Bitcoin And . . .

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Join me today for Episode 1043 of Bitcoin And . . . 


Topics for today: 

• USDT on Lightning Network 
• Tether Gets Paranoid
• El Salvador, Metaplanet Buy Bitcoin
• South Dakota to HFSP
• Frostr nSec Multisig for nostr

#Bitcoin #BitcoinAnd

The King Ranch Donation Pages:
 https://www.ruralamericainaction.com/fundraising/save-king-ranch-and-agriculture-in-washington

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Articles:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/paolo-ardoino-competitors-politicians-kill-tether

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/usdt-on-lightning-the-good-the-bad-and-the-unknown

https://x.com/Swan/status/1894122881371488504

https://www.theblock.co/post/343169/metaplanet-buys-additional-12-9-million-worth-of-bitcoin-now-holds-2235-btc-in-total
 

• https://www.cnbc.com/futures-and-commodities/
• https://dashboard.clarkmoody.com/
• https://mempool.space/
• https://value4value.info/
• https://fountain.fm/show/eK5XaSb3UaLRavU3lYrI
• https://geyser.fund/project/thebitcoinandpodcast
• https://fountain.fm/episode/P13la1AuDHxMsxjyJywK

https://decrypt.co/307583/south-dakota-follows-montanas-lead-throws-water-on-bitcoin-reserve-plans

https://atlas21.com/no-taxes-on-crypto-payments-ohio-presents-the-bill/

https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/lifpay-temp-suspends-operations/

https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/frostr-turn-your-nsec-into-rotatable-multisig/

https://www.frostr.org/

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Find me on nostr
npub1vwymuey3u7mf860ndrkw3r7dz30s0srg6tqmhtjzg7umtm6rn5eq2qzugd (npub)
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Music by:
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Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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[00:00:02] David Bennett:

It is 08:47AM   Pacific Standard Time. It is the February   2025.   It's '2 '20 '5 '2 zero '2 '5. That's a lot of twos.   It's a lot of fives.   Probably some numerology involved.   We got tether in the news.   It's not well,   it's an opinion   of the guy that is   behind tether and   all that. You know, Paolo   Ardoino, I guess, is how you pronounce his name.   He swears up and down that   they're after him.   We'll get into who they is. You know, they.   And then I wanna talk continue the discussion   on Tether,   with Tether on lightning.   Because this it's   you will probably accuse me of stop talking about shitcoins.  

I get it except for the fact that this isn't going away.   This tether on lightning, this tether on Bitcoin, this   this US treasury   debt jubilee   that is going to be enabled by the continual   buying of   US debt in the form of US treasuries by tether   to crank out yet yet more you more and more stable coin, it's not gonna go away.   So we might as well wrap our heads around what the hell is going on. El Salvador is in the news.   Meta Planet is in the news. You'll probably know why. And then yet another state has decided to   have fun staying poor, while yet a different state   tries to reduce taxes on spending Bitcoin.  

And then Liftpay is in the news,   and I want to talk a little bit about Froster. But first,   Paolo Ardoino   competitors   and politicians   intend   to kill   Tether.   He sounds just a little paranoid.   I hope everything's okay over there with with Paolo. He's, you know, most of the time, he's kind of an alright guy, but, hey, let's let's find out what his issue is this morning.   And this is from Cointelegraph   written by   Zoltan Vardai.   Tether's competitors are working to push the world's   largest stablecoin   issuer out of the crypto market   according to the company's CEO, Paolo Ardoino.  

Tether, the issuer   of the world's largest stablecoin,   USDT,   has a market capitalization   of more than a hundred and $42,000,000,000.   That's over twice as large as Circle's   USDC   at 56,000,000,000   according to Cointelegraph data.   However,   the stablecoin issuer is facing mounting pressure from both   competing firms and politicians,   Ardoino said on a February 25 Twitter post.   Quote, while our competitors'   business model should be built on a better product   and even a larger distribution network,   their real intent   is quote, kill Tether.   Every single business or poll political meeting   that they have culminates   with this intent.  

I'll leave it to you to define a competitor   trying to use lawfare to kill an opponent instead of focusing on better products,   Arduinos said.   Tether   will continue focusing its mission to promote global financial inclusion, particularly in undeveloped countries   and economies, Arduinos said, noting that USDT   is used by more than 400,000,000   people   and gains 35,000,000   new wallets every quarter.   Arduinos comments follow Tether's exclusion   from the list of 10 firms approved to issue stablecoins under the European Union's   Markets and Crypto Assets or the MICA regulatory   framework.  

Now here's here is a full tweet by Paolo Ardoino. He says,   USDT is the most successful tool for US dollar hegemony   and distribution across emerging markets.   Dude,   he said the quiet part   straight up   out loud.   If you have not been listening to me for the last, you know, few months about what I believe Tether is going to become,   Ardoino just said it.   It's the most successful tool for United States dollar   hegemony   and distribution   across emerging markets. I told you.   I freaking told you this shit was this is how we're going to get the second   this is the going to be the second tranche   of US debt.  

But this time   this time, the rails,   it's Tether.   And, anyway, he says Tether built over the last decade decade the widest physical   and digital distribution networks, basing from thousands of kiosks in Africa and South America   to digital remittance platforms   from payment backbones   to institutional   tools. Every single day, our teams and portfolio companies are with their boots on the ground in countless areas within developing countries,   helping communities and growing utilization, trust, and education   into USDT and by reflection into The United States economy.   That's how USDT helps more than 400,000,000   people currently and grows at the pace of 35,000,000   new wallets per quarter focusing on developing countries while strengthening the United States dollar and holdings of over 115,000,000,000   in US treasuries, making Tether   the eighteenth largest holder by size of US Treasuries.  

While our competitor businesses   model   should be built   on a better product and even bigger distribution networks, their real intent is kill Tether. Every single business or political meeting that they have culminates with this intent.   While it might seem an overstatement,   it's a fact and it's being reported independently   by hundreds of people inside and outside the digital asset industry in touch with the United States administration.   I'll leave it to you to define a competitor trying to use lawfare   to kill an opponent instead of focusing on better products. And that's the end of his tweet.   Well, according to Patrick Hansen,   senior director of EU strategy and policy at Circle,   The list includes Banking Circle, Stablecoin   Issuer Circle, Crypto dot com, Fiat Republic, Membrane Finance,   Qantos   Payments,   Schuman Financial Societe General,   Stable IR, and Stable Mint.  

The Circle executive added that these 10 service providers   have issued €10 peg stablecoins and 5 US dollar peg stablecoins,   Cointelegraph   reported on February.   Tether has faced growing regulatory challenges in Europe since MICA regulations went into effect   at the end of twenty twenty four. To comply with Europe's MICA regulation,   crypto exchange Kraken said that it would delist   five stablecoins   including Tether's USDT   starting March.   Quote, these changes ultimately ensure Kraken remains compliant   and is able to provide its exceptional trading experience to European clients for the long term, the company stated   in an announcement.  

Crypto.com,   another major exchange, confirmed that it would also delist USDT   and nine other stablecoins   starting January   2025.   The exchange   said users will have until the end of the first quarter of twenty twenty five to convert affected tokens   to MICA compliant assets.   Any remaining holdings will be automatically converted to a compliant stablecoin   or asset of corresponding market value.   Micah may introduce   systemic risks,   risks for stablecoin users,   considering that banks can loan up to 90% of their reserves, Arduino told Cointelegraph,   during an interview at Plan b Lugano in Switzerland.  

Quote, if you have €10,000,000,000   under management,   you have to put €6,000,000,000   in cash deposits.   That is 60%   of €10,000,000,000.   We know that banks can lend out 90% of their balance sheet. So of the €6,000,000,000,   they lend out €5,400,000,000   to people, €600,000,000   would remain in the bank balance sheet.   I don't know why this particular article decided to end with that particular quote, but the real guts the real guts of this   is that Circle seems to be becoming   the the Circle stable coin   seems to be be becoming   the golden child for European   markets.  

While Tether is pretty much   US,   Canada,   Central America,   a lot   there's a whole bunch of it in Africa, and there's a whole bunch of it in South America. There's a whole bunch of it in Southeast Asia and some other places. But Europe   seems to be making a choice to use to to be okay with Circle   rather than Tether.   Now   here's the thing.   I think Tether's network effect is a little too strong.   For Circle and Jeremy   Alair, I can't pronounce it. Alair. I think it's Alair.   He is the guy behind Circle, and Circle was on the wrong side of the block size war. So you they are not to be trusted.   It's not that I trust Tether.  

Please understand.   I don't use it. I've never held it. I don't have a Tether wallet.   But I can't help but look at the landscape and say Tether pretty much has   the network effect.   And as we've been discussing over the last few episodes of this podcast,   USDT on Lightning   is probably going to expand that.   So here is Roy Scheinfeld   with a Bitcoin magazine article entitled USDT on lightning,   the good, the bad, and the unknown.   Let's get it going on here. Everyone   has heard the Chinese proverb oh, I'm sorry. The British misquote,   quote, may you live in interesting times.  

And how it's supposed to be a curse. It sounds deep, like a quote for edge lords over 80.   But   have you ever considered the alternative?   According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle,   there were nearly two centuries where nothing much happened.   Vivienne Mercier   famously called Waiting for Godot   a play in which nothing happens   twice.   But nothing happening a 90 what times?   That'll take interesting times any day.   And that's exactly what we have now.   Tether, with their stablecoin USDT,   are coming to Lightning.   We've been talking a lot recently about how Lightning   is the common language of the Bitcoin economy and how Bitcoin is a medium of exchange, and it really is. You can read our report here. And, of course, that's a link.  

These two arguments now seem to be converging.   Thanks to lightning working as a common language, it makes bitcoin interoperable with a wide range of adjacent technologies   like USDT.   And USDT is going to turbocharge bitcoin into new use cases,   new markets, and new challenges on a scale that the Lightning ecosystem has yet to experience.   Given the choice,   I'd rather   dive head first into the unknown than spend the afternoon on the couch. All the cool stuff is in the unknown.   Given the choice, I'd rather oh, sorry. USDT on lightning is terra incognita.   Interesting times indeed. So let's think about what it means for USDT   to join lightning and for lightning to move USDT.  

The opportunities,   the risks, and the wide open questions.   Taproot assets one zero one.   Lightning was originally intended   to increase the throughput of the Bitcoin blockchain, so Bitcoin   was to be its only cargo. Taproot Assets is a new protocol   that allows fungible assets like stablecoins   to be transmitted   over lightning as hashed metadata   piggybacking   on the same infrastructure   used to process Bitcoin   payments. The way it works is pretty simple for anyone who understands Lightning.   The recipient generates an invoice that pings edge nodes,   for example,   the nodes connecting users to the broader network,   or exchange rates between bitcoin   and the asset in question,   USDT   in the current case.  

Once the user accepts an edge nodes   exchange rate,   they generate an invoice for the payment and send it to the payer.   The payer then sends the asset to the edge node on their own side. The edge node converts everything into a normal looking bitcoin payment. The payment proceeds through routing nodes along the network as usual.   The edge node on the recipient's end converts the payment back into the original asset, which is USDT,   and then forwards it to the recipient.   Taproot assets   leverages the versatility of lightning and bitcoin to let users transfer new kinds of assets over the network   using bitcoin as the universal medium of exchange.  

One corollary of all the nodes speaking lightning   is that any routing nodes between the edge nodes see only BTC in transit.   Lightning tells them how to move BTC and that's all they're doing as far as they know.   Awesome.   But there's more to it than just technical specs.   USDT   is, after all, a massive medium of exchange.   Tens of billions of USDT value change hands   every day spread across millions of payments.   Its daily trading volumes are in the same ballpark as the Brazilian real and the Indian rupee.   This is a big deal. So what does lightning mean for USDT?   And what does the addition of USDT mean for lightning?  

The good.   Well, for bitcoin.   So far, much of the strategy to bitcoinizing   commerce has focused on orange pilling as many people as possible and growing   the circular economy one user at a time.   This strategy has perhaps reached the limits of its scale.   The circle has grown massively in the last decade and a half,   but it's still limited.   And we need to think in terms of millions at a time.   Now that USDT   and Bitcoin are natively interoperable   on Lightning,   the circle has gained tangents.   With USDT on Lightning, each party to pay a payment,   the payer and the recipient can choose whether to use BTC or USDT on their own end,   and neither depends on the other's decision.  

A customer can pay in Bitcoin and the merchant can receive USDT,   Or the customer can pay in USDT   and the merchant can receive Bitcoin.   Or they can both use the same asset. It doesn't matter.   Once both assets are native to Lightning,   they become automatically   frictionlessly   inter exchangeable.   Sorry. Frictionless   frictionlessly   interchangeable.   There we go. God you gotta get it, Dave. Everyone is free to opt for Bitcoin's advantages as a medium of exchange grown from the bottom up by the users or for USDT's   advantages   as an asset whose price is as stable as United States monetary policy and Tether's liquid reserves.  

Lightning and by extension Bitcoin stand to gain millions of users   and billions of dollars worth of spending power. It's a qualitative extension of Bitcoin's utility.   The new use cases will do more good for Bitcoin than a broad boatload of orange pills.   It's also potentially   a quantitative explosion for lightning.   Many of those new users might not even know that they're using lightning thanks to its efficiency   as the common language of the Bitcoin economy.   But we old school Lightning vets know.   This is what we've been building towards.   And since we just mentioned how Lightning would make USDT   easier for Americans   or American users   to access, USDT will also make it easier for them to use Lightning.  

American tax regulations   treats BTC   like an equity, making each payment a potentially complex concatenation of tax events.   But if US users can access Lightning with an asset that never incurs capital gains,   then they'll have access to many of Lightning's advantages   without one of its particular regulatory drawbacks.   The good for Tether.   Tether typically issues USDT   on proven blockchains that have achieved significant market traction, and they have no interest in launching their own.   USDT is currently available on Algorand,   Celo, Cosmos, Ethereum,   EOS   or EOS, Liquid Network, Solana, Tezos, TON, Antron.  

Note that these are all proof of stake blockchains,   except for Liquid, which uses a federation.   So they're necessarily   more centralized,   much more centralized than Bitcoin.   These blockchains also face different trade offs.   Ethereum is relatively decentralized   for a PoS blockchain,   but its transaction fees are notoriously   high. Tron is cheaper.   Perhaps that's why according to one estimate,   nearly seven times more monthly active retail USDT   users opt for Tron over Ethereum   and send eight times more retail volume over Tron. But   Tron is notoriously centralized making it a choke point for USDT.  

If Tron were to fail,   Tether would lose something like half of its total capacity across all blockchains.   Ouch.   By allowing USDT   to be transacted over Lightning, which is inherently decentralized,   Tether mitigates their dependency on cheap, centralized   blockchains.   Further,   Lightning can make USDT much more convenient to use in The US   market. US exchanges sometimes limit USDT transactions   to certain blockchains. For example,   Coinbase says, Coinbase only supports USDT on the Ethereum blockchain.   Do not send USDT   on any other blockchain to Coinbase.  

Lightning   gives big exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, which already support lightning today, a decentralized   alternative for USDT payments   to offer their users.   Now the bad.   The new American administration   has mooted   on shoring the entire stablecoin   industry and suggested that regulating it is their first priority.   In other words, they'll be paying very close attention to every development.   As long as stablecoins   like USDT are pegged to the dollar, those who control the dollar and profit from it will want to control   the stablecoins   too.  

Regulators think   they can even improve on freedom by regulating it. They can't help it. It's in their nature. But it follows that as USDT gains utility on Lightning and Lightning gains utility as a means to move USDT,   we're all going to be attracting greater scrutiny from regulators.   It's hard to say how much they'll actually be able to do or   what they're going to try, but it won't be any fun.   Regulation   is always friction.   One area that's likely to attract regulatory scrutiny   is the edge nodes.   Conventional centralized exchanges   tend to be subject to KYC   AML rules in many jurisdictions.  

If the edge nodes will be automatically exchanging USDT and BTC and forwarding payments,   they might also look a lot like conventional exchanges to regulators   who tend not to like decentralization.   Okay. So now the unknown.   What's the cost?   What's it worth?   While Lightning does offer users in USDT   some significant benefits, it's not   obviously the best all around solution for every payment involving   USDT.   Lightning users expect low fees. So do USDT users who use centralized blockchains and custodial exchanges. But adding a second asset to Lightning adds some financial considerations that everyone,   routing nodes, users, and especially edge nodes, will have to reckon with.  

First,   the edge nodes are providing the typical task of Lightning service providers   keeping users connected to the network with enough channels and enough liquidity   to keep those payments moving   in addition to converting between assets.   That conversion   is a valuable service that deserves compensation,   and it can also be risky.   Second,   USDT is is likely to increase transaction volume considerably,   which means that LSPs and routing nodes will have to keep more liquidity on the network to forward those payments.   They don't take the same shortcuts   as custodial   exchanges,   which just have to update their internal ledgers,   the economics of liquidity allocation still apply,   only more so.  

Will Lightning be able to compete with centralized exchanges like Tron for USDT payments?   The answer will probably resemble the answer to most questions about matching technologies with use cases.   Each technology   will have certain strengths and weaknesses   that recommend it for certain use cases and not for others.   As usual,   the market will figure it out. However,   since the technology   was not tailored to this particular use case, price discovery will be a process of trial and error which takes time.   Edge nodes face the risk of the free call option problem, which is interesting enough to merit its own discussion here.   This is a brand new risk,   and it's inherent to any situation   involving two assets   in a single Lightning   payment. Lightning payments need to be completed within a certain time in order to be settled or the invoice cancels automatically.  

That time is the t   in   HTLCs,   hashed   time lock   contracts.   When the edge nodes bid with their exchange rates for USDT to BTC and vice versa payments,   they calculate their bids   based on parameters like their current liquidity situation and the spot price. But   the users have a window between accepting the edge notes bid and the expiration of the HTLC in which to settle the payment.   Prices can move inside that window.   If I initiate a USDT payment   at one rate,   then I can wait until the rate moves in my favor before I release the preimage   and settle it. If the rate moves against me, I simply don't release the preimage.  

In that case, the edge node might initiate a channel closure   to redeem the funds,   but that's a slow and therefore costly process.   If it moves in my favor, the edge node is on the hook for the difference.   Heads, I lose nothing.   Tails, I fleece the edge nodes.   Payments involving   any combination of assets on lightning give the user a call option.   Traditional financial institutions manage their downside risk by selling call options   by adding the risk to the price.   These options can get very expensive for unprepared edge nodes.   Just   ask Killian and Michael at Boltz,   who originally brought this whole issue to my attention and had the class to describe it for all of us in the ecosystem.  

The alternative is for the edge nodes to price the call option   into their quotes   just like traditional financial institutions.   Intertemporal   arbitrage   is great work if you can get it.   Users aren't the only source of concern for edge nodes either.   If a routing node fails   to forward the preimage,   whether through intent or malfunction, the edge node could still be on the hook. At least with routing nodes, it might be possible to implement some form of reputation system to help choose the route. However,   a reputation system for end users   might not be feasible as new users will be constantly joining the network.  

The free call options have never been a problem for Lightning until now   because the network has only dealt with a single asset, and that's Bitcoin.   If the free option   problem became serious enough, one could imagine   multiple parallel   single currency lightning networks emerging.   One for Bitcoin,   1 for USDT,   another for   if Bitcoin gets cut out of the loop, we will lose the benefit of Bitcoin interoperability.   We might even wind up regretting bringing USDT   onto lightning in the first place.   Bitcoin was always meant   to be revolutionary.  

Disrupting broken fiat is the whole point and always has been. We're in it for the revolution.   We know that change and disruption was never going to be a smooth process, but change is a good thing.   Progress is just   a kind of change that people welcome.   We welcome USDT on Lightning because we see the opportunity.   It can represent progress for USDT users, for Lightning, and for Bitcoin. Like any change, though,   it's gonna require careful thought, preparation, sharp instincts, and quick reactions.   You don't go into uncharted territory without the right gear and a few skills.   Anyone in the lightning liquidity business is going to face some new challenges   but also stands to make some big gains.  

Tether stands to gain an economical,   decentralized   distribution network and better access to vital US markets.   Lightning stands to gain a massive infusion of liquidity and users.   Bitcoin will be natively interoperable with USDT.   That's why there's so much excitement.   But regulators are watching,   and edge nodes will only offer the indispensable conversion services   if doing so is profitable,   not ruinous.   So let's approach this change as we do with all new developments,   enlightening,   by thinking hard, designing carefully,   hardening our code, preparing the market, and never losing sight of our ultimate goal, which is to realize   the universal   Bitcoin   economy.  

Alright. That's the end of the article. I rec this the the URL to this article is going to be in the show notes as are all   the URLs for all the articles. They're always in the show notes.   I kinda recommend that you go read this one for yourself   because the whole notion   that we have this new thing what is it called?   Let me see if I can find it again.   Oh, it's this this this whole issue,   this call option issue between Lightning,   or or between USDT and Bitcoin on Lightning because now the   the rails   hold the capacity   to pass two completely   separate assets   on the same rails, which means that you're going to have what he called this temporal arbitrage.  

And it's going to introduce yet more game theory. See, this is this is one of the reasons why I don't like it when new things get added. Because every time they do,   the very first thing that happens is that some   brilliant autistic ass degenerate   that wants to do nothing but gamble   is going to figure out a way   to gain that system.   It doesn't mean that it's necessarily   bad, but generally speaking, it ends up being slightly more than annoying.   We've seen it before with this whole the whole other   Taproot asset thing, the ordinals and inscriptions.   It's just   nobody really saw that coming.  

It it honestly, it really hasn't dented all that much. It hasn't really scrapped Bitcoin.   It's not really done all that much damage,   but it was very annoying. It's still rather annoying.   And now we're bringing sort of that same potential annoyance   to the lightning network. So we're gonna have to be really careful.   But here's the thing.   Stablecoins   are not going away.   Now I hope all alts die.   That that is for damn sure.   I am I am completely uncertain about stablecoins.   I have I think they hold just as much bad news   as they do good news,   generally speaking, for Bitcoin.  

And it's going to boil down to the human spirit.   But   we've got a couple of other fish to fry.   Just so you know, in case you did not hear,   El Salvador   bought the dip. They added another 7 Bitcoin to their strategic reserve.   That happened   yesterday.   So   people are still buying Bitcoin,   including Meta Planet.   And this is Timmy Shen from the block. Meta Planet buys an additional $12,900,000   worth of Bitcoin,   and it now holds 2,235   in total.   Japanese investment firm, Meta Planet, has once again   purchased   Bitcoin. This time investing   $12,900,000   to acquire the top cryptocurrency   and continue its accumulation   strategy.  

The Tokyo listed firm announced on Tuesday   that it purchased an additional hundred and 35 bitcoin at an average price of 14,300,000.0   yen or about $95,951   per Bitcoin,   totaling $12,900,000   The company's latest Bitcoin acquisition boosted its total holdings to 2,235   BTC.   Meta Planet officially designated its Bitcoin treasury operations as a core business line in December   after announcing its Bitcoin accumulation strategy in December,   and the firm aims to hold 10,000 BTC   by the end of twenty twenty five and 20 1 thousand BTC   by the end of twenty   twenty six.  

So   people are still buying Bitcoin even though we are going through this correction.   And ladies and gentlemen, this is now officially a correction. It is 20% down from its all time high.   So that is technically   it is a what they call a technical bear market.   We're here. It doesn't mean that we're gonna stay here. It's just when they say technically it's a bear market, that's what it really means. Yeah. Technically,   it's a bear market. When you lose 20% of your shit   over the, you know, like, a a couple of weeks,   yeah, that's a that's a pretty intense drip, dip, dude. So buy the dip DCA. Make sure you hold your own coins. Get all of your coins off of all exchanges.  

Get them off today, and let's run the numbers.   CNBC,   futures and commodities,   everything is in the red again today.   Most of this seems to have something to do with yesterday,   Trump announced that the tariffs against Canada and Mexico will go forward.   There also seems to be some talk about the relaxation   of certain,   oh, god. What,   strictures   against Russia.   So it's roiling the markets again today. So if you think Bitcoin is the only one caught in the crosshairs, think again.   Oil off 2.62%   to $68.85   on West Texas Intermediate.   Brent Norsee is down two and a half points to $72.89.  

Natural gas is up over half a point to $4.02   per thousand cubic feet.   Gasoline down almost two points,   under $2 a gallon to a buck 97.   Gold losing almost two points,   down to $29.00   6 and 30¢.   Silver is off by 2.65.   Platinum moving sideways.   Copper is down almost a full point. Palladium is down almost   two full points.   Biggest winner in ag today is chocolate, three and a half percent to the upside. Biggest loser is coffee,   2.6%   to the downside.   Meanwhile, live cattle is up half a point. Lean hogs are down a point. Feeder cattle   are up a full point.  

Indices for the equity markets, like, your legacy bullshit is having a bullshit day.   Dow is down point 11%.   S and P is down point seven five.   Nasdaq taking it on the chin, one and a quarter to the downside,   and the S and P Mini is down a half.   And, of course, Bitcoin is down to $87,070.   That is now a $1,730,000,000,000   market cap. We can only purchase 29.4   ounces of shiny metal rocks with our one Bitcoin, of which there are 19,828,785   and a half of.   And average fees per block are kinda manageable.   0.08   BTC taken in fees on a per block basis.   There look to be about 81   blocks carrying a 6,000   unconfirmed transactions   waiting to clear at high priority rates of 8 Satoshis per v byte. Low priority is gonna get you in at seven.  

And it looks like some more hash rate came off of the network.   We are no. No. It's pretty much the same as yesterday.   750.6   hexahashes   per second is still a massive chunk of security for the network.   Now, from   pre hack attack,   yesterday's episode of Bitcoin and I got Daniel Prince. Hey, Dan. Good to see you. Hey. If you did not know this, I was on,   Daniel Prince's,   podcast with him and his daughter, Lauren.   I wish I had been able to hang out for a lot longer than I was able to, but I had to take my daughter to   to a doctor's appointment, and I couldn't miss it. So my apologies to Lauren and Daniel.  

But Daniel Prince gives me a thousand sats, says, I haven't listened yet, but but I already know it's a banger.   That's it for the weather report.   Thanks, Daniel. He's bay basically, that was, that was a boost   on over I guess over on, Nostor where he   where he said that.   Psyduck with 555   sat says, Psyduck in his little smiley face.   Paul Cernine with 500 says, thanks for another insightful episode. Always appreciated.   Keep up the good work.   For anyone interested in the technicalities   known so far of the Bybit hack and what aspects are relevant for BTC,   there's a special episode of Watchmen Privacy,   and he gives   the URL   for that. So   let's see.  

I'll try to put this let me see if I can't shuttle this on over to   my note structure, blah blah blah, and I'm gonna put it right   there. Okay.   So the URL   will be for the,   episode that he's talking about,   will be in the show notes.   Pies with four twenty says, thank you, sir, for always promoting value for value and putting out what I feel is the most solid Bitcoin podcast out there. Dude, pies coming from you. That is one hell of a compliment. Thank you. Pies with yet another four twenty says, value for value.   Hashtag   40 HPW. Thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Wartime   with three thirty three gives me   a emoji I cannot read because my operating system is, yes, that old. God's death, February. Thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Permanerd with 234 says, there's a reason   went the first five letters of ether.  

That's where your money ends up. There is a reason went   the first five letters are ether.   Oh, it's into the ether. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No shit.   Okay. That's the weather report.   Welcome to part two of the news you can use.   GameStop   has been urged to convert its $5,000,000,000   of cash   into Bitcoin   by c Strive's   CEO,   Matt Cole.   Matt Cole,   a CEO of Strive Asset Management,   has urged GameStop to adopt Bitcoin as a reserve asset.   Hold on. Hold on. Something is being really weird.   Hold on. I gotta I gotta I gotta refresh this page because it just got weird.   Let's try this again.  

Matt Cole, CEO of Strive Asset Management, which is an investment firm cofounded by Vivek Ramaswamy.   They're the ones that urge GameStop to adopt Bitcoin as reserve asset. Cole sent a letter to Ryan Cohen,   chairman and CEO of GameStop on February.   According to Cole,   GameStop has a unique opportunity to redefine itself as a market leader   with its nearly $5,000,000,000   cash reserve.   Quote, we believe GameStop has an incredible opportunity to transform its financial future   by becoming the premier Bitcoin treasury company in the gaming sector. End quote.   According to the letter,   Strive's clients hold shares of GameStop through the asset management's exchange traded funds, giving the firm   a fiduciary   responsibility   invested interest in GameStop success.  

Cole said his firm holds GME stock   in three different ETFs without disclosing the amount.   The letter comes after a report surfaced earlier this month   that GameStop   might be considering investing in alternative investments including Bitcoin and crypto currencies. And in the last two years,   GameStop has reduced its operating losses and managed to offset these deficits through interest   income from cash holdings   generated from equity offerings, the letter said.   These initiatives have stabilized GME's balance sheet and positioned the company for dynamic strategic moves,   the letter adds.  

Cole argues that Bitcoin will be the new hurdle rate for capital deployment.   The letter also argues that cash   is a negative real return. Bitcoin is deemed an inflation hedge in terms of outpacing monetary debasement.   Strive CEO suggests GameStop   should focus on Bitcoin and avoid other cryptocurrencies   while leveraging capital markets to issue at the market offerings in convertible debt securities.   What they're talking about, they just need to straight up adopt what Michael Saylor's been doing. And here we go. The letter suggestion mirrors what several other companies, including MicroStrategy,   Simler Scientific, and Mara Holdings are already deploying.  

Most of the larger cap stocks that have bought Bitcoin in the open market have seen not only their stock price rally, but also opened up new avenues for capital raises.   The letter ends with Cole applauding GameStop for closing unprofitable   stores and publicly rejecting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.   Cole said, quote, we applaud the leadership.   Your firm has already taken to close many unprofitable stores and publicly reject DEI. So he just said it again.   Alright. So but, if I'm looking at MicroStrategy   stock,   it is at $251.84   after a 11%   loss   just today.  

So let's   let's be careful   about which way we go   on our thoughts   when we're thinking about people like Similar Scientific   who is also down by 6%.   Mara Holdings, I don't have them in my list of stocks to to watch here. But all the guys that are exposed to Bitcoin heavily, including iBit, you know, BlackRock,   they're down 6.82   just today.   Now this is   a technical bear market.   It did not help that Bybit got hacked,   and I understand that.   At this point, is this the time   to release this letter   to,   GameStop?   Well, the letter was probably written before the whole   Bybit debacle happened. It was probably received before the whole Bybit debacle happened. And now I can almost guarantee you   that coal   is probably looking at the letter and looking at Bitcoin price   and saying, we might wanna pause and take a breath.  

I guarantee you that's what they're doing. So if anybody out there is going, oh, dude. Any day now, GameStop is going to just, you know,   unfurl their a $5,000,000,000   in cash into Bitcoin.   Yeah. You're probably gonna have to wait on that. You're probably gonna have to wait a lot. Not a long time, but you're probably gonna have to wait a good bit.   The dust and the fog of war is still settling out of   the whole Bybit thing, and then   and then fresh on the heels was the announcement by Trump the Trump administration that tariffs   on Mexico and Canada were still going forward.  

That's rattled everything. Oil markets, as I just described, are just   tanking.   Everything sucks, man. I mean, it's like you we'd   nobody is winning right now. That's why everybody keeps going into cash because they don't know where else to go.   Do they want I mean, the only people that are still buying houses as far as I know is BlackRock.   So real estate's kind of out. You don't wanna get anywhere close to commercial real estate. That's for damn sure. And that's been a fact for a while.   All these shiny metal rocks are losing value. Energy looks like it's kinda just   tanking, if not just moving sideways.  

So where do you where would you put your money?   I wouldn't put it in art right now because that's probably the next the the next industry to freaking tank.   Nobody knows where to put their money.   So it all goes into cash.   And then they're going to do what? Money printer at one point or another is gonna go brrr.   Nobody knows what to do.   I mean, I know what to do. You just buy Bitcoin and hold Bitcoin. But even then,   you've got these signals that have been happening over the last two or three days   or four day. Well, actually, since last, what, Friday is when Bybit happened or Thursday afternoon. I can't remember exactly when. But at least for, like, three or four days, you know, it's been kind of a shit show.   And so people   normie people are looking at Bitcoin going   too volatile, man. I don't wanna lose my money.  

And all of them were going, well, I'll wait for the dip. And now that the dip is here,   they don't wanna buy.   It's   it's human nature. It's nothing it's nothing that I'm scared of at all. I'm just saying, be aware. It's human nature. So   when we talk about,   hey, look, all these, you know, companies when they bought Bitcoin, their their stock price went up.   Yeah. But their stock price is also affected by Bitcoin directly.   That's a problem with having that much exposure.   And it doesn't mean that I think that they should reduce their exposure   and nor nor am I saying they should, you know, increase their exposure. I'm just saying that the facts of the matter are when you're attached   at the hip   to an asset that is volatile,   you've basically converted   your stock price into being more volatile.  

You're matching the volatility   of the underlying asset that your company's stock price is relying on.   So at this point,   I'm just saying that the GameStop guy might be taking a very serious   set of deep breaths   before he even   contemplates   what he's gonna do with that $5,000,000,000.   He may just wanna keep it in cash because God only knows, nobody else knows where the hell to put their money. Anyway,   South Dakota   is going to have fun staying poor along with Montana.   Let's get into it. Vismaya v   decrypt says South Dakota   follows Montana's lead, throws water on Bitcoin reserve plans.  

South Dakota lawmakers dealt yet another blow to Bitcoin advocates on Monday when they voted to ax a bill   that would have allowed the state to invest in Bitcoin.   In a key move, the House Commerce and Energy Committee voted nine to three to defer   house bill 12 o two until the forty first day of the session,   a procedural   decision that effectively killed the bill   as the session concludes   in no more than forty days.   South Dakota's decision follows a similar outcome in Montana   where lawmakers shot down their only chance of survival I mean, shot down a Bitcoin reserve bill   in a 41 to 59 vote last week. The proposal,   introduced by state representative Logan Manhart,   sought to permit the state to allocate up to 10% of its public funds into Bitcoin investments   as a way to diversify its financial portfolio.  

Quote,   it's common sense update. It's a common sense update to South Dakota's investment strategy   by allowing a limited allocation of state funds into alternative assets   that have consistently   proven to preserve   value,   particularly   in inflationary   environments, Manhart said as cited in the South Dakota Public Broadcasting Report.   Matt Clark,   South Dakota state investment officer,   raised concerns about Bitcoin's volatility and lack of intrinsic value,   quote, Bitcoin doesn't have any underlying physical use.   It does not generate income   much like commodities   or other kinds of assets, end quote.  

Let me pause right there.   Clark doesn't seem to understand   that unless he is Johnny on the spot   and this and the same guy that would be getting paid millions of dollars a year working for a hedge fund in being able to identify   income generating assets like commodities or equities   that outpace inflation.   See, that's the thing.   Does the generated income   that mister Clark is talking about,   does it outpace inflation?   Most of them do not. And the guys that get paid the massive bucks   are not working as the state investment officer for fucking South Dakota.   They're in New York City,   or they're in London,   or they're in Dubai,   and they're making millions of dollars   being able to determine and correctly determine which assets and commodities   outpace inflation   with their income   generation.  

And Clark is not that guy. I'm just saying. Let's continue.   He also continued and said,   while bitcoin could potentially be integrated into state investments in the future,   the current market uncertainty   made it too early to amend the law and passing the bill would only lead to more confusion.   Manhart disagreed, saying that Bitcoin with its fixed supply and decentralized nature is a valuable asset that the state should consider taking advantage of.   Despite the setback, Manhart remains determined to push for the bill's revival,   pledging on Twitter,   will be back next year.  

While states like North Dakota, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania   have also stalled Bitcoin   reserve proposals,   the momentum is not dead.   Several other states including Florida, Arizona, Utah, and Texas are pushing forward with their own bills with around 18 state level bitcoin reserve proposals still pending   as shown   in the bitcoin reserve tracker. And I'm gonna look at that   right now. Let's see what's going on here.   Let's see. Okay. So here's the states that have rejected.   Pennsylvania,   South Dakota,   North Dakota,   Wyoming,   and Montana,   and y'all can have fun staying poor.  

Pending, there are a lot   that is still   pending. And Utah and Arizona are still in the,   quote, unquote,   consideration phase.   So   there you go. There there there's that one.   Continuing,   meanwhile, Bitcoin and other cryptos took a hit on Monday amid fresh concerns and a steep drop in technology stocks contributing to a general risk off atmosphere across global markets.   Yeah. It ain't just Bitcoin.   So there it is. South Dakota   decided to have fun staying poor. However,   another state in The United States   is still fighting the good fight.   Atlas twenty one has this one,   no taxes on crypto payments,   Ohio presents the bill. Yay.  

On February 24,   Ohio,   you know, high in the middle and round on both ends,   introduced a new bill that would prevent additional taxes on cryptocurrency   payments.   The legislative proposal, house bill one sixteen,   known as the Ohio Blockchain   Basics Act,   introduced   by representative Steve Demetrio   and supported by five cosponsors,   Tex Fisher, Brian Lorenz,   Ty d Matthews,   Riordan MacLean, and Josh Williams.   And that aims to amend existing legislation to prevent municipalities   from imposing taxes or additional fees on digital assets   beyond those already applied to fiat currency transactions.  

The proposal states, quote,   The General Assembly   will not pass a bill proposing to impose taxes,   fees, or other charges on digital assets used as a method of payment   for goods and services.   The bill   clearly defines digital assets to include cryptocurrencies,   stablecoins,   and, God forbid,   non fungible tokens, otherwise known as NFTs.   It also clarifies that taxes typically applied to legal tender,   such as state taxes and sales taxes, would continue to apply to crypto transactions,   but without the addition of new tax levies.   The proposal further establishes that no state agency or political subdivision   may prohibit citizens from accepting digital assets as payment for goods and services.  

The bill guarantees   residents the right to maintain self custody of their digital assets using hardware wallets and non custodial wallets as well as participate in cryptocurrency   staking.   Activities such as mining,   staking, and trading crypto assets would not require money service business licenses   under existing Ohio laws.   Citizens would also be allowed to mine in residential areas   as long as they comply with local zoning regulations,   while mining companies would be explicitly   authorized in industrial zones and cannot be unfairly penalized by charges or changes   to local zoning laws.  

The bill also touches on Ohio State pension funds,   which would be required to assess the potential risks and benefits   of investing in crypto ETFs   with an obligation to report to the general assembly within one year.   Last September, senator Neeraj   Anpani   introduced a bill that requires the state to accept cryptocurrencies   for the payment of state taxes   and   fees. Alright. So here's a here's the thing.   This bill has all that in one shot. And a lot of these bills at the at the state level   has   all kinds of stuff   in the same bill. So in this like, for example, I'm using Ohio.  

Bills like the Ohio bill that talk about   not taxing   a cryptocurrency   payment for goods and services,   as I maybe as a de minimis. Like, you know, anything over, like, $3,000,   maybe you get taxed on anything under $3,000.   It's just a payment. You there's there's there's no reason in the world to tax it as a payment. You're already paying the sales tax on buying, I don't know, your refrigerator or whatever it is that you're getting.   Okay.   Then you have the other side of a bill that the other side of the same bill that says, we want to invest state funds into Bitcoin.   When when the part of the bill   that people freak out about because of the volatility of Bitcoin at present,   when   when when people look at at that side of the bill and that side of the bill is investing state funds directly into Bitcoin so that you can have as Bitcoin strategic reserve, when that part collapses,   it collapses everything else.  

So then you don't have the part   where you don't have to pay taxes   or extra taxes on a payment made in cryptocurrency   such as Bitcoin.   This is why these bills should be separated.   There should be a completely separate bill   for   you don't have to pay taxes, you can use it as a currency, you can have your own wallet, you can do your own mining,   all of that stuff.   It really needs to be separated out and put into its own specific bill.   This investment of state funds directly into Bitcoin or Bitcoin ETFs or whatever,   that needs to be in yet another completely separate bill.  

You need to firewall these things so that you don't end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.   Will we see that occur?   I don't know, but I think that that should actually happen.   K. Here's some software updates. Liftpay   temporarily   suspends operations   and winds down its wallet services.   I have never heard of Liftpay before, but the custodial mobile lightning wallet service provider   is asking users to withdraw their funds within the next sixty days.   If you are a l I f p a y lift pay,   service user, then you need to start thinking about getting your shit off there. Quote,   after thorough evaluation   and in aligned   maybe they meant in alignment with regulatory requirements,   we have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend Liftpay's operations, announced the project.  

As part of the winding down process for the wallets,   Liftpay users are urged to withdraw all Bitcoin within the next sixty days by submitting a withdrawal request. That's that doesn't sound good.   You should just be able to get it off. Why do you need a   this is bad.   I hope nobody listening to my voice actually uses Lyft Pay because that right there was a huge red flag.   Dude, seriously?   Liftpay users are urged to withdraw Bitcoin within the next sixty days   by submitting a withdrawal request?   Then what why was I using the wallet in the first place?   How about I just withdraw the Bitcoin?  

You know what?   Screw you guys. I'm taking my ball. I'm going home. Let's get on to the next one. I I don't need to worry about the rest of that stupid bullshit.   Froster.   This is the one.   This is the one that I've kinda been waiting for.   It's about Nostr. If you're not on Nostr, I I can't help you. I've told you to get on Nostr before, but   if you're not listening to me, you're just not gonna listen to me now. But froster, f r o s t r, froster,   turn your insect into rotatable   multisig.   Your insect is your private key for Nostr.   Your InPub is your public key for Nostr.  

So it's sort of like username and password kind of thing, right?   But turning your InSec,   your secret   key, your private key into a rotatable multisig   apparently   is now on the horizon with Froster.   Froster is a simple   t of n   remote signing   and key rotation protocol for Nostr   powered by Frost.   The protocol   uses Frost in order to coordinate the signing of a message   between multiple signing devices   owned by a single user.   Website or application   makes a request to the user signing device to sign a note.   The user's device makes a signed request   to the remote signing devices.  

Each remote device verifies the request and responds with a partial   signature.   User's device verifies each partial signature and then adds their own.   The signatures are combined and the complete signature is returned to the website app.   Key libraries of the project include frost,   nostr p two p, and bitfrost.   Froster is still under active development. All of the project's code is open source.   Contributors, testers, and reviewers are welcome to test it, poke holes, and provide feedback.   Key features are that it breaks up your secret key into decentralized   distributable   shares.  

Sign messages using t of n signing devices.   If one share is compromised, your secret key is still safe.   Discard and replace shares without changing your secret key and identity.   And, of course, there is a GitHub repo for it, and there is a website which I'm going to right now. It is www.froster.org   and it gives other information   and I shall put that down into   the show notes so that you can go directly to it.   Let me just dump that right there. There we go. Okay. So that is   all I've got for you today.   Yes. We are still having issues with the Bitcoin price. We are at $87,131.60.   I get it. Everybody's pissed. We're gonna be bitching and moaning, and it's all by bits, you know, problem. It's it's it's all the fault of the tariffs from Trump administration.  

They still haven't done their quote, unquote, day one bit coin strategic reserve. So   lied.   I, yeah, I got a call like I see it, man.   Lied. Straight up lied. Basically, just told a whole bunch of bitcoiners, hey. Hey. We're gonna do a bitcoin strategic reserve and we all went, yay. We wanna vote for you. And then we voted for him and we're still waiting on the bitcoin strategic reserve. Well, I haven't heard   anything about it since,   oh, that   whoever the the crypto czar is   made some cryptic comments   about, what, two and a half weeks ago,   and I haven't heard Jack since. You know, what else I haven't seen is the Epstein list. I haven't seen the JFK files. I haven't seen the RFK files. I haven't seen the MLK files. Everything they said they were going to release is not been released.  

I'm not all that happy about that.   I was told there would be releases. I was told there was going to be a Bitcoin strategic reserve.   I warned everybody,   they take that shit with a grain of salt because it's just a politician saying political things for political   gain. We'll have to see whether or not they make good on any of this stuff.   But right now, honestly, guys, it's kinda not looking all that good for the Epstein list.   Pam Bondi still has it sitting on her desk. Why?   Why is it not out in the public?   What is there something on there that we don't need to see? And if that's the case, then we're right back where we started from.  

But the Trump tariffs are causing problems.   Bybit definitely caused problems.   We've been here before. We'll be here again. We've seen 20% dumps.   If you if you've been in Bitcoin for any length of time at all, you've probably been through at least 220%   dumps.   I've been through,   I don't know,   12   or probably even more. I don't know. It's been ugly.   It's been ugly since 2015,   but there are it's punctuated with these really great times.   So I'm not all that upset   as much as I am really annoyed,   and I don't like being annoyed, so I'll see you on the other side.  

[01:04:02] Unknown:

This has been Bitcoin, and and I am your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon.   Have a great day.