🧠Quote(s) of the week:

‘If you want to keep the smoke and mirrors, endless war machine charade going… buy US Treasuries and other government bonds.

If you want to help defund the clown world… buy Bitcoin. Few understand that it’s really this simple.’ - Dr. Jeff Ross

‘Bitcoin won’t be adopted like the iPhone because it’s cool. Bitcoin will be adopted like gunpowder: if you don’t own it, you’ll be its victim.’ - Saifedean

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

Now before I start with the Weekly Recap I want to share the following quote & picture: ‘The fight between left and right is just a smoke screen to keep you confused and busy fighting each other and not the system.

The real fight is Tyranny vs Freedom. Central banking vs Bitcoin. We need to work on the vertical axis not the horizontal.’ - CarlBMenger

Maybe in that light and with a heavy heart, I need to tell you guys that from the 31st of October you need to verify (full KYC) yourself to use the Relai app.

Personally, it was nice to have used Relai as an On-Ramp Bitcoin service for a while. Still think it is one of the best Bitcoin apps in the world. Fortunately, there are still other services that have greater privacy and confidentiality protections. For example Bisq, Robosats. For now, I am not sure what will happen with Pocket Bitcoin & Peach Bitcoin, both Swiss companies.

My advice. Get your corn from Relai before the 31st of October if you don’t want to go full KYC. I’m certainly not using a Bitcoin wallet that needs KYC. Goes against anything a self-custody wallet stands for. Mayor setback, I feel sorry for Relai, but unfortunately this is part of the game. It is just the harsh reality as from next year, with MiCA, everyone will have to comply.

‘Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at the close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light…’

Glad we have light…and it shines bright…Bitcoin!

8th of July:

➡️The 2024 Republican Party Platform is insanely bullish on Bitcoin and crypto:

• Right to self custody
• Right to mine Bitcoin
• Right to transact freely
• No CBDCs
• End harmful regulations

The Republican Party Platform now includes the following language: “We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control.”

Tens of millions of Americans who hold crypto or believe in Bitcoin must now choose between their overall politics and their Bitcoin bags, or crypto livelihoods. Let the games begin! Bitcoin + 2024 GOP = Hello game theory!

9th of July:

➡️German Government is now left with 22,800 Bitcoin, less than half its original holdings. They are running out of BTC to sell. And that’s a good thing. Buyers are gobbling up Germany’s weak-handedness.

A day later on the 10th.

German government transfers 5,103 Bitcoin to Kraken, Coinbase, an unknown address, and other exchanges. They now hold 18,860 BTC.

Eventually, on the 12th of July, the German Government was out of Bitcoin. They send 3846.05 BTC (\(223.81M) to Flow Traders and 139Po (likely institutional deposit/OTC service). By that the German Government has 0 BTC (\)0.00M) remaining.

To give you some context: Germany sold 42,000 BTC in one week, 250 BTC per hour, 168 hours, in one fucking week! Approximately as fast as they were mined in the first epoch, which is 16x the current rate of issuance.

Germany selling all their Bitcoin will go down as one of the most retarded things their politicians ever did. It will be just as great a decision as the one where they closed all their nuclear power plants to start importing energy from nuclear power plants in France. In a few years, this will be looked back on as one of the biggest geopolitical blunders of all time.

Mark my words it will be studied in universities. ‘So let me get this straight. First Germany sells its scarce Bitcoin for euros that they can simply print, now Germans are holding 2.8 trillion euros in bank accounts* that don’t even earn interest.’ -CarlBMenger (https://x.com/Schuldensuehner/status/1810962887889834027)

➡️’Australia approved a second Bitcoin ETF. It starts trading on Friday.’ -Bitcoin Archive

➡️While being a whole coiner (1BTC) is an important goal for many, for some it might also be helpful to see other milestones like 0.1 and 0.5. The following chart and explanation can help you to get that. No matter if you believe in the ‘Power Law’ of Bitcoin, I love the breakdown of acquiring BTC today. Take that from the following statement & chart. ‘The maximum Bitcoin you will ever own. Assumptions:

• You only perform DCA with a fixed amount per month in perpetuity.
• Bitcoin price follows (i.e. mean reverts to) a power law with exponent 5.7

In this case, there is a theoretical maximum amount of Bitcoin you will ever own (since the sum of bitcoins bought every month forms a convergent series). If you start today (July 2024), the formula for calculating this is a*0.0006631, where a is the dollar amount you invest per month.

Below is the figure showing the same for different values of the amount invested and starting time. Based on this model, if you want to reach 1 bitcoin, starting today, you will need to invest a minimum of 1500\( per month. In 2026, this number becomes 2300\). By 2033, even 10,000$ invested per month will never get you to 1 Bitcoin. So, starting early is always better (not financial advice).’

Remember only 0.26% of the global population can be a Bitcoin whole coiner. Ever!

➡️Suriname Presidential candidate and fellow Noderunner Maya Parbhoe says people in the country are “isolated” due to the lack of banking. “We don’t have a lot of infrastructure, so we might as well use Bitcoin”.

Maya Parbhoe is running for President of Suriname on a pro-Bitcoin platform. The trailblazing businesswoman wants to get the Surinamese people out of “survival mode” and take on the corruption that plagues her country, some of which has impacted her on the most personal level: Read the full article here

10th of July:

➡️’BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has had \(18 BILLION inflows since launching in January. Only 1 day of outflows, which was just \)37m.’ -Bitcoin Archive

➡️”We believe we are halfway through the current Bitcoin bull market. And just because we’re halfway there doesn’t mean we’re halfway through price growth because, at the end of a bull market, prices tend to go parabolic,” says ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood.

12th of July:

➡️’New All-Time High Bitcoin mining now uses 56.2% sustainable energy. At the current rate of increase, it will cross 60% by July 2025, and be 80% sustainable by end of 2030’ - Daniel Batten

‘Bitcoin mining is using more and more sustainable energy and will continue to do so. Not because Bitcoin miners are eco-conscious treehuggers, but for an even more powerful reason - economic incentive.’

➡️U.K. Bank refuses to accept funds converted from Bitcoin to buy a house.

➡️Worldcoin misses its 2023 goal of one billion users by 994 million. Worldcoin is at 0.6% of its goal. I’m stunned that the all-seeing orb hasn’t taken over the world by now. I mean how could it not have?!

13th of July:

➡️’Exactly 1 year today, Ripple “won” their lawsuit against the SEC. The XRP/BTC ratio has been down 73% ever since.’ -Pledditor Just don’t do shitcoins guys.

➡️’HFSP German Government” inscribed on the $1.87 Bitcoin transaction sent by a pleb to the German government wallet.’ - Bitcoin News What a legend, that’s a proper way to use inscription! HFSP = Have Fun Staying Poor And yes poor in Bitcoin terms, they still have the €1.3 billion.

15th of July:

➡️LARRY FINK (CEO BlackRock): I studied Bitcoin and am now a major believer it is a legitimate financial instrument with uncorrelated returns. Full clip here: link

Eric Balchunas:

‘Hard to overstate how big a deal it is for Larry Fink, who runs $10.6T, to keep giving these full-throated endorsements of bitcoin as a legit asset class for everyday portfolios. Buy-in from BlackRock - as well as other legacy firms like Fidelity - gives boomer advisors comfort and cover to make the allocation. That’s why betting against, or minimizing the clear-to-anyone-with-eyes-and-a-brain early success of, these ETFs has been and will be dumb IMO.’

Larry Fink is just another person on his Bitcoin journey. Step 1: Skeptic (2017: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering.)

Step 2: Put in the work

Step 3: Realized he was wrong (2023: Bitcoin could revolutionize finance. Files for a Bitcoin ETF.)

Step 4: Bitcoin is an uncorrelated asset used to hedge currency debasement (Bitcoin is a legitimate financial instrument. Launches Bitcoin ETF.)

Next step: Bitcoin is hope.

What can you learn from this all? Study Bitcoin! Why?

‘Your models can’t account for the world’s largest manager going on national TV & saying:

👉🏽Bitcoin is a hedge against debasement

👉🏽Bitcoin is a legit financial instrument

👉🏽Bitcoin is a flight to safety

👉🏽I was wrong about Bitcoin

👉🏽Bitcoin is digital gold’ - Luke Mikic

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽Billionaire Warren Buffet says he could end the United States deficit problem in five minutes. “You just pass a law that says any time there’s a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”

I agree with this! It could end the deficit problem, corruption, and other problems. But we all know this won’t happen. And because of that, we have Bitcoin.

🏦Banks:

👉🏽 No news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 8th of June:

👉🏽41% of jobs added since 2019 were by the government burning taxpayer dollars. Now ask Greece how well it works to prop up your labor force by just hiring everyone into government jobs. This is why I always try to explain that reported job numbers from macro data are pretty useless. It’s a mess.

You don’t believe me…well go figure: ‘Jobs report numbers have been revised DOWN in 4 out of 5 months of 2024. The largest revision from 353,000 to 256,000, or by 97,000 took place in January. Subsequently, February saw a -39,000 downward adjustment.

April and May were revised down by 67,000 and 54,000, respectively, or a total of 111,000 jobs. In the first 5 months of 2024, non-farm payrolls have been revised down by a combined 240,000 jobs. Is the initial headline number even worth following anymore?’ -TKL

👉🏽Real estate’s rising valuation reflects the debasement of fiat currency.

CAGR M2 Money Supply (1971-2024): 6.8% CAGR Housing in the US: 5.7% CAGR Commercial US Real Estate: 4.4%

Denying the connection between the money supply expansion and real estate values is denying reality. Yet, many still choose to ignore this fact.’ -Leon Wankum

The EU is on the same path as the US with M2 supply & real estate. Bitcoin will suck the monetary premiums out of real estate. That is actually a good thing because houses will be priced by their utility values. Ergo: It makes them far more affordable for average buyers.

On the 9th of July:

👉🏽’With 5 Million fewer workers in Germany in just a few years who is supposed to pay for pensions and healthcare for all the new retirees?’ -Michael A. Arouet Not only Germany, but the EU in general…low growth and a social service deficit, demographic crisis, second highest tax rate, and so on.

Now combine the above with the fact that, and I say this in the utmost polite way, Europe is becoming an open-air museum due to overregulation and lack of innovation. Recipe for disaster.

Don’t believe me…

Maybe we can still turn this around by printing more money. Nope, the ECB balance sheet as % of GDP is much higher than the Fed.

Maybe we can still turn this around if we would increase taxes and more regulations.

The Dutch are planning to implement a 36% yearly tax on unrealized capital gains from 2027, and the new French government plans up to 90% income tax. 90% tax on any annual income above €400,000.

Capital will leave the country so quickly that the leftist government can’t even look. (I am in no favor of the right…left..couldn’t care less) but for fuck sake NINETY f* percent.

The future of Europe is bright (not)… America makes software. Asia makes hardware. Europe makes it difficult. Those who can, do it. Those who can’t, regulate. Europe

👉🏽Shocking tweet by Alex Gladstein @gladstein:

‘Truly insane Debt Trap chart. Pakistan’s interest payments are 57% (!) of its government revenue this year. To try to pay it off, the government is looking to increase total tax revenue by 40%/ I am sure the public will be happy with that…’ Click here for the chart: https://www.ft.com/content/1b88fff6-bebb-4650-9677-7a7caa268f05

‘IMF staff have reached a Staff-Level Agreement with Pakistan on a 37-month Extended Fund Facility of about US$7 billion to maintain economic stability and enhance conditions for stronger, more inclusive, and resilient growth.’ -IMF

Let me translate the above IMF statement and I will use Alex Gladstein’s tweet:

“Extended Fund Facility” = Debt Trap

“7 billion” = $10 billion+ including P+I

“Economic stability” = Starving the poor

“More resilient growth” = Devaluation

Combine the above with a staggering 43% loss in purchasing power against the dollar, pushing all the prices higher and higher. Seems like a recipe for a disaster.

And it’s not only in Pakistan but also for example in Keyna: https://archive.ph/UiLxq

IMF we know your handwriting…anyway the money is broken, study Bitcoin.

On the 11th of July:

👉🏽US Spent A Record $140 Billion On Debt Interest In June, 30% Of All Tax Revenues. Now read that statement again. They are paying the debt with your money (taxes). Please read the article. Link here

Ergo: It’s like Tetris and we’re getting into the faster levels of the game where clearing the lines is just getting harder and harder.

And that was just one month!

‘Annualized interest payments on US federal debt just reached an all-time high of $1.14 trillion. This is more than DOUBLE the amount of interest recorded in 2022 when the Fed started raising rates.

To put this into perspective, even during the 2008 Financial Crisis, annual interest costs were ~$450 billion, or 60% lower. As a % of GDP, net interest cost this year is on track to exceed the 1980s high of 3.2%.

By comparison, during World War II, net interest expense as a % of GDP was much lower, at 1.8%.’ -TKL

Spending \(1M a day would take 2,740 years to reach \)1T. The US debt is \(35T and grows by \)1T every 100 days.

Now read the above statement again.

Study Bitcoin.

👉🏽US inflation was 3.0% in June, below expectations. Core inflation came in at 3.3%, BELOW expectations. Rate cuts are imminent.

On the 12th of July:

👉🏽’Elon Musk says “The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not.” - Watcher Guru Do you want to learn/know more about this topic?

Please read the following post:

https://x.com/PirateWires/status/1811863158816223580

On the 13th of July:

👉🏽’US bankruptcies just hit their highest level in 14 years:

346 companies have declared bankruptcy through June 2024, the most since 2010, a year after the Financial Crisis.

US bankruptcies have also recorded their largest monthly increase in at least 4.5 years, with 75 new bankruptcies in June 2024.

Even during the 2020 Pandemic, the highest number of filings in a given month was 74.

The highest number of bankruptcies have been in Consumer discretionary companies, with a total of 55.

This is further evidence of weakening consumer spending.’ -TKL

👉🏽Sometimes I love Twitter:

Q: “Why are energy, food, and even housing sometimes excluded from price indices for calculating “inflation”?”

A: (by Luke Gromen):

‘Energy is excluded from CPI “because it’s volatile.” Yet from 1861-1971, oil prices were remarkably steady when the USD was tied to gold.

Energy only got “too volatile” when the USD’s tie to gold was cut in 1971. Energy’s volatility is a symptom of an inflationary system.’

👉🏽’10% of the world population hold 75% of all wealth, get 50% of all income, and account for nearly 50% of all CO2 emissions.’ - World Inequality Report 2022 If you read this Weekly Recap, chances are you are part of the top 10%.

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

Your monthly must-read this week, Lyn Alden’s July 2024 newsletter is out.

The two main focuses are:

-A reiteration and further detail of the fiscal dominance view (i.e. nothing stops this train).

-An observation that the US economy is likely to be insensitive to rate cuts like it was for hikes.

Free Newsletter

Ignore here newsletter and book (Broken Money - order here) at your own peril.

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin

The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. (Please only use it till 31st of October - after that full KYC) Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.⠀⠀⠀⠀

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node…be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It’s that simple.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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