Join me today for Episode 968 of Bitcoin And . . .
Topics for today:
- How Bitcoin Saved Rockdale, TX
- Riot Considers AI
- UAE Exempts Bitcoin from VAT
- Economic Reports All Week Long
- Metaplanet Buys Yet More Bitcoin
#Bitcoin #BitcoinAnd
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David Bennett:
Good morning. This is David Bennett, and this is Bitcoin and, a podcast where I try to find the edge effect between the worlds of Bitcoin, gaming, permaculture, podcasting, and education to gain a better understanding of all. Edge effect is a concept from ecology describing a greater diversity of life where the edges of 2 systems overlap. While species from either system can be found at the edge, it is important to note there are species in the overlap that exist in neither system, and that is what I seek to uncover. So join me in discovering the variety of things being created as Bitcoin rubs up against other systems. It is 10:41 AM Pacific Daylight Time. It's the 7th day of October 2024.
This is episode 968 of Bitcoin. And we got some things going on Monday, generally kinda, you know, a little slow in the news cycle, but we've got some stuff that's coming up this week that you're gonna need to know about. Because people are like, you know, after last week, they were like going, oh my goodness. Now that all the financial news is in, October is officially here! Well, yeah, we had a couple of good looking green candles, like, way early this morning, but not so fast. Okay? And I say that not to destroy your faith or throw water on your fire or anything like that. It's just that I just don't feel that it's proper for me to let it go by, and basically say that there's some more economic news this week. And this is one of the reasons why typically you're looking at the second or like almost the very first part of the 3rd week of October before you get that October thing. And again, guys, things are a little bit different now. There's a little bit too much institutional money going on.
There is all manner of derivatives that we didn't have, like, over the last few years. It's it is a different field of action. Alright, so I just don't want everybody to go: Okay, now that October's here, it's gonna be fine and I'm gonna be able to do all I'm gonna sell I don't know do something stupid like sell all my Bitcoin and then wait for the price to go down and then buy it all back. Don't don't do things like that. Okay? Don't don't just expect everything's gonna be just the way it was last year and the year before and the year before that. But, like I said, some things have changed.
And we're gonna start with a mayor from Rockdale, Texas. That's just outside of Austin. I've been there a couple of times. It's, you know, it's a fairly small rural community. But, you know, it's had its trials and tribulations as a town. Alcoa used to have a huge plant there, and then they shut it all down. Well, this guy, he's writing an opinion piece. His name is Ward Rodham. He's the mayor for Rockdale. And he's got this opinion piece that he put into the Austin American Statesman. And it is entitled Bitcoin Mining Revived by Rural Community.
The discovery of oil in East Texas, more than a century ago, sparked an energy boom that propelled our state into the modern age. Now, we are on the cusp of a new economic renaissance, a digital energy boom, thanks to Bitcoin. And rural communities stand to benefit the most. My hometown of Rockdale is a perfect example. Rockdale was once a manufacturing hub, home to the Alcoa Aluminum Plant, which opened back in 1952 and became one of the world's largest smelting facilities. It was the economic heart of our town, a major employer and critical to Texas' manufacturing supply chain.
The plants success provided significant tax revenue and jobs for Rockdale. Then, in 2008, energy prices rose. And new regulations forced the Alcoa plant to shut down. In our small town of 5,500, it felt like a rug being pulled out from under us. 100 of jobs vanished and many families left in search of new opportunities. Rockdale lost 1,000,000 in tax revenue crippling our ability to fund schools, parks, and public works. It seemed like the town's best days were behind us. Or so we thought. Although the plant had closed, it left behind a massive energy infrastructure including substations and transmission lines.
This made Rockdale the perfect location for Bitcoin mining. A business that needs ample, affordable power. At first, I wasn't sure about these miners. Were they here to stay? Was Bitcoin even real? Like many Texans today, I had my fair share of doubts. But after years of working closely with those in the industry, I saw the benefits firsthand. As both the mayor and a lifelong resident of Rockdale, Texas, I learned that Bitcoin miners are deeply invested in the communities where they work. In Rockdale, these companies now employ 100 of people. They've created mid skilled jobs, allowing locals to find well paying employment without leaving town.
When Alcoa left Rockdale, the economy and tax base halved. But thanks to Bitcoin mining, we are today stronger than ever. Bitcoin mining companies have invested over $1,000,000,000 in Rockdale. They're among the largest taxpayers in Milam County and our local school district. Beyond tax revenue, these companies donate to local causes, including scholarships, police and fire departments, youth sports, and the Chamber of Commerce. They sponsor community events like the annual Christmas tree lighting. Are these the actions of people who don't care about rural Texas? No.
Many people or employees are Rockdale natives. They're invested in their hometown's future. I share Rockdale story because I hear a different narrative at the state legislature. Some policy makers, though well intentioned, misunderstand Bitcoin's positive impact. Some have suggested that Bitcoin miners create very few jobs. But my experience as mayor contradicts that. And Rockdale's experience is not unique. Bitcoin mining is one of the fastest growing industries in Texas, employing over 22 1,000 people across the state. Communities like Corsicana will soon see the same economic benefits. Riot Platforms is building a state of the art facility in Corsicana, which will be one of Navarro County's largest employers.
The mine could bring $1,400,000,000 in taxable purchases and over $115,000,000 in wages in the next decade. The same revitalization that gave Rockdale a second chance is now spreading to other rural communities. That's why Texas leaders should recognize the benefits of Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin is like digital oil wells, poised to fuel the economic revival of rural Texas if we allow it to grow. Alright. That's the end of the article or the opinion piece. And I know that you heard me scoff every time I heard or I said the word taxable or tax base or tax this and tax that. And that's because I am I am kind of scoffing. Here is a man that seems to understand the benefits of Bitcoin mining, but only so far as it brings a tax base to his town.
And I think that this is the worst possible aspect of Bitcoin education that there is. And I'm not trying to say that it should be the miners responsibility to educate people like this mayor. What's his name? Wade, make sure I get his name right. Ward. Ward Rodham. It it's not up to Riot Platforms or Mara, even though I'm I'm not a fan of Marathon Digital, but any of these any of these companies. It's not it shouldn't be up to them. They shouldn't be beholden to train the mayor of the other aspects of Bitcoin. And the whole reason why Bitcoin exists in the first place, Taxes is not is not the only thing, clearly. It's the whole inflationary aspect of fiat currency and the fact that only the friends of the people that print the money actually get it, which means they effectively rule the world and lord it over all of us plebs.
But tax is an issue. And when you're when you're sitting there writing an opinion piece and you keep going back to, oh my God, look how much tax revenue we're gonna get. This just tells me that this mayor, as and I'm sure he is well intentioned. I'm not saying that he's just a scumbag or that he's evil or that he intends to do, you know, malfeasance. That that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that it is very clear that we have so much work to do. And it would be nice, it would be awesome if the miner that was in Rockdale, Texas that was employing these people sat down with the mayor not just once, not twice, not three times, but weekly meetings to try to get this mayor to understand Is there any other way that you can do your shit for Rockdale that does not tax these people?
That does not tax us? Is there anything that we can do? Is there a fund that we can set up? All together? Is there a way that maybe we divert the next 10 years of tax revenue? Spend it as wisely as possible and save as much of it as possible to throw into a bank account that I know I'm gonna say it generates yield. Say the word, Bart! Yield! Yay! But you see what I'm saying something that is long term something that that towns can can build now and yes I mean if you're still gonna be taking tax revenue tax is theft none of us disagree on this You will never find me saying taxes are a good idea.
What I am saying though is that I understand that it's going to be impossible to shake the civilian bullshit out of this mayor, the mayor. He's he's you're not gonna you can't hold a gun to his head. You can't bitch slap him enough. There's nothing you can do. He's steeped in fiat legacy culture. And that is a terrible culture to be steeped in. You will never break free of the chains of tax revenue. And we see it clearly in the language used in this article or this, well, this opinion piece, an article opinion, whatever. It doesn't matter. It was clear to me reading this this guy does not get at least 50% of what Bitcoin means we don't realize as a as a huge group of people and I'm not talking about just Bitcoiners I'm talking about people like this mayor who's who sees at least some benefit of Bitcoin none of us see the entirety of the story of Bitcoin because it hasn't been written yet but even the parts that have been written most of us don't understand the actual implications of what it really means the toolset that really has been given to us and many people understand it as far as they possibly can like people like Andreas Antonopoulos still doesn't understand everything I certainly don't I see other aspects like this but in this particular case what can Bitcoin do in this town to start the town on a road to decrease taxes that it's getting from its tax base?
What can be done? And I'm not talking about just yield. What other structures am I not seeing that these miners, the employees of this mine, the mayor, the city manager, the chief of police what can be built because I think what we do is we just say yay more tax revenue and then we just stop we stop thinking there's no reason to think any further because now we're going to be able to fix the potholes we're going to be able to fix the water main we've got the money because the tax base came back and we just stop thinking about how it could be different it's not federal law that Rockdale tax its citizenry, is it? It's not. There's no law the mayor can't get in trouble.
The mayor can't get in trouble with the federal government. He cannot be locked up in jail if he told tomorrow this morning comes out and tells the people of Rockdale we're not taking taxes anymore and the entire and we've gotten with with the whole county of Milam and we're not even taking property taxes. He'll get in trouble with the people that live there because the roads I know the roads will go to shit the water mains won't get fixed things it would there will be a degradation but not you know I'm just saying that there would it's hard to it's hard to imagine, and it certainly is hard to articulate. Yes. There would be degradation.
And, yes, he would get in trouble with his constituency. In fact, he probably won't be mayor for very much longer. I mean, at least in the next election cycle, they'll go, oh, screw that. I'd I'd I would rather pay some taxes and get my roads fixed. But you don't I mean, there's no federal mandate that the towns of of Texas or the towns of almost any state in the United States that I know of, there's no federal mandate that you have to tax these people they just do it they just do it so if there's no federal mandate to tax the citizenry of a small Texas town then would Rockdale not be a good experimental center into figuring out how you can start replacing the tax revenue with other kinds of revenue that don't depend on the citizenry's warm bodies living in that town that's a hard nut to crack and I think that's why we don't do it it's it's it's difficult thinking and that's why we just stop at hey we've got our tax base back you know Let's move on. I think we need I think we can do better. But we're going to get, stay with mining here for this next one from the block.
Bitcoin miner Riot is open to AI opportunities if the right deal comes along, says Bernstein. Now, I told you last week, be prepared for Bitcoin mining companies to get into high performance computing and AI. And I was right because now Riot is thinking about it, too. This is written by James Hunt, again, for the block. In a recent interview with analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein, Jason Less CEO of Bitcoin miner Riot Platform said that the firm would be open to considering AI opportunities if the right partner in the deal structure came along Less specifically identified Core Scientific's hosting deal with AI Hyperscaler Coreweave as one such example. It's expected to generate revenue more than $3,500,000,000 over a 12 year period. Bernstein Digital Assets lead, Guntam Chokangunge, wrote in a Monday note to clients. Still, the Riot CEO expressed skepticism that many comparable deals were in the cards. He also highlighted the suitability of Riot's Texas based mega sites such as its 750 megawatt capacity facility in Rockdale, Texas. We were just talking about y'all. And the world's largest 1 gigawatt capacity bitcoin mining operation down in Corsicana, which again we just talked about both sites are within 1 hour drives of urban centers like Austin and Dallas with access to talent and adequate infrastructure in terms of cheap power and network latency However, the firm's openness to AI doesn't mark a definite pivot to taking advantage of this market hype. Less maintains or remains cautious and stress that Riot would not simply chase the AI narrative. Such a strategy may require miners to host AI specific machines utilizing GPUs in their facilities as ASIC machines used for Bitcoin mining are unsuitable for any AI training tasks. Quote, I think the Core Scientific deal is fantastic.
If a similar deal came along for us, we would be very interested in that. But we are not announcing a pivot just for the sake of it right now. But it is important for investors to know that Riot has valuable assets, and we have received inbounds about those. Oh, it's the marketing play. Yay. This comes as the mining industry is now evenly divided between those concentrating on Bitcoin mining and those shifting towards AI data center hosting services. Riot will not be turning away from its pure play Bitcoin mining roots anytime soon. Less argues that the arrival of relatively new players like Jack Dorsey's Block, BitDeer, and Auradigm to the mining hardware scene has made the economics more attractive by reducing dependence on 1 single supplier, Bitmain, which holds market dominance.
Historically, we've focused on Bitcoin mining, and right now our future plans have been focused on Bitcoin mining too, because we are able to do it at a very efficient cost. So I think our view is that we remain focused on that strategy, create optionality, and utilize the power capacity in the best way, less said. This has allowed Riot to invest in a new Bitcoin cycle aggressively, Acquiring pipeline equipment at cheaper locked in prices of up to 100 exahashes per second which is 3 times its current mining capacity. Chigani believes Riot is currently undervalued for its power assets trading at around $800,000 per megawatt compared to a minor average of $2,100,000 per megawatt.
At Bernstein's Bitcoin price forecast of $200,000 by the end of 2025, the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, could rise to 1,100,000,000. Riot's current 1.4x enterprise value over its EBITDA multiple suggests that the company is relatively undervalued based on its projected future earnings, the analyst said. Whether it be from strong Bitcoin upside potential or cheap AI options, Bernstein rates Riot stock as outperform with a target of $22 per share compared to Friday's closing price of $7.85 according to TradingView.
Riot's stock is up 17.3% over the past month. However, it remains down 54% year to date. And then there's a little bit of there's a little bit more news in this, but not not really about it's more about the history of Riot and their and their fight with, oh, taking over that other mining company. So we don't really need to rehash any of that because we've been over it. But this goes to illustrate the point that these guys are going to diversify. And and it makes sense. And you know what? If I was a Bitcoin miner, I would diversify too.
And the reason is, not as much about just the money. It's about equalizing your revenue stream so that if one side of revenue kinda starts dropping, or drops heavily or fails altogether that you are not subject to, you know, instant death, instant bankruptcy, instant liquidation by your creditors. I mean, it's it's it's a horrible thing I mean I don't like the fact that these guys are going into the AI hype but what else is there to do bitcoin is a volatile asset it will remain a volatile asset for a long time and people who depend on a volatile asset for their revenue streams are in particular amounts of danger. So therefore, it does not surprise me one bit that high performance compute and artificial intelligence hosting is on their radar. I would do it too.
Now would I do it to the detriment of Bitcoin? No. Because, again, you would be doing you'd be making the same mistake. You would be temp you would be depending if you just got out of Bitcoin mining altogether and just went HPC and AI, well, AI is kinda hyping is in a hype cycle beyond which I've ever seen before. Right? And it doesn't mean that AI is worthless. No. I think it will do some good things. I'm just saying that I wouldn't expect I don't expect it to solve the world's problems in the next 50 years. It's gonna be great for translation. It's gonna be great for all kinds of stuff.
But it's not the end all be all of humanity. It's not going to fix all of our problems. Everybody's job is not going to go away tomorrow. And because of that, AI I see as a volatile play. The only real stability in in that feature is the is the HPC or the high performance compute. Everybody always wants high performance computing I mean, you know, like there there's a high performance computing center at Texas Tech it's it's pretty sizable it's not a warehouse, but it's pretty sizable But if you think it can take care of all of the needs of all of the researchers at Texas Tech University, you're fooling yourself. And when those people cannot buy time on the High Performance Computing Center at Texas Tech, they're going to buy it somewhere else.
And they're probably going to buy it from somebody like Riot if they can purchase high performance compute time. That is a good business. High performance compute is a good stable revenue stream. AI, I think, is going to be volatile. We know Bitcoin's volatile, but you put all 3 of them together, you've got a nice little business structure there. I'm just saying, I am not going to be angry at these guys any longer for considering another revenue stream or 2. Now, on to the United Arab Emirates, who are exempting crypto transactions from value added tax.
See, this is one of the ways that you can at least reduce some tax burden for your people. Decrypt. Vesmaya V is writing, the Arab Emirates or the United Arab Emirates has amended its value added tax regulations to exempt transactions involving virtual assets including bitcoin. On October 2 this year, the UAE's federal tax authority announced the changes under cabinet decision number 100 of 2024. These amendments, which are effective November 15th this year, are intended to bring clarity to the tax treatment of digital assets while aligning with previous updates to tax laws in the country. Among the key amendments, article 42 stands out adding the VAT or value added tax exemption for transferring ownership of virtual assets and their conversion.
The FTA defines virtual assets as digital representations of value that can be traded or used for investment purposes, clearly distinguishing them from fiat currencies or financial securities. The changes are retroactive as well, Taking effect back from January 1, 2018 and impacting all virtual asset transactions since that date. That's huge, man. And he said, well, that's like 6 years of retro group. Wow, man. That's these guys are going whole hog, man. This means that businesses dealing with virtual assets must reassess their VAT obligations, especially concerning retroactive transactions.
Those that took place in the past are now affected by the new regulations. The FTA has urged these businesses to reassess their VAT recovery position and compliance status as well as consider the need for voluntary disclosures to rectify past returns if necessary. The UAE's VAT amendments come against the backdrop of Dubai's efforts to regulate the virtual asset sector. In 2022, Dubai was among the first jurisdictions in the region to set clear guidelines for, quote, unquote, web 3 firms. And under the new guidance, all promotional content related to digital assets must carry clear disclaimers to warn investments of potential financial risks.
And as of October 1st, any marketing material for digital assets must state that virtual assets are subject to volatility and may lose their value partially or entirely. The new marketing rules are designed to prevent misleading information. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're in the middle. It made it sound kind of bad that these guys are, like, doing this retroactively from 2018. Dude, if your shit is, like, exempt from value added tax, this is just a good thing. Alright, dude. I'm sorry, but it is. This is just a good thing. They're exempting transactions involving virtual assets.
And so, yes, since it's retroactive, that kind of means that you'll probably have to go back and find out any of the transactions. You know what's probably gonna happen? Most transactions they're most people are probably not going to go do that. And I pretty much assume that there's not that the that United Arab Emirates is probably not really gonna bat an eyelash about it. The big guys, like, great big transactions? Yeah. Possibly. But again, if you're exempting this from the value added tax, well, this I mean this could be good. I suppose if they tax it separately, which was not said here, I guess that could be bad. But I like the fact that these guys are starting to pull this stuff out of known tax structures, and I think that this is just generally a good way to go. Okay. Now we're gonna get into the numbers, but as we do, or right before we do, let's let's take a little moment, take a breath, and understand that we've got one more full week of United States economic news that's going to be dropping.
And hopefully, this CoinDesk article will talk about all of them. If not, I will do the rest of them. The notion of aggressively dovish Fed fades as US inflation report looms. Yes. Oh, no. Oh, no. More news. Amkar Godbold. Again, this is out of CoinDesk. About 3 weeks ago, Federal Reserve delivered an outsized 50 basis point interest rate cut, interpreted by many analysts as signaling more easing ahead. The move triggered a wave of optimism across financial markets, with analysts predicting 75 basis points of additional cuts and a $100,000 price for Bitcoin, which is currently around 63,500.
That euphoria's taken a knock as last week's stronger than expected US jobs and PMI Services report forced traders to reassess the supposedly bullish expectations for larger and faster rate reductions. Traders are now pricing in less than 50 basis points of easing in November December according to data tracked by trading platform Pepperstone senior research strategist Michael Brown. The reading is consistent with the Fed's dot plot chart published in September, which shows quarter point rate cuts or 1 half point cut by the end of the year.
Recall that the year began with traders expecting over 100 bps of rate cuts and a Bitcoin rally that saw prices hit record highs above 73,000 on the back of optimism over the approval of spot BTC ETFs in the United States. Later, markets trimmed the bets to 3 25 basis point rate cuts for the second half. The recent hawkish repricing of the Fed rate expectations is also evident in treasuries. Early Monday, the yield on the US 2 year note rose to 4%, the highest since August 23rd, abounding to a cumulative gain of 50 basis points since September 25th. The 10 year Treasury note also tapped the 4% mark.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, has risen to over 1.5 or has risen over 1.5 percent to hit 102.62. All things being equal, the hardening of Treasury yields and a stronger dollar often lead to financial tightening and reduced investor appetite for riskier investments like Bitcoin and technology stocks. After the Fed cut rates on September 18th, BTC picked up a strong bid, rising over 10% to 66,500. CoinDesk or rather sorry. Since then, yeah, since then, the rally has stalled with the cryptocurrency trading below 63,000 at press time. But it's not, it's at 63,000 almost 600.
Almost 600. So now, all eyes are on Thursday's United States September CPI data or the Consumer Price Index. With the recent strong US wage and job numbers, the market will be paying closer attention to this CPI print for any signs of an uptick in inflation. Fed rate cut expectations have shifted from 50 bps to 25 in just a week. And this week's data may determine if further cuts are priced out, the Singapore based firm said in a market update. According to RBC Economics, the report is likely to show the cost of living decelerating to 2.2 percent year on year. In August, core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food components, likely edged down to 3.1 from 3.2%.
Even so, the report may do little to stall or reverse the ongoing dollar index recovery and hawkish repricing of US rate cuts, meaning markets may favor defensive USD positioning ahead of the November 5th United States presidential election according to ING, otherwise known as Ing. Quote, again, 0.1% or 0.3% CPI should not trigger tectonic shifts in markets now that the focus is on the Fed's employment side of the mandate. But some dollar volatility should follow any out of consensus print analysis at ing said in the market update. Okay. So it's not just those reports that are coming out. Let's actually while I'm here, let's just go ahead and I'm gonna hit my trading view and check out one of my charts because it always shows when the US news is going to start dropping. And here we go. So on October 9th, we get the FOMAC minutes.
The the, you know, the that's the the Fed minutes. The the the last meeting that they had, we're actually gonna get the meeting or the meeting minutes. So the way this normally works is that with the the fed meets, they change rates, we immediately know what they change the rates to. And then, a couple of weeks later, we get Jerome Powell standing on a podium and basically gives sort of a debriefing of that very same meeting. And then people use that as an opportunity to judge his body language, hand motions, I'm serious. This actually goes on. You know, how is his hair?
What is he saying? Does he sound dovish? Does he sound hawkish? Does he sound neutral? We can judge a lot by what people are saying. But then after that, we get the minutes of the meeting where we know exactly who said what, what was said. We know all about the meeting. Alright? So that's coming on October 9th at 11 am in the morning. And then then on October 10th, the very next day, we get inflation rate year over year. We get the core inflation rate year over year. We get the month over month and core inflation month over month readings as well. But we're not done. Because then the month over month PPI, or producers price index, that comes out the very next day on October 11th.
And then, just to be sure, the Michigan consumer sentiment then comes out on October 11th, the same day. So we have a full week of inflation data coming our way. A full week of it. So do not I'm serious, guys. Do not expect this bullshit to end anytime soon. I mean, we have like I said, we had a couple of good green sticks earlier this morning, but we're just losing traction. We are now down to 63,450. We already lost it from 63 of 63600. That was just a couple of minutes ago. So just please just be patient. Let the rest of this week pass too, and then we'll have a little bit more evidence to go on. Let's run the numbers.
CNBC Futures and Commodities. Dow has tumbled 300 points. Oh my god. Oh my god. We're all gonna die. But oil, West Texas Intermediate, has jumped 3 and a half points up to $76.94. We haven't seen this price in, was it since, like, last was it last August? August September? No. More than that. But, yeah, 3 point 4 percent to the upside. Same thing for Brent Norsee. It's up just over $80 a barrel. Natural gas down 4.1. Gasoline up 2 and a half to $2.15. Gold basically moving sideways and only slightly down, but still 26 $166.
Silver down 1.2, platinum down 1.3, copper is down a third, and palladium is up 2.85%. The biggest winner in ag today is rough rice. It's up almost a full point. The biggest loser is coffee losing 4 full points. Live cattle up a tenth of a point. Lean hogs up a full point. Feeder cattle basically moving sideways. And, again, we've got the Dow tumbling 0.79%. That is a 339 point change, to the downside. S and P is down 0.62%. NASDAQ is down 0 point 62, and the S and P mini is down almost a full point. Now, bitcoin chilling out at $63,380.
That's a $1,250,000,000,000 market cap, and we can only purchase 23.7 ounces of shiny metal rocks with our 1 Bitcoin, of which there are 19,764,255 and a half of. And average fees per block have risen to 0.07 BTC in fees on average on a per block basis. And there are 95 blocks carrying a 192,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at high priorities of 8 satoshis per vbyte. Oh my god. Whatever shall we do? Low priorities are gonna get you in at 6 and mining is flashing a hash rate of 710.6 exahashes per second. And from Witches Hunt, which was Friday's episode of Bitcoin and BTC master with 10 21 sat says all sats matter at allsatsmatter.com.user115568 42 with a 1000 says great show.
Keep up the solid work getting the word out to us plebs. You're welcome, sir. God's death with 537 says thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Pies to Pleb with 420 says thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Wartime with 333 says TY and cheers. And kaboom with 210 says keep up the good work. Thank you, sir. I shall do just that. That's the weather report. Welcome to part 2 of the news that you can use. Japan's meta planet has bought yet more Bitcoin. $6,700,000 worth of Bitcoin, if I have to be exact about it. CoinDesk Jamie Crawley, right, and this one wow. Japanese investment advisor Meta Planet said it bought another 1,000,000,000 yen or $6,700,000 worth of Bitcoin, pushing its holdings to 639 and a half BTC worth approximately $40,600,000 at current prices.
The Tokyo listed company purchased 108.8 BTC at an average price of just under 9,200,000 yen per coin, the company disclosed on Monday. It has now spent just shy of 6,000,000,000 yen on the largest cryptocurrency by market value, paying an average of 9,300,000 yen apiece. The company adopted Bitcoin as a reserve asset back in May as a hedge against volatility of Japan's native currency. It now has the 2nd largest Bitcoin stash among Asia listed companies, right behind Hong Kong based technology firm, Mitao, which holds around 941 BTC.
Both companies trail behind Tysons Corner MicroStrategy. Yes. We know. We get it. Meta Planet. Now this is from last week. If you're thinking that I'm copying the same story, you're wrong. Check it out. Meta Planet recently began selling Bitcoin put options in order to use the premiums to purchase more Bitcoin. The sale of 223 contracts back on October 3rd earned MetaPlanet a premium of 23.97 BTC worth about $1,500,000. A put option gives the holder the right but not the obligation to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price.
Meta Planet's shares rose 7.9% to 988 yen and are over 500% higher year to date. Alright. So that's what I I wanted to make sure that you understood. This is this is another Bitcoin purchase, but this time with just solid cash. They just they just bought some Bitcoin. Last week, last week they sold 223 contracts or options and used that to buy or to basically gain a premium of 23.97 BTC and that's the best case scenario. Actually, though, that's the worst case scenario that they're gonna get that. If they do if they play their cards right and the market plays along, they could get a whole lot more Bitcoin depending on how they play that trade. But that's a separate trade.
This is a completely different thing. They just flat ass bought more Bitcoin. So they are not stopping their purchasing. Alright. Last up for today, it's gonna be a shorter show, but Vince Quill is gonna tell us more about Pavel Durov from Cointelegraph. And this is more of a tug at your heartstring story. I'm not sure what to do with it, but I find it interesting that I never knew that he had a partner and that she was pregnant and there's some problems. So, let's get into it. Telegram co founder Pavel Durov and his partner, Julie Valieva, I guess, recently revealed that they learned Julie was pregnant amid the Telegram founder's brief detainment by French authorities.
And the couple believes that the stress from the ensuing investigation caused a miscarriage on October 4th. According to a Telegram post from Valalova, she be first became aware of the pregnancy on August 25th. Durov's companion described the moment she found out, quote, sitting at a Parisian cafe. I took the test. Oh my god. I don't I have oh my god. Jesus. What? Oh my god. That's just disgusting. Hold on. Let me get my mind back around to I'll tell you why I'm freaking out. The result was in French. 3 plus. I ran back upstairs to translate. The shock on my face when it said pregnant.
I felt helpless, unable to run to Pavel with the happy news as he was still unreachable. I'm pausing because when you take a pregnancy test, if you like every pregnancy test that I've ever seen is you pee on a stick. So was she peeing on a stick at a Parisian cafe? I mean, I don't know if that kind of shit's dud or acceptable down there in Paris, but I'm sorry. If I see a chick at a cafe, you, like, hike up her skirt and start whizzing on a stick. I really don't wanna go be eating there, man. That just there's something about this sentence, the structure of her statement that it really should have been vetted a little better than that. But anyway, let's continue on.
On the advice of her doctor, the social media influencer refrained from immediately responding to law enforcement requests for questioning due to the immense stress it would cause during such an early stage of pregnancy. However, she eventually submitted herself to law enforcement for questioning several weeks later. The couple spent the next month adjusting to the pregnancy news, a process Durov's companion characterized at a time of uncertainty, adjustment, and happiness. Valilova well, hold on. Valilova. Valilova.
Okay. That'll do it. Vavalova said that by the time they learned that the baby's heart stopped beating on October 4th, she was already 10 weeks pregnant. But the stress from Durov's high profile arrest and the investigation was just too much for the little one. And that's an actual quote. As you know, Dharav was arrested in France on August 24th. Reports later surfaced showing that French law enforcement officials issued arrest warrants for Pavel and his brother, Nikolai, months earlier in March of 2024. French authorities held Pavel for 4 days before charging and releasing the entrepreneur.
The charges included complicity in the spread of child pornography due to what French officials characterized as a lack of robust content moderation policies on the Telegram platform. French president Emmanuel Macron maintains that the arrest of Dharav was not political and denied inviting Dharav to France or having private prior knowledge of him entering the country, assertions that have drawn heavy criticism from the crypto community, blah blah blah blah blah. There you go. So, I don't even know what to make of this. I mean, yeah, sure. You know, it's Cointelegraph and all, and it's a human interest story because, you know, we're talking about the woman and she was pregnant. Was it really the stress of the I mean, I don't know.
Some smells fishy about this. Some smells fishy about this and I I hate it that this is what I'm ending the show on, but you be the judge. You know, like, let me know in the comments, you know, like, you know, throw me a boostagram or something like that. Do you buy this or do you think that this is somehow or another just bill? Like, I don't know, trying to get followers or I don't know, setting somebody up for, you know, suing them because, hey, you killed my baby, so we're gonna sue France or something like that. I don't know, man, but there's something about this that just it doesn't make a lot of sense. And the whole sitting in a Parisian cafe and taking a pregnancy test, I don't know man. There's something about these two things that just bug the shit out of me. And again, sorry to end it with a human interest story, but there's really not a whole lot else going on today. So I'll let you go. Have a great week. Beware of the economic news that's gonna be falling all week long like rocks from the sky, 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.
Good morning. This is David Bennett, and this is Bitcoin and, a podcast where I try to find the edge effect between the worlds of Bitcoin, gaming, permaculture, podcasting, and education to gain a better understanding of all. Edge effect is a concept from ecology describing a greater diversity of life where the edges of 2 systems overlap. While species from either system can be found at the edge, it is important to note there are species in the overlap that exist in neither system, and that is what I seek to uncover. So join me in discovering the variety of things being created as Bitcoin rubs up against other systems. It is 10:41 AM Pacific Daylight Time. It's the 7th day of October 2024.
This is episode 968 of Bitcoin. And we got some things going on Monday, generally kinda, you know, a little slow in the news cycle, but we've got some stuff that's coming up this week that you're gonna need to know about. Because people are like, you know, after last week, they were like going, oh my goodness. Now that all the financial news is in, October is officially here! Well, yeah, we had a couple of good looking green candles, like, way early this morning, but not so fast. Okay? And I say that not to destroy your faith or throw water on your fire or anything like that. It's just that I just don't feel that it's proper for me to let it go by, and basically say that there's some more economic news this week. And this is one of the reasons why typically you're looking at the second or like almost the very first part of the 3rd week of October before you get that October thing. And again, guys, things are a little bit different now. There's a little bit too much institutional money going on.
There is all manner of derivatives that we didn't have, like, over the last few years. It's it is a different field of action. Alright, so I just don't want everybody to go: Okay, now that October's here, it's gonna be fine and I'm gonna be able to do all I'm gonna sell I don't know do something stupid like sell all my Bitcoin and then wait for the price to go down and then buy it all back. Don't don't do things like that. Okay? Don't don't just expect everything's gonna be just the way it was last year and the year before and the year before that. But, like I said, some things have changed.
And we're gonna start with a mayor from Rockdale, Texas. That's just outside of Austin. I've been there a couple of times. It's, you know, it's a fairly small rural community. But, you know, it's had its trials and tribulations as a town. Alcoa used to have a huge plant there, and then they shut it all down. Well, this guy, he's writing an opinion piece. His name is Ward Rodham. He's the mayor for Rockdale. And he's got this opinion piece that he put into the Austin American Statesman. And it is entitled Bitcoin Mining Revived by Rural Community.
The discovery of oil in East Texas, more than a century ago, sparked an energy boom that propelled our state into the modern age. Now, we are on the cusp of a new economic renaissance, a digital energy boom, thanks to Bitcoin. And rural communities stand to benefit the most. My hometown of Rockdale is a perfect example. Rockdale was once a manufacturing hub, home to the Alcoa Aluminum Plant, which opened back in 1952 and became one of the world's largest smelting facilities. It was the economic heart of our town, a major employer and critical to Texas' manufacturing supply chain.
The plants success provided significant tax revenue and jobs for Rockdale. Then, in 2008, energy prices rose. And new regulations forced the Alcoa plant to shut down. In our small town of 5,500, it felt like a rug being pulled out from under us. 100 of jobs vanished and many families left in search of new opportunities. Rockdale lost 1,000,000 in tax revenue crippling our ability to fund schools, parks, and public works. It seemed like the town's best days were behind us. Or so we thought. Although the plant had closed, it left behind a massive energy infrastructure including substations and transmission lines.
This made Rockdale the perfect location for Bitcoin mining. A business that needs ample, affordable power. At first, I wasn't sure about these miners. Were they here to stay? Was Bitcoin even real? Like many Texans today, I had my fair share of doubts. But after years of working closely with those in the industry, I saw the benefits firsthand. As both the mayor and a lifelong resident of Rockdale, Texas, I learned that Bitcoin miners are deeply invested in the communities where they work. In Rockdale, these companies now employ 100 of people. They've created mid skilled jobs, allowing locals to find well paying employment without leaving town.
When Alcoa left Rockdale, the economy and tax base halved. But thanks to Bitcoin mining, we are today stronger than ever. Bitcoin mining companies have invested over $1,000,000,000 in Rockdale. They're among the largest taxpayers in Milam County and our local school district. Beyond tax revenue, these companies donate to local causes, including scholarships, police and fire departments, youth sports, and the Chamber of Commerce. They sponsor community events like the annual Christmas tree lighting. Are these the actions of people who don't care about rural Texas? No.
Many people or employees are Rockdale natives. They're invested in their hometown's future. I share Rockdale story because I hear a different narrative at the state legislature. Some policy makers, though well intentioned, misunderstand Bitcoin's positive impact. Some have suggested that Bitcoin miners create very few jobs. But my experience as mayor contradicts that. And Rockdale's experience is not unique. Bitcoin mining is one of the fastest growing industries in Texas, employing over 22 1,000 people across the state. Communities like Corsicana will soon see the same economic benefits. Riot Platforms is building a state of the art facility in Corsicana, which will be one of Navarro County's largest employers.
The mine could bring $1,400,000,000 in taxable purchases and over $115,000,000 in wages in the next decade. The same revitalization that gave Rockdale a second chance is now spreading to other rural communities. That's why Texas leaders should recognize the benefits of Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin is like digital oil wells, poised to fuel the economic revival of rural Texas if we allow it to grow. Alright. That's the end of the article or the opinion piece. And I know that you heard me scoff every time I heard or I said the word taxable or tax base or tax this and tax that. And that's because I am I am kind of scoffing. Here is a man that seems to understand the benefits of Bitcoin mining, but only so far as it brings a tax base to his town.
And I think that this is the worst possible aspect of Bitcoin education that there is. And I'm not trying to say that it should be the miners responsibility to educate people like this mayor. What's his name? Wade, make sure I get his name right. Ward. Ward Rodham. It it's not up to Riot Platforms or Mara, even though I'm I'm not a fan of Marathon Digital, but any of these any of these companies. It's not it shouldn't be up to them. They shouldn't be beholden to train the mayor of the other aspects of Bitcoin. And the whole reason why Bitcoin exists in the first place, Taxes is not is not the only thing, clearly. It's the whole inflationary aspect of fiat currency and the fact that only the friends of the people that print the money actually get it, which means they effectively rule the world and lord it over all of us plebs.
But tax is an issue. And when you're when you're sitting there writing an opinion piece and you keep going back to, oh my God, look how much tax revenue we're gonna get. This just tells me that this mayor, as and I'm sure he is well intentioned. I'm not saying that he's just a scumbag or that he's evil or that he intends to do, you know, malfeasance. That that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that it is very clear that we have so much work to do. And it would be nice, it would be awesome if the miner that was in Rockdale, Texas that was employing these people sat down with the mayor not just once, not twice, not three times, but weekly meetings to try to get this mayor to understand Is there any other way that you can do your shit for Rockdale that does not tax these people?
That does not tax us? Is there anything that we can do? Is there a fund that we can set up? All together? Is there a way that maybe we divert the next 10 years of tax revenue? Spend it as wisely as possible and save as much of it as possible to throw into a bank account that I know I'm gonna say it generates yield. Say the word, Bart! Yield! Yay! But you see what I'm saying something that is long term something that that towns can can build now and yes I mean if you're still gonna be taking tax revenue tax is theft none of us disagree on this You will never find me saying taxes are a good idea.
What I am saying though is that I understand that it's going to be impossible to shake the civilian bullshit out of this mayor, the mayor. He's he's you're not gonna you can't hold a gun to his head. You can't bitch slap him enough. There's nothing you can do. He's steeped in fiat legacy culture. And that is a terrible culture to be steeped in. You will never break free of the chains of tax revenue. And we see it clearly in the language used in this article or this, well, this opinion piece, an article opinion, whatever. It doesn't matter. It was clear to me reading this this guy does not get at least 50% of what Bitcoin means we don't realize as a as a huge group of people and I'm not talking about just Bitcoiners I'm talking about people like this mayor who's who sees at least some benefit of Bitcoin none of us see the entirety of the story of Bitcoin because it hasn't been written yet but even the parts that have been written most of us don't understand the actual implications of what it really means the toolset that really has been given to us and many people understand it as far as they possibly can like people like Andreas Antonopoulos still doesn't understand everything I certainly don't I see other aspects like this but in this particular case what can Bitcoin do in this town to start the town on a road to decrease taxes that it's getting from its tax base?
What can be done? And I'm not talking about just yield. What other structures am I not seeing that these miners, the employees of this mine, the mayor, the city manager, the chief of police what can be built because I think what we do is we just say yay more tax revenue and then we just stop we stop thinking there's no reason to think any further because now we're going to be able to fix the potholes we're going to be able to fix the water main we've got the money because the tax base came back and we just stop thinking about how it could be different it's not federal law that Rockdale tax its citizenry, is it? It's not. There's no law the mayor can't get in trouble.
The mayor can't get in trouble with the federal government. He cannot be locked up in jail if he told tomorrow this morning comes out and tells the people of Rockdale we're not taking taxes anymore and the entire and we've gotten with with the whole county of Milam and we're not even taking property taxes. He'll get in trouble with the people that live there because the roads I know the roads will go to shit the water mains won't get fixed things it would there will be a degradation but not you know I'm just saying that there would it's hard to it's hard to imagine, and it certainly is hard to articulate. Yes. There would be degradation.
And, yes, he would get in trouble with his constituency. In fact, he probably won't be mayor for very much longer. I mean, at least in the next election cycle, they'll go, oh, screw that. I'd I'd I would rather pay some taxes and get my roads fixed. But you don't I mean, there's no federal mandate that the towns of of Texas or the towns of almost any state in the United States that I know of, there's no federal mandate that you have to tax these people they just do it they just do it so if there's no federal mandate to tax the citizenry of a small Texas town then would Rockdale not be a good experimental center into figuring out how you can start replacing the tax revenue with other kinds of revenue that don't depend on the citizenry's warm bodies living in that town that's a hard nut to crack and I think that's why we don't do it it's it's it's difficult thinking and that's why we just stop at hey we've got our tax base back you know Let's move on. I think we need I think we can do better. But we're going to get, stay with mining here for this next one from the block.
Bitcoin miner Riot is open to AI opportunities if the right deal comes along, says Bernstein. Now, I told you last week, be prepared for Bitcoin mining companies to get into high performance computing and AI. And I was right because now Riot is thinking about it, too. This is written by James Hunt, again, for the block. In a recent interview with analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein, Jason Less CEO of Bitcoin miner Riot Platform said that the firm would be open to considering AI opportunities if the right partner in the deal structure came along Less specifically identified Core Scientific's hosting deal with AI Hyperscaler Coreweave as one such example. It's expected to generate revenue more than $3,500,000,000 over a 12 year period. Bernstein Digital Assets lead, Guntam Chokangunge, wrote in a Monday note to clients. Still, the Riot CEO expressed skepticism that many comparable deals were in the cards. He also highlighted the suitability of Riot's Texas based mega sites such as its 750 megawatt capacity facility in Rockdale, Texas. We were just talking about y'all. And the world's largest 1 gigawatt capacity bitcoin mining operation down in Corsicana, which again we just talked about both sites are within 1 hour drives of urban centers like Austin and Dallas with access to talent and adequate infrastructure in terms of cheap power and network latency However, the firm's openness to AI doesn't mark a definite pivot to taking advantage of this market hype. Less maintains or remains cautious and stress that Riot would not simply chase the AI narrative. Such a strategy may require miners to host AI specific machines utilizing GPUs in their facilities as ASIC machines used for Bitcoin mining are unsuitable for any AI training tasks. Quote, I think the Core Scientific deal is fantastic.
If a similar deal came along for us, we would be very interested in that. But we are not announcing a pivot just for the sake of it right now. But it is important for investors to know that Riot has valuable assets, and we have received inbounds about those. Oh, it's the marketing play. Yay. This comes as the mining industry is now evenly divided between those concentrating on Bitcoin mining and those shifting towards AI data center hosting services. Riot will not be turning away from its pure play Bitcoin mining roots anytime soon. Less argues that the arrival of relatively new players like Jack Dorsey's Block, BitDeer, and Auradigm to the mining hardware scene has made the economics more attractive by reducing dependence on 1 single supplier, Bitmain, which holds market dominance.
Historically, we've focused on Bitcoin mining, and right now our future plans have been focused on Bitcoin mining too, because we are able to do it at a very efficient cost. So I think our view is that we remain focused on that strategy, create optionality, and utilize the power capacity in the best way, less said. This has allowed Riot to invest in a new Bitcoin cycle aggressively, Acquiring pipeline equipment at cheaper locked in prices of up to 100 exahashes per second which is 3 times its current mining capacity. Chigani believes Riot is currently undervalued for its power assets trading at around $800,000 per megawatt compared to a minor average of $2,100,000 per megawatt.
At Bernstein's Bitcoin price forecast of $200,000 by the end of 2025, the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, could rise to 1,100,000,000. Riot's current 1.4x enterprise value over its EBITDA multiple suggests that the company is relatively undervalued based on its projected future earnings, the analyst said. Whether it be from strong Bitcoin upside potential or cheap AI options, Bernstein rates Riot stock as outperform with a target of $22 per share compared to Friday's closing price of $7.85 according to TradingView.
Riot's stock is up 17.3% over the past month. However, it remains down 54% year to date. And then there's a little bit of there's a little bit more news in this, but not not really about it's more about the history of Riot and their and their fight with, oh, taking over that other mining company. So we don't really need to rehash any of that because we've been over it. But this goes to illustrate the point that these guys are going to diversify. And and it makes sense. And you know what? If I was a Bitcoin miner, I would diversify too.
And the reason is, not as much about just the money. It's about equalizing your revenue stream so that if one side of revenue kinda starts dropping, or drops heavily or fails altogether that you are not subject to, you know, instant death, instant bankruptcy, instant liquidation by your creditors. I mean, it's it's it's a horrible thing I mean I don't like the fact that these guys are going into the AI hype but what else is there to do bitcoin is a volatile asset it will remain a volatile asset for a long time and people who depend on a volatile asset for their revenue streams are in particular amounts of danger. So therefore, it does not surprise me one bit that high performance compute and artificial intelligence hosting is on their radar. I would do it too.
Now would I do it to the detriment of Bitcoin? No. Because, again, you would be doing you'd be making the same mistake. You would be temp you would be depending if you just got out of Bitcoin mining altogether and just went HPC and AI, well, AI is kinda hyping is in a hype cycle beyond which I've ever seen before. Right? And it doesn't mean that AI is worthless. No. I think it will do some good things. I'm just saying that I wouldn't expect I don't expect it to solve the world's problems in the next 50 years. It's gonna be great for translation. It's gonna be great for all kinds of stuff.
But it's not the end all be all of humanity. It's not going to fix all of our problems. Everybody's job is not going to go away tomorrow. And because of that, AI I see as a volatile play. The only real stability in in that feature is the is the HPC or the high performance compute. Everybody always wants high performance computing I mean, you know, like there there's a high performance computing center at Texas Tech it's it's pretty sizable it's not a warehouse, but it's pretty sizable But if you think it can take care of all of the needs of all of the researchers at Texas Tech University, you're fooling yourself. And when those people cannot buy time on the High Performance Computing Center at Texas Tech, they're going to buy it somewhere else.
And they're probably going to buy it from somebody like Riot if they can purchase high performance compute time. That is a good business. High performance compute is a good stable revenue stream. AI, I think, is going to be volatile. We know Bitcoin's volatile, but you put all 3 of them together, you've got a nice little business structure there. I'm just saying, I am not going to be angry at these guys any longer for considering another revenue stream or 2. Now, on to the United Arab Emirates, who are exempting crypto transactions from value added tax.
See, this is one of the ways that you can at least reduce some tax burden for your people. Decrypt. Vesmaya V is writing, the Arab Emirates or the United Arab Emirates has amended its value added tax regulations to exempt transactions involving virtual assets including bitcoin. On October 2 this year, the UAE's federal tax authority announced the changes under cabinet decision number 100 of 2024. These amendments, which are effective November 15th this year, are intended to bring clarity to the tax treatment of digital assets while aligning with previous updates to tax laws in the country. Among the key amendments, article 42 stands out adding the VAT or value added tax exemption for transferring ownership of virtual assets and their conversion.
The FTA defines virtual assets as digital representations of value that can be traded or used for investment purposes, clearly distinguishing them from fiat currencies or financial securities. The changes are retroactive as well, Taking effect back from January 1, 2018 and impacting all virtual asset transactions since that date. That's huge, man. And he said, well, that's like 6 years of retro group. Wow, man. That's these guys are going whole hog, man. This means that businesses dealing with virtual assets must reassess their VAT obligations, especially concerning retroactive transactions.
Those that took place in the past are now affected by the new regulations. The FTA has urged these businesses to reassess their VAT recovery position and compliance status as well as consider the need for voluntary disclosures to rectify past returns if necessary. The UAE's VAT amendments come against the backdrop of Dubai's efforts to regulate the virtual asset sector. In 2022, Dubai was among the first jurisdictions in the region to set clear guidelines for, quote, unquote, web 3 firms. And under the new guidance, all promotional content related to digital assets must carry clear disclaimers to warn investments of potential financial risks.
And as of October 1st, any marketing material for digital assets must state that virtual assets are subject to volatility and may lose their value partially or entirely. The new marketing rules are designed to prevent misleading information. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're in the middle. It made it sound kind of bad that these guys are, like, doing this retroactively from 2018. Dude, if your shit is, like, exempt from value added tax, this is just a good thing. Alright, dude. I'm sorry, but it is. This is just a good thing. They're exempting transactions involving virtual assets.
And so, yes, since it's retroactive, that kind of means that you'll probably have to go back and find out any of the transactions. You know what's probably gonna happen? Most transactions they're most people are probably not going to go do that. And I pretty much assume that there's not that the that United Arab Emirates is probably not really gonna bat an eyelash about it. The big guys, like, great big transactions? Yeah. Possibly. But again, if you're exempting this from the value added tax, well, this I mean this could be good. I suppose if they tax it separately, which was not said here, I guess that could be bad. But I like the fact that these guys are starting to pull this stuff out of known tax structures, and I think that this is just generally a good way to go. Okay. Now we're gonna get into the numbers, but as we do, or right before we do, let's let's take a little moment, take a breath, and understand that we've got one more full week of United States economic news that's going to be dropping.
And hopefully, this CoinDesk article will talk about all of them. If not, I will do the rest of them. The notion of aggressively dovish Fed fades as US inflation report looms. Yes. Oh, no. Oh, no. More news. Amkar Godbold. Again, this is out of CoinDesk. About 3 weeks ago, Federal Reserve delivered an outsized 50 basis point interest rate cut, interpreted by many analysts as signaling more easing ahead. The move triggered a wave of optimism across financial markets, with analysts predicting 75 basis points of additional cuts and a $100,000 price for Bitcoin, which is currently around 63,500.
That euphoria's taken a knock as last week's stronger than expected US jobs and PMI Services report forced traders to reassess the supposedly bullish expectations for larger and faster rate reductions. Traders are now pricing in less than 50 basis points of easing in November December according to data tracked by trading platform Pepperstone senior research strategist Michael Brown. The reading is consistent with the Fed's dot plot chart published in September, which shows quarter point rate cuts or 1 half point cut by the end of the year.
Recall that the year began with traders expecting over 100 bps of rate cuts and a Bitcoin rally that saw prices hit record highs above 73,000 on the back of optimism over the approval of spot BTC ETFs in the United States. Later, markets trimmed the bets to 3 25 basis point rate cuts for the second half. The recent hawkish repricing of the Fed rate expectations is also evident in treasuries. Early Monday, the yield on the US 2 year note rose to 4%, the highest since August 23rd, abounding to a cumulative gain of 50 basis points since September 25th. The 10 year Treasury note also tapped the 4% mark.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, has risen to over 1.5 or has risen over 1.5 percent to hit 102.62. All things being equal, the hardening of Treasury yields and a stronger dollar often lead to financial tightening and reduced investor appetite for riskier investments like Bitcoin and technology stocks. After the Fed cut rates on September 18th, BTC picked up a strong bid, rising over 10% to 66,500. CoinDesk or rather sorry. Since then, yeah, since then, the rally has stalled with the cryptocurrency trading below 63,000 at press time. But it's not, it's at 63,000 almost 600.
Almost 600. So now, all eyes are on Thursday's United States September CPI data or the Consumer Price Index. With the recent strong US wage and job numbers, the market will be paying closer attention to this CPI print for any signs of an uptick in inflation. Fed rate cut expectations have shifted from 50 bps to 25 in just a week. And this week's data may determine if further cuts are priced out, the Singapore based firm said in a market update. According to RBC Economics, the report is likely to show the cost of living decelerating to 2.2 percent year on year. In August, core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food components, likely edged down to 3.1 from 3.2%.
Even so, the report may do little to stall or reverse the ongoing dollar index recovery and hawkish repricing of US rate cuts, meaning markets may favor defensive USD positioning ahead of the November 5th United States presidential election according to ING, otherwise known as Ing. Quote, again, 0.1% or 0.3% CPI should not trigger tectonic shifts in markets now that the focus is on the Fed's employment side of the mandate. But some dollar volatility should follow any out of consensus print analysis at ing said in the market update. Okay. So it's not just those reports that are coming out. Let's actually while I'm here, let's just go ahead and I'm gonna hit my trading view and check out one of my charts because it always shows when the US news is going to start dropping. And here we go. So on October 9th, we get the FOMAC minutes.
The the, you know, the that's the the Fed minutes. The the the last meeting that they had, we're actually gonna get the meeting or the meeting minutes. So the way this normally works is that with the the fed meets, they change rates, we immediately know what they change the rates to. And then, a couple of weeks later, we get Jerome Powell standing on a podium and basically gives sort of a debriefing of that very same meeting. And then people use that as an opportunity to judge his body language, hand motions, I'm serious. This actually goes on. You know, how is his hair?
What is he saying? Does he sound dovish? Does he sound hawkish? Does he sound neutral? We can judge a lot by what people are saying. But then after that, we get the minutes of the meeting where we know exactly who said what, what was said. We know all about the meeting. Alright? So that's coming on October 9th at 11 am in the morning. And then then on October 10th, the very next day, we get inflation rate year over year. We get the core inflation rate year over year. We get the month over month and core inflation month over month readings as well. But we're not done. Because then the month over month PPI, or producers price index, that comes out the very next day on October 11th.
And then, just to be sure, the Michigan consumer sentiment then comes out on October 11th, the same day. So we have a full week of inflation data coming our way. A full week of it. So do not I'm serious, guys. Do not expect this bullshit to end anytime soon. I mean, we have like I said, we had a couple of good green sticks earlier this morning, but we're just losing traction. We are now down to 63,450. We already lost it from 63 of 63600. That was just a couple of minutes ago. So just please just be patient. Let the rest of this week pass too, and then we'll have a little bit more evidence to go on. Let's run the numbers.
CNBC Futures and Commodities. Dow has tumbled 300 points. Oh my god. Oh my god. We're all gonna die. But oil, West Texas Intermediate, has jumped 3 and a half points up to $76.94. We haven't seen this price in, was it since, like, last was it last August? August September? No. More than that. But, yeah, 3 point 4 percent to the upside. Same thing for Brent Norsee. It's up just over $80 a barrel. Natural gas down 4.1. Gasoline up 2 and a half to $2.15. Gold basically moving sideways and only slightly down, but still 26 $166.
Silver down 1.2, platinum down 1.3, copper is down a third, and palladium is up 2.85%. The biggest winner in ag today is rough rice. It's up almost a full point. The biggest loser is coffee losing 4 full points. Live cattle up a tenth of a point. Lean hogs up a full point. Feeder cattle basically moving sideways. And, again, we've got the Dow tumbling 0.79%. That is a 339 point change, to the downside. S and P is down 0.62%. NASDAQ is down 0 point 62, and the S and P mini is down almost a full point. Now, bitcoin chilling out at $63,380.
That's a $1,250,000,000,000 market cap, and we can only purchase 23.7 ounces of shiny metal rocks with our 1 Bitcoin, of which there are 19,764,255 and a half of. And average fees per block have risen to 0.07 BTC in fees on average on a per block basis. And there are 95 blocks carrying a 192,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at high priorities of 8 satoshis per vbyte. Oh my god. Whatever shall we do? Low priorities are gonna get you in at 6 and mining is flashing a hash rate of 710.6 exahashes per second. And from Witches Hunt, which was Friday's episode of Bitcoin and BTC master with 10 21 sat says all sats matter at allsatsmatter.com.user115568 42 with a 1000 says great show.
Keep up the solid work getting the word out to us plebs. You're welcome, sir. God's death with 537 says thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Pies to Pleb with 420 says thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Wartime with 333 says TY and cheers. And kaboom with 210 says keep up the good work. Thank you, sir. I shall do just that. That's the weather report. Welcome to part 2 of the news that you can use. Japan's meta planet has bought yet more Bitcoin. $6,700,000 worth of Bitcoin, if I have to be exact about it. CoinDesk Jamie Crawley, right, and this one wow. Japanese investment advisor Meta Planet said it bought another 1,000,000,000 yen or $6,700,000 worth of Bitcoin, pushing its holdings to 639 and a half BTC worth approximately $40,600,000 at current prices.
The Tokyo listed company purchased 108.8 BTC at an average price of just under 9,200,000 yen per coin, the company disclosed on Monday. It has now spent just shy of 6,000,000,000 yen on the largest cryptocurrency by market value, paying an average of 9,300,000 yen apiece. The company adopted Bitcoin as a reserve asset back in May as a hedge against volatility of Japan's native currency. It now has the 2nd largest Bitcoin stash among Asia listed companies, right behind Hong Kong based technology firm, Mitao, which holds around 941 BTC.
Both companies trail behind Tysons Corner MicroStrategy. Yes. We know. We get it. Meta Planet. Now this is from last week. If you're thinking that I'm copying the same story, you're wrong. Check it out. Meta Planet recently began selling Bitcoin put options in order to use the premiums to purchase more Bitcoin. The sale of 223 contracts back on October 3rd earned MetaPlanet a premium of 23.97 BTC worth about $1,500,000. A put option gives the holder the right but not the obligation to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price.
Meta Planet's shares rose 7.9% to 988 yen and are over 500% higher year to date. Alright. So that's what I I wanted to make sure that you understood. This is this is another Bitcoin purchase, but this time with just solid cash. They just they just bought some Bitcoin. Last week, last week they sold 223 contracts or options and used that to buy or to basically gain a premium of 23.97 BTC and that's the best case scenario. Actually, though, that's the worst case scenario that they're gonna get that. If they do if they play their cards right and the market plays along, they could get a whole lot more Bitcoin depending on how they play that trade. But that's a separate trade.
This is a completely different thing. They just flat ass bought more Bitcoin. So they are not stopping their purchasing. Alright. Last up for today, it's gonna be a shorter show, but Vince Quill is gonna tell us more about Pavel Durov from Cointelegraph. And this is more of a tug at your heartstring story. I'm not sure what to do with it, but I find it interesting that I never knew that he had a partner and that she was pregnant and there's some problems. So, let's get into it. Telegram co founder Pavel Durov and his partner, Julie Valieva, I guess, recently revealed that they learned Julie was pregnant amid the Telegram founder's brief detainment by French authorities.
And the couple believes that the stress from the ensuing investigation caused a miscarriage on October 4th. According to a Telegram post from Valalova, she be first became aware of the pregnancy on August 25th. Durov's companion described the moment she found out, quote, sitting at a Parisian cafe. I took the test. Oh my god. I don't I have oh my god. Jesus. What? Oh my god. That's just disgusting. Hold on. Let me get my mind back around to I'll tell you why I'm freaking out. The result was in French. 3 plus. I ran back upstairs to translate. The shock on my face when it said pregnant.
I felt helpless, unable to run to Pavel with the happy news as he was still unreachable. I'm pausing because when you take a pregnancy test, if you like every pregnancy test that I've ever seen is you pee on a stick. So was she peeing on a stick at a Parisian cafe? I mean, I don't know if that kind of shit's dud or acceptable down there in Paris, but I'm sorry. If I see a chick at a cafe, you, like, hike up her skirt and start whizzing on a stick. I really don't wanna go be eating there, man. That just there's something about this sentence, the structure of her statement that it really should have been vetted a little better than that. But anyway, let's continue on.
On the advice of her doctor, the social media influencer refrained from immediately responding to law enforcement requests for questioning due to the immense stress it would cause during such an early stage of pregnancy. However, she eventually submitted herself to law enforcement for questioning several weeks later. The couple spent the next month adjusting to the pregnancy news, a process Durov's companion characterized at a time of uncertainty, adjustment, and happiness. Valilova well, hold on. Valilova. Valilova.
Okay. That'll do it. Vavalova said that by the time they learned that the baby's heart stopped beating on October 4th, she was already 10 weeks pregnant. But the stress from Durov's high profile arrest and the investigation was just too much for the little one. And that's an actual quote. As you know, Dharav was arrested in France on August 24th. Reports later surfaced showing that French law enforcement officials issued arrest warrants for Pavel and his brother, Nikolai, months earlier in March of 2024. French authorities held Pavel for 4 days before charging and releasing the entrepreneur.
The charges included complicity in the spread of child pornography due to what French officials characterized as a lack of robust content moderation policies on the Telegram platform. French president Emmanuel Macron maintains that the arrest of Dharav was not political and denied inviting Dharav to France or having private prior knowledge of him entering the country, assertions that have drawn heavy criticism from the crypto community, blah blah blah blah blah. There you go. So, I don't even know what to make of this. I mean, yeah, sure. You know, it's Cointelegraph and all, and it's a human interest story because, you know, we're talking about the woman and she was pregnant. Was it really the stress of the I mean, I don't know.
Some smells fishy about this. Some smells fishy about this and I I hate it that this is what I'm ending the show on, but you be the judge. You know, like, let me know in the comments, you know, like, you know, throw me a boostagram or something like that. Do you buy this or do you think that this is somehow or another just bill? Like, I don't know, trying to get followers or I don't know, setting somebody up for, you know, suing them because, hey, you killed my baby, so we're gonna sue France or something like that. I don't know, man, but there's something about this that just it doesn't make a lot of sense. And the whole sitting in a Parisian cafe and taking a pregnancy test, I don't know man. There's something about these two things that just bug the shit out of me. And again, sorry to end it with a human interest story, but there's really not a whole lot else going on today. So I'll let you go. Have a great week. Beware of the economic news that's gonna be falling all week long like rocks from the sky, 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.
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