1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: To night. Michael Brown joins me here, the former FEMA 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: director of talk show host Michael Brown. Brownie, No, Brownie, 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,039 Speaker 1: You're doing a heck of a job the Weekend with 4 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: Michael Brown broadcasting Life from Denver, Colorado. You've tuned into 5 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: the Weekend with Michael Brown. Glad to have you with me. 6 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: Text line, of course, is always opened. The number is 7 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: three three one zero three three three one zero three. 8 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: Tell me anything, Ask me anything, keyword Micha or Michael. 9 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: Then do me a favor. Go follow me over on 10 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: x x dot com. User name is at Michael D. 11 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: Brown at Michael D. Brown. Go do that right now. 12 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: I told you that the Iranian situation in the last 13 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: hour doesn't have a lot to do with a last 14 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: as far as the Church of the climate activists are 15 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: trying to convince you, doesn't have a lot to do 16 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: with whether or not we need to change to renewables 17 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: or not. And in fact, it pretty much exposes why 18 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: we should not rely on renewables. What if I told 19 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: you that. Let me just ask you a question. What 20 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: if I told you, for the better part of a decade, 21 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: the Islamic Republic of Iran, the same regime that funds. 22 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: Hamas has Mala. The hoothis the same regime that our 23 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: military just spent weeks bombing into rubble, was quietly running 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: one of the most sophisticated financial end runs in modern history. 25 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: And what if I told you that the instrument they 26 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: were using was not a Swiss bank account, it wasn't 27 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: some front company in Dubai, it wasn't even cash in 28 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: a suitcase. Last night we started you remember the series 29 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: on Netflix, the Peaky Blinders. There's a Netflix is carrying 30 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: a movie about Tommy Shelby, who was the main character 31 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: in Peaky Blinders. This is kind of a post mortem 32 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: when the Peaky Blinders have kind of lost a lot 33 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: of influence. This is it takes place during World War 34 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: Two and part of the effort of the Nazis is 35 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: they have very meticulously created I think it was three 36 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty pounds counterfeit currency, and they were going 37 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: to use the Peaky Blinders gang to distribute that counterfeit 38 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:35,359 Speaker 1: currency to destroy the British economy and therefore allow the 39 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: Nazis to win. And so the Peaky Blinders, the father 40 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: Tommy Shelby, is trying to stop his son from doing this. 41 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: It's we haven't finished the movie yet, but that's pretty 42 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: much the scenario. They're going to use counterfeit cash as 43 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: their way of the Nazis are as their way of 44 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,519 Speaker 1: bringing down the Brits. So again, what if I told 45 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: you that the instrument that the IRGC in particular, but 46 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: Iran in general, wasn't a Swiss bank account, it wasn't 47 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: a front company, it wasn't cash in a suitcase, but 48 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: it was bitcoin cryptocurrency. Now stick with me, because this 49 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: is kind of part financial thriller, part national security scandal, 50 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: and part indictment of every Treasury Department official who thought 51 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: that sanctions were going to do the job. Because the 52 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: sanctions weren't. This is almost a perfect crime. Here's what 53 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: you need to understand about Iran's economic situation. Iran sits 54 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: on roughly seventeen percent of the world's proven natural gas reserves. 55 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: Seventeen percent. Now that's not a resource poor nation, that's 56 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: a petro state. Because of sanctions, they cannot get that 57 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: gas to market at world prices, so it remains trapped 58 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: in Iran. Now the domestic economy, they can use it 59 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: internally what they can, but there's a persistent massive surplus 60 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: of energy, cheap, abundant, and it's going nowhere. Now. I 61 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: think most countries in that situation just watch the value evaporate. 62 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: But Iran had a different idea. If we can't sell 63 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: the energy, sell the computation that the energy makes possible. 64 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,239 Speaker 1: You know, we've heard in this country about data centers, 65 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: How data centers requires so much energy, so much water, 66 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: so much power. Well that's computation. Just running computations in 67 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: data centers absorbs energy. So the Uranians we're thinking, if 68 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: we can't sell this natural gas, what if we sell 69 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: the computation that the energy makes possible. Now, if you 70 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: apply that computation to a bitcoin network, you can produce 71 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: a commodity that trades globally, and it trades anonymously. And 72 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: here's the key, it trades without any counterparty that Washington 73 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: can pressure, threaten, or sanction. So in twenty nineteen, the 74 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: Uranians formally legalize cryptocurrency mining. Now, in his face, that 75 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 1: sounds almost quaint, doesn't. Here'sue a rogue regime catching up 76 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: with tech trends. Then you need to read the fine print. 77 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: Licensed miners were required to sell their bitcoin directly to 78 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: the Iranian Central Bank. The central bank would then use 79 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: that bitcoin to pay for imports, food, machinery, weapons components. 80 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: No dollar denominated system could touch those transactions. It was, 81 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: as I would put it, practically in admission, this is 82 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: how we routed ourselves around your sanctions. And the numbers 83 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: are jaw dropping, absolutely jaw dropping. So let me give 84 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 1: you some numbers. By twenty twenty one, estimates from blockchain 85 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: analytics firm Elliptic, they placed around share of global bitcoin 86 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: mining at about four point five percent. That translated to 87 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: annual mining revenues approaching about a billion dollars at bitcoin 88 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: prices that were far lower than today's. Now, fast forward 89 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: to twenty twenty five, Iran's entire crypto eco system that 90 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: would include the mining, the trading, and the transfers. What 91 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: do you think that reaching a single year. According to 92 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: chain analysis, it reached seven point seven eight billion US 93 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: dollars in one single year. Now, that's a figure larger 94 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: than the gross domestic product of the Maldives in one 95 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: year by a sanctioned state that is supposedly cut off 96 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: from the global financial system. But I'm afraid it gets worse, 97 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: a lot worse. The blockchain analytics firm Chain Analysis. Now 98 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: that's a private firm, not a government agency, but it 99 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: is doing the work that our government should have been 100 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: doing years earlier. Found that in the fourth quarter of 101 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, IRGC linked wallet addresses. Now, if you 102 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: understand bitcoin, you keep your bitcoin in a wallet, not 103 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: a wallet like you have in your back pocket or 104 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: that you're carrying your purse, an electronic wallet. They found 105 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: that in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty five, IRGC 106 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: linked wallet addresses accounted for more than fifty percent of 107 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: all crypto value flowing through the Iranian ecosystem, and they 108 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: explicitly note that the figure is a lower bound number 109 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: fifty percent seven plus billion dollars seven point seven eight 110 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: billion dollars just through bitcoin. Hang on to your hats. 111 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,440 Speaker 1: I've got more where that came from. I'll be right back. 112 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Weekend with Michael Brown. Thanks for 113 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: tuning in. I appreciate you listening to the program. If 114 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: you like what we do during the weekend, you might 115 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: like the weekday program. And it's really easy to listen 116 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: to the Weekday Program regardless of where you live. On 117 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: your iHeart app, do a preset set this station as 118 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: a preset. Call letters are KOA in Denver KOA and 119 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,839 Speaker 1: Denver is located on the dial at eight fifty am 120 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: ninety four to one FM. Hit that as a preset 121 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,479 Speaker 1: and then you can listen to the live weekday program 122 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: nine to noon Mountain time on KOA. Back to crypto 123 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: and the Iranians. So, over the course of last year, IRGC, 124 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:43,439 Speaker 1: that's the Iranian Security Services, the Iranian Guard, the IRGC 125 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:49,319 Speaker 1: linked addresses received over three billion dollars in crypto. Now, 126 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: that's up two billion dollars from the year before. So 127 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: the Revolutionary Guard, the same organization that our State Department, 128 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: that the United States and government has designated it as 129 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: a foreign terrorist organization, was running a three billion dollar 130 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: a year parallel financial system right under our noses. And 131 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: where was all that money going? Seven point seven eight 132 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: billion dollars last year was three billion dollars. Where did 133 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: the money go? Well, they were funding their proxy militias, 134 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: they were facilitating sanctioned oil sales to China. They were 135 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: procuring dual use equipment. That's a polite way of saying, 136 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 1: we were buying components, machinery pieces, widgets. Where, however, you 137 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: want to describe it that we could buy and you 138 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: was as a standalone you would think, oh, they're buying 139 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: a widget, but that widget was actually a component of 140 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: a weapon system. Yeah, so sanctioned schmanctions. Yeah, not really 141 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: doing much right. And on top of that, now I 142 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: want you to understand why the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard 143 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 1: was so perfectly positioned to do this, because most people 144 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,359 Speaker 1: think of the Revolutionary Guard as well, that's their military, 145 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: that's their security service. Those are the people with the guns. Well, 146 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: it's more than that. The IRGC is a vertically integrated 147 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:37,200 Speaker 1: economic empire. They're involved in construction, logistics, telecommunications, energy, it's 148 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: like a conglomerate, it's like a multinational corporation. They actually 149 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: have controlling interest across the Iranian economy that would probably 150 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 1: make most Fortune five hundred CEOs or Fortune one hundred 151 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 1: CEOs actually jealous. And here's what's critical. The IRGC, the 152 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 1: Revolutionary Guard facilities have privileged, dedicated access to the Iranian 153 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: national power grid. So when the civilian grid in Iran 154 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: is being rationed, and it was being rationed constantly, so 155 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,640 Speaker 1: when ordinary Iranians were sitting in the dark for hours 156 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: at a time, the IRGC installations just kept right on humming. 157 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: The lights were running, everything was working, the computations were continuing. 158 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: They had dedicated substations, they had backup diesel generators, they 159 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: had fiber internet optic connections. They had everything that you 160 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:50,199 Speaker 1: need for a world class bitcoin mining operation. You may 161 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: think they're stupid, but they're not. I sometimes think we're 162 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: the stupid ones. Here's what all of that means in practice. 163 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: In reality, all the rest of the world's bitcoin miners 164 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,440 Speaker 1: were paid I don't know, sixty seventy ninety thousand dollars 165 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: per bitcoin in production costs. That's when you factor in 166 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:16,720 Speaker 1: the electricity, the hardware, the cooling. Iran's IRGC was mining 167 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: bitcoin for an estimated one thousand, three hundred dollars per coin, 168 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:29,079 Speaker 1: one thousand, three hundred dollars per coin versus the sixty 169 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 1: seventy ninety thousand dollars per bitcoin that people in the 170 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: rest of the world were paying now at any price 171 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 1: above that, and bitcoin had been trading between sixty and 172 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: eighty thousand dollars anything above that, they were profitable, enormously profitable. 173 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 1: They were permanent sellers into a market where legitimate miners 174 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: were barely breaking even, and who paid the price, just 175 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:06,199 Speaker 1: regular uranium reports from the National Council of Resistance, that's 176 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: a group opposing the regime. They document that neighborhoods around 177 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: IRGC mining facilities generally experienced extended blackouts, while the military's 178 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: operations ran without any interruption whatsoever. If you have access 179 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: to Iranian social media, which most of us do not, 180 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 1: it was full of post rating against what they called 181 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: the electricity mafia or the crypto cartels, because they were, 182 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: in essence just sealing power from ordinary citizens. And all 183 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: of that that I've just described so far invisible to 184 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: Western markets. And this is why should genuinely infuriate you. 185 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: This operation was functionally invisible to financial analysis by people 186 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: in the West. A bitcoin mining company registered in the 187 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: United States files public disclosures, it has regulated banking relationships, 188 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 1: Its production shows up in normal market data. But if 189 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: you're an IRGC mining facility in Tehran, you file nothing 190 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: with anybody. It just silently appears in the global hash 191 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: rate data as anonymous computing power somewhere on the network. 192 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: So when you go and you try to analyze where's 193 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 1: this computing power, where are all these computations taking place? 194 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: It's anonymous, you can't find where it's taking place. Now, 195 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,880 Speaker 1: one analyst estimated that if you work backward from the 196 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: plausible hash rate figures running roughly three to seven percent 197 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: of the global network, and you apply that to total 198 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,920 Speaker 1: bitcoin production between the year's two thousand nineteen and early 199 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, iran's total mining yield falls somewhere between 200 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: fifty four thousand and one hundred and twenty six thousand 201 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: bitcoins over that same period. Now, let's just do a 202 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: blended average price of twenty five thousand dollars per coin 203 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: across that full arc from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty six. 204 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: That somewhere between one point three five and three point 205 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: one five billion in mind value alone. And that's before 206 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: you count the oil proceeds, laundering, the proxy financing flows, 207 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: the stable coin operations, all of which the group chain 208 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: analysis has separately documented, and that persistent, invisible, low cost 209 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: supply that was almost certainly acting as a price seiling 210 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: on bitcoin itself no matter where you were buying it 211 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: or trading it. The IRGC was producing bitcoin at thirteen 212 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: hundred dollars a coin and could profitably sell at any price. 213 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: In other words, they were the Iranians. The IRGC was 214 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: a structural drag on the market, a permanent overhead of 215 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,639 Speaker 1: cell pressure, and nobody in Western markets was pricing it 216 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:25,160 Speaker 1: in because nobody could see it. And then what happened, 217 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: And then the bomb started falling. February twenty eighth, twenty 218 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:36,160 Speaker 1: twenty six, the United States and Israeli forces launched what's 219 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: been described as one of the most comprehensive targeting packages 220 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: ever executed against Iranian military and energy infrastructure. And what 221 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: happened when the bombs fell. Stay tuned, I'll be right 222 00:17:50,840 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: back to night. Michael joins me here, the former FEMA 223 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:04,639 Speaker 1: director of talk show host Michael Brown. Brownie, no, Brownie, 224 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:06,679 Speaker 1: You're doing a heck of a job The Weekend with 225 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: Michael Brown. Welcome back to the Weekend with Michael Brown. 226 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: Lead to have you joining the program today. Appreciate you 227 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,920 Speaker 1: tuning in. Do me a favor. Be sure and subscribe 228 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: to the podcast. Very easy to do on your podcast app. 229 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 1: Doesn't many difference where you download it. Wherever you get 230 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:28,919 Speaker 1: your podcasts. Search for this title The Situation with Michael Brown. 231 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: The Situation with Michael Brown. Once you find that, hit 232 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,880 Speaker 1: that subscribe button and what and leave a five star review. 233 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: That always helps with the algorithm that will then download 234 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: all five days of the weekday program and the weekend program. 235 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:47,439 Speaker 1: Then use this old six broadcasts of Michael Brown whenever 236 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,160 Speaker 1: you want to hit that subscribe button. Situation with Michael Brown. 237 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,119 Speaker 1: So we're talking about bitcoin and how the Iranians have 238 00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:02,160 Speaker 1: been evading sanctions. Actually the to be specific, the IRGC 239 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 1: has been avoiding sanctions by doing computations for miners mining 240 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:14,159 Speaker 1: bitcoin and mining bitcoin on their own too, to the 241 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 1: tune of you know, mine value somewhere between one and 242 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:23,440 Speaker 1: three point some billion dollars. There's a lot of money. 243 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,480 Speaker 1: It's also just to recap a little bit. Many people, 244 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: many Americans, think of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Core the 245 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: IRGC as kind of like our military. But it's so 246 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 1: much more than that. It's an integration. It's a vertically 247 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:53,119 Speaker 1: integrated multinational corporation. It's involved in logistics, it's involved in banking, 248 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: it's involved in every procurement, almost everything you can imagine. 249 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:03,400 Speaker 1: It's a business in addition to being the military. Now, 250 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: of course, you know, if you're a member of the Guard, 251 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,199 Speaker 1: if you're just you know, one of the flunkies. But 252 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: it's a it's good to be a member, a flunky 253 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: member of the Guard because you have a steady paycheck. 254 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,959 Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about, you know, somebody breaking 255 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,680 Speaker 1: into your home or raiding your home or doing whatever, 256 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: and you know you're going to get paid because well, 257 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: the people that run your organization are mining bitcoins and 258 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: so doesn't make any difference with the United States or Europe, 259 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 1: anybody else does. So they're doing all of this. They're 260 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: producing bitcoin at thirteen hundred dollars a coin. That means 261 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: they could sell profitably at almost any price. They became 262 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,400 Speaker 1: a structural drag on the market. As I said, they 263 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 1: it was a permanent overhead of cell pressure, and nobody 264 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: in the western markets was pricing that in because they 265 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: couldn't see it. They didn't realize that's what was going on. 266 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: And as I say, go back to last month on 267 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:11,679 Speaker 1: the twenty eighth, and the bomb started falling. They started 268 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:18,360 Speaker 1: bombing that you know what out of everything, including IRGC headquarters, 269 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: the oil depots in Tehran, the Kahouk facility, Aga Dashiya storage, 270 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: the Sharon refinery, the farthest storage in the Albor province. 271 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 1: Those strikes, degraded fuel supply chains, and that in turn 272 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:44,439 Speaker 1: created the kind of grid instability that forces emergency load 273 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:50,239 Speaker 1: shedding across industrial operations. What do I mean, Well, if 274 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:55,159 Speaker 1: you want to keep critical infrastructure running, you load shed, 275 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: meaning you drop off some of the heaviest loads in 276 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: order to If if one entity, one organization, one consumer 277 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: consumes ten percent of your entire load, and now you 278 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: have a grid instability, you want to shut off that 279 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,880 Speaker 1: ten percent to try to maintain the other ninety percent. 280 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 1: So that's what I mean by emergency load shedding, and 281 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,560 Speaker 1: they would do that across all their industrial operations within 282 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: the country. So for a bit coin mining operation, as 283 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: you know, that would they depend on privileged grid access. 284 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 1: Then the implications of the bombing of that, of the 285 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 1: bombing of the infrastructure and causing that kind of instability 286 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: on the grid, the implications become direct and immediate, because 287 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: no power means what no mining, and when the fuel 288 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:08,440 Speaker 1: depots themselves are on fire, diesel backup doesn't help for long. 289 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 1: The network data tells the story of what happened. The 290 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:18,159 Speaker 1: seven day average bitcoin hash rate peaked near one thousand, 291 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: eighty three exa hashes per second on March first, that's 292 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,879 Speaker 1: right when the strikes started that failed, or roughly nine 293 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,680 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty four EXA hashes by March sixteenth. That's 294 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: a twelve percent draw down in just two weeks. Now. 295 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: Some analysts attribute part of that to a US snowstorm 296 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 1: that not domestic mining in this country offline around the 297 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:46,640 Speaker 1: same time. Well, that's fine, that is indeed a real factor, 298 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: but a weather event doesn't explain a sustained two week 299 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:58,919 Speaker 1: drawdown that tracks almost identically precisely with the intensification of 300 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,280 Speaker 1: strikes on the Iranian infrastructure. Then there's this little detail 301 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: which I actually find extraordinary. A cyber intelligence firm called 302 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: Rakia r Akia Rakia. They were monitoring Iranian crypto activity 303 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 1: in real time during the internet blackout that followed those strikes. 304 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,919 Speaker 1: That's a blackout that took national connectivity down to about 305 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: one percent in normal levels. That's according to the Internet 306 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:34,480 Speaker 1: monitoring group NetBlocks. Here's what they found. Even at one 307 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:40,880 Speaker 1: percent Internet connectivity, Rakia detected more than eleven hundred active 308 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency nodes still operating inside the country. The lead researcher 309 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 1: for Rakia put it this way and put it pretty plainly. 310 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 1: When the Internet is at one percent, and you still 311 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: see over one thousand active crypto nodes. You are not 312 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,399 Speaker 1: looking at a retail user. In fact, those are not 313 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: ordinary Iranians desperately trying to move their savings. That's coordinated, hardened, 314 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: military grade financial infrastructure attempting to function even while they're 315 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:24,679 Speaker 1: under kinetic attack. The bombs are dropping and a communications blackout. 316 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,360 Speaker 1: And then in the hours after the strikes, Iran's largest 317 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:37,400 Speaker 1: crypto exchange, it's called Nobtex, saw withdraw volume surge by 318 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:47,000 Speaker 1: seven hundred percent, seven hundred percent. So where's law enforcement, CIA, 319 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:53,400 Speaker 1: the intel community, where have they been? How did this happen? Well, 320 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,680 Speaker 1: here's the kicker, at least on the law enforcement side. 321 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,919 Speaker 1: The Wall Street Journal reported just last week that the 322 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: the Department of Justice has opened a probe into Iran's 323 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: use of binance ANC. That's the world's largest crypto exchange. 324 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:16,200 Speaker 1: They opened that probe thinking that they were using that 325 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:22,280 Speaker 1: crypto exchange to circumvent US sanctions and to finance IRGC 326 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: linked terrorist organizations. Then the Treasury Department has separately sanctioned 327 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:38,160 Speaker 1: two United Kingdom registered exchanges, zcheck and xexion. Why they're 328 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 1: accusing them of facilitating the IRGC transactions. And here's the 329 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: number that make should make your jaw drop. One of 330 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 1: those exchanges alone processed ninety four billion dollars in transactions 331 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: since being registered in twenty twenty two. Ninety four billion 332 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: dollars through a platform based in the United Kingdom, Laundering 333 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:06,479 Speaker 1: money for an organization that both the United States and 334 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:12,639 Speaker 1: the European Union both designate as a terrorist group raises 335 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: the question where was the regulatory apparatus for the last 336 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,480 Speaker 1: three years while ninety four billion dollars flowed through a 337 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: single exchange for the benefit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard? 338 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:34,359 Speaker 1: Where were they? You know, if if does something to 339 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: violates some regulation, the entire government will come down on you. 340 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: Here we have an organization, this has been designated as 341 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,919 Speaker 1: an international terrorist organization, and they're doing ninety four billion 342 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:54,439 Speaker 1: dollars in transactions in the United Kingdom on two United 343 00:27:54,520 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: Kingdom registered exchanges, ninety four billion dollars in transactions. Where 344 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,159 Speaker 1: was the regulatory apparatus? Just looking at just you know, 345 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: when you think about the size of our federal government 346 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: and you realize, take the iOS for example, how huge 347 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 1: and intrusive it is. How they know, you know, every 348 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: little fifty dollars, six hundred dollars, whatever it is that 349 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: you know minimum you have to report now on any 350 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:33,160 Speaker 1: of the Venmo transactions or whatever PayPal. That's how intrusive 351 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: they al. Yet they can't find ninety four billion dollars 352 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: in transactions. You have to ask yourself, what did it 353 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: take for the Department of Justice to finally wake up. Well, 354 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: there's a real lesson. And let me close with the 355 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: argument that I think matters the most. I'll be right back. 356 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: I'm back to the Weekend with Michael Brown as usual. 357 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: I want to thank everybody in the audience for tuning 358 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: in listening, whether your affiliate carries it live or delayed, 359 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: or repeats it later on, or you listen on the podcast. 360 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:16,720 Speaker 1: I just appreciate everybody listening, and it would be greatly 361 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 1: appreciated if you would tell family, friends, or your enemies 362 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: about it. I got it, I got it. I'm not 363 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: going to read it on air, said because I don't 364 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,280 Speaker 1: want to get in the airtime. But I'm always amazed 365 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: when you're doing the national program, the emails that you 366 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: get from people who suddenly realize, oh, it's that guy, 367 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: it's that guy. It goes something like this, Man, I'm 368 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,240 Speaker 1: not going to read it at all, but it's the 369 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: kind of email where you're attempted to write back and 370 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,360 Speaker 1: just basically say if you you know. But I won't 371 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: do that because then he'll spread that everywhere. But I 372 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: appreciate you listening to the program, and I hope you 373 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: find an informative and quite frankly, you know, if if 374 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 1: you disagree with something that I say, or you think 375 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 1: it's incorrect, you can always use the text line. In fact, Ralph, 376 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: I would say to Ralph that wrote me the nasty email. 377 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: If you don't like what I'm saying, or you think 378 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: that I am incorrect about anything that I'm saying, the 379 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: text line is three three one zero three. Just use 380 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:19,760 Speaker 1: the keyword Mike or Michael, and you could tell me 381 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: the same thing in a text message. And you could 382 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: go even further, and instead of just saying that you know, 383 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: I'm clueless, you could tell me why I'm clueless, because 384 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: I like to read those listening to the real lesson 385 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 1: about this whole bitcoin story, The Uranium bitcoin operation was 386 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 1: not primarily some sort of financial experiment. It was actually 387 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: a proof of concept. It was a demonstration that a motivated, 388 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: sophisticated state actor can build a completely parallel monetary infrastructure 389 00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: using only physical assets. Those two physical assets here were 390 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: simply energy and computing hardware, and that was something that 391 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:13,200 Speaker 1: no financial sanction could directly target. The United States Treasury 392 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: they can freeze dollar accounts. They can't freeze the jewels 393 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: of electricity that they were using their natural gas reserves 394 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:29,480 Speaker 1: to turn into electricity to generate mining for bitcoins. The 395 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: United States Treasury cannot embargo the mathematical relationship between electricity 396 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: and cryptographic proof. The uraniums found the gap between those 397 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:42,239 Speaker 1: two realities, and they moved billions of dollars through it 398 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: over the better part of an entire decade. The only 399 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: way to close that gap apparently was with bombs, and 400 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: that raises the uncomfortable question that the foreign policy establishment 401 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: doesn't want to answer. Suctions regime, the cornerstone of American 402 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: economic state craft. Sanctions, the tool that we reach for 403 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: every single time that we want to pressure an adversary 404 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: without going to war, may have all this time been 405 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: not just ineffective, it may have actually been counterproductive, because 406 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: by cutting the Iranians off from the dollar system, we 407 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,960 Speaker 1: incentivize them to build something more resilient, more opaque, and 408 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: quite frankly, in my opinion, ultimately more dangerous. Iron found bitcoin. 409 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: Russia built the A seven to A five stable coin system. 410 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: North Korea runs industrial scale crypto heists. So that pattern, 411 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: I don't think is coincidence. It is an adaptation. Every 412 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: adversary that we seem to want to squeeze through the 413 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: dollar system is now an adversary actively building the infrastructure 414 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 1: to replace the dollar system. Think about that from them, 415 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 1: every adversary. What's the first thing that comes to a 416 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:23,239 Speaker 1: president's mind, congress's mind, all the think tanks minds is 417 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: that if we have an adversary and we don't really 418 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: want to go to war, but we want to put 419 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: some pressure on them, we impose sanctions. We turn to 420 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: the Secretary of State or to the Treasury Department and 421 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,720 Speaker 1: we say make sure they can or cannot do this, 422 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: if they can't sell this or buy that, and we think, oh, 423 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: look how powerful we are. What we now find is 424 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: a pattern, an adaptation, and every time we try to 425 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:57,719 Speaker 1: impose those sanctions, we squeeze through every adversary that we 426 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 1: squeeze through this dollar system. Probably and most likely as 427 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: an adversary that is actively building some sort of infrastructure 428 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: to replace the dollar system that we still use to 429 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: try to sanction them. And that naturally leads to the 430 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: next question, and it's the question that Washington, I think 431 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: is conspicuously not asking, is which other sanctioned states are 432 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: already mining bitcoin or ethereum or any of the others, 433 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,279 Speaker 1: and what happens to global crypto markets, what happens to 434 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,160 Speaker 1: our national security the next time one of them goes dark? 435 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: We see the machine that the Uranians built was ingenious, 436 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,439 Speaker 1: it worked for years, and the fact that it took 437 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:54,000 Speaker 1: air strikes rather than some sort of financial enforcement to 438 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: shut it down, I'm not sure that's a tribute to 439 00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: American power, I think instead of be an indictment of 440 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:05,800 Speaker 1: American strategy. The world is moving at an amazing pace, 441 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:14,160 Speaker 1: whether it's cryptocurrency, computational power, artificial intelligence, whatever it is. 442 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:20,279 Speaker 1: And I tend to think that the markeety monks, the 443 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:26,200 Speaker 1: so called smart people inside the Beltway, they're stuck debating 444 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,759 Speaker 1: over whether or not we should have to prove that 445 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: we're an American citizen to vote in a US election. Meanwhile, 446 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:41,040 Speaker 1: AI companies cryptocurrency and foreign adversaries are laughing at us, 447 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:44,960 Speaker 1: absolutely laughing at us. The people that we pay one 448 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy four thousand dollars a year to actually 449 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:51,279 Speaker 1: do the job of legislating are off this weekend, off 450 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: who knows what, trying to raise money to get reelected again. 451 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:59,840 Speaker 1: The world's moving at one thousand miles an hour. Washington 452 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: is not even out of park yet. This is a 453 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:11,760 Speaker 1: financial thriller. It's a national security scandal, and it's indictment 454 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: of every Treasury Department official who thought that sanctions were 455 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,280 Speaker 1: doing the job. They simply work and nobody was paying attention. 456 00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:27,279 Speaker 1: Every time that you hear that the main story is 457 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,160 Speaker 1: the Save Act or voting, or that we're not paying 458 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:35,319 Speaker 1: TSA agents or whatever else it is, don't get hung 459 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: up on that. Think instead, what's the rest of the 460 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: world doing right now? What are our adversaries doing that 461 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 1: we're not even thinking about. Everybody, have a great weekend. 462 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:49,239 Speaker 1: I'll see you next weekend.