1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,079 Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: production of My Heart Radio. Hello, welcome back to the show. 5 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: My name is Matt, my name is Noel. They called 6 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: me Ben. We're joined as always with our super producer 7 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: Paul Michig, control decand most importantly, you are you. You 8 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: are here and that makes this the stuff they don't 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: want you to know now. Folks, you've heard us talk 10 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: about bitcoin before. Bitcoin is a specific sort of alternative 11 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: currency or cryptocurrency, but it's it's not alone in that field. 12 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: It's the most well known of several different similar things, 13 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: like ethereum or doge coin personal favorite of mind. These 14 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: are popularly called crypto or coins. Unlike currency of previous eras, 15 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: bitcoin is not backed by any government or corporation. It's decentralized, 16 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: meaning there is no issuing authority, no central banking system. 17 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: Depending on which sources you ask, this is either one 18 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: of the greatest revolutions, innovations, and financial history, or it's 19 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: a grift or well. First things first, here are the 20 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: facts we we want to give you. A brief recap 21 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: of how bitcoin works, help blockchain works. But we're gonna 22 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: we're gonna just go high level because longtime listeners you've 23 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: heard us discussed this in depth in previous episodes, sometimes 24 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: with the help of our pal Jonathan Strickland. Yeah, he 25 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: was certainly the first person that I ever even heard 26 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: about blockchain and cryptocurrency from many years ago. Yes, so 27 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: let's let's talk about it. Uh. It runs on peer 28 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: to peer. This is very important. It's a network that 29 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: is peer to peer, like old school stuff that you 30 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: used to do on the Internet, probably where somebody's computer 31 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: is running part of the brain that's running the game 32 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: you're playing, or if you're let's say, using lime wire 33 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: something to share stuff across the network. That was a 34 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: well known peer to peer network, and as you said, 35 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: been the most important thing is that there's no centralized 36 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: server that is running any of this stuff. Yeah. If 37 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: you're using bitcoin, uh, each user's computer is part of 38 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: this larger network, what you could rightly call an ecosystem, 39 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: and it shares the burden of generating bitcoins and logging transactions. 40 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: It's this decentralized nature that makes bitcoin arguably impervious so 41 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: far to things like government intervention, whether that is by 42 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: monitoring the way you would monitor UH or orthodox banking transactions, 43 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: or regulation. And it's the weird thing, is okay, So 44 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: we're going to describe some things that may sound complicated. 45 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,639 Speaker 1: But if you are an end user, if you are 46 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 1: like so many people, getting into bitcoin a little dipping 47 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: your toe in, a little bit at a time, you'll 48 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: find that it is astonishingly simple to do. So you 49 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,119 Speaker 1: get a bitcoin wallet. This encrypts and maintains your bitcoin 50 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: balance on your computer, smartphone, or in the cloud, and 51 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: this happens with any any other version of cryptocurrency. Then 52 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: you can use your bank account or a credit card, 53 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: which I think is kind of dangerous, or another form 54 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: of payment to get bitcoins to up your wallet or 55 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: for most people realistically a fraction of bitcoins. Can you 56 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: use a credit card to buy securities by traditional stocks 57 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: and bonds? I wouldn't know. I'm an enemy of credit cards. 58 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: I just wonder. I mean, you know, it seems you're 59 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: it's seems dangerous, It seems like a slippery slope. If 60 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: you're not actually converting wealth, you know, into stocks, then 61 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: you're just gambling essentially, with with credit it's you know, 62 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: you can't use a credit card to pay off another 63 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:18,239 Speaker 1: credit card, I just order the lottery right or to 64 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: go to casinos. So I would think probably there's some 65 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: guideline with the ftc UH that doesn't allow you to 66 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:29,280 Speaker 1: buy stocks with credit cards. So that's not the case 67 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: with with crypto. You can you can't buy it with 68 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: credit cards, which is super slippery um. And it's a 69 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: little more complicated than some maybe more you know, kind 70 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: of technophobe type folks might be uh cut out for, 71 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: because you do have to you know, getting the wallet 72 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: is one thing, but then also to get the bitcoin, 73 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: you have to transfer it to the wallet because if 74 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 1: you keep it on in exchange, which is where you 75 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: buy it, that leaves it more kind of susceptible to things, 76 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: which many yeah, all exactly all sorts of things. So 77 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: in the code there's like a like a string of 78 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: of weird digits that are you know, your key for 79 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: transferring you know, the purchase to your wallet, and if 80 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: you get just one digit of that wrong and it 81 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: goes away into the ether never to be seen again. 82 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: And you have to be careful with any financial decisions 83 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: because I like the way it was put earlier somewhere 84 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: on the internet, probably Twitter. Somebody wrote to me up 85 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: and bowling hs W or I found it somewhere and 86 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: they said, you know, if you let someone shannan one 87 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 1: thing's for sure, they're gonna Shenan again. Sure, sort of 88 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: fool me once, shame on you fool me twice, can't 89 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 1: be fooled again. So so this is relatively um uncomplicated. 90 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: There is a learning curve for people entering his end users. 91 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: But before any of that happens, before bitcoin can be transferred, 92 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: can be spent, can be used at all, has to 93 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: be made. And this happens via mining process a k A. 94 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 1: A big reason that many of our gamer friends in 95 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: the audience today still don't have a PS five to 96 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: to a chip shortage. Uh. This this mining process uses computers. 97 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: You get a mining app, it's free, they're out there, 98 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: and mining requires the entire network of these let's call 99 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: them bitcoin participant computers to do essentially a ton of 100 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: difficult math problems, a bunch of number crunching, and there's 101 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: a set amount of work that these do and when 102 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: you reach that threshold of work, you get rewarded with 103 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: bitcoin and in the early days, there would be people 104 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: who were just at their houses, maybe setting up their 105 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:55,919 Speaker 1: own kind of computer networks that would just do this work, 106 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,720 Speaker 1: would just crunch these numbers and make them bitcoin. And 107 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: some of those people made quite a killing off of this. 108 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: But and I'll see the quiet part out loud, just 109 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: with things like with any quote unquote disruptive industry like podcasting. 110 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: Pretty soon the big fish got involved, and now some 111 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: people and some very powerful organizations has been thousands, thousands, 112 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: if I possibly millions of dollars making computers specifically to 113 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: mine bitcoin and nothing else. This became, and this is 114 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: fair to call it such, this became a global arms 115 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: race of sorts, a digital cutthroat arm race. At once 116 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: stat I found that I thought was pretty illuminating. Shout 117 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: out illumination global unlimited. As of two years ago, a 118 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: full nineteen per cent of the world's GPU graphic processing 119 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: unit production went entirely to mining not all crypto, but 120 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: just ethereum. And this was a huge, huge factor in 121 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: the ongoing global computer chip shortage. That means that even 122 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: if you never cared about crypto, if you've never heard 123 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: about it, had no plans to participate in it, you 124 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: were still being affected in a very real and sometimes 125 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: dangerous way. To my understanding as well, the way um 126 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: mining works is these GPUs are are the blockchain their 127 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: part and parcel they are. They are verifying transactions using 128 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: by solving these complex you know, like puzzles, essentially really 129 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: complex math problems. So in order to for the blockchain 130 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: to function, since it is decentralized, it's sort of like 131 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: crowdsourcing st you know, the way ST uses. Like, you know, 132 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,439 Speaker 1: people can combine all of their computer processes together in 133 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,479 Speaker 1: a way that allows them to participate in certain algorithms 134 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: that are taking place, you know, through a thing organization 135 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: like CT to monitor you know, space, etcetera. So when 136 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:01,400 Speaker 1: these people that are putting forth all of this power 137 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: into from their personal you know property, uh solve these 138 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: equation leads equations, they are rewarded essentially with a little 139 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: bit of a bitcoin, not like a whole bitcoin. You 140 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 1: gotta do a gazillion of these to make any meaningful. Gosh, 141 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: is that y'alls understanding as well? That's correct, Yeah, The 142 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:23,080 Speaker 1: and the the SETI crowdsourcing is not a bad comparison because, 143 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: as we'll find the rules of the game are set 144 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: to evolve over time. Right now, just as a result 145 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: of the bitcoin kind of gold rush throughout four of 146 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: what we'll call crypto winters UH. As a result of 147 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: that gold rush, almost a hundred and seventy distinct industries 148 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: have been affected by the computer chip shortage. It can 149 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: only make so many due to supply chain issues, even 150 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: pre pandemic. And the thing is that these chips can 151 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,599 Speaker 1: be used for all sorts of stuff that is not 152 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: involved with bitcoin. So you could argue that add a 153 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: certain threshold. Every time somebody is scooping up technology and 154 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: dedicating it to mining bitcoin, they're scooping it away from 155 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: UH these other industries. Goldman Sacks specifically found a hundred 156 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: and sixty nine industries have been impacted. The circle on 157 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: forever you might be thinking. And if so, if you're 158 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: thinking that, you're on the money, because here's how the 159 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: rules change. There is a cap. There are only twenty 160 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: one million bitcoins that can ever exist and to create. 161 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: To like sort of manage this generation, the Bitcoin network 162 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: adjust the exact amount of work and number crunching required 163 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: to make coins. So they adjust at such that the 164 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:56,840 Speaker 1: number of bitcoins will rise at a steady predetermined rate, 165 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,440 Speaker 1: and it will continue to do us. The reasoning goes 166 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,840 Speaker 1: until the number of bitcoins in circulation reaches that twenty 167 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: one million cap right now, that's projected to occur around 168 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: one forty. So if you are hearing this right to 169 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: the show, let us know if that ended up being correct. 170 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 1: Is it complicated? Yeah, of course, but don't make a mistake. 171 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: There was money to be made, so everyone for a 172 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,439 Speaker 1: while went absolutely nuts for this. They went bonkers and bananas, 173 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: your faithful correspondence. By the way, some of our friends included. 174 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:38,560 Speaker 1: As crypto's popularity skyrocketed, people began learning more about one 175 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: of my favorite parts of the story. It's incredibly shady origin, 176 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 1: and I think we have to talk about that. This 177 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: is a little bit here's where it gets crazy, but 178 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: it is worth knowing if you're not aware of this. 179 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: Uh previously Matt Noel, who made who made bitcoin? Who 180 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: invented it? Satan? Is that English set? Final answer? No 181 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: lifeline making it? No one was No one is listening 182 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: to this, guys. I have I have bad news. Civilization 183 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: collapses in uh less than two decades, so the very 184 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 1: at least been engulfed engulfed by the signs not making 185 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 1: it all right. Well, so I'll have to work with 186 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: the AI version of you guys. Uh, probably be really 187 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: high quality by that. Yeah, that's the thing. So our 188 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,679 Speaker 1: optimism versus pessimism versus what something we called realism aside. 189 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 1: The truth is this, the identity of bit coins creator 190 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:51,079 Speaker 1: is a huge mystery. The story really starts with the 191 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: mystery the phrase cryptocurrency as a as Neil Stevenson. As 192 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: it may sound, it was not coined by him. The 193 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: concept first comes out in a person named way Die 194 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:10,080 Speaker 1: Uh mentions this idea, pitches it on a mailing list 195 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,559 Speaker 1: for something called cipher punks see why p h e 196 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:18,479 Speaker 1: r Punks and bitcoins creator who went by the identity 197 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:23,359 Speaker 1: or the persona Setoshi Nakamoto. In two thousand nine, Setoshi 198 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:29,079 Speaker 1: publishes the first specification like practical description of bitcoin and 199 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:32,959 Speaker 1: proof of concept, and then later towards the end of 200 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: two thousand ten, this identity this persona ghosts it's gones 201 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: off the grid, uh. And all we know really is 202 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: that this person or people using this handle did create 203 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: the idea the practical application of it, and then did disappear. 204 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: And we know that that name, that handle is not 205 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,679 Speaker 1: their real name. Bitcoin dot org, by the way, is 206 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: low key hilarious about this because they have to dispel 207 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: a lot of fear right and they say this person 208 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 1: whom they identify as Mail by the way, they say, 209 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: this person does not currently control bitcoin and that due 210 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: to the nature of the open source tech. This is 211 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: my favorite quote here. You can find it on bitcoin 212 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: dot org. They say, quote the identity bitcoins inventor is 213 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: probably as relevant today is the identity of the person 214 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: who invented paper. And we don't know who invented paper. 215 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: That's the point that well, it's mimetic though, it's like 216 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: a self replicating system, you know, once it kind of 217 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: gets off and running. Right at that point, it doesn't 218 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: It's like who invented d NA? Obviously, I think you 219 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: just insert the word flash into that sentence, invented flash paper? Okay, 220 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: Matt Math's got some some hot takes, some flash hot takes. 221 00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:58,720 Speaker 1: But no, but it's true. I mean, like at this 222 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: point it's kind of irrelevant. It would be interesting to know. 223 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: But would there be a reason you think? I mean, 224 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: I could think of many or that person would not 225 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: come forward because they probably I don't want to be 226 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: but don't don't want to have their spot blown up, essentially, 227 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 1: you know, because it is something that's pretty controversial still, 228 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: and I would imagine they've cashed out and they're probably 229 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,560 Speaker 1: living the yacht life at this point. Yeah, quite possibly, 230 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: if indeed it is a single organic individual. I mean, 231 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: there are a couple of guesses we could make with Yet, 232 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: there are a couple of guesses we could make. One 233 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: they could have been working out of school using some 234 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 1: knowledge from their day drop that might be considered proprietary. 235 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: You know that got Blake Lemoinne fired. Uh. Second, second, 236 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: it could be it could be an op, it could 237 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: be a front, it could be a government organization. There's 238 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: it's I'm completely secure in saying that because there's no 239 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: proof otherwise anyway. So if there are controversies, surprise with bitcoin. 240 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: It's got a shady origin story. Uh, it involves a 241 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,760 Speaker 1: lot of often misunderstood technology. Oh and it's also a 242 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 1: load of money. You can understand why bitcoin is controversial 243 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: given those three factors. Governments are have always been publicly 244 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 1: skeptical of bitcoin and blockchain technology in general. It's true 245 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: that some outliers like El Salvador have adopted it as 246 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: a recognized currency, but major economies, including Uncle Sam to 247 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 1: this day refused to recognize it as what's called legal tender. 248 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: And if you look at the if you if we 249 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: assume the perspective of countries and financial institutions, then we 250 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: can see how this idea, the skepticism and caution makes sense. 251 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: I mean, bitcoin potentially does a lot of things that 252 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: are dangerous. If you're happy, you know, at the top 253 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: of a financial or governmental regime, the citizens of your country, 254 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: we can undermine government authority because they can kind of 255 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: circumvent and skate around capital controls. Obviously, this can help 256 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: launder all sorts of things that can disguise criminal activity 257 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:19,440 Speaker 1: for sure. And then the other thing, the third thing 258 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: that they don't say as much out loud officially, is 259 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: that potentially bitcoin and things like it could destabilize the 260 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 1: entirety of the existing global money regime, global financial infrastructure, 261 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: and then the irony there is. For the longest time, 262 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,720 Speaker 1: the conversation from like you know, crypto bros and evangelists 263 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: has been this is an alternative to the crooked system 264 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: of capitalism that that is, that is legally you know, recognized. Uh, 265 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:52,680 Speaker 1: and you know, you better get in while they getting 266 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: is good, they say, um, you know, because this is 267 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: gonna be the only game in town before you know it. 268 00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: And as you don't, you want to, you know, protect 269 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: yourself from from the ebbs and flows and the whims 270 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: of of the FED and all that stuff. It's it's 271 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,880 Speaker 1: not gonna follow any of those trends, right, that's the idea. 272 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: But and and that's the question, how long can this 273 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: thing last? Right? Uh? It could just be another currency 274 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,600 Speaker 1: related bubble. This has definitely happened in the past, with 275 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 1: numerous things identified as currency by one civilization culture or another. 276 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: From day one, there were plenty of critics who were 277 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: certain that Bitcoin would eventually come crashing down, and now 278 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: it appears they just might be correct. What are we 279 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: talking about, We'll tell you after a word from our sponsor. 280 00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: Here's where it gets crazy. Bitcoin crashed, feel what a 281 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: free fall? But like so did the stock market? You know, 282 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: I mean it's I think it's no, it's what we 283 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 1: were talking about earlier. I think there's Uh, I don't 284 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: know if there's a direct connection, but it certainly casts 285 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: a little bit of question into this whole notion that 286 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: bitcoin is bulletproof and crypto is its own thing, unconnected 287 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 1: to the rest of the economy, because these two things 288 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: kind of happened in tandem, you know. I mean, we 289 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 1: haven't experienced a full crash or a full recession, but 290 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: it sure feels like we're heading that way. But the 291 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 1: stock market isn't a currency, right if we're if the 292 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,920 Speaker 1: statement was the dollar crashed, right, that would be applicable 293 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:44,200 Speaker 1: to what's going on here. Right, there's a difference. It 294 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:46,640 Speaker 1: feels like you're buying some kind of commodity, some kind 295 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,880 Speaker 1: of you know, shares or stock when you're buying bitcoin, 296 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 1: I think the way it feels when you've got it, 297 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: because it's worth so much real world money. But it 298 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: is in itself a currency, I think, which it's That's 299 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: why it's weirding me out because we do think about 300 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: it as a stock market going up and down, but 301 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:07,960 Speaker 1: in reality is the value of a currency, but the 302 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:11,880 Speaker 1: value of like traditional currencies, they don't ebb and flow 303 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:15,400 Speaker 1: the way cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrencies ebb and flow much more 304 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,920 Speaker 1: like stocks, and and I believe are treated more speculatively 305 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 1: in the way that stocks are often treated. That's why 306 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,159 Speaker 1: I think they're it's sort of in the middle, like 307 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,720 Speaker 1: they're they're they're related but but different. But I see 308 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,679 Speaker 1: exactly what you're saying appen. And so this brings us 309 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: to another another important issue. I want to paint the 310 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:37,919 Speaker 1: scene here, so cash your memory back. By the end 311 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:43,360 Speaker 1: of twenty one, big coin itself had fallen thirty from 312 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:47,200 Speaker 1: its peak. Its peak was about sixty nine thousand dollars 313 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,920 Speaker 1: seventy thousand dollars per coin, and it fell down to 314 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: forty seven thousand, six six dollars and eighty one cents. Ethereum, 315 00:20:57,960 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: which is sort of the Pepsi to the Coca cola 316 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: here also fell to three thousand, seven hundred sixty nine 317 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: seventy cents, And throughout a lot of January, much of 318 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: late January through let's call it late April, cryptocurrency and 319 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: general struggled, and Bitcoin was swinging back and forth. You know, 320 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 1: Edgar Allan Poe Pitt in the pendulum style. Sometimes it 321 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,639 Speaker 1: was thirty five thousand, sometimes it was forty eight thousand. 322 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,000 Speaker 1: And now, look, if you're an investor, this is your 323 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 1: what the f moment? But before anyone panics, we have 324 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 1: to know what that Bitcoin value has fluctuated before. To 325 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: your point, Matt, about treating something as a currency V 326 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,159 Speaker 1: and investment, it would be weird if an investment did 327 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,920 Speaker 1: not fluctuate to some degree. The crypto market, in fact, 328 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 1: has fallen by fifty percent or more on four different occasions, 329 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: including the current crypto winter of one two. Uh. But 330 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: is a little different now because back in the day 331 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 1: for a long time, Bitcoin was of the crypto market 332 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: until about so you could arguably just say the first 333 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:19,159 Speaker 1: crypto winter really was a bitcoin winter. But this crash, 334 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:23,639 Speaker 1: the one you're in now, has people worried, partially because 335 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: of the many other factors evolved, as well as the 336 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: extent where I should say, the timeline of the crash 337 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: it seems to be continuing. This is what is sometimes 338 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 1: called a free fall. Anyway, if we go back to 339 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: stay in one for a second, this is the first 340 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 1: time that a bitcoin associated industry announces layoffs job cuts. 341 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:52,400 Speaker 1: April one, just a few days after everything goes to pot, 342 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: an outfit named bit Mex lays off of its employees. 343 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 1: Let's just fast forward to crash continues as of the 344 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:08,160 Speaker 1: month we're recording this July two, both Bitcoin and ethereum 345 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: are down by more than sixty percent from their peak. 346 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: I want to shout out a couple of journalists in 347 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,439 Speaker 1: this episode. One Tom Mitchell Hill, Tom I love your 348 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:23,440 Speaker 1: last name, uh, is writing a coin Telegraph and said, 349 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,840 Speaker 1: you know, just this past June, this means in real 350 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: terms that more than eighty thousand people who were millionaires 351 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: thanks to bitcoin are no longer millionaires. They're no longer 352 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: in the money. Yeah. That that. Uh. When I first 353 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,159 Speaker 1: read an article from that outfit, I really thought it 354 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: was coin Telegraph, like really, but no, that that article. 355 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: It's pretty intense because I just give you a quick 356 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: rundown of those specifics there. Um, okay, So back on 357 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 1: November twelve, just uh, this is from the article by 358 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: Tom Mitchell Hill. Back on November twelve, just days after 359 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: bitcoin hit a new all time high of around sixty 360 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: nine thousand dollars. That been just mentioned, a little under 361 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,119 Speaker 1: a hundred and nine thousand bitcoin addresses reported reported a 362 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,640 Speaker 1: balance of greater than a million dollars. So an individual 363 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: address a wallet, right, So that's probably individuals, maybe a 364 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: few people having multiple ones, but that's a lot of people, 365 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: a hundred nine thousand who were at least a million 366 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 1: dollars worth in there. So you fast forward to today 367 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:38,440 Speaker 1: that they were recording this and uh it says only 368 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: twenty six thousand, two hundred and eighty four addresses now 369 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: have holdings valued over a million dollars. So like eighty 370 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: thousand people just got wiped out. That's insane to think about. 371 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: It's wild. But also think how exponential the growth was. 372 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,679 Speaker 1: Of course the decline is also going to be exponential. 373 00:24:57,880 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 1: I mean, so many of these people like made their 374 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,200 Speaker 1: their their money by getting in at the right time, 375 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: and they didn't start with that much money. They invested 376 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: you know whatever, a respectable amount and it blossomed into 377 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:13,480 Speaker 1: this crazy amount of money. But then if you bet 378 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: if the farm on those holdings, thinking it's just gonna 379 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,400 Speaker 1: last forever, and you're leveraged against those holdings, that's something 380 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: you can do with crypto. You don't ever have to 381 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:23,919 Speaker 1: cash out. A lot of people don't cash out. They 382 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 1: just leverage against it. You can borrow against it, you know, 383 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: they're they're exchanges or wallets rather like one called nexo 384 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 1: that allows you to leverage your holdings into zero interest 385 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: loans that then you pay back with little you know, 386 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 1: um hits little little taxes I guess on your holdings, 387 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: but you never actually have to cash out, because once 388 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: you cash out, then you're out of the system, and 389 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 1: then you're out of the game. But so the goal 390 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 1: for a lot of people is to stay in the system. 391 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 1: But of course when the hit like this happens, it's 392 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 1: also gonna be of epic proportions, you know, just like 393 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:03,640 Speaker 1: the winds were and this is you know, the whales 394 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: got hit as well. I'll take the hit on that 395 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: one guy's because I snuck in a tongue tongue twister 396 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,919 Speaker 1: in the In the notes, uh, there were per Mentchell 397 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: Hills reporting there were ten thousand, five eighty seven addresses 398 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: that had a minimum cash value of ten million US 399 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:27,199 Speaker 1: dollars in November of last year, and now less than 400 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,439 Speaker 1: half of them are still at that level. Only four thousand, 401 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: three and forty two hold the same status. So quick 402 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 1: cocktail napkin math. That's a fifty eight percent decline. And 403 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: another note for anybody who likes dancing on graves, please 404 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,959 Speaker 1: don't be that I told you so. Guy to your 405 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: bitcoin friends, give them give him a couple of weeks. 406 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:50,159 Speaker 1: You know, they've got a lot of stuff going on, 407 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: And how do we know these things? Well, the reason 408 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: we know them is that Bitcoin has something really interesting. 409 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: There is anonymity, but you can still due to the 410 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,240 Speaker 1: nature of the interactions in this ecosystem, you can see 411 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,600 Speaker 1: a dress like which addresses have certain amounts of coin? 412 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 1: And right now Bitcoin has been struggling to stay above 413 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars US per coin. Now, uh, and like 414 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,200 Speaker 1: you said, Matt, you see the decline with the people 415 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: holding a million. You see the descline with people holding 416 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:27,080 Speaker 1: more than ten million. Now we have to ask what happened? Right? 417 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: It's questions so many people are asking, and we will 418 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: get into conspiratorial aspects here. But first, the best way 419 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:36,479 Speaker 1: to say it is there are a couple of factors 420 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 1: we can point to with certitude, and there are several 421 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: other factors we can guess at. First things First, I'll 422 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: say this the big boys, big fish, they wanted some 423 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 1: more regulations. April one, the SEC starts swinging their h 424 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,800 Speaker 1: mentionables around. The Securities and Exchange Commission of the u 425 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,879 Speaker 1: S says, okay, guys, pump the breaks. We need to 426 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: put some regulations on these crypto agencies. And just that 427 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,879 Speaker 1: just a financial superpower like the US moving toward a 428 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:16,120 Speaker 1: regulatory environment made a lot of people sell off everything. 429 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: I guess they were like, let's get while they getting 430 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: is good. We'll support the cartels some other way. Get 431 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:26,199 Speaker 1: back into fine art, where are loose diamonds all that jazz? Uh. 432 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: And then there's something that I, you know, I don't 433 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:32,160 Speaker 1: know how familiar this is to a lot of people, 434 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: but there's something called stable coin. Stable Coin is a yeah, 435 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: it's a it's a crypto um crypto thing that can 436 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: occur in three different kind of buckets. So it's either 437 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: collateralized by cryptocurrencies, it's sort of based on other crypto, 438 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: or it's pegged to something like the Euro or the 439 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: US dollar, which means it's fiat backed. That's not a 440 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: hot take. Those are currencies. Or it relies entirely on 441 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: algorithms to maintain supply and demand, so it picks a 442 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,720 Speaker 1: certain relationship to something like a dollar, and then it 443 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: just modifies on the back end everything to make it 444 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: maintain that value. Stable Coin is called stable coin because, 445 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: as you can imagine the idea, the main feature of 446 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:27,040 Speaker 1: this is that it is not supposed to be subject 447 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: to all the wiles and whims of the marketplace, and 448 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: then that proved to be untrue. Luna Tara huge stable 449 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: coin crashed and this was such a this was such 450 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: a shock to the overall financial system of crypto that 451 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: when it plunged in value by eight percent, it rocked. 452 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: It rocked the foundations of the entire crypto market. So 453 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 1: that's one thing that happened. The stuff that was supposed 454 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: to be stable turned out not to be stable in 455 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: any case. And then, um, you know, we said the 456 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: sec started started paid interest. But in general, whether or 457 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:09,640 Speaker 1: not you're in crypto, if you live in the US, 458 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,800 Speaker 1: uncle Sam wants you to pay interest to what a 459 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: terrible segue. Now everything's bad. Uh, hikes and interest rates. 460 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: That's that's huge. Like we're talking about you mentioned earlier, 461 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 1: and all the idea of a recession historically, if you 462 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: look back in the span of you modern US civilization, 463 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: when interest rates start rising aggressively, it is it is 464 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: not proof, but it is definitely a sign that the 465 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: FED beliefs recession is on the horizon. So this hits 466 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,600 Speaker 1: all the investment things, you all, most of the investment 467 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: vehicles you can think of. FED increases rates, stock market 468 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: and the crypto market have this huge downfall because ultimately, 469 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,800 Speaker 1: you know, they're voting on articles of faith, right, it's 470 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: worth how much other people want it. So investors start 471 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: selling and this creates a blood bath in the crypto 472 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 1: market because the more people the secret of crypto is, 473 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,240 Speaker 1: the more people who are selling off stuff in a 474 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: short time interval, uh, the less and less individual bitcoins 475 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,280 Speaker 1: are worth. Yeah, it is interesting to um the link 476 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: between inflation and cryptocurrency because you know, in the same way, 477 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: a lot of folks have touted cryptocurrency to be sort 478 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,000 Speaker 1: of resistant to some of the market trends that that 479 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,479 Speaker 1: we're seeing, you know, hit the stock market and all 480 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: of that. Uh. Similarly, it's been said that that they're 481 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: resistance to inflation. So I marning with inflation kind of 482 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: going up, why aren't cryptocurrency is doing better? Um, you know, 483 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,400 Speaker 1: it's a lot of it's a lot of factors, but 484 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 1: it is It is interesting that an additional thing to 485 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: to consider and then came financial trouble for a lot 486 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,680 Speaker 1: of the companies that handle cryptocurrencies, the ones that are 487 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:09,720 Speaker 1: actually exchanging things, that do other various things with bitcoin, uh, 488 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: that have lots and lots of employees because it's kind 489 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: of like Netflix if you think about a lot of 490 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:20,640 Speaker 1: cry cryptocurrency companies. They've been staffing up like crazy historically 491 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,480 Speaker 1: because there's just gains and gains and gains and gains, 492 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: so they need more human beings to do more work. 493 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,720 Speaker 1: And then when these crashes happen, these winters come through, 494 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,719 Speaker 1: it gets cold and they gotta they gotta get rid 495 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 1: of all these new people they've hired because their overhead 496 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: becomes too expensive, which was the case with Celsius Network. 497 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,160 Speaker 1: This is one of those decentralized finance outfits, the things 498 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: we've been talking about. They said they were putting a 499 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,920 Speaker 1: freeze on all crypto transactions, which is never good, right. 500 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: That's like when you freeze the stock market because stuff 501 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: is going downhill. Guys, we gotta stop trading, uh, Which 502 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,560 Speaker 1: has happened right? Well? I I you know again to 503 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: your point that this to your it's your beautiful point 504 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:07,120 Speaker 1: about currency versus investment. I would say a more immediate analogy, 505 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: even more impactful, would be the idea of banks not 506 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: allowing cash withdrawals or withdrawals or transfers to other financial institutions. 507 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: When that happens. It's what what we could rightly call 508 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 1: bad bad, it's it's double plus un good. So if 509 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 1: you're banking at the Celsius network, then this is this 510 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: is your wells Fargo saying we know you have money, 511 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: you just can't have it because we don't have it. Yeah, 512 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:37,600 Speaker 1: that's the kind of stuff that happened like during the 513 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 1: Great Depression. That's that's a real bell weather of things 514 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: to come. Yeah, and and post something like that where 515 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: there is some kind of freeze, often not always as 516 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: we saw with Game Stop and some of the some 517 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: of the other weirdness that happened in the stock market, well, uh, 518 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: not that long ago. But what what happens after one 519 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: of those is a massive sell off. And that is 520 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 1: indeed what occurred of the Celsius network. Uh. And there 521 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,040 Speaker 1: are a bunch of other companies that went through like 522 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 1: real rocky, real rocky month. Yeah. Yeah, And it's a 523 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: real rocky month that appears to be going much longer 524 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,040 Speaker 1: than thirty days. It's a it's a non ending month. 525 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: I don't know if it ever resolved. Um, but a 526 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: buddy of mine had some stuff in Celsius, and I 527 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 1: think as far as he what he was getting for 528 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:31,120 Speaker 1: message wars and some maybe like more seasoned crypto people, 529 00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:36,000 Speaker 1: was that don't hold your breath. Yeah. Unfortunately others would 530 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:40,080 Speaker 1: follow suit a lot of this. Uh. Really, if you 531 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,399 Speaker 1: look back on some of our previous work on this show, 532 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,760 Speaker 1: you'll what you'll see is the danger of feedback loops 533 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: and they can happen in any financial sphere. Shortly after 534 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,520 Speaker 1: our good friends at Celsius make their announcement, which they 535 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,879 Speaker 1: by the way, they cited as a result of consequence 536 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: of extreme market conditions. Shortly after they do this, another 537 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: crypto exchange finance, which have all heard of if you're 538 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:11,279 Speaker 1: involved in blockchain and bitcoin, they do the same, but 539 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 1: they say their freeze on bitcoin withdrawls was quote due 540 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,880 Speaker 1: to a stuck transaction causing a backlog, and originally they 541 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: said this will take thirty minutes to fix. Spoiler, it 542 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,839 Speaker 1: took longer than thirty minutes in the case of bitcoin specifically. 543 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: Experts are arguing something that I agree with wholeheartedly. This 544 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:40,280 Speaker 1: is a symptom of a larger global economic climate. BBC 545 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,680 Speaker 1: did a great job with this. Uh. They we pulled 546 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 1: some quotes from this. They said procession looms, inflation, is 547 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: soaring interest rates, arising living costs, are biting a little 548 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,800 Speaker 1: bit of accidental freestyle there, I like it. Stock markets 549 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:56,800 Speaker 1: are wobbling to with the U, S, S and P 550 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: five hundred now in a bearer market, meaning that a 551 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:04,440 Speaker 1: down from where it was. And they point out, we'll 552 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: just summarize this part that as a result of this, 553 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: in a more hostile financial climate, even the really big investors, 554 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 1: like the people who don't really have jobs the way 555 00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:20,240 Speaker 1: normal people do, the people who just move money around 556 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: and live off the interest, they are less free with 557 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,719 Speaker 1: their spending and investing. And that means that if you 558 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,160 Speaker 1: are an ordinary investor rank and file, you're not you 559 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: don't own a hedge fund, you're not a corporation, you're 560 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: just you're just a schmuck. Then you have less money 561 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 1: in general to invest in anything. So why would you 562 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:45,480 Speaker 1: invest in something that's not regulated, that doesn't have certain constraints. 563 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:49,320 Speaker 1: From this perspective, we see the argument becoming something like 564 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,720 Speaker 1: the same lack of regulation that make crypto so sexy 565 00:36:53,800 --> 00:37:00,360 Speaker 1: and appealing also for many investors makes it too unpredictable espec. Actually, 566 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,320 Speaker 1: in times of austerity, do you want to buy something 567 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,560 Speaker 1: that used to be sixty dollars. Now it's twenty dollars, 568 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: and just sort of roll the dice on whether it 569 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:14,239 Speaker 1: will ever be sixty dollars and a penny like al right, 570 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:17,640 Speaker 1: at twenty a penning might be more fair. So this 571 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,360 Speaker 1: feedback loop has been created. Bitcoin's value is tied to 572 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:26,600 Speaker 1: its desirability. The more people sell, whatever their reason might be, 573 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:32,759 Speaker 1: the less bitcoin is worth. More people see the value decrease, 574 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,080 Speaker 1: maybe they sell as well, they cut their losses, they 575 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,319 Speaker 1: get out of the game, but it's too late. They're 576 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 1: perpetuating that feedback cycle. Bitcoin has no tangible assets underpinning it. 577 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:50,800 Speaker 1: This is true. It means literally that the prices only 578 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:53,759 Speaker 1: defined by what people are prepared to buy it for. 579 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:59,040 Speaker 1: And then to your point, Matt, about Domino's falling coin base. 580 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: Later in June announced their own layoffs. They let go 581 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 1: of eight percent of their workforce. And when they did 582 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:12,560 Speaker 1: this in their announcement, they didn't just say extreme market conditions. 583 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,319 Speaker 1: They used the term crypto winter. And if you are 584 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,960 Speaker 1: interested in this, I would highly recommend reading that official statement. 585 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:23,600 Speaker 1: I thought it was transparent, I thought it was to 586 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:27,200 Speaker 1: the point um and I don't think it was good news. 587 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:32,800 Speaker 1: Nose terrible news. And coin Based Global Incorporated, which is 588 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,919 Speaker 1: a wonderful name, isn't the only one that was laying 589 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 1: off people. There was also Crypto dot Com, Gemini, Trust, 590 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: block Fi Incorporated. All of these companies had huge numbers 591 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:47,080 Speaker 1: of layoffs. And you know, just what, as you think 592 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,600 Speaker 1: about coin Base, this is one of the biggest names 593 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,200 Speaker 1: out there in in the crypto game. It what is 594 00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:56,719 Speaker 1: it had to lay off eighteen percent of its workforce 595 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:03,000 Speaker 1: one thousand, two hundred people. Like, that's a lot of layoffs. 596 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:05,640 Speaker 1: I mean. Also Crypto dot Com, which is probably the 597 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,280 Speaker 1: most recognizable one because they literally named the Staples Center 598 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: after they had some pretty significant layoffs too. So everybody's 599 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:15,600 Speaker 1: getting everybody's getting a little bit of the splashback. Actually 600 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,759 Speaker 1: they're getting a lot a bit of the splashback. And 601 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:24,880 Speaker 1: this is worrisome because with each announcement, with each decision, 602 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 1: each layoff, each sell off, the loop exacerbates, right, the 603 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,799 Speaker 1: pace quickens, and so you have to wonder eventually where 604 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,120 Speaker 1: the floor will be. But for many of us listening today, 605 00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:40,040 Speaker 1: many of our fellow conspiracy realists, this doesn't feel like 606 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,719 Speaker 1: the whole explanation you might be thinking Okay, guys, come on, 607 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 1: what really happened? We'll pause, we'll tackle this after a 608 00:39:50,640 --> 00:40:01,240 Speaker 1: word from our sponsors. Okay, here is a conspiracy theory. 609 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:02,800 Speaker 1: I don't know if you all have read this, but 610 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,560 Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. It's from Reddit. I want to shout out, 611 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 1: juicy juice juice not spelled the way you think it's. 612 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,800 Speaker 1: It's fun. Yes, yeah, juicy juice um soon to be 613 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:19,279 Speaker 1: Pulitzer Prize winning juicy juice juice. No. Seriously, I thought 614 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 1: this was a really fascinating idea. I've been uh following 615 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,400 Speaker 1: along with some contacts who are listening today. I've been 616 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:30,280 Speaker 1: following the uh the whole game stop Wall Street stuck 617 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:37,120 Speaker 1: stuff for a while now, and this conspiracy theory really 618 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:41,320 Speaker 1: interested me. The idea is juicy juice Juice is asking 619 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:46,360 Speaker 1: what if Krypto was purposely created to hide asset inflation, 620 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 1: making another financial path for the US dollar to pass 621 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: through inflating new different assets Like what if the full 622 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,719 Speaker 1: quote then you can see this another media. The full 623 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:02,800 Speaker 1: quote is Crypto creates the perfect trading vehicle for a 624 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:07,480 Speaker 1: short time before becoming the scapegoat for whatever crash is coming. 625 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,880 Speaker 1: If this is true, it would essentially mean that crypto 626 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:16,799 Speaker 1: either became or was explicitly created to function as a scapegoat. 627 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,320 Speaker 1: You know, it's getting pumped up into a bubble to 628 00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:27,719 Speaker 1: absorb ordinary existing inflationary pressure. That's a cool if that's true, 629 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:31,799 Speaker 1: that's a really impressive shell game. But it's currently very 630 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:35,160 Speaker 1: difficult to prove and it would also, let's be honest, 631 00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:40,839 Speaker 1: it would require some incredibly smart, dedicated people with an 632 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:45,000 Speaker 1: insanely sophisticated level of cooperation. I haven't seen proof for 633 00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:47,759 Speaker 1: it yet. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It take 634 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:51,279 Speaker 1: a ton of cooperation, or would it. I mean, you 635 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:55,319 Speaker 1: just think about the seven eight crash, and that all 636 00:41:55,400 --> 00:42:00,239 Speaker 1: had to do with the amount of exposure big institutions had, right, 637 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: the amount of money they had invested or tied up 638 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 1: with subprime assets and packages. Right. Um, in this case, 639 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,920 Speaker 1: if there when a major, major crash happens in the 640 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:17,800 Speaker 1: stock market rather than in the cryptocurrency world, you could blame, 641 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:23,000 Speaker 1: you know, the collapse of other major investing institutions on 642 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:27,359 Speaker 1: their exposure to cryptocurrency, because we know those major institutions 643 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:31,280 Speaker 1: are are investing more and more of their money into cryptocurrency, 644 00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:34,799 Speaker 1: not a ton of it right, not enough to play 645 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:37,680 Speaker 1: the scapegoat, I don't think, but I know they are 646 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:40,560 Speaker 1: investing millions of dollars. I mean, I think that's a 647 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:46,320 Speaker 1: valid point. Matt the there. I still have some issues 648 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,040 Speaker 1: with this though. I think it's really clever. And I 649 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:51,719 Speaker 1: will admit a little bit of a personal bias here 650 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,440 Speaker 1: because I missed the YouTube days where somebody with a 651 00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:59,520 Speaker 1: name like surf Daddy sixty nine whole hand x x 652 00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:03,000 Speaker 1: x would make a great point about the gold standard 653 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:05,319 Speaker 1: in the eighteen hundreds. It would be able to write 654 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,839 Speaker 1: back and say like, oh, that's a great point, uh, 655 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:11,799 Speaker 1: surf Daddy sixty nine x x x or whatever. Uh. 656 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,719 Speaker 1: But juicy Juice Juice does bring up I'm going to 657 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:22,439 Speaker 1: say that name is mutations, right. Um makes a good point, 658 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:24,359 Speaker 1: and I think you make a good point to their 659 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: The issue is that one would have to sort of 660 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:33,279 Speaker 1: you can imagine the circumstances that would lead to that, 661 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,760 Speaker 1: but we would have to if we were to prove 662 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,480 Speaker 1: that we would we would just need some more right, 663 00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:44,120 Speaker 1: which is why juicy juice juice is astute. When they 664 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,880 Speaker 1: call it a theory at this point, there's another crazy theory. 665 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:50,960 Speaker 1: I don't know how much time we want to spend 666 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:54,399 Speaker 1: on this one. But there's this idea that Russia may 667 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,680 Speaker 1: have added some high octane fuel to the fire because 668 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:03,040 Speaker 1: of their central bank statements. Russia's central bank came out 669 00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:08,120 Speaker 1: not too long ago and demanded a blanket ban across 670 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:12,560 Speaker 1: the board on not only any crypto trading, but any 671 00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:16,360 Speaker 1: crypto mining. They wanted to cut it off, to cauterize it, 672 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:21,080 Speaker 1: to amputate it from the system. They more or less 673 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,040 Speaker 1: called bitcoin a pyramid scheme, and they said, look, if 674 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,959 Speaker 1: we keep messing with bitcoin, it's gonna pose a risk 675 00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:32,720 Speaker 1: to the financial severenity of our nation. Which is funny 676 00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,799 Speaker 1: because you would think with all the problems Russia has 677 00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:39,120 Speaker 1: been having with things like Swift in other parts of 678 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:44,920 Speaker 1: the global banking system, they would welcome decentralized thing like 679 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:49,359 Speaker 1: a cryptocurrency, right, wouldn't logically makes sense? I mean yet 680 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,600 Speaker 1: to me, like, I don't know, I don't, I'm not 681 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:54,440 Speaker 1: the right person. I think the whole thing is a 682 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,920 Speaker 1: Ponzi scheme. Hey man, I got this magical thing. You 683 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 1: should buy it? How much is it? I don't know? Okay, awesome? 684 00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:05,920 Speaker 1: And then that present, Hey, check us out, how this 685 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:07,560 Speaker 1: thing I got you should buy it. How much is it? 686 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:13,200 Speaker 1: I don't know, twelve dollars? Okay? Great? And it works. 687 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:16,880 Speaker 1: It works so well until you're the person at the end. 688 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:21,000 Speaker 1: But now now we have to ask, like why does okay, 689 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:23,520 Speaker 1: why does Russia's opinion matter? You know what I mean? 690 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:28,520 Speaker 1: Like what if what if Bhutan or Canada or Chile 691 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,160 Speaker 1: or something, what if they said we don't like crypto? 692 00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:34,440 Speaker 1: So far, the only people have been unavowed Lee on 693 00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:37,200 Speaker 1: board with it or else Salvador and I hope it 694 00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:41,080 Speaker 1: works out for that country. But Russia's opinion matters more 695 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:45,120 Speaker 1: than most because for a time they were the third 696 00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:49,120 Speaker 1: largest bitcoin mining hub in the world. So if they're 697 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:53,240 Speaker 1: getting out of the game, that has a definite impact. 698 00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:55,920 Speaker 1: And this is long and short of it. These are 699 00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:59,240 Speaker 1: some of the conspiracies, These are some of the true factors, 700 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,439 Speaker 1: the things we can improve. Um, we have to ask, 701 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:05,040 Speaker 1: we have to close bask and what does this mean 702 00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:07,719 Speaker 1: for the future. For a lot of experts, a lot 703 00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:11,000 Speaker 1: of what Corporate America would call leaders in the space, 704 00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:16,040 Speaker 1: this crypto winter, unlike the previous three, seems set to 705 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:19,440 Speaker 1: continue for some time. I found a lot of estimates 706 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:24,880 Speaker 1: that commonly projected this would last for about two years 707 00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:29,920 Speaker 1: or so, But every reliable estimate or gues estimate about 708 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,319 Speaker 1: that that I found at least did note it's very 709 00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,239 Speaker 1: difficult to make a solid guest here due to all 710 00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:40,919 Speaker 1: the non crypto variables involved. You know, like what about 711 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:44,359 Speaker 1: the role of climate change? Does that affect it? People 712 00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:48,520 Speaker 1: don't know yet. Um And in an effort to be positive, 713 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,319 Speaker 1: I do want to point out this may not necessarily 714 00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:54,359 Speaker 1: be all bad news. If a bunch of people get 715 00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:58,640 Speaker 1: out of crypto, and and then maybe that will up 716 00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:03,080 Speaker 1: your chances of getting the GPUs that you wanted, or 717 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:05,680 Speaker 1: getting the chips that you need, or buying products that 718 00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,799 Speaker 1: have those chips. So maybe you can't get a PS five. 719 00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:12,560 Speaker 1: And also, if the price of bitcoin goes down, it's 720 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:14,800 Speaker 1: obvious they're going to be more people who might be 721 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:17,520 Speaker 1: interested in buying it while it's low, so there might 722 00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:20,680 Speaker 1: be more of what are called whole coiners. I never 723 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:24,400 Speaker 1: heard that phrase before. Whole coiners just means people with 724 00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:27,360 Speaker 1: one or more whole bitcoins in their wallet, because I 725 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:30,600 Speaker 1: think it's pretty it's pretty common nowadays for people to 726 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:34,759 Speaker 1: have a percentage of a bitcoin right like slice, not 727 00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:39,600 Speaker 1: many have to drop into a whole coin in one 728 00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:43,959 Speaker 1: go like that. I mean, yeah, that's it's just weird 729 00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:49,240 Speaker 1: to me because for so many individuals crypto has become 730 00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:53,040 Speaker 1: almost a retirement account. I was reading an article from 731 00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:57,520 Speaker 1: The Guardian written by a Syrian kale Um, and it 732 00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:01,960 Speaker 1: was just discussing the real human impact, the emotional like 733 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:06,600 Speaker 1: physical impact that the crash has been having on people. Um, 734 00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:10,839 Speaker 1: because it did at least for quite a time there, 735 00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:12,920 Speaker 1: and it still does for a lot of people. Um 736 00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:15,520 Speaker 1: seem like this is the way you could retire early, 737 00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:18,719 Speaker 1: Like take some of your whatever excess savings you make, 738 00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:21,640 Speaker 1: if you've got any, and invested in your bitcoin wallet 739 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:24,920 Speaker 1: or your theorum or whatever it is wallet, and hopefully 740 00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:27,279 Speaker 1: that will continue to grow into a point where you've 741 00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,600 Speaker 1: got enough money to retire in like five ten years, 742 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,759 Speaker 1: maybe even maybe in less time than that, depending on 743 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:37,279 Speaker 1: how high the ceiling is. But a big thing too 744 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:40,200 Speaker 1: in the I think maybe an investing community in general 745 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:43,680 Speaker 1: is when in doubt zoom out. Um. So you know, 746 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:46,719 Speaker 1: there have been dips like this in the past, maybe 747 00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:49,400 Speaker 1: not quite this so severe. But also let's remember that 748 00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:53,160 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency is still a really young thing compared to like 749 00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:56,160 Speaker 1: the stock market, and we certainly have seen the stock 750 00:48:56,239 --> 00:49:00,160 Speaker 1: market go horrible, horrible, terrifying places over the you know, 751 00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:03,960 Speaker 1: many many more years, and it's been around um, so 752 00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:06,120 Speaker 1: you can always just look at that graph and just 753 00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:08,680 Speaker 1: pull it out and you'll see those little ebbs and 754 00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,480 Speaker 1: flows that look much more like tiny little blips rather 755 00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:16,120 Speaker 1: than a huge, massive swings. Well said, guys, this this 756 00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:18,880 Speaker 1: is where, this is where we're at now, and this 757 00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:23,320 Speaker 1: is sort of the beginning. We may need to follow 758 00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:27,520 Speaker 1: up in future Strange News segment, or maybe we come 759 00:49:27,560 --> 00:49:33,520 Speaker 1: back and see if all the fears were unfounded and alarmist. 760 00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:37,440 Speaker 1: Maybe maybe we'll get to learn the real identity of Setoshi, 761 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:40,239 Speaker 1: in which case we're totally throwing the rest of our 762 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:44,399 Speaker 1: schedule out the window and and trying to interview him 763 00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:49,120 Speaker 1: or them or they or her or whomever used to 764 00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:57,480 Speaker 1: work at the Puzzle Palace and invented this daddy, lads, 765 00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:01,400 Speaker 1: and he said, I'm aid my bones off this, I 766 00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:04,600 Speaker 1: got I got that what twelve billion dollars or have 767 00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:09,359 Speaker 1: a many billion dollar mansion? Oh gosh, yeah, And it's 768 00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:12,520 Speaker 1: so you know, okay, I don't want to judge people's taste. 769 00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:16,160 Speaker 1: It's your mansion. Decorated how you want, but there's something 770 00:50:16,239 --> 00:50:19,759 Speaker 1: to be said for subtlety and aesthetic. I do want 771 00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:22,800 Speaker 1: to close this out today with so I don't know 772 00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:25,719 Speaker 1: if this will be a recurring segment where it's just 773 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:28,839 Speaker 1: a one and done, but we read so much fantastic 774 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:33,880 Speaker 1: work by so many people that Matt Noel Michigan control. 775 00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:35,759 Speaker 1: If you all are okay with it, I'd like to 776 00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:43,520 Speaker 1: do a little sound cue at an honorable mention. Our 777 00:50:43,680 --> 00:50:48,440 Speaker 1: honorable mention today goes to Zoe kleinman Is writing over 778 00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:52,040 Speaker 1: at the BBC guy. Zoe had my probably my favorite 779 00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:55,200 Speaker 1: beginning line of all the stuff I've read uh in 780 00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:59,879 Speaker 1: in this endeavor, like over the years. With bitcoin, Zoe says, 781 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:04,600 Speaker 1: the first rule of writing about bitcoin is don't write 782 00:51:04,600 --> 00:51:08,280 Speaker 1: about bitcoin. The story of the world's best known cryptocurrency 783 00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:11,839 Speaker 1: is astonishingly fast moving, and its fans will soon line 784 00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:15,040 Speaker 1: up to tell you you've got it all wrong. So 785 00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:17,719 Speaker 1: there you have it, adorable mentioned is zone looking forward 786 00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:19,960 Speaker 1: to the feedback. I'm sure I was. I've been down 787 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,440 Speaker 1: in this episode and it's just I'm sorry reading it. 788 00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:25,800 Speaker 1: Maybe it is just reading about so much of this 789 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:31,040 Speaker 1: and another crash like this um specifically that Guardian article 790 00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:34,600 Speaker 1: and one from Bloomberg by Emily Nicole and Olga Careif. 791 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:38,919 Speaker 1: It's just like pretty brutal. It just makes me feel 792 00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:43,360 Speaker 1: like somehow, somewhere, individual humans are being taken advantage of 793 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:47,400 Speaker 1: by the hype beast that is cryptocurrency and n f 794 00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:49,759 Speaker 1: T s and all all this stuff that's just out there. 795 00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,880 Speaker 1: It's just people get so into it and they become acolytes. 796 00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:54,960 Speaker 1: Not like you're talking about the people who have those 797 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:58,480 Speaker 1: phrases that sound like they should be on a you know, 798 00:51:58,680 --> 00:52:01,480 Speaker 1: on a little sign in your grandmother's kitchen or something. 799 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:04,279 Speaker 1: It's like whatever, what was it? Don't what was it? 800 00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:10,440 Speaker 1: Jump zoom? Something about zooming? Or like hold the what 801 00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:14,160 Speaker 1: is it? The one that's like, don't ever sell diamond hands. See, 802 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:16,319 Speaker 1: there's just like all of this, all this stuff. It's 803 00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:18,840 Speaker 1: like a cult. It's like this thing that's just like 804 00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:22,680 Speaker 1: it's designed to get everybody else into your thing, to 805 00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:26,200 Speaker 1: have these code words and cash phrases that make everybody 806 00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:27,919 Speaker 1: else want to be a part of that thing because 807 00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:29,919 Speaker 1: oh that's cool. I want to know what that phrase means. 808 00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:32,160 Speaker 1: I want to use that phrase on a regular basis 809 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:34,200 Speaker 1: because or at least be able to say that and 810 00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:36,960 Speaker 1: not feel silly. I don't know that. This whole thing 811 00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:40,120 Speaker 1: is just really bothering me. Sorry, crypto fans, I just 812 00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:42,759 Speaker 1: don't get it, and I don't I don't really like it. Well, 813 00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:47,480 Speaker 1: we're gonna see what develops right now. That's where we're at. 814 00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:51,279 Speaker 1: A new crypto winter is upon society. No one is 815 00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:54,080 Speaker 1: quite sure how it we'll pan out and less of 816 00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:58,360 Speaker 1: course there's something they don't want you to know, But 817 00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:01,279 Speaker 1: you know what we want to know, folks, We will 818 00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:04,759 Speaker 1: tell you. We want to know what you think. Is 819 00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:07,880 Speaker 1: there something more to this story? Is this just the 820 00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:12,160 Speaker 1: you know, the danger of large scale financial systems? Is 821 00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:15,680 Speaker 1: someone trying to sink crypto? Those are allegations we had 822 00:53:15,719 --> 00:53:18,160 Speaker 1: heard as well. We can't wait to hear your thoughts. 823 00:53:18,239 --> 00:53:21,080 Speaker 1: We endeavor to be easy to find online, we sure do. 824 00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:23,680 Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter, you can find us 825 00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:25,920 Speaker 1: on YouTube, and you can find us on Facebook. Out 826 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:29,000 Speaker 1: of the handle Conspiracy Stuff on Facebook, Please feel free 827 00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:31,760 Speaker 1: to join our group. Here's where it gets crazy. Share 828 00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:35,040 Speaker 1: all your cryptomuns with us. Really cool community, there lots 829 00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:38,320 Speaker 1: of good folks. You can also find this on Instagram 830 00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 1: where we are Conspiracy Stuff Show remember, you can pre 831 00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:46,040 Speaker 1: order our book right now. It comes out in October. 832 00:53:46,239 --> 00:53:48,680 Speaker 1: The more people who pre order, the awesom er it 833 00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:51,000 Speaker 1: is for the show. If you want to support us, 834 00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:53,560 Speaker 1: that is the best way to do it. We would 835 00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:57,200 Speaker 1: massively appreciate it if you took that step. Book is 836 00:53:57,239 --> 00:53:58,680 Speaker 1: called stuff they don't want you to know. You can 837 00:53:58,719 --> 00:54:02,319 Speaker 1: find it on Amazon everywhere else books are sold. If 838 00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:04,160 Speaker 1: you don't want to read, we get it. Maybe you 839 00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:07,080 Speaker 1: want to just talk with us, and if so, we've 840 00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:09,520 Speaker 1: got a phone number. The rumors are true. Also to 841 00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:13,800 Speaker 1: back up, Matt, Yeah, order our book. If I'll say it, 842 00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:15,920 Speaker 1: I'll do it. I'll put on me. If you send 843 00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:19,200 Speaker 1: me proof that you have pre ordered the book, then 844 00:54:19,400 --> 00:54:21,719 Speaker 1: I will record a thank you message and I will 845 00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:23,840 Speaker 1: send it to you. You have my word on that. 846 00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:26,400 Speaker 1: I don't know if it will be a funny message, 847 00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:29,040 Speaker 1: but we'll see how it goes in the meantime. As 848 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:31,040 Speaker 1: you said, Matt, we do have a phone number. It 849 00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:35,480 Speaker 1: is one eight three three st d w y t K. 850 00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:39,879 Speaker 1: Call in. You'll have a familiar voice telling you you're 851 00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:42,080 Speaker 1: in the right place. You'll hear a beep just like 852 00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:44,720 Speaker 1: any other answering machine, and then you get three minutes, 853 00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:47,680 Speaker 1: there yours go nuts, make of them what you will. 854 00:54:48,200 --> 00:54:51,320 Speaker 1: We ask that you give yourself a cool nickname, a 855 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:55,279 Speaker 1: moniker and alias, let us know if we can use 856 00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:59,680 Speaker 1: your name and or voice on air, and perhaps most importantly, 857 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:03,520 Speaker 1: if you have a story that needs more than three minutes. 858 00:55:04,080 --> 00:55:07,440 Speaker 1: Always feel free to write to us directly, send us 859 00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:11,759 Speaker 1: ancillary links, send us videos. Were sponges. We get all 860 00:55:11,840 --> 00:55:14,279 Speaker 1: of that. We read every single email we get. All 861 00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:15,960 Speaker 1: you have to do is drop us a line where 862 00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:37,799 Speaker 1: we are conspiracy at iHeart radio dot com. Stuff they 863 00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:39,680 Speaker 1: don't want you to know is a production of I 864 00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:42,960 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 865 00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:45,680 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 866 00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:46,960 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.