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Episode 1148 of Bitcoin And . . . is LIVE!

Topics for today:

• BIS Wants Credit Scores For Currency
• KindlyMD Has Merged With Nakamoto
• India Gets A Bitcoin Policy Institute
• Chrome Bidding Wars Heat Up

Today's Articles:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/indias-first-bitcoin-think-tank-launches-on-independence-day-its-mission-financial-sovereignty
https://cointelegraph.com/news/czech-police-suspects-bitcoin-donation-justice-ministry
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/kindlymd-nakamoto-officially-merge-plans-to-buy-one-million-btc
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bis-crypto-compliance-scores-aml-offramps
https://decrypt.co/335357/google-gets-35-billion-offer-chrome-ai-browser-escalates
https://atlas21.com/paying-to-an-iban-in-bitcoin/

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It is 08:16AM   Pacific Daylight Time. It is the August,   smack dab in the middle of it,   2025.   And this is episode   eleven forty eight   of Bitcoin. And this will probably be a shorter show. Friday shows don't tend to   have a lot of uptake, so there's no reason to stretch it out. Plus, we've already we've already burned through most of the news for the week that   that really mattered.   We're still struggling   with the, Bitcoin price at around 117,000.   It did not matter that,   Scott Bessent   decided to   backtrack   what he said that he said that yesterday morning on Fox Business that they weren't gonna be buying any Bitcoin for the strategic reserve, and that coupled with the PPI numbers,   really sent some jolts through the market. And then we had, the Michigan consumer's   price   sentiment. No. It was a mission con Michigan consumer sentiment numbers came out today,   and the sentiment is lower. Generally speaking, people aren't really buying that much stuff   because everything's really expensive. So it was yet another inflation number   that is not helping.  

And then we we're gonna have housing starts coming up. Those numbers will start coming up on the I think on the nineteenth.   So we're, you know,   this is this is the frustrating part about Bitcoin is that it may not be directly   coupled with the stock market and other parts of the market, but it it definitely is coupled with   inflation numbers. And we've got more on the way. So just, you know, sit tight, bros.   Just just sit tight. We'll we'll deal with it later. But first, we are gonna talk about India.   We're gonna go to, Czechoslovakia.   We're gonna talk about a health care company that's gonna turn into a treasury company   and the BIS.  

Oh, God. The BIS has released something that is   first of all, it's cringe.   It's just cringe AF,   but it's going it it probably is going to have some kind of impact.   Google and Chrome and the browser wars,   AI is coming for your browser and there's absolutely   nothing you can do about it. So just   it's it would be better   instead of fighting AI.   Okay?   I really do think it's a better idea   to learn how to use it   and   and use it well. My wife calls it   naive prompting   because   and I think what what she really means about that   is that people aren't learning how to actually use these tools. And she hated AI when it first came out, and she saw that it wasn't gonna go away. So she decided that she was gonna learn how to use it.  

And she has and she's getting pretty good at it. And I kind of highly recommend that   even if you hate the idea of AI   it is better to know your enemy   than to be ignorant   of your enemy. It honestly, that's probably something written   in in Sun Tzu.   Let's go let's go to India first,   where India's first Bitcoin think tank   launches on Independence Day.   It has a mission, and it's called Financial Sovereignty. This is out of Bitcoin Magazine written by one of our favorite authors, Frank Korva,   on India's Independence Day, 08/15/2025   at 12AM   local time.  

The Bitcoin Policy Institute of India, BPI India, announced its official   launch. The think tank, which will advocate for Bitcoin as a strategic tool to help secure India's economic future,   made this announcement on India's Independence Day to point out that national independence and financial sovereignty go hand in hand.   The institute plans to provide data driven research and education to policymakers,   regulators, and citizens of India in efforts   to foster a clear pro bitcoin policy framework according   to a press release shared with bitcoin magazine.  

It also plans to introduce bitcoin as a hedge   to geopolitical   uncertainty,   a network that can reduce transaction cost and a means to turn the country's abundant energy resources into a strategic monetary asset,   the latter being a trend   that has begun in many parts of the global South. Quote, just as India's freedom fighters of yore   they literally say that.   Just as India's   freedom fighters of yore secured our political independence, this generation has the opportunity   to secure our financial sovereignty on a global   open monetary standard, said   a guy's name who I have no hope in hell of pronouncing properly, so I'm just gonna bleep over it. He's one of the founding fellows at BPI India.  

Quote, our mission is to ensure India doesn't just participate   in this new financial paradigm, but leads it.   We are not just advocating for a technology, but for a stronger,   more self reliant India.   So BPI India plans to address the critical needs for clear and concrete policy in a domain   that its founding members believe is often marked by misinformation   and regulatory ambiguity,   pausing to say, no shit.   If you've been in the Bitcoin game for as long as I have, you've seen India flip flop eight ways from Sunday   on how they approach bitcoin.  

It is some of the most bizarre,   it's like   the Supreme Court somehow overriding   their congress and congress somehow or another overriding the supreme court   going back and forth of who can hold it,   is it even legal, can banks hold it, and it's been yes and no, and yes and no. And it's been that way   since I've been in the game since 2015.   India has literally no clue   what to do when it comes to Bitcoin. So if anybody   if anybody in the world needs a BPI,   it right now, it's it's India. I swear to God these people are very, very confused on Bitcoin. But for this reason,   it plans to focus its efforts around five, count the one, two, three, four, five strategic pillars.  

One,   the sovereign mining initiative.   This provides guidance for how state level government   in India can best convert renewable energy into Bitcoin.   Two, policy advocacy and research, and this serves as a credible resource for federal and state level government officials.   Three, the strategic research initiative.   This builds and strengthens the case for Bitcoin as a national and corporate treasury asset. Four, education.   Probably the most important, honestly. This helps demystify Bitcoin for the general public and promote broader financial   literacy.  

Five,   enabling commerce and payments.   This one helps to accelerate the ability to make low cost global transactions with Bitcoin in a country where payments on Bitcoin's Lightning Network   have yet to become popular,   which I find amazing, but whatever.   Avi Birra, a founding fellow at BPI India, provided broader insights into BPI India's approach. Quote, our goal   is to work with policymakers   to bring greater clarity to the Bitcoin ecosystem.   A predictable   regulatory framework is the key   to unlocking India's full potential for innovation while ensuring consumer protection, said Burra in a press release.   He added that the first pillar of the institute's approach was inspired by one of India's neighbors to the Northeast.  

Our initial focus, this is a quote, will be demonstrating   how a clear policy on sustainable Bitcoin mining can be a net positive   for India's energy grid in creating sovereign wealth much like the successful model seen in Bhutan   or Bhutan, however you wanna pronounce it. The institute will begin its work by publishing a white paper   on state level mining opportunities and by initiating   educational   briefings with policymakers.   It will also issue what it calls the CFO Playbook, a guide for Indian corporations looking to adopt Bitcoin as a Treasury asset.   Many who have been working hard in the Indian Bitcoin space are anxiously waiting for BPI India to get started. Yeah. I'll bet. Quote, an institution like BPI India is not just welcome, it's necessary,   said Shiran Joshi,   education and events coordinator at BITSHALA, a Bitcoin hub in India that trains the next generation of open source developers and designers.  

The global financial landscape is changing and having a dedicated body to produce rigorous,   India focused research on this emerging asset class will be invaluable   for both our public and private sectors to make informed decisions.   So this is BPI, but now it's in India. And if if, and they didn't Frank didn't really shake it out, but I'm pretty certain that BPI India is just   simply an extension of the Bitcoin Policy Institute in general, which has   started in The United States   and has brought you things like well the strategic Bitcoin reserve.   Even though yes I know   we've got problems with the SBR   that everybody knows we've got problems with the SBR.  

Nobody seems to be able to finalize what it is or what it's gonna do or if we're gonna add to it or if we're gonna sell it or if we're not gonna nobody really knows.   That confusion is frustrating. I get   it. But the fact that we even had an executive order signed   for an SBR   really did come out of Bitcoin Policy Institute or at least it the seedling started there.   So BPI has really done some great work, and that's not that's not the only thing they've they've done. They've been on the national front. They've been on on the state level   issue.  

They they BPI is literally everywhere.   And now now   they've got one in India.   At one point or another I'm waiting for BPI Africa, I'm waiting for BPI Latin America.   Those four together   well, actually, there should probably be a BPI Europe, but let's just go with I mean, India, Africa, and Latin America   along with The United States, come on, man.   You could probably change the whole world just just with those four right there. So   I'm I I feel good about it. I'm I'm waiting to see   how they actually proceed, and that will take some time to to suss out.   But then we go to Czechoslovakia   and this one's gonna be very difficult for me   because Helen Parts might be able to write out Czechoslovakian   names but I sure as shit can't pronounce them.  

So please bear with me. Cointelegraph,   Czech police   it's not really Czechoslovakia   anymore. I know. I know. I'm gonna get hell for my crappy geography. Yes. I know. It's just   checked.   Czech police   arrest darknet founder in $45,000,000   Bitcoin donation case.   Wow.   Czech police have reportedly arrested darknet marketplace founder   in connection with a $45,000,000   Bitcoin donation that prompted the resignation   of a former justice minister earlier this year.   Czech police intervened in the Bitcoin donation case that led to   the resignation   of a justice minister   on Thursday according to state   chief police   or sorry.  

I messed that one up. According to chief state prosecutor,   authorities were securing people and things. Oh, God. That's a quote. He literally says this.   The chief state prosecutor   says that they were, quote, securing people and things.   Is that like junk and stuff?   This is a criminal case that was recently separated   by the police authority for independent proceedings from joint proceedings.   Although the statement did not mention any arrests,   local reports suggested that police detained   the Darknet founder   who is a convicted criminal   who also allegedly paid $4.68   Bitcoin   to the Justice Minister   the one who resigned   to avoid a new prison sentence. It was a bribe   and a big one too. 468   Bitcoin bribe. Holy crap.  

The Darknet founder,   Jurkowski,   I guess is his name. I I guess that's how you pronounce it, tried to escape police by climbing onto the roof of his home   during a raid on Thursday night.   His ex wife confirmed the intervention saying that a neighbor alerted her to the rooftop drama. The police then apprehended him and took him into custody.   Jurkowski   is a Czech programmer and the architect of the illegal darknet marketplace,   Sheep Marketplace. Yeah. Sheep, like me,   which was linked to drug trafficking, weapon sales, and counterfeit goods.   According to some guy whose name I can't pronounce, Jurvovsky   is estimated to have generated 680   BTC from operating sheep marketplace,   which he launched in early twenty thirteen when Bitcoin was valued at around a $100.  

After terminating the marketplace   in December 2013   amid the shutdown of Silk Road, Jarkovsky   also reportedly stole an additional   841   Bitcoin from the platform's buyers and sellers, so he rubbed them, bringing his personal Bitcoin fortune to at least   1,500   Bitcoin.   Now fast forward   to 2017,   the Berno Regional Court sentenced him to nine years in prison for embezzlement, drug trafficking, and illegal arms possession related to Sheepmarketplace.   He was then released on parole for good behavior in 2021   after serving   half of the nine year sentence.  

But the story didn't end there as Czech authorities never recovered Dzerkovsky's Bitcoin holdings which were suspected   to be far more than 1,500 BTC.   The Czech minister faced a scandal in May after accepting a Bitcoin donation from a convicted drug dealer with local reports suggesting Dzerkovsky's   involvement.   Sedzemszaprav   linked a   the 468   BTC donation to something called Nucleus,   another darknet marketplace that held 5,000 BTC in its wallet and reportedly connected to the programmer.   The allegation surfaced shortly after blockchain analytics firm, Arkham Intelligence,   traced a $77,500,000   Bitcoin transaction from a Nucleus wallet in March,   the platform's first transaction   in nine years. According   to Lucien Bourdon,   a Bitcoin analyst at Prague based hardware wallet company Trezor, Dzharkovsky's   saga is a reminder that criminal BTC activity is traceable on chain.  

Quote, while regular folks have good privacy options,   if you're a criminal   or a government Bitcoin or rather or a government Bitcoin, Bitcoin isn't great for moving money quietly,   Verdone told CoinTelegraph,   quote, large transfers can be traced, you know, forever.   Imagine if every fiat transaction involving government was just as visible. That's the kind of accountability we should strive for, he added. So this dude bribes a judge,   the judge resigns,   and they catch his ass due to Arkham Intelligence.   Wow.   And well, it connected with somebody else. It looks like somebody else was trying to to bribe another judge in their own court case, and Dzerkovsky was connected to it. But it also sounds to me like, Dzerkovsky was actually operating both dark net sites.  

Who knows?   Who knows? He's in jail.   Hopefully, he lost his Bitcoin wallet in a   terrible boating accident.   We'll have to see.   Now healthcare   and Bitcoin.   And no, it's not crowd health. You should probably go check out crowd health though. No. No. No. This this is Kindly MD   and Nakamoto   have officially   merged,   and they do plan to buy 1,000,000 bitcoin. I wish you'd go ahead and pull the trigger on it at these low low prices   of around 117,000   per Bitcoin.   Anyway, Bitcoin Magazine and Nick is writing this one.   Now I brought I brought this to you before.   There was there was an announcement that Kindly MD was gonna merge with Nakamoto.  

Now it's actually happened. So let's see if there's anything new on the horizon here.   Kindly MD Incorporated and and Bitcoin native holding company Nakamoto Holdings Incorporated   have officially completed their long anticipated merger,   forming a publicly traded Bitcoin treasury vehicle with ambitions   to acquire 1,000,000 Bitcoin.   The combined entity will operate under the KindlyMD   name trading on the Nasdaq capital market, while Nakamoto   will function as a wholly owned subsidiary overseeing the Bitcoin financial services division.   Quote, our vision is for the world's capital markets to operate on a Bitcoin standard.  

Today's merger represents the beginning of that journey for our company.   Since I've started my journey in Bitcoin thirteen years ago, I've always believed Bitcoin would become the most valuable asset in human history   held by every person,   every government, every company.   The securitization   of Bitcoin has shown us how institutions will adopt it.   We intend to drive that forward,   David Bailey, CEO of the combined company, says. Now Tim Pickett,   who was the former Kindly MD CEO,   but is now the chief medical officer for the combined companies added, quote, we are thrilled. Oh, I love it when they start   this way. We are thrilled   to officially close our merger with Nakamoto, but   rather we've built   Kindly MD on operational and innovative excellence,   and we are now extending that same principle to our capital strategy.  

Bitcoin gives us the ability to preserve value with the same integrity that we apply to delivering   health care.   End quote.   The transaction generated approximately 540,000,000   in gross proceeds through a private placement in public equity   financing,   which will be used primarily for Bitcoin purchases.   A 200,000,000   convertible note   offering is expected to close tomorrow,   which I guess that means does that mean today? Hold on. I gotta go check the time stamp on this.   This was written yesterday. So, yes, today, a $200,000,000   convertible note offering   is expected   to actually occur and finalized sometime today.  

Bailey   will lead as CEO and chairman of the board with a strengthened leadership team, including Amanda Fabiano as COO,   Tyler Evans as CIO,   and Andrew Crichton as CCO.   Newly appointed independent directors include Charles Blackburn,   Perianne Boring, Eric Weiss, Greg Exales, there's no way I can pronounce that, and Mark Yusko   alongside Pickett.   The merged company's   mission is clear.   Build a premier   institutional grade Bitcoin Treasury vehicle   to drive corporate and government adoption of the asset   by leveraging advanced corporate finance strategies. Nakamoto aims to simplify Bitcoin integration into global capital markets   and position itself as a leader in public market Bitcoin treasury management.  

Bailey reinforced his commitment on x stating, quote, honored to officially join Kindly MD as c CEO   and chairman. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. Together, we will rebuild the world on the Bitcoin standard.   One Nakamoto equals 1,000,000 Bitcoin, end quote. Oh, god. For god's sakes.   Can anybody   sense that I'm a little   confused here or possibly distressed? Maybe, I don't know. I don't wanna say it, but I I don't have a better word for it right now. I'm I'm kinda throwing up in my mouth a little bit.   What the hell does a health care company   have anything to   do with driving capital markets into Bitcoin?  

Can somebody please answer that question for me?   The reason that it bugs me so much is that I see this I see this a lot more now. And I'm not even just talking about Bitcoin Treasury companies.   I just I have this sense that some companies are just so far   gone that they're reaching for any any lifeline that they can to survive.   What I I have a sneaky suspicion and I could be completely wrong because I'm not gonna go look at their SEC filings,   but this health care company, what is it, Kindly MD? It sounds to me like it's a failing company.   And somehow or another, they've got a boatload of cash in their on their balance sheet, and they've I don't know. Maybe they had lunch one day with David Bailey in Washington, DC, and they got to be friends. Who knows what happens over about 15 drinks at a Washington, DC bar.  

But that's what it sounds like to me. Because I have yet to see any story about Kindly MD and Nakamoto   having anything at all to do with affecting fucking health care.   A Kindly MD, it is a health care company. It's a health it's not a finance company by any stretch of the imagination.   Their their   specialty,   their experience,   their and I'm gonna say it, their credentials   really are about health care. It doesn't mean that they don't have the prowess to be able to talk about finance.   Sure. I I guess. It's just that   do you are you abandoning   all of your health care?  

What am I trying to say here? Are you abandoning everything that you were?   I clearly, you're a health care company. Exactly what you guys do, I don't know, but it's okay.   You have stated that you are a health care company.   Are are all your customers now interested in in finance vehicles?   I did. It it bugs me.   Something about this one ain't right.   I think this is yet one more hail Mary   and Nakamoto Nakamoto is fine. I think this is a hail Mary for Kindly MD. I think   I think what happens is that we start seeing these Bitcoin Treasury companies grow,   you know, if the the ones that will survive   outside of microstrata or, well, rather, strategy,   Meta Planet and similar scientific. Those those are the three that I actually think survive.  

Meta planet and strategy because they've got a lot of Bitcoin, and if they know how to leverage it, they'll be fine. Similar scientific has nowhere close to the amount of Bitcoin, but they have revenue.   Okay? So from that standpoint, I expect them to actually survive.   But there's about   27,   50, maybe 75 other companies that have now quote turned into Bitcoin treasury companies, and I don't think they're gonna make it unless   they go look for companies that have cash on their balance sheets   and do these mergers   and then convert that cash on their balance sheet to actually make more Bitcoin which turns themselves into a magnet.  

And all of us it's like it's like a gravity well. So you think of, like, if it's big enough, it's got enough mass and it's out in space, all of a sudden other little   asteroids start getting attracted to it because of the laws and forces of gravity and boom it starts aggregating.   I   that's the only way   these other Bitcoin   treasury companies survive if they cannot come up with some kind of revenue model. And even then, that doesn't mean that they survive for the long term. It does mean short to medium term, not only,   you know, healthy,   but actually   thriving.  

So   I just I this is what I expect to have happen. Let's run the numbers.   Futures and commodities,   West Texas Intermediate Oil taking a beating today, $63.36   after being down a point. Brent Norsey is down three quarters of a point to $66.32.   Natural gas is up almost four full points back up to $2.95,   and gasoline is down a full point to $2.08   a gallon. Shiny metal rocks not doing well either. Gold, however, is up a quarter of a point to $33.90   in 7 dimes, and silver is down point one two.   Platinum taking a hit 1.02%   in the red. Copper is up two thirds of a point, while palladium is the loss leader at 2.7%   to the downside.  

Ag is fully mixed today. Biggest winner looks to be soybeans.   Yeah. Soybeans 1.2%   to the upside.   Biggest loser is now chocolate. Nope. Actually, no. It's cotton   half a point to the downside. Meanwhile, live cattle are in the green point 11%   to the upside.   Lean hogs are up a half, feeder cattle are floating in the green, but but generally moving sideways.   Legacy indices markets, Dow is up a quarter of a point while the S and P is down a quarter, Nasdaq is down a full half, and the S and P Mini is down four tenths of a point.   And we are looking at a price of, god, just over 17 a $117,000   per Bitcoin.  

That is a $2,300,000,000,000   market cap.   Oh, good lord. We're about to yep. We just hit $116.09.   You know, I'm just so I'm   I get really, really irritated with people like Scott Bissett   who don't understand that when they say words   that they have influence   for whatever reason. Maybe they shouldn't have any influence whatsoever, but they do.   And I when I go back and I listen to what Scott Bessent said, him actually saying the words,   I actually   I'm starting to wonder if he meant   that he was that he really meant that they weren't gonna buy any Bitcoin because he just said, we're not gonna buy that.   But the way the sentence structure worked and if you listen to people talk a lot,   there's something about the way he said that that doesn't make any sense.  

And it makes me wonder if he meant to say that shit at all. And that's why he had to come back out with a tweet and backtrack what he was saying, saying they were still gonna look for for,   what was it, budget neutral ways to purchase Bitcoin for the SBR.   Yeah. Whatever. I I I honestly   don't think that he had as much impact as the PPI numbers did yesterday   and, of course, the Michigan consumer sentiment,   numbers that came out today.   And if housing starts don't look good, and they probably won't, we're gonna see some pressure there too. And remember, that's on the nineteenth of this month.   Money supply for Bitcoin is 19,906,572.69.  

Average fees per block are low, 0.03   BTC taking fees on a per block basis.   Looks to be about 30,   a little bit over 30 blocks carrying 75,000   unconfirmed transactions, waiting to clear   high priority rates of four Satoshis per vByte. Low priority is gonna get you in three.   Hash rate has dropped, but only a little 906   exahashes per second. We'll have to see what, what block or,   yeah, block.   Jack Dorsey's company, they just released news on the proto rig. We'll we'll see if any of those come online here pretty quick and shore that up for us. Now on to   easy cheesy,   yesterday's Bitcoin and episode. I got Jay with 5,000   sats. That's the way to donate to the show.  

That's the kind of shit that keeps me going, man. You can have plenty of good ideas about a system from outside that system.   Sometimes it's even necessary   to be outside   and bereft of credentials or experience to even see the system clear clearly enough   to see what can or should be improved.   Credentialism   was always about control.   Who has the right to be decision makers?   It might do us good to give more credit to crazy outsiders with wacky but valid ideas.   Thank you. I appreciate that, Jay. Now, on to in pub. I the   I can't read an in pub. It's just human and readable.  

So   let's just say   that a ostrich is over here giving me 555   sat says, I once witnessed an older gentleman approach a bit a Bitcoin ATM while on my travels.   The problem?   He thought it was a new lottery kiosk.   The frustration was incredible to see. Thank you for the news that we now use. You're welcome. Turkey with 500 says nothing as usual, and this is the one that I've been waiting to get to.   A T Y h, I'm not exactly sure if that's pronounceable. Gave me 500 sats.   And I asked him to do that because I wanted to make sure that he he's got a question,   and he asked it on Noster. And I'm like, dude, boost the show so that I will definitely see it when I come to this segment. He's got a great question here. He says,   I've been thinking about your cathedral concept.  

What do you envision as the minimum   property size to keep the ecosystem   operating?   That's an interesting question, and it really depends on what do you mean by   ecosystem   operation.   If you're   you could do Cathedral   at almost any scale that you want.   It depends on how much land you have,   and how much water you have,   and how much   manpower you have. Right?   So   if I were to say minimum viable size, I actually have to to ask the question,   what's your purpose?   The purpose when I look at Cathedral,   my purpose is to run be able to have something that you can run enough ruminants through   that   make a profit at the end of the year. And they're they're with cattle prices the way they are,   with sale barn prices the way they are, and with   if you if you're following my friend, Texas Slim, from the beef initiative,   ranching has been in trouble for a long, long time.  

And now we've got a situation where herd size globally, not just in The United States, is down   really, really low numbers.   So the entire system is is confused. And when I look at Cathedral and I look at the plan for it being a thousand years and look at it for taking care of a, you know, a a at least one family, if not multiple families   fed   for thousand you know, for a millennia at least.   I look at I look at it that way, but I also look at how many how much cattle do I have to be able to run through the system to turn a profit in today's meat economy.   These are all   really good questions,   and they're all questions that are going to   whose answers will change   given the landscape of the day. The question will always be the same, but the answer will also   will   will will will only ever change depending on economics.  

So let's get back to the question. What's the minimum   viable size   for the cathedral?   You could probably do it on a 100 acres.   You're not gonna be running cows.   You'll probably be running sheep.   You may or or even something smaller, maybe llamas.   Or maybe you're not running ruminals at all. Maybe you're doing nothing but chickens.   And that's how you're generating the the there has to be revenue from every single system.   This is a cathedral is a combination of systems. It is a system level design. It is a system of systems of systems.   These are just they're all nested within each other, and they're all built to work with each other. It from that standpoint,   you might be able you could probably do a model of this   on five acres.  

It's not gonna generate what you think it will generate.   But let's go to the other end.   Why am I at a thousand acres? I've I've said it before.   I'll say it again just to to remind everybody.   That's the mid size for this system, I think. Like, as at an   like,   I guess I want to say at an industrial scale   because this is this is everything about this system is at scale.   And I think that a thousand acres puts it firmly into industrial scale. And I think from an agriculture standpoint, it's right in the middle.   To remain at industrial scale where you've got enough cattle running through, by the end of the year, you're gonna make a profit and maybe it's a 150 head.  

640   acres.   Be the, I think, the minimum size for an industrial   scale operation.   In fact, the first cathedral was built around one section of land, which is 640   acres.   For some reason, I I well, actually, I've got a good reason. I went to a thousand acres because there's a book,   and its title is a thousand acres.   And it's a farming it's a it's a book about agriculture, except it's a it's a fiction. It's definitely a fictional book,   but it's a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear.   And we're I don't wanna get off into the weeds of this, but a thousand acres actually also makes sense. It's about a mile and a half by a mile and a half. It's a and and there are many, many properties that are old wheat farms and hay farms.   Many of them are thousand acre farms.  

Then I go to say instead of, like, acres, let's talk about a hectare,   which is a little over two acres.   So what you would have is my maximum size of cathedral, which would be about three miles by three miles.   I after that,   I think you need a whole other team to be able to manage another,   like a whole other system. I think getting outside of three miles by three miles,   that   would probably tax any management system. Although I could I could very well be wrong.   So getting back to the original question,   what's the minimum   viable size to keep the ecosystem operating?  

I really do think you could pull this off on five acres.   It would not be anything like Cathedral because I'm nowhere close to done   with the systems that are operating and involved in the Cathedral   system. I haven't gone over anywhere close to all the subsystems that are operating. We haven't even gotten to the carbon group yet,   and that's where Bitcoin resides,   and we haven't even gotten there yet. We haven't talked about greenhouses.   Not really. We haven't talked about   entomologist,   and how how entomology is going to play a role.   We haven't talked about   how we intake   gardening mass from the local municipalities.  

We haven't talked about wood chippers and shredders and dryers and kilns and we haven't we haven't touched on any of that.   The the next   episode of Cathedral is gonna be about grazing.   And we're so we're still not gonna be getting into the guts and feathers. Dude, this is probably this could easily end up being 15, maybe even 20 episodes of just Cathedral.   And I don't mind that because I love talking about this thing.   And I get to I get to resurface this content   later on in maybe articles or a book. I don't know. So but we're not even we're not even close to done.   So we really if I really want to be nitpicky, I gotta tell a t y h,   wait till we're done.  

Wait until you have the whole picture in your head, and then ask me that question again.   I hope I've given you enough to chew on now,   but   ask me again later on.   That's the weather report.   Welcome to part two of the news that you can use, the lady and the fat man.   New BIS plan could make dirty   crypto   harder to cash out.   Why did why am I leading with lady and the fat man? Have you seen the head of the BIS?   Dude, Burgermeistermeistermeisterberger.   I'm telling you, Adrian Zmunsky is gonna tell us a lot more about this from Cointelegraph,   by the way.  

The Bank for International Settlements or the BIS has proposed a provenance   based   risk score system   for crypto to fiat off ramps.   You see where this is going, don't you? In a Wednesday BIS bulletin,   the institution   outlined, quote, an approach to anti money laundering compliance for crypto assets,   recommending   that a compliance   score   be assigned to crypto holdings before they are exchanged for fiat currency.   They're trying to strip away fungibility   here.   This is the most important part. They're trying to strip fungibility   away from   well, they're saying crypto,   but Bitcoin would also be involved in this.  

So   we'll explain I'll explain a little bit more later on. Quote,   an AML   compliance score based on the likelihood that a particular crypto asset unit   or balance is linked with illicit activity may be referenced at points of contact with the banking system, the document said.   The score would then be used to prevent inflows of illicit funds and encourage   a duty of care   among crypto market participants.   The BIS said,   existing anti money laundering approaches relying on trusted intermediaries have limited effectiveness   in the context of crypto.  

Public blockchain transaction histories   could provide valuable tools for compliance monitoring, it it said. Ah,   transaction histories.   Look. Let's talk a little bit about fungibility before we continue.   A lot I didn't know what fungibility or fungible actually meant until   well, I've known about it for a while, but there was a time that I had no idea what the hell that word means. If I have a dollar bill   and you have a dollar bill,   those $2 bills are the same. They're worth the same.   There's no way that I can clip a transaction history   to   a dollar bill. Not really. I mean, you yeah. It's got they've got serial numbers, but that's just not the way   cash works.  

Right? So I can give you my dollar without ever knowing that it was involved in criminal drug lords in Colombia.   Right? And you would accept that dollar and understand that you'd be able to give that that dollar and your other dollar to somebody, and it would be worth $2,   whatever that's worth nowadays. But you get the point.   Gold is the same way. I don't I can't tag an atom of gold   with a   history of where it's been.   So therefore, you look at that atom of gold like the atom of gold you've got in your other pocket.   Scale that up to a one ounce coin   or a one ounce just a one ounce round with no stamping on it at all. You just you know, you can weigh it. You measure its size. You know, there there, you know its volume, and then boom, you've got size and volume. You got density.  

We know what the density of gold is.   Nothing about   that nothing about that has anything to do with where that gold's been, under what circumstances it was mined. Nobody knows.   It's all melted together.   I take two coins, I want one bigger coin, I melt them together, they they fuse, it's still gold.   That's fungibility.   What BIS is suggesting   is   to strip fungibility   out of all of these things   by using,   well,   what Bitcoin already has involved in it, its transaction history.   And that's what the fact that it has it   has always bothered people.  

And a lot of us have always said, well, that's just the Bitcoin is for enemies.   And here we are again   because the BIS and the IMF and the World Bank are definitely not friendly with Bitcoin.   It is a measure of control that they do not have,   that they wish they have, and it looks like Agustin Carstens, the fat man from Mexico,   that's what he's trying to do here. The BIS claims that since 2022,   stablecoins have overtaken Bitcoin   as the asset of choice among criminals using crypto. The document cites reports by crypto forensic firms,   Chainalysis   and TRM Labs   showing that as of 2024,   stablecoins accounted for about 63%   of all illicit transactions.  

Pausing to say Chainalysis   has never been right about a fucking thing in their life.   I'm sorry, but they haven't.   They get more people in trouble than they help.   I wouldn't believe that number   at all for any reason whatsoever.   Continuing on, the BIS's   AML compliance   scores   would reference Bitcoin   UTXO   or wallets   in the case of stablecoins.   Whatever. I don't know how what?   The BIS's AML compliance scores would reference Bitcoin   unspent transaction outputs or UTXOs   or wallets   in the case of stablecoins. This makes no sense.   There would be risk thresholds   that would determine whether to allow or deny off ramp requests.  

The institution   recommends that crypto off ramp should be responsible for respecting such a system. Quote, imposing a duty of care on these entities would incentivize them to avoid accepting or paying out tainted coins,   the taint,   as failure to comply   could result in fines or other penalties. You see where this is going.   They don't care. They just want control.   And then you have to ask yourself,   why are they why do they want control? And if your answer is because they're taking care of us and they they're gonna make sure that society is civilized, then please go throw yourself off of a cliff right now. But wait until I slap you and beat you around the head and shoulders   because that's just dumb at this point. There is no reason to be that freaking ignorant at this point in time.  

There's no reason to be that ignorant. The proposal   also noted that individual holders could face compliance requirements. BIS said that while users   may have received tainted assets in good faith if compliance information was scarce, quote, such an argument would be less persuasive   if there were widespread   and affordable compliance service providers. Oh, the middlemen. Please. Yes. Let's have more middlemen.   BIS predicts that in such a system,   tainted stablecoins could trade at a discount.   Risk scores could also accompany the token as it moves within the permissionless blockchain,   embedding the scores into the UTXO or wallet itself.  

According to BIS, this would lead to a duty of care being imposed on our on users   as well, potentially influencing behavior in decentralized transactions.   Do you know what happens with this system being in place? All money becomes worthless.   Because if you attach   transaction history   to anything,   what you will find is that the human activity, which is why money is here in the first freaking place,   will always taint the money.   A dollar bill   if you've got a dollar bill in your wallet, I guarantee you   scum of the earth, predatory,   worthless   pieces of garbage have used that bill.  

So think about it.   What what if we were able to see that on air? Like, let's say before Bitcoin, before digital banking,   where you had to have cash.   You know, like my parents, they would go to the bank and they would get cash out of the bank account and they would deal and my mom would get, like, you know, 500 at the time, like, $500. It would last her, like, for, like, a week and a half because shit was that cheap back then. Right? She would have $500. What if they glowed a different color depending on   who like a baddie got a hold of this $100 bill. Oh my god. And now it's glowing glowing blue. So she takes it to the meat guy. She goes over to Hank's meat market, you know, in Midland, Texas, and she buys a couple steaks with it. It's glowing blue. Hank says, now for   you, for this bill? No. No. No. No. No.  

It ain't a $100. This is worth $50 to me.   And then   let's say Hank take let's say my mom gives the money to Hank says, okay. I I don't have any I I can't. I   I need to get out of here my kids crying here's take the 50 I'll eat the I'll eat the $50 of value list is just say that happens she hands it to Hank   let's say Hank   traffic's in in   sexualized children   Okay. All of a sudden, the minute that that bill gets handed over to Hank and Hank uses that bill   to do anything that progresses   his illicit activity, it's now worth $25.   Then he hands that to to for whatever reason a good person says, yeah, I'll take it, but I'm only gonna give you this other $25.  

And then so now he's got a a green like a   a flashing blue bill that everybody knows is only worth $25,   and he hands it to somebody who is another snake in the grass.   All of the value ends up getting wiped out eventually,   and it will get wiped out eventually.   The BIS is not thinking.   They are not bringing their best to the table.   I can already see the absolute complete collapse of all value of all currencies almost immediately,   and I don't work for the BIS.   And it's an inescapable   conclusion.   I don't have to be a rocket scientist. I don't have to be a brain surgeon. I don't have to be a Nobel laureate economist   to know that what this is suggesting   is the terminal end to all value   of all money,   doesn't matter what format it's in.  

Crypto, stablecoins,   Bitcoin,   cash,   CBDCs,   digital yuan, doesn't matter. If this goes into effect,   all value will be wiped out. And that may be exactly what they want. And again, if you're sitting there going, they really do care about us and they really wanna take care of us. Please, please, please go throw yourself off the highest cliff you can find immediately.   Run. Don't walk to get yourself out of the gene pool. I'm done with you. I'm done with people like you. Let's move on to Google   because this shit's coming.   Google has received a $35,000,000,000   offer   to buy Chrome   as the AI browser fight escalates.  

So oh, by the way, Jason Nelson is writing it for decrypt.   Search.com   has entered the race to acquire Google Chrome, topping Perplexity   AI's $34,500,000,000   bid with a $35,000,000,000   counteroffer   backed by JPMorgan   Chase   and a consortium of private equity firms.   The $500,000,000   move intensifies a high stakes battle over the future of web browsing and AI search as more challengers position themselves to take control of the world's most used browser.   Quote, we see this as both offense and defense, Melissa Anderson, president of Public Good, which owns   search.com,   told Decrypt.  

Quote, acquiring Google, or rather acquiring Chrome,   gives us the scale to accelerate adoption of our AI search platform   and a direct connection to users, end quote.   The US Department of Justice sued Google in 2020, alleging it illegally   dominates search and advertising.   In April, a federal court ruled that Google had monopolized   the digital ad market.   Chrome accounts for about 65%   of global browser use, but a March 2025 Wharton report estimated Google's control of search traffic at nearly 90%.   On Tuesday, Perplexity   AI submitted its $34,500,000,000   proposal positioning the deal as a way to preserve an open source web. Oh, but, yeah, right.  

And counter Big Tech's grip on browser infrastructure,   unnamed institutional   investors back that offer.   Both search.com   and Perplexity are framing their bids as remedies to that dominance.   For search.com,   however, the acquisition is   about more than just infrastructure.   It's about access. Oh, my God. That was directly written by AI.   I can I can tell?   It's it's more than x. It's y. And when there's that big m or I think they call it a w hyphen in between those two things,   that that's your clue   that that sentence was written bay by AI. You have to go clean that crap up.   You have to. It's not x, it's y is a telltale sign that something was written by AI, but I digress. Quote, Google and Bing control the lion's share of search. Danny BB, CEO of Public Goods parent company ad.com   added,   quote, for us to catapult growth and provide true incremental traffic, Chrome is the access point. That's the gateway, end quote.  

Search.com   is a division   of Public Good itself   owned by ad.com,   a digital ad network founded in 1993.   The company estimates it brings in 300 to $400,000,000   annually through advertising and believes   owning Chrome could push that into the billions.   Search.com's   bid matches the structure of Perplexity's   offer including Chrome's code base, all the trademarks, all infrastructure,   and all user data,   but it adds   user focused perks   like ad free browsing, cashback for searches, and 60% revenue share model for publishers. Quote, it's part of our commitment to ethical AI.   We're not scraping content without compensation,   Anderson said. Quote, we want to support journalism,   and we offer a 60% ad revenue share to the publishers who contribute content,   end quote.  

The bid lands or hold on. The bids   land as AI features become key features in the browser market.   Microsoft has added Copilot Mode to Edge browser.   Brave includes the Leo assistant.   Opera runs on Google's Gemini and is testing a next gen browser called Neon,   an open AI built browser if is rumored to be in development.   Search.com, which unveiled a generative AI platform earlier this month,   said Chrome   would serve as the backbone for what it calls a platform built for public interest and not just profit. Quote, anyone or everyone   should have free equitable access to knowledge, Anderson said.  

We want to deliver that while keeping publishers paid and consumers in control.   Sounds like suit speak to me. But Google   has not publicly responded to either proposal. According to Anderson and Beebe, the company has received search.com's   offer.   With two competing bids on the table, the future of Chrome and the role of AI in the browser space is now firmly in play. Quote, we've put a stake in the ground. It's now up to them, and perplexity did not respond to decrypts request for comment. So there's a battle going on   because   browsers are just going to be   have essentially have AI embedded,   which means it's going to touch every part of your browser.  

I'm telling you you're gonna have you're gonna have to learn how to use it, otherwise it's gonna run away from you and the next thing you know   the people that did decide to learn how to use it are gonna be running circles around the people that didn't.   And there's, like I said, there's naive prompting and then there's, like,   toolage.   They are different.   Somebody who knows how to use AI as a tool   is something to be, you know,   recognized and reckoned with, while those that just naively prompt and and treat it like a game or a play thing or a toy,   They're not understanding what it can actually do.  

And if you're careful about it, you can build a house with a hammer.   If you're not,   you can smash your big toe. Depends on how you wanna go.   Last up for today, paying to an IBAN in Bitcoin. This is out of atlas21.com.   See if there's a no. There   no author as usual. Despite it being possible to exchange goods and services in Bitcoin since its early years,   Its adoption as a payment method remains still limited.   What Bitcoin is facing and will have to continue to face in the coming years is the process of monetary evolution.   Today, in fact, there are still few businesses that directly accept Bitcoin payments. In most cases,   Bitcoiners find themselves forced to convert their funds into fiat currency to be able to make daily payments.  

However,   this barrier is starting to fade thanks to the emergence of new services.   Over the years, the market has witnessed the birth of various services   specialized in facilitating Bitcoin payments.   Among the pioneers in this sector stand out oh, god. This is a terrible sentence. Just a bit refill. They're talking about bit refill, a platform that allows purchasing gift cards and topping up services   using Bitcoin directly. And over time, similar solutions have developed that allow paying for various goods and services.   Well last January,   when Bull Bitcoin extended its services to the European market,   a new possibility was made available.  

The Canadian broker, known for its Bitcoin only philosophy and strictly non custodial approach,   offers a solution that allows paying any service or entity that accepts bank transfers in euros   using Bitcoin directly.   This means being able to make payments to suppliers,   public entities,   companies,   individuals,   and even top up debit cards linked to an IBAN,   IBAN,   all without ever having to manually convert Bitcoin into fiat currency.   And then they run through a list of instructions on how to do it. We don't need that. So I'm skipping down, skipping down, skipping down. The possibility   of paying any service that accepts bank transfers in euros using Bitcoin directly   eliminates one of the main barriers to adoption as a medium of exchange,   simplifying the daily life of Bitcoiners and offering the opportunity to live in the Bitcoin standard without having to continuously   resort   to conversions into fiat currency.  

It   is a real bridge between the Bitcoin   ecosystem and the traditional banking   system.   Okay. So what what did we just get finished reading about the   Bank of International Settlements, the BIS?   It it all it all comes together here.   Bull Bitcoin   has been around forever.   They they were they were, like, they were a solid company by the time I got into Bitcoin in 2015.   They've always been above board about being Bitcoin only.   They have never shitcoin.   They are one of the most trusted names in Bitcoin   today.   So this entire story is talking about that they're providing a service   where   in a roundabout   way,   you can actually pay   like you're using your bank account.  

And that's why I didn't want to read the instructions. If if you want to do this,   if you want to just be able to use Bitcoin, then I highly recommend   going and checking out bull Bitcoin   and read this article again from Atlas twenty one. The URL to this article   as are are all article URLs will be included in today's show notes.   And if you're if you're   a podcast app does chapters, like all good podcasting two point o, apps should, then that story will actually be in the in the chapter section, and you can hit the URL from from your chapter.   Go read it. Alright? Because I want to get into this last part before I let you go for the day.  

The BIS   has delivered   a roadmap on how to destroy   the value of all currencies   because   everybody   all currencies are going to eventually be touched by somebody who is bad and uses that currency for bad things.   Which means,   unless they continuously print brand new money, which again, the BIS, this may be exactly be why the BIS wants to do this,   then   all money will eventually lose its value because it will eventually have been touched by somebody with bad intentions and used it for something with bad intentions.   But then   I have to say, and I was gonna say it, but I've completely, you know,   mind fart on that one during the BIS story.  

We we don't have to do that. We wouldn't it be nice if there was a digital money that nobody had control of that only we could self custody and traveled at the speed of like, oh, yeah, that's right. We have that.   This is a call for the Bitcoin circular economy.   Between bull Bitcoin doing what they're able to do where you can just use Bitcoin and for all intents and purposes,   on the other side of that, it looks like you just used your bank account.   That we have the technology to to not have to worry about what Augustin Karstens and the BIS   wants us to do. I can just pay you in Bitcoin and you can just make a good in service to send me for that Bitcoin.  

Hence, the circle p, which I'm not doing today because it's Friday, and I'm just gonna you know, I I didn't set up a vendor. But, you know, in either event,   that's what the circle piece about. We've been trying to get people to understand the value of a circular Bitcoin economy for years.   You know, Steak and Shake now takes Bitcoin   via the Lightning Network no less. And it's it's caused them to actually have a 10% in increase in revenue on a store over store year, quarter over quarter.   Not bad   for taking Bitcoin. And guess what happens?   They're they're I mean, they're they're literally literally,   they don't have to worry about what the BIS says. Now   does that mean that that Bitcoin completely escapes   the BIS and their their on rampings credit score for different currencies?  

Not necessarily,   But nothing even if I have coins that the BIS says are bad coins,   you may say, I don't care where your coins went. I don't care where they're going.   I just care that I have your UTXO now.   So please send me the Bitcoin, and I will send you this yummy jar of something that I've made in my home kitchen, whatever it is.   I don't have to agree to I don't have to comply.   You can just not comply.   So this may actually be   the best way in the world if BIS and all the banks and all the institutions say, let's implement this this this currency credit score   across the board to even Bitcoin because   they can't change the code, but they can look at transactions   and essentially,   for all intents and purposes,   clip   to a UTXO   a history, a bad history or a good history or possibly a neutral history.  

It won't be exactly clipped to my UTXO,   but if I spin that UTXO and somebody makes a comparison in a lookup table or some kind of database on that UTXO,   they might be able to make the decision, I don't want this coin because Augustine Carson says it might hurt me. To show me on the doll where the Bitcoin touched you, Augustine Carson's. In any way,   I don't have to comply.   In fact, I would make it a personal ethic that I will never look into the history of your coins when you give them to me for anything that I do. I don't I don't look at at my, at the donations I get to the show. I don't go, like, ask Arkham intelligence   or something to please scan this UTXO   so I can see if a baddie had it. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care, and I never will.  

And as long as we don't comply with this shit and as long as we have the ability and we better make sure that we always retain the ability   for me to give you Bitcoin and you to give me Bitcoin   in a completely   peer to peer fashion,   self custodially and more,   then we will be fine.   It will also enable us to be able to be the Gandhi of our day.   Civil disobedience.   I'm not going to comply.   And unless you're going to assign a police officer or a detective to me to to shadow me everywhere I go,   then you're not going to know when and if I make a Bitcoin transaction.   Because if I do it right, you don't know that I have Bitcoin. And if you do know that I have Bitcoin, you don't know how much Bitcoin I have. And if I do it even better, you won't know where it is even if you know how much I have. And by the way, doing it better means that nobody knows anything,   which is why I always say don't wear bitcoin swag. It gets you hurt. But getting back to this,   you can just not comply.  

You can just pay me in Bitcoin for something that you think I have is valuable to you.   I can not comply   by taking your Bitcoin and not comparing it against a lookup table of bad UTXOs.   This is the civil disobedience that's coming for   us, and we better be prepared to gut up and do it.   Because if you think   what Gandhi and his people did   was easy,   You're you're wrong.   They were probably freaking terrified that they were just gonna be shot dead.   At one point or another, humanity is gonna have to gut up like that again.   It happens all the time. Our complacency,   the complacency of the human spirit will always lead us to where tyrants rule.  

Because we've got better things to do none of us really want to rule. This is why I think we should have a lottery on rulers.   I should literally get a phone call or an email that says, hey, you're gonna be president of The United States for the next four years. Your name came up, and I'm my first thing will be like, god dang it.   I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna move to Washington DC. I don't wanna be president. I don't wanna talk to these assholes,   But if all of these assholes were rotating because everybody got, you know, called up in a lottery for either, like, from city council all the way up to vice president and president of The United States, well, things would be quite a bit different.   You know, it wouldn't it wouldn't be a great big, you know,   what do they call it? Popularity contest, which is essentially what we have, except the people that are popular   are real dicks, and they're very dangerous people, and they are involved in some of the most illicit shit that you could possibly imagine.  

If you don't think that the United States government is involved in child child trafficking, you're wrong. And they always have been. It doesn't matter the president. It doesn't matter the administration.   And that's just one thing.   They've completely destroyed your value. They've stolen directly from all of us as United States citizens. If you don't think that they have, again,   run, don't walk to the nearest highest cliff you can find and just keep on going.   I'm I'm tired I'm tired of coddling people that think that that these people like us.   Civil disobedience   is going to have to be performed at at one point or another.  

The BIS and their installation, if they do it, their installation of a   credit score for currencies   is gonna be at that point will   will be the announcement to the world that civil disobedience is now on the table.   And you can just say, I'm just using Bitcoin.   I'm not gonna use your fiat because that shit they can clip   permanently   in in the in the digital realm because they control it. They do not control Bitcoin. They will control ether.   They will control SOL.   They will end up controlling Cardano if they don't already.   All of it. All of it. All of it   is it's   gonna boil down to civil disobedience.  

And if we survive it, I'll 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.