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Episode 1147 of Bitcoin And . . . is LIVE!

Topics for today:

• Bessent, PPI Perform BTC Buzzkill
• Google Makes Wallet Adjustment
• Blocks New Mining Rig
• Wisconsin Cheeses Out on BTC ATMs

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Today's Articles:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-tanks-below-119k-bessent-gov-t-won-t-buy-bitcoin-reserve
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/08/14/crypto-prices-quickly-slide-after-troubling-u-s-ppi-report
https://decrypt.co/335134/google-non-custodial-wallets-exempt-new-crypto-app-rules-play-store
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250814809089/en/Block-Unveils-Proto-Rig-and-Proto-Fleet-Marking-a-New-Era-in-Bitcoin-Mining
https://www.theblock.co/post/366953/turkeys-oldest-crypto-exchange-btcturk-halts-deposits-withdrawals-after-48-million-in-unusual-outflows
https://atlas21.com/kazakhstan-launches-central-asias-first-spot-bitcoin-etf/
https://bitcoinnews.com/legal/wisconsin-kyc-licensing-bitcoin-atms/
https://bitcoinnews.com/adoption/blue-origin-accepts-bitcoin-spaceflights/
https://decrypt.co/335240/fake-law-firms-targeting-crypto-scam-victims-fbi-warns

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[00:00:02] David Bennett:

It is 08:58AM   Pacific Daylight Time. It is,   oh, what, the 08/14/2025,   and this is episode   eleven forty seven   of Bitcoin   and   yeah. I'm really glad that I didn't do a Bitcoin news show yesterday because I would have been all kinds of like, woo hoo. Look at that. Yay.   And   we're right back to where we started.   It's okay.   We've been here before,   except I I I definitely am going to be highlighting the   absolute chicanery   committed by Scott Bissett and this   specifically,   the timing   of his announcement   that The United States was not going to be buying any Bitcoin. That is top of news today,   but also the PPI numbers came in. And that's that's where the timing of this entire thing   for me is really suspect.  

I just   I'm just going with straight up market manipulation   at this point because I I I can't   find any other phrase that that fits it as well.   Google shocked everybody yesterday as well with some news about,   Bitcoin wallets being ejected from the Google Play Store.   There's some updating on that that we need to talk about, and then Block has made the announcement   that their new mining ASIC   and honestly, it's just it's a whole it's a whole rig.   It's a a new kind of   it's a new kind of mining   infrastructure,   and we're gonna talk about its design and   what they've been doing over there at Block. It it looks like they may have actually committed a game changer,   which I'd I honestly, I did not expect that. I kinda didn't. I kinda thought that,   you know, if anything, they would come up with something that that maybe rivaled something out of Bitmain, but I I didn't expect this, and I'm really happy about it, by the way.  

Turkey,   BTC   Turk,   the,   well, Turkey's oldest   exchange has   has some problems.   And   then Kazakhstan   well, Kazakhstan is Kazakhstan, and they're doing what Kazakhstan does. Can we believe the news out of Kazakhstan?   I don't know, man. We'll we'll we'll get into it. But I can probably believe the bullshit that's coming out of Wisconsin   and the licensing for Bitcoin ATMs.   That's probably   probably correct.   I might mention something about Jeff Bezos's   Blue,   Origin   taking Bitcoin,   but probably not a whole lot of it. And then we will have   our words of warning,   which I   try to do at the end   of every show. This one is pretty   sinister honestly, so let's buckle up. Here we go.  

Bitcoin drops below $119,000   after US Treasury secretary   rules out   new BTC buys. This is Zoltan Vardai, Cointelegraph.   This morning, Scott Besant   went on Fox Business and laid it all out,   laid out the truth.   It's what we suspected, but we got confirmation now that Bitcoin,   you know, we'll we watched Bitcoin drop below a key support level   Thursday morning after   US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent   said that the government   has no plans   to make any additional Bitcoin purchases   for its strategic reserves   and separate   digital asset stockpile.  

Then Bitcoin fell below a 120,000.   That's a psychological support level. And then traded at a 118,730   at the time of writing. And right now, we are hovering right around a 118,000.   Anyway, it hit an all time high yesterday   of a 124,457.   The decline followed Bissent's comments in an interview with Fox Business where he confirmed   that the government   would not buy any more Bitcoin. Quote,   we've also started to get into the twenty first century   a Bitcoin reserve. I   I gotta pause. I don't understand the sentence.   We've also started to get into the twenty first century   comma a bitcoin reserve   what what is that   I I don't even know what Scott's trying to say here but he goes on and says we're not going to be buying that   Bitcoin in parentheses,   but we are we   are going to use confiscated assets   and continue to build that up. Oh, so I'm looking forward to more confiscation of Bitcoin. So US president Donald Trump   signed an executive order on March 6. If you did if you were living under a rock, then   hallelujah here now you know.  

Establishing both a strategic Bitcoin reserve and what's called a separate digital asset stockpile, both of which would initially use cryptocurrency   forfeited   in government criminal cases.   In March,   Bessant advocated for a strategic shift in The US approach to its Bitcoin reserve, telling   CNBC   and signaling at the White House crypto summit that the government should stop selling seized Bitcoin   and bring it onshore   using established regulatory frameworks.   He said that after victims of financial misconduct are compensated,   any remaining seized coin   would be added to a national Bitcoin reserve, putting The US in a position   to lead in global crypto.  

Then in April, Beau Hines, who at the time was part of the president's council of advisors for digital assets,   said the administration   was exploring funding options for Bitcoin acquisitions, including tariff revenue   and the revaluation   of the Treasury's gold certificates.   Thursday's drop came just hours after Bitcoin briefly   overtook Google's 2,400,000,000,000   market cap to become the fifth largest global asset before optimism faded   on Treasury's   stance.   In a silver lining to the sentiment dampening statement,   the,   they say, the beset   did confirm   that The US does not plan to sell any of its existing Bitcoin holdings. Oh, I'm   thrilled.  

Quote,   we're going to stop selling.   I believe that the Bitcoin reserve at today's prices is somewhere between 15 and $20,000,000,000   end quote.   Besson's comments echo White House AI and crypto czar David Sachs who said a Bitcoin reserve would be a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency   and The US wouldn't sell any Bitcoin to put in the reserve.   I what? Wouldn't sell doesn't wouldn't sell any Bitcoin.   Oh, sorry. And The US would not sell any Bitcoin that it already put in the reserve, quote, it will be kept as a store of value, Sachs said in a March 7 ex post.   Meanwhile,   the ballooning US national debt may spur more investors to look into Bitcoin's financial properties   as a store of value against persistent inflation   because The US national debt   surpassed   $37,000,000,000,000   for the first time   yesterday,   Wednesday,   fueling expectations of a Bitcoin rally to new all time highs, driven by money supply growth expectations   as the government looks to service the swelling debt and stimulate economic spending.  

Well,   good luck on all of that   because   this this whole Scott Bessett thing on Fox Business   and the surpassing of the $37,000,000,000,000,   the these   are not the only   drivers   that caused the sell off   this morning   because the PPI numbers dropped. That's the producer price index.   This is out of CoinDesk. It is written by   James Van Stratten.   Inflation concerns were reignited   during   morning hours in The United States on Thursday sending risk assets, crypto among them, sharply lower.   The July Producer Price Index rose 0.9%   blowing past estimates for 0.20%   in June.  

On a year over year basis,   PPI was higher by 3.3   versus forecast for 2.5%   and June's 2.4%   CorePPI   which of course excludes,   you know, food and energy also surged 0.9%   in July   far exceeding the 0.2%   expected   and the zero point zero expected in June. This is basically they've they've they're reiterating what they've already said, so I'm moving on. Already well off of a record high hit overnight above a 124,000.   Bitcoin tumbled below 119,000   on the news.   Ether plunged nearly 4% to $4,550.   Other recently red hot altcoins like Solana,   and XRP were similarly struck.  

Well, everything follows Bitcoin. I don't know why they keep separating this shit out, but   one of these days, maybe they'll figure   it figure it all out. Who knows? But fresh labor market data provided   absolutely   0%   relief   with initial jobless claims for this week ending August 9 at 224,000,   slightly below the 228,000   expected and continuing claims   holding at 1,950,000.   The still tight labor market combined with the strong PPI readings reinforced the view that the Fed may keep interest rates elevated for longer   to tame inflation.  

According to CME FedWatch,   the previous 100% chance for a September rate cut slipped to 96%   in the wake of fresh data.   In traditional markets, US stock index futures have slipped half a percent. The dollar is gaining ground, and the ten year US Treasury yield moved higher by five basis points   to 4.25%.   What they're not mentioning here   is that bond sales for United States treasuries   started really ramping up   after the PPI numbers came in. So you got Scott Besant going on Fox Business   at telling everybody that they're not going to do what they said they were going to do and they're not going to buy more Bitcoin at the same time that the PPI numbers were being digested   that had already thrown treasury markets into a tizzy   because Germany and Europe and anybody else who holds US treasuries   started selling those son bitches. And then what happens with   the the principal value of the bond? Well, it gets pushed down.  

And what happens to   equilibrate   that? Because nature just abhors a vacuum,   the coupon rate on those treasuries   has to go up.   They do not have inflation under control.   They do not have the bond yield under control.   I have got to say it, and nobody wants to hear it.   I'm actually thinking Jerome Powell knows what the hell he's doing.   I he doesn't he doesn't have anywhere close to the amount of control that he wishes he had   over the yield curves, but   in this particular environment   I'm not sure if sending the interest rates on the Fed overnight   down would be a very good idea. And I think that that's one of the reasons why Jerome is like, nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. I'm   not gonna do it. You can call me names. You can berate me in front of the press. You can me make a meme out of me with hard hats looking at pieces of paper and pointing at them like I'm a small child, but it's not going to matter. I'm not budging because none of this shit is fixed. It's so far from fixed   that I'm just not going to do   anything. In fact, there's always the possibility that rates   increase. Who knows? I I I don't know that for sure. And I also my gut tells me no, that   that's not on the table,   but I do not expect any rate cuts.  

I I I   people are thinking that there was gonna be a rate cut in September.   That's gone.   Right. That no. That's not going to happen. So what does it mean for Bitcoin? It means sideways chop.   A month, two months,   three months? I don't know. Doesn't really matter. It's just going to go sideways for at least a couple of days, a couple of weeks.   When we start stretching out into whether or not it goes a couple of months,   well, for that one, we'll we'll just have to see. But we need to move on to Google,   who has confirmed   noncustodial   wallets   are exempt   from new crypto app rules on the Play Store.  

Now when the news first broke   everybody thought that Google was ejecting all wallets,   especially non custodial wallets from the Play Store.   This doesn't seem to be the case, but we're going to find out more from Liz Napolitano   writing for Decrypt.   Google said   that it will update its Play Store policy for software wallets this fall,   sparking initial concerns among digital asset users that the changes could sideline self custodial wallets on Android devices.   Google Play will,   will require custodial digital wallet apps like those from exchanges   to hold jurisdiction   specific licenses including Mica authorization in The EU,   FCA authorization in The UK,   and FinCEN registration in The United States   before distribution in those markets with transitional   agreements   in France and Germany.  

But crypto holders needn't sound the alarm, not just yet anyway,   according to the tech giant, which referred Decrypt to its help center after being contacted. Oh my god. So Google says just look at our help page when a news outlet calls and asks them questions.   I swear customer service has just really gone downhill.   Anyway, noncustodial   wallets are out of scope   of the cryptocurrency   exchange   and software wallets policy, the help center reads.   The platform will begin enforcing its country specific requirements on October 29, according to a blog post from the company.   Google's clarifying comments come after crypto Twitter railed against the planned policy changes on Wednesday.  

At the heart of the social media backlash were concerns that the guidelines might apply to self custodial wallet applications   on Android devices, which are largely not registered with regulators in their respective jurisdictions of operation.   The Android operating system runs on more than 70%   of all mobile phones. I did not realize it was that high. Holy shit.   Damn. According this is according to a 2025 report from Poland based software solution firm   Neon   Neon Tree? Neon Tri? Whatever.   However,   Jacob Whitman,   general counsel at the Plasma Foundation, dismissed concerns over the digital content platform's   changes, calling them a big nothingburger. Quote, the Google Play Wallet, quote, ban   is a giant nothingburger   in many ways, Whitman said Wednesday in a social media post on x.  

Still,   the policy change, quote, does does show   that tech giants control distribution,   and we are still at their whim, he said. So that's really the takeaway.   For all the people that are breathing a sigh of relief, oh, okay. So my my self custodial wallet on my Android phone, that's that's fine. So now I don't have to worry.   Yes, you do.   Yes, you do. There's two there's essentially   two places in the world that the majority of mobile phone and smartphone users   get their   applications from. One is Apple Store and the other is the Google Play Store.   It's just that's just the way it is.  

Yes. There are other ways that you can get stuff on your phone, but what we do not have   is a way for Johnny on the street who doesn't know Dick about sideloading an application or   doesn't really want to find out what a progressive web app is   and how to how to, you know, get one going on your phone, which isn't hard, but it's it's for a lot of people, what we consider   absolutely   nothing in in the way of,   having to do shit, you know, like, having to put in, like, real work,   They do it.   They don't view it that way. If you if you at this point, if you give people more than, like,   four steps   of instructions to get whatever x done, it's like they just lose interest. They're like, whatever, dude. I don't care.  

They're beat down. That that's what happens in societies like this.   You know, the the modern world society right now, and it doesn't matter if you're in Turkey or The United States or Brazil or Australia.   It doesn't matter.   It's all the same. When when you get down to the great guts and feathers of it, it's all about   screwing up the minds of the citizenry so that they're easier to control.   However you do that from your cultural standpoint, in my case, I don't care   because the effects are all the same. You just keep screwing with people's heads   for decades, and they finally get so mentally   exhausted that they don't want to even   think about how they could actually be sovereign.  

So that's what we don't have. We don't have   we don't have a phone manufacturer   that is   big,   that is   a sovereign,   that is manufacturing   something that would be akin to a sovereign phone. Yeah. Are they do they exist? Yeah. There's, like, like, I think there's something called UpPhone.   There's a couple of other people that do it, but they're not big.   They're not big.   And that's what it's it's a huge problem.   None of us really know how to market very well because all the people that do are getting paid oodles of cash by people like Google marketing   and Apple marketing   and all the big boys. This is one of the reasons why you can't break into the market. It's not a regulatory moat, ladies and gentlemen. It's a psychological moat. They know   how to make advertising they know how to do marketing they know how to grab attention of millions of people   and   the people that know how to do that get paid a quarter of a million dollars   They're not going to do it for like a little startup phone company that tries to have sovereign apps   that   what I envision is a phone company that nobody knows who produces the phone   And and they're they're manufactured by,   like, every pot like Foxconn   and any other any other electronics giant that you can find.  

You know? So you'd rotate your orders around.   Nobody really you know, nobody's got a real address and it would be better clearly if the manufacture the the physical manufacturer of such phones was also just purely sovereign and not dependent on act asking for a contract from Foxconn.   And then tie that in with an app store where nobody knows who the developers are because they're all anonymous   and they're all having fun staying poor because they can't get paid for their work and they're and they're good with that. They're saying, you know, at this point if we don't do this, we're going to lose everything.   And then because of because I was not able to figure out how to have fun staying poor, my children will be miserable, and my children's children will still be miserable, and nothing will ever fucking change.  

The takeaway from this story is that self custody wallets are next.   They just are, and they're gonna be booted out of the Apple Store, and they're gonna be booted out of Google Play. You just wait.   You   and if it was already on your phone, you'd probably kiss it goodbye. Maybe the side loading on an Android would work. You know,   for those of you who use graphene,   I I've never used graphene, so I don't know exactly how it works.   I I'm I would like to be just simply be told,   if you've got graphene on your Android phone, then you don't have anything to worry about.   That that's really what I what I wanna hear. But even then, the people that make graphene,   we know who they are, and the government knows where they live.  

I it just goes on and on and on.   I don't know how to fix it. I really don't. I mean, I can say what I'm actually thinking in my head, but it probably would not be a good idea for me to actually say. So I'm not going to, which puts me squarely in the camp of the people that aren't doing anything about it simply because I don't know what to do. I just don't. It it makes me sad,   but I have to admit, I don't know what to do.  

[00:22:09] Unknown:

If you do, then let me know.  

[00:22:13] David Bennett:

Now onto something brighter, sunshine   in a jar   from [email protected].   That's great ghee, g h e e, is how you spell ghee. It's at greatghee.com.   It's the best animal fat to buy with the hardest money on earth.   So this person makes ghee. What is it?   Ghee or clarified butter is made by simmering butter to remove water, milk solids, and impurities,   leaving   behind a golden lactose free oil with a nutty flavor and high smoke point.   Around 485   degrees Fahrenheit   is how hot you can get ghee before it starts to smoke, which means that you've you've kind of screwed it up. So don't get it to four eighty or four eighty five degrees Fahrenheit.   Shoot for something lower like four fifty, which is if you're frying something   that'll work. Okay? Anyway, unlike regular butter, ghee is shelf stable, which means you can put it on a shelf. It doesn't have to be refrigerated.  

It's versatile for cooking, baking, and even skin care. It's a staple in Indian food as I say all the time, and you can get your ghee at greatghee.com.   That's greatghee.com.   And by the way,   if you use   well, actually, I just need you to put Bitcoin and in the order comment section so that great ghee understands that if you buy his product   that you heard about it from the Bitcoin and show. And that way, Great Guy in the   value for value advertising model can make a decision as to whether or not   Great Guy found the sale   useful and valuable and will hopefully   catch me on the other side with some satoshis.  

Now on to block mining.   This is actually rather kind of exciting. I'm I'm I usually don't get excited about new, mining rigs, but   I'm I'm excited about this one. Block unveils   Protorig   and   Proto Fleet,   marking a new era in Bitcoin mining. And this is out of businesswire.com.   Let's see. Is there is there an author?   I don't think there's an author on this one. Nope. There is not an author.   Block Incorporated today unveiled ProtoRig,   a first of its kind   modular   Bitcoin mining system, and Proto Fleet, a free and open source fleet management software. The announcement   made during an event held at Proto Customer Core Scientific's   facility in Dalton, Georgia,   where proto rigs and mining as part of their fleet   represents a significant step towards decentralizing   decentralizing   Bitcoin mining hardware,   opening access to more builders, and increasing network resiliency.  

These mark   the first two end to end releases by Proto,   Block's suite of Bitcoin mining products and services following its initial chip sale to Core Scientific.   Moving away from disposable   hardware models hold on for a sec. I wanna make sure that okay. Here we go. Moving away from disposable hardware models, ProtoRig is designed to be infrastructure,   a paradigm shift that solves many existing pain points for miners and signals the company's long term commitment to the industry.   ProtoRig's modular design lets operators   upgrade   individual   hash boards   without replacing entire units,   transforming what has historically been a three to five year disposable asset   into a ten year   infrastructure   investment reducing costs by 15 to 20%   each upgrade cycle.  

It also allows for easy in place   tool free repair   turning a process that can take hours days or weeks into one that takes seconds   saving miners valuable time and resources. Mining hardware   hasn't really changed in years, said Thomas Templeton,   hardware lead at Block.   Machines break often. They're hard to repair,   expensive and time consuming to upgrade,   and don't make the most efficient use of power or space.   With RIG,   we set out to change all of that and contribute to hardware decentralization   in the process.   With unmatched power density and maximum   miner uptime, ProtoRig delivers   one and one half times the power per foot of rack space   compared to to traditional   mining hardware   and designed to be compatible with modern and legacy   infrastructure,   Proto Rig gives mining operators   the power to maximize efficiency in their existing facilities without   requiring expensive retrofitting,   addressing long standing challenges in power utilization and lifecycle management.  

Alongside   ProtoRig, Block also announced something called Proto Fleet,   comprehensive   open source fleet management software that brings together power scaling,   monitoring,   diagnostics, and maintenance tools in a single intuitive platform.   Mining   hasn't really caught up with advances in software more broadly,   said Templeton.   Quote, we saw an opportunity to make mining software something modern that improves   operational efficiency instead of unnecessarily   complicating things, end quote.   Proto Fleet brings together many functionalities that have historically   required their own individual pieces of software to manage, helping miners streamline operations,   maximize uptime, and minimize time spent troubleshooting.  

A big part of Proto's effort to decentralize   mining, Protofleet,   will be available for anyone to use   at no cost,   giving mining operators   of all sizes access to powerful fleet management software.   All of these advancements together   on rack, tool free repairability,   high quality components,   swappable hashboards, and backwards compatibility   means more uptime   across installs, repairs,   upgrades, and ultimately the life of the machine.   The reveal of both products builds on Block's long track record of building transformational   technology and rounds out the company's broader commitment to Bitcoin across Square, Cash App, Bitkey, and Spiral.  

For more information about Protrig and ProtoFleek, visit   proto.xyz.   That's proto.xyz.   Swappable hash boards is is the takeaway here.   That and the fact that the the energy density per square foot increase is going to be huge.   One and a half times the amount of efficiency   on a per foot rack space is   freaking huge.   Right? So that that's and this is an American company.   I, like, you know, I I can raw raw America, but that's not really it. I'm just tired of all the innovation always ever coming out of China.   And now   this is not the case.  

Thankfully,   Block seems to have cracked a big nut. And that swappable hash board issue,   you don't have to throw the the power supply away. You don't have to throw the chassis away. You can keep the chassis   just right in the rack and just open the the box itself and replace hash boards.   That is amazing because as it is right now, you basically throw the whole unit away   after three between three and five years.   There's a lot of electronic waste there, and I don't look at electronic waste as something that, oh my god, we're all gonna die because climate change. That's that's not it.   I just like all of those transformers,   all that copper,   all those magnets. And I'm just talking about the power supply   part   of the the of the equation here for each one of these boxes.  

Then there's all the chips. There's the hash,   You the fans, they don't even harvest the fans. They just throw the whole damn rig away.   This is different.   This is this is a almost a step function change in the way bitcoin mining is going to be done. I'm really excited to see where this one goes, and we'll have to see if Bitmain follows suit and says, ah,   shit. Now we're gonna have to do the thing and   work and and be   innovative. So we'll we'll see if they can we'll see if they can handle it. Let's run the numbers.   Futures and commodities.  

West Texas Intermediate Oil is up almost 2%, but it's still at $63.85   a barrel. So there was quite the tumble that oil had yesterday while I was   doing the show about   cathedral. Anyway, Brent Norsey is up 1.7%   to $66.77.   Natural gas up a half   to $2.84   per thousand cubic feet, and gasoline   is up 1.8%   to $2.10   a gallon.   Shiny metal rocks are having a bad day. Gold is down almost a full point, making Peter Schiff cry at $33.77   and 4 dimes. Silver is down 1.7%,   but platinum is up one and a quarter while copper is down a half. And the biggest surprise is palladium is up well over two percentage points.   Ag is pretty much fully mixed today.  

Biggest loser looks to be chocolate, 2.8%   to the downside,   and the biggest winner is coffee, 1.73%   in the green. Meanwhile, live cattle is down one and a third, lean hogs are down well over 2%,   and feeder cattle are down 1.77%.   The legacy indices   do not look like they are digesting the PPI numbers very well either.   The Dow is down a half point. S and P is down a quarter as is the Nasdaq and the S and P Mini   plumbing the depths of hell at 1.73%   to the downside   fully in the red.   And, oh, god. Jesus. A $117,540   on the price of Bitcoin brings us all the way back down to a $2,340,000,000,000   market cap, and Google's beating us again.  

We can only purchase 35.2   ounces of shiny metal rocks with our one Bitcoin of which there are 19,906,175.07   of. And average fees per block remain low, 0.03   BTC   taken in fees on a per block basis. There look to be about 20 blocks carrying 76,000   unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at 4 Satoshis per vByte,   and low priorities will get you in at 1 Satoshi per vByte. Meanwhile, mining is back up to 916   exahashes per second, and you can do with that what you will. From cathedral to clocks, calendars, and computers, that was yesterday's episode of Bitcoin, and I got Psyduck with seven forty five says, Psyduck?   He's got a little question mark there.  

Aaron Joel with a 172   says, I think the book Tree Crops is available free   at project Gutenberg.   At least, I think that's where I downloaded a copy, and the Gutenberg project can be found at gutenberg.org,   not com, not gov, not whatever,   org, o rg, gutenberg.org.   It's got a bunch of free books. I haven't actually been over there in a while. And if you can get tree crops from j Russell Smith,   if you're interested in trees, like, at all,   dude, that's the book.   That that and and a book called Trees of Power,   it's good, but it's it's not as good as j Russell Smith's book.  

Smith's book, I've read that thing at least twice, and I'm gonna end up having to read it again.   It's fascinating. It's a it's a snapshot into the mindset of somebody writing   in, I think it was 1930.   Let's see. Hold on for a second. I might be able to find out. Let's see. Tree crops.   Oh, god. It doesn't give me the book. Hold on.   Because it's kinda it's kind of important. Let's see. What is it? 1929.   1929,   man. This is an old book.   And the way when you read somebody   who's writing   from that far back in history,   you get a different sense of mentality, you get a different sense of tone, you get a different sense of   possibility.  

And that's sort of one of the reasons why I I   I'm just doing the cathedral project even though it it's just   is at this point, it's mental gymnastics.   I admit it.   I don't have I don't have the money to buy a thousand acres, and it probably neither do any of my listeners.   Still,   if you read tree crops, you start to understand   what,   in a way,   attitudes that we've forgotten.   It's not just that we forgot what trees can do for us, what what   what kinds of tree crops there are and what they can be utilized to do, in which case if you don't know any of that, go read j Russell Smith's tree crops. It will blow your freaking mind.   God knows it blew mine, but   it's a different attitude.  

It's a different way of looking at things.   We're we're like the meme with the two guys on the bus and one's looking out in sunlight and the other one's looking at the rock wall and it's all darker. That's that's us.   We're not the j Russell Smith is the dude that's sitting on the side of the bus looking out across the landscape with bright sunshine bathing it.   That ain't us.   We're the other dude,   and we've been forced into that position   by media   in collusion with governmental sources and and all that kind of stuff. They've  

[00:36:33] Unknown:

jacked our mentality up  

[00:36:36] David Bennett:

for a reason.   Anyway, let's see. Turkey with 500 says nothing as usual,   Progressively worse. Hits me twice with a thousand sats, and he says and this is interesting.   Hogs   can be pretty savage from time to time.   Less so when they are not in confinement, I'd imagine.   I look after plus or minus 17,000   per day.   Okay.   So progressively worse is coming with some serious credentials.   Looking after 17,000   hogs?  

[00:37:09] Unknown:

For those of you who don't know,   hogs will eat your ass.  

[00:37:15] David Bennett:

If you get them in a group and you get them tightly packed, like and and my wife experienced this. She didn't see anybody get eaten, but she realized just   how brutal these animals can be if you're not   very, very careful around them. So she's at a hog farm, but it's inside. So it's it's a confined animal feeding operation that's housed. It's not outside.   It doesn't really matter if it's inside or outside because the way they've got these animals pinned in, they're very, very close quarters. And you gotta get in there and do things like take fecal samples or   whatever it is that you're going to do.  

Now that's probably not done this way anymore. But back in the day when she was an undergrad at, you know, at at in college and she was kinda, you know, doing some work with the agricultural   school,   That's what they did. They got climbed into the pens with the hogs.  

[00:38:09] Unknown:

She got bumped   by one of the hogs, lost her balance, and fell on the on the floor.  

[00:38:17] David Bennett:

And she realized very quickly that all the hogs were not the precious little   little piglet animals that you see in cartoons. No. No. No. No. They were coming to eat her ass. And if she had stayed on the floor any longer,   they would have started doing real damage.   Hogs are not to be toyed with. They're one of the most brutal animals that you can   come up with. Their snouts   are   they're shovels.   They they shove their face into dirt.   This is not something that you really wanna be messing with. So he goes on.   Progressively worth Worth says, on the other hand,   they can be quite useful by digging up some of the truffles associated with the ectomycorrhizal   inoculation done with the trees.  

That would add another layer to their finishing diets. The truffles would also offer another product to market and or personal consumption.   The concept   for a you pick   would not only reduce cost and labor for harvesting the berries, but also spark some natural curiosity   into the system itself once people see it in action.   The depth of layers in this system are incredible.   Keep up the solid work. Thank you, progressively worse. That makes me feel good because   here's the deal.   I can go over to, like, like, a red a subreddit   and put, like, a oh, let's see. I dumped something over in the,   permaculture subreddit   and just got   just got torched.  

Oh, you stupid. Oh, you're just like, and that's the thing. It's like, you know, one of the very first things when I and I wasn't even dumping the cathedral project on them. I I was just telling them about the the, confre man the confre users manual that I have on my website. And I said, hey. Here's the link. Here's the stuff. And the the the first comment was, okay. Well, I I see what you're doing here, and I guess it looks pretty good, but you forgot to give us your credentials.   I'm like, what?   My credentials for what? What? Like a Reddit license?  

I mean, what credentials are   this is the kind of thing that causes people to be very, very tight lipped about any kind of wild ass idea that they have, and those ideas   will die with   them. And I'm not I'm not trying to say that I'm brave because I'm putting this out here. No. This is a survival mechanic for me. If I do not, it's like Forest Walker. If I don't get it out of my head, it's going to drive me insane   because I cannot stop thinking about this system. I can't.   I don't know   how it came into my head, and I don't care. All I know is that if I don't get it out of my head,   I run a real risk of permanent mental damage. Now that may be hyperbole. I I don't know, but   it feels that way because I can't stop thinking about it. And if I can't stop thinking about one thing, then I can't think about other things. So I got it's got to get out of my head.  

However, when you do that,   you run like, I'm running the risk of every single permaculturist   or silvopasturist   or rancher or grazer   or tree cropper. I'm going to piss them all off Because the first thing they're gonna do is, how many pecan groves have you tended? And I'm going to say   zero.  

[00:41:36] Unknown:

How many cattle have you grazed?   Zero.   How many hedgerows have you laid?   Zero.  

[00:41:45] David Bennett:

You see how this works?   You get for some reason, you're selected by the universe to hold some kind of idea that is   really would be better by, you know, in the head of somebody who was, you know, had   several pecan groves and and knows how that shit works.   Maybe it would. Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe it does take a complete set of fresh eyes to completely retake a a do a new look at a system.   But every single one of these people, the minute I open my mouth are going to shut me down. And that's okay.   I'm   not worried about that. It's just what I worry about is that this kind of effect is a squelching effect on human imagination.   Because if if I'm just like I'm at a point where if I don't get it out of my head, this is an emergency for me. If I don't get it out of my head, it's gonna do real damage.  

So therefore, I don't give a shit what people say. I don't care if they bring up the fact that I have no credentials.   I could care less   about the fact that they will say, you don't have any experience in any of this. How dare you even speak of this? Yes. There are many, many people out there that do that.  

[00:42:57] Unknown:

But what about the other people?  

[00:43:00] David Bennett:

You know? What what was your idea that you don't really want to talk about because you're you don't have experience and you don't have the street cred or whatever.   So therefore, you don't talk about the idea. You don't ask anybody, what what do you think?   You know? And and that idea just it just either dims until it finally dies and and the light goes out of your head,   or it   it   it dies with you. Maybe it's active all the way up until the day you die. Maybe it's a little light bulb in the in the back of your mind that says, remember when you thought about this? And you haven't really told anybody this and you're one foot in the grave and,   you know, it's it's it's odd. It's an odd feeling, but I am I've gotten a lot of   a lot of positive feedback about Cathedral. Just like I got a lot of positive feedback about Forest Walker, which is every bit as insane,   but I'm really   happy   that progressively worse thinks that this is a good idea. It's not a validation   as much as   maybe I'm not crazy.  

Maybe I'm not a full blown psycho.   Maybe something like this   actually does work,   but   this system all boils down to management.   That's the largest piece of the puzzle. It's not the trees. It's not where's the water gonna come from. It's it's not how are you gonna cycle the the for rejuvenation   on the on the black walnuts, you know, and chop some down and   and plant new ones. It's like all the all that.  

[00:44:36] Unknown:

That's just surface shit. How are you going to manage the hogs? How are you going to manage the cattle? How are you going to drag chickens behind the cattle three days so that they eat all the fly larvae?   All of that.   This is just standard shit.   Whether I have experience in it or not,   what makes or break all of that,   how's it managed?  

[00:45:00] David Bennett:

And that's when I actually look, and I I think this I really think this idea   for cathedral solidified in my head after reading   Allan Savory's holistic management   and understanding how Joel Salatin   handles different, quote, unquote, fiefdoms   on his farm.   It's all about   management, and I don't actually think that this system is gonna take, you know, 500 people to run. I really don't.   I think this is a management   question.   I think it is a management   problem.   And that's where I get really excited about   about Cathedral   is how is it managed.  

What's the standard operating procedures?   Those are the things that for some reason really,   really light my candle, but we've got other fish to fry. Let's do part two.   Welcome to part two of the news that you can use. And first up is Turkey's oldest crypto exchange, BTC Turk,   has halted deposits and withdrawals after a $48,000,000   unusual  

[00:46:17] Unknown:

flow.  

[00:46:18] David Bennett:

Yeah. This is the block, and Naga Avan Namayo is riding it.   Cyber or rather cryptocurrency exchange BTC Turk,   Turkey's oldest crypto exchanges temporarily   suspended deposits and withdrawals using cryptocurrencies   after blockchain security firm, Cybers,   flagged roughly $48,000,000   of suspicious   multichain   transfers   tied to the platform on Thursday.   Syvers   said that its monitoring systems detected   swift movements across Ethereum, Avalanche,   Arbitrum,   I never can't pronounce that, base, Optimism, Mantle, and Polygon.   Most of the funds were consolidated into two addresses, and the attacker began to swap assets, the company said. In a notice   posted on x,   BTC Turk users told that were told users that crypto deposits and withdrawals were disabled   until further notice due to a technical problem affecting hot wallets.  

The platform said that it would inform customers when services resume.   That   said, trading and deposits using the Turkish lira are reportedly uninterrupted   according to the statement.   Thursday's incident   follows a June 2024 breach in which BTC Turk reported unauthorized   withdrawals   from some hot wallets,   Binance said it froze more than $5,300,000   linked to the event at the time while assisting in the invest investigation.   So if you're using BTC Turk, you're down. It seems to be an attack. I gut feeling not a rug pull.   We'll have to see.  

Then we go to Kazakhstan,   who's launched Central Asia's very first   and right now only   spot Bitcoin ETF. This is out of Atlas twenty one, by the way.   Astana based   asset management company, Fonte Capital,   has officially launched its spot Bitcoin ETF,   the first in Central Asia.   The fund named Fonte or Fonte, which is f o n t e, Fonte, Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund, o e I c,   started operations   August 13 on the Astana International Exchange   under the ticker   BETF.   The product is a US dollar denominated   investment vehicle designed to closely track the price of Bitcoin.   The fund structure assigns custody to BitGo Trust,   a US regulated company, while oversight is provided by the Astana International Financial Center.  

The Astana International Financial Center has developed an a dedicated legal framework for digital assets enabling   the operation of licensed exchanges,   custody services, and investment products within its jurisdiction.   Supporters of the initiative argue that this regulatory framework   can provide protection from international asset seizures under sanctions   while reducing reliance on foreign issuers.   Last April, the prime minister,   Olsas   Bektov,   stated that Kazakhstan   was working on legislative amendments to liberalize   the circulation of digital assets and expand platforms for cryptocurrency related activities.  

The introduction of the region's first spot Bitcoin ETF   positions Kazakhstan   alongside   other leading global jurisdictions such as The United States and Hong Kong,   which have already approved equivalent financial products.   Kazakhstan is also planning the launch of   Crypto City,   a pilot zone where digital assets could be used for the payments   of goods and services. Oh, may   gee, mister government, may I please be pull down my pants and use the bathroom?   Can I raise my hand to ask a question? You know, it's just   like I said, it doesn't matter what jurisdiction you're in. It's this it's this   psychotic   need for control   that damages the minds of citizenry. They don't we don't even know we're being damaged. But we're being brain damaged over here, man. And it's like, it doesn't matter. Like I said, Australia,   US, China,   Kazakhstan,   they all suck. Anyway,   Wisconsin sucks the worst   because their bill   is pushing KYC   and licensing   for Bitcoin ATMs. This is Alex Lary writing for Bitcoin News. Wisconsin lawmakers   are moving in tandem to regulate Bitcoin ATMs   with two identical bills   filed in the senate and assembly to combat   the growing number of scams linked to the machines.  

The bills are looking to implement strict know your customer information for Bitcoin ATM users   as well as further licensing requirements for the operators.   Senate bill three eighty six sponsored by senator   Kelda Roys and six Democrats   mirrors assembly bill three eighty four introduced last month by representative Ryan Spad and 10 cosponsors.   The bills will speed up the process by moving through both chambers at the same   time. Oh, they're being efficient. The measures target the state's 582   Bitcoin   ATMs.   That's a lot, by the way, often found in gas stations, grocery stores, and convenience stores.  

Lawmakers say these machines have become a tool for fraudsters, especially targeting   senior citizens I call bullshit.   I don't know how many grandmas and grandpas do you see waddling up to a freaking BTC   ATM?   None.   None.   This is like, dude, we gotta protect the children. Oh, we've done that to death. Do we got something else?   Old folks? Yeah. Let's go with it. Anyway,   the push comes after FinCEN data showed a 99%   increase of Bitcoin kiosk related   fraud complaints   in 2024.   Reported losses also rose 31   to nearly, wow, $247,000,000.   Jesus. Take a bite out of crime, people. Supporters of the bill   say   that largely unregulated the largely unregulated nature of these kiosks makes them a soft target for scammers   who often impersonate loved ones, charities, or government officials to trick people into sending them Bitcoin.  

Senator Royce said without the safeguards, these machines have become hotbeds   for serious crime.   She said while new technology is exciting, it can also invite scams or fraud.  

[00:52:54] Unknown:

Mhmm.   Uh-huh. New technology. Let's link it to scams and fraud   and criminality.  

[00:53:01] David Bennett:

Let let's do that. This is another way that the mental state of citizenry is around the world are damaged. I'm just I'm just   saying. Under the proposed legislation, all Bitcoin ATM operators in the state of Wisconsin   would have to get a state   money   transmitter license.   Good luck.   If if if you're just Joe Blow on the street with three Bitcoin ATMs that you've bought and and   and finagle their way into gas stations, you're not going to be given   a money transmitter license.   You can go apply.   You can put in the paperwork, but you know you're not getting this.   This is regulatory   moding, and everybody knows it. Anyway, whatever. First time users would have to provide their full name, date of birth,   home address,   phone number,   email,   and the government issued photo ID.  

Operators would also have to take a photo of the customer at the machine.   Daily limits   would be $1,000   per customer, and operator fees would be limited   to the greater of $5   or 3% of the transaction amount, whichever comes first or whichever is higher rather.   The bills also require each kiosk to display a bold visible   fraud alert   on the machine   and on the transaction   screen.   The warning would have to describe common scam tactics and be acknowledged by the user before continuing on. Under the bill, operators would have to refund customers for fraudulent transactions   if notified by law enforcement within thirty days.  

So   I'm dumb enough to come up to an ATM machine, get scammed,   and it's the owner of the machine that's at fault   and has to pay me back.   Again, brain damage alert. In fact, government should also also come with a brain damage alert.   Like like, literally, if a senator comes on CNBC to talk about anything, there should be a tag up in the right hand side that says, your brain may be being damaged right now.   Freaks.   Let's see.   Under the bill, operators would have to refund the customer of fraudulent transactions within thirty days, blah blah blah. Sergeant Scott Goldberg of Woods County Sheriff's Department   said that the goal is to protect people from losing large amounts of money. No shit, dude. He said victims have lost 2,000   to $60,000   at one time, and rural counties like his   see far fewer cases than urban areas.  



[00:55:41] Unknown:

What does that tell you?  

[00:55:42] David Bennett:

Maybe maybe the country folk are a little bit more aware of their shit, Well, backers of the bill say tighter rules would build public trust in Bitcoin.   Bullshit.   Really, backers of the bill say that the tighter rules will build public trust   in Bitcoin.   This is the this is the, oh, we're protecting Bitcoin wrapper.   So they've exhausted kids,   they've done old folks, and   they've done human sex trafficking,   so we've got a new wrapper. It's gonna protect Bitcoin.   Yeah, right. Critics, however, say eliminating anonymity   undermines one of the original appeals of the scarce digital asset.  

Both s b three eighty six and a b three eighty four are before the committee on financial institutions   in their respective chambers. And if passed, the identification and fraud warning requirements will take effect sixty days after the bill becomes law. So watch out.   Watch out, ladies and gentlemen. They're coming for us. They're coming for us all.   But not before Jeff Bezos takes a cut.   Because Jeff Bezos's   Blue Origin   is now accepting Bitcoin for space flights.  

[00:56:54] Unknown:

It's just freaking stupid.  

[00:56:57] David Bennett:

No. I whatever. Blue Origin, the the private space flight company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos,   is now letting customers pay for trips to space   using Bitcoin.   Through a partnership with payment processor Shift4,   which I've never heard about before,   Blue Origin's customers can now use Bitcoin and Shitcoins   like shitcoin number one and number two. And then there's stablecoins that they will let you use like Tether and USDC   to book seats on its new Shepard suborbital   spacecraft.   Quote, crypto is a $4,000,000,000,000   asset class, and the sky is the limit when it comes to its potential   in the current payments ecosystem, said Alex Wilson,   head of digital assets at Shift4. Quote, we believe crypto and stablecoins are going to become an increasingly popular way for consumers to pay, particularly   for high end purchases.  

Customers can connect popular digital wallets like Coinbase   and MetaMask   to pay directly for flights.   Oh my god. Yeah. Whatever, dude. It's it's   it this isn't I don't even count this as a good publicity stunt.   It's just a bunch of fluff out of out of Bezos. What whatever.   And then we have the the   the problem of the week. Fake law firms   are targeting crypto scam victims   according to the FBI.   Connor Sefton   decrypt.   Crypto scammers are masquerading as legal firms   to deceive vulnerable people out of their savings according to the FBI and even targeting consumers   who have already fallen victim to fraudsters before.  

In a new FBI   advisory,   it set out red flags that the public should be aware of, including lawyers who claim to be affiliated with governments and regulators.   Some also claim to partner with organizations that don't even exist.   Cybercriminals   may request payment in the form of crypto or gift cards for their so called services   even though a legitimate organization would never do so.   The FBI noted   that scammers often win the trust of victims because they have knowledge of the exact amount of funds they've lost in the past.   And when the wire transfers were made.  

In some cases, victims are referred to a bogus crypto recovery law firm and told to open accounts with foreign banks, but the domain they're directed to is a phishing link designed to capture even more of their information.   It's like adding insult to injury, but further warning signs include victims being told to pay bank fees to verify their identities.   Scammers have also or rather, scammers also have a reluctance to provide credentials   to back up their claims and won't agree to video meetings.   According to the FBI's advisory, the public should use a zero trust model and be wary of firms contacting them out of the blue,   ask for photographic evidence of law licenses,   and request proof of employment from anyone claiming to be a government employee.  

Meticulous records of interactions are also recommended.   So if I were to take the FBI's advice,   I wouldn't I I would actually literally be telling every government official, I need your government ID.   May and maybe we should, just just to to cause some brain damage in the opposite direction. But contact with scammers,   impersonating law firms continues to pose many risks,   including the theft of personal data and funds from unsuspecting victims   to the reputational   harm of actual lawyers being impersonated.   The warning comes after a slew of high profile bankruptcies   left exchange customers waiting for years to be re reunited   with their funds.  

It's like like my lost puppy dog with opportunistic criminals pretending to be involved in official recovery efforts.   Other crypto scams have leveraged the images of high profile individuals such as Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak   and Tesla founder Elon Musk   using either carefully chosen real footage or AI deep fake imagery to convince victims to part with their cryptocurrency.   According to a recent report, deep fakes of celebrities,   government officials, and other individuals   accounted for 40%   of the high value crypto fraud in 2024.   So just just be aware, if you get contacted by a lawyer or somebody saying they're a government official,   just honestly just hang up, I guess.  

I I get shit all the time. Yeah. I used to be a cut like, my first Bitcoin buy was through Coinbase.   So they had whatever k y c they were doing back in the day, which was   honestly back then it was pretty light touch.   I don't ever remember actually ever giving them like a photograph of my   ID, but that was 2015.   We were all very, very young back then. So   but,   you know, my address was in there was in their files. My phone number was in their file. My email was in their file.   So I, like, literally, like, at least once a month, I get not one, but probably two.   Hey, your Coinbase account's been been activated   by somebody in in Kyrgyzstan or something like that. Yeah. Call this number.  

No. I'm I'm not calling The Philippines   to talk to somebody I don't know   about personal financial information. It's just dumb.   And this is the extent at which the brain damage has caused us to just   honestly,   can it just be over?   Whatever problem comes down the pipe, just think of it.   How   do you remember what what the problem how you would approach a problem twenty years ago   versus   a problem now?   I feel a major difference in my psychology when I approach problems now versus   approaching problems twenty years ago. Twenty years ago,   whatever,   we'll fix the problem.  

And now it's like, can it just be over?   Can we just anything, please. I'll do anything just to make this problem go away.   That that's brain damage.   That I I'll admit it. I am brain damaged. I got dane bramage over here, man. I can't even think straight. And when any simple problem or medium problem or a highly complex problem comes down the pipe, I treat them all the same. It's like I just want them to go away. I mean, I have to solve them, but it's like a the   the the way that that   I'm affected by a problem coming down the pipe now is different than it was twenty years ago. And I blame   our government inclusion with media.  

Not in all these oh, it's just social media. No. It's not. It's not.   That's part of it. That's an outlet.   It's what's being consumed, like the dancing doctors and nurses during COVID.   That wasn't a fad that was orchestrated.  

[01:04:03] Unknown:

It was the same dance.  

[01:04:06] David Bennett:

It was the whole thing is bizarre. Anyway, we're going over time. I'm gonna go ahead and let you go, and I will see you on the other side. This has been Bitcoin, and and I'm your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon. Have a great day.