Tamám Shud retweeted
In this hypothetical 2028 AI-driven crisis, with markets crashing and unemployment soaring, Bitcoin could serve as a digital store of value, attracting investors seeking hedges against fiat instability and inflation from potential stimulus. However, its volatility might amplify in a downturn, and AI-optimized trading could increase market swings. Stablecoins get a nod in the article for payments, but Bitcoin's role would likely focus on wealth preservation amid economic unraveling.
Tamám Shud retweeted
America will be the Bitcoin superpower of the world.
The Golden Age of America has BEGUN!
Tamám Shud retweeted
'but there’s so much more to this industry than the infighting and one coin versus another time-wasting rhetoric.'... remember this Brad!
Tamám Shud retweeted
🚨DEEPER DIVE: So, @realDonaldTrump’s Executive Order calls for two separate things — a strategic reserve and a stockpile.
The strategic reserve will contain only $BTC (the digital asset with the most store of value) using the 200,000 or so tokens already in the government’s possession that has been seized over the years through criminal and civil forfeiture. Sacks says Bessent and Lutnick have also been given authorization to explore means of acquiring more bitcoin through avenues that will not cost the taxpayer.
The EO also mandates a full audit of all the digital assets currently in the government’s possession.
The other is a digital asset stockpile containing assets other than bitcoin — presumably $XRP, $ADA, $ETH and $SOL (as announced by the President last weekend) and potentially others.
The key difference between the reserve and the stockpile is that the government will not actively look for ways to purchase more of the assets contained in the stockpile. It will only explore using government funds (if they can find budget neutral ways to do that) on buying $BTC.
Sacks says the purpose of the stockpile is “responsible stewardship of the government’s digital assets under the @USTreasury.”
🚨JUST IN: White House Crypto Czar @davidsacks47 says @realDonaldTrump has just signed an Executive Order to establish a strategic $BTC reserve using assets already owned by the federal government.
He says the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce (@howardlutnick and Scott Bessent) are also authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers.
Separately, a digital asset stockpile will be created that includes other cryptocurrencies aside from bitcoin using seized assets already owned by the government.
Tamám Shud retweeted
Yes, I can confirm that I have spoken to @howardlutnick Tuesday night and that’s what he told me —Ksenija Pavlovic McAteer
Tamám Shud retweeted
Emergency Press Conference: Ripple is undermining American prosperity, freedom, and Bitcoin.
Ripple is actively lobbying to stop a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve in the U.S. while pushing their centralized, corporate-controlled token.
We will not stand for it.
Tamám Shud retweeted
@Cobratate Announces a National Bitcoin Reserve if elected as UK Prime Minister, could it happen?
Tamám Shud retweeted
Cowtowing.
Abandonment of principles driving tourism, values-aligned. Betrayal of Bitcoiners. Sycophantry on the 6 people talking about this and the 60k ignoring it.
finance.yahoo.com/news/el-sa…
Direct quote from the article:
"The potential risks of the Bitcoin project will be diminished significantly in line with Fund policies," the IMF announcement said. Legal reforms will make acceptance of Bitcoin by the private sector voluntary. For the public sector, engagement in Bitcoin-related economic activities and transactions in and purchases of Bitcoin will be confined."
Insignificant in practice, based on local adoption rates. "He's playing 5d chess."
I don't think so. Remotely.
Bukele, at first blush, seems to be putting Salvadorans first. This is noble, understandable, and righteous.
The downside of this is people like me who were inclined to start a business here, talk to others about moving here, etc is diminished. Considering the level of my economic activity vs others, for each of the "Bitcoiner" people you exclude, this equates to a 10x-1000x the average local salary. There are still strong legal incentives to stay in El Salvador and/or create businesses here, but the costs for anyone who isn't a cult-member are enormous.
I'm not very well-known, and based on convos with other expats, I'm viewed as approximately a "negative person." So, keep that in mind--I am not the most popular Bitcoiner living in El Salvador.
I'll need to read more articles and the local stuff in Spanish to truly understand what's going on--perhaps Bukele has the upper hand here... I hope so.
Regardless, at a surface level I view this as an abject betrayal of the Bitcoin community that has provided this country with patronage and tourism dollars, and I would dissuade any Bitcoiner from spending their cash in El Salvador at all until this situation becomes clear.
Why?
The "Bitcoin Country" narrative seems to be dead by this decision. There's still a lot of positives to El Salvador, including tax treatment and 0% tax for tech/etc companies until 2039, but anyone with enough money/etc to create one of these companies already knows how to structure a business with tax advantages.
"Bitcoin country" is now "expat enclave." It really doesn't matter to the locals whether you buy in Bitcoin for small purchases, they'll all prefer efectivo (cash), but for larger purchases like cars/houses/etc, this option is dead in the water. It is exceedingly common here for large purchases to occur in physical cash, including homes, at roughly a 90%+ rate. For used cars, it's a 99% rate. It is also difficult to acquire financing or accomplish any sort of large transfers outside of Bitcoin, requires reporting, etc. And to this end...
Real estate in El Salvador is exorbitantly expensive, unrealistic, and clinically retarded.
Across the street from us, a house has been for sale at a $250k price point, with linoleum tiles, 3457 chickens next door, etc. The location is "great" but this house, in small town American terms, is worth $90k to $110k max. It hasn't sold for the last 8 months it's been listed. I've seen other properties like a 1 acre spread on top of a mountain in Tamanique(ish) with ocean views retail for $450k, only accessible by a 20 minute "sporty" dirtbike ride. I've ridden this route in the last 6 weeks, on a dirtbike, and it is gorgeous--but imagine laying plumbing, electricity, etc? Good luck. $450k an acre for a property that is literally 20+ minutes from "civilization" meaning a bus stop and two houses is insanity, greed, and really fucking stupid. The whole country is drunk on Bitcoiner dollars, not Bitcoin, because 99.5% of Salvadorans instantly convert BTC to USD and won't adopt BTC unless it allows them to fleece Bitcoiner tourists and get "real money" in their bank accounts.
But this is El Salvador real estate!!! Please.
Compare this to Guatemala or Nicaragua. You're likely to have more crime/etc, but you're going to pay 40%/10% respectively. In a place like Nica, I can buy 2-3 houses for the same price as El Salvador in a shit house made out of "locally-sourced" cinder blocks that's designed, engineered, and built by "experts" who designed my master shower/toilet, which still dumps literal shit water into my kitchen every time we flush, to the point where we have a towel next to the wall in our kitchen to absorb it and dread taking showers or using the toilet in our bedroom. This is not a quality build, and ES prices are outside the normal realm for nearby countries.
$1.4 billion? From the IMF? Good idea?
"Great" as a loan. But it's not going to grow the economy, it's just going to finance public works, similar to the last 6 months where they've done 1/8th block at at a time for 8 weeks at a time in my city. In order to grow the economy, you need to be bold and attract top talent and take a stance nobody else has the guts to take... and this recent agreement seems to eviscerate it. For $1.4b lousy, dirty dollars. Et tu, brute?
@WilliamSorianoH (Congressman from La Union, south/east in the country) has been trying to reform capital controls, banking, investment banking, etc for months and basically the only fucks given are from 7 people, of which I'm 1/7... $1.4b sounds like a lot, but the economic output of a few big startups based out of El Salvador is achievable, if the incentives are aligned. I've written an article about this: nitter.cf/rorshockbtc/status/182…. If only we could build in a place that makes it easy to build, we'd thrive. But no; this recent IMF partnership betrays what was promised.
In short, I do not see a big impact in the daily life of Salvadoreños. Not initially. But I can tell you that my interest in investing in the country, growing the economy, etc is dramatically diminished. I don't even know if we want to stay here, because living under "martial law" for someone who makes a deal with his previous enemy is... why bother? Might as well move to a corrupt country with a good local arrangement and make an impact there, at less than half the cost, for the same if not higher benefit. I can buy Guatemalan citizenship for $75k and Max/et al want $1m for the exact same permissions and an ES passport? I literally cannot contain the lolz.
I'll need more time to think on this, figure it out, research the implications, etc. At first blush, I don't think there's been a greater betrayal of Bitcoin maxis since Roger Ver went rogue in 16/17. I do not view this as a positive for Bitcoin, and without excessive marketing from you-know-who, I don't see it as effective for El Salvador either.
Tamám Shud retweeted
🇸🇻We just transferred over a million dollars worth of Bitcoin to our Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Tamám Shud retweeted
Bitcoin is a better investment than Swiss hotels or restaurants or car factories because bitcoin is offering a far more valuable product to the world: a replacement for central banks. Since central banks are the absolute worst, most criminal and most destructive thing on earth, there is an enormous market reward for anyone that can put offer people an alternative. When you buy bitcoin, you are growing the bitcoin pool of liquidity and offering people a money better than central bank slavery. You're making bitcoin better and the market rewards you for your investment. The world needs a central bank replacement a lot more than Switzerland needs another hotel.
But this is a transitory phase that cannot last forever. Bitcoin can't keep replacing central banks forever. Eventually it replaces them all and when they and all their shitcoins are dead, bitcoin won't be making enormous returns anymore. It only makes enormous return by eating other crappy moneys , but when all the crappy moneys die, bitcoin only grows in value as the production of other goods increases. It will only appreciate at 1-5% per year in terms of most goods and services. At that point, Swiss hotels become attractive again.
Deflation is NOT a bad thing, and this is the biggest and most criminal psyop ever perpetuated on humanity, because everything evil is downstream from government inflation, and this is the justification for inflation. Deflation is just another word for economic growth. It is completely normal and good that things become cheaper over time. That's why we work. Work produces things and when things become more abundant they become cheaper. The market chooses the money that is the hardest to make precisely because the limit on supply growth makes it depreicate the least. The natural order is that everything gets cheaper. This does NOT mean that nobody would be consuming or investing. People do not consume just because they expect their money to depreciate. They consume to survive and to enjoy life. It doesn't matter how much cheaper you expect food, clothing, phones,or shelter will be next year. You want these things today and will pay for them today to use them today. Everyone knows their laptop and phone will be significantly cheaper next year and yet they all buy it. It's true that appreciating money will make you less likely to spend money on frivolous bullshit you don't need, and that's a good thing. Debt-fueled mass consumption is a moral disaster for humanity and Bitcoin can't kill it soon enough. The world doesn't need you to waste money on stupid bullshit.
And people don't just invest because they expect money to depreciate. They invest because productive activity produces a surplus over holding money. And the key thing to remember is that money would not appreciate if people weren't investing and producing. So it's impossible to imagine a scenario where nobody invests but money appreciates.
In sum, deflation is great, and it is the absolute best thing about bitcoin. Bitcoin being deflationary makes it the best investment opportunity in the world for as long as central banks exist. You are being perfectly rational to not want to invest in things that aren't as productive, morally imperative, and important as ending central banks. There'll be plenty of time and money for Swiss hotels when central banks are dead.
Tamám Shud retweeted
You just articulated one of the best parts about Bitcoin.
It will make everything more affordable. Here's how:
Without Bitcoin, you're forced to invest in a bunch of random stuff to grow your purchasing power.
Hotels, homes, speculative startups, etc.
Sure you know a bunch of it will fail, but you have so much cash that you just spray and pray that something hits and makes up for the losses.
That's capital misallocation. And it's happening at scale.
It inflates the price of everything for everyone.
Including homes that people need.
So what happens when people start stacking Bitcoin instead of dumping money into real estate investments?
The price of homes that people actually need to live in will fall.
Prices are truth.
They are the market's way of telling you the relative value of things.
So if your buddy can't get anyone to dump $16 million into a hotel, that means he's holding the bag.
He (or the bank that owns the hotel) needs to revalue the hotel much lower to whatever the clearing price is.
That's what happens when you play around with 20th century stores of value at the dawn of Bitcoin.
Asset holders need to adapt or die.
The price of real estate will continue to fall relative to Bitcoin because it's a terrible store of value compared to BTC.
Insurance costs, property tax, maintenance costs, tenant headaches, natural disaster risk, pandemic risks, etc...
Capitalism won't stop though.
At a certain point, Bitcoin returns slow down when it's properly priced closer to ~$10 million a coin in today's terms.
And then it may make sense to buy equity in businesses that can offer cash-flow or rapid growth opportunities.
But it's important to remember: People won't stop consuming just because they have Bitcoin.
When someone has surplus wealth, they eventually value time/experiences/material comfort more than incremental wealth.
Or they may want to fund entrepreneurs for excitement / challenge / impact.
And so Bitcoin will incentivize people to save and carefully allocate capital, but once they have "enough" - they will still trade some of their Bitcoin for goods and services.
One last thing:
You said deflation is a bad thing.
Deflation is coming no matter what.
When AI and robots are doing 90% of our work, that's massively deflationary because they can do things way faster and cheaper than humans.
Which should make the price of everything fall.
But you're right that deflation is bad for a debt-based economy because you can't pay back debt if the currency the debt is denominated in gets more valuable.
That's why central banks debase currencies to make sure the debt based economy doesn't implode.
So right now, instead of letting technology gains make things cheaper for everyone, central banks actually make sure we all face 2% growth in prices every year.
And they'll debase the currency as much as they need to to make sure prices grow instead of fall.
Which is why things get worse every year if you're stuck in the fiat system.
Luckily anyone can opt out of the inflationary system right now by adopting finite Bitcoin.
Bitcoiners are already living in a deflationary world.
We're getting the full benefit of humanity's increasing productivity.
Everything around us is getting vastly cheaper every four years.
Anyone can opt into this deflationary system at anytime and get the full benefit of the AI / robotic revolution that is just beginning.
Tamám Shud retweeted
No capital gains tax on bitcoin has just been passed in The Czech Republic with all members of the parliament voting for it 🇨🇿🔥
