Latest / Simply Bitcoin / US Treasury Drops BOMBSHELL Bitcoin Report: Digital ID is Here?! | EP 1457

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US Treasury Drops BOMBSHELL Bitcoin Report: Digital ID is Here?! | EP 1457 · Simply Bitcoin

0:02
A lot of people think digital ID's are only being rolled out
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in Europe and the crazy countries like Canada and the
0:10
UK. But Twitter went wild embracing
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this 34 page report written by the US Treasury that on the
0:19
surface does seem to be embracing Bitcoin privacy.
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But after spending a few hours reading it, it's clear that not
0:27
everyone actually read the full report.
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Because there's some very dangerous precedent buried in
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this report that could usher in a digital ID in America, or at
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very least is engaging and debating whether there should be
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a digital ID to protect against scam scams and other criminal
0:48
activity with Bitcoin. It it is, you know, it is a very
0:54
interesting report. I'm going to give you kind of
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the more generous take of what I read and then the more, I guess
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you could say, cynical, paranoid view of what is actually in this
1:06
report. Now, of course, I am not alone.
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I am here today with our boy Kent Halliburton from SAS
1:14
Mining. So here's the report, guys.
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If you guys saw this on Twitter, you might have saw some very
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bullish headlines on this. The report is titled Report to
1:24
Congress from the Secretary of the Treasury on innovative
1:27
Technologies to counter illicit finance involving digital
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assets. So let me do a command F here
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and I'll show you guys the kind of very bullish take that
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everyone clipped out and put on Twitter.
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This sentence in itself does sound very bullish for Bitcoin
1:46
privacy in the US. You just take this alone.
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It is just it's it's alone a very interesting quote coming
1:53
out of the US Treasury. And here's what everyone was
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reposting on Twitter. This specific quote, and it is
2:00
quote. Lawful uses of digital assets
2:02
may leverage mixers to enable financial privacy when
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transacting through public blockchains.
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For instance, individuals may use mixers to protect sensitive
2:11
information on personal wealth, business payments, or charitable
2:15
donations from appearing on a public blockchain.
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As consumers increase their use of digital assets for payments,
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individuals may want to use mixers to maintain more privacy
2:24
of their consumer spending habits.
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Of course, also in addition, digital asset services that take
2:29
custody of user funds and accept and transmit values or value are
2:34
currently required to register with Vincent as money services
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businesses maintain records and file suspicious activity
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reports. This includes custodial mixers.
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Now that was basically the clip or the snapshot that was going
2:48
around and you know, a lot of our friends, a lot of the
2:51
Bitcoin media groups were saying, hey, look, this is a win
2:54
for Bitcoin privacy. Now I know Bitcoin privacy isn't
2:58
the most sexy topic when it comes to Bitcoin.
3:02
Everyone it really, to be honest, everyone likes to talk
3:04
about price that it's love it or hate it.
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That's what most people like to talk about.
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Now again, I'm not going to read the whole page or the whole
3:12
report. It is 34 pages, guys.
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So I will give you kind of my overview of it and then I did
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get a couple of good tweets to kind of breakdown a little bit
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of what this report is saying. Now, my more generous take of
3:27
this report is you can say that the report, even though it does
3:32
talk about scams and criminal activity, criminal cyber
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activity, and it lays out a lot of different use cases and of
3:41
course ways to fight illicit finance, which is the title of
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this article. It does.
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If you read it again with a more generous view, it does just lay
3:50
out all of the obstacle is that the US Treasury or rather the
3:56
Trump administration or just the world at large has to deal with
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this new asset class that is of course Bitcoin or digital assets
4:03
as they like to call it. And it does basically lay out a
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lot of the attack vectors, a lot of the different things going on
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where people are able to skirt AML and KYC laws and ways that
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they are using mixing illegally. But I think in that in itself,
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if you read the whole report, it does bring up a lot of different
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questions of OK, well, illegal uses and legal uses, which ones
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which? And further, if we see some kind
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of dragnet surveillance here, what are the implications?
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And the article or rather the report does talk about there are
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concerns about this and and therefore they are talking to
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the private sector, of course, crypto companies, as they like
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to say, you know, stakeholders of a crypto or Bitcoin.
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So there is a generous view of this that hey, maybe this
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article or this report from the US Treasury is what the title
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says. It is that this is them trying
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to game theory ways to fight illicit finance.
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Again, that's the generous view of this.
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Now, when I read this, there was some concerning language in it,
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particularly for me was the mentions of digital IDs.
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They specifically mention and I'm, I, I didn't bring you the,
5:28
the exact quotes of this, so you, you might have to just
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trust but verify on this with me.
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But they did specifically mention the UK and Europe and
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how they're handling illicit finance, particularly with
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digital IDs and their digital ID kind of, you know, push their
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operations to unleash a digital ID.
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And this is where it does get a little worrying.
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Further, they do talk about essentially using more chain
5:57
analysis and already is being used by institutions to of
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course monitor the blockchains and make sure that we're all not
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criminals. Though the assumption is
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essentially that everyone is everyone that is using
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blockchain is a criminal and therefore they have to kind of
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stop everyone or rather all of the bad information or all the
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bad use cases of of Bitcoin or blockchain activities.
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Now, there was one thing, and this is me speculating, guys,
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this is me with my tinfoil hat on.
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There was specific mentions of AI usage or using AI to monitor
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and track all the information on the blockchains from the
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financial institutions. And when I was reading this, my
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initial thought was this idea of like, OK, so if they're going to
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use AI to monitor all of this information, I quote public
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private cooperation. It really seemed to me like
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they're talking about using Palantir to monitor all of this
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information. Now again, hey, maybe I'm a
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tinfoil hat guy. I acknowledge that.
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But that was the first thing that I kind of popped into my
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brain when I read this. So again, the precedent or at
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least the the cynical view of this, the more paranoid view of
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this report is they are outlining what potentially could
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be ways to pretty much tag and bag all the information coming
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from Bitcoin and digital assets. And therefore every single one
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of us is, you know, guilty until proven otherwise.
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And so that's my generous view of it.
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My more cynical view of it is some of the implications in this
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report aren't as bullish as the headline that, hey, there's
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lawful use cases for Bitcoin privacy or lawful use cases for
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Bitcoin mixing. I know they said that, but
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further on in the article they stopped or sorry, the report, I
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keep calling it article, the report, they do mention a lot of
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various uses of illicit finance using mixing.
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So it's a, it's a little, it's a bit of a grab bag of there's
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some positive in it, maybe a less positive than the negative
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implications. But reading the report it there
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is some worrying kind of wording verbiage sentences in here that
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it's like, OK, what is actually happening here?
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Is this simply a report to kind of outline the entire playing
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field here? Or is this more of a playbook
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that they're going to use to essentially tag and bag
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everything coming out of digital assets and digital asset
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providers and really complicate the process, which is one of the
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things I've been saying about the Clarity Act.
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It seems like it might do more harm than good.
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And again, reading this report, it, it did kind of give me that
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idea of like this doesn't sound as bullish as a lot of the
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headlines would say. And I'm not the only one that
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said that. I will bring up a couple of
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tweets from one of my favorite reporters, of course, Lola Leet
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from the rage. She's been doing a great job and
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this was her take. And and there is some spicy
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language in this guy's I'll, I'll you know, I know this is we
9:17
try to be a family show, but you know, I, I slip and stumble at
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times. So here is Lola Leet's take on
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this, of course, from the rage publication.
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And she is obviously a lot more cynical and and a lot harsher.
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And here's for the official post from the rage and here here she
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she does kind of pick some some quotes from the article or sorry
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again, the report that are are going to make you kind of see
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where this is going. And so she goes.
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News outlets are touting a recent report by the US Treasury
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on the combating of illicit finance and digital currencies
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as a quote win for privacy. This in this is incorrect.
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While the report notes that of course, quote lawful use of
10:00
digital assets may leverage mixers to enable financial
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privacy when transacting through public block chains, the
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majority of language on mixers highlights their use in
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terrorist financing or other illicit activities, as well as
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the challenges mixers introduced to law enforcement, which I can
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confirm after reading the whole report.
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As the Treasury states, quote, criminals commonly use tools
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like mixing to introduce challenges for investigators
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attempting to trace illicit digital assets, frustrating law
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enforcement investigation as well as digital asset service
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providers, transactions, monitoring and tracing efforts.
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While the report issues no new recommendations on the future of
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mixers, it notes that the Treasury has already proposed a
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rule to regulate mixers under the Patriot Act that has been
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tasked to finalize by the White House.
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According to the report, the Treasurer has additionally
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adopted the following recommendations.
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Treasury will, quote, incentivize the the development
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and integration of digital identity tools aimed at
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countering illicit finance. Treasury will also quote explore
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working with Congress on ways to better enable third party
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services providers to conduct identity identity verifications
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and Treasury will quote encourage industry stakeholders
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to develop open source and standardized AP is for essential
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compliance functions. Regarding defy, the Treasury
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further commands that Congress should consider specifying
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actors within the decentralized finance ecosystem that should be
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subject to a MLCFTC obligations quote, Congress should consider
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how to best safeguard the US financial system from money
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laundering threats that originate abroad, including
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those in D5. That should quote include adding
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a six special measure to Section 311 Patriot Act authorizing
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Treasury to prohibit or impose conditions upon certain
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transmittals of funds that are not tied to corresponding
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banking relationships. Congress should consider
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creating digital asset specific financial institution types or
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subtypes within the Bank Secrecy Act such that the new types of
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subtypes would be subject to a MLCFT obligations.
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And of course, FinCEN should evaluate whether or how it's
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existing guidance related to the digital asset sector, including
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guidance issued in 2013 and 2019 should be resigned, it
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rescinded, modified or updated to reflect legislative and
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regulatory challenge changes. She goes further from her
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personal account and this is where she gets a little more
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spicy. Okay, so I'll, I'll PG it up a
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little bit. She goes, Oh my God, the
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treasury said we can use mixers if we promise we won't do crime.
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Listen here, you effing idiot. The very notion of quote lawful
12:37
uses of digital assets implicates a mechanism to
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distinguish between lawful and unlawful uses.
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As I mentioned earlier, the report very clearly laid is how
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how this will be distinguished, and it isn't a magic and fairy
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does. Since no one who claims this
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report is a win for privacy seems to have actually read it,
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here's some of the recommendations and I I pretty
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much read most of them. You know, finalization of the
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regulation of mixers under the Patriot Act, the creation of
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subtypes under the Bank Secrecy Act, to resign modifier update
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2013 and 2019 Fins and guidance to incentivize the the
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development and integration of digital identity tools aimed at
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countering illicit finance. Nothing, and I mean nothing
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about this is good for privacy at all.
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So again, the big kind of headline that there is lawful
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use cases for mixing, it was a good headline.
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It it did kind of perk up all of our ears.
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But when you read the report, you're kind of thinking this
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doesn't sound that good at all. And you know, shouts at the low
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elites and the rage team. I think they're doing very good
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journalism, like actually real journalism.
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OK, They're they're we're not just engaging or I I'm not going
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to say we the rage is not just engaging in, you know, full
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engagement plebslop on the timeline.
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Yes, that quote in and of itself of lawful uses of mixing does
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sound like there is a narrative shift coming out of the the
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administration. But again, when you read all of
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the report, it, it kind of makes a different case.
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Now on top of that, another thing that we saw happening
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yesterday, which is very worrying it, it basically is one
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of these things of don't watch what they say or don't listen to
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just what they say, watch what they do as well.
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And this is where you're starting to see, hey, the one
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hand is doing one thing, the other hand is kind of doing the
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opposite. And as we always say, don't just
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follow what they say, follow what they do.
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And then you start to see what's going on.
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Though there is also the idea that, hey, maybe all the
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institutions, all of the, you know, ABC agencies aren't
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necessarily on board with the, quote, federal mandate of
15:04
becoming the Bitcoin superpower of the world.
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But this is where it starts to seem like maybe there is a full
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frontal attack on privacy. Now, what am I talking about?
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We've been covering this story for a long time now.
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And it does have to do with the Tornado Cash.
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So here is a tweet here, head of marketing umbrella enthusiasts
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at Arkham. I think this guy's a shit
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corner. But whatever it is, what it is
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it it's still it's still a good tweet.
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OK. And he goes, the asymmetry is
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wild. U.S.
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Treasury openly admits mixers have a legitimate privacy use
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case, yet the DOJ wants to retry Roman Storm on 2 counts of money
15:44
laundering and sanctions violations.
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Developers can't be responsible for 3rd party misuse of neutral
15:50
open source software. An appalling turn of events and
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makes the update from the US Treasury really bitter.
15:56
Free roaming and of course here is kind of the other tweet that
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was going around yesterday, United States of Department of
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Treasury. Oh, wait, sorry, Rollin.
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Here is a post this was from Amanda Tuminelli and she goes
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the DOJ has decided it will retry Roman Storm in the fall
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despite failing to convince a jury the first time around and
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despite making obvious mistakes like calling irrelevant
16:20
witnesses and not understanding the forensic analysis of their
16:22
own blockchain evidence. And oh, let me, let me, I guess
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I'll have to find the, the original tweet here.
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But anyways, you're you, you get the, you get the picture here.
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They are going to retry the Roman Storm case, the Tornado
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Cash case, which we were covering originally because it
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did set a a very scary precedent.
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And then we saw shortly afterwards they went after the
16:53
samurai wallet depths. So there is a continuous attack
16:57
on privacy even though we saw a, you know, very interesting
17:00
headline coming out of the US Treasury.
17:02
At least they kind of embrace, hey, there's some use cases for
17:05
Bitcoin mixing and Bitcoin privacy.
17:07
But here's the full tweet. Sorry, guys, it goes.
17:10
DOJ has decided we'll retry Roman Storm in the fall.
17:13
Despite failing to convince a jury the first time around,
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despite making obvious mistakes takes like calling irrelevant
17:17
witnesses and not understanding the forensic analysis of their
17:20
own blockchain evidence, and despite multiple legal and
17:23
logical fallacies to their allegations of third party
17:25
developer liability, The SDNY will retry Roman Storm on counts
17:30
one and three of the indictment. Incredibly disappointing news.
17:35
Again, I think we all know that the you know, New York court
17:40
system is not very favorable or rather New York itself is not
17:43
really favorable for Bitcoin. It's very, you know, with the
17:47
bit license in New York, it's not the best jurisdiction for
17:51
Bitcoin at large. They really have a bone to pick
17:54
with Bitcoin or crypto at large. And here we have a a huge stark
18:00
contrast from the official headlines, you know, oh, DOJ
18:04
says or sorry, the US Treasury says Bitcoin mixing.
18:07
There's awful use cases. You read the report and it's
18:09
kind of like, I don't know it. That's I don't I don't think
18:14
everyone read the report. I think I think we just got
18:16
caught up in in a screenshot and it was like, oh, what a win for
18:20
privacy. At the very same time we see
18:23
SDNY is retrying Roman Storm because hey, they got what they
18:27
wanted with the samurai wallet. Debs, they're in jail currently
18:31
for at least five years or at least, you know, at most five
18:35
years, probably maybe a little less.
18:37
So it's one of these things where the narrative, the idea of
18:41
a win for privacy, it sounds really good.
18:43
I, I would really have liked to read this report and be like,
18:46
OK, you know, this was a win. In reality, as we're seeing,
18:52
they are coming after privacy and as we like to say, and all
18:57
of us Bitcoiners, I think believe this like privacy is not
19:00
a crime. We shouldn't be criminals just
19:03
because we want to maintain some kind, some semblance of
19:06
financial privacy. It's not that we have something
19:09
to hide. You know, that's the, that's the
19:11
idea of everyone's like, oh, what, Like I don't have anything
19:14
to hide. And it's like, well, you know,
19:16
don't we all have curtains on our house?
19:17
Don't, don't we like to keep some things to ourselves?
19:20
We don't need all of our information blasted on the
19:23
Internet. I know we live in the social
19:25
media era now where like, we're all OK with posting everything
19:28
online, but you know, my mom's always said something.
19:31
And maybe this is just some classic traditional, you know,
19:36
mom isms here and she's like, hey, you don't have to tell
19:38
everything to everyone. Keep some things to yourself.
19:41
So again, you could argue this is a win, but it does seem like
19:47
we we are seeing a a true true bent or a true attack on privacy
19:54
at large. Which does blink bring in the
19:57
further implications of well, we know there is some kind of
20:03
fights right now around wording and coming out of the the
20:07
certain bills. I believe it was the Housing Act
20:10
that had a temporary temporary window on a CBDC ban.
20:17
That there's an argument about it and you're just like, OK, it,
20:20
it really feels like we're just walking into a full panopticon
20:25
dystopia where everything's tracked and bagged.
20:28
And that's one of the things that Bitcoiners have been saying
20:30
forever. That's like, look, Bitcoin is a
20:32
tool for freedom, but at the same time, if we're not careful,
20:37
if we're not vigilant, it could be a tool for total control of
20:42
finances in the world. It's like it is a double edged
20:45
sword. I truly believe Bitcoin is for
20:47
freedom, but we do have to fight for that.
20:51
We are the front line soldiers. This is happening, guys.
20:53
This isn't just, you know, me trying to get click bait.
20:57
You know, this isn't me just being cynical.
21:00
The wording in this report, it's very worrying that oh, wow,
21:04
like, OK, we're going back to we're all just criminals and if
21:09
you want privacy, you're a criminal.
21:12
So I, I, depending on how you want to look at this, could be a
21:17
slight win. It could be just a total
21:19
abomination. But anyways, Kent, I saw you
21:22
shaking your head when you're hearing these kind of sound
21:25
bites coming out of the rage. What what's your thoughts?
21:28
What does this say? When is the US Treasury
21:30
embracing Bitcoin privacy? Is this them just kind of game
21:35
planning, illicit finance and how to combat it?
21:38
Or is it more of a blueprint to unleash total surveillance AI,
21:43
you know, chain analysis on everything?
21:45
Like what? What's your take away hearing
21:47
all of this? Well, I can tell you had a cup
21:52
of coffee. Before you started I.
21:55
Have a cup of coffee, OK? No, My, my, my, my take is, you
22:01
know, I, I'll land more with Lolita on this one, you know,
22:05
and as I'm, as I'm seeing all this language, I have not read
22:09
it and I haven't looked at it before jumping on here with you.
22:12
But as I'm sitting here sort of reflecting on it, it just
22:14
strikes me as this is another, this is rules for for thee but
22:18
not for me as sort of a situation.
22:21
Like you look at all the corruption in the Congress and
22:24
Senate right now, how much the net worth of all those guys has
22:28
gone up, guys and gals, once they get elected.
22:31
And, and I scratch my head and say, OK, you guys are going to
22:34
continue to implement the, the Bank Secrecy Act on us and
22:38
continue to lock down on us, us not being able to spend any of
22:41
our, our, our validly earned money and going to crack the
22:47
whip on all of us. And at the same time, this
22:49
oligarchy that we call our, our Congress and Senate is just
22:52
going to continue to line their pockets.
22:53
And nobody's going to look at that, I guess, just as the, the
22:58
hypocritical nature of all of it is just so absurd.
23:02
And I think that as Bitcoiners, the best thing that we can do is
23:06
just opt out. We can be a self referential
23:10
system, right? We don't actually have to use
23:12
dollars if we all just agree to buy and purchase goods for goods
23:16
and services from one another in Bitcoin.
23:18
And by doing that, they actually can't come after us in the way
23:23
that this framing looks to be laying itself out, like the idea
23:26
of lawful users of Bitcoin, like, I'm sorry, there's just
23:30
users, right? That, that, that's kind of an
23:33
absurd statement to begin with. So the fact that they're
23:36
cracking down on it like that is worrisome.
23:38
The fact that they're coming after Roman again, you know,
23:42
that Southern District of New York.
23:44
I mean, I, I, I would love somebody to go sort of plunge
23:47
the, the, the drain there. That just place seems to just
23:51
be, you know, the, the enforcement arm of the Federal
23:55
Reserve or something. It's pretty crazy.
23:58
I don't like it at all. So when I look at all of this, I
24:01
think that you know what, there's some statistics that
24:04
takes like 3 1/2 percent of a population to resist something
24:07
for it to actually not be enacted.
24:10
And I think that 3 1/2 percent is a Bitcoin community.
24:13
And so really it comes down to us, like if you look at the the
24:16
generations before us, right, and what they had to do to
24:20
survive and hand us freedom that we've just been born into.
24:25
Guys, gals, I'm sorry. I think it's our turn.
24:29
I think it's our turn to fight for freedom for the next
24:31
generation. And it's coming at us right here
24:34
and now. And if we're not fighting for
24:36
that freedom with our actions, and we can peacefully do that
24:40
with our choice of using Bitcoin, then I think our
24:43
descendants are going to be pretty damn embarrassed for us
24:46
that we let it slide away. Yeah, no, 100%.
24:50
And I really do like the that, that statistic, that number, you
24:55
know, 3 1/2 percent is, it's one of the things that us bit
24:58
corners have been saying for a while.
24:59
You know, the American Revolution was fought by like
25:02
that 3% number. And I I really do want to
25:05
believe in that number. But one thing that is very
25:09
worrying, like you mentioned, it does seem like we are there's
25:14
like a stark difference right now where like we we're all kind
25:18
of watching and maybe a lot of us don't want to admit it, but
25:21
there there does seem to be just unprecedented political
25:25
corruption right now. And there does seem to be a
25:29
complete severance from what the politicians want to do and what
25:34
we want to happen. It's like they don't care what
25:38
we think anymore. They're just kind of like, this
25:40
is what's going to happen. This is going to push, get
25:42
pushed through. Like, don't worry about you
25:44
peasants. So I'm like, again, maybe I'm
25:47
hedging my own thinking where I'm like, I totally believe in
25:50
that 3% number. Like the, you know, the
25:52
intolerant minority will always win.
25:55
I'm a true believer in that idea.
25:57
Then you kind of see what's happening from, you know, the
26:00
top down directory, right currently as we speak and you're
26:03
like, wow, there's a there's a complete severance from the, you
26:08
know, for the people by the people and the politicians are
26:12
totally just going rogue. And you know, historically we've
26:15
seen these kind of examples. It it I don't want to be the
26:18
just classic bitcoiner of like, what's it late empire vibes here
26:23
where you know, the people specifically, you know, man
26:26
thinks of the Roman Empire. It's like at the end of the
26:28
Roman Empire, the people in power just, you know, we're in
26:31
for themselves and pillaging as much as they want.
26:34
Now I, I do truly believe that we can hopefully turn this
26:39
around like they're I got to believe in the hope.
26:43
You know, the chat always calls Opti just hope him here.
26:46
Like I have to believe in the hope or else, like what's the
26:48
point of doing all of this? Like we got to believe in the
26:51
good. But it is hard to fight the
26:54
black pill and the doomerism when you kind of look at
26:57
everything and you're just man, it really, it really is an
27:02
uphill battle. I guess that's that's the only I
27:04
don't know. Let me let me jump in and just
27:07
just say, you know, the the way that I've been framing this is
27:10
yeah, it's, it's it's the dawn is darkest right before the sun
27:16
comes up. And it sort of feels like that
27:17
moment. It sort of feels like like Mr.
27:20
Global, to use Castro Catherine Austin Fitz's terminology for
27:25
this just Leviathan that seems like we're we're that we're
27:29
battling all the time. It seems like we've got Mr.
27:32
Global like cornered at this point.
27:35
And basically the mask has been ripped off.
27:37
And it's kind of like if you have an injured animal cornered,
27:41
right? Like it's going to fight until
27:44
it's last breath. And it feels like everything is
27:48
being accelerated and thrown at us all at once.
27:50
And if all we can do is just stand our ground like that, that
27:56
phase is going to be over and we'll we'll have turned the
27:59
tide. And so I think it's just largely
28:01
on us to continue to stand our ground and that Mister Global is
28:07
just gonna fade away into the sunset and we'll win.
28:10
It doesn't look like it right now, but that's my take.
28:13
And you can look at that just by even what's going on in Iran
28:16
right now, right? Just like the consumption of
28:18
resources to battle that particular war right now.
28:22
I think that's one of the reasons why Trump is signaling,
28:25
starting to signal like, hey, we won.
28:28
You know, it's like, who cares if we won or lost?
28:30
Like I don't think we've got the resources to actually put us
28:32
through. There is practical limits to
28:34
what we can actually accomplish as a nation right now.
28:36
And so I think that if the if if the debt based financial system
28:42
does not continue to prop that up, it won't continue to exist.
28:46
And I think we're at the at the limits of that.
28:48
So maybe I'm just like you, an eternal optimist and full of
28:53
opium. But I'd like to think that we're
28:56
just at that last hour. You know, like the 4:00 AM hour
28:58
where it just sucks while you're freezing your our soft waiting
29:02
for the sun to come up. But we'll get close.
29:05
Yeah, well, I will. I'll give you the credit here,
29:08
Kent, because that was a very hopeful like, OK, hey guys.
29:13
Like I know it's dark, but we're going to we're going to figure
29:15
this out, guys. And maybe it's just because you
29:18
got the, you know, the wisdom on, on the, on that beard there
29:22
that us young guys. And maybe it's just I drink too
29:25
much caffeine this morning. I don't know, maybe I'm just
29:27
like jittery in general this morning.
29:30
But it it that did, you know, metaphorically walk me off the
29:34
Cliff. I'm like, yeah, you know,
29:35
actually, what am I saying? We we got this.
29:37
We're we're going to figure this out.
29:38
And it and it reminds me of the what's the saying?
29:42
You know, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then
29:45
they fight you and then you win. As we can see, you know, it's a
29:49
multi front war right now, literally and figuratively, but
29:54
we are in the then they fight you stage and no one said it was
29:57
going to be easy. No one said it was going to be
29:59
quick. Well, depending on which front
30:02
we're talking about, because people did say, you know what
30:05
was going to happen. The Middle East was going to be
30:06
quick and easy, but in terms of this Bitcoin thing, I've been
30:11
saying for a while, like I really am convinced this is
30:13
going to be, you know, multi decade struggle and it's not
30:17
going to happen overnight. I know some friends are like,
30:19
now one day, you know, gradually, then suddenly they're
30:23
going to bend the knee. And I'm like, I don't know.
30:25
I think it's, I think this, I think we're going to be in the
30:26
trenches for the next decade minimum.
30:30
And we're just going to try to get more people in and try to
30:34
make sure, like you said, we stand our ground because that's
30:36
really how I think we win as well.
30:38
It's like we carved out a little area.
30:42
As more people come, it obviously grows, but we can't
30:45
budget, you know, from the ground that we've claimed
30:49
because that's how we lose. So some wisdom can.
30:53
Well, let me let me just throw in a couple of other historical
30:55
things that are worth keeping in mind.
30:57
Right. Like I was actually old enough
31:00
to remember when the Berlin Wall fell.
31:02
Now I wasn't old enough to remember what things were like
31:04
before that, but you go back in time that what everybody thought
31:07
like it was shocking to see the Berlin Wall fall, right?
31:10
And that will that largely was like the difference between like
31:13
the East and the West. And during that time frame,
31:17
nobody, nobody thought within a week or so that that would drop.
31:20
But it did, right. And so how radically did
31:23
everything shift all at once? And in our lifetime, like I've
31:25
seen another historical, this was a negative radical shift,
31:28
but was like 911, right? Like that bank and not the bank
31:32
secrecy, but the NSA came out and other things.
31:35
Uh oh, I'm getting invaded by a little 1 here.
31:39
That's my, that's my littlest. But yeah, we'll get them.
31:41
Off camera, we'll get them off. Camera.
31:43
Yeah. Thank you.
31:43
Thank you. And then and then and then the
31:45
third one was, you know, like COVID, like another radical
31:48
shift. So I'm just saying there's
31:49
historical events that can come about that can cause massive
31:52
change very quickly. So things may look hopeless
31:55
right now, but it doesn't take but for a shift to happen for
31:59
everything to change in an instant.
32:02
That's all. And the Berlin Wall is probably
32:03
the most +1 that I can think of in my lifetime.
32:06
Yeah, truly, I was, I was a little too young for the
32:08
actually, I wasn't even born yet, but yeah, I'm a little too
32:12
young for that one. But you know, I, I I like my
32:14
history though. Someone in the chat, someone in
32:16
the chat's. Yo, America, 7382 is like
32:20
depressing combo. I know, dude, I, I know you.
32:22
I I was really telling Cat before we went live.
32:25
A lot of you guys are like, hey, I haven't seen, I haven't been
32:27
on the show for a little bit. I need some opium.
32:28
I'm like this might not be the show for you, bro.
32:32
It's hard. There's not much opium on
32:35
today's show. It's like we're we're kind of
32:38
this is more of like a sober, you know, reality shock moment
32:42
right now. But hey, we're you know, we got
32:46
Bitcoin, you know, just keep DCA ING.
32:48
I know at a certain point I I am truly actually can't.
32:52
We are going a little long, but I do want to get your idea on
32:55
this. I, I'm truly, I think becoming
32:59
to the point and, and maybe a lot of our critics have been
33:03
saying this for a long time where like, I don't think it is
33:06
just enough for us to completely opt out of the system, just like
33:10
stack sats and chill. I, I am starting to view this
33:14
like that is just part of the, the equation here.
33:17
Like you need to opt out, you need to save in Bitcoin, you
33:21
need to stack sats and chill. But I think it's going to,
33:25
there's going to be a lot more work for us to do than just
33:28
simply saving in Bitcoin. That is like the the initial
33:32
kind of domino that you need to save in Bitcoin to obviously
33:35
protect yourself. But I think at a certain point
33:38
we are going to have to do more as a community or, you know, as
33:43
individuals, however you want to look at it.
33:44
But I don't know what's your thoughts on that before we move
33:47
on? Like is stacking stats and
33:49
chilling enough or will is this just the beginning?
33:53
Kind of, you know, entree battle.
33:56
No, I don't think just stack and stats is enough.
33:59
I think, I think it's, it's one level, right?
34:02
I think it's one level, but I don't think you're part of the 3
34:04
1/2% that's resisting if you're just doing that.
34:08
I think, I think we need to actually be active in building.
34:12
To me, there's an event horizon between Fiat reality and Bitcoin
34:16
reality. And the more that we build
34:18
Bitcoin reality, the more that we secure our future, the less
34:23
that we build the Bitcoin reality, the more that we are
34:26
have an insecure future. That's it's as simple as that
34:29
for me. So me building SAS, mining, this
34:32
is part of my effort to resist and to create a different way.
34:35
And it's, it's my little simple act in the process, right?
34:38
This is just the only way you generate Bitcoin is through
34:40
mining, right? So customers that come here,
34:43
they wind up getting SAS that are generated outside of the
34:46
banking system because they're generated by the network.
34:48
So it's my little way of of having some form of resistance
34:51
and giving people tools to have their own form of resistance.
34:56
But I think that all of us have a part to play, whether you're
35:00
an entrepreneur and just accept Bitcoin and then spend it, you
35:04
know, amongst your friends, family and other vendors that
35:07
you might associate with. I think that we have an
35:10
obligation here and now to do that level of resistance.
35:13
I'm not calling for anything violent or anything.
35:15
Yeah, crazy like that. But no, no, no, no, none of
35:19
that. But I think just like, you know,
35:21
I was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and like how he resisted the
35:24
entire British Empire, right? Like he just checked out, you
35:27
know, how he actually resisted the British Empire.
35:29
You refused to buy any of their goods and services.
35:31
And So what do you do? He made his own clothes, he he
35:34
grew his own food and he just stopped using their system.
35:38
And I think that we have that opportunity here with Bitcoin to
35:42
opt out in a very peaceful way. And by opting out, we vote with
35:46
our dollars not to participate in the system.
35:49
And that's the way that we actually can change everything
35:53
is simply by opting out. So I think it's, it's strength
35:57
in numbers, right? It's not just me or you, Opti
36:00
that makes that happen, but it's all of us collectively
36:03
realizing, oh, this mathematical certainty, money that is
36:07
digitally scarce and and protected by electricity is a
36:15
better way for us to conduct value between each other.
36:19
And let's just embrace that, you know, we can all kind of have
36:21
our version of being Amish, so to speak, by building a separate
36:25
reality and just continue to live as a sovereign entity
36:30
within the, the overarching system and, and do that as a
36:34
network state, a Bitcoin network state, so to speak.
36:37
Yeah, I I couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more.
36:40
Though I do have to, I do have to read this comment.
36:43
This is actually hilarious. Christopher Barber on in the
36:48
YouTube tags like our hopium dealer is telling us to go to
36:51
rehab. Hey, sometimes we need a reality
36:54
check, OK? Sometimes we get a little too
36:56
high on our own side. OK, All right, that's all I'm
36:59
doing. You know, but that's a funny
37:02
comment. That's a funny comment.
37:03
All right, Anyways, guys, we are we're going to keep the show
37:05
moving. I do have an interesting clip
37:07
that was, you know, circulating on Twitter last night in regards
37:11
to inflation. And then on the same note, I
37:15
don't know if you guys are watching what's going on in the
37:17
oil markets, but the it's it's trading like a shit coin.
37:22
And I'm really glad to have Kent here, obviously as a Bitcoin
37:25
miner to get his take on the rising and and falling prices of
37:30
energy currently and what like what exactly is going on?
37:34
And then of course, we're going to get an update from Kent a
37:37
little later, might have a little bit more contrarian takes
37:41
to wrap up today's show. So that's the layout of today's
37:44
show. First commercial special break
37:45
and we'll be right back. Today's episode is brought to
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se-ed.com store. All right guys, all right, the
40:01
current Bitcoin price is $71,270 guys, I'm starting to get a
40:09
little bullish here. I I know you guys want the
40:11
opium, but. I don't know I I'm really
40:15
leaning into being a Wick off Maxi right now.
40:17
OK, maybe I'll cover that later for you guys on the show if if
40:20
it holds on the pattern all right.
40:22
Anyways, the discount from all time high is 43.5% the market
40:27
cap. Look guys, we have reclaimed the
40:30
$1.43 trillion dude, a win's a win as long as we're out of the
40:34
$1.3 trillion market caps. Like I, I, it feels a little
40:38
better. That 1.3 is just depressing to
40:41
me for some reason. I, I can't explain it.
40:43
Anyways, it looks like let me actually let me double check
40:45
this. It looks like we have yes OK,
40:50
Clark Moody's dashboard is updated on the block height.
40:53
It is the current block height is currently 940,144.
40:57
I I don't know what was going on yesterday guys, but it it was
41:01
interesting that on the day that we got the you know 20 million
41:05
Bitcoin mined we the Clark Moody dashboard just like wasn't
41:11
working for us. So that that was like.
41:13
I don't know what's going on here.
41:14
I got to go to men pulled out space to confirm what the block
41:17
height is currently. But anyways, as I was saying,
41:22
there was a clip on CNBC and it is by Ron Baron, of course, of
41:28
Baron capital. He's a influential person.
41:31
Yes, you know, Boomer, but hey, influential and billionaire
41:36
investor. So it's not just bitcoiners
41:39
saying these things, which is why I wanted to bring it up is
41:42
because he is hitting on not just Bitcoin, but inflation and
41:47
further what that does to your purchasing power from a
41:50
bitcoiners perspective, from someone that's been here for a
41:52
long time, you're probably like, this is nothing new.
41:55
I've heard this before, but that's the point.
41:58
Now our narratives are getting out on CNBC from people that are
42:03
in, you know, higher up positions than we are that
42:05
aren't just Youtubers that aren't just an ONS on Twitter.
42:08
It's like the signal is spreading guys.
42:11
So hopefully, again, maybe this is the, you know, the dawn, what
42:15
the darkness before the light, but our, our analysis of the
42:20
world is starting to get around and people are sounding a lot
42:24
like Bitcoiners from positions that are, you know, very
42:29
interesting and and of course powerful.
42:31
It's it, it, I'm being reminded right now of that, that Fight
42:35
Club meme of like, we run the nodes, we're everywhere, You
42:38
know, it's like Bitcoiners are everywhere now.
42:41
And it's, it's I guess to say like we're still early in this
42:45
game, but we have some, you know, at least some key
42:48
understanding from some key players that are seemingly
42:51
coming towards the Bitcoin side. So we'll play the clip and let
42:56
me know what you guys think in the chat.
42:58
What happens if the value for money falls and falls 4 or 5% a
43:02
year? That's inflation, both 4 or 5% a
43:04
year and the economic growth has been about 2% a year.
43:07
So it's about 7% a year growth and that means everything double
43:11
s in 10 years. The value of the money falls in
43:13
half every 15 years. So you got to make twice what
43:16
you're making today in 15 years to stay even.
43:20
And so stock market, you know, so bitcoins been amazing.
43:23
Obviously, it's absolutely not. I'm sorry, guys.
43:28
I I thought it was louder. I usually do my best to, you
43:31
know, edit that so it's louder for you guys.
43:33
But hey, nonetheless, he's out here saying, you know, the real
43:37
cost of inflation, even though, you know, I'll pull up
43:41
Trueflation for you guys. And even though the official,
43:44
you know, CPI numbers currently are very low inflation, I think
43:49
most of us in real life here feel what is going on.
43:54
So Trueflation at least CPI is saying it's under around 1%, one
43:59
point four, 1.04%. So if you're looking at the
44:03
official numbers, you're like, OK, it's, you know, hey, it's
44:06
1%, that's not that bad. Even even that is not ideal.
44:13
You're losing 1% of your purchasing power currently every
44:18
year at least via these numbers. Now if you go into kind of on
44:22
average, it's usually around 2%. As you know Ron was saying it's
44:27
like add that with the SP500 going up around 5%.
44:31
So the real inflation is probably around 7% and then
44:35
going further, if you elongate this out for 10-15 years, you
44:40
literally need to double your income in 15 years just to stay
44:45
even. This is why it's all a scam now.
44:48
One of the biggest things that really kind of annoys me when it
44:51
comes to oops sorry guys. When it comes to people talking
44:57
about inflation, is it always frame it in this idea of hey,
45:02
guys, it's only 1% inflation, Like it's going down, guys.
45:05
Like inflation's going down, guys, you should be happy.
45:08
And you're like, I'm still losing.
45:11
Like it, It's not that it's gone forever.
45:13
I'm still losing my purchasing power.
45:16
Yes, it's going down and I'm losing it at a slow like I'm,
45:20
I'm my purchasing power is getting destroyed at a lower
45:24
rate, but it's still getting destroyed.
45:27
And this is how the system works.
45:28
And most people are like a man and you know, inflation, you
45:32
know, like the gas prices aren't going up that high, you know,
45:35
groceries not costing too much more money.
45:37
And you're like, doesn't matter. We're still losing in this in
45:40
this system that is designed for us to lose.
45:42
And you're just like, I remember the first time I heard this.
45:46
Can't this idea that in 15 years you lose half of your stuff just
45:52
via normal inflation numbers? And that idea in itself, maybe
45:58
it's because I was still kind of young at the time when I first
46:00
got into Bitcoin and I was first listening to Bitcoin podcasters.
46:04
I was like, yo, in 15 years I lose half of my money that I
46:08
save. Like, there's no way I'm going
46:10
to get out of this. I'm like, I'm going to be broke,
46:12
Sir, forever. Like I'm going to be a peasant
46:14
forever. What's going on?
46:15
And then that's like the moment where it clicks and I was like,
46:18
oh, I need to just stack and save and acquire, accumulate as
46:22
much Bitcoin as possible because that's the only escape that I
46:24
saw. And in hindsight, I should have
46:27
gone harder, You know, I should have gone way harder.
46:30
It was the right move, but I could have gone so much harder.
46:34
And here we are. But anyways, I'm, I'm too geeked
46:37
up on coffee, so I got to pass the mic.
46:39
Kent, are you surprised that the Bitcoin narratives are starting
46:44
to, or rather posed a different way?
46:47
Are you surprised that the average person on CNBC is now
46:52
starting to sound like a Bitcoiner?
46:56
No, it's, it's, it's just a matter of time, right?
46:59
I mean, here's the thing, like I think most of us here through
47:05
our own curiosity came to Bitcoin.
47:07
I think the big print of 2021 for Covad was like a big like
47:11
bat signal that drew a lot of us to to Bitcoin.
47:15
But those that came before, you know, were drawn by their own
47:19
curiosity. I think that cohorts gone, I
47:22
think now the adopters of Bitcoin are getting it not
47:25
through the orange fill, but the orange Suppository through pain
47:28
and the pain is inflation and the pain of inflation.
47:32
I think most people don't actually think this all the way
47:35
through, right? If let's say 2% is the number, I
47:38
know you just showed 1%, but I like 2% better because that's
47:41
what the, the Fed, you know, did neuro linguistic programming on
47:45
all of us for the last 30 plus years, right?
47:48
But 2% means that 2% of the value of the dollars that you've
47:52
stored have disappeared. Well, how do you make up that 2%
47:56
the next year? I mean, if you're living
47:58
paycheck to paycheck? And the answer is.
48:00
You have to work 2% more. So it's not just 2% of your
48:03
money that disappeared, it's 2% of your time.
48:06
And actually when you start to look at that loss of time across
48:09
all of humanity, it's an absolute travesty because it's
48:12
literally stealing like our lives away from us.
48:15
This, this theft. So to me, this is the most
48:18
insidious type of theft that there is because it's hidden and
48:22
discreet. It's like a snake entering your
48:24
room while you sleep or something.
48:25
You just, you don't know it's there and you put your foot down
48:28
off the bed and holy shit, like it goes half my life, right?
48:30
Or at least half my leg. And it sucks.
48:33
It's just horrible. I hate it with every fiber of my
48:37
being because it's just so unjust and and not right.
48:40
And I think as more people wake up to that, I think the type
48:43
will turn and and that natural disposition will just be what
48:47
the fuck? We don't have to like with
48:49
Bitcoin. We have a choice, right?
48:51
You don't have to be a part of that system.
48:54
And again, opting out and just building in this other system
48:57
allows that reality to come more into focus.
49:00
And yeah, I think I saw a chat comment here about Jeff Booth,
49:03
and I think Jeff Booth has been the 1st and the best at
49:06
describing this phenomena. You don't fight the existing
49:09
system, you just build a better one.
49:12
And by building the better one, it would just cause the the
49:15
existing system to slowly collapse in on itself.
49:18
And that's where we are. Yeah, 100% I I truly love that
49:23
Jeff Boos comment of and it and it really reminds me of and
49:28
other kind of truism. You know, it takes more effort
49:31
to combat BS and I think that's kind of where the Jeff booth, I
49:36
don't know, heuristic comes from.
49:38
It's like it takes a lot more effort to try to stop the
49:42
collapse of the old system versus does to just build on a
49:45
new system. And I know we're still early in
49:48
that process, but it it does again, maybe maybe we're ending
49:52
the show a little bit with some, some opium here, with some, with
49:56
some, you know, white pills throughout the show.
49:58
It's like it is going to take effort, but it, it is seemingly
50:03
starting to bud and there, there are things that are going in the
50:07
right direction and it, and it might just be one of these
50:10
things where what's the, you know, bad times create strong
50:14
men. It's like maybe we just have to
50:16
rise to the occasion or else like what, what's the other
50:20
alternative? It's just, you know, society as
50:23
we know it is over. I don't know, I, I can't, I
50:25
can't function on, on that, even though you guys know, I'm, I am
50:28
kind of an accelerationist. I don't like to be, but I'm
50:31
like, hey, dude, that's where it's going.
50:33
I'm like, could we just like, you know, get to the end of it
50:36
so that we can move on? But it's going to be a slow,
50:40
slow process as far as I, as I, I can see.
50:43
But we all know the goodwill always win in the end.
50:48
So hey, we'll, we'll be OK. Well, maybe not us, maybe our
50:53
grandchildren or great, great grandchildren, I don't know.
50:56
One day, one day we can look down from the sky and be like,
51:00
look, it was all it was all worth it.
51:04
That was Duber. All right, anyways, let's keep
51:05
it moving. I keep trying to lift you back
51:08
up. I'm lifting.
51:09
I keep trying. I keep trying.
51:11
I you got you got it. You I I'm feeling good.
51:13
I'm feeling good. It might just be the schizo
51:15
energy of this coffee and this room is so hot.
51:19
I'm dying and I'm jittery right now, but we're going to power
51:23
through. We're going to power through.
51:25
All right, guys. So as I said, because I have
51:28
Canton today, I, I would have probably done this in the
51:31
culture 'cause this is more of a cultural event, but it is a news
51:34
event. And of course, Kent is a Bitcoin
51:37
miner. And what we're seeing in oil
51:39
right now, or rather yesterday and today, it's absolutely
51:44
insane. Oil's literally trading like a
51:46
shit coin and no one has any clue like what is going on right
51:51
now. So I'm I'm gonna talk about what
51:53
happened in the oil markets yesterday.
51:55
And again, since I have a Bitcoin miner here, it's going
51:58
to, you know, the conversation's gonna evolve into what this
52:01
means for energy period around the world and in particular what
52:05
it means for Bitcoin miners. So that's gonna be the next
52:08
segment. I'll be right back.
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54:42
OK guys, so before I start pulling up charts for you, if
54:47
you are falling along on for lack of better terms, the
54:52
political circus going on currently in the Middle East,
54:57
one of the kind of talking points or rather one of the
55:00
arenas that we're seeing this play out is in oil prices.
55:04
And if you've been watching, and I think I mentioned this
55:07
yesterday, but if you watch over the weekend, we saw oil futures
55:10
shoot up to about $120.00 a barrel.
55:13
And yesterday the markets were all over the place.
55:17
We we saw literally like almost a once in a lifetime event
55:21
yesterday in oil prices, if you're unfamiliar with it,
55:26
prices where you know, again, around at least people thought
55:29
it was going to be at a like $120.00 per barrel where like,
55:32
Oh my goodness, prices of oil are going out of control this
55:37
war. Because as I mentioned on
55:38
Monday, there was, you know, oil refinery field that was Catching
55:45
Fire. There's black rain.
55:46
It was Armageddon looking videos on Twitter.
55:50
And then around 2:00-ish PM, we got an announcement from Trump
55:55
that was very, for lack of in terms of little schizo, he's
56:00
like, on the one hand stated that we quote are very complete
56:04
in the operation in Iran. And then in literally the same
56:08
breath, he's like, this is just the beginning.
56:11
And the markets were like, wait, how do I kind of digest this
56:14
information? And the price of oil dumped all
56:18
the way to $84 per barrel. So again, I really like
56:22
Kobayashi letter on Twitter. They've been doing a great job.
56:26
So this was around the timing when we got that announcement of
56:29
Trump that we have one, on the one hand fully completed the
56:33
operation and on the other hand, it is not yet over in just the
56:37
beginning, but oil prices seem to dump around that
56:40
announcement. Later on in the day, in the
56:43
evening, we got this announcement from Trump that
56:46
said basically once the markets close, we're going to hit Iran
56:51
20 times harder. It was like on the one hand to
56:54
kind of persuade the markets like everything's going to be
56:57
good oil production's, you know, going to be going as normal.
57:02
We got another announced. It's like we're going even
57:04
harder on this and the markets are literally whipsawing right
57:07
now in oil, which is like you don't see this happen.
57:12
Look at this chart here. This this is on the daily.
57:15
So you know, open at one O $9 per barrel, it goes as high as
57:21
around $120.00 a barrel. Then it goes as low as 81
57:25
dollars and closes around $84 per barrel.
57:29
Currently it is dumping and we are 81.
57:32
I wouldn't say necessarily dumping, but it's under the low
57:36
from yesterday. It's like where what is going on
57:40
in the oil markets? It literally seems like it's
57:42
it's being traded by shit corners.
57:44
Now. Here's the latest update by
57:46
Kobayashi letter and he goes the oil market is moving at an
57:49
unprecedented pace. Trading volume in the United
57:52
States Oil Fund ETF jumped to a record 12.4 billion on Monday.
57:57
This puts volume up plus 1000% since the start of the year
58:02
here. This also surpasses the previous
58:04
peak seen during the 2020 oil crash, the 2022 Russia Ukraine
58:08
war and the 2025 spike by over 200%.
58:12
By 11:30 AM Eastern Time yesterday, trading volumes were
58:16
already at an all time high at 7.6 billion.
58:20
The surge was driven by a mix of institutional traders and retail
58:23
investors chasing the oil price move.
58:25
Oil is now one of the most traded assets on the planet.
58:29
I saw a lot of bitcoiners basically saying, you know, hey,
58:33
this oil price is too volatile. How is this going to be the, you
58:38
know, the store of energy for the world?
58:41
It's it's a play on what they all say about Bitcoin.
58:44
Anyways, another tweet here. Again, I really enjoying
58:48
Kobayashi's kind of analytics or rather macro framework of what's
58:52
going on. They do have this article that I
58:55
highly suggest you guys go read. It's called the conflict
58:58
playbook. I, you know, it's, it's a good
59:02
read, it's a good framework. It does seem like it's playing
59:05
out currently as we speak. And here they go with a chart.
59:09
It goes. It doesn't get more textbook
59:11
than this. Every step of our March 3rd
59:13
conflict playbook has been outlined on this oil price
59:16
chart. It begins at step one and Step
59:20
2. When Trump sent an Armada to
59:22
Iran and ramped up threats on February 27th, we saw the Friday
59:26
night strike from step number three of our playbook.
59:29
This led to a Step 4 as risk premiums were rapidly priced in.
59:34
On March 3rd, President Trump began saying the war could last
59:37
forever, as expected in Step 5. Here we are right here.
59:42
And then on Friday and last night, markets began pricing in
59:46
step number 6A, prolonged conflict, sending oil prices to
59:49
$120.00 a barrel. Finally today, this was, I
59:53
believe yesterday. Yeah, yesterday at 3:20 PM
59:57
Eastern Time, President Trump hinted at conditional de
1:00:01
escalation from step seven of our conflict playbook.
1:00:04
We are now nearing step 8. Keep following along and here
1:00:08
just to kind of give you a little, you know, wet your beak
1:00:12
here. Step 8 here is going further.
1:00:17
Here we go the market and political feedback loop where a
1:00:21
prolonged conflict that drives oil prices sharply higher would
1:00:25
directly conflict with three core policy.
1:00:29
And you're starting to see that in step 9.
1:00:31
We'll see the deal in narrative framing and then step 10, which
1:00:36
hopefully this happens in Bitcoin, which is why I'm
1:00:39
getting a little bullish. I'm becoming a wig off maxi.
1:00:42
Step 10 is a violent repricing. So I'm hearing Bitcoin go back
1:00:46
up to 100K hopefully and the political victory lap.
1:00:50
So we're seeing crazy stuff and and again, here's Adam Kobayashi
1:00:54
from the Kobayashi letters tweet and he goes there it is.
1:00:57
Crude oil prices just rose and fell 30% in the same day and
1:01:01
what appears to be a 5 Sigma event.
1:01:03
In other words, what happened today or yesterday occurs once
1:01:07
in a 3.5 million observations. Again, step seven of the
1:01:13
conflict playbook. So crazy stuff happening in oil
1:01:17
right now, obviously because of the Middle East.
1:01:21
I think we are seeing in general markets are trying to understand
1:01:25
and price what is actually happening in the Middle East,
1:01:28
hence why literally all the markets are whip sawing right
1:01:32
now. And at the same time Bitcoin is
1:01:35
holding up very resilient, which is I think one of the most
1:01:39
interesting aspects of all this. But there are people that are
1:01:42
saying, you know, the oil price, oil price reversing, it didn't
1:01:49
really make a new low. This people were tweeting this
1:01:52
earlier. Now we fully did get a new low.
1:01:55
So look, I'm like you guys, I'm trying to fully understand what
1:02:01
is coming out of the administration.
1:02:03
But as you can see, there is all kinds of volatility in the
1:02:07
market. And I really only brought all
1:02:09
that oil price, you know, energy conversation to 1.
1:02:13
Compare the price of Bitcoin. We're currently at 701K.
1:02:17
In the face of the comp conflict in the Middle East, Bitcoin is
1:02:21
very resilient. And then of course, I have a
1:02:23
Bitcoin miner here. Bitcoin literally takes energy
1:02:28
and turns it into precious Bitcoin.
1:02:31
So Kent, following along that saga, what is your initial
1:02:36
thoughts from a energy perspective, from a Bitcoin
1:02:40
mining perspective, like what is your macro view here?
1:02:44
And then maybe add a little bit of what you think might be
1:02:47
happening in Bitcoin as or sorry, Bitcoin mining as well,
1:02:51
boy man. That's that's, that's a tee off.
1:02:54
Let me let me just yell for before I get going here.
1:02:59
You know, the, the situation politically like, right, I, I
1:03:05
hope that Kabayashi is correct and this is following the
1:03:08
playbook and this is going to wind down soon, right?
1:03:10
I think it's to nobody's advantage that the conflict in
1:03:15
Iran right now with the US and Israel and whoever else was
1:03:18
involved, Russia, China, it's in nobody's interest that that
1:03:22
escalates. Even where I'm located here in
1:03:25
South America, I do not want that escalation because it has
1:03:29
all the hallmarks of World War Three wind up.
1:03:33
And I say that because as opposed to the other actions,
1:03:36
military actions that Trump has taken, you know, Iran is a
1:03:41
civilization. You know, you go back to the
1:03:44
Persians, it's been there for centuries.
1:03:48
And that's a different thing to try to eradicate a civilization
1:03:52
than it is like a Venezuela that's been there for a few 100
1:03:55
years as a nation state. And so I don't, I don't like the
1:03:59
odds of us speaking as AUS citizen trying to stick around
1:04:03
and actually entertain transforming a civilization and
1:04:06
knocking it over because that seems absolutely insanely
1:04:09
stupid. That said, you know the oil
1:04:12
price is being pushed up. It's going to make it more
1:04:14
expensive for anybody that's mining on fossil fuels, right?
1:04:17
It is a commodity and commodities will be be repriced
1:04:21
across the board. It'll make shipping more
1:04:23
expensive. Who knows what 2nd and 3rd order
1:04:26
consequences, but anything that's derived from oil will go
1:04:29
up in price. Electricity that's generated
1:04:33
based on oil and fossil fuel products will go up in price.
1:04:36
So that could impact different areas where Bitcoin miners are
1:04:40
mining. That said, you know, thankfully
1:04:43
we're kind of with a strategic advantage as a company right now
1:04:47
because we've chosen to mine on 100% carbon free energy sources.
1:04:51
So that shouldn't impact us directly.
1:04:53
But electricity itself is a commodity, right?
1:04:56
So if the grid power goes up, then the cost electricity across
1:04:59
the board could go up. So energy is one of the raw
1:05:02
inputs to the economy period. So if energy costs go up, that
1:05:07
should lead to, you know, inflation of prices from costs
1:05:10
increasing and make it just be another inflationary force.
1:05:14
So it sucks. There's no, there's no good
1:05:17
situation there. You know, I could try to spin it
1:05:20
into an angle because we're mine on renewables that it's better.
1:05:23
But at the end of the day, the rest of life is going to go up
1:05:26
and be more expensive. So starting to be a Debbie
1:05:28
Downer on this one. I think the positive silver
1:05:31
lining on this is, is simply the the Kobayashi playbook is
1:05:34
playing out and we're close to the end.
1:05:36
And we're going to wrap it up and say run the victory lap and
1:05:40
prices come down. But yeah, when you see the
1:05:43
global energy commodity trading like a shit coin, you know,
1:05:47
something is really out of whack on the world.
1:05:50
I mean, we're talking about things that are like the
1:05:53
financial tectonic plates that relatively move and I don't move
1:05:57
very often. And to see prices like that is
1:06:00
kind of like they've collided and now there's a new mountain
1:06:02
range that suddenly appeared, right?
1:06:04
Like that's the sort of thing that we just experienced.
1:06:07
And I don't think any of us can really understand until like
1:06:10
many years in the future just how seismic these events are.
1:06:13
But like, our reality is shifting, and I think that it's
1:06:17
good to have a good moral compass and a good character
1:06:21
that's very adaptable right now because we all need it.
1:06:25
Yeah, 100%. I love that taking one interest
1:06:28
and actually guys, I I dropped it in the Rumble, the article
1:06:32
the conflict playbook from Kobayashi later I dropped it in
1:06:35
the chat for you guys. So if you guys are interested
1:06:37
and want to really get the full breakdown.
1:06:39
So maybe, maybe it's the framework that's happening.
1:06:42
It seems that's why it caught my radar.
1:06:44
It's like it seems to be happening, but on on the other
1:06:47
side of to kind of add on to what you said, can I think since
1:06:53
personally, and I'll speak for myself here, what when you watch
1:06:57
what's when I watch what happened in the oil prices
1:07:00
yesterday, It it really didn't like set off my radar because I
1:07:04
am a Bitcoiner and I'm like so used to just Bitcoin going crazy
1:07:09
or dumping crazy. You know, that's like my
1:07:12
baseline. I'm just like, yeah, I'm a
1:07:14
bitcoiner. Like I'm used to the price of
1:07:17
this Bitcoin thing, this digital commodity thing, just go
1:07:20
absolutely nuts. And like, that's what I like,
1:07:23
that's what I'm interested in. That's what gets me excited in
1:07:26
the morning, right. But when you think about it from
1:07:30
a building block of the modern society, like the prices
1:07:35
shouldn't be doing this. And when you hear it's like, oh,
1:07:38
a once in a three and a half million occurrence events,
1:07:41
you're just like, Oh yeah, like I forget not everything is as
1:07:45
volatile and crazy as Bitcoin. Like this thing should not be
1:07:48
moving like this. Like no traditional financial
1:07:52
instrument, commodity equity or anything like that should be
1:07:56
ripping. Like what we've seen gold do
1:07:59
last year, silver do towards the end of the year, what we're
1:08:02
seeing oil do. And someone in the chat said
1:08:05
something funny. It's like we saw oil go
1:08:07
parabolic before Bitcoin. Like what is going on?
1:08:11
Like what is going on like literally the, the foundational
1:08:16
base element input, as you put it, it's going parabolic before
1:08:20
Bitcoin is it's like we are really truly in the middle of
1:08:25
seeing like a, a historic monetary reordering, reshifting
1:08:30
event happen. And that's why it, it is very, I
1:08:35
think hard for everyone. And that's why I think literally
1:08:38
everyone is sort of confused about what's going on.
1:08:40
It's like there is an onslaught of information warfare happening
1:08:44
right now to, you know, for whatever benefit on each side.
1:08:47
It's like it's really hard to understand what's going on.
1:08:50
But when you look at like the charts and the data and, and the
1:08:55
price of Bitcoin alongside of all this, you're just like,
1:08:58
whoa, things are getting really crazy right now.
1:09:02
And I'm just happy I'm in Bitcoin and we didn't dump lower
1:09:06
than 60K and we're at 70K right now.
1:09:08
I'm like, OK, hey, maybe there's a silver lining here.
1:09:11
Maybe as I joke, actually, I've said this already on the show,
1:09:15
me and Sophie were chatting about the, you know, the
1:09:20
operation in Iran. And we're like, wait, like I
1:09:24
know Bitcoin is anti war, but is Bitcoin kind It's like World War
1:09:30
three kind of good for Bitcoin because we're not jumping right
1:09:33
now. It's like, wait, what is
1:09:34
happening? So hey, look, I, I've said it
1:09:37
before. I, I don't necessarily want to
1:09:40
be happy that our bags are pumping when there is a lot of
1:09:44
violence and uncertainty in the world.
1:09:45
But you know, I feel I, I can feel a little good about it.
1:09:49
OK, Hey, Bitcoins not dead. We're we're chugging along.
1:09:52
We're doing exactly as we thought it was going to do and
1:09:55
actually it it I'm, I'm a little surprised at what Bitcoin has
1:09:59
done so far and I just hope it continues to go that way.
1:10:02
So anyway, yeah, exactly right. Anyway me?
1:10:06
Too it's it's this is this is this is seller's exhaustion,
1:10:09
guys. I didn't, I didn't get an insert
1:10:10
at that. So I'm I'm sorry to step on no
1:10:12
go. Far go.
1:10:13
Far seller's exhaustion, man. And and I just remember it so
1:10:16
much from the last cycle where everybody like we were down like
1:10:19
around like 20 K and everybody was like, Oh no, we're all going
1:10:23
to die. We're all going to die.
1:10:24
And yeah, we had one little leg down like 16 K and then we just
1:10:28
ripped from there. And it was the same sort of
1:10:30
vibe. And so I just kind of wanted to
1:10:31
remind everybody that is that, you know, this is what sellers
1:10:34
exhaustion feels like is when the US bombs a nation state and
1:10:39
Bitcoin doesn't move. That means there's no sellers
1:10:42
left in the room. Doesn't mean we go up from here,
1:10:44
but it means that there's there's not too much further
1:10:47
down that we can go before we continue to move on.
1:10:51
So anyway, I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew what
1:10:53
sellers exhaustion looked like because I missed the last cycle.
1:10:56
Truly, truly, it's one last one last comment here because the
1:11:00
chats, the chats buddy, are boy familiar.
1:11:05
Diaz, you go win BTC repricing because Papa needs a farm.
1:11:12
You know, when I heard the conflict playbook, and obviously
1:11:15
I'm biased. I have the Bitcoin lens on
1:11:17
everything. You know, the orange lenses on
1:11:18
everything. I'm like, oh man, you know, step
1:11:21
10 violent repricing, like does that mean we like instantly, you
1:11:26
know, go to 100K like next week and like, OK, hey, I'm OK with
1:11:32
this Like, OK, whatever, whatever, We're cool, we're
1:11:34
cool, we'll be back, You know, like bear market over violent
1:11:38
repricing to the upside. Honestly, it sounds it sounds
1:11:42
kind of fun. Maybe maybe my dopamine will
1:11:44
come back, maybe my life will come back and the all of the
1:11:50
black pill dumerism is just out the window and I'm just
1:11:54
extremely bull tarted on the show.
1:11:56
I, I I'm hoping for it. I'm hoping for it.
1:11:58
But anyways, let's keep it moving because I do want to chat
1:12:01
with Kent, pick his brain a little bit.
1:12:04
I think he's going to have we we chat about it a little bit prep
1:12:07
before the show a little bit. So I, I think you guys are going
1:12:10
to really enjoy this. So last commercial quick one and
1:12:13
we'll be right back with Kent, CEO and Co Founder of SAS
1:12:17
Mining. I want to give a shout out to
1:12:20
our partner Hive Digital Technologies.
1:12:22
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1:12:27
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1:12:31
performance compute, where their AI cloud is now ranked number
1:12:35
one in the world for network performance.
1:12:38
At Hive, you've got dual engines, Bitcoin and AI humming,
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roaring, accelerating and unison.
1:12:45
They're lean and mean, they're green and clean, and they're
1:12:47
rewriting the playbook on sustainable digital
1:12:50
infrastructure. You can catch the latest buzz at
1:12:53
Hive Digital Tech or at Hive digitaltech.com.
1:13:01
Wait, can't be. Before we go on our our friend
1:13:05
in the chat, Doctor Daniel Howell.
1:13:06
Hey, we could have another God candle, a red 1 going down.
1:13:10
Yeah, you know, when I heard violent repricing, I I meant to
1:13:13
the upside. It would be very violent to the
1:13:16
downside. OK.
1:13:17
But I heard positive, so I still have some positivity left in me.
1:13:22
Anyway, it's Kent. Before we get into maybe some
1:13:27
hope I'm here. You know, you did tell me
1:13:29
something like a bullish kind of, you know, not necessarily an
1:13:32
indicator, but some a bullish sentiment shift that you're
1:13:35
seeing on the back end. And then we'll we'll probably
1:13:38
talk about the AI public or public codes going public
1:13:42
companies, Bitcoin miner companies going into AI.
1:13:45
We covered that last week, but you did just get back from the
1:13:48
heat punk conference. So anything you want to relay to
1:13:51
the audience there before we move into maybe some spicier
1:13:54
conversations? I do there's a couple of things.
1:13:57
So I was at the space, which is the Citadel in Denver for
1:14:01
Bitcoiners. And if you've not been amazing,
1:14:04
amazing location. If you like the vibe of Denver,
1:14:07
you'll definitely love the space.
1:14:09
The heat Punk Summit was there as a second annual heat punk
1:14:13
summit. And I have to say, it's all of
1:14:15
like probably 200 people that were there, but just all of them
1:14:18
builders and was very cool to be surrounded by a group of people
1:14:22
that were just, I mean, the Iran war started.
1:14:26
And I literally was the only person to bring it up while I
1:14:28
was in the room to give you an idea.
1:14:30
So it was pretty, it was pretty, it was pretty radical just how
1:14:33
focused people are on building a different eco ecosystem here.
1:14:37
So love that. Want to give a shout out?
1:14:39
And very cool things being built too, like all sorts of different
1:14:41
ways to utilize the heat from Bitcoin mining so that hey,
1:14:45
instead of instead of mining, you're heating and you're just
1:14:47
getting a discount in sats for doing so.
1:14:50
So that was pretty rad. The other thing though, that's
1:14:52
been happening in in Bitcoin mining for us specifically,
1:14:56
which has been somewhat shocking actually.
1:14:58
Like, OK, we're used to as a company when the price goes
1:15:01
down, our customers generally demand follows Bitcoin price.
1:15:06
We'll put it this way, right? Price is pumping.
1:15:08
We have a lot of people who want to sign up and get started
1:15:09
mining. They like the numbers, they want
1:15:11
to get started, price goes down, fewer people show up.
1:15:13
That's been a very normal trend. However, this, the first quarter
1:15:16
of this year has absolutely bucked that trend because what
1:15:19
we're seeing is that's been true for typical like more onesie 2Z
1:15:24
up to 10 mining rig torque of orders.
1:15:27
But we're seeing super large enterprise show up at our
1:15:29
doorstep and say, no, this is the time to deploy capital.
1:15:32
There's blood in the street buy in and so we've actually had
1:15:35
like an amazing quarter here because enterprise and I'm I'm
1:15:38
starting to think about it as smart.
1:15:40
The smart money in Bitcoin mining is deploying capital.
1:15:43
So if you've been thinking about mining, there's like a truism
1:15:46
that has been accurate over and over.
1:15:48
Doesn't mean it'll play out this time, but it's been true over
1:15:50
and over again, which is you deploy capital when the numbers
1:15:54
look the worst and you reap the rewards afterwards because as
1:15:58
the price goes up, it goes up faster than hash rate.
1:16:01
So that's the that's been kind of the interesting insight and
1:16:05
tidbit. And then I don't know if you
1:16:06
want me to just jump right into the the.
1:16:08
Well, yeah, I, I do. I hey, look, I've been ranting.
1:16:13
I'm jacked up on caffeine, so I will let you rant.
1:16:15
But I do want to add to what with your point of this.
1:16:19
Like, you know, institutional buying or smart money as Tradfi
1:16:23
likes to say. We do also have some data to
1:16:27
back that up from like on chain metrics.
1:16:29
It does seem like currently, you know, the quote UN quote whales
1:16:33
are buying again. Now, obviously we don't have
1:16:35
data on who these whales are buying this Bitcoin, but you
1:16:40
connect that data or rather the on chain charge with what you
1:16:43
are personally experiencing and you're like, oh, OK, maybe,
1:16:48
maybe, maybe the bottoms in. I know, I know you guys are
1:16:52
going to yell at me. But if you're seeing the capital
1:16:54
start to get back into the game currently, it does make you feel
1:16:59
a little hopeful that OK, maybe maybe the worst is behind us.
1:17:03
Maybe we are building a bottom right now.
1:17:05
Not to say it's going to pump overnight, but you build a good
1:17:08
floor, got to have a good floor to jump off from.
1:17:11
So a little there. There's your little opium for
1:17:14
today. But yeah, can't go into the
1:17:17
public because I did talk about this last week.
1:17:22
And you know, before you go in, I'll just do the little context
1:17:26
that we reported on this couple of shows ago that a lot of the
1:17:31
selling we saw was coming from the public Bitcoin mining
1:17:35
companies. They sold over 15,000 coins and
1:17:38
they're pivoting into AI infrastructure.
1:17:42
And you know, everyone's wondering like, who's selling
1:17:44
Bitcoin right now? Well, as everyone kind of found
1:17:48
out, it was the public Bitcoin miners.
1:17:51
And now Kent coming from the mining space, as we joked, he's
1:17:56
like, I might not make any friends from the public Bitcoin
1:17:59
miner companies, but this is my take right now.
1:18:02
So it is going to be a little AI spicy.
1:18:05
But yeah, Kent floor is yours. Keep ripping.
1:18:07
All right. Well, I have a contrarian take
1:18:10
here and it's basically it came about from watching Open Claw.
1:18:14
And so if you've heard of that, it's basically an open source AI
1:18:19
agent that you can put on any device and, and plug in
1:18:22
different large language models, whether it's, you know, Gemini,
1:18:26
Claude, Grok, what, whatever. I'm sure most of you guys are,
1:18:30
are, are poking around with these tools at this point.
1:18:32
But the interesting thing is this impulse to have a device on
1:18:38
desk got me to thinking, and this is an original thought.
1:18:42
The original thought is what happens to Bitcoin miners, but
1:18:45
it's not an original thought. But it just made me realize
1:18:47
that, you know, web 2 point O is really everybody sucking all of
1:18:51
our data from us. And we gave that up and and
1:18:55
trade for free services, but we lost our privacy.
1:18:58
And as a result, I love seeing this, this effort that people
1:19:03
are making right now with the open cloud movement, which let
1:19:05
me put some numbers around this, right?
1:19:07
So like Linux, like the longest running like open source
1:19:11
software that's been on the planet is that runs a lot of
1:19:14
computer devices, even the backbone of I think most like
1:19:17
Google devices, that operating system has less stars on GitHub
1:19:23
than Openclaw does, right? And and that was like 3 weeks
1:19:26
ago, 4 weeks ago. So the adoption is insane, but
1:19:29
it shows that there's demand for devices that people can control.
1:19:33
They want to control their personal AI assistance.
1:19:35
And the knock on effect for that in my mind is something that has
1:19:39
played out multiple times throughout history, which is the
1:19:43
infrastructure providers of the data centers right now may be
1:19:48
the same victims that the people that built the railroads were,
1:19:51
the people that built like the the fiber optics.
1:19:56
You know, if you go back in history, the people that build
1:19:58
these big infrastructure situations, which right now it's
1:20:02
all about data centers, right? So the people that built the
1:20:04
data centers aren't always the ones that get the the fruits of
1:20:08
that afterwards because of a change in the market.
1:20:11
So you know the railroad builders.
1:20:14
The people that built those market changed and it wound up
1:20:17
being that like JP Morgan sucked up most of the, the the
1:20:20
railroads for pennies on the dollar.
1:20:22
There's a similar thing that happened with the fiber optics
1:20:25
boom wound up like Google and I can't remember a couple other
1:20:28
companies bought up most of the fiber optic assets and the
1:20:31
companies have built all that went bust.
1:20:33
I think we're seeing the same thing play out right now with
1:20:35
data centers. And I think we're seeing that
1:20:37
because we're there's an impulse, the market, what they
1:20:40
really want is not the big cloud based AI, but they want the
1:20:45
personal AI assistant that's sitting on their desk that they
1:20:48
can control and manage. Now, whether they understand
1:20:51
that they're still giving their data away through the LLMS to
1:20:54
the cloud or not, I think is not the important part here.
1:20:58
I think the important part is that impulse.
1:21:00
And I think that the models themselves are getting small
1:21:02
enough that the agents can actually sit on device.
1:21:05
So what happens if all the agents are sitting on device and
1:21:08
we're getting what we want or what the market desires is that
1:21:12
that inference that's being built right now from the data
1:21:15
centers is going to be overshot. So getting back to publicly
1:21:19
traded mining companies, well, they're making a pivot and I
1:21:22
think the, the earliest one like Hive would probably be fine
1:21:26
because they got there early and they can navigate it.
1:21:28
But if you're a late stage Bitcoin miner, publicly traded
1:21:32
miner making this pivot right now, you may be just hopping out
1:21:35
of the the the pot and into the fire or hopping out of the
1:21:39
framing pan and into the fire here because the numbers haven't
1:21:42
looked good with Bitcoin mining, even though you've had a lock on
1:21:45
all these resources. But so you think the numbers
1:21:48
look better over here with the AIHPC data center.
1:21:53
But if that whole situation starts to collapse, well, now
1:21:56
you've left behind an entire infrastructure set.
1:21:59
Do you have the resources to pivot back?
1:22:01
Can you, you know, that's going to be kind of an open question
1:22:04
for me now. Could be totally wrong.
1:22:07
You know, better men than me have been wrong.
1:22:08
But it just seems to me that AI is not necessarily a bubble, but
1:22:12
data centers may be a bubble and we're in for an infrastructure
1:22:17
overshoot, which we've seen many times already.
1:22:20
Interesting. OK, sorry guys, hopefully you
1:22:24
don't hear that the AC just got turned back on.
1:22:26
It's super light. So let me let me try to angle
1:22:28
this. What's your idea on the kind of
1:22:34
heuristic that what marks the bottom of a bear market is, you
1:22:40
know, the idea like we need a huge sacrifice.
1:22:42
And I've heard a lot of people say that what usually marks a
1:22:46
bear market, like the bottom of a bear market is we see a lot of
1:22:49
public Bitcoin miners or, you know, bigger Bitcoin mining
1:22:53
farms kind of go down and kind of in the past pivot to other
1:22:58
things. Now it does seem like maybe that
1:23:01
new pivot is into AI. But do you think there's any
1:23:04
credence to the idea that there might be potentially some other
1:23:08
big, like big Bitcoin miners that are going to get in the hot
1:23:12
water? Because obviously we saw the
1:23:13
hash rate going extremely volatile over the last couple of
1:23:17
months. We have been hearing rumors that
1:23:19
public Bitcoin miners are, you know, if the price gets any
1:23:23
lower and stays there for a while, there could be some
1:23:26
trouble. So do you think those rumors,
1:23:29
have, you know, any validity to them or is it just as Bitcoin is
1:23:35
hoping for something? You know, we just want the big
1:23:37
catastrophe. We just want the sacrifice so
1:23:39
that the Bull Run can come back on and we can all, you know,
1:23:43
enjoy the ride again. Burn the man right, you know?
1:23:50
Yeah, we just got our pitchforks like someone.
1:23:52
Go down, please. Yeah, No, I, I, I think that the
1:23:59
pivot actually from these Bitcoin pubco's like I mean bit
1:24:02
farms for instance, like just the CEO came out and straight up
1:24:05
said we're not a Bitcoin company.
1:24:07
Anyway, oh wow, I missed that. Yeah.
1:24:09
I mean just straight up said it in a press release like we are
1:24:12
no longer a Bitcoin company, right.
1:24:14
So I think that that is a part of what happened is that if you
1:24:19
look at the most of the publicly traded Bitcoin miners, they have
1:24:23
a whole bunch of costs are added on to their balance or just on
1:24:26
to their P&L from being public, right that a smaller miners we
1:24:31
don't have. So our cost structure is by
1:24:33
definition lower and so we can get Bitcoin more cheaply.
1:24:36
And that is the name of the game as a Bitcoin miner is you can't,
1:24:40
you can't be the most expensive miner and survive.
1:24:43
And I think a lot of the publicly traded miners were not
1:24:45
operationally as efficient as they, as some of the smaller
1:24:50
guys like us can be. And so I think they were
1:24:53
hurting, they say saw AI and as a way to pivot to make more
1:24:57
money. And so, you know, if they're
1:24:59
jumping out of the frying pan, but I don't think a lot of them
1:25:01
realize that they're probably jumping into the fire because I
1:25:05
don't think that the cycle for AI data centers is getting any
1:25:08
better. So I think it's just a rough
1:25:10
business model period to be a publicly traded Bitcoin miner.
1:25:14
And it's not me slagging on them.
1:25:15
I think if I was the CEO of one of those companies, I may have
1:25:18
done the same. But by definition, I think one
1:25:21
of the things that I like about this pivot for the Bitcoin
1:25:24
ecosystem and for the Bitcoin network is, by definition, they
1:25:29
have to return dollars to their investors.
1:25:32
They have a fiduciary responsibility to do that.
1:25:34
So for them, acquiring Bitcoin was always a stepping stone to
1:25:37
get more dollars and that doesn't put them In Sync or
1:25:41
aligned with the Bitcoin network.
1:25:42
So I actually see this as a wonderful opportunity for us as
1:25:47
the Bitcoin community to take back more of the network and to
1:25:51
move more Fiat hashers off so that there's more Bitcoin
1:25:55
hashers. And I distinguish those too,
1:25:57
because when you come to Bitcoin mining, you have to choose what
1:26:00
your money is. And most people do that
1:26:01
implicitly. But if you choose that Fiat as
1:26:04
your money, when Bitcoin is just a stepping stone and you don't
1:26:06
really have long term alignment with the network.
1:26:08
And I think that's been a massive problem that's led to a
1:26:10
lot of centralization issues on the network.
1:26:13
So getting more of us onto the network caching is actually good
1:26:17
right now when publicly traded mining companies that don't
1:26:20
represent that level of alignment are are are puts and
1:26:24
off to go do HPC and AI. Great, wonderful.
1:26:27
And you know, and I'm, I hope that we're a better on ramp for
1:26:32
a lot of folks that want to do that because that's what I've
1:26:35
been working on building for the like the last five years is a
1:26:37
better on ramp to, to allow people to mine their Bitcoin.
1:26:41
Yeah, well, Kent, Kent's probably not making too many
1:26:47
friends right now talking about this.
1:26:49
So with that in mind, guys, if you like Kent and you like what
1:26:54
he's building and you want to get some wild SAT, I think now
1:26:58
would be the time to go to SAT's mining and potentially, you
1:27:03
know, I'm getting almighty guy as as Kent saying it might be an
1:27:08
opportunity for the little guy out there.
1:27:10
So maybe we haven't seen the final sacrifice yet.
1:27:14
But I think with Kent saying all of that, probably going to, you
1:27:20
know, get a couple of of angry emails coming soon.
1:27:24
So sorry about that, Kent, but hey, that's why we bring you on.
1:27:28
You're the mining expert. You, you keep it real with us
1:27:31
every time you come on. So I, I, I truly appreciate it.
1:27:35
Well, hey, hey, I didn't, I didn't come here to make
1:27:38
friends, just tell the tell the truth.
1:27:39
And it seems like it's one of those days where it's not a
1:27:42
making friends day, but hey, it is what it is.
1:27:45
I, and actually, I mean, there's a ton of people in the publicly
1:27:48
traded mining companies that I have a ton of respect for and,
1:27:50
and really like, you know, and are truly into Bitcoin for
1:27:53
Bitcoin's sake. That said, I I would be remiss
1:27:58
if I did not say that there is $125 off that you can get for
1:28:03
using Opti to it's just for you Opti.
1:28:07
Let's go. I'm glad.
1:28:08
Mining. Out.
1:28:09
I'm glad, yeah. Is it just like always running
1:28:11
or do you guys change it or you know, add it?
1:28:14
Add it when you come on the show?
1:28:18
I don't know the answer to that. My marketing guy does.
1:28:20
Marketing guy, you keep it live. Chaz mining, well, he's he's
1:28:24
running the SAS mining handle. He can.
1:28:26
He can answer. OK, you'll see it in the chat.
1:28:29
But but we also have a fun one for Ethiopia which is going live
1:28:33
this week. I'm stoked that's finally
1:28:34
happening. But anybody that buys a mining
1:28:37
rig there in Ethiopia were given given 100,000 sats afterwards.
1:28:41
So if you want to stack some sats, we'd we'd glad to.
1:28:46
We're glad to help you get that going.
1:28:49
All right, Kent, well, thank you so much for coming on.
1:28:53
I had a blast. Maybe it's because I had way too
1:28:56
much caffeine that you guys saw I was jacked up today.
1:28:59
I was jacked to the gills today, dude.
1:29:01
I needed a little extra kick after the gym this morning and
1:29:04
it might have been you know, Mom, I know I I won't drink too
1:29:08
much coffee tomorrow. She always yells at me that I'm
1:29:11
drinking too much coffee. I'm like, you don't understand.
1:29:13
I I got to drink the coffee. But Kent, really appreciate you
1:29:17
guys go check out sales mining. Actually, Kent, before we go
1:29:21
give people your your Twitter account again.
1:29:23
I, I always mess it up. It's K Halliburton.
1:29:26
Right. That's right.
1:29:27
Yeah. First, first letter, last name.
1:29:29
That's it. OK, OK.
1:29:31
Well, Kent, always a pleasure having you on guys.
1:29:35
I hope you guys got something from the show today again.
1:29:38
We will be live tomorrow. I know you're going to yell at
1:29:41
me. It's we put it at 12:16 on
1:29:44
YouTube and we go live around 12:40 usually.
1:29:49
That's the real time we go live guys.
1:29:51
OK, I saw you guys complaining about it this morning.
1:29:54
If you're a if you're a, you know, regular you, you already
1:29:57
know the deal. So I appreciate the guys in the
1:29:59
chat. They're like, look, they're
1:30:00
going to start at this time. Thank you guys.
1:30:03
I'm always appreciative. I love you guys.
1:30:05
Have a good rest of your day, Kent.
1:30:08
Again, thank you so much for coming on all that note guys,
1:30:13
it's your boy Opti. This has been simply Bitcoin
1:30:15
Live and we'll be back tomorrow for another show later, guys.
1:30:20
Thanks, Opti. Today's episode was brought to
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you by bitcoinwell.com, a Bitcoin only platform on a
1:30:26
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