life is in harmony with His mystery, the more beautiful the praise we are able to offer. To ponder this is to begin to understand the last petition of St. Elizabeth's prayer to the Trinity, namely, she asked the Trinity to be buried in her so that she might bury herself in the Trinity. To be buried, this speaks about a death and being laid to rest. St. Elizabeth understands the radical extent to which the Holy Trinity has given itself to humanity, revealed in Christ, crucified, and buried in the tomb. The humanity of Christ makes known that God will hold nothing back to rescue us from death and to win our heart to join His eternal praise of glory. She sees her own heart as the tomb in which God has buried Himself. The death of Christ is always personal for her. He gave Himself for me. To accept this gift in a personal way is to be caught up in the mystery of salvation, just as Jesus was laid in the tomb on Good Friday, can come into a soul and rest there in a new way. And the more it rests in the soul, the more that soul has the opportunity to rest in the Trinity. This feels like a total annihilation, but it is a radical identification with Christ's salvific offering. Just as Jesus transformed His tomb into a sign of victory, He transforms hearts that accept His total gift of love on the cross. If they will die to themselves, He will give them life. To believe in Jesus is to die to oneself in the Trinity, to be laid to rest in the Trinity, to be buried in the Trinity. In order that the mystery of the Holy Trinity, through the life of Christ within, might raise one up on high. In this mystical death, the new life of Christ takes root in our souls. He is the praise of the Father's glory, and when we die to ourselves, we allow His praise to swell up anew within us. The Holy Spirit tunes our hearts by communicating the whole mystery of Christ into us and identifying all the inner movements of our hearts with the movements of Christ. Every thought is captive, and every inordinate desire dies away, and our inner strength is perfected. The new desires and glorious thoughts of Christ Himself make it possible to praise the Father as the risen Lord praises Him, together with all of the heavenly hosts. Together, delighting the heart of the Father anew, we have found a way to extend the salvific work of Christ in our lives and in our communities, at a time when our neighbors most need a word of hope. Let us pray that the vocation of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity becomes our own vocation too, to be this praise of glory. O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely, so as to be established in you, as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to disturb my peace, nor make me depart from you, O my unchanging one, but may each moment carry me further into the depths of your mystery. Pacify my soul, make it your heaven, your beloved abode, your resting place. May I never leave you there alone, but may I be entirely present, my faith completely ready, wholly adoring, fully surrendered to your creative action. O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I would like to be a bride for your heart. I would like to cover you with glory. I would like to love you until death. I feel my powerlessness, however, and I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to defeat me, to overwhelm me, to substitute yourself for me, that my life might be but a radiation of your life. Come into me as a doer, as healer, as savior. O eternal word, word of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you. I want to be completely docile, ready to learn everything from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all weakness, I want to fixate on you always and to remain under your great light. O my beloved star, fascinate me so that I would not be able to forsake your shining light. O consuming flame, spirit of love, come over me until my soul is rendered into an incarnation of the word. May I be for him another humanity in which he renews his whole mystery. And you, O Father, bend over your little creature, cover her with your shadow, and in her see only the beloved in whom you are well pleased. O my three, my all, my beatitude, infinite solitude, immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself as prey. Bury yourself in me in order that I might bury myself in you while waiting to contemplate in your light the immeasurable depths of your grandeur. Amen.
Audio
A highlight from St.-Elizabeth-of-Trinity-Day-8
"A novena to Elizabeth of the Trinity, Day 8 For the grace of possessing heaven already in this life. For St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, the veil between heaven and earth is thin. If we listen carefully with the ear of our heart, we can hear Mary share with us what she heard from Christ as he offered his great hymn of praise from the cross. It is a canticle so beautiful, so exquisite, it reaches the very heart of the Father and fills the whole world with a salvific love. Through Mary's presence in our agony, if we let her, St. Elizabeth explains that the Mother of the Lord will teach us how to sing this same canticle so that we can do something beautiful for God. She is with us to the very end. This is why St. Elizabeth calls Mary, Gate of Heaven. As beautiful as this is, there are other canticles of praise that Elizabeth invites us to hear. She shares the 144 ,000 gathered around the throne of the Lamb and she hears the elders who cry out, Holy, Holy, Holy, as they cast down their crowns before the risen Lord. The glory, praise, and silence of the saints echo in this life so that we too might know their joy. St. Elizabeth wants us to hear this eternal hymn of praise and imitate it. A life lived in humility, simplicity, and recollection avails itself to such imitation and when it does, heaven becomes present in this life by faith. By faith, what is in heaven becomes present on earth. In the humble limits of the present moment and circumstances, we can participate in the great praise of glory that the angels and saints offer in heaven. Heaven is not a remote or future reality. Heaven, even if hidden from our earthly eyes, is close by and present. It is present in the mass. It is also present in everything, because by faith, everything and anything can become a sacrament that gives us God. The love of heaven is present to us by faith. This is because faith makes us open to the presence of God dwelling in our souls. Wherever God dwells, there is heaven. The heaven of glory, with all the angels and saints, is present to our soul because this heaven is never separate from God. This means in the heaven of our souls, where God dwells, the heaven of glory is already breaking in. For the person of faith already implicated in the glory of heaven, nothing and no one is ever ordinary or commonplace. Every life event, no matter how small or large, how disappointing or joyful, is always a new opportunity for the soul to encounter the immensity of God's love. The Trinity's excessive love changes everything. Even the most ordinary tasks become charged with new and everlasting meaning. This means that no one who believes ever really has an ordinary life. Through faith, this passing life is open to the greatness of eternity. Time for St. Elizabeth is nothing other than eternity begun and still in progress. In relation to the grace of living heaven by faith, St. Elizabeth's mission finds its footing in the great prayer of Jesus the night before he died. On that night, he offered a supreme prayer in his heart's desires, that we might dwell where he dwells. The Son of the Father dwells in the Father's love, and St. Elizabeth is praying that we might realize Jesus' divine dream and dwell with him in this great love too. For this purpose, let us pray. Oh my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so as to be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to disturb my peace, nor make me depart from you, oh my unchanging one, but may each moment carry me further into the depths of your mystery. Pacify my soul, make it your heaven, your beloved abode, your resting place. May I never leave you there alone, but may I be entirely present, my faith completely ready, wholly adoring, fully surrendered to your creative action. Oh my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I would like to be a bride for your heart. I would like to cover you with glory. I would like to love you until death. I feel my powerlessness, however, and I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to defeat me, to overwhelm me, to substitute yourself for me, that my life might be but a radiation of your life. Come into me as a doer, as healer, as savior. Oh eternal word, word of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you. I want to be completely docile, ready to learn everything from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all weakness, I want to fixate on you always and to remain under your great light. Oh my beloved star, fascinate me so that I would not be able to forsake your shining light. Oh consuming flame, spirit of love, come over me until my soul is rendered into an incarnation of the word. May I be for him another humanity in which he renews his whole mystery. And you, oh Father, bend over your little creature, cover her with your shadow, and in her see only the beloved in whom you are well pleased. Oh my three, my all, my beatitude, infinite solitude, immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself as prey. Bury yourself in me, in order that I might bury myself in you, while waiting to contemplate in your light the immeasurable depths of your grandeur.
The Bitboy Crypto Podcast
A highlight from 2 Reasons Bitcoin OVERPOWERS The Stock Market (Next Global SUPERPOWER)
"When do you see Bitcoin breaking that correlation and becoming something other than a risk asset, a true store of value? It's this cycle. So there's two main reasons. What's up, everybody? Welcome to another Saturday edition of the Alpha series here on Discover Crypto. We've got a great guest lined up. We're gonna be talking with Joshua Jake. How are you doing? How are you feeling? I'm doing great. Got off the plane coming to Atlanta just a few days back, you know, got on the plane at like $28 ,000 Bitcoin, maybe it was a 30K, but by the time it was off, 35K, market's going wild. People going, where's this money coming from? Is this retailers? Is this institutions? Is this BlackRock's fault? Is this not BlackRock's fault? And you know, it's just an exciting time to be in the markets for the first time in like three years. So I'm excited to be here. I mean, I can echo that. A lot of people have come in in this live. I mean, we have a huge amount of adoption over the last two years and it kind of dwindled off. Engagement dwindled off. We see that as creators on YouTube and TikTok and Instagram where we get all those metrics. So is there any sort of thought you have right now that you'd like to share with anybody, whether they're new in the market or they've been around for a long time, what's something that we need to consider with this new hype coming in? We got that God candle. Is there anything that we should be worried about? Is there any different sort of risk management we need to be doing? How do we not fall victim to these green candles and get ourselves in the wrong side of the position? Yeah, great question. I would say, honestly, the first thing is realizing that we've been lied to nonstop from our financial institutions, our asset managers, just year after year after year. How many times has crypto had an obituary? It's been like a thousand times at this point. There was actually just a recent article that showed CNBC and Bloomberg. So shout out to those analysts that have predicted the death of Bitcoin over like I think 25 times and 35 for the other. So moving into this new cycle, as we see hype come back and this life come back into these markets, it's the same vibes of early 2020 before we saw that rally into 2021. Don't chase the green candlesticks, right? venture capitalists, asset managers, banks, they don't chase green candlesticks, right? They're buying and accumulating year after year when we're in a bear market. So if you're brand new to this industry, you just see a big green candlestick and you're like, man, I should buy before it goes up further. Just take a breath, sit back and just let it find support. Just give it a moment and truly just understand what the asset you are buying actually is, how it functions, what the utility is before you make that investment decision. I mean, I couldn't agree with that anymore. You know, we talk about other people like Michael Saylor. He's become like, I don't wanna call him the mascot or the spokesman of the Bitcoin space, but he is case in point, you know, just taking it to the shoulder, taking it to the face, taking it to the back when he's just been DCA -ing nonstop. Some people call him dumb in some areas where he's buying near a top, but then you see he's also buying near a bottom. It's that, you know, time -tested strategy of buying because he sees value long -term. So how does one gain confidence when they're seeing the market swing about and, you know, to have that confidence to be a consistent buyer. But we were talking earlier, you mentioned that one of your main strategies, barring any other trading, your main strategy is DCA. So how does somebody, whether they're trading right now, they just got in or they've been around for a long time, why should somebody DCA? Why do you use that as a strategy and how can we implement that in all of our own portfolios to have more consistency and longevity in this market? Yeah, so there's two main reasons. The first one is just time in the market always beats time in the market. I think that's a historical model. A lot of people that have tracked the S &P and just traditionally traded, they follow that metric, right? You don't wanna be trying to time the bottom, time the top, just consistently average in. The second point of that is going to be just watch your local news media right now. Watch CNBC, watch Fox News, watch CNN. And not in the sense that you're gonna take and absorb information from there, but realize that every economist in the world right now that has the PhDs, has the master's degrees, has 14 books, has a $100 million hedge fund or $100 billion hedge fund, they're all fighting. They cannot compromise. They cannot come to agreement, right? Whether it's the war in the Middle East or it's the war in Ukraine or it's developments in the Pacific, people don't understand and can't figure out where we're heading in the future because we just printed $9 trillion in the last three years. So this is like the first time I think you've seen a lot of economists not say, hey, take a pause back. Let's focus on risk off assets or let's focus on risk on assets. It's more or less, man, when is the feds gonna pivot? Are they gonna pivot too quickly? Is this gonna break the wage versus wealth gap in America? Are we screwed? As a 26 year old, am I ever gonna be able to buy a home again in my life, right? These are those questions that are starting to ramp up. So off that second topic, how do I position myself? I don't care necessarily what someone that's 70 or 80 plus years old is wondering about what's going on in the market. So you just brought up Michael Saylor. He's either gonna be the next generation Warren Buffett because he makes the best trade in his life off Bitcoin, or he's gonna fail miserably. Now I like to lean towards the positive side of that because I am very bullish on Bitcoin, but that's my outlook. When I see all these economists and these people that have been managing these hedge funds and asset management firms for what, two, three, four decades at now, when they tell me that I'm wrong, that crypto is a bad investment and I see the adoption on the backend, all I go is show them the chart of the wage versus prosperity gap in America. Go to 1971, WTF, I won't say the word, but happened WTF in 1971 .com and you're gonna look at the wage versus prosperity gap. Our politicians, our lobbyists, our economists, they've been wrong for 50 years. This inflation's not stopping and it's not going to stop. So how I hedge myself is I follow something pretty similar to the 50 -25 -25 rule. What that rule is is 50 % of, this is my personal opinion, not FA, we know the rules here, is ultimately gonna be into those large caps, Bitcoin, ETH, some people like MATIC, some people like XRP, whatever your blue chips are. Personally, that's Bitcoin and ETH. The next 25 % is gonna be your large caps, mid caps, you know, you wanna diversify and that last 25 % is gonna be the VC strategy, right? You need to think like a venture capitalist coming into this space. This is the jungle, this is Wall Street 2 .0. This is no different than Silicon Valley, this is no different than the dot -com bubble. There's VCs coming in here like sharks, wrapping softwares and services in a product or a utility token and then just pumping and dumping a same product that's a copy and paste of the previous. And so for that reason, I treat it like just VCs. I want to diversify and invest into quite a few, understanding that yes, six to seven of them are going to go to zero, three to four of them are gonna break even and one is gonna hit that moon back. So I'm gonna pause you there just for a moment, just to clarify, 50 % Bitcoin and Ethereum or Bitcoin or Ethereum, another 25%, those other blue chips, we're talking, you know, something probably in the top 20, I would guess, right? Yeah, top 20, 30. And then the last 25%, you said VC, so it's a higher risk, the lower market cap most likely, are you putting all of that 25 % into one? Are you breaking up it into five, 10, 15? I suppose that might be determined on how large the capital pool is that you're pulling from. Definitely breaking up, yeah. You know, the moment you're taking more than even 5 % of your overall 100%, right? So if we have 100 % of that portfolio, you know, you shouldn't be allocating 25 % of that to Meme coins, right? Things that have no utility or products that have no fundamental value at all, like hex, right? Yes, I'm gonna take a shot right there. You know, you want to spray and pray on that because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if necessarily these products have good utility or not. Look at Solana, it's broken down more than an ice cream machine from McDonald's. You've heard the memes, right? It's closed on Sundays like Chick -fil -A. So, you know, from that aspect, it's gonna come to that marketing. And so you, like, again, no utility, but they're gonna pump. So that's where you just want to diversify into, honestly, like 20, 30 cryptos. You know, we're talking about, you're putting 100, 200 bucks into a bunch of them. Understanding, yes, it might go to zero, but also this might be the next polygonmatic or this might be the next Decentraland Manna or whatever it is that we saw pump in 2021. You brought up a great point earlier, and I want to get your perspective on this. This is, I think, a very important consideration with Bitcoin because Bitcoin, in a lot of ways, drives the crypto ecosystem. So what happens with this narrative, I have to ask you, with risk on, risk off, currently it's still considered a risk off sort of asset in terms of you're going to typically want to look to Bitcoin when risk comes back in the market, right? Because it's high risk. So is it risk on, is it risk off? This debate about Bitcoin still being, whether or not it's digital gold, it's going to be an inflation hedge. I think in the long term it will. But I have to ask, what's your perspective on when Bitcoin may flip out of that risk narrative, where it's truly a commodity, where it truly not only trades in its own sort of sector, but also against, counter to, for instance, right now, we see the markets maybe on the cusp of breaking down, especially after the Fed pivots. Is Bitcoin ready to have a true and sustained and continual breaking of correlation with traditional assets? When do you see Bitcoin breaking that correlation and becoming something other than a risk asset, a true store of value? It's this cycle. You get a lot of talks of de -dollarization. There's lots of talks of BRICS, China, Russia, Brazil, India, South America, all coming together and building a system that's an alternative to our current currency in the United States. Now, for that reason, that's because of all the money printing we've been printing the last few years. And inevitably we've been in debting third world countries, second world countries with world bank loans. And what happens when the United States raises their interest rates and force us to not only print more money ourselves to pay back our own interest rates, because next year we're going to be paying back $1 .25 trillion annually just in debts that we owe based off our own interests. It's ridiculous. But people don't realize the impact that has on third world countries and second world countries. These countries are indebted to the United States. They have US debts, US treasuries, right? So when they're holding onto these assets, it's going to force them to print more of their own money just to pay back off the US loans that they owe, right? So, you know, it causes hyperinflation and destabilizes a lot of countries. And for this reason, you've seen a lot of second world countries, third world countries now come into play and starting to do things like in the Middle East, you had, I believe it's pronounced Oman. I could be pronouncing that Middle Eastern country wrong, but this is right on the border of Saudi Arabia. This is in that oil basin area. They're investing $1 .1 billion into converting wasted natural gas and methane emissions and that value with Bitcoin miners. What do I mean by that? Well, this is where the world's greatest commodity comes into play. You see, you know, most of the energy that's created in our world through our fossil fuels. So let's get this out. You know, Greta Thunberg was wrong, okay? You know, we need nuclear. We do need to go towards renewables, but we rely on fossil fuels. That's not going to go away. And the infrastructure that's been built out in the United States and globally, it would take us years, if not decades, to replace the equipment and infrastructure to support new energy. So with that understanding, we have all of this energy being created and you have, and I'm sure you guys have seen it, but oil fields where there's flaring gas emissions and burning off all these oil emissions into our atmosphere. Pure waste, why not harness it? Exactly, and so we're now seeing companies like Crusoe Energy, Clean Spark, and a lot of companies come together through Exxon, ConocoPhillips, even Gazprom, which is going to be one of the largest oil providers in the world out of Russia. They're all converting a lot of that wasted energy into that value with Bitcoin and that can be done anywhere. So for that reason, I think this next cycle, this is the time where we have the Spot ETFs. We've watched BlackRock, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, everybody manipulate our markets for the last five years. They're calling it a money laundering index. They're saying it's a scam. They're saying it's going to go to zero. Meanwhile, the whole time they're investing on the back end and getting ready to develop what I believe is going to be the next biggest financial product ever, which is a Bitcoin Spot ETF. Joshua, it's been great talking with you. Where can everybody find you? Give us your socials. When are you going to come back? Yeah, so it's Joshua Jake on all socials. I do a lot right now. I just actually sold my personal marketing company, but right now you can find me on TikTok, Twitter, and then of course, YouTube. But YouTube, I'm actually transitioning, guys. It actually looks like I'll be here about every other week on Discover Crypto, hosting your guys' morning show and doing a lot more interviews and content like this with you guys here in Georgia. So stay tuned for some crazy announcements coming out of that. You can also find me on CRU Plus, which is going to be CryptosRS is George's new program. I'm hosting a show called Beyond the Headlines where I go in depth on your macroeconomics. I'd hag on certain presidential candidates and I just talk about the real things that need to be talked about in these markets that do affect crypto. Well, right on. We appreciate you being here and talking and going surface level and going super deep. I hope you all enjoyed that. Make sure you hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, ding the bell, join us here in our community. Positive encouragement, data -driven, trying to bring you the best, the peak and information here in the crypto markets and looking at those broader markets too. Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday. Thank you for being here with us. That's all I got. Adios muchachos. Thanks guys.
Crypto News Alerts | Daily Bitcoin (BTC) & Cryptocurrency News
A highlight from 1445: BREAKING: Blackrock To Launch Bitcoin ETF By THIS Date!
"In today's show, I'll be breaking down the latest Bitcoin technical analysis. Also, this just in, the first Bitcoin ETF trades at one and a half billion dollars as the GBTC discount echoes 69 ,000 Bitcoin price action. And quoting the high priest Bitcoin, Max Keiser, Bitcoin is compounding at 147%, while gold is compounding at 2 .3%. Can you see the difference? We sure can. Also in today's show, Billion Dollar Bank pays a $29 .5 million fine over massive fraud, allowing criminals to access $300 million. That's right. Also in today's show, Bitcoin -friendly El Salvador can become the Singapore of the Americas, according to asset manager VanEck. Not only that, but breaking news just in, VanEck, who is worth $76 billion with assets under management, joins the amendment filings for a spot Bitcoin ETF. Let's freaking go. Also in today's show, $15 trillion floodgates will open for Bitcoin upon the approval of a Bitcoin ETF, according to Glassnode Analytics. We'll also be discussing what Galaxy Digital thinks if this first spot Bitcoin ETF were to be approved, how would this drastically impact the market? We're also going to be sharing everything relating to the BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF, along with the date their application is likely to get approved, according to the former director of BlackRock. We'll also be taking a look at the overall crypto market, all this plus so much more in today's show.
Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"echo" Discussed on Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"Well, no, it actually made sense. Um, it was something, well, so you said your dad was kind of always a kid at heart. My parents were all very uptight. And so there was, because my mom didn't recognize me either. Um, when you lose a hundred pounds is not a surprise. I mean, I barely recognized myself when I looked in the mirror and that made it easier to accept that I'm like, there's no way she recognizes me because like, it just doesn't even make sense, you know, if you hadn't seen somebody for a few years and they've lost over a hundred pounds, you might, I had people that were like, oh my God, that's you. I mean, people that hadn't seen me for a while. So it wasn't a shock when I confirmed that my mom didn't remember that I was her older daughter. She thought I was her best friend. So, okay. You know, not, not such a horrible demotion. Maybe a promotion kind of depends on the day. She always told everybody, I've known her forever. And it would be like, yeah, you think maybe my whole life, it's just like, you know, those kind of, yeah, pretty much. And I would say that and she would just kind of look at me like, wow, whatever. But, you know, she wanted to sit around and talk, which would have been fine if you were, you know, I could not simplify activities that she would have normally enjoyed because she was always afraid of doing them wrong. So we always had that stiff formality, which I really regret because there was not like, you know, holding of hands. There was no like intimacy the last three years of her life or even longer, you know, cause it was just part of it earlier before my dad died was just, it was kind of, maybe it was like, it was easier to keep her a little bit, not at arm's length, but half an arm's length. Cause it's like, okay, you're very difficult to deal with. I only have a certain amount of time to deal with you. So we, we got to go, we got to take the route that's going to get this stuff, whatever we need to do get done. Like my parents' doctor was literally down the hill from my house. So they would come from the doctor's office and my dad who had all kinds of health issues would literally just kind of flop in the chair and just like abandoned my mother to me, which was fine, but sometimes they'd show up early and I wouldn't be ready. And so it's just, it was hard. But taking her to the park to watch kids or wherever kids, you know, congregated, we'd go to the library in the inclement weather. That was great. But getting her from the car to the bench or wherever, that was awful. She walked watching her feet. She walked 10 to 15 feet behind me. Anybody that's listened to enough episodes knows that that was a giant frustration. I would slow down. She would slow down. I would stop. She would stop. She would not walk arm in arm. I had a past guest who basically realized my mom was the oldest of four and that was probably her way of keeping an eye on the kids. I'm like, man, I really wish I'd known that when she was alive. So it's like, it's so hard to, you know, to give them their agency and to be as independent as possible and still maintain your life and everyone's like, Oh my God. And you know, you're visiting your dad in the earlier, before the last deployment to Afghanistan, nobody gives you a roadmap of how to deal with it. Like don't bubble wrap them and stick them in the corner. That's not good. You know, but don't leave them on there. It's just like, that's one of my soap boxes. Stay on the soap box. We need to educate the entirety of society on what aging is like, what dementia is and Alzheimer's is like, because it's only going to get worse. Population is aging. You know, we've had what, Afghanistan for, you know, the middle East for 20 years. So we've got people like yourself that, you know, might need a little extra help in their older age. You know, we, we gotta, we gotta get a lot better at taking care of each other. That's, that's kind of my political stance is true patriotism is taking care of each other and then the government can do less is they can just worry about the big stuff is we're taking care of our family and our neighbors and our community. And it ripples outward. Now we're going to take a quick break for an ad. These ads help me continue to bring the show to you for free. When I learned that despite eating as healthy as possible, we can still have undernourished brains. I was frustrated. I also live in a farming community. So I'm aware that our food isn't grown as well as we need. Learning about neuro reserves, elevate and how it's formulated fixes problem convinced me to give them a try. Now I know many of you are skeptical as was I, however, I know it's working because of one simple change. My sweet tooth is gone. I didn't expect that and it's not something other users have commented on, but here's some truth. My brain always wanted something sweet. Now fruit usually did the trick, but not always. One bad night's sleep would fire up my sugar cravings so much. They were almost impossible to ignore. You ever have your brain screaming for a donut? Well, for me, those days are gone. It's been about six months since I started taking the supplement and I have no regrets. I believe in my results so much that I'm passing on my 15% discount to you. Try it for two or three months and see if you have a miraculous sweet tooth cure or maybe just better focus and clarity. It's definitely worth a try. Now back to our conversation. I think what it boils down to is have some, just have some compassion. You know, just have some compassion for other human beings. If they're different from you have some compassion and they're the same as you have some compassion. It's not hard. That's true. There's a saying, there's a veteran's organization, it's a merchandise organization that does a lot of fundraising for post-traumatic stress. And they have a t-shirt that says, you know, effectively that, you know, everyone has something they're going through that you can't see, right. Or we don't know when we're talking to someone, what they may be going through. So why is it so hard to have some compassion? Just, just do it, you know, with my dad and you're right. There's no roadmap with my dad. I guess I kind of adopted the approach of as long as what he's doing is not going to be a harm to himself or others. It's kind of let him do it. You know, when I went to visit him and he was at the stage where he didn't really talk at all, all he did was paste the hallway. That's fine. If he wanted to pace, we'll just pace. And when he wanted to sit down, I'd sit down with him, you know, I'd let him decide, you know, to the extent that he could decide that he had willpower, what he wanted to do in that moment. And we just did it. And, you know, there were times before he was in the nursing facility when he went out to dinner with us and he wanted to eat something that you would normally eat with a fork. He wanted to eat it with a spoon. And, you know, we, you know, there were some people who were like, you know, trying to help him get the fork and there were others who were just like, let him eat it with a spoon. He's not hurting anymore. Just let him do what he wants. Like, and so I think that's, I think that's a good approach, right? I mean, again, you're looking out for safety of himself and others or herself and others. But otherwise you're trying to allow an individual to be themselves, to be a human that they want to be. Because eventually you're going to cross that threshold where they can't make those decisions at all. And you're going to have to make those decisions. And that's the unfortunate reality of this condition. And so I knew that threshold would someday come. And so I tried to just push it off into the future as far as I could. That's actually not a horrible plan of attack. Um, I just recently had a guest who, the way they handled their loved one's journey with a brain disease was to ask whomever, caregivers, friends, family, doctors, professionals of all sorts, what, what might be next? What's coming next? So that they could kind of be like forewarned. They could plan a little bit because I think that's one of the toughest things with any dementia causing disease is, you know, most of us end up caregivers because of some emergency. We, we implement some, you know, um, procedures. We make some changes to their life, to our life. And then, okay, the emergency is over. We think we have it handled. Okay, great. And then, you know, a month or a year later, those things don't work anymore. And you're like, what the hell? This was working fine. And now what? And it's just, you're constantly chasing the progression. And that's, that's hard. It's much better to ask what might be next? I don't think that's a bad idea. Um, I am certainly a planner at heart. Me too. I mean, when my, when my dad first got the diagnosis, the first thing I did, remember I was at a law firm at the time, and I'm a lawyer by training. Um, the first thing I did was told him and my step mom, you need to go get your wills done if you haven't already or get them updated, because at some point you won't have the mental faculty to make a decision with respect to your will. And if you make a will at that point in time, it's going to be subject to challenge by anyone who knows about your condition and wants to hold this up for whatever reason. Um, so I am a planner at heart. I think with that, the, the, the caution I would give is still maintain flexibility, right? Because there's so much, I think we have generic, you know, sort of stages of Alzheimer's, right? There's, I think some people say there's seven, some people say there's four. I may be jumbling that up, but whatever it may be there, there are a number of stages of Alzheimer's with sort of like what happens in those stages. But every, just as every person is their own person, they're, you know, every person is an individual in healthy times, they're their own individual and sick time as well. Right. And how one person may respond during the third stage of Alzheimer's may not be how another person responds during that same stage. So planning is important. It's, it's a valued sort of approach, uh, just with the, the proviso that just be prepared to be flexible to the extent possible. Definitely. I think this disease teaches flexibility and patience to a great degree. Oh yeah. I think it beats you over the head with it, whether you want to be patient and flexible or not. Most days you don't want to be. There's just days when you just want to get crap done. Put, put on your pants. No, I don't want to take two hours to do this. Just put on your pants. Exactly. And with my mom, the more help she needed, the more combative she got. That was fun. So, you know, it's pretty typical. Um, you know, and some of the things I wish I'd known early on. So my mom had lost a tremendous amount of weight. She, she had clothes that were like 25 years old, 30 years old. I was like, that woman had so many clothes. She like literally one huge closet, I think was like at least, I think it was eight feet wide and it was double hung. And then she had the closet that was in my childhood bedroom, which was a standard size closet, which was also double hung. And it was just like massive overwhelm and she would wear pants that were so big. She'd like roll the waistband down four times and they'd still slide down to her hips, which of course drove her crazy cause she was not the generation that wore the low rise pants. Um, and my dad started, you know, complaining about the challenges with her clothes. And so I think I had him take her out and I, I emptied, well, no, I started with her and I, I said, um, I forgot how I conned her into cleaning out her closet, which wasn't easy because she kept saying, well, that's a good knock around the house shirt. That's a good knock around the house shirt. I'm like, mom, you've got 10 blue knock around the house shirts that doesn't even include the other colors. I was trying to rationalize with somebody who couldn't rationalize. I call me a mistake among caregivers, I think. Yeah. Well, it was just, it's like, we are generally rational people, not always, but for the most part. And so after a while it's, I think your rational brain to start screaming, just like, just work with me. It's like, I don't think our brain really allows for just the constant, you know, nonsense, which is, which kind of what you get. But it boiled down to that she got really pissed off that my sister took all these clothes out of her closet, got rid of them. I was like, Oh yes. Dementia memory for the wind for me. I did not get blamed for that one. But she still had so many clothes that she literally wore the same things over and over and over because they were accessible. They were easy. They were familiar. And when we moved her into memory care, she literally had like a two foot wide closet, two and a half foot wide closet. And even that had too many clothes in it. So I literally, okay, I'm in Northern California, so we don't really have seasons like you guys do back there. And I literally had like the warmer weather clothes and the cooler weather clothes. And I would swap them out so that she just literally had like a week's worth of clothes and it just got so hard. And of course the caregivers in the communities, you know, the memory care communities don't get paid enough. They're not trained enough. There's not enough of them. And so, you know, instead of learning tricks to get them dressed properly in a short amount of time, they just have to get a little physical, which is unfortunate. But I learned too late, if they have an item of clothing they like, buy five of them. This works really good for men. Dad likes jeans by five pair of his favorite jeans. He likes those plaid shirts, but five of those blue plaid shirts he loves. And then he's always got the same outfit, even though it's not the same outfit. I would have loved to have done that with my mother. And you'd buy her new clothes and she didn't recognize them as hers, so she'd literally give them away. It was so much fun. But one of the things that we talked about, we're kind of running a little short on time, is the wanting your parent to guide you through what challenges you're going through, whether it's your parenting journey or your journey with recovering from PTSD, which sounds like it's still ongoing. That's kind of also a big theme in the book is your parents is there, but they're not there. Is there a way you kind of coped with that or you just kind of muscled through? A way I coped with? Your dad being around, but not being dad? I think the way I coped with that was to think about memories. I think ultimately that's what it boiled down to is just, you know, the memories of experiences that I had with him more than my brother and I had with him and sharing stories like that and talking about him. That was my way of sort of dealing with his absence. A significant part of the book deals with his letters to me. So in 2000, when I went through Marine Corps bootcamp, my dad, like many dads and many moms throughout the country, wrote me all summer long as I was in bootcamp, wrote me letters. And for whatever reason I saved those letters. Not only when I left bootcamp, I didn't trash them. I brought them home. But then, you know, at that point, you know, eight years had passed when his diagnosis came through and I still had the letters. They were at home in Pennsylvania and I picked them up and I kept those letters through various military moves for the next decade plus. And I started going through those letters again. And I think that's what sort of revived his memories. I talked at the outset about reviving his memories and sort of reviving memories rather of him and sort of re-humanizing him. I think the letters were a way of reviving those memories that I had forgotten about. But in his letters, he sort of offered the generic fatherly wisdom that we all hear, right, growing up, or maybe you hear it from your mother, whomever it may be. And you know, when I was 18 years old, I was just like, oh, so a, you know, lines, you know, oh, you know, you're in my thoughts or prayers or you know, keep your chin up. Right. You know, there's just cliches or platitudes. Right. But as I started going through them after Afghanistan and sort of with the, with some more experience behind me I started to realize that there were deeper meanings to the things that he was saying in those letters, things that I wouldn't have understood at 18, but that I had a better understanding of now. And that was for me, sort of his advice, how I was able to have a conversation with my dad, even though he couldn't have a conversation with me. I was having it through those letters and that's sort of what the book is framed around is his letters. And you know, I don't know that I've ever come to grips with this very unnatural desire to want your parent to die. And I think a lot of people are afraid to admit that either out loud to others or even to themselves because it's so unnatural, right? We don't want our loved ones to die. That's not what we want. But the reality is, is at some point he was already gone. You know, he, he wasn't alive. He was living. Yes, but he wasn't alive and there's a big difference. And at that point, it was just a desire for his suffering to end for him. This just laying in bed, effectively comatose for all of that to end. But that's a mixed bag, right? I, you, you have that desire, but at the same time, you are robbed by this disease of having a parent around when you need them, whatever the reason, whether it's you and your partner need a date night, and you need grandma and grandpa to watch the kids, right? Something physical, or you have a three year old child that is doing X, Y, or Z, and need to talk to mom or dad about, what did you do back in your day when I was doing this at age three, you know, give me some parental guidance, some wisdom here on how I can handle this unruly child. Right. But they're not there for that. And I think that that's the takeaway, right? What is there are the memories. And I think that a lot of times if we sit with them and think about the memories that we have with our parents or our loved ones, whomever it is, it's going through this battle with Alzheimer's, they can speak to us in a way that we, they can't in person through those memories. And we can learn a lot. If we just sit with them and think a bit, sit in that silence and, and try to learn from those memories and see what the lesson is that we can take away and apply to this circumstance. And I think that's the, the key of the book is that the memories are so powerful, right? They can both break us and heal us. And that's the essence. I do want to say one thing before we close, cause I know we're running short on time. And now I'm blanking on it. I'm having my own. End of the day, mind overload. This is the sleep deprivation for you. My stepmother passed last year a day before Thanksgiving. And it was, it was unexpected. And as we went back, we being my siblings, went back to the house to sort of go through and see what was there and try to figure out what needed to be done with the house, et cetera. We were walking around in the different rooms and, and I was struck by something and what I was struck by was that she had kept all of his clothes. My dad at that point in time probably had not moved from his bed from the nursing home bed in five years, at least if not longer. And it struck me because it was as though she believed that he could come home at any moment. And I think that it's tragic. It must be an experience that most primary caregivers have at some point in time, right? That, that hope beyond hope, that belief just in the back of your mind, just that tiny little piece, maybe something will change. Maybe they'll come home. And at this point in time, without more research, I think that's where we're at. Unfortunately is that that's not going to happen. Hopefully, hopefully in the future, we get to a point where this is a disease that can be cured or, you know, prevented. Yeah. But we're not there. His is that he was never coming home, but she kept all of his clothes as though he were. And I think that's, it just broke my heart because I am sure there are a lot of people who want to know that he wanted to wring his neck, right. To use a phrase that my parents would use growing up. But at the same time, there was that love there that that sort of never died. And that longing and yearning for someone that was there at the end of your own life and who wasn't there anymore. And you wanting to hold onto that. And, and I, I guess my point to caregivers is I see that pain. I hear that pain, but don't go it alone. Cause you're not alone. There are others out there who have experienced the same thing, who know what you're experiencing and who can be there with you through that pain. Yeah. I, I experienced like the flip side of that coin. So my dad passed away because my mom had bounced from my sister's house to my house, to her home where her younger sister took care of her. First off bouncing them around is not good. It was absolutely clear. She did not respect me as an adult that was in charge of my own house. So I knew very clearly that after a week of living with me, one or both of us would be dead. I knew that was not, it was not an option. So my, my died March 2nd, my mom moved into memory care, March 16th. That felt terrible. Then we had to clean out their house so we could rent it. And you're getting rid of all of these things, all of these physical items that have memories attached to them. And you know, you don't forget the memories just because you get rid of the stuff. Um, that was hard. And then when she died and we moved her to memory care, she had way less stuff. And then when she died, you know, like the photographs are on the wall, everybody had their own version. Um, the clothing they dispersed to other residents. Um, she had the, a chair, a day bed and she had a console table that her dad built. I have that, but everything else was just like, you know, you just get rid of it and it just, it feels like you're getting rid of them. So that's probably why your step-mom didn't get rid of his clothes. Cause it was like getting rid of him. Yup. I think that's fair. But I loved what you said about sitting with them and just thinking about memories. And I'm, I'm sitting here wishing I had heard that, you know, seven or eight years ago, because, you know, it just, I, I'm sitting here thinking about the times we would sit in mom's room and she would ramble on about weird stuff. And it was just, I desperately tried to figure out what she was trying to tell me. So I was like in that fixer mode and it would have just been better to do something different. I love what you said about just sitting there and thinking about memories as a way of letting them communicate to you. That's beautiful. And that's what I would like for the caregivers to really take to heart from this conversation. Because I think that might actually really help might've helped me with the childhood memories that I'm struggling to find the positive ones. So that's, I think that's perfection. That little nugget of advice is perfection. Thank you. I will consider my day complete now. Well, good. So before I let you go, how are you doing right now? Every day is a challenge. Some days are good. Most days are not. But you know, it is a process to continue working through. I think the important thing, and I think this is another, another scene that could equally apply to Alzheimer's and that process of Alzheimer's is healing or, you know, sort of coming to terms with the new normal is not a linear process.
Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"echo" Discussed on Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"And so I knew that threshold would someday come. And so I tried to just push it off into the future as far as I could. That's actually not a horrible plan of attack. Um, I just recently had a guest who, the way they handled their loved one's journey with a brain disease was to ask whomever, caregivers, friends, family, doctors, professionals of all sorts, what, what might be next? What's coming next? So that they could kind of be like forewarned. They could plan a little bit because I think that's one of the toughest things with any dementia causing disease is, you know, most of us end up caregivers because of some emergency. We, we implement some, you know, um, procedures. We make some changes to their life, to our life. And then, okay, the emergency is over. We think we have it handled. Okay, great. And then, you know, a month or a year later, those things don't work anymore. And you're like, what the hell? This was working fine. And now what? And it's just, you're constantly chasing the progression. And that's, that's hard. It's much better to ask what might be next? I don't think that's a bad idea. Um, I am certainly a planner at heart. Me too. I mean, when my, when my dad first got the diagnosis, the first thing I did, remember I was at a law firm at the time, and I'm a lawyer by training. Um, the first thing I did was told him and my step mom, you need to go get your wills done if you haven't already or get them updated, because at some point you won't have the mental faculty to make a decision with respect to your will. And if you make a will at that point in time, it's going to be subject to challenge by anyone who knows about your condition and wants to hold this up for whatever reason. Um, so I am a planner at heart. I think with that, the, the, the caution I would give is still maintain flexibility, right? Because there's so much, I think we have generic, you know, sort of stages of Alzheimer's, right? There's, I think some people say there's seven, some people say there's four. I may be jumbling that up, but whatever it may be there, there are a number of stages of Alzheimer's with sort of like what happens in those stages. But every, just as every person is their own person, they're, you know, every person is an individual in healthy times, they're their own individual and sick time as well. Right. And how one person may respond during the third stage of Alzheimer's may not be how another person responds during that same stage. So planning is important. It's, it's a valued sort of approach, uh, just with the, the proviso that just be prepared to be flexible to the extent possible. Definitely. I think this disease teaches flexibility and patience to a great degree. Oh yeah. I think it beats you over the head with it, whether you want to be patient and flexible or not. Most days you don't want to be. There's just days when you just want to get crap done. Put, put on your pants. No, I don't want to take two hours to do this. Just put on your pants. Exactly. And with my mom, the more help she needed, the more combative she got. That was fun. So, you know, it's pretty typical. Um, you know, and some of the things I wish I'd known early on. So my mom had lost a tremendous amount of weight. She, she had clothes that were like 25 years old, 30 years old. I was like, that woman had so many clothes. She like literally one huge closet, I think was like at least, I think it was eight feet wide and it was double hung. And then she had the closet that was in my childhood bedroom, which was a standard size closet, which was also double hung. And it was just like massive overwhelm and she would wear pants that were so big. She'd like roll the waistband down four times and they'd still slide down to her hips, which of course drove her crazy cause she was not the generation that wore the low rise pants. Um, and my dad started, you know, complaining about the challenges with her clothes. And so I think I had him take her out and I, I emptied, well, no, I started with her and I, I said, um, I forgot how I conned her into cleaning out her closet, which wasn't easy because she kept saying, well, that's a good knock around the house shirt. That's a good knock around the house shirt. I'm like, mom, you've got 10 blue knock around the house shirts that doesn't even include the other colors. I was trying to rationalize with somebody who couldn't rationalize. I call me a mistake among caregivers, I think. Yeah. Well, it was just, it's like, we are generally rational people, not always, but for the most part. And so after a while it's, I think your rational brain to start screaming, just like, just work with me. It's like, I don't think our brain really allows for just the constant, you know, nonsense, which is, which kind of what you get. But it boiled down to that she got really pissed off that my sister took all these clothes out of her closet, got rid of them. I was like, Oh yes. Dementia memory for the wind for me. I did not get blamed for that one. But she still had so many clothes that she literally wore the same things over and over and over because they were accessible. They were easy. They were familiar. And when we moved her into memory care, she literally had like a two foot wide closet, two and a half foot wide closet. And even that had too many clothes in it. So I literally, okay, I'm in Northern California, so we don't really have seasons like you guys do back there. And I literally had like the warmer weather clothes and the cooler weather clothes. And I would swap them out so that she just literally had like a week's worth of clothes and it just got so hard. And of course the caregivers in the communities, you know, the memory care communities don't get paid enough. They're not trained enough. There's not enough of them. And so, you know, instead of learning tricks to get them dressed properly in a short amount of time, they just have to get a little physical, which is unfortunate. But I learned too late, if they have an item of clothing they like, buy five of them. This works really good for men. Dad likes jeans by five pair of his favorite jeans. He likes those plaid shirts, but five of those blue plaid shirts he loves. And then he's always got the same outfit, even though it's not the same outfit. I would have loved to have done that with my mother. And you'd buy her new clothes and she didn't recognize them as hers, so she'd literally give them away. It was so much fun. But one of the things that we talked about, we're kind of running a little short on time, is the wanting your parent to guide you through what challenges you're going through, whether it's your parenting journey or your journey with recovering from PTSD, which sounds like it's still ongoing. That's kind of also a big theme in the book is your parents is there, but they're not there. Is there a way you kind of coped with that or you just kind of muscled through? A way I coped with? Your dad being around, but not being dad? I think the way I coped with that was to think about memories. I think ultimately that's what it boiled down to is just, you know, the memories of experiences that I had with him more than my brother and I had with him and sharing stories like that and talking about him. That was my way of sort of dealing with his absence. A significant part of the book deals with his letters to me. So in 2000, when I went through Marine Corps bootcamp, my dad, like many dads and many moms throughout the country, wrote me all summer long as I was in bootcamp, wrote me letters. And for whatever reason I saved those letters. Not only when I left bootcamp, I didn't trash them. I brought them home. But then, you know, at that point, you know, eight years had passed when his diagnosis came through and I still had the letters. They were at home in Pennsylvania and I picked them up and I kept those letters through various military moves for the next decade plus. And I started going through those letters again. And I think that's what sort of revived his memories. I talked at the outset about reviving his memories and sort of reviving memories rather of him and sort of re-humanizing him. I think the letters were a way of reviving those memories that I had forgotten about. But in his letters, he sort of offered the generic fatherly wisdom that we all hear, right, growing up, or maybe you hear it from your mother, whomever it may be. And you know, when I was 18 years old, I was just like, oh, so a, you know, lines, you know, oh, you know, you're in my thoughts or prayers or you know, keep your chin up. Right. You know, there's just cliches or platitudes. Right. But as I started going through them after Afghanistan and sort of with the, with some more experience behind me I started to realize that there were deeper meanings to the things that he was saying in those letters, things that I wouldn't have understood at 18, but that I had a better understanding of now. And that was for me, sort of his advice, how I was able to have a conversation with my dad, even though he couldn't have a conversation with me. I was having it through those letters and that's sort of what the book is framed around is his letters. And you know, I don't know that I've ever come to grips with this very unnatural desire to want your parent to die. And I think a lot of people are afraid to admit that either out loud to others or even to themselves because it's so unnatural, right? We don't want our loved ones to die. That's not what we want. But the reality is, is at some point he was already gone. You know, he, he wasn't alive. He was living. Yes, but he wasn't alive and there's a big difference. And at that point, it was just a desire for his suffering to end for him. This just laying in bed, effectively comatose for all of that to end. But that's a mixed bag, right? I, you, you have that desire, but at the same time, you are robbed by this disease of having a parent around when you need them, whatever the reason, whether it's you and your partner need a date night, and you need grandma and grandpa to watch the kids, right? Something physical, or you have a three year old child that is doing X, Y, or Z, and need to talk to mom or dad about, what did you do back in your day when I was doing this at age three, you know, give me some parental guidance, some wisdom here on how I can handle this unruly child. Right. But they're not there for that. And I think that that's the takeaway, right? What is there are the memories. And I think that a lot of times if we sit with them and think about the memories that we have with our parents or our loved ones, whomever it is, it's going through this battle with Alzheimer's, they can speak to us in a way that we, they can't in person through those memories. And we can learn a lot. If we just sit with them and think a bit, sit in that silence and, and try to learn from those memories and see what the lesson is that we can take away and apply to this circumstance. And I think that's the, the key of the book is that the memories are so powerful, right? They can both break us and heal us. And that's the essence. I do want to say one thing before we close, cause I know we're running short on time. And now I'm blanking on it. I'm having my own. End of the day, mind overload. This is the sleep deprivation for you. My stepmother passed last year a day before Thanksgiving. And it was, it was unexpected. And as we went back, we being my siblings, went back to the house to sort of go through and see what was there and try to figure out what needed to be done with the house, et cetera. We were walking around in the different rooms and, and I was struck by something and what I was struck by was that she had kept all of his clothes. My dad at that point in time probably had not moved from his bed from the nursing home bed in five years, at least if not longer. And it struck me because it was as though she believed that he could come home at any moment. And I think that it's tragic. It must be an experience that most primary caregivers have at some point in time, right? That, that hope beyond hope, that belief just in the back of your mind, just that tiny little piece, maybe something will change. Maybe they'll come home. And at this point in time, without more research, I think that's where we're at. Unfortunately is that that's not going to happen. Hopefully, hopefully in the future, we get to a point where this is a disease that can be cured or, you know, prevented. Yeah. But we're not there. His is that he was never coming home, but she kept all of his clothes as though he were. And I think that's, it just broke my heart because I am sure there are a lot of people who want to know that he wanted to wring his neck, right. To use a phrase that my parents would use growing up. But at the same time, there was that love there that that sort of never died. And that longing and yearning for someone that was there at the end of your own life and who wasn't there anymore. And you wanting to hold onto that. And, and I, I guess my point to caregivers is I see that pain. I hear that pain, but don't go it alone. Cause you're not alone. There are others out there who have experienced the same thing, who know what you're experiencing and who can be there with you through that pain. Yeah. I, I experienced like the flip side of that coin. So my dad passed away because my mom had bounced from my sister's house to my house, to her home where her younger sister took care of her. First off bouncing them around is not good. It was absolutely clear. She did not respect me as an adult that was in charge of my own house. So I knew very clearly that after a week of living with me, one or both of us would be dead. I knew that was not, it was not an option. So my, my died March 2nd, my mom moved into memory care, March 16th. That felt terrible. Then we had to clean out their house so we could rent it. And you're getting rid of all of these things, all of these physical items that have memories attached to them. And you know, you don't forget the memories just because you get rid of the stuff. Um, that was hard. And then when she died and we moved her to memory care, she had way less stuff. And then when she died, you know, like the photographs are on the wall, everybody had their own version. Um, the clothing they dispersed to other residents. Um, she had the, a chair, a day bed and she had a console table that her dad built. I have that, but everything else was just like, you know, you just get rid of it and it just, it feels like you're getting rid of them. So that's probably why your step-mom didn't get rid of his clothes. Cause it was like getting rid of him. Yup. I think that's fair. But I loved what you said about sitting with them and just thinking about memories. And I'm, I'm sitting here wishing I had heard that, you know, seven or eight years ago, because, you know, it just, I, I'm sitting here thinking about the times we would sit in mom's room and she would ramble on about weird stuff. And it was just, I desperately tried to figure out what she was trying to tell me. So I was like in that fixer mode and it would have just been better to do something different. I love what you said about just sitting there and thinking about memories as a way of letting them communicate to you. That's beautiful. And that's what I would like for the caregivers to really take to heart from this conversation. Because I think that might actually really help might've helped me with the childhood memories that I'm struggling to find the positive ones. So that's, I think that's perfection. That little nugget of advice is perfection. Thank you. I will consider my day complete now. Well, good. So before I let you go, how are you doing right now? Every day is a challenge. Some days are good. Most days are not. But you know, it is a process to continue working through. I think the important thing, and I think this is another, another scene that could equally apply to Alzheimer's and that process of Alzheimer's is healing or, you know, sort of coming to terms with the new normal is not a linear process.
Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"echo" Discussed on Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"You know, some people, I think, rush to, oh my gosh, they have dementia or Alzheimer's and you kind of rush to like handle everything because, you know, you're going to have to, and a lot of people are like problem solvers and fixers, and that's just their personality. And then I think other people, and I don't say this in a negative way, they kind of cling on to like, this is my mom, this is my grandma, my uncle, whatever, whomever they are, and they really hold tight to who they were, which in some respects is probably good because they're trying to do everything to keep that person and their identity, and I think it's easier for some people rather than others. One of the reasons I ended up starting the podcast is because one of the typical bits of advice for people in the later stages is to, you know, simplify the activities that they used to love. Well, my mom was very creative. She painted, she was sewed, she did woodworking up until it was no longer safe because of her memory issues. And so creative things, those were kind of easy for me to come up with. And she was always afraid she'd do it wrong, which like drove me bananas. I don't know where that came from. It's not the way she was when I was growing up. Um, so it was, it was really hard. It was like, I had to find, figure out what her new identity was. And we ended up, as most of my listeners know, we ended up basically going to the park and watching children. I make jokes that we like creeped on little kids because that's kind of what we did, you know, because she was a mom and a grandmother and that gave her pleasure and it was much easier for me than trying to do all this other stuff that never seemed to work. So it's, I find it interesting the dichotomy between, you know, rushing to take care of everything and kind of putting them in a corner, maybe a little bubble wrap, which is not good versus like I said, doing everything you can to keep them the person they were. So it's interesting that you kind of had like an overlapping experience. I don't know if that's the right term, but I know you didn't take care of your dad, but you went and visited him regularly. Um, how, that must've been like infinitely harder because you were dealing with such a traumatic issue in your own life. I mean, it's hard enough when life was, life was going fine and then boom, this happens to people. That's pretty common. Most of us haven't come back from Afghanistan. I visited him before. So I, my, my first deployment when I was, this is before I was in the 75th Ranger Regiment, was in 2012 to Afghanistan. And I was, you know, so that's four years after his diagnosis, I was visiting him, you know, between in those years before my last deployment to Afghanistan. And, um, you know, you talked about people being sort of a fixer or clinging on. I'm more of a fixer. And that was my, that was my approach to things very early on from his diagnosis. And, um, what, what I'm realizing now is that in some ways in those early stages, by trying to fix things for him or do things for him, rather than letting him do them himself, no matter how long it took or how much he fumbled through it, is that I was robbing him of his agency. And I was making him less of Ray than he already was. And so I think it's an important thing to remember as, you know, and, and God plus caregivers, because it's, um, primary caregivers, because, um, you know, I, I think in some way, the, all of the family, those who are involved in sort of the care of the individual, whether it's through visitations or whatnot, yes, you may not be the primary caregiver, but we're still caregivers in a sense, right? We're still giving care to the person that we love. Uh, but for primary caregivers, that the, the patients that you need to have. And the frustration that I'm sure all of you feel is, is a massive struggle. And I don't know how my stepmother did it for all those years before he ended up being in the nursing home because it, it had to have been challenging on the best of days. Um, and so it's easy for somebody to say, I, you know, it's easy for me to criticize myself by saying that, you know, I was robbing him of his agency, but I wasn't the one who was having to deal with this day in and day out on a, on a, you know, micro level. And so I, I don't know that that criticism is fair. It's more of a insight that I offer for people to try to help to remember that this is that allow this person to still cling to their identity for as long as they can, because eventually at some point they won't have it. Um, so, um, I think in the early years, before, before I came back from Afghanistan that last time visiting him, I think it was always challenging, particularly as the disease progressed, um, in the early stages, you know, my dad was, um, so a little bit of background about my dad, he had, I think that he was a kid in an adult body, um, the entire time, you know, he was alive, he, you know, I used to ask him all the time as a kid, dad, what did, what did you want to be when you grew up? And his answer to me without fail every time was I'll let you know when I grow up and that sort of embodies his personality, he was a clown for the shrine circus, so he liked to drink quite a bit. Um, there are many stories I've heard about him that I'm shocked that he had not been arrested at some point in time or, you know, the antics that he and his friends pulled, um, you know, not, you know, just juvenile behavior, not sort of anything serious. Um, and so he, he was always sort of a joker and, you know, in the early stages of his Alzheimer's, when you'd see the Lord, the little moments where he would slip up, you know, he would sometimes call me my, by my brother's name, or we were at the beach house for, uh, uh, not our beach house, we rent the family rented a beach house, um, for Thanksgiving one year. And he just randomly decided to take off his clothes and full view of the family. And, um, you know, it's just like, you see these sort of breakdowns and you can't help, but laugh at just the ridiculousness of what you're experiencing, what this, what this condition does to people, and yet it's so sad, right? It's this, this tragedy and comedy at the same time, um, which is just really hard to grapple with, I think. Um, so there's, you know, a lot of, a lot of laughter, a lot of fun still with him, trying to have fun with him and trying to make those memories and, and do things that can get him out or give him enjoyment. Uh, but at the same time, really struggling with sort of watching this happen to somebody that you love. Um, and when I got back from Afghanistan, that it was, um, much harder. I think, I think in some ways he became a distraction for me from my own issues. Visiting, visiting him, thinking about him. Um, allowed me to stop thinking about the things that happened in Afghanistan. Um, no matter what the situation, his condition at that point in time, he hadn't, he hadn't been walking for a number of years at that point. He didn't really open his eyes. He never talked. Um, he no longer recognized me. That was all gone, you know, and it was just a shell of a man there, but at least visiting him and thinking about my feelings for him and my memories with him allowed me to avoid, right, which is one of the classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress is avoidance and allowed me to avoid sort of thinking about the experiences I had in Afghanistan. And, you know, when I was writing the book, the parts that I wrote about him and his experience with Alzheimer's and my observations of his experience, um, were infinitely easier to write than anything with Afghanistan. I've told my wife many times now that I feel like scratching below the surface of my experiences in Afghanistan is the hardest thing that I can do. And, and writing that is just like pulling teeth. So, um, I think in some ways that was my way of avoiding thinking about Afghanistan was to think about his condition. And, um, yeah. So I don't know that that answers your question about me rambling along quite a bit, but, um, welcome to the inside of my brain.
Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"echo" Discussed on Fading Memories: Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
"I mean, it's incredible how, how powerful the brain is, right? I mean, that there's something to be said about that. You know, to echo your experience, I don't have many memories that I can recall before my parents divorced. That makes sense. That's a way for your brain does that. It blocks those things out. It puts them in the recesses because it's, it's a, it's a way of protecting. The body, right? Uh, from that, from that experience, whatever it may be. Um, but sometimes that brain fails. Um, and that's kind of what happens with post-traumatic stress. There's a line in the book where I talk about the conundrum that I'm facing, right when I wish to forget, I can only remember. And when I wish to remember, I can only forget. And, you know, so much of post-traumatic stress is, is this constant reliving, whether it's the emotional reliving in the body or the mental reliving of the experiences that are constantly driving sort of the, the, the flight or fight sort of response and, you know, that the flashbacks I have are the things that I wish I could forget, but I can't. And then if you ask me other small details about those events themselves, I can't remember them. I can't even necessarily remember the order that these things happen in. And that's because it's, your brain is just in a survival mode. It's not in a mode to sort of retain that information that's, you know, that we might otherwise retain in a happy experience.
Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"echo" Discussed on Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"So he's basically saying all of us following our own incentives to produce for ourselves are all collectively attributing to this whole of society without even intending to. That's entire invisible hand idea from that book. And that is, in a nutshell, what it is that animates people, what it is that gets us up in the morning to go to work, to produce something to bring home for our family, but also in doing so, we're producing for an entire whole of society. We're driving old ladies to the hospital, you're teaching kids music. I mean, we're all helping the whole with simply our own self-interest. And that's the word right there, self-interest. There's so many people that conflate self-interest with selfishness. To me, the different selfishness is you're doing, you know, a self want that will end up hurting somebody else, right? That's selfish. Where a self-interest is, I'm just doing, going back to incentives. I'm incentivized to do this for whatever reason. And that helps everybody out. If everybody, it's more robust of a system as opposed to that more central system where it's like, you do this, you do that because we say, so it's only a few brains trying to solve all of the world's problems as opposed to letting all of the brains of society kind of figure out their, their niche. Yes, but for all of the brains to work in tandem, we do need tools and systems that allow for cooperation. If you go back to Neanderthal, they don't have the advent of monetary tools, right? And like one example, I was thinking about reading Lin's book, Broken Money, which we're both in the middle of is banking was a remarkable and instill in many ways is a remarkable idea and a very, very necessary tool for humans to cooperate with value transfer across time and space. The abstractions are very helpful for commerce to move quicker and for people to specialize in all these things. So you go through like the upgrades in monetary history, like coinage, banking. Now, the three of us believe we have another huge upgrade, that being Bitcoin, but it's not like these things get, it's not like cooperation can just happen out of the blue. I mean, yes, it is an organic process that emerges over centuries, but I think one of the greatest gifts Bitcoin gives us, it's a tool upgrade in human cooperation. And that's why it's such a big deal. It allows for the hive mind to fire on all cylinders. And how many have men when they first saw the wheel thought of it like a paperweight or something, you know what I mean? Like they had no idea how to conceptualize that. And it takes time not for the, just the idea to be created, but then for everybody to conceptualize, how does that idea help us on the whole? And that's kind of where we're at now. Yeah. You can't underestimate how challenging it is to wrap your head around totally new other worldly ideas and concepts. I actually remember explaining, I've spent now as the years have gone on a fair amount of time explaining Bitcoin to my parents. And my mom is very, very intelligent, one of the most well-read human beings I've ever been around, but just doesn't care about money at all, which is totally fine. I think that's great. Her interests are in music. She plays a ton of piano. She was a music major. She loves theology, all these other things. But as she was listening to me one night, I think this was about a year ago, clicked for, especially from the human rights angle, I was going HRF, Gladstein, talking about the third world in Africa and just how big of an idea Bitcoin is. And basically she said, I think the problem right now is it's such a big idea and it's so much different than everything we're all used to that it's almost impossible. I think she used the word impossible for people to get it right now. And I think that's a very astute statement from someone that doesn't know a ton about Bitcoin. I completely agree. And I think that that reality is part of the reason that the timeline could be elongated here more than people think. You could have arrived at the station a long, long time before the next train comes in. Maybe it's years away. Maybe it's decades away. I think that's a true statement, especially for her generation. And as you work your way back from that generation down to the millennials and Zoomers, I think it becomes more second nature for them to understand this just because of the nature of their exposure to technology and the comfort level, honestly, with technology. And I know you feel this, Dan. I'm sure all three of us have experienced this now, but you meet someone who's 20 years old, they have an entire... This really makes me feel old. When you start hearing them use terms and words, you're like, I have no idea what the fuck they're talking about and they're speaking English.
Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"echo" Discussed on Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"But it took a long, long, long time for the constitution to really come under serious fire, probably arguably the civil war. But what I'm getting at though is that vigilance is the price that we need to pay to keep this thing the way it is, the way we want it to be. Because there's nothing guaranteeing that it always remains this unsoiled white linen that we see it as right now. It can be sullied like the tablecloth at that wedding tonight will be. Yeah. We do not want to take a shit in the beautiful Bitcoin diaper. We do not. We want it to remain pure. One thing I'm going to hand make this a question here to you, Tim, is you talk some about in this book repeatedly at different sections about basically control being seized and centralization occurring in times of crisis. What are some things that come to mind either in the book or outside the book for you? It's like these are key landmarks in history of times when control has been seized and a system has been soiled because of a quote unquote crisis. Like the sheets on a cot and on the way to the hospital. I feel for whoever's in the long, long ones is who I feel for. Winston Churchill's quote, never let a good crisis go to waste. Right? That right there. It's been repeated by a lot of politicians. Which is funny. They're saying the quiet part out loud. I mean, a case could be made for let's think back. What was it? The WMDs remember, you know, the further military imperialism. The financial crisis. Everything's now too big to fail. You guys even talked with Model about the World Trade Center attacks. The Patriot Act and everything that it's been, you know, it's been, it's still here 20 some odd years later. The Patriot Act still exists. Even recently, like the Canadian truckers convoy will shut off your bank accounts because of free speech. The whole FTX shit storm. Now there's the regulatory solutions to that. I mean, cow farts are killing the planet. What? You know, they're, they're going to trying to control every aspect of our lives. And because they can, because, and the phrase that I always think of is like, legal doesn't mean moral. Right. I don't know if you guys agree with that concept, but oh, for sure. Just because they're behind the, behind the cloak of legality, you know, they just say they're more moral and that's not actually how it works. I mean, that's how statecraft works around the world. Like every, I mean, nobody would agree that it's, it's moral for me to go overpower my neighbor and take his house, but states literally do that on a daily basis. Russia is in the process of doing that to Ukraine right now. But on that state level, it seems to be, I mean, not that people accept it as good or moral or anything, but those moral concepts kind of go out the window in a lot of state action in ways that, especially with the propaganda convinces people that in the WMD situation, like, Oh, there is potentially, you know, this Intel that says, this is, these exist there. So we have the moral obligation to go take them away. Having that not been the case, but they just wash their hands of it and walk away. We can't do that as individuals, but States can get away with that kind of action. Think about what's been legal in the past. I mean, this is where even just a brief trip down history lane, get your eyebrows up and you're reminded 155 years ago, slavery was legal. It was legal to own another human being. Think about how freaking far we've come since then. And there are, there are things that are currently normal, ubiquitous, legal, you know, societally accepted that won't be in the future. I think one of the leading things in that is that the supply and price of money is controlled by a few dudes that, that meet once a month. Like, I think that will look as anachronistic as some of these crazy things. We look back on history that was just the water. Every, everyone was swimming it. Well, and it's so prevalent. I mean, wasn't it? Gladstein said something like, I'll mess up the numbers, but half of the world is living under authoritarian control. Hopefully, and down the road in the future, that will be considered as crazy as some of these other level control. One of the most stark contrasts in the world, and you talk about it in the book, in the tale of two Koreas is the stark difference between North and South Korea. And historically North Korea was, you know, communist stronghold, the Soviet union had influenced their South Korea was us influenced. They had the whole Korean conflict. And then the DMZ was created where, you know, there's a stalemate for the last 60 to 70 years, but you can see the stark difference in the economy. I mean, when you see capitalism flourishing in South Korea, South Korea is producing, I mean, Samsung's producing electronics for the entire world. There's huge corporations and huge wealth and influence going on from South Korea. There's the same people on the same piece of land with nothing different than simply the political organization and the politics about how they are run. And the North Koreans are starving, being fed propaganda through their schools. I mean, it's a stark contrast, even from night, from space, you can see how many lights are lit up in South Korea. How many lights in North Korea? I mean, just from that metric, you can determine a massive wealth differential between these two countries. And it again is just back to politics and power and centralization and control. One is massively centralized dictatorship. The other is a decentralized democratic Republic. Yeah. When I was researching that, you know, and I put that in the permissionless chapter, but that the history of North and South Korea kind of read like a dysfunctional relationship with the Northern communists being in like the abusive partner. Imagine those two Koreas going on a date, like you sit here, I order for you. I told you to wear the red dress. It was just so much control and South Koreans had to basically ask for permission. Of course, we're going to have to split away from that. I mean, anybody should in a situation like, in a relationship like that. Yeah. We've talked about this a whole lot and this human incentives really are the mover of the world. If you give people the right incentive set, they will produce, they will produce wealth for themselves in their country. And the society benefits from that. If you take away that impetus from people to be able to make themselves better, knowing that anything that I produce, anything that I do will simply be taken from me. In North Korea, you said that, I mean, even the houses they're in are owned by the North Korean state by Kim Jong-un or whatever his name is. His picture is on the wall of every schoolhouse, of every school room. These kids have to worship this dear leader and they know, or there's maybe they don't outright know, but they understand that there is no real future for anything I produce. It's just going to be taken from me. So what incentive do I have to produce or be better? It's really better to just blend in because if you stand out in any way, you're much more likely to get smashed by the hammer than if you just blend in with the crowd. Don't do anything outstanding because that's more likely to get you in trouble than not. And the complete opposite is true in the South. You know, the phrase Bitcoin fixes this. I really think it incentivizes this because what you're talking about is incentive. Take these incentives away. What is there to do? Free societies lead to an increased quality of life for that very reason. Controlled societies lead to a decreased quality of life for that very reason. That's something that really has, I guess, maybe it's just China hasn't had enough tenure yet to really... The one thing about China that I am confused about is, so there's the great firewall, they hold all this information from, they keep their people from the influence of the world. They seem to have figured out enough capitalism to sprinkle in there to keep the motor going, but not enough to allow people to have the freedom to have free speech or freedom of movement and those types of things. I guess what I'm saying is, when does that hammer drop for China? Have they figured out a mix where it could last longer than it otherwise should? You know what I mean? Just ruminating about this, because I've often wondered about how China is as successful as they are with the kind of steel fist in the velvet glove that they're operating with. They have a governor on their productivity engine, is the way I would think about it. That's the beauty of looking at systems that work. Systems that work have shown themselves, as you talk about in this book, to kind of reflect and echo nature. It's like just a bunch of organisms out doing their own shit, looking for their own best interest and cooperating. Self-interested cooperation leads to an enormous amount of productivity. It's why our species is where it's at. If you look at certainly North Korea, it's the most dramatic example of just, someone has put gas in the diesel tank in North Korea and the engine just doesn't run. They're totally hampered from a productivity standpoint because of how centralized they are. As you said, there's enough capitalism injected into the Chinese economy, and they've been given a great deck. They're in a great spot in the world with a ton of different people. But I do have the same question. That was one of my main thoughts, Josh, reading Changing World Order by Dalio. Because of how centralized this is and how hampered they're going to be to really be able to properly price goods and allocate resources and all these things, are they going to be hampered long-term? It's a very good question. That's one of the beauties of Bitcoin too. Just free markets in general and capitalism is that they're not only just, but they're productive. Tell me what you think of this thought as well, Tim. It's also helpful to remember that the Soviet Union, even into the mid-80s, there were academics in the US who said, this thing is going to overtake us. It is just a monster that is just efficient and it's killing it. But inside that country, they were literally falling apart, but nobody outside of it knew that. They were able to keep a lid on the truth that they were literally just in shambles right up until the last moment when they actually fell. We have a car, we're driving down the highway and we figured out how to put the gas tank on full at all times. The reality of the situation is different. Who knows when the fumes are going to go out. The other one is Japan. In the mid-80s to early 90s, everybody thought Japan was going to rule the world. Then suddenly the brakes just slammed on in their economy. They're doing fine, don't get me wrong, but they didn't turn into this economic juggernaut that everyone had anticipated they were going to be. They hit a wall. Aren't they the leaders in debt to GDP? They were the first ones to cross that chasm. The 130%. People generally call it. They went full debt clown before everyone else. One of the thoughts I just wanted to throw out here dealing with incentives that came to mind was just parenting. We'd have to ask someone that's been on this earth longer than us, but it seems that there's a trend towards a very soft, supple young adult that has no idea how to really survive in the wild. I am an absolute disbelief and we talked about this with Hada last week. It's just the number of grown ass men and women who are completely beholden to the milk from their parents' tea way into adulthood. We're not talking about adolescents or people in their low 20s. We're direction, no motivation, well into their 30s. It gets me back to thinking about this seizing control in times of struggle. If that is your mantra as a parent of, hey, anytime my kid's having a hard go, I'm just going to step in. Tim and his new wife, Angelica, can't afford the down payment on their house, so we're going to step in and help them. That's not good for them because now they're not assessing reality properly. Oh, Johnny lost his job at Home Depot, so he's shacked up with us now. Well, Home Depot was a fake job anyways. Johnny needs to go figure out a trajectory. It's like if you take that up to the nation state level, we have systems that allow this. As we say on this show a lot, distill it down to the individual. If you don't have the proper incentives, if I have Flamin' Hot Cheetos and popcorn, whenever I want in the basement and I never have to work a day in my life, I'm going to become a fat piece of shit. That is what is happening in society. I think a lot of it is fiat enabled when we distill it down to what is the root cause. There's always a bailout and the balloon keeps getting bigger until it pops, I'll get off my soapbox. There's two things that you made me think about. You're speaking of sovereignty, right? Sovereignty gives you that incentive structure back. I was a fiat mindset for the majority of my life, right? I ate fiat foods. Actually, Bitcoin, the sovereignty that I gained from Bitcoin led to the health sovereignty that I've experienced over the last few years, right? Because now I have that incentive to learn about it and to take action on it. The other thought is I wrote another article about helicopter parents and snowflake kids and you're right, it's institutionalized paternalism is what it is. Because if you're always suckling from the teat and your kids see that, they see that as that's supposed to be the norm, that's the normal behavior and that's just perpetuated into the future generations. Yeah, this has been attributed to a lot of different people and it's basically the thesis of the fourth turning, which is the good men make easy times, easy times make weak men, weak men make hard times and that whole cyclical cycle. It just reminds me of that and I feel like we are in the midst of this transition between weak men and tough times. Again, maybe that's like a rough guide for how these things work, but I do feel a lot of history is cyclical and that is a cycle that seems to repeat itself throughout history over and over again. We don't learn this lesson and I guess it's really impossible to because in order for any individual to learn this kind of a lesson, they have to either study a lot of history or have lived this and it's impossible to have a lifetime spanning long enough to really truly understand these concepts. We end up back where we are with like coddling, making weak people because we just coddle them to death where they don't have to produce and then we're surprised when the production doesn't happen. Exactly. Tim, what period in is most similar to? Based on your studies and assessment, what period would you compare the 2020s to? That's funny that you mentioned the fourth turning because when I was mentally preparing for this, I was thinking that exact thought about the fourth turning. I'd like to go back in that book and get specific like what was that time, that era that was that last fourth turning and kind of really dig in on that. That would be an interesting comparison to compare that last fourth turning to this one more in depth. But like in terms of what I wrote about in the book, I'd also be interested to see what life was like immediately after the printing press because remember the printing press decentralized information, right? But you got to think when a new tool is built, you might not know how to use it properly. There might be some errors. Somebody might hurt themselves with it. Like you said, Josh, those people that have been coddled, how do they come out of that? How do they break out of that mold and just step up and say, okay, now I'm going to take charge. If you're not used to that, that's got to be a messy thing. That's probably why there's always some kind of skirmish or conflict in between the turn-ins. Everyone always thinks this time is different and it always is a variation. It's never going to be exactly the same. And the thing that I think we would all agree on that is very different now, especially versus like anything even relatively historic is information moves so quickly now. I feel like these cycles could move potentially much faster than they ever have in the past. We might not see the same longevity of a 20-year span for some of these things. It might happen in five years. It might happen in one year. And then there's all these other variables that we're throwing in now, like artificial intelligence and the productivity gains from that. There's so many variables that for us to sit here and say, oh, this is the fourth turning and things are going to get rough for the next 20 years. And we're kind of fucked. And we're going to have to deal with a lot of shit. We could be completely wrong. This might actually be a new- Renaissance. Renaissance is the word I'm looking for. We also have the inertia from our previous experiences, the previous turning, whatever you want to say. It's kind of like the idea of when you're searching for what career you're going to go into, the career that you're probably going to have is not even created yet. But you're still going towards a different goal. So we're not aiming at where the target will be. We're aiming where the target is in a way. For sure. I've thought that quite a bit recently about school for my kids and stuff. There's so many useless things they're learning because, I mean, number one, there's no way to know what 20 years from now is going to look like. Not elementary music. That's important. Definitely not. I think music is something people need in general. It has to happen. Like that's not going to change. Oh, brain development. There's research that shows that if you engage in music, your math scores go up. Anyway. Yeah. Hey, I have this quote that I wanted to bring up. I should have done it a little earlier when we were talking about incentives, but when I was reading parts of your book, it reminded me of Adam Smith's book, The Wealth of Nations. It's an old book from, yeah, it was like 250 years old, but there's so many good nuggets out of this book. And his quote is, so this is talking about individual incentives and how that's structured. Every individual neither intends to promote the public interest nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own security. And by directing that industry in such a manner as to produce its greatest value, he intends only his own gain, but in this and in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end, which was no part of his intention.
Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"echo" Discussed on Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"Like decentralization. There's always that consistent creep of centralization that we always have to fight against. Trust minimization. We've been trying to verify the truth free of trust. We've been trying to be able to speak freely without being censored. Like immutability, trying to find a way to preserve an accurate representation of records and scarcity. I mean, we had that for a while with the gold standard, but determining the best way to store and share our time and energy. Those things, those properties have always been with us. So if that's true to varying degrees, we now have a protocol that expresses all of them simultaneous. I could have said need for all of these properties have always been with us, I guess you could say. Yeah, but this is the best instantiation of those different characteristics that we've sought after throughout history being coalesced into one perfect, well, as close to perfect money as we've been able to create as humanity thus far. When you think about what's wrong with the world and what's wrong with how we organize humanity. Fairness is I think a key theme. Things get imbalanced and unfair. If you look at slavery, right, and lack of freedoms, power is lopsided. And I think one of the most powerful realizations for people about Bitcoin that you explore a lot in this book is that this is a new technology enabled by the digital age, enabled by a number, an amalgamation of numerous technologies that are currently and may continue to allow us to thwart some of the negatives of humanity. If you give one human too much control, if you give a group of humans too much control, given enough time, that is always, not sometimes, always a problem, right? And so we need to find technologies. If it's Bitcoin, great, it's looking like it's going to be that way. But increasingly, if we want more fairness for society, we need to inhibit small groups of people gaining lopsided control. But that is so much easier said than done. Here comes a workable solution to spread power and control. I was thinking about the way you said that. I'm not sure fairness is the correct word to use because fairness is such a loaded word and what's fair can be viewed very differently from one person to another. And I think maybe the more proper word to use is just. Because if we can agree on what is just, fairness, we're all born unequal, right? We've got different talents. Some people can speak better, some people can write better, some people can shoot a basketball from way much further away and nail it. I can't do that necessarily. Some people have giant cocks like me. It's unbelievable, yeah. A burden that I bear. It is unfair. I don't feel like that's fair. You need to donate some of that cock to some other people. Yeah, but I just think it's important to define terms at the beginning of this. And I think justice is a more fine tuned word for what we're talking about than fairness. Especially in the sense that fairness has gotten so overused. It's not fair, this or that. You know what I'm saying? On top of that, you could even use the word consistent. The changing of the rules. Whoever has control of the rule set can change the rules at will. I wrote an article for Bitcoin magazine as a guest contributor a while back and I talked about that in the context of baseball. Imagine if you're not only a player, but the manager, but the ump, the rule maker, the scorekeeper, and you had the ability to change at will. You never know from one second to the next what game you're playing because you get to change the rules. So in Bitcoin, the decentralization that Dan talked about and the fairness that you talked about, Josh, that all kind of comes together because nobody can fuck with the rules. It's consistent. Totally. What you just said made me think of another quote from the book, which was, by giving your side the ability to subdue whatever they want, you're tacitly giving the same power to the other side when they return to power. This just makes me think about the beauty of a development or a movement that causes us to zoom out on timeframe, which I think Bitcoin does. Obviously, we're zooming out on history in the past and we're thinking much longer term about the future. Although a lot of motivations are pure, people are trying to seize control or censor or redistribute, it sounds like a good idea short term, but a lot of the trends that you highlight in this book that we're seeing in the 21st century, maybe even more dramatically, the more centralization you have, that may be fine and good in the short term with the leader and control that you like. But think about it flipping over to the other side. If we just pick on one example here, I would say to liberals, if you give your favorite liberal politician a ton of power, think about that flipping the other way. Think about Trump getting reelected and having those same exact powers. This is part of the reason it's imperative that we dig into and build on systems that zoom out on the timeframe. If you get one side control, you're giving the other side control and we are so, because of our high time preference mindset, because of the fiat system perpetuating that, we are zoomed in. We aren't able to see the forest from the trees. We aren't able to see the next, the second and third iteration of whatever that is. So the fiat standard is what enables that, enables that ability to keep taking more and more control, that consistent creep of centralization like we mentioned. I think this would be an interesting point to dig into examples in history that you provide in this book of solutions that have been workable and have allowed for cooperation and flourishing and justice. One of our favorite parts of the book was you talking about this great council of the six nations. Can you speak a little bit about what is this, what period in history, what can we learn from it? Native Americans, I'll probably mispronounce this, Haudenosaunee, the great council of the six nations back before, you know, America, they needed a solution. They had wars, they fought over territories, they fought over resources, you know, it's natural. They created what's called a participatory democracy and they dubbed it the great plan of peace. Each tribe would live their own lives while defending each other's property rights. That was the end result and the simplicity of that plan was where the magic happens. It took a long and arduous process to get some kind of unanimous decision, but when they did, everybody followed it. It was a simple rule set, similar to Bitcoin, right? Simple rule set. It worked so well that Ben Franklin ended up choosing that model as the basis of the constitution. Crazy. Yeah, that was something that you mentioned that I did some more research on afterwards. The fact that they thought of that having, I think what were, was it six different tribes of Native Americans that had all basically agreed to be, to run as individuals, but then to have a centralized leadership of power that they all agreed on, and that's exactly how they structured the United States. The 13 colonies were all independent sovereign states who then had this centralized power of the federal government that was initially just for defensive purposes. It was just for, you know, if we get in a scrap with another country, we can then coalesce our powers into enough force and enough centralization to be useful in a kind of conflict where centralization of power is a necessity to a degree. And then after that conflict is over, we can resume operations as our independent states. It's a really inspiring way that we came up with this constitution that we implemented for our country. Yeah, it's quality of rules over quantity, fewer overarching rules instead of more and nitpicky. It's similar to like the non-aggression principle that libertarians speak of. It's similar to the golden rule, you know, from religion, do unto others. It's a very simple thought. I mean, and same thing with Bitcoin's white paper, when you compare that to like the legal code surrounding the US dollar, right? Simplicity. And the other thought I had, and I made a note in the side here when reading this section about the six nations, was that amazing ideas and inventions that lead to paradigm shifts generally don't happen in America. An absolutely unbelievable idea, especially in its time for how to organize human beings. Tons of checks and balances, a lot of relinquishing of power by elites. I mean, think about the guys that set this system up. I know it was wildly imperfect, especially when we think about like human rights here in the 21st century, but in its context, in its time, it's a system that distributed control extraordinarily, right? They didn't just get in a room and say, hey, put the 12 of us in control, right? So I'm saying remarkable idea didn't happen on accident. Back to the Ben Franklin thing. He literally invited the council in 1765 to the new Albany convention to describe how they were organizing themselves because he had the intuition and he'd organized the United States of America. The same is true of Bitcoin. Bitcoin didn't happen on accident. It didn't come completely out of the blue. It's something that cipher punks had ideated on and tried and iterated on for a long time to create the protocol that we know as Bitcoin. So it's easy to just think, oh, US popped out of nowhere. Bitcoin popped out of nowhere. That's not how this stuff happens. And that's not generally how great ideas come to the surface. And it's also a good reason to stay vigilant in Bitcoin. Because as we saw, this constitution has existed for 250 some odd years. It started out very decentralized. And as over the years, this creep has happened with politicians reaching for more power. It's just a natural human wants for more, right? More power, more influence, more potential corruption going on. And slowly and surely this federal government has turned into a much more powerful entity than it was ever conceived of from the origination of all of this. And it's very similar to how Bitcoin has started out extremely centralized, has remained extremely centralized, has rule sets that are much more difficult to overcome than just law on paper the way we have our constitution.
Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"echo" Discussed on Blue Collar Bitcoin Podcast
"I've been a musician throughout that whole time, guitarist. Just in the last four years of my teaching career, there was an opening for an elementary music position. So I jumped on that and been teaching that. I absolutely love it. The Bitcoin side of that started closer to 2018. And by 2020, me and my co-host, Dan Rentmeister, we started Lincoln Land Bitcoin here in Springfield. Elementary teacher by day, Bitcoiner by night, you know, kind of thing. So having been in the Air Force, you've had that experience of like the camaraderie of people that you're around and like been to probably an Air Force wedding or two. Dan and I, I'm just going to go down this tangent for a second here because I know Dan wants to talk about this and I do too for a second. We've got a wedding we're going to tonight for a guy who is great, but we just know this is going to get wild because there's probably what, like 10 or 20 firemen going to be at this wedding, Dan. I'm glad we're not doing this tomorrow morning. Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrow morning is going to be rough. Austin made mention yesterday when we were at training about people turning it like me turning into a mongoloid. I think it's a reference to the Rick and Morty if anyone's familiar. Like that's not off the table whatsoever. It could happen. I don't plan on it ever happening, but it does subtly transition at some point. Yeah. We've talked on the show before, Tim. Josh doesn't drink a whole lot, to be honest. Like in the normal cadence of Josh's life, alcohol is not a big theme, but when it, when it rears its, I'm going to say wonderful head, it gets bizarre. I have said on blue collar Bitcoin before he gets to a point where I can see it in his eyes, where his soul leaves his body. And the more time is spent with Josh, the more I enjoy pinpointing and announcing to everyone else that that, that juncture has been reached. The soul is no longer with us. Be careful. But yeah, tonight I think in the spectrum of fire department weddings, I think tonight Josh could be, and you don't know until you're there until we don't know anything about the DJ. We don't know anything about the vibe, but I think this has the potential to be on the rowdier end of the spectrum. And I am mentally and physically preparing. I got a great night's rest last night. I got a workout in, took some vitamins, gonna flex the intellectual muscle here, but it has the potential to be weird, exhausting, and amazing. They're going to be some numb frontal cortex is here in six hours or so. Let me ask you firefighters, do they get, um, like aggressive when they get drunk? Is that a, is that an overstatement or, uh, there are some outliers that I could pick out that would, but I don't think any of them are going to be there. I think they're going to be some pretty, pretty gentle drunks. You know, there's a lot of loving. There's a lot of loving at our department and to be, to be clear, like we, I think we work at a very special place. I know probably everybody feels that way about their department, but it is a really wonderful group of people a group that Josh and I love spending time with. And yeah, I'm just, I enjoy spending time with everyone. I think there's an element to it in our line of work where some of those social frictions and anxieties disappear because we know each other so well. When you live together, work together in these environments, brush your teeth next to each other, shit in the same bathroom as each other. Every third day, you can't pretend to be someone you're not like everybody that I work with at the department, not just Josh, like everyone that I've worked close with, they can pinpoint what I'm good at, what I'm bad at. There's no hiding it. And so when you get in these, when you go on trips with these guys or you're in social environments with these guys, you're not trying to prove anything to anyone because everybody already knows the full deal. You kind of agree with that, Josh? Oh yeah. 100% we already, there's been ideas floating around that we should, uh, the gentleman who's getting married, his name's Adam. And we're thinking about maybe floating the idea or like kind of introducing the idea to him that there's this underground swingers club at our department that he's not aware of, but now that he's getting married, we're going to kind of, we've got this like group of like six or seven people that are in on this joke and we're going to try to insinuate to him gently and then more forcefully throughout the night, like, Hey, are you getting into this club or what? Like, it's kind of, you got to decide tonight, like the tonight's the night. I think he's gonna, the goal here is to introduce it. He'll think it's a joke, but then have enough people repeat it and do a good enough acting, which Josh, I'll try to do my best tonight to make him be like, Holy shit, are these guys serious? Um, yeah, it's going to be a special night. Thanks for listening to us to talk about what's coming on here. Do you orange pill early middle often of the night? Do you have like a time where it's like, we're drunk enough, not too drunk to really, uh, bring a big, I think everybody there is already apprised of our, that situation. We won't even have to broach that there. Like people will just be like, shut the fuck up. We've heard enough of this. We've listened to enough of your podcast. Well, and truthfully, most of the people going to this wedding own Bitcoin. A lot of them are in, you know, so it's, it's some of the people that are in and know, and have heard us talk for years now, they're the ones that are sick of it. They're like, I, I fucking get it, guys. I get it. I understand the value proposition. And in terms of when it comes out, I typically go to an event like this thinking I'm unplugging. I'm not going to talk about Bitcoin, but then when the inhibitions get lost, that's when I can't help myself. And I want to talk about Bitcoin. So we'll see. We'll see, man. There's, there's so much. Yeah. I mean, you've covered such a wide breadth of history with this book. It was really hard after reading it for us to distill down, like what particular part should we talk about? And yeah, I don't know where to start here. Dan, you want to, what do you, what do you think? I want to start just with the general concept of the book. The title as we've established is history echoes Bitcoin. You, you have a quote in the book. I think it's, it's towards the end of the book. The properties of Bitcoin have always been with us. I'm going to ask you just the broad question. Why do you feel history echoes Bitcoin? What do you mean by that phrase? There's just the title of the book. So if you look at the arc of history, and like I said, you zoom out enough, you see repeated episodes of humanity searching for a solution to various problems. So I have, I think eight chapters, and they are the properties that are expressed in Bitcoin. So like permissionlessness, we've always been trying to find a way to be able to act without needing permission. We've always been trying to implement some kind of governance structure that respects all participants.
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"Hello, hello, Terry here. Happy Friday. I hope your week has gone really, really well. As you know from time to time, I like to highlight some deals that are on Amazon specifically with regards to the echo devices. And there are some deals going on right now. So if you have been thinking about picking up an echo device, now maybe the time to check it out. Here are a couple of the deals that I found and some of the prices. The echo dot. So the small spherical device is normally 70 and it's on for 40. The regular echo device is a little bit bigger spherical device is normally a 130 and it's on for a hundred. And then the echo show 5 is a hundred. It's on for 70, and the echo show 8, which is normally a 170 is on for a 135. The other thing that I just want to mention is when you go to these device pages, just look around because oftentimes, and I do see that right now, they come with a free smart bulb if you select that option. So just make sure that before you add it to your cart, you make sure that you're choosing the device that has the free ball or whatever the other promotional item is. So there you go. I hope that's helpful to you. And as always, if you choose to use my affiliate link, thank you so much. I do get a small commission. There's no additional cost you whatsoever. And you can just go to voice in Canada dot CA slash Amazon. Voice in Canada dot CA slash Amazon it takes you right to the Amazon website. And there you go. So thanks so much for those of you that choose to use that. Have a wonderful rest of your day. And I look forward to chatting with you this weekend. Take care..
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"Hey, hey, Terry here with your flash briefing for Wednesday. As you may know, yesterday I mentioned some of the incredible deals that are going on right now on Amazon with regards to some echo devices. And this is Amazon's way of kicking off Black Friday. Well, I want to highlight one more deal that I think is particularly worth mentioning on its own. And that's for the echo device. So that's the traditional echo, the larger spherical version of the fourth generation. Echo. As I mentioned yesterday, the device on its own is already on sale for 79.99. The list price is typically one 29.99. So that's already $50 off or 38% off. But here's the thing, if you scroll down a bit, you'll see that you can change the configuration, and you can actually include a free color, smart bulb. And when you do that, the price is still 79.99. But the regular price for both of those devices together, the bulb and the echo is normally a 149 98. So you say $70 or 46%, which is a pretty darn good deal. So if you're looking at getting an echo, one of the larger echoes, doesn't have a screen, but it is a large record has good sound. And you want to get a free smart bulb for a good deal. There you go, 79.99 for it. If you want to use my affiliate link for the link again, it's a voice in Canada slash echo for this particular product. And there you go. I think it's a good deal. So have fun with that. And we'll talk again really soon. Take care..
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"Briefing for Tuesday. And I want to tell you about some really good deals that have just been spotted on Amazon dot CA for some echo devices. Now, by the way, if you do want to use my affiliate link, you can simply go to voice in Canada, CA slash Amazon, or voice in Canada slash and then just put in the product you're interested in, for example, echo dot echo show 8 echo show 5, et cetera. Let me tell you a little bit about these deals. So there are some really, really good deals. First of all, if you are okay with the second two latest generation of the echo dot, so that would be the third generation is the one that looks like a little hockey puck, but it's got more of a rounded look to it as opposed to the squared off hockey puck that was the original one. You can actually get this. It's the third generation echo dot for $25. It's normally 50 bucks. So it's 50% off. But there's also the option of clicking on getting the echo dot or generation with a free color smart bulb for $25. So that's normally a 75.98 purchase for 24.99. So definitely check that out, that's the equivocal third generation one. As well, some of the newer devices are on sale. The echo show 5 is on sale for 59.99 instead of a hundred bucks. The echo show 8 is on for one O four 9 9 instead of one 70. The echo dot the latest addition. So this is the spherical dot is on sale for $35 instead of 70. So it's 50% off. And the echo, the bigger spherical device is on for 79.99 instead of one 29.99. Two more to tell you about the echo flex, which is the one that you plug directly into the wall. It's on sale for 20 bucks. 1999 instead of 34.99 and the echo auto is 29.99 instead of 69.99. So there you go, lots of great deals. Again, the affiliate link is voice in Canada CS Amazon. It takes you directly to Amazon, but I do get a small commission if you use that link. So I appreciate that very much. If you choose to do so. And let me know what you can. These are some really good deals. Like I say, I think the best deal here is if you're okay with a third generation echo, boy, that's a good deal right there with the free color smart bolt for 25 bucks. All right, have a great.
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"Hey, Terry here. I want to tell you quickly about a couple of deals that have come up on Amazon for echo devices. I haven't mentioned this in a while, and I do want to share because there are some really, really good deals at the moment. And just a reminder, also that I am an affiliate for Amazon. So if you want to use my affiliate link, thank you very much for that. And I do in a small commission, there's no additional cost to you whatsoever. And you would just simply go to voice in Canada dot CA slash Amazon and it'll take you to the Amazon website. The alternative is to go to a voice in Canada dot CA slash and then put in the device of a choice whether it's echo show 8 echo show ten ecosystem 5, just echo echo dot, et cetera. All right, let's get to these deals that are happening right now. So at the time of recording, and I can't guarantee how long these are going to last for. But at the time of the recording, the echo show 5 is on for $90. So that's only $10 off. Not a huge deal there. The echo show 8 is a 140 off from a 170. But here's a pretty darn good deal. The echo dot is normally 70 and it's 35. So 50% off, the echo is normally a 130, and it's 90. And the echo flex, which is the tiny little one that you can plug into an outlet. That was normally 35, it's 20. And if you've been looking to get an echo auto, not only that 70 and it's on for 30, so it's more than 50% off. So there you go. There's a couple of deals for you, and again, I don't know how long they're going to be on sale for. But if you want to pick them up, go for it. All right, happy shopping. And again, quick reminder tomorrow is.
Enlightened Empaths
"echo" Discussed on Enlightened Empaths
"I think this is going to do so so so much. Good in also so many more people are feeling more sensitive to energy to spirit to spaces and we we all know that a part of our energy stays wherever we've lived or whoever else has lived in that in that dwelling. Could you explain a little bit. Because i think a lot of times samantha and will both get these notes. I think there's a ghost in my house or there's public. There's whatever in maybe explain that about the difference between something that's a ghost or stock earthbound versus someone in spirit. How different that feels. Ghost have an unsettling feeling about them. And that's because they're unsettled. They are just stuck in between the earth plane and the other side and the astral plane is not a place that want to hang out in. It's just it's gets scott so many stuck ghosts. Well let's just say so many stuck souls when a ghost is in her house. You know people. It takes a while for us to configure out okay. What does this vibe mess house. Why does this house feels strange. Or why does it feel like somebody's watching me. Or what are the sounds that i'm hearing. A ghost has a cold energy to it. Somebody visiting us from the other side. They don't have cold energy. They have estranged as a sounds. It's the kind of have ruled temperature energy so when a loved on listening the way we know that they're visiting us is if a thought comes into our head really strong of them. That's them there. And they're popping into say hi. Were as a ghost. If a ghost comes in moves into your house just has this kinda yucky kind of grayish energy to it. It's there so stock. They're so stuck in being victims stuck in their misery. And they do they just give off. Kind of cold unsettled energy. Anything we all want our loved ones. That are visiting us from the other side. We want we want their energy to kind. Take us over. We wanna know that they're there they come with a sense of love and they're so chatted to see us. Their thoughts are positive. And so that doesn't stand out as much as ghosts. Energy does gender. What i'm saying very much so yes sure you do. Yeah and it's that look over your shoulder feeling versus feeling happy or emotional who this new center. That i've rented has accomplished ghosts. In these guys got there just noxious they guy. He said his name is roger. Okay and this winter. When i rented the building i had three months to get it together for my open house and So i painted you true. When i decorated put all kinds of fun signs than every day when i go over there i'd be painting away..
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"I want to give you a little bit of an update on the status of the Lexi ecosystem. If you will, as you know it was recently a l e x a live. And as I mentioned previously in the flash briefing, I'm going to kind of do a deep dive into all the different things that were discussed and one of those is an update on all the different stats that Amazon put up with regards to Lexi and the way it goes. So, here we go. I'm going to run through some of the key stats for you. So currently, there are hundreds of millions of Lexi enabled devices out there and customers. That means you and I spoke with, with Lexy billions of times every week. There are now more than 900,000 developers, that are there that are registered developers, and there are more than a hundred thirty thousand off these skills. There are hundreds of built-in products. There are currently more than 140000 Smart Home Products that can be controlled with Lexi, customers have connected more than a hundred years. I'm more than a hundred million smart home devices to Lexi and they're continuing to connect and millions of new devices. Everyone, these numbers are staggering. That's why I'm kind of laughing here. The numbers off of customers that are engaging with skills is growing at 40% year-over-year and some of the strongest categories are music audio games. So it's interesting. I think that I'm engaging more and more with skills. And do you know, if you are to, I'll give you two more little stats here before I sign off today, Lexi's helping to generate billions of dollars for the developers and the device maker community. So it's has a big economic impact as well and the developer revenue from in skilled, purchasing has more than doubled year-over-year. Now, if you're not sure what in skilled purchasing is that wouldn't totally surprise me because it has not been available in Canada until now.
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"Hey terry here hope you're doing well today. I want to give you a little tip if you have an echo flex as you may know the echo flex is the smallest of the echo devices just plugs into the wall directly into a socket and that is it and you can also get accessories for it you can get light. You can get a motion detector. Their various things that you can do so if you have one of those accessories i just wanted to give you a tip on how to set it up and it's actually really really easy. Just make sure that you have the you have updated your lexi app on your phones that you've got the latest edition but then what you do is you said a greco flex as you normally would and then you just insert the the accessory into the echo flexes usb port so you basically plug in the echo flex will notify you by voice an send you a notification to the lexi app When it's ready to use and you can always find that accessory by then selecting devices in the app and you can go through that and set it up. Now if you do not see accessory try saying discover devices to lexi and that should help you out with that as well all right so pretty simple But it had some really nice functionality when you have an echo flex with like a motion detector emotion detector and that could for example trigger a light when you come in the room lots of cool fun stuff you can do with that. Do you want to give you a reminder today or not today. This week is the voice in episode twelve. We have a fantastic guest With clara an artificial intelligence powered by. Gt three. you'll get a chance to ask questions and as well We have a special event post party. A post event party for you to participate in something brand new. This is sponsored by amazon alexa and google assistant. So thank you so much for your sponsorship your ongoing sponsorship of the voice dan And i hope to see you there you can get your tickets at the free. Tickets at the voiced end dot com. Have a wonderful day. Talk to.
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"Happy monday hope you are doing well today. I want to give you a little bit of a tip about how you can purchase an echo device and then set it up prior to giving it to someone saves for a loved one or a friend and you wanna do the setup for them will. It is possible. And i'd like to walk you through how to do that today. Now if you need to come back to this flash briefing at a later date to refer to it Then just know that all the flash briefings and the show notes for the flash briefings are on the website. Voice in canada dossier. So this is how you do it first of all when you order the echo show device. Although you're going to have it shipped to your home so you can set it up Make sure that you flag it as a gift because that way it comes unregistered in other words. It's not registered to your amazon account. Once you receive it so you're gonna plug it in. You're going to tap on the screen. Select the language and then select your wifi network. You're going to enter your wifi password. Click done and then and then it will connect. Now you're gonna type in. This loved ones or friends. Amazon account email and password and then type sign in at the bottom. You going confirm the time zone and then and then Click continue after that is done. Then you're gonna use the following steps to save this other person's wifi network you're gonna swipe down from the top of the echo show and select settings then select network select add a network under preferences type in the name of the loved ones network. Use the drop down arrow under security and select. You'll see you don't necessarily need to remember these letters but you're going to select wpa slash wpa. Two s k. You're going to type in the password and select save now can unplug it you can repackage it and send it off to your loved one. And when they plug it in. It will connect to their wifi network. They will need to enter their amazon account. Password on the screen for security purposes but otherwise it is connected to their wi fi network and there you go so i know a lot of people wondering how they can set it up remotely. That's basically how you can do it. I hope that is helpful to you. And by the way if you wanna purchase an echo device am an affiliate for amazon you just go to voice candidate dot ca slash amazon. It takes you to the amazon website But i do earn commission if you do use that link And obviously thank you very much. There's no extra cost whatsoever again. That's at voice. In canada dot ca slash amazon. Have a wonderful day. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Recast dot fm..
Voice in Canada
"echo" Discussed on Voice in Canada
"Hello there. I let me start off by saying happy. valentine's day. Kobe have a wonderful wonderful day. Today is sunday and we answer questions from the community. And we've got a great question here today. And this is from berry smith in the facebook group. And if you wanna join our facebook group by all means please do so. Just go to voice. In canada dot ca slash community is question is pretty simple and it says is there a version of the echo. The fourth generation with the smart home hub. That also has a clock on it. well mary unfortunately. The answer is no Just to explain a little bit to some of the other listeners. Here there is the new version. The echo dot fourth generation. That is the smaller sphere. That one you can get with a clock in it but it is the smaller version. The echo fourth generation as opposed to the echo dot is the larger sphere which does have the smart home hub in it but it does not have a clock so you kind of have to pick one or the other. Yeah they get the smaller sphere the echo dot with clock and it has the clock but no home hub where you get the echo. The largest fear with the home hub but no clock. So i don't know if amazon's going to ever produce the echo with a clock. That would be very interesting and that would solve your problem berry but unfortunately the answer to your question is no for now. So there you go. You'll have to make a decision there if anybody would like to purchase one of these Have affiliate link you. Just go to voice in canada dot ca and type in the name of the device you want so for example voice candidates slash echo or slash echo dot with clock. And i m commission. I do earn a small commission. If you use that link however there's no extra cost to you whatsoever and so obviously if you use that i thank you very much. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. And i will talk to you again. Tomorrow take care. Recast dot fm..