🧠Quote(s) of the week:
‘When you understand Bitcoin there is no way back. You will look at the system in a whole new way. Your friends and family will think you’re crazy. Choose wisely.’
― Bitcoin for Freedom

"3 rules that are a cheat code for life:
1. Create value for others
2. Spend less than you earn
3. Save in Bitcoin"
― BTC Sessions
🧡Bitcoin news🧡

9th of April:
➡Japanese firm Metaplanet buys ¥1B ($6.5M) of Bitcoin, mirroring MicroStrategy's strategy. The company's shares jumped 90% following the announcement.

11th of April:
➡SEC to file lawsuit against defi crypto platform Uniswap - Reuters
This is why Satoshi disappeared and made Bitcoin impervious to government attacks.

12th of April:
➡IMF demands El Salvador change its Bitcoin law in return for a $1.4 billion loan. (please read the part on the IMF below -> segment Macro/geopolitics.) How I read this statement, the IMF is annoyed at the mere existence of Bitcoin. Basically, they are saying: Sell your 'hard' money and get indebted to us.

➡"The more energy Bitcoin mining uses, the more emissions it can reduce
35 midsized venting landfills running Bitcoin mining is all it takes for Bitcoin mining to be the
world's first emission-negative industry
Achieved organically, without subsidy, without purchasing offsets." - Daniel Batten
Could it be possible for Bitcoin to save the environment with its Proof-of-Work design and be the main player in the 'green' energy revolution?

13th of April:
➡Paraguay Senate approves resolution to sell energy surplus to bitcoin miners, criticizes sale of energy to Brazil for 25% of what bitcoin mining generates, directs this energy to 20 new bitcoin mining companies instead. Remember Paraguay is a large hydroelectricity producer and Bitcoin could be the answer.

I am pretty sure that Bitcoin will be the primary engine of prosperity in the 21st century. Countries like El Salvador, and Paraguay but also several countries in Africa will lead the way.

14th of April:
➡UFC lightweight Renato Moicano: "If you care about your country, read Ludwig Von Mises' 6 lessons of the Austrian Economic School motherf*ckers".
He also demanded his fight bonus in Bitcoin.
He is referring to, it’s a series of six lectures Mises gave in Argentina in 1958, later combined into a book: “Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow”:
1. Capitalism
2. Socialism
3. Interventionism
4. Inflation
5. Foreign Investment
6. Policies and Ideas
Full read: https://cdn.mises.org/Economic%20Policy%20Thoughts%20for%20Today%20and%20Tomorrow_3.pdf

➡The number of addresses holding more than 1 Bitcoin peaked in January 2024 at 1,024,484 and has fallen by 13,000 since.

15th of April:
➡Norway became the first country in Europe to introduce regulations for data centers aimed at controlling which projects are permitted.
Cites emissions, and energy consumption control. They state Bitcoin mining “is an example of a type of business we do not want in Norway”
They are not going to ban mining. They want to force data centers to report to the government what kind of processes they are doing. Still bad though! Why, because it is misguided, ineffective, and futile. If electric cars = zero-emission... electric miners too. Are they going to ban or regulate EV cars too?
Clown policy that will backfire badly for a country already going through a currency crisis and for a failing continent, Europe.
Read the following thread by Daniel Batten.

https://twitter.com/DSBatten/status/1779859225809990116

Ergo: Politicians have no clue or are being paid to not understand things that benefit society/their people.

➡Germany's biggest Federal bank LBBW to launch Bitcoin custody services to institutional customers.

Bitcoin ETF news:
"Weekly Bitcoin ETF Flows:
IBIT +7,000 BTC
FBTC + 1,300 BTC
GBTC -11,000 BTC
Net Flows - 1,100 BTC
In a week of GBTC Sales, CPI freak outs and War fears, Bitcoin holds 67K and has slight outflows."- Thomas Fahrer

On the 9th of April:
➡The value of BlackRock’s Bitcoin holdings jumps to $18.9 Billion.
➡Fidelity now holds 150K Bitcoin worth over $10 Billion.

On the 11th of April:
➡Asia ETF's
- Hong Kong approving Bitcoin ETFs
- South Korea will approve Bitcoin ETFs
- Chinese fund managers launching Bitcoin ETFs
US Bitcoin ETFs pushed the price from $38K to $73K.

South Korea's pro-Bitcoin Democratic Party has won the national election to form a government. More than 6 million South Koreans — over 10% of the population own Bitcoin or crypto.
DP: "We're going to allow the ETFs, domestic or overseas."

➡GBTC sees the smallest outflow since the launch of the Bitcoin ETFs with just $17.5 million leaving the fund on the 11th of April.

15th of April:
➡Hong Kong just approved the first batch of Bitcoin ETFs

➡"Since launching on Jan 10, U.S. ETFs, even including all GBTC sales, have amassed 222,000 Bitcoin in just 65 trading days—that's 3,415 BTC daily!
Now Hong Kong ETFs join the game, just as the weak hands have folded and miners have half as much to sell." - Thomas Fahrer

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽 'BlackRock is eating the world: Hits record $10.5tn in assets under management in Q1 2024, +15% YoY, boosted by $57bn of total net inflows to its investment products.'

👉🏽Here's a crazy stat that no one will believe.
The universal investment benchmark is the 60/40 portfolio of stocks and bonds.
What if you replaced the bonds entirely with gold....crazy right?
Turns out it makes no real difference.
(picture 2)

Now wait till they do Bitcoin.

👉🏽This time is different:
(picture 3)

🏦Banks:
👉🏽no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 9th of April:
👉🏽"The EU must find ‘enormous amount’ of money to face global challenges, says former ECB chief Mario Draghi."
Money Printer go brrrr to infinity…because 'Whatever it takes' - Draghi
How?
Print
Confiscate
Tax(visible)
Tax (hidden)
Government “Innovation”.

👉🏽Constant QE or default are the only ways out. And financial repression is the default, just in slow motion.
(See picture 4)
'This assumes no recessions or geopolitical events for the next few decades.
Japanese-style financial repression is the only way out of this mess. Or what other viable options are there?'

👉🏽"The federal budget deficit totaled $1.1 trillion in the first half of fiscal year 2024, CBO estimates"
'And yet, just over a month ago, the same CBO released their report projecting a $1.5T deficit for the entire year. At this rate, the deficit will be $2.2T, a 47% overshoot and even higher than the projected deficit in 2031.' - James Lavish
The US spending is out of control and it's getting worse at an exponential rate. Within one month, they (CBO) posted a 47% overshoot on the largest budget in world history.
The whole US budget, but also here in Europe, implodes around 2030 - 2035 at the latest. A new system will rise...the only question you need to ask yourself will it be Bitcoin or CBCD's? (Picture 5)

On the 10th of April:
👉🏽March CPI inflation rate UP to 3.5%
- Above expectations of 3.4%.
- Cor inflation is 3.8%, also higher than expected rate of 3.7%.
3 straight years with inflation over 3%
They said "Inflation is transitory"
'Inflation has not fallen in a single month since Biden's term began (the closest was July 2022 when it was unchanged), which leaves overall prices up over 19% since Bodenomics was unleashed. And prices have never been higher.'- Zerohedge
This means that overall prices are up a whopping 19% in less than 4 years.
We have not had a year-over-year inflation print below 3% in 36 consecutive months.
Furthermore, inflation has been above the Fed's 2% target for 37 straight months.
Inflation is now building on previous years of inflation; we effectively have compounding inflation. Everyone should be asking for a 20% raise.

👉🏽For the less informed.
Price inflation at every fast food restaurant in the US has far exceeded CPI inflation since 2014.
Prices at McDonald's have DOUBLED since 2014 while official inflation data shows just 31% inflation.
Prices at Popeyes, Taco Bell, and Chipotle have risen by 86%, 81%, and 75%, respectively.
Traditionally, fast food was considered to be a "cheap" food option.
The CPI is a lie it’s manipulated to be lower than real inflation.

👉🏽On the same day, the US 10-year Treasuries had their worst day since May 2023, with yields surging after the one-two punch of a hot CPI and a bad auction. Peter Boockvar: "10-year auction was bad...Dealers were left with 24% of the auction, which is the most since Nov. 2022."

👉🏽China has been buying more gold than any other nation since 2020, with India in second place.
Can we call this DeDollarization?
(picture 6)

More on China...
👉🏽"Following Moody's in December, Fitch Ratings revised the China debt outlook to negative from stable.
China's pace of debt accumulation is very problematic. Public debt has more than doubled since the Great Financial Crisis and is heading to above 100% of GDP.
More importantly, total debt has ballooned from 133% in 2008 to 272%(!) in 2022. It will have risen again in 2023.
The current 10-year Chinese bond yield is at 2.29%, which is extremely low for a country that expects to grow by 5% annually. Coincidence? Of course not! China has the same debt sustainability issues as every other major economy, and rating agencies must act." - Jeroen Blokland

On the 11th of April:
👉🏽IMF Prepares Financial Revolution – Say Goodbye To The Dollar
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/imf-prepares-financial-revolution-say-goodbye-dollar
The only thing I can say on this is:
- I am not surprised
- Please reject CBDCs with everything you have. The centralization of digital currencies will never work!
- The IMF is not elected!

Anyway, no need to panic whatsoever. The IMF probably goes before the dollar. The dollar is and will be the number one (fiat) currency of the world.

On the 12th of April:
👉🏽"Another strange sign that someone knows something:
Gold is up ~20% over the last 5 months and has doubled the S&P 500's return.
Meanwhile, bonds are down nearly 9% as interest rate cuts are priced out.
Historically speaking, gold and bonds have almost always traded together.
There is now a ~30% GAP between the performance of gold and bonds, one of the 5-month divergences largest on record.
Gold is completely ignoring the fact that higher interest rates are here to stay while bonds are getting crushed." - TKL
Central banks /countries are selling their debt portfolios and buying gold. That would be my take. The financialization of everything era is over.

On the 15th of April:
👉🏽'The US credit card delinquency rates are now at their highest on record, according to the Philadelphia Fed.
In Q4 2023, more credit card balances were 30+ and 60+ days past due compared to any other period in history.
The percentage of credit card balances at least 30 days past due is now ~3.5%.
Meanwhile, total credit card debt has skyrocketed in recent months and is now at a record $1.3 trillion.
The average credit card interest rate is also at a record 28%, according to Forbes.' - TKL

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

Warmaking has become increasingly unlimited in the fiat age, as financing has moved away from war taxes and war bonds and towards quiet borrowing

This is a very well-documented essay and thread with data and statistic by nostr:npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu :
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/how-the-fed-hides-costs-of-war

Book tip: Read The Creature from Jekyll Island.

Extra gift!🎁
Your wealth is melting—the first report by Joe Burnett is 37 pages exploring how humanity's relationship with wealth has changed after the discovery of Bitcoin.
https://8198895.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8198895/PDFs/Your%20wealth%20is%20melting-1.pdf
nostr:npub1z5ds93lv6uky7n4676txw7aqp9qdcyhs00qdsmy96s4k6qd8rvaqnzmqhw

Only invest in Bitcoin what you can’t afford to have gradually stolen from you by the government.

Credit: I have used multiple sources!
My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats.
#zap  🧡 #weeklyrecap #nostr
  #plebchain

#BTC

#Bitcoin

#zap🧡

#plebchain

#grownostr

#stacksats

#bitcoineducation

#adoption https://image.nostr.build/fe5fb0ceba2af3cb920697d4a88d465334048ad35227fe6f6a95efffafdb555a.jpg https://image.nostr.build/9ca73dbad8bb1e62db47e859de1012ce1a4f2a8d954bf9945aea8584487fa7ef.jpg https://image.nostr.build/ff2892a99426ac5afdced0a2bc31664c3b4894b86a0bf314078b23675aebae74.jpg https://image.nostr.build/b1a2134aa5cb1397482068d67a5ad752fd1e68219ad33717ac8518c79bf6aa54.jpg https://image.nostr.build/ca2f07bd8d39c6f8b6d73b1ab7dbe94b0b1f97d036a4e178e98a4e725c5906ac.jpg https://image.nostr.build/b849d985a251c65674d28b31b9f5f1256c26731fb7632c90b2635ade5a7bc230.jpg


UFC lightweight Renato Moicano 🎤:

"If you care about your country, read Ludwig Von Mises' 6 lessons of the Austrian Economic School motherf*ckers"

MMA fighters shilling Austrian Econ, classic!👀🔥

Ludwig von Mises - 6 Lessons of Austrian Economics School 🧵

1. Subjective Value Theory: Economic value is subjective and varies from person to person. This theory underlines the idea that individuals assign value to goods and services based on their own preferences and needs.

2. Methodological Individualism: Methodological approach that focuses on individual human action as the fundamental unit of analysis in economics. This perspective highlights the importance of understanding the actions and decisions of individuals in shaping economic outcomes.

3. The Calculation Problem: In a centrally planned economy, without the use of market prices for the means of production, rational economic calculation becomes impossible, leading to inefficiency and resource misallocation.

4. Spontaneous Order: Suggests that complex social phenomena, including economic systems, emerge organically from the interactions of individuals pursuing their own interests. This idea contrasts with central planning and highlights the benefits of decentralized decision-making.

5. Time Preference Theory: It explains how individuals value present consumption over future consumption. This theory helps to understand saving, investment, and interest rates in the economy.

6. The Business Cycle Theory: Business cycles are primarily caused by fluctuations in the money supply, particularly through credit expansion by central banks. He emphasized the importance of maintaining a stable monetary system to avoid economic instability.

Read Mises, study Bitcoin!🧡

Study, learn, hodl, decouple.
#bitcoin                 🧡
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats. 🧡

Felipe - BitcoinFriday

#zap                   🧡   #nostr                     #BTC                    #Bitcoin                   #plebchain                      #grownostr    #stacksats #bitcoineducation #adoption


🧠Quote(s) of the week:

"FIAT = politics for growing your own currency and its dominance at the expense of others.
BITCOIN = a movement for growing a currency and its dominance at the expense of no one else, but through synergy and spontaneous emergence.

They are not the same.
They are the opposite."
― Arnold Hubach

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

➡El Salvador offers 5,000 free passports to highly skilled scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, and philosophers from abroad.
This will grant them full citizen status, including voting rights.

Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador:
'We're offering 5,000 free passports (equivalent to $5 billion in our passport program) to highly skilled scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, and philosophers from abroad.

This represents less than 0.1% of our population, so granting them full citizen status, including voting rights, poses no issue.

Despite the small number, their contributions will have a huge impact on our society and the future of our country.

Plus, we will facilitate their relocation by ensuring 0% taxes and tariffs on moving families and assets. This includes commercial value items like equipment, software, and intellectual property.'

➡On-chain data from GlassNode reveals that approximately 1.876 million Bitcoin, or 9.5% of the total supply, have been acquired above $60,000.

➡ 'The satoshi millionaires continue to gain ground, now holding over 17% of the total supply. Stay humble and stack sats.' - Wicked

➡Bitcoin has been a profitable investment 99.92% of the days since its launch on January 3, 2009.
This means there have only been a tiny handful of days, just six to be exact, where investing in Bitcoin wouldn't have turned a profit.

➡Bitcoin miner Bitfarms invests $240M to acquire 28,000 Bitmain T21 miners.

➡Talking about mining.
'In the last four years, emission intensity has fallen by 348g/kWh.
That's 29x faster than the banking sector is greening its emission intensity.
No industry has ever dropped its emission intensity so fast. It happened primarily because Bitcoin sustainable energy mix rose 56%.' -Daniel Batten

➡Kingdom of Bhutan to increase mining capacity 6x ahead of the Bitcoin halving to 600 megawatts.

➡On the first of April:
'Exactly 11 years ago, Bitcoin broke a $1 billion market cap for the 1st time.
1000x later, economists are still "mystified".
Mainstream economists are mystified because they can’t deal with reality most of the time.
At $1.3+ Trillion, Bitcoin's market capitalization exceeds the top 4 largest banks in the world, COMBINED. No wonder banksters are afraid.

➡"Financial planning firm Burkett Financial Services, reported owning 602 shares of BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF as of March 31. This kicks off what is expected to be a HUGE month of SEC filings by firms that own
Bitcoin ETFs."- Bitcoin Archive

➡Coinbase integrating Lightning.
Bitcoin on lightning rails isn't just the future - it's here! Coinbase has over 100 million users. Better late than never Coinbase, it only took them like 7 years. Oh well, it's great news to see more adoption of the Lightning Network.

➡"The State of Louisiana (with a unanimous 103-0 vote) Passes a Bill To Protect Your 'Fundamental Bitcoin Rights' out of the State House.
Louisiana is taking decisive steps to safeguard the freedom of Bitcoin-related activities within the state.
Upon enactment, this legislation will explicitly ensure protection for:

-The guaranteed right to purchase Bitcoin.
-Your freedom for Bitcoin mining.
-The right to self-custody of your digital assets.
-The freedom to operate a full node." - Dennis Porter

➡$932 Billion asset manager DWS launches physical Bitcoin ETC in Germany.
DWS partners with Galaxy Digital to offer the "Xtrackers Galaxy Physical Bitcoin ETC" in Germany.
The product is 1:1 "physically backed" utilizing two cryptocurrency custodians, Zodia Custody and Coinbase
Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/900-billion-dws-launches-physical-bitcoin-etc-in-germany

Not sure about the 'physically backed' part, but still kinda bullish.

Bitcoin ETF news:

➡Eric Balchunas reports that BlackRock has updated its Bitcoin ETF prospectus, adding Citadel, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Citigroup. This marks a major shift: big firms are now eager and comfortable with public association with Bitcoin.

➡Australia's first Bitcoin ETF to go live this year, says asset manager Monochrome

➡Morgan Stanley and UBS Reportedly Competing to Launch First Bitcoin ETF.
Reports suggest that Morgan Stanley appears poised to edge out UBS in this race, with insider sources indicating that an announcement could be imminent.

➡Korea to approve Bitcoin ETFs if pro-Bitcoin opposition wins election in 4 days – Bloomberg
"We're going to allow the ETFs, domestic or overseas."
More than 6 million South Koreans — over 10% of the population own Bitcoin or crypto.

➡ Bitcoin spot ETFs have siphoned over 4% of the total supply of Bitcoin since January 11, according to analysis from IntoTheBlock.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

What can you expect this week in the traditional financial market?
Main highlight ahead:
In the US, we have CPI, the FOMC minutes, and PPI. In Europe, it’s the euro area Sentix, ECB policy meeting, and UK GDP. And in Asia, we have the China and India CPI and RBNZ meeting.

👉🏽 'The US stock market now accounts for a massive ~45% of total global market cap.
Since 2008, the US share has risen by ~15% to its largest since 2004.
The US equity market size is now larger than India, China, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, UK, France, and Japan COMBINED.
US stocks also account for almost 65% and more than 70% of the MSCI ACWI and the MSCI World indexes, respectively.
To put this in perspective, Nvidia, alone exceeds the GDP of all but 11 countries in the world. The top 10% of S&P 500 stocks now account for 75% of the index's market cap.
This is an even higher percentage than the peak of the Dot-com bubble.' - TKL

👉🏽Gold price surged over $2300 an ounce, a new record high.
Since February 14th, gold is up an incredible $300/oz or 15% in less than 2 months.
Even as 3 interest rate cuts have been removed from market forecasts, gold is pushing higher.
Geopolitical tensions and renewed inflation worries have been the primary drivers.

🏦Banks:
👉🏽no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

👉🏽"This week, France reported a 5.5% budget deficit for 2023 and that it won't be able to push the deficit to below 3% of GDP until at least 2027. Italy will post a 7% deficit for 2023, not declining to less than 3% until at least 2026. In the US, the budget deficit for 2023 will be over 6% and remain above 5% until 2027, after which it will start to increase again.

Meanwhile, there is no recession, economic momentum (using the Citi global economic surprise index as a proxy) is improving, and global #nflation remains nearly two percentage points above the pre-COVID average.

And yet, central banks around the globe are ready to cut rates. Imagine what will happen when we do get a recession, inflation drops and governments accumulate even more debt. Or will this time be different?"

As Lyn Alden would say: Fiscal dominance.
Fiscal dominance at the end of a long-term debt cycle. We are accelerating debasement to offset the deflationary effects of technology on debt markets.
And will it be different this time? No, I don't think so. Do you really think they can bring down deficits? Why will they be able to do so in 2026 or 2027? As always they will kick the can down the road.

Explanation of Fiscal Dominance:
The Fed has no choice. If rates (more on that below) are not cut we get a financial crisis. There is too much government debt!

We now live in an era of Fiscal Dominance.

The term "fiscal dominance" refers to a situation in which the government's fiscal policy (Deficits of 6% and Debt to GDP at WWII levels) significantly influences or dominates the monetary policy set by the central bank.

This occurs when a government's debt level is so high that it restricts the central bank's ability to control inflation through monetary policy tools, such as setting interest rates.

If rates don’t come down, and the value of the USD does not come down then there is a very high probability that the US will experience a failed bond auction.

Or....they can cut government spending but we all know that's not going to happen, innit?

Now scroll back up and read that part again on France & Italy's deficit.
Remember what I shared last week?
The last time France didn't have a budget deficit: 1974

👉🏽Last week I already mentioned that the US debt outlook isn't looking good and rather unsustainable.
(please read that part again in last week's Weekly Recap)

On the 1st of April after finishing that Weekly Recap Bloomberg released an article with the title:

A Million Simulations, One Verdict for US Economy: Debt Danger Ahead"

Bloomberg Economics ran a million forecast simulations on the US debt outlook. 88% of them show borrowing on an unsustainable path.
''In the end, it may take a crisis — perhaps a disorderly rout in the Treasuries market triggered by sovereign US credit-rating downgrades, or a panic over the depletion of the Medicare or Social Security trust funds — to force action.''

Remember the Treasury chief (Janet Yellen) herself acknowledged in a Feb. 8 hearing that “in an extreme case” there could be a possibility of borrowing reaching levels that buyers wouldn’t be willing to purchase everything the government sought to sell.

Even with a miracle, they get it done in the treasury market, but they still won't fix the deficit. (again read last week's Weekly Recap - segment Macro/Geopolitics)

'Medicare is $79 trillion underfunded & Social Security $15 trillion underfunded. With another $29 trillion in various other underfunded liabilities, for a total of $123 trillion. Plus $34 trillion of debt.
That's not enough to cause a panic & force action?'
These are just the facts.
https://usadebtclock.com
Please read the full article here: https://archive.ph/lOvx6

👉🏽Talking about the treasury market:
Federal Reserve's Jerome Powell says no interest rate cuts until inflation improves.
The 10-year note yield is now trading at its highest level since November 2023, at 4.39%
Stronger-than-expected inflation data and rising oil prices have added to inflation worries over the last month.
The 10-year note yield is now just 11 basis points away from crossing 4.50%.
Meanwhile, less than 3 interest rate cuts are now expected in 2024.
Higher for longer has quickly returned.'- TKL

In plain English: It is forecasting extended inflation and possibly stagflation.
The Fed knows that lowering interest rates leads to the re-steepening of yield curves, which leads to recession and stock price drawdowns.
So they wind down QT (and possibly restart QE) to kick the can until after the election. (I have discussed this scenario now for a year, and it looks like this will be the playbook.)
Higher for longer, until something breaks. In the meantime, stocks, assets, and Bitcoin will rise.

👉🏽Now that we know that the rates will remain higher what could go wrong?
'Currently, there is roughly $6 TRILLION of Commercial Real Estate (CRE) debt in the US.
Banks hold a whopping $3 trillion, or 50%, of this outstanding debt.
This year, ~$929 billion, or one-sixth of this debt is set to be refinanced, according to Goldman Sachs.
Rates on these loans are set to double or even triple since they were taken.
All while many of these CRE projects are bankrupt or cash flow negative.' (Picture 2)

Ergo: There's simply too much debt all around, and all of it arising from too many years of easy monetary policy. Let's see which regional bank or market player will bite the dust next.

What do I mean by there is simply too much debt all around?
'U.S. debt always goes up. The only time it decreased in the post-war era was for an 18-month stretch around 2009. That's when private debt growth slowed down and public debt growth took over.
It's almost at $100 trillion.' - Lyn Alden
(Picture 3)

👉🏽"Total wealth held by the top 1% of Americans is now at a record $44.6 trillion.
This means that the top 1% of Americans now control 30% of all wealth in the US.
In Q4 2023 alone, the top 1% saw their net worth increase by $2 trillion as the stock market soared.
Since 2020, the wealth of the top 1% has risen by almost $15 trillion.
That's a ~50% increase in just three years all as affordability has hit record lows.
The wealth gap is widening."- TKL (picture 4)

To the extent the stock market and other assets rising in price creates this wealth gap (since a small percentage of Americans, but also here in Europe, own stocks and other assets), Fed intervention meant to support the price of these assets is a large part of that wealth gap. Sound money is essential to defending freedom. If you look at the chart...please compare that with the chart of the US debt chart. I will give you a hint, it is almost as vertical.
Our world is quickly being divided into those who own assets, and those who pay asset owners. In general (our history) that's not a good thing, as inequality continues to rise.

👉🏽Eurozone inflation cools, setting the stage for June rate cut: Headline CPI slowed to 2.4% YoY in March from 2.6% in Feb below the consensus forecast of 2.5%. Core CPI slowed to 2.9% from 3.1%, again below economists' expectations to reach the lowest level in >2yrs. But there were signs that inflationary pressures have yet to ease in labor-intensive parts: Service Price inflation +4.0% YoY, same as the 4 preceding months. (via DJ)

👉🏽The US Dollar is down 11% against gold and down 40% against bitcoin in 2024.

👉🏽All of the headlines focused on how the "US added 303,000 jobs in March."
However, if you dig further into the data, ALL of the job gains came from part-time jobs, according to ZeroHedge.
Last month, the US added a whopping 691,000 part-time jobs while LOSING 6,000 full-time jobs.
The worst part?
Over the last year, the number of full-time jobs is DOWN 1.347 million.
Meanwhile, the number of part-time jobs is up by 1.888 million, according to ZeroHedge.
To make it even worse: 71,000 govt jobs were added. 0 manufacturing jobs added.
Now ask yourself in a well-functioning economy do people hold one or more than one job?
What we see overall is a massive disconnect between data and reality.

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

"We constantly hear from politicians and pundits that Bitcoin has no use case. In the next video, Peter McCormack & Alex Gladstein cover *dozens of specific, critical Bitcoin use cases* across global commerce, human rights, and energy.
They discuss:
- Bitcoin for commerce, freedom, & power
- Broken money for billions
- Why Bitcoin is bad for dictators
- How Bitcoin fixes wasted power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI3Xcei8d_I

“If you take savings, commerce, freedom, and power, that’s the bedrock of civilization; so if you don’t have these things…you’re living in a very poor country.” - Alex Gladstein

Only invest in Bitcoin what you can’t afford to have gradually stolen from you by the government.

Credit: I have used multiple sources!
My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats.
#zap   🧡  #weeklyrecap #nostr #plebchain #BTC #Bitcoin #grownostr #stacksats #bitcoineducation #adoption

https://m.primal.net/Hseu.jpg
https://m.primal.net/Hsez.jpg
https://m.primal.net/HsfA.jpg
https://m.primal.net/HsfB.jpg


🧠Quote(s) of the week:

Bitcoin is the:

Math class you never had.
History class you never had.
Finance class you never had.
Physics class you never had.
Economics class you never had.
Philosophy class you never had.

― The Bitcoin Therapist

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

➡Last week I showed you guys with data and charts how the US, the world reserve currency, our current system, is leading our society to 'death'.
This is not something new. The Dutch eventually lost their reserve currency status and after that the British (Empire). Why? Too much debt.
Our current system needs to consume to pay off our debt. It's that simple...
If you look at last week's Government Debt chart you will notice that this doesn't include the debt of households & businesses, the nature of the money multiplier & fractional reserve banking means the total outstanding debt in the world is much higher.

Again, high-time preference culture and borrowing from our future will lead to the death of society. As we have seen in the past...

Unless we have something that will rise out of the ashes...

Bitcoin.

➡Tether has added another 8,888.88888888 Bitcoin to their reserves, bringing their total treasury to 75,354 BTC. This is consistent with Tether's Treasury Reserve Strategy of saving 15% of profits in Bitcoin.

➡Bitmain has unveiled the Antminer S21 Pro, the newest iteration of its flagship Bitcoin mining ASIC.
Boasting a hash rate of 234 TH/s and an energy efficiency ratio of 15.0 J/TH, the Antminer S21 Pro “has the ability to deal with more challenging environments.”

➡"The daily DCAers who started stacking Bitcoin at the all-time high in late 2021 now have a lower cost basis than the daily DCAers who started stacking at the bear market low in late 2022.
Proving once again that with Bitcoin, time in the market beats timing the market." - Wicked (picture 2)
Ergo: get off zero. The biggest mistake you can make is being on the sidelines as Bitcoin is the greatest savings technology ever devised.

➡On the 30th of March someone bought or transferred $1.1 Billion worth of Bitcoin at $70K.
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/transactions/btc/fe60e8baae112517b6e1708c6e7414386ff3ceaeb10f51091adb806ed8d068a5
1.1 Billion...I wish I had cash like that available. Oh by the way the fee was only 17 dollars. Classic!

➡Bitcoin closed its 7th straight green month for the first time in history.

➡Coinbase Bitcoin reserves hit a 9-year low on the 26th of March.

➡Cryptocurrency exchange Kucoin and two of its founders criminally charged with bank secrecy act violations and unlicensed money transmission offenses.

➡On the 28th of March it was exactly 27 years ago, Adam Back invented Proof-of-Work, the bedrock of Bitcoin. It's how Satoshi harnessed time and energy to create the best money in human history.

Bitcoin ETF news:
➡Two months in, Bitcoin ETFs have ~$60B AUM
Gold ETFs had $60B AUM after 15 years.

However, you can't really compare both assets with each other as the USD had a completely different value back then. Still an impressive growth for the Bitcoin ETFs. The move from analog to digital is always exponential.

➡Here's a look at the Top 30 ranked by assets in the first 50 days on the market. Went global for this so this is out of 11,338 funds. Four BTC ETFs made the list.
Out of 11,338 global funds, the two with the largest AUM in history after 50 trading days are both Bitcoin ETFs, and it isn’t particularly close. (Picture 3)

One thing to consider this is not adjusted for inflation.

At this rate, BlackRock could overtake Grayscale's Bitcoin stack by this month's halving.
Blackrock's spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT holdings have now surpassed 252,011 BTC ($18B)
"I’m pleasantly surprised and I’d never have predicted it before we filed it that we were going to see this type of retail demand," says Blackrock CEO Larry Fink.

➡WisdomTree gained approval to purchase spot Bitcoin ETFs for its $206 million and $117 million funds.

➡Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan: 3% is the new 1%
He reports professional investors' potential Bitcoin allocation has shifted from 1% to 3%+ since 2018, primarily due to ETFs mitigating "going to zero" risk.
For wealth investors, 3%+ is the new norm.

➡ Rumours that Morgan Stanley will approve Bitcoin ETFs on their platform in the next 2 weeks are getting stronger.
Early this month Morgan Stanley filed with the SEC that 12 of their funds may buy Bitcoin ETFs, and last week they sent Bitcoin compliance & education materials out to all advisors.
Morgan Stanley has $1.5 Trillion in assets under management.

➡Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs are expected to be approved in Q2
Including the ability to withdraw Bitcoin (No paper bitcoins!). (source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong-likely-allow-kind-162521543.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADQ9lwMOgCrUeYU0wXFR-I3VLIKK-KPVw7jOrmT28h7AkgQov2AuXnkaTT2jaFgNCEnYB4HKsdsctI_6_qKwmpCImH9bSY7Urg2Jc31A2ESgCz8C3zt7ijbuasbFwUFkEscFEHe_VrX4FeEzOtzzvr61eM2d_A9C4_TQql_qEu0l)

➡SBF sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Judge Kaplan: you are sentenced… for a total of 300 months [25 years]."
This is blasphemy as SBF stole billions of customers' money, and lied in court.
Ross Ulbricht created a website and is still serving 2 life sentences in prison.
Injustice at its finest.

A double life sentence + 40 years with no chance of parole.
Ross was sentenced at the age of 29.
On the 28th of March, he turned 40.
His “crime” was building a website where people could trade freely without government permission.
In the process, he introduced the world to Bitcoin.
http://FreeRoss.org
If you want to know more about Ross read this excellent thread by Pete Rizzo:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1774052843562889450.html?utm_campaign=topunroll

Just to make one thing clear. He's definitely a legend. Ross Ulbricht's story is remarkable and complex, highlighting the early days of Bitcoin and the challenges faced by its pioneers. But making a black market is not something good, he got what he deserved. But the sentence is way too harsh.

➡Since 2022, someone has consistently bought 100 Bitcoin at any price.
They now hold 53,733 Bitcoin worth $4 billion, making them the 13th largest Bitcoin holder.

➡The latest Bitcoin difficulty adjustment came in on the morning of the 28th of March at -0.98%
There is only one more difficulty adjustment before the halving.
Everything is lining up perfectly for the halving to occur on 4/20.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

What can you expect this week in the traditional financial market?
Main highlight ahead:
In the US, we have ISM, payroll reports, and communication from key Fed officials. In Europe, we have PMI, inflation, and unemployment data. In Asia we start the week with a central bank meeting in India, the Bank of Japan Tankan survey, and PMI and inflation releases across the region.

🏦Banks:
👉🏽no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

👉🏽"If US government debt averages 4% across the weighted duration spectrum, that would be about $1.4 trillion in annual interest expense.

At $50 trillion in debt (which will get us there quickly), it’ll be $2 trillion in annual interest expense." -Lyn Alden

The US Government currently makes about $12.2B while spending $17.7B per day. That's overspending by $5.5B per day, which will add up to a total of $2T of overspending for the year.
Drowning in debt. Totally normal phenomenon and sound finance, right? This is why US interest rates can't rise much more and also why they should. More on this topic the great thread by Bob Elliott
https://twitter.com/BobEUnlimited/status/1772229788737913036

Remember we are not in a pandemic, we’re not in a World War, and the US is in an allegedly healthy economy. When any of those changes, debt will skyrocket.
With US national debt up $10 trillion since the pandemic, and roughly sixfold the 2008 crisis. The Treasury issued $7 trillion of debt in just 3 months. (Picture 4)

That matches the worst of Covid -- no pandemic needed. And it's double the previous record that had stood for 231 years.
Again I don't want to be doom and gloom, but these are just the facts. Issuing more t-bills at an accelerating pace is a precondition to becoming a banana republic. This is the type of thing you see emerging markets do, not the issuer of the world's reserve currency and neutral reserve asset.

Just to make it even worse, the US Bond Market has now been in a drawdown for 44 months, by far the longest bond bear market in history.

👉🏽"Since 1800, 51 out of 52 countries who have reached a 130% Debt-to-GDP ratio have defaulted.
According to the US CBO itself, debt-to-GDP in the US is on track to hit 130% for the first time by 2033.
In 2007, debt-to-GDP in the US was just 60% and it has quickly doubled since then.
Currently, debt-to-GDP is at ~124% which is HIGHER than the peak of World War 2, at 119%.
Since 2020, debt-to-GDP is up a whopping 20% after the government's massive borrowing spree.
Simply put, this is unsustainable." -TKL (picture 5)

As you can see in the picture the red line is based on the 'optimist' forecast by the CBO.

As mentioned at the start of this week's 'Weekly Recap' the world is changing that hasn't happened before in our lifetimes but has many times in history.
Please watch the following video by Ray Dalio in which he explains the 500 years of economic rise and downturns of nations brilliantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=de7o5anFfpSmqVno&v=xguam0TKMw8&feature=youtu.be👉🏽The Federal Reserve’s expenses exceeded its earnings in 2023 by $114.3 billion — its largest operating loss ever. Source: https://archive.ph/7rcCv
"In plain English: The Fed printed $114B (net) out of thin air & handed it to banks, essentially to bribe them not to lend excess reserves into the economy."- Luke Gromen

👉🏽"Since 2008 the monetary base expanded during times of Fed intervention and shrunk during times of QT.
Markets bottomed in October 2022 as the shrinking of the monetary base ended.
It has expanded since then. Hence the question:
What's this then?" - Sven Henrich (picture 6)

Answer: Fiscal dominance.

👉🏽 SWIFT is planning the launch of a new central bank digital currency platform in 12-24 months. (source: Reuters)

Kinda funny innit? The world banks are on the brink of collapse (DEBT) and switch everyone over to their new CBDC in 2024-2025 and stop printing physical cash. According to the central bank's white papers (BoE, ECB), they are planning to release CBDCs in 2025. It's not like they are hiding it. It's just that nobody is bothering at the moment.
I don't know about you but I stick with my 12-24 words!
CBDC is financial slavery.

👉🏽Now let's put another phrase in the mix. Financial Colonialism...
"Over the next two years, low-income countries need to refinance about $60 billion of external debt each year, about three times the average in the decade through 2020. More in this blog:"
https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2024/01/24/how-to-ease-rising-external-debt-service-pressures-in-low-income-countries

Low-income countries never seem to be able to pay back their debts. This might be the reason why they got to be low-income in the first place, innit?

Anyway, low-income countries need to mine Bitcoin (Africa, South America, etc) and escape the debt slavery by the central bankers / IMF / World Bank.

👉🏽"Core PCE inflation, the inflation measure the Federal Reserve looks at most, declined to 2.78% in February. This marks the slowest pace of core inflation in nearly two years. Given that the Fed needs little to start cutting rates from levels that should be highly restrictive, assuming a neutral rate of 2.50%, markets price a 70% chance of the first rate cut in June. Hence, equities up, gold up, yields down." - Jeroen Blokland

👉🏽Commodity prices across the board seem to be permanently elevated.
Cocoa prices have skyrocketed to nearly $10,000, a fresh all-time high.
In 2024 alone, Cocoa prices are up 130% and outperforming most assets.
To put this in perspective, Nvidia, one of the hottest stocks in the world, is up ~30% LESS than Cocoa in 2024.

Cocoa prices are at record highs due to the:
* Weather damage in West Africa
* Supply constraints
* Increased demand
* Poor farmer returns
* EU rules impacting supply

First, it was Orange Juice and Olive Oil, now it's Cocoa prices exploding.

Commodity prices are outperforming many hedge funds.
The days of low oil prices are gone and consumers are feeling the pain.
The purchasing power of the US Dollar is down over 20% in just 4 years.

👉🏽France's public sector deficit for 2023 climbed to 5.5% of GDP, or €154bn, statistics agency INSEE said, undermining President Macron’s credibility as an econ reformer capable of resolving the country’s fiscal challenges. The earlier official govt deficit est was 4.9% of GDP.
The last time France didn't have a budget deficit: 1974

👉🏽Palestinian banks could be cut off from the Israeli banking system starting next week following.
The decision made by Israel's finance minister to isolate Palestinian Authority banks would paralyze the Palestinian economy. Anyway, Bitcoin fixed this! (source: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-may-cut-off-palestinian-banks-global-banking-system-next-week?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Social_Traffic&utm_content=ap_6ej2zdsxqj

👉🏽65 million AT&T customers have had their personal data leaked on the dark web. Yikes! That's a lot of social security numbers on the dark web.

👉🏽"Warren Buffett, the billionaire head of Berkshire Hathaway, will probably go down as the greatest investor in history... Berkshire shares have seen an average annual return of 20.0%..."

Meanwhile: https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1774577333820629449

Just some members of Congress outperforming the greatest investor in history. we are surely fortunate to be represented by such extraordinary talents." - Edward Snowden (picture 7)

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:
Lyn is one of my favorite macroeconomists. The interview below is her most recent interview about U.S. fiscal dominance, China, energy, tech, and Broken Money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVFkv7fezxE
Anyway, that's it for today.
Only invest in Bitcoin what you can’t afford to have gradually stolen from you by the government.

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats. #zap   🧡  #weeklyrecap  #nostr       #plebchain       #BTC    #Bitcoin   #zap🧡            #plebchain      #grownostr    #stacksats #bitcoineducation #adoption https://image.nostr.build/d8ac0f0c9873133171bcf92a57968834a5c93fd976b0997d0cfaf782922d0683.jpg https://image.nostr.build/0c7cfe47f22fcbb376f6bbeb2d9991aaad8f8d348150489e013bb875a18259cc.jpg https://image.nostr.build/16886d81d38a3b02e63219e75467d1e50378574f2f7498b785bd319d0ad74bf3.jpg https://image.nostr.build/3f8320485c99079666c891cf2e72e99c392079fb1c9e198c512dae3996604ccf.jpg https://image.nostr.build/71468c2d86409a93c1e65c4abe66655632b23a5b31e02f17eab72b6d1d7ac9f7.jpg https://image.nostr.build/9b575616ff05c23da9a27f5249bb4dcb8e2a4b03b87f838560c8ef140bcdaa48.jpg https://image.nostr.build/a1fee15fe7b9878554d9981d816193cafd51233b9f854d76d32e7d7b1f1c5292.jpg


Good morning Nostr💜🧡

Study, learn, hodl, decouple.
#bitcoin                🧡
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats. 🧡

Felipe - BitcoinFriday

#zap                  🧡   #nostr                    #BTC                   #Bitcoin                  #plebchain                     #grownostr    #stacksats #bitcoineducation #adoption https://image.nostr.build/3fba6d44dd2601b1367abdf1a5e0bc869db586a79a4a2cb97f0519e6b7e4e6a1.jpg


🧠Quote(s) of the week:

"Thanks to human ingenuity and progress, life was meant to become increasingly affordable over time.

Government fiat currency is literally designed to obscure this phenomenon and consistently leech productivity and purchasing power gains from its citizens via inflation (monetary debasement).

As it turns out, Bitcoin fixes this.

And Bitcoin will help usher in the next age of human flourishing.”

― Dr. Jeff Ross

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

➡Let me start this weekly recap with some encouragement for the new group of hodlers.
A normal Bitcoin bullrun pullback is 30%. Back in December, we were already on the longest winning streak in Bitcoin's history. There is no bull market without dips.
"If you're new to Bitcoin and jealous of HODLers who bought earlier, don't be.
They went through hell, and now it's your turn.
Last week's dip is nothing. Get used to it.
Learn to manage your emotions.
And if you are stressing out day and night, sell until it no longer stresses you out.
Buy Bitcoin with money you won't need for +4 years.
Bitcoin is a long-term hold, not a short-term trade."

➡Last weekend we received the news that anonymous 'crypto' wallets are now illegal in the EU. WRONG!

I have shared my view on Instagram, so let me repeat it here.
In short:
Unhosted to unhosted is still legal.
Unhosted to hosted will require KYC.

The draft bill/legislation isn't 'live' yet. There will be a final vote on the matter on the 22nd of April. It will go into force three years (!) after publication in the EU’s journal. No earlier than 2027/2028. It’s ugly legislation, as is the direction the EU is heading in, but the current draft bill isn’t as dramatic as some media state it is.

I will quote Freddie New on this matter:
"This needs to be taken seriously but, as always, it's crucial to read the text of the actual legislation. TLDR Self-custody is not illegal:

1. This is a prohibition of anonymity, not of Bitcoin. If you can prove eg through signing a message, that you control the keys to an address, it is not anonymous and is then linked to you. I understand that
Trezor and Swiss Bitcoin Pay are already working on UX to enable this.

2. The most apparent effect will be increased customer due diligence before you transfer in and out of self-custody.

3. Your coins in self custody, and self-custody itself, are unaffected. The wording clearly states, in bold, "The prohibition does not apply to providers of hardware and software or providers of self-hosted wallets insofar as they do not possess access to or control over those crypto asset wallets."

Don't panic - read the actual source:
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-6220-2024-REV-1/en/pdf

For the Dutch readers, please read Peter Slagter's thread for more info:
https://twitter.com/pesla/status/1771509534487380158

For all readers, please read the excellent thread by Patrick Hansen:
https://twitter.com/paddi_hansen/status/1771929859704389954

But let me make one thing very clear. What makes the EU regulators think they have any right to know anything about any transaction you have made?
"It prohibition of privacy, one of Bitcoins core values. So on a deeper level, IT IS being made illegal. Just because they cannot make it practically illegal, they make its ideological fundaments illegal."

So no, it isn't as alarming as most people on Twitter and Instagram put online. Point blank misinformation, but from a privacy point of view, I do think it's alarming. A private key is a secret. Only the most tyrannical governments demand you reveal all your secrets to them.

But I also view this as really the EU just codifying for Bitcoin. It's a recognition that it is real, here to stay and not a tulip. Bitcoin is private property. Decentralized digital property is a new concept. In the long term, as always, governments will be the ones who need to adapt. The change may be radical.

➡"Average Bitcoin transaction fees have not increased in Bitcoin terms over the past decade, despite system utilization increasing"- Pierre Rochard
(Picture 2)

➡MicroStrategy acquire an additional 9,245 BTC for $623 million.
They now HODL 214,246 Bitcoin at an average price of $35,160 per bitcoin.
On top of that MicroStrategy also raised $600m for 7 years with a tiny 0.875% interest rate.
$100m more than the initial announcement.

➡On the day we received the news that the Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years (see for more info on that topic segment Macro & Geopolitics), we also received the news that the world's biggest pension fund, Japan's $1.4 Trillion Government Pension Investment fund, is looking into buying Bitcoin. They are exploring (asking for more information) about Bitcoin as a 'diversification tool. ".

Now ask yourself:
"What happens when EVERY pension fund in the world wants Bitcoin?
Every government?
Every central bank?
Keep in mind Bitcoin is hovering around 2021's all-time high...
Even adjusted for inflation we should be around $80,000.
If you haven't bought yet and you're waiting for a dip, you're gambling.
I hope it happens because I'll buy more.
But if it doesn't?
You'll lose 50-75% of your purchasing power."
Bitcoin is the only way pensions will be able to fill their funding gaps in the coming decade.

➡$840B global bank Standard Charted says "The gold analogy remains a good starting point for estimating the ‘correct’ Bitcoin price level".

Gold market cap = $14 Trillion
Bitcoin market cap = $1.4 Trillion
Bitcoin at $680,000 would equal Gold's market cap.

Now this is just an analogy, not a guaranteed forecast.

➡Are you ready for the Bitcoin halving or do you need to stack more Bitcoin? Approximately on the 20th of April, the halving will take place.

➡ "Despite Bitcoin being up 128% over the last 12 months and down 13% in the last ~8 days, 67.6% of coins have not moved in over a year." https://unchained.com/hodlwaves?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=3-20-2024

"The percentage of coins not moving remains elevated compared to previous cycles.
IMO, this is a sign Bitcoin remains in the early stages of a bull market.
The fact that this volatility hasn't shaken many coins, is very promising. Supply is tight.
If history repeats, coins will only move at vastly higher prices."- Joe Burnett

➡Bitcoin ETF news from last week:
On the 18th/19th of March: Biggest outflow from Grayscale yet.
On a day when GBTC saw record liquidations (to meet bankruptcy obligations of Genesis and others) and when Bitcoin tumbled, Blackrock's IBIT saw a surge of inflows. ETF demand is relentless and price indiscriminate."
GBTC has not had ONE DAY of net inflows since it converted to a spot ETF.

On the 18th of March, they recorded $643 million in outflows—the single biggest individual ETF outflow in nearly 15 years.
The second biggest?
Also GBTC, on January 22nd when it had a $641mm outflow.
They have shed ~37% of their Bitcoin since launch, with about ~385,000 BTC left to dump.

On the 23rd of March: "Nearly $1 billion of net outflows this week for the spot Bitcoin ETF."

➡BlackRock Head of Digital says "For our clients, Bitcoin is overwhelmingly the number one focus".

➡Argentina's high inflation (276%) is driving citizens to Bitcoin as a hedge, with exchanges reporting the highest weekly Bitcoin purchase volume in 20 months (picture 3)

➡Bitcoin supply on exchanges hit 4-year lows, dropping almost 40%, with no slowing signals ahead of the upcoming halving, according to CryptoQuant

➡Many Bitcoin miners are moving rigs out of the US to Africa and South America ahead of the halving, per Bloomberg.
600K S19 machines are on the move due to cheaper energy. These rigs, once costing $11,500 each, may be worth only $350 after the halving.

➡Bitcoin is a worldwide problem," says Iceland Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.
"With its abundant, CO2-neutral, and virtually free geothermal energy source, Iceland could build the largest and most prosperous empire humankind has ever seen - just by mining Bitcoin.
But no, I know shit about Bitcoin, BuT iTs BaD FoR tHe EnViRoNmEnT because WEF said so."

She is left-green (the worst possible combination).
Source FT interview: https://archive.ph/f2phT

➡SEC is investigating the Ethereum Foundation and wants to define Ethereum as a security.
Yeah, nobody saw that coming...right?
"Whether ETH is legally classified as a security or not, it's a worthless distraction compared to Bitcoin. And remember, when you buy an altcoin, you become the exit liquidity for preminers and centralized controllers of the altcoin.
When you buy Bitcoin, you become financially self-sovereign."

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

What can you expect this week in the traditional financial market?
Main highlight ahead:
In the US, we have the PCE deflator, consumer confidence, and durable goods orders. In Europe, it’s the euro area consumer confidence, money supply, and French, Italian, and Spanish flash inflation. In Asia, we have the Japan and Australian CPI.

🏦Banks:
👉🏽no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

👉🏽Let's start with some charts and some explanations.
132,000 households versus 66,000,000 households.
35 years worth of data.
2 parties (red or blue), 1 central bank (the Fed), 1 result: Ever wider disparity.
(Picture 5)
Nothing stops this train and nothing will change if we don't get to the underlying issue:
developing monetary policy.
Just look at what happens when you add M2.
(Picture 4)

What does M2 stand for:
The M2 money supply is a broader measure of the money stock within an economy, which includes all components of the M1 money supply along with additional types of financial assets. M1 money supply represents the most liquid forms of money, such as physical currency (coins and banknotes) and demand deposits (checking accounts). M2 money supply, on the other hand, encompasses M1 money supply and adds near money or less liquid financial assets, such as savings deposits, time deposits (under $100,000), and money market mutual funds.

M2 is mostly used as a classification for money supply in the eurozone and America;

Central banks and monetary authorities closely monitor M2 money supply as part of their monetary policy framework. By adjusting interest rates, open market operations, and reserve requirements, central banks can influence the growth rate of M2 money supply to achieve their objectives, such as price stability and sustainable economic growth

To sum it up we call this the Cantillon effect.
"The logic of the Cantillon effect is incontrovertible. Of course, money printing will create winners and losers. If it didn’t, the government and run-of-the-mill counterfeiters wouldn’t have an incentive to run their printing presses.

The data confirms Cantillon’s insight from the 1730s. Measures of money printing and bank credit expansion are highly correlated with a variety of measures of economic inequality. While any healthy economy would have some inequality, it’s certain that putting the government in charge of the money supply has exacerbated it."

Source/more info:
https://mises.org/mises-wire/four-charts-show-cantillon-effects

Whilst at it, read the following article: https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/insanity-our-world-driven-money-printing

👉🏽On the 19th of March Fed Chair J. Powell: "Appropriate to slow pace of asset runoff soon."

Translated: The Reverse Repo is getting to a level that will cause The Fed to compete with the Treasury for liquidity, so we will soon end QT.

OR

US inflation is almost at an acceptable level.

The Fed needs to taper QT once the RRF is drained and as that reserve level approaches $2.5T, the key level he has indicated before. Once below that, they worry about another repo spike a la 2019. QT must stop to allow the Treasury room to keep floating more debt.

What does this all mean for Bitcoin (assets in general), a massive tailwind as this all is a liquidity game.
What does 'runoff' mean? QT
What does 'reverse repo' mean? It is basically banks' money coming back out of lockup at the Fed and into banks' hands. Kind of like QE.

Remember 'history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.'
"Bernanke (2008): QE is temporary and the Fed’s balance sheet will soon be lower than when we started.
Powell (2024): It’s appropriate to slow the pace of QT fairly soon"
(Picture 6)
$20 trillion fed balance sheet incoming.

Global government debt is a record $82 trillion:
up $20 trillion since Covid
up $50 trillion since Lehman
... and up 7x this century in under 25 years!

The US debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 123.7%, near the all-time record of 126.2% reached in 2020
It is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office that in 2034 it will reach 130.6%.
Since 1800, 51 out of 52 countries with a ratio above 130% have defaulted
(Picture 7)

Anyway, if you want to know more about the Fed meeting from last week I highly recommend James Lavish's thread:
https://twitter.com/jameslavish/status/1770495805067264230

👉🏽"POWELL: DON'T SEE CRACKS IN THE LABOR MARKET
what cracks? All new jobs since 2018 have gone to immigrants, and 250,000 illegals enter the country every month." -Zerohedge

Since November, the US has lost 1.8 million full-time jobs.
In the last 12 months, the US labor market has seen a 921,000 increase in part-time jobs while the full-time jobs count declined by 284,000
Headlines: The US has been adding jobs for 38 straight months.
Yikes!

👉🏽 On the 19th of March Japan raised their interest rates for 1st time in 17 years (2007) amid higher inflation & rising wages. BoJ also scrapped its complex yield curve control program while pledging to continue buying long-term govt bonds as needed. It also ended its purchases of ETFs. Nikkei gained 0.7%, 10y Japanese yields dropped 3bps to 0.73%.
By raising rates BoJ is putting pressure on other central banks. Likely we will see rate cuts & restart of QE in the near future by the Fed, and probably also the ECB.
Remember Japan holds over $1.1 Trillion in just US debt alone. The BoJ will become net sellers of this debt very soon. At a time when the US needs more net buyers of its debt.

Great thread by MacroAlf on the implications for global markets:
https://twitter.com/MacroAlf/status/1769991687504384463

👉🏽Last week I already mentioned:
"KPMG study among the 350 CFOs of the largest German subsidiaries of international groups shows that there is record-high skepticism with respect to Germany as an investment destination..."

Not only on the Bitcoin - unhosted wallet part the EU seems to be allergic to new and better tech.

The boss of Dow Inc. said the price of electricity in Europe is so high that there are doubts about the long-term future of some of the chemical company’s industrial customers in the region.
Source: https://archive.ph/V6r0r
The decision to close German nuclear power plants will go into history books as the biggest economic, geopolitical, and environmental mistake since WWII.

"In this context: Salzgitter AG estimates that reducing CO2 emissions in the European steel industry to 95% requires 400TWh of additional power annually. This is >2/3 of what Germany currently produces in total.
Source: The long road to green steel | Economy | DW | 07/26/2019" - Swen Roschlau
(Picture 8)

👉🏽China has started blocking the use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers.
US sanctions stopped sales of advanced chips to China, so they quickly developed their own technology.

👉🏽Every generation has its own bubble. Human nature does not change, only the bubbles change. (Picture 9)
"Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the suckers change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes." ~ Jesse Livermore

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

https://youtu.be/48r0VO9m1yc?si=tN0woyKHj8BLr5Pb

Free knowledge!

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats. #zap   🧡  #weeklyrecap  #nostr       #plebchain       #BTC    #Bitcoin   #zap🧡            #plebchain      #grownostr    #stacksats #bitcoineducation #adoption https://image.nostr.build/d5475d5e872c9adbb31cc567822de572cd5e02d3044e0b4d07144eb737b7c1bd.jpg https://image.nostr.build/c34294c8e3bc5516f42a209aa9934745c596c1b7887e8bc3009e4e89097d75a7.jpg https://image.nostr.build/ae3fb6027edc672422fff2f6d3335398e9937a98ab491f884674f34047275a18.jpg https://image.nostr.build/a56d695a64a06093413bc0675771772e590fabbeff64173d0a259756fe3290f9.jpg https://image.nostr.build/f4f7d0871877f4ef566bdf51e95f89474a641505b7902c8218c701fdfa73666a.jpg https://image.nostr.build/e008d9990e789a1631354b7206c06b5676d1d4216d8df24d4764c2bc91b10901.jpg https://image.nostr.build/18db31932248e41c8e806bb62e03127082f6030382d1dd4402065c12147f8ebc.jpg https://image.nostr.build/aba646b9ee71569140f9ac978585961c704c6fef47f24f8956887c92a1f843ee.jpg https://image.nostr.build/8b807c3a8f32d1f55bc299dddb549b3f53789f396704f6f8f991ea31a0450203.jpg


I am not sure how you want to incorporate Lightning in that metric?


Good morning / good afternoon 🧡💜


Great way to start
the day.🧡

Study, learn, hodl, decouple.
#bitcoin               🧡
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats. 🧡

Felipe - BitcoinFriday

#zap                 🧡   #nostr                   #BTC                  #Bitcoin                 #plebchain                    #grownostr    #stacksats #bitcoineducation #adoption https://image.nostr.build/78ff416029ca11edde4e2ec0486ac861e351db4320b76d13bf99f358ebd8c6ba.jpg


🧠Quote(s) of the week:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

― Alexander Fraser Tytler

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

➡On the 16th of March, we received the news that $88m leveraged Bitcoin positions were liquidated in 24 hours.
Losing money in a bull market…REKT.

➡"The first Bisq 2 beta release is now available. Interested?
Watch http://bisq.network/bisq-2 and:

1. run Bisq 2;
2. trade with Bisq Easy (or lurk while others do);
3. give feedback in the new p2p group chat." - Bisq

I always recommend Bisq as one of the primary peer-to-peer market on-ramps to Bitcoin (for the more advanced users). So I am very excited to see the roadmap and look forward to the development and use of version 2. (picture 4)

➡"If Bitcoin was a country, it would rank somewhere between 10-20 in population size.
Something tells me we're going to enter the top 10 very soon." - Sam Wouters (picture 2)
Source: https://river.com/learn/how-many-people-use-bitcoin/

➡The US government is still holding seized Bitcoin equivalent to ~1% of the total supply with a 2.4X unrealized profit. They haven’t sold any since July 2023 when Bitcoin was $30K.

➡The Bitcoin network is projected to settle $17.5 trillion worth of BTC this year.

➡Bitcoin Network Difficulty sets a new ALL-TIME HIGH of 83.95 T
This is nearly double the reading from one year ago (43.55 T) The global competition to mine
Bitcoin continues to heat up.

➡New Record Bitcoin Hashrate 600,000,000,000,000,000,000x per second

➡Wealth advisor platform Cetera just approved Bitcoin ETFs to be offered to clients.
It has $475 billion in assets under administration and $190 billion in assets under management.

➡ $7.2 trillion Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley says they're not going to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs "unless the asset class changes."
"Bitcoin is just too volatile and it's not a store of value."

➡“Mr. 100” bought 810 of the 900 newly mined Bitcoin on the 14th of March, so the ETFs had to find other willing sellers.

➡On the 13th of March, we had the first $1B inflow day into the Bitcoin Bitcoin ETFs. Madness! And BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF total inflows overtook Grayscale's total outflows for the first time! You are simply not bullish enough.

Really... you are not bullish enough: https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bitcoin-has-6-months-until-etf-liquidity-crisis

➡Last week I mentioned that VanECK announced they cut their management fee to ZERO until March 2025. Their Bitcoin ETF doing HUGE trading volume a day after.
https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1767596983026364663

➡"Blackrock Bitcoin Inflows
34.6K Last Week
31.4K The Week Before
34.3K The Week Before That

Any wild guesses about how much they buy this week?"

➡ El Salvador will be able to pay off the IMF if Bitcoin hits $100K, and never have to talk to them again.
They’ll probably be the most attractive country in the world to go live in just because they embraced
Bitcoin,” says billionaire Tim Draper.

More news on El Salvador: El Salvador voted to drop their income tax from 30% to 0% for money transfers and international investments.

Oh, by the way, El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele :
“Your TAX money is NOT funding your government.
Your government is funded by printing money out of thin air.
So, if your central bank is printing money to fund the government, then WHY do we need to pay taxes?"

Now to make things extra special...

On the 15th of March, Nayib Bukele announced that they decided to transfer a big chunk of our Bitcoin to a cold wallet and store that cold wallet in a physical vault within our national territory.
You can call it our first Bitcoin piggy bank. It's not much, but it's honest work.
https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1768425845163503738

Pretty incredible to see a President tweeting about Bitcoin nation-state self-custody. And what do plebs do? El Salvador released its Bitcoin cold wallet address & you psychopaths are sending donations. Classic.

Just a thought...If El Salvador can be transparent with their reserves why can’t the United States government or the ECB/Central Banks?
Why can’t we see the gold?

➡El Salvador President Nayib Bukele says the country will purchase one Bitcoin every day until it becomes unaffordable with fiat currencies.

➡ On the 12th of March nostr:npub1sqzr42dj8vx32yd5jcvvl3ytux45kl0etgf6y2ymjvmd7lqmuwmqk9vk7v rolled out their lightning functionality within the app.
100,000 Relai users now have access to ultra-fast and cheap Bitcoin transactions.
Why Lightning? "The Lightning Network has quickly emerged as the go-to scaling solution for the Bitcoin network. Not only is it great to use Bitcoin in everyday situations, such as paying for a cup of coffee or goods in a shop, but it’s also incredibly fast and much cheaper compared to on-chain transactions."

Relai: "We do this by working closely with two amazing Bitcoin companies! One is our node and implementation provider, Blockstream. We use their Core Lightning implementation, which allows us to be flexible with other Lightning setups as well as using their node. Our second partner is Breez, with their SDK. This provides us access to a wide range of Lightning Service Providers (LSPs) and partners in the network."
Just update your app. To use Lightning, you need to update to the latest version 2.8.1.
Not using Relai at the moment? Download the app https://relai.app/, use the code CRYPTOFRIDAY, and get a 0.5% fee reduction on your weekly/monthly Bitcoin purchases.

➡Michael Saylor says Bitcoin is going to "eat" gold and has all the great attributes of gold.
All the reasons why Bitcoin will demonetize Gold:
"-Gold was the money of the analog world, and Bitcoin is the money of the Digital World, it is superior in every way for a digital age.
-Precious metal markets have been highly manipulated for a long time.
-Elastic Supply unlike Bitcoin's inelastic supply
-Alleged rehypothecation of precious metal paper contracts (The paper price of Gold) artificially increasing supply.
-Price action has been slow and tedious, with low gains for the last 10 years.
-Much Harder to store and secure
-Much Harder to Transport
-Can be counterfeited in some circumstances
-Unprogrammable
-Centralised"

➡Bitcoin’s allocation in investor portfolios is 3.7 times greater than that of gold, according to JP Morgan analysts.

➡On the 11th of March, "Bitcoin just bumped silver to become the 8th most valuable asset in the world.
All else held equal...
at $105K, it jumps Saudi Aramco,
at $137K, it enters the top 3,

and at $153K, Bitcoin becomes the second most valuable asset in the world." - James Lavish

➡The new Biden budget proposal plans to bring in more than $2.3 billion in the next five years by taxing bitcoin miners.
Biden expects the Bitcoin mining industry to 10x in the United States over the next decade, this would imply a $6 million price target for Bitcoin. Even more bullish than the wash trading line item.
American dynamism and energy abundance will make this possible!

The 30% tax is just absurd. This must be stopped at all costs.
First read the following tweet: https://twitter.com/BitcoinPierre/status/1767371855512432900

Talking about Biden, check out their budget for fiscal year 2025 below, segment macro.

➡In ~32 days, Bitcoin becomes the hardest asset known to man, with its supply growth rate dropping to half that of gold. This will be Bitcoin's biggest and most important Halving ever. Are you ready?

➡Merryn Webb, a Senior Columnist at Bloomberg, REFUSES to interview Adam Back, one of the few people ACTUALLY cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper, simply because he has LASER EYES in his X (formerly Twitter) profile picture.

Mainstream media at his finest! (picture 5)

➡Just a reminder that the FTX bankruptcy estate has 58 million Solana tokens to sell, which is over 13% of the total Solana supply, or about 8.5 billion dollars in today's prices.

➡The owner of the largest exhibition venue in the Middle East, Abu Dhabi’s ADNEC Group, is to launch the region's first Bitcoin MENA Conference set to take place December 9-10 2024.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

What can you expect this week in the traditional financial market?
Main highlight ahead:
In the US, we have the Federal Reserve meeting and press conference with Fed Chair Powell. In the UK, we have the Bank of England meeting and CPI data, and in Europe, the latest ZEW surveys and several ECB speakers. In Asia we start the week with a key policy meeting at the Bank of Japan, more central bank meetings in Indonesia, Taiwan, and Australia, and monthly activity data for China.

🏦Banks:
👉🏽Powell: ‘There will be bank failures’ caused by commercial real estate losses
But not the really big banks, he promises, those will be fine.'
https://thehill.com/business/4516758-powell-there-will-be-bank-failures-caused-by-commercial-real-estate-losses/

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

👉🏽"BIDEN UNVEILS $7.3 TRILLION BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025, THE BIDEN BUDGET SEES US DEBT HITTING $45 TRILLION IN A DECADE" was the headline.
Just absurd, that the Biden administration thinks that the US DEBT will hit $45 trillion in a decade.
None of their models now or in the past, and recent years came through. We're at nearly $35 trillion now with a new trillion added every 100 days.

You know what is even more absurd and I quote Brian Sullivan: "DC strategist email note this morning lays it out well.
The budget deficit will grow another $16 TRILLION over the next 10 years. That *with* the proposed massive tax hikes.
Without them, the deficit will grow by $19 trillion.
That's why you will hear the "deficit is being reduced by $3 trillion" over the decade.
No family budget or business could exist with this kind of math."

Balaji: "Linear extrapolation gives $50 trillion.
Exponential is more like $70 trillion.
And Bitcoin remains at 21 million."
(picture 3)
Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN

Oh, just to make things worse, it took 63% of all personal income taxes in Feb to pay the interest on the debt - no roads, no military, no schools, no social security - JUST INTEREST.

👉🏽On the 12th of March US CPI came in.
The 'hot' CPI prints show that headline inflation is sticky around the 3% level.

"On a 3-month annualized basis, Supercore inflation jumped a whopping 6.9% in February.
Core services less shelter inflation is a key metric that the Fed follows, also known as Supercore inflation.
In January, this metric jumped by 0.7% month-over-month, the biggest jump since September 2022.
In February, it was up another 0.5% month-over-month after multiple increases in 2023.
All while real wage growth is turning negative again.
In general February CPI inflation rate RISES to 3.2%, above expectations of 3.1%.
Core CPI inflation fell to 3.8%, ABOVE expectations of 3.7%.
This is the 35th consecutive month with inflation above 3% and the second straight increase.
The fight against inflation is far from over." -TKL

👉🏽"Prediction markets are officially expecting LESS than 3 interest rate cuts in 2024.
After CPI inflation increased for the 2nd straight month, prediction markets saw 65 bps of rate cuts in 2024, according to Kahlsi.
This is equivalent to ~2.6 rate cuts and down SHARPLY from 6 rate cuts seen just 2 months ago.
It's also the first time this year that markets see LESS rate cuts than Fed guidance.
Core inflation is still at 3.8%, nearly DOUBLE the Fed's long-term target.
Could we see ZERO rate cuts in 2024?" -TKL

Still up only, especially in a year when we have a presidential election in the US.

Do you want to know more about the rates bit, please read the following tweet by Luke Gromen:
https://twitter.com/LukeGromen/status/1767556897626898876

👉🏽"For the first time in history, interest payments on non-mortgage debt in the US are equivalent to interest on mortgage debt, at $575 billion.
Exactly 3 years ago, interest on non-mortgage debt was at $250 billion.
This marks a 130% increase in household interest expense on non-mortgage items over just 3 years.
Furthermore, 3 years ago interest on non-mortgage debt was HALF of interest on mortgage debt.
Americans are "fighting" inflation with high interest-rate debt.
36% of US adults have more credit card debt than money in a savings account.
Also, the average American household owes $7,951 in credit card debt.
As rates rise, the pain of this debt is getting even worse.
How is this sustainable?" - TKL

👉🏽"ECB plans to roll out digital Euro CBDC starting in 2025. They claim it’ll be “private,” but it will not be, given Lagarde already wants to throw you in jail for a 1000+ euro anonymous cash payment.

Study Bitcoin & opt out of this totalitarian surveillance token." -WalkerAmerica
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2024/html/ecb.sp240313~f632c531ac.en.pdf?c399660b02271b5ec70ef86e839a8c64

👉🏽"KPMG study among the 350 CFOs of the largest German subsidiaries of international groups shows that there is record-high skepticism with respect to Germany as an investment destination

Foreign investors are pessimistic and the attractiveness of the country is at risk: 46% of respondents believe that other countries and regions are growing faster than Germany and intend to prioritize investments there in the next five years

Energy transition, digitalization, upgrades, and infrastructure have opened up great business opportunities for international companies, but
all location factors are deteriorating with increasing momentum." - Nikolay Kolarov

In the past year, I have spoken on the deindustrialization of Germany multiple times. Everyone is aware of German deindustrialization by now, unfortunately, industrial production in other major European countries is not looking much better.
(picture 6)
(picture 7)

👉🏽Goldman points out that the Turkish central bank is about to lose control as "FX position deteriorates sharply". Is the Turkish lira on the verge of terminal collapse?

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

Another great What Bitcoin Did podcast.
The Perfect Bitcoin Allocation with Raphael Zagury
- Bitcoin vs real estate
- How ETFs changed everything
- Valuing Bitcoin
- The best portfolio allocation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqsGIRhFkvM

Anyway, that's it for today.
Only invest in Bitcoin what you can’t afford to have gradually stolen from you by the government.

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin
The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info.

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

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats. #zap  🧡  #weeklyrecap  #nostr      #plebchain      #BTC   #Bitcoin  #zap🧡            #plebchain     #grownostr    #stacksats #bitcoineducation #adoption
https://void.cat/d/XAD4T2CRuqXq49dmviDqVp.webp
https://void.cat/d/KZRyaJazCJxsTqNFrDqpn1.webp
https://void.cat/d/Px2jCp4Rp4r6TWQTsCGAMk.webp
https://void.cat/d/VHJztRWE5DWPtzRj6Xw2Fs.webp
https://void.cat/d/4rjQxNa2eCCpJ4yXNpVPgf.webp