Join me today for Episode 941 of Bitcoin And . . .
Topics for today:
- FED Rate Cuts Incoming
- RFK Jr. Drops Out
- Strategery in Bitfarms Against Riot?
- Bitcoin's Role As Collateral in Real Estate
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[00:00:00]
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's 9:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time on this Friday. It's the 23rd August 2024, and this is episode 941 of Bitcoin. And I'm watching somebody pour espresso directly over a big old bar of chocolate into a coffee mug. And honestly, it's one of the best things that I've ever seen.
That would be Biroabella Florin. That's Biro Bella Florin. Over on Nostra, if you're not following Biro, you're kinda missing out, Ben. It's a great account. One of my favorites. But watching, like, espresso comes directly out of the machine and melting onto a bar of chocolate into a coffee mug is wow. Even I wasn't expecting that one. The only thing that small bitch needs right now is some dried red chili mixed in. Trust me. Chocolate, coffee, and red chili? Dude, you yeah. You'll be fine. Trust me bro. You'll be fine. Alright. So where are we at today? I forgot to get my other thing up here.
There we go. There it is. Alright. So, we've got a few things to talk about today. We've got Powell, Jerome Powell Speaks and RFK does too. RFK Jr. Did, some speaking. And I think he's actually doing a full speech later on today. Got some more news about that Bitfarms acquisition. Who was it? Stronghold. I talked about it yesterday. There is a competing thought process from this particular author that thinks it's well it's different than what I was talking about yesterday And I wanna compare and contrast that. What else we got going on? We've got, Bitcoin's role in collateral as real estate development. That's coming up in the second part of the show.
And then we've got some things about the spot ETFs and just some some general numbers so that you can, you know, go about your weekend in style. And speaking of style, have some sovereignty in style with the Leatherman. That's right, the Circle P is open for business again. I haven't done one since I've been back from the mountains. Just, you know, it takes a while to readjust. It probably shouldn't take me this long, but it does. So you too can step into the world of the Leatherment, where luxury meets everyday essentials. Discover our latest collection of stylish, functional and high quality leather goods.
From sleek signing device apparel to elegant belts, wallets and passport holders, each piece is handcrafted for those who appreciate the sovereignty in style. Don't just wear the accessories, make a statement with them and with the Leathermint. Visit us now and embrace the craftsmanship that sets you apart. You'll get 10% off if you use coupon code bitcoinand, that's all one word, bitcoinand. Go to the leathermint.com. Check them out. It's the leathermint.com. The leathermint.com. All one word.com. The leathermint.com. At the or at the leathermint on dead bird's site. But if you're a little bit more, you know, modern if you're a modern user of technology, then you're using Noster. And you can find them at Leather Mint and they do make some really really high quality stuff now on to this whole Jackson Hole Wyoming where Fed chair Jerome Powell has said that the time has come for policy to adjust. You know what that means, ladies and gentlemen. This is out of CoinDesk and Steven Alfer is writing it. After a long wait, central bank rates in the US now appear certain to be headed lower come September after Jerome Powell said, time has come for an easing in monetary policy. My confidence has grown that inflation is on a substantial path back to 2%. Yeah. So they're only gonna rip us off 2% like they were doing, said Powell in his keynote address at the Kansas City Fed Jackson Hole Symposium.
Why the hell is the Kansas City Fed meeting in Jackson Hole? Why don't they meet in Kansas City? I don't understand these people. Anyway, the labor market has cooled considerably from its formerly overheated state. We do not seek or welcome further cooling and labor market conditions. Well, Jerome, we just found out, you know, yesterday or the day before yesterday that the March jobs report was a complete and total lie, and 5 full sectors ended up with numbers revising down. And one of them, the non farm payrolls, came down 818,000 which was the 2nd largest revision in the last 15 years.
So, yeah, I would say that, you know, you could well, you can say that the jobs market is cooled. It never heated up in the first place. It was a complete lie. And now, now you're coming off the heels of us finding out that it's a lie and saying that the job market has cooled and you know what? You know what? Jerome, go pound sand. But anyway, he says this. The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear. And the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. Though market fully expected Powell to indicate that a rate cut was coming at the Fed September meeting, the tone of his remarks likely leaned a bit more dovish than anticipated.
In the minutes following the release of his speech, Bitcoin added more than 1% to $61,900 Check. The traditional market's fines, big gains as well. The Nasdaq is higher. The S and P is higher. Gold is higher. The 10 year treasury yield has dipped 5 basis points. And the U. S. Dollar index has fallen 0.6 percent After years of near zero Fed policy rates, the United States Central Bank in early of 2022 embarked on a very long series of rate hikes, eventually hiking its Fed funds rates up to the 5.25 to 5.50 percent range in 2023.
Since then, it's been a waiting game with the Fed wanting to see crystal clear signs that inflation was meaningfully slowing to its 2% target before moving to begin trimming rates. That day surely has now arrived. The question going forward will be, if the Fed cuts the Fed funds rate by 25 or 50 basis points at its mid September meeting, markets continue to lean towards 25 basis points, but the chances of a 50 basis point cut has moved to 32.5%, currently up from 24% just one day ago according to CME FedWatch. There remains some key economic reports between now and that September decision, like August employment and inflation numbers among them, which should be key to the Fed's ultimate decision. I wonder if they're going to lie about those too. Let me guess. Yes. They're going to lie about those numbers too. So, anyway, if anybody was wondering why we had a spike in the Bitcoin price to 60 I think it was like it it ran up, on my chart it ran up to like 62,320 or something like that and then immediately fell back down And now it's just kind of been creeping back up. So I guess somebody's, you know, programmed, sell order at this particular thing hit and unlocked and a whole bunch of Bitcoin was sold because, you know, lettuce hands.
But one of the reasons why the price is continuing to climb is that as the Fed cuts its rates quote unquote risky assets like Bitcoin and equities and stuff like that become more palatable for people with money. Whereas, as Fed Funds rates are when the rates are high, like at high interest rates, people like stuff like bonds and more safe vehicles even though I view United States Treasury Bonds as probably some of the most toxic things that you could ever get into. We've seen bank after bank after bank fail because they were holding them. I don't know why anybody thinks that those things are a safe asset.
But we've got other fish to fry like RFK Jr. Dropping out of the presidential race. Wild Trump takes the lead on poly markets. So here's your daily dose of politics. Cointelegraph, Azol Tan Vardy is writing this one. Independent candidate, Robert F Kennedy, Jr. Has officially withdrawn from the 2024 presidential elections in the United States. Kennedy withdrew from the election race yesterday, August 22nd, according to a document filed with the Arizona Secretary of State. The withdrawal comes ahead of Kennedy's upcoming speech in Arizona on August 23rd. The withdrawal comes days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed his openness to Kennedy playing some kind of role in his administration if the independent candidate dropped out, Trump told CNN.
The results of the US elections could greatly influence global crypto regulations as the United States, being the world's largest economy, is often regarded as the leading authority in setting international regulatory standards But Trump has once again taken the lead in the prediction markets as the most likely candidate to win the US elections. According to poly market data, 51% of users were betting on Trump winning the election at as of the time of publication, while only 47% believe the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, had a chance of victory. Trump's odds have spiked during the past week to overtake Harris, who was leading Trump on poly market odds by 52 to 46 back on August 12th before more people started wagering on a potential Trump presidency.
Now RFK could be looking to play a significant role in some kind of potential Trump admin. Nicole Shanahan or yeah, Shanahan, the running mate of RFK suggested joining forces with former President Trump in a unity ticket. She hinted at a potential partnership during an August 20th interview on the Impact Theory podcast, I think it behooves us to sit and see if we can actually make some real change. And if that is a unity party, I think that is something that we absolutely owe to the American public to explore, end quote. Shanahan said that the choice to drop out of the 2024 presidential campaign and join forces with former President Trump comes down to the probability of a Harris Walls presidency.
She noted that the Kennedy Shanahan campaign takes disproportionately more votes from the GOP front runner than the Democrat led campaign. I wonder how they figured that out. I really do actually wonder what data they were looking at that told them that. Because that's that's some serious intelligence right there. I mean, not being smart. I mean, like, actually having data to look at and rifle through, but whatever. RFK Junior's vow to end anti crypto policies was well received by the crypto community. And the independent presidential candidate had promised to back the US dollar with Bitcoin in 2023 before the topic became a campaign issue leveraged by former president Trump. So now some people are calling for Kennedy to sit as the attorney general of the United States, a role that has gotten a couple of his family members assassinated.
So that's probably not a good place for him to go. But the EPA, I could see that. I mean, he's he's cut most of his bones and teeth and all that stuff on environmental vaccination stuff, pharmaceutical stuff, health, you know, human health, environmental health, all that kind of stuff. That's, you know, that's basically his ballpark. So I think he'd actually be a better choice there than attorney general. And I mean, I just don't wanna see him, you know, assassinated. Okay. Moving on from the blackness. Bitfarms acquisition of Bitcoin Miner Stronghold is a strategic move against rival Riot Mining, say experts.
I, as you know, if you listen to yesterday's show, completely disagree with this. But Liz Napolitano from decryp.co is gonna tell us another story. Bitfarms has acquired Stronghold Digital Mining, which is a strategic move that could help the Bitcoin miner resist a hostile takeover by its rival, Riot, several experts told Decrypt. Bitfarms agreed this week to purchase the crypto mining firm in a $175,000,000 deal. The company said on Wednesday market watchers say that the deal will boost Bitfarms valuation and operations, making the firm a more challenging acquisition target for its competitor.
Quote, by acquiring Stronghold now, Bitfarms demonstrates that it is not just passively waiting, but is taking a proactive step to increase its value and strengthen its negotiation position said Julie Julie who oh sorry Julio Veramisio CEO of Borderless Consulting a consulting firm that works with Bitcoin miners Riot has been trying to acquire Bitfarms since April, when it made an unsolicited offer of roughly $950,000,000 to its Canada based rival. After Bitfarms rejected the offer, Riot began to snap up the company's stock in a bid to gain control over its competitor. Riot had 19% stake in its rival business as of August 13th.
Riot and Bitfarms did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt. Yeah, I wouldn't imagine that they will either. As the rivals have locked horns over their businesses, Bitfarms has implemented several strategies to ward off a hostile takeover, including its latest purchase agreement with Stronghold. Under this deal, Bitfarms will add 307 megawatts of power capacity to its mining operations, putting it on track to increase its energy portfolio to more than 950 megawatts, with nearly 50% of that in the United States by the end of 2025. Well, that bolstered operational capacity will likely strengthen the company's market position, making Bitfarms a more expensive and challenging acquisition target for Riot, crypto consultants CEO, Nicole DiCicchio, told Decrypt.
Quote, it's a way to enhance shareholder value and make Bitfarms a more formidable entity, Nicole said, because I can't pronounce her last name. As a result, Bitfarms will likely have additional leverage to negotiate better terms for its potential sale or fend off an acquisition according to Dickizzicchio, whatever. However, that's not the only way Bitfarms' Stronghold acquisition will help the firm deter Riot's advances. In increasing the size and value of its company through the deal, Bitfarms is also shrinking its rival stake in its business. This strategic move is likely to slow down or stall Riot's attempt to acquire the company, Verissimo said. In addition, the deal could invite scrutiny from regulators and investors, making any acquisition of Bitfarms longer and more difficult down the line.
Stronghold has been positioning itself for a buyout according to Nishant Sharma, founder of Blocksbridge Consulting, a research and communications strategy firm for the mining industry Soon after Bitcoin's halving, Stronghold Digital expressed its intention to sell all or part of the company during its Q1 disclosure noting that no timeline has been set for this Sharma said it seemed only a matter of time before another company either from within or outside the industry would acquire Stronghold. Bitfarms Stronghold Digital Acquisition is the latest strategic move that the Bitcoin miner has made to thwart Riot's hostile takeover attempts because in June, Bitfarms implemented a poison pill plan threatening to dilute its shares if Riot attempted to acquire more than 15% of its business but a Canadian court later invalidated that plan prompting Bitfarms to issue new shareholder rights plans in July.
Under the new plan, the miner will dilute its shares if any one investor attempts to acquire more than 20% stake in the Bitcoin miner's business. Bitfarms has also resisted Riot's calls for a reconstitution of its board. The latter called for shareholders to vote on removing 3 members of Bitfarms' board and replacing them with independent, highly qualified individuals selected by Riot. That shareholder meeting on the matter is scheduled for October 29th. Okay. So I could very clearly be wrong in my assessment that this was going to that this entire acquisition of Stronghold was led by the people from Riot because it which would make sense in a way, except they can't because they have not fully installed these 3 members, new board members. That won't happen or or we will find out if that is even going to happen, October 29th.
I thought that they had already done that, so that's my bad. I take full responsibility for possibly leading you down the primrose path. But still, I have this gut instinct. There's this just this gut feeling that I cannot shake that somehow or another Riot is somehow directing Bitfarms to buy these assets so that when Riot actually does buy Bitfarms they were going to have a whole bunch of consolidation already done already done if they can if Bitfarms can buy like 1 or 2 or maybe even 3 miners then all of a sudden riot gets because riot's going to end up with bit farms that's my guess that's my bet and I'm I don't really gamble but if I was a betting man I would say that no matter what anybody does Riot is going to end up with Bitfarms no matter what Bitfarms says. And I also have a gut suspicion that that somehow or another Bitfarms is kinda just pretending to be all, you know, miffed that Riot is doing a hostile takeover.
I think they wanna be bought out. I think that consolidation is part of the legacy hairless ape that fell out of trees attitude towards life that we can just not shake. So that's why I'm pretty sure that this entire thing is kind of a little bit more theater than it is reality, but let's run the numbers. Oil. Black Gold. West Texas Tea is up 2.41 percent to $74 and 77¢. Brent, North Sea is up 2 a quarter percent to 78.95. Natural gas down 1.6%. Gasoline is up 1.48% to $2.27 a gallon. All your shiny metal rocks are doing well. Why? Well, because Jerome Powell is going to start cutting rates. So it's going to be easier to acquire cheaper money that you can actually go and buy, you know, actual real assets like bitcoin, a house, you know, gold. I mean, I don't have anything directly against gold. I just think Peter Schiff needs to be buying both gold and bitcoin. But be that as it may, gold is up over a point to $25.43.50.
Silver is up 2 a quarter. Platinum is up 1. Copper is up 1 and a, 1 a quarter. And palladium is up 2.23%. Biggest winner in agriculture today is gonna be sugar. 3% to the upside. Biggest loser is lumber. 2.67% to the downside. Live cattle is down scant. Lean hogs are up 3 quarters of a point. And feeder cattle moving sideways. But what's also not moving sideways is the Dow and the rest of the indices from legacy land. Dow is up almost a half a point to 41,001. S and P is up a third of a point. Nasdaq is up a third of a point. And the S and P Mini is up 1.77%. All the indices were actually up a little bit more than that when I was looking at it earlier today, but I guess, some people are taking a little bit of profit because they know that this well, like we saw a spike in Bitcoin's price this morning because of federal chairman or Fed Reserve chairman Jerome Powell saying that they're gonna cut rates.
Equities are also more risky than stuff like bonds. Even though I completely disagree with that statement, that's the way the world is working right now is that people still look at US treasuries like nothing bad can happen. Clearly, these people don't have a United States bank that were holding United States Treasury bonds on their balance sheet and then got smoked like a song, bitch, when interest rates went up and all of a sudden their face value of all their bonds went down, which mean that they weren't going to be able to cover, well, you know, if anybody came in or all the people came in all at once for their deposits. It's fractional reserve systems are just breaking around the world, man. It's just disgusting. But $61,790 is a welcome sight to see with a market cap of $1,220,000,000,000.
And now we can get 24.6 ounces of the shiny metal stuff with our 1 Bitcoin of which there are 19,000,000. 743,902.37 of, and fees are back down to where they belong. 0.07 BTC on average per block on a per block basis. Now how many blocks are there but 136 carrying 284,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at high priority rates of 5 satoshis per vbyte, and low priority is gonna get it get but but gonna get in at 4 satoshis per vbyte. We holy shit. We are at 782.6 exahashes per second. Let me do that again. This is the hash rate for bitcoin, and yesterday was like, I don't know, like 652.
782 exahashes per second, ladies and gentlemen. That is one of the highest ones that I've seen ever. Okay. Now on to fountain app. Now with Noster, that was yesterday's bitcoin and episode 940. Wartime gave me 3,333 sat says nothing. Pies with 21100 says my uh-oh. This is bad. My fountain app has been broken since I woke up today and then connected it to Nostr. Then I disconnected it from Nostr and it's still fucked up. Not sure why this is but I was completely good with fountain before this new update. Pies, it's your fault. No, I'm just kidding, it's not your fault. I wish I could tell you what happened.
This is this is bad and I agree this this should not have happened. Did you did you tag at fountain underscore app or like try to find the fountain guys or Oscar Mayer directly you I mean Oscar Mayer can take criticism I've seen him do it on many times before so on Noster tell him because I haven't seen that you've done that. If you have done that, my apologies, but tell Oscar and then tag fountain to say what the hell, dude? Why did you screw up my my app? Or my fountain so I'm sorry to hear that but blogging bitcoin with a 1,000 says sorry I haven't zapped in a while I've been busy but I can't wait to see what this looks like on nostr let's see here Saints and sats with a 1,000 says fountain plus nostr is very cool. I agree.
Bird, the bird. 1,000 sat says sometimes I don't want to say anything. Just want to sling you some sats for doing a great job when I have the extra to do that with. I may just aim at the geyser fund. Yeah. I'll get to the geyser fund here in a second. Michael Sparks says, can't wait to listen. Just connected mine. He did that with a 100 sats. Let's see. Cole McCormick 1 says fountain plus nostril is interesting, but I'm not really sure if it's as awesome as you say it is. We will see. Here's my thing about this. This is what this is my general thesis in this space now that Nostr is part of this space along with bit before Nostr I was knee deep into Bitcoin and lightning network But when Nostra hit and I started really using it heavy about, you know, a little over 2 years ago, I see the entire landscape in a completely different light. So, my working thesis now is that we don't know what we have built. When I say that the guys at Fountain don't know what they've built yet and that this whole thing is completely awesome it's not because of what fountain does right now sure I can understand what Cole McCormick is saying okay so what so so when I boost you on fountain it goes over to nostril who cares I don't know if that's what Cole McCormick is thinking, but I I could see that. So, I'm just gonna run with that idea.
Looking at what we can see right now is sort of like the way astronomers didn't understand our place in the universe before we could see outside of the solar system. And then we didn't really understand what was going on after we discovered that we were in some kind of galaxy. We really couldn't understand what was going on. We could theorize about it, but that wasn't, you know, general news. So nobody really knew about it. But after we started realizing that we could see outside of our galaxy, we realized just how many other galaxies there were, that changed everything.
But that already existed. Our place in the universe was set before we even polished lens 1. And I think that the same thing is happening here. I'm projecting myself way into the future when I'm thinking of the possibilities of what all this means. If we come back and I'm not if I pull myself back from the future and look at just what we have then, yeah, Cole we will have to see But I can guarantee you you're gonna see some slick shit, dude. Spiral Crunch with 333 says: Okay. Now that Nostra has been integrated, I'll try fountain again.
LFG. The bird gave me 500 said nothing. And then he gave me 500 again and said great show as always. Dude, I appreciate that. And then anonymous with a 100 says please be kind to the baby seals. I don't know man. I got a lead filled snowshoe that speaks differently. That's the weather report. Welcome to part 2 of the news. You can use Geyser Fund. Geyser.fundforward/projectforward/thebitcoinandpodcast is live. And it seems that I put this up 9 months ago. My Geyser fund is 9 months old and I'm just now dusting it off and telling people about it. Because not only does it help me when you contribute to the Geyser fund, and you don't have to have to do that, It's just that when you do, not only do you support me, you're also supporting a second party in this space. And that is the guys over at geysergeyser dot fundforward/projectforward/thebitcoinandpodcast.
I can't believe it's been 9 months since I put this up here. Okay. Let's do some real estate stuff. Now this is a little bit longer, so let's just kind of buckle in. But we keep talking about Bitcoin and real estate, and Leon Wenkam, has written a fairly well, it's not a really long, but it's a little longer than normal piece for Bitcoin Magazine that I read on the show. So let's talk about Bitcoin's role as collateral in real estate development financing. Since United States President Richard Nixon announced in 19 71 that the United States dollar would no longer be convertible into gold at a fixed rate, central banks around the world have started operating a fiat based monetary system with floating exchange rates and no currency standard.
As a result, the money supply worldwide has increased exponentially and most industries now rely on credit to finance their operations and growth. With the anticipated further devaluation of fiat currencies driven by nation states needing to produce additional currency to cope with high borrowing costs, the creditworthiness of companies across all sectors is becoming increasingly important. This is particularly true for the real estate sector, which is extremely debt intensive. In this context, Bitcoin can play a crucial role in the disinflationary money, or as a disinflationary money, meaning its inflation rate decreases over time which provides an appreciating capital base that can help mitigate the risks associated with fiat currency devaluation and enhance a real estate company's creditworthiness In the following, I will explain why Bitcoin should be integrated into real estate development financing illustrating how to integrate Bitcoin into real estate investment from the start.
Why Bitcoin should be integrated into real estate development financing? Real estate has been widely used as an inflation hedge since the inflationary policies following the Nixon shock of 1971 closely tracking the growth of the United States money supply M2. Consequently, real estate has accrued a substantial monetary premium indicative of the collective confidence in its ability to serve as a reliable store of value, a function traditionally associated with money that is no longer possible due to decades of monetary inflation that has decimated fiat money's purchasing power.
However, with the rise of Bitcoin, a near perfect digital alternative, there's potential for a shift. This gradual transition could diminish the monetary premium that real estate has historically enjoyed, redirecting it toward Bitcoin over time. Bitcoin offers an alternative that is easier to access and cheaper to store as well as maintain. Real estate investors can benefit greatly from integrating the purchase of Bitcoin at the start of a development project by including it in the project financing. This approach hedges against the scenario where real estate loses its monetary premium to Bitcoin due to Bitcoin's superior qualities as a store of value.
Similarly, Bitcoin competes with real estate by serving as a digitally accessible, globally usable, and pristine collateral for lending. The popularity of real estate investment stems not only from its use as a store of value, but also from its common use as collateral in the traditional banking system. We can therefore assume that Bitcoin's increasing use as collateral due to its accessibility and user friendly nature for both borrowers and lenders will negatively impact the use of real estate in this capacity. As more people recognize Bitcoin's advantages as collateral, real estate may see a decline in use for this purpose while Bitcoin's importance as a type of collateral grows. It is therefore important to integrate Bitcoin into real estate development from the start, ensuring that investors are well positioned to capitalize on Bitcoin's growing role in the financial landscape and its impact on real estate's valuation.
My proposition is to integrate the purchase of Bitcoin into real estate development financing. Allocating a portion of a loan, let's say 10%. To purchase bitcoin enables real estate developers to hedge against the risk of real estate losing its status as humanity's primary store of value. This strategy prepares real estate developers for a potential shift towards a bitcoin standard, a hypothetical reality in which bitcoin becomes the world's main store of value and unit of account and real estate may no longer dominate. The benefits of integrating bitcoin into real estate development financing.
By incorporating the purchase of Bitcoin into real estate development financing and holding the Bitcoin within the same legal entity that holds the property titles, developers can capture the monetary premium that flows from real estate into Bitcoin, hedge against monetary inflation, and build resilience and creditworthiness over time. This ensures the ongoing viability of their business operations while leveraging the benefits of both asset classes Bitcoin's price appreciation and real estate's cash flow. Integrating Bitcoin into real estate financing can also help facilitate a smoother and more productive transition onto a Bitcoin standard where the value of real estate is expected to be based upon its utility as people can save in Bitcoin by default rather than having to invest in real estate to protect their purchasing power additionally this approach can help developers gain more independence from the inflationary fiat system which is making it increasingly difficult to beat inflation and remain profitable.
Inflation severely devalues fiat currencies and erodes purchasing power. Initially, the scenario benefits the real estate sector as people invest in properties to outperform inflation, thus increasing its nominal value. Besides, inflation decreases the real cost of debt incurred to develop or purchase real estate over time, temporarily benefiting property owners. However, in the long term inflation negatively affects the real estate industry due to soaring construction and maintenance costs and the diminishing value of income generated from the properties. This dual impact underscores the need for an alternative strategy such as incorporating Bitcoin into credit products to hedge against the negative consequences of inflation An ideal scenario for integrating Bitcoin into real estate development would involve a financial service provider offering traditional financing supplemented with a portion of Bitcoin in the loan.
By incorporating the purchase of Bitcoin into credit lines, businesses can not only survive but also thrive in an inflationary environment. This approach benefits the borrower by providing a hedge against inflation, but also offers the lender additional security through the inclusion of a disinflationary digital asset bitcoin as collateral. I will now provide an example of such a loan. Let's imagine a bank financing a $10,000,000 real estate development project. The bank could extend the loan to $11,000,000 and require the developer to purchase Bitcoin for an additional $1,000,000 bringing the total loan amount to 11,000,000 with 91% intended for real estate development and 9% for Bitcoin acquisition.
This strategy serves as a hedge against several key risks for the borrower. 1. It protects against the erosion of the monetary premium traditionally associated with real estate by the growing importance of Bitcoin, a near perfect digital store of value. 2. It provides a safeguard against the perils of monetary inflation. 3. It allows a company to build a novel capital base through the increase in value of Bitcoin which can be used to finance maintenance, further construction or other development projects. 4, by owning bitcoin, particularly in the debt intensive real estate sector, the credit rating of a company improves over time.
5, bitcoin as an absolutely scarce and decentralized asset exists outside of the inflationary fiat system offering stability during times of economic instability. In chaotic conditions, its limited supply and independence from central banks makes its value proposition more apparent, acting as a hedge against financial collapse and strengthening the market from within. The borrower should ideally retain possession of the Bitcoin for the long term and continuously, even after the loan is repaid. This serves as a hedge against property confiscation. And 7, repeat the process with a new construction project while lending against the held Bitcoin and potentially acquire even more Bitcoin through a new project financing to continuously ensure the financial stability and growth of your business.
Including the purchase of Bitcoin in a credit line also holds significant advantages for the lender. In the event of a project's failure and subsequent property liquidation, both the lender and, depending on the agreement, ideally also the borrower, are left with an asset, bitcoin. This principle is not limited to the real estate sector but is applicable to all industries. I can therefore imagine Bitcoin becoming an integral part of credit products specifically to hedge against loan defaults. If Bitcoin is properly secured, its purchasing power will continue to increase even in the event of a loan default.
Bitcoin safeguards lenders and potentially borrowers in the event of a borrower's failure to repay, provided that the borrower also holds custody of that bitcoin including bitcoin in a loan not only acts as an effective hedge against default but also offers the advantage of swift and cost effective liquidation in the event of non payment. Bitcoin's high liquidity considerably accelerates and reduces the expense of this process compared to a property. Once financial institutions understand that they can use Bitcoin in this manner, it will undoubtedly become a fundamental component of lending systems.
Managing Bitcoin custody properly is crucial. Consider multi sig setups or multi custodial solutions to ensure security and control. For lending purposes, non custodial solutions are emerging as a secure method for handling funds. Multi sig wallets, which require multiple signers to move funds, offer a significant advantage by allowing both lender and borrower to share custody. This collaborative approach enhances security and trust as it provides oversight and control to all of the parties involved. It ensures that the funds can only be accessed with the agreement of a majority of all authorized signers, reducing the risk of loss, theft, misuse or mismanagement.
In conclusion Including the purchase of Bitcoin as part of a credit line generally increases the security of a loan structure, benefiting both borrower and lender. Bitcoin can be integrated relatively easily into the structure of real estate development financing. It presents a compelling narrative that challenges traditional views on real estate but offers an innovative solution to growing concerns about inflation and the rising cost of construction and maintenance. The integration of Bitcoin into financing is in its nascent stages with no known products specifically tailored for real estate development.
Nevertheless, the possibilities are vast and promising. This type of product will likely emerge from an innovative company that recognizes the potential of incorporating Bitcoin into lending products. Traditional financial institutions are likely to be the last to recognize and seize this opportunity because of their reliance on established systems and regulatory constraints. The dynamics described are prevalent in most industries including real estate, banking and finance, energy, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, technology, aviation, mobility, food and beverages and many others. Consequently, the integration of Bitcoin into credit products would be beneficial to most industries, making it conceivable that Bitcoin will become an integral part of credit markets, especially to secure loans against default.
This could bolster the resilience of market actors in the face of rising economic and geopolitical uncertainties. By embracing bitcoin backed credit products, we can usher in a new era of economic empowerment and stability, with the potential to lead to greater resilience and productivity in the global economy. And again, that was Leon Wenkam from Bitcoin Magazine talking about the inclusion of Bitcoin into credit products for the real estate development world. But when we look at at like let's just say and you hopefully you do hold some Bitcoin. What given what you just heard what else? Now that you're holding Bitcoin you're actually holding something else. What is it?
This is where the yield will come from. It doesn't come from Bitcoin now. Because all of those products are just straight up scams. But there will be a time when a product will come up and the person behind that product knows that they're going to need actual physical Bitcoin to be able to offer their product. And their product's going to be some kind of financing that includes Bitcoin as part of the credit deal. But maybe that person is just they've waited too long and they just can't get Bitcoin they just don't maybe they don't have enough money to get Bitcoin who knows Who knows what it is? Or maybe they're able to get a whole bunch of bitcoin but they're gonna need other people that hold bitcoin to sort of join in.
What I'm getting at is that they're and I know you're gonna go you rent seeker. Whatever dude. If I've got something that somebody needs to use and they're willing to pay me to use it, that's not that's not rent seeking. That means that I actually have something of value. Right? If I'm rent seeking, I'm figuring out a way to force you to pay rent on something that has no value to you at all. That's what rent seeking is. But if I own a house and there's a family that wants to rent that house because they don't want to buy a house or they can't buy a house, let's say that it's because they don't. I had a friend that had all manner of money and he just didn't want a house. He didn't want to deal with the maintenance. He didn't want to wake up one day and have the sewer line explode on him. Whatever it was that his problem with owning a house was it was real for him. He didn't give a shit. He didn't think about a house like I think about a house. Right? So he was perfectly happy to rent a house and he did for years. I have another friend who doesn't have that much money and however he could have bought a house he also never just didn't want one.
He just didn't want the headache. I want I love owning a house. I do. I've owned 2. Right now I'm renting and it's it's working out for me but my point is that if I own a house and I'm not living in it I'm living somewhere else and I can rent that house out to somebody like one of my friends that does not want a house or at least they don't want to own one then that means that that house has a value to them and by paying rent to me that person has value to me because I'm getting income. That's not rent seeking. The same thing is going to happen with your Bitcoin.
There are going to be people and you're gonna have to watch your ass when this starts happening. It's already happened a few times, but it's I think it's coming in mass. Where there's going to be people like JP Morgan or Wells Fargo. I mean, like like, you know, heavy hitting names in the space that are going to put out a call into the streets that say, we want to rent your Bitcoin. And here's how we're gonna secure it. And here's what we're gonna give you for it on a month over month basis to allow us to utilize this in our credit products. That's going to happen.
And if you have Bitcoin to do that with and don't do it with all of your Bitcoin but you may find that if you have 0.2 Bitcoin that you might be able to secure substantial amounts of monthly income not now later on. Okay? This isn't happening this isn't going to happen, like, this year. But down the road, I think that people are gonna start reaching out to people who hold Bitcoin and pay them a substantial yield to be able to borrow their Bitcoin. Now, I'm not suggesting companies like BlockFi. That's not what this is about. Go back and listen to what we were reading. I will and if you want to read it for yourself I always include all the links of all the stuff I read in every single show.
So go find this one from Bitcoin Magazine and understand what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying that I'm going to, you know, park my money my Bitcoin with something like BlockFi. No, no, no. I wouldn't even think about that. I might be persuaded if the price is right and there are safeguards that I think are applicable. I might do business with somebody like JPM. I know you want to kill me. It's okay. But just understand what I'm saying. A very large player that understands that they they have the deals. They've got the deal flow, but they need this credit product and they can't do it without a substantial amount of Bitcoin. They are going to come calling and they are going to want to rent your Bitcoin because what is it that you have?
You have security in the Bitcoin time chain. That's what this boils down to. You have permission to vector this. You have permission to vector that security to anyone you wish. And with collaborative custody or multisig wallets I would actually feel kind of okay thinking: hey, if you're gonna give me, you know, like 15%. And don't don't laugh. Don't I mean, I'm like, if you get some some boob off the street saying, hey, you're gonna earn 15% doing this, give me your bitcoin. Yeah, you're gonna lose your bitcoin. But if somebody like Jamie Dimon says, I'm gonna give you 15% if you let me rent your bitcoin.
That could be a considerable monthly income. I'm just saying don't sneeze at it because we're at this point where things are going to start to change. Now the big boys are here, and they're going to want to play big boy games. They understand that what we've built got completely away from them. And they're going to have to make up time. And if they ain't got the time and they don't, then they do have money. And if we take that money and convert it right back into Bitcoin so that it's actually safe from the fiat world, well, ladies and gentlemen, all of a sudden, we now have all the seats at the table.
Because we hold the credit. We hold the credit of the future of the world. Let just just ruminate on that and if you still hate me I understand and I will not get into your shit about it. But I think I'm right. Okay. Let's talk just a bit about Bitwage. They just celebrated their 10 year anniversary, highlighting the growth in Bitcoin and crypto payroll solutions space since 2014. The company has now stated that they are serving over 4,500 registered companies 90,000 registered users. Bitwage allows companies and individuals to send and receive payments in Bitcoin and Stablecoins, offering an alternative to traditional payroll and bank wire services. There is an increasing demand for Bitcoin payroll due to benefits like avoiding foreign exchange fees and delays for remote workers and saving costs for company or companies. Sorry. Bitwage is expected to process over get this $400,000,000 in payroll transactions this year.
And the company has now raised $3,000,000 in funding from investors, including our good friend from yesterday, Tim Draper, who just invested something like $1,500,000 or $2,000,000 in Arc Labs. So Tim Draper is all over this thing. So, bit wage I just wanted to bring this up. It's not an advertisement. It's just that 4,500 registered companies and 90,000 people getting their wages in Bitcoin through Bitwage is nothing to sneeze at. All right. Moving on to U. S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs. Are they healthy today? Do we care? Probably not. But it's part of the world that we live in today and this is part of what's going to bring us to that whole future of credit situation.
It's it's all part and parcel of the same thing. The United States spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded their 6th consecutive day of net inflows on August 23rd totaling around $65,000,000. BlackRock's iShares leads the inflows with 75,500,000. It launched in April of 2024, has become the largest spot Bitcoin ETF with over 20,000,000,000 in assets under management. Fidelity Fidelity's wise Origin Bitcoin Trust saw inflows of a mere 9,200,000 and Arc 21 Shares ETF added 7.8. Smaller ETFs like VanEck and Wisdom Trees also gained several million. Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust experienced a $28,400,000 outflow as investors move to cheaper ETF options, losing over $20,000,000,000 since converting to an ETF in 2024.
And they were leading the charge for getting the ETF. Oh, my God. BlackRock's I bet with over 20,000,000,000 in assets has attracted significant investments, and US spot Bitcoin ETFs in general saw cumulative $250,000,000 of inflow this week reflecting renewed institutional interest in a resurgent Bitcoin market. And after today's Fed speech by Jerome Powell, I would expect those numbers to go up even more. Last up is the Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETFs. Well, how are those doing? Well, the Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETF saw their largest inflow in over a month, indicating growing Asian interest in Bitcoin investment vehicles. And, again, if you think that the dude that we know is Jerome Powell speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming did not affect Asia, you would be wrong. You would be very, very wrong. Yes. It did. And you're going to see Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETFs surge in price as well.
The China AMC Bitcoin ETF received 274 Bitcoin worth approximately 15,000,000, its largest single day inflow since July 12th. The other 2 spot, Bitcoin ETFs, Bocera, Hashkey, and Harvest recorded no inflows on the same day. Hong Kong approved its first 3 spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, While volumes in Hong Kong's Bitcoin ETFs are smaller compared to US, the inflows have been steadily increasing. The total assets under management across the 3 Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETFs amount to approximately 4,450 BTC valued at around $270,000,000 The growing inflows suggest increasing interest and adoption of Bitcoin among Asian institutional investors. So there you go.
It looks to me like Jerome Powell just kind of possibly opened up the floodgates for us all. And I know I know we're we're not really all that, you know, generally excited about, ETFs, the spot Bitcoin ETFs. I will never buy them. The the the only reason that I would buy them would be this, is somehow or another, I end up working in fiat land and I have to take a 401 k. I'm going to be telling my human resources and the, 401 k guys, hey, I need a bitcoin solution and if you can't provide it to me then I'm not going to participate in your 401 k and you can just send, you know, I don't know either I buy bitcoin myself or I use a third party 401k that that, you know, is actually is is bitcoin, reliant. But be that as it may that'd be the only reason because I can buy bitcoin now there might be a world in which I you know the United States does something really stupid and all of a sudden all the on ramps to bitcoin are closed in the United States I would definitely consider moving down south to something like you know El Salvador or Costa Rica or something like that where clearly those people have their shit or are starting to get their shit together.
So I'm just saying, I I honestly don't think the United States will close all that stuff down. I just I'm just saying that would be the only time that I would consider an ETF. But the problem is is that these things exist. And BlackRock is nothing to be sneezed at and neither is Fidelity for that matter. And these people are it's going to affect what happens with Bitcoin in the very near future, the medium term future, as well as the long term future. So if you don't know what the hell's going on, you need to figure out what the hell's going on. Please do. Please do. Just as a minor note, I just got an email that wave lake 1.1.0 for iOS is now available to test.
Let's see. Let's see if they got some new features here. Oh, check it out. What are the new features? You can add wave lake wallet support for users that log in with a verified Wave Lake account that uses Nostra Wallet Connect NIP 47. And they fixed a bug. Added support for hex private key entry on Nostra login page in addition to the insect support. So wave lake has been chilling out with, nostril for quite a while and it took fountain, a little bit longer to, well, to wrap them to put a wrapper around, noster and get that son that son of a bitch into fountain. Good job for both those companies. Really happy to see that. We're running out of time. I'm just gonna end it here and say I will see you on the other side. Have a good weekend.
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's 9:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time on this Friday. It's the 23rd August 2024, and this is episode 941 of Bitcoin. And I'm watching somebody pour espresso directly over a big old bar of chocolate into a coffee mug. And honestly, it's one of the best things that I've ever seen.
That would be Biroabella Florin. That's Biro Bella Florin. Over on Nostra, if you're not following Biro, you're kinda missing out, Ben. It's a great account. One of my favorites. But watching, like, espresso comes directly out of the machine and melting onto a bar of chocolate into a coffee mug is wow. Even I wasn't expecting that one. The only thing that small bitch needs right now is some dried red chili mixed in. Trust me. Chocolate, coffee, and red chili? Dude, you yeah. You'll be fine. Trust me bro. You'll be fine. Alright. So where are we at today? I forgot to get my other thing up here.
There we go. There it is. Alright. So, we've got a few things to talk about today. We've got Powell, Jerome Powell Speaks and RFK does too. RFK Jr. Did, some speaking. And I think he's actually doing a full speech later on today. Got some more news about that Bitfarms acquisition. Who was it? Stronghold. I talked about it yesterday. There is a competing thought process from this particular author that thinks it's well it's different than what I was talking about yesterday And I wanna compare and contrast that. What else we got going on? We've got, Bitcoin's role in collateral as real estate development. That's coming up in the second part of the show.
And then we've got some things about the spot ETFs and just some some general numbers so that you can, you know, go about your weekend in style. And speaking of style, have some sovereignty in style with the Leatherman. That's right, the Circle P is open for business again. I haven't done one since I've been back from the mountains. Just, you know, it takes a while to readjust. It probably shouldn't take me this long, but it does. So you too can step into the world of the Leatherment, where luxury meets everyday essentials. Discover our latest collection of stylish, functional and high quality leather goods.
From sleek signing device apparel to elegant belts, wallets and passport holders, each piece is handcrafted for those who appreciate the sovereignty in style. Don't just wear the accessories, make a statement with them and with the Leathermint. Visit us now and embrace the craftsmanship that sets you apart. You'll get 10% off if you use coupon code bitcoinand, that's all one word, bitcoinand. Go to the leathermint.com. Check them out. It's the leathermint.com. The leathermint.com. All one word.com. The leathermint.com. At the or at the leathermint on dead bird's site. But if you're a little bit more, you know, modern if you're a modern user of technology, then you're using Noster. And you can find them at Leather Mint and they do make some really really high quality stuff now on to this whole Jackson Hole Wyoming where Fed chair Jerome Powell has said that the time has come for policy to adjust. You know what that means, ladies and gentlemen. This is out of CoinDesk and Steven Alfer is writing it. After a long wait, central bank rates in the US now appear certain to be headed lower come September after Jerome Powell said, time has come for an easing in monetary policy. My confidence has grown that inflation is on a substantial path back to 2%. Yeah. So they're only gonna rip us off 2% like they were doing, said Powell in his keynote address at the Kansas City Fed Jackson Hole Symposium.
Why the hell is the Kansas City Fed meeting in Jackson Hole? Why don't they meet in Kansas City? I don't understand these people. Anyway, the labor market has cooled considerably from its formerly overheated state. We do not seek or welcome further cooling and labor market conditions. Well, Jerome, we just found out, you know, yesterday or the day before yesterday that the March jobs report was a complete and total lie, and 5 full sectors ended up with numbers revising down. And one of them, the non farm payrolls, came down 818,000 which was the 2nd largest revision in the last 15 years.
So, yeah, I would say that, you know, you could well, you can say that the jobs market is cooled. It never heated up in the first place. It was a complete lie. And now, now you're coming off the heels of us finding out that it's a lie and saying that the job market has cooled and you know what? You know what? Jerome, go pound sand. But anyway, he says this. The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear. And the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. Though market fully expected Powell to indicate that a rate cut was coming at the Fed September meeting, the tone of his remarks likely leaned a bit more dovish than anticipated.
In the minutes following the release of his speech, Bitcoin added more than 1% to $61,900 Check. The traditional market's fines, big gains as well. The Nasdaq is higher. The S and P is higher. Gold is higher. The 10 year treasury yield has dipped 5 basis points. And the U. S. Dollar index has fallen 0.6 percent After years of near zero Fed policy rates, the United States Central Bank in early of 2022 embarked on a very long series of rate hikes, eventually hiking its Fed funds rates up to the 5.25 to 5.50 percent range in 2023.
Since then, it's been a waiting game with the Fed wanting to see crystal clear signs that inflation was meaningfully slowing to its 2% target before moving to begin trimming rates. That day surely has now arrived. The question going forward will be, if the Fed cuts the Fed funds rate by 25 or 50 basis points at its mid September meeting, markets continue to lean towards 25 basis points, but the chances of a 50 basis point cut has moved to 32.5%, currently up from 24% just one day ago according to CME FedWatch. There remains some key economic reports between now and that September decision, like August employment and inflation numbers among them, which should be key to the Fed's ultimate decision. I wonder if they're going to lie about those too. Let me guess. Yes. They're going to lie about those numbers too. So, anyway, if anybody was wondering why we had a spike in the Bitcoin price to 60 I think it was like it it ran up, on my chart it ran up to like 62,320 or something like that and then immediately fell back down And now it's just kind of been creeping back up. So I guess somebody's, you know, programmed, sell order at this particular thing hit and unlocked and a whole bunch of Bitcoin was sold because, you know, lettuce hands.
But one of the reasons why the price is continuing to climb is that as the Fed cuts its rates quote unquote risky assets like Bitcoin and equities and stuff like that become more palatable for people with money. Whereas, as Fed Funds rates are when the rates are high, like at high interest rates, people like stuff like bonds and more safe vehicles even though I view United States Treasury Bonds as probably some of the most toxic things that you could ever get into. We've seen bank after bank after bank fail because they were holding them. I don't know why anybody thinks that those things are a safe asset.
But we've got other fish to fry like RFK Jr. Dropping out of the presidential race. Wild Trump takes the lead on poly markets. So here's your daily dose of politics. Cointelegraph, Azol Tan Vardy is writing this one. Independent candidate, Robert F Kennedy, Jr. Has officially withdrawn from the 2024 presidential elections in the United States. Kennedy withdrew from the election race yesterday, August 22nd, according to a document filed with the Arizona Secretary of State. The withdrawal comes ahead of Kennedy's upcoming speech in Arizona on August 23rd. The withdrawal comes days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed his openness to Kennedy playing some kind of role in his administration if the independent candidate dropped out, Trump told CNN.
The results of the US elections could greatly influence global crypto regulations as the United States, being the world's largest economy, is often regarded as the leading authority in setting international regulatory standards But Trump has once again taken the lead in the prediction markets as the most likely candidate to win the US elections. According to poly market data, 51% of users were betting on Trump winning the election at as of the time of publication, while only 47% believe the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, had a chance of victory. Trump's odds have spiked during the past week to overtake Harris, who was leading Trump on poly market odds by 52 to 46 back on August 12th before more people started wagering on a potential Trump presidency.
Now RFK could be looking to play a significant role in some kind of potential Trump admin. Nicole Shanahan or yeah, Shanahan, the running mate of RFK suggested joining forces with former President Trump in a unity ticket. She hinted at a potential partnership during an August 20th interview on the Impact Theory podcast, I think it behooves us to sit and see if we can actually make some real change. And if that is a unity party, I think that is something that we absolutely owe to the American public to explore, end quote. Shanahan said that the choice to drop out of the 2024 presidential campaign and join forces with former President Trump comes down to the probability of a Harris Walls presidency.
She noted that the Kennedy Shanahan campaign takes disproportionately more votes from the GOP front runner than the Democrat led campaign. I wonder how they figured that out. I really do actually wonder what data they were looking at that told them that. Because that's that's some serious intelligence right there. I mean, not being smart. I mean, like, actually having data to look at and rifle through, but whatever. RFK Junior's vow to end anti crypto policies was well received by the crypto community. And the independent presidential candidate had promised to back the US dollar with Bitcoin in 2023 before the topic became a campaign issue leveraged by former president Trump. So now some people are calling for Kennedy to sit as the attorney general of the United States, a role that has gotten a couple of his family members assassinated.
So that's probably not a good place for him to go. But the EPA, I could see that. I mean, he's he's cut most of his bones and teeth and all that stuff on environmental vaccination stuff, pharmaceutical stuff, health, you know, human health, environmental health, all that kind of stuff. That's, you know, that's basically his ballpark. So I think he'd actually be a better choice there than attorney general. And I mean, I just don't wanna see him, you know, assassinated. Okay. Moving on from the blackness. Bitfarms acquisition of Bitcoin Miner Stronghold is a strategic move against rival Riot Mining, say experts.
I, as you know, if you listen to yesterday's show, completely disagree with this. But Liz Napolitano from decryp.co is gonna tell us another story. Bitfarms has acquired Stronghold Digital Mining, which is a strategic move that could help the Bitcoin miner resist a hostile takeover by its rival, Riot, several experts told Decrypt. Bitfarms agreed this week to purchase the crypto mining firm in a $175,000,000 deal. The company said on Wednesday market watchers say that the deal will boost Bitfarms valuation and operations, making the firm a more challenging acquisition target for its competitor.
Quote, by acquiring Stronghold now, Bitfarms demonstrates that it is not just passively waiting, but is taking a proactive step to increase its value and strengthen its negotiation position said Julie Julie who oh sorry Julio Veramisio CEO of Borderless Consulting a consulting firm that works with Bitcoin miners Riot has been trying to acquire Bitfarms since April, when it made an unsolicited offer of roughly $950,000,000 to its Canada based rival. After Bitfarms rejected the offer, Riot began to snap up the company's stock in a bid to gain control over its competitor. Riot had 19% stake in its rival business as of August 13th.
Riot and Bitfarms did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt. Yeah, I wouldn't imagine that they will either. As the rivals have locked horns over their businesses, Bitfarms has implemented several strategies to ward off a hostile takeover, including its latest purchase agreement with Stronghold. Under this deal, Bitfarms will add 307 megawatts of power capacity to its mining operations, putting it on track to increase its energy portfolio to more than 950 megawatts, with nearly 50% of that in the United States by the end of 2025. Well, that bolstered operational capacity will likely strengthen the company's market position, making Bitfarms a more expensive and challenging acquisition target for Riot, crypto consultants CEO, Nicole DiCicchio, told Decrypt.
Quote, it's a way to enhance shareholder value and make Bitfarms a more formidable entity, Nicole said, because I can't pronounce her last name. As a result, Bitfarms will likely have additional leverage to negotiate better terms for its potential sale or fend off an acquisition according to Dickizzicchio, whatever. However, that's not the only way Bitfarms' Stronghold acquisition will help the firm deter Riot's advances. In increasing the size and value of its company through the deal, Bitfarms is also shrinking its rival stake in its business. This strategic move is likely to slow down or stall Riot's attempt to acquire the company, Verissimo said. In addition, the deal could invite scrutiny from regulators and investors, making any acquisition of Bitfarms longer and more difficult down the line.
Stronghold has been positioning itself for a buyout according to Nishant Sharma, founder of Blocksbridge Consulting, a research and communications strategy firm for the mining industry Soon after Bitcoin's halving, Stronghold Digital expressed its intention to sell all or part of the company during its Q1 disclosure noting that no timeline has been set for this Sharma said it seemed only a matter of time before another company either from within or outside the industry would acquire Stronghold. Bitfarms Stronghold Digital Acquisition is the latest strategic move that the Bitcoin miner has made to thwart Riot's hostile takeover attempts because in June, Bitfarms implemented a poison pill plan threatening to dilute its shares if Riot attempted to acquire more than 15% of its business but a Canadian court later invalidated that plan prompting Bitfarms to issue new shareholder rights plans in July.
Under the new plan, the miner will dilute its shares if any one investor attempts to acquire more than 20% stake in the Bitcoin miner's business. Bitfarms has also resisted Riot's calls for a reconstitution of its board. The latter called for shareholders to vote on removing 3 members of Bitfarms' board and replacing them with independent, highly qualified individuals selected by Riot. That shareholder meeting on the matter is scheduled for October 29th. Okay. So I could very clearly be wrong in my assessment that this was going to that this entire acquisition of Stronghold was led by the people from Riot because it which would make sense in a way, except they can't because they have not fully installed these 3 members, new board members. That won't happen or or we will find out if that is even going to happen, October 29th.
I thought that they had already done that, so that's my bad. I take full responsibility for possibly leading you down the primrose path. But still, I have this gut instinct. There's this just this gut feeling that I cannot shake that somehow or another Riot is somehow directing Bitfarms to buy these assets so that when Riot actually does buy Bitfarms they were going to have a whole bunch of consolidation already done already done if they can if Bitfarms can buy like 1 or 2 or maybe even 3 miners then all of a sudden riot gets because riot's going to end up with bit farms that's my guess that's my bet and I'm I don't really gamble but if I was a betting man I would say that no matter what anybody does Riot is going to end up with Bitfarms no matter what Bitfarms says. And I also have a gut suspicion that that somehow or another Bitfarms is kinda just pretending to be all, you know, miffed that Riot is doing a hostile takeover.
I think they wanna be bought out. I think that consolidation is part of the legacy hairless ape that fell out of trees attitude towards life that we can just not shake. So that's why I'm pretty sure that this entire thing is kind of a little bit more theater than it is reality, but let's run the numbers. Oil. Black Gold. West Texas Tea is up 2.41 percent to $74 and 77¢. Brent, North Sea is up 2 a quarter percent to 78.95. Natural gas down 1.6%. Gasoline is up 1.48% to $2.27 a gallon. All your shiny metal rocks are doing well. Why? Well, because Jerome Powell is going to start cutting rates. So it's going to be easier to acquire cheaper money that you can actually go and buy, you know, actual real assets like bitcoin, a house, you know, gold. I mean, I don't have anything directly against gold. I just think Peter Schiff needs to be buying both gold and bitcoin. But be that as it may, gold is up over a point to $25.43.50.
Silver is up 2 a quarter. Platinum is up 1. Copper is up 1 and a, 1 a quarter. And palladium is up 2.23%. Biggest winner in agriculture today is gonna be sugar. 3% to the upside. Biggest loser is lumber. 2.67% to the downside. Live cattle is down scant. Lean hogs are up 3 quarters of a point. And feeder cattle moving sideways. But what's also not moving sideways is the Dow and the rest of the indices from legacy land. Dow is up almost a half a point to 41,001. S and P is up a third of a point. Nasdaq is up a third of a point. And the S and P Mini is up 1.77%. All the indices were actually up a little bit more than that when I was looking at it earlier today, but I guess, some people are taking a little bit of profit because they know that this well, like we saw a spike in Bitcoin's price this morning because of federal chairman or Fed Reserve chairman Jerome Powell saying that they're gonna cut rates.
Equities are also more risky than stuff like bonds. Even though I completely disagree with that statement, that's the way the world is working right now is that people still look at US treasuries like nothing bad can happen. Clearly, these people don't have a United States bank that were holding United States Treasury bonds on their balance sheet and then got smoked like a song, bitch, when interest rates went up and all of a sudden their face value of all their bonds went down, which mean that they weren't going to be able to cover, well, you know, if anybody came in or all the people came in all at once for their deposits. It's fractional reserve systems are just breaking around the world, man. It's just disgusting. But $61,790 is a welcome sight to see with a market cap of $1,220,000,000,000.
And now we can get 24.6 ounces of the shiny metal stuff with our 1 Bitcoin of which there are 19,000,000. 743,902.37 of, and fees are back down to where they belong. 0.07 BTC on average per block on a per block basis. Now how many blocks are there but 136 carrying 284,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at high priority rates of 5 satoshis per vbyte, and low priority is gonna get it get but but gonna get in at 4 satoshis per vbyte. We holy shit. We are at 782.6 exahashes per second. Let me do that again. This is the hash rate for bitcoin, and yesterday was like, I don't know, like 652.
782 exahashes per second, ladies and gentlemen. That is one of the highest ones that I've seen ever. Okay. Now on to fountain app. Now with Noster, that was yesterday's bitcoin and episode 940. Wartime gave me 3,333 sat says nothing. Pies with 21100 says my uh-oh. This is bad. My fountain app has been broken since I woke up today and then connected it to Nostr. Then I disconnected it from Nostr and it's still fucked up. Not sure why this is but I was completely good with fountain before this new update. Pies, it's your fault. No, I'm just kidding, it's not your fault. I wish I could tell you what happened.
This is this is bad and I agree this this should not have happened. Did you did you tag at fountain underscore app or like try to find the fountain guys or Oscar Mayer directly you I mean Oscar Mayer can take criticism I've seen him do it on many times before so on Noster tell him because I haven't seen that you've done that. If you have done that, my apologies, but tell Oscar and then tag fountain to say what the hell, dude? Why did you screw up my my app? Or my fountain so I'm sorry to hear that but blogging bitcoin with a 1,000 says sorry I haven't zapped in a while I've been busy but I can't wait to see what this looks like on nostr let's see here Saints and sats with a 1,000 says fountain plus nostr is very cool. I agree.
Bird, the bird. 1,000 sat says sometimes I don't want to say anything. Just want to sling you some sats for doing a great job when I have the extra to do that with. I may just aim at the geyser fund. Yeah. I'll get to the geyser fund here in a second. Michael Sparks says, can't wait to listen. Just connected mine. He did that with a 100 sats. Let's see. Cole McCormick 1 says fountain plus nostril is interesting, but I'm not really sure if it's as awesome as you say it is. We will see. Here's my thing about this. This is what this is my general thesis in this space now that Nostr is part of this space along with bit before Nostr I was knee deep into Bitcoin and lightning network But when Nostra hit and I started really using it heavy about, you know, a little over 2 years ago, I see the entire landscape in a completely different light. So, my working thesis now is that we don't know what we have built. When I say that the guys at Fountain don't know what they've built yet and that this whole thing is completely awesome it's not because of what fountain does right now sure I can understand what Cole McCormick is saying okay so what so so when I boost you on fountain it goes over to nostril who cares I don't know if that's what Cole McCormick is thinking, but I I could see that. So, I'm just gonna run with that idea.
Looking at what we can see right now is sort of like the way astronomers didn't understand our place in the universe before we could see outside of the solar system. And then we didn't really understand what was going on after we discovered that we were in some kind of galaxy. We really couldn't understand what was going on. We could theorize about it, but that wasn't, you know, general news. So nobody really knew about it. But after we started realizing that we could see outside of our galaxy, we realized just how many other galaxies there were, that changed everything.
But that already existed. Our place in the universe was set before we even polished lens 1. And I think that the same thing is happening here. I'm projecting myself way into the future when I'm thinking of the possibilities of what all this means. If we come back and I'm not if I pull myself back from the future and look at just what we have then, yeah, Cole we will have to see But I can guarantee you you're gonna see some slick shit, dude. Spiral Crunch with 333 says: Okay. Now that Nostra has been integrated, I'll try fountain again.
LFG. The bird gave me 500 said nothing. And then he gave me 500 again and said great show as always. Dude, I appreciate that. And then anonymous with a 100 says please be kind to the baby seals. I don't know man. I got a lead filled snowshoe that speaks differently. That's the weather report. Welcome to part 2 of the news. You can use Geyser Fund. Geyser.fundforward/projectforward/thebitcoinandpodcast is live. And it seems that I put this up 9 months ago. My Geyser fund is 9 months old and I'm just now dusting it off and telling people about it. Because not only does it help me when you contribute to the Geyser fund, and you don't have to have to do that, It's just that when you do, not only do you support me, you're also supporting a second party in this space. And that is the guys over at geysergeyser dot fundforward/projectforward/thebitcoinandpodcast.
I can't believe it's been 9 months since I put this up here. Okay. Let's do some real estate stuff. Now this is a little bit longer, so let's just kind of buckle in. But we keep talking about Bitcoin and real estate, and Leon Wenkam, has written a fairly well, it's not a really long, but it's a little longer than normal piece for Bitcoin Magazine that I read on the show. So let's talk about Bitcoin's role as collateral in real estate development financing. Since United States President Richard Nixon announced in 19 71 that the United States dollar would no longer be convertible into gold at a fixed rate, central banks around the world have started operating a fiat based monetary system with floating exchange rates and no currency standard.
As a result, the money supply worldwide has increased exponentially and most industries now rely on credit to finance their operations and growth. With the anticipated further devaluation of fiat currencies driven by nation states needing to produce additional currency to cope with high borrowing costs, the creditworthiness of companies across all sectors is becoming increasingly important. This is particularly true for the real estate sector, which is extremely debt intensive. In this context, Bitcoin can play a crucial role in the disinflationary money, or as a disinflationary money, meaning its inflation rate decreases over time which provides an appreciating capital base that can help mitigate the risks associated with fiat currency devaluation and enhance a real estate company's creditworthiness In the following, I will explain why Bitcoin should be integrated into real estate development financing illustrating how to integrate Bitcoin into real estate investment from the start.
Why Bitcoin should be integrated into real estate development financing? Real estate has been widely used as an inflation hedge since the inflationary policies following the Nixon shock of 1971 closely tracking the growth of the United States money supply M2. Consequently, real estate has accrued a substantial monetary premium indicative of the collective confidence in its ability to serve as a reliable store of value, a function traditionally associated with money that is no longer possible due to decades of monetary inflation that has decimated fiat money's purchasing power.
However, with the rise of Bitcoin, a near perfect digital alternative, there's potential for a shift. This gradual transition could diminish the monetary premium that real estate has historically enjoyed, redirecting it toward Bitcoin over time. Bitcoin offers an alternative that is easier to access and cheaper to store as well as maintain. Real estate investors can benefit greatly from integrating the purchase of Bitcoin at the start of a development project by including it in the project financing. This approach hedges against the scenario where real estate loses its monetary premium to Bitcoin due to Bitcoin's superior qualities as a store of value.
Similarly, Bitcoin competes with real estate by serving as a digitally accessible, globally usable, and pristine collateral for lending. The popularity of real estate investment stems not only from its use as a store of value, but also from its common use as collateral in the traditional banking system. We can therefore assume that Bitcoin's increasing use as collateral due to its accessibility and user friendly nature for both borrowers and lenders will negatively impact the use of real estate in this capacity. As more people recognize Bitcoin's advantages as collateral, real estate may see a decline in use for this purpose while Bitcoin's importance as a type of collateral grows. It is therefore important to integrate Bitcoin into real estate development from the start, ensuring that investors are well positioned to capitalize on Bitcoin's growing role in the financial landscape and its impact on real estate's valuation.
My proposition is to integrate the purchase of Bitcoin into real estate development financing. Allocating a portion of a loan, let's say 10%. To purchase bitcoin enables real estate developers to hedge against the risk of real estate losing its status as humanity's primary store of value. This strategy prepares real estate developers for a potential shift towards a bitcoin standard, a hypothetical reality in which bitcoin becomes the world's main store of value and unit of account and real estate may no longer dominate. The benefits of integrating bitcoin into real estate development financing.
By incorporating the purchase of Bitcoin into real estate development financing and holding the Bitcoin within the same legal entity that holds the property titles, developers can capture the monetary premium that flows from real estate into Bitcoin, hedge against monetary inflation, and build resilience and creditworthiness over time. This ensures the ongoing viability of their business operations while leveraging the benefits of both asset classes Bitcoin's price appreciation and real estate's cash flow. Integrating Bitcoin into real estate financing can also help facilitate a smoother and more productive transition onto a Bitcoin standard where the value of real estate is expected to be based upon its utility as people can save in Bitcoin by default rather than having to invest in real estate to protect their purchasing power additionally this approach can help developers gain more independence from the inflationary fiat system which is making it increasingly difficult to beat inflation and remain profitable.
Inflation severely devalues fiat currencies and erodes purchasing power. Initially, the scenario benefits the real estate sector as people invest in properties to outperform inflation, thus increasing its nominal value. Besides, inflation decreases the real cost of debt incurred to develop or purchase real estate over time, temporarily benefiting property owners. However, in the long term inflation negatively affects the real estate industry due to soaring construction and maintenance costs and the diminishing value of income generated from the properties. This dual impact underscores the need for an alternative strategy such as incorporating Bitcoin into credit products to hedge against the negative consequences of inflation An ideal scenario for integrating Bitcoin into real estate development would involve a financial service provider offering traditional financing supplemented with a portion of Bitcoin in the loan.
By incorporating the purchase of Bitcoin into credit lines, businesses can not only survive but also thrive in an inflationary environment. This approach benefits the borrower by providing a hedge against inflation, but also offers the lender additional security through the inclusion of a disinflationary digital asset bitcoin as collateral. I will now provide an example of such a loan. Let's imagine a bank financing a $10,000,000 real estate development project. The bank could extend the loan to $11,000,000 and require the developer to purchase Bitcoin for an additional $1,000,000 bringing the total loan amount to 11,000,000 with 91% intended for real estate development and 9% for Bitcoin acquisition.
This strategy serves as a hedge against several key risks for the borrower. 1. It protects against the erosion of the monetary premium traditionally associated with real estate by the growing importance of Bitcoin, a near perfect digital store of value. 2. It provides a safeguard against the perils of monetary inflation. 3. It allows a company to build a novel capital base through the increase in value of Bitcoin which can be used to finance maintenance, further construction or other development projects. 4, by owning bitcoin, particularly in the debt intensive real estate sector, the credit rating of a company improves over time.
5, bitcoin as an absolutely scarce and decentralized asset exists outside of the inflationary fiat system offering stability during times of economic instability. In chaotic conditions, its limited supply and independence from central banks makes its value proposition more apparent, acting as a hedge against financial collapse and strengthening the market from within. The borrower should ideally retain possession of the Bitcoin for the long term and continuously, even after the loan is repaid. This serves as a hedge against property confiscation. And 7, repeat the process with a new construction project while lending against the held Bitcoin and potentially acquire even more Bitcoin through a new project financing to continuously ensure the financial stability and growth of your business.
Including the purchase of Bitcoin in a credit line also holds significant advantages for the lender. In the event of a project's failure and subsequent property liquidation, both the lender and, depending on the agreement, ideally also the borrower, are left with an asset, bitcoin. This principle is not limited to the real estate sector but is applicable to all industries. I can therefore imagine Bitcoin becoming an integral part of credit products specifically to hedge against loan defaults. If Bitcoin is properly secured, its purchasing power will continue to increase even in the event of a loan default.
Bitcoin safeguards lenders and potentially borrowers in the event of a borrower's failure to repay, provided that the borrower also holds custody of that bitcoin including bitcoin in a loan not only acts as an effective hedge against default but also offers the advantage of swift and cost effective liquidation in the event of non payment. Bitcoin's high liquidity considerably accelerates and reduces the expense of this process compared to a property. Once financial institutions understand that they can use Bitcoin in this manner, it will undoubtedly become a fundamental component of lending systems.
Managing Bitcoin custody properly is crucial. Consider multi sig setups or multi custodial solutions to ensure security and control. For lending purposes, non custodial solutions are emerging as a secure method for handling funds. Multi sig wallets, which require multiple signers to move funds, offer a significant advantage by allowing both lender and borrower to share custody. This collaborative approach enhances security and trust as it provides oversight and control to all of the parties involved. It ensures that the funds can only be accessed with the agreement of a majority of all authorized signers, reducing the risk of loss, theft, misuse or mismanagement.
In conclusion Including the purchase of Bitcoin as part of a credit line generally increases the security of a loan structure, benefiting both borrower and lender. Bitcoin can be integrated relatively easily into the structure of real estate development financing. It presents a compelling narrative that challenges traditional views on real estate but offers an innovative solution to growing concerns about inflation and the rising cost of construction and maintenance. The integration of Bitcoin into financing is in its nascent stages with no known products specifically tailored for real estate development.
Nevertheless, the possibilities are vast and promising. This type of product will likely emerge from an innovative company that recognizes the potential of incorporating Bitcoin into lending products. Traditional financial institutions are likely to be the last to recognize and seize this opportunity because of their reliance on established systems and regulatory constraints. The dynamics described are prevalent in most industries including real estate, banking and finance, energy, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, technology, aviation, mobility, food and beverages and many others. Consequently, the integration of Bitcoin into credit products would be beneficial to most industries, making it conceivable that Bitcoin will become an integral part of credit markets, especially to secure loans against default.
This could bolster the resilience of market actors in the face of rising economic and geopolitical uncertainties. By embracing bitcoin backed credit products, we can usher in a new era of economic empowerment and stability, with the potential to lead to greater resilience and productivity in the global economy. And again, that was Leon Wenkam from Bitcoin Magazine talking about the inclusion of Bitcoin into credit products for the real estate development world. But when we look at at like let's just say and you hopefully you do hold some Bitcoin. What given what you just heard what else? Now that you're holding Bitcoin you're actually holding something else. What is it?
This is where the yield will come from. It doesn't come from Bitcoin now. Because all of those products are just straight up scams. But there will be a time when a product will come up and the person behind that product knows that they're going to need actual physical Bitcoin to be able to offer their product. And their product's going to be some kind of financing that includes Bitcoin as part of the credit deal. But maybe that person is just they've waited too long and they just can't get Bitcoin they just don't maybe they don't have enough money to get Bitcoin who knows Who knows what it is? Or maybe they're able to get a whole bunch of bitcoin but they're gonna need other people that hold bitcoin to sort of join in.
What I'm getting at is that they're and I know you're gonna go you rent seeker. Whatever dude. If I've got something that somebody needs to use and they're willing to pay me to use it, that's not that's not rent seeking. That means that I actually have something of value. Right? If I'm rent seeking, I'm figuring out a way to force you to pay rent on something that has no value to you at all. That's what rent seeking is. But if I own a house and there's a family that wants to rent that house because they don't want to buy a house or they can't buy a house, let's say that it's because they don't. I had a friend that had all manner of money and he just didn't want a house. He didn't want to deal with the maintenance. He didn't want to wake up one day and have the sewer line explode on him. Whatever it was that his problem with owning a house was it was real for him. He didn't give a shit. He didn't think about a house like I think about a house. Right? So he was perfectly happy to rent a house and he did for years. I have another friend who doesn't have that much money and however he could have bought a house he also never just didn't want one.
He just didn't want the headache. I want I love owning a house. I do. I've owned 2. Right now I'm renting and it's it's working out for me but my point is that if I own a house and I'm not living in it I'm living somewhere else and I can rent that house out to somebody like one of my friends that does not want a house or at least they don't want to own one then that means that that house has a value to them and by paying rent to me that person has value to me because I'm getting income. That's not rent seeking. The same thing is going to happen with your Bitcoin.
There are going to be people and you're gonna have to watch your ass when this starts happening. It's already happened a few times, but it's I think it's coming in mass. Where there's going to be people like JP Morgan or Wells Fargo. I mean, like like, you know, heavy hitting names in the space that are going to put out a call into the streets that say, we want to rent your Bitcoin. And here's how we're gonna secure it. And here's what we're gonna give you for it on a month over month basis to allow us to utilize this in our credit products. That's going to happen.
And if you have Bitcoin to do that with and don't do it with all of your Bitcoin but you may find that if you have 0.2 Bitcoin that you might be able to secure substantial amounts of monthly income not now later on. Okay? This isn't happening this isn't going to happen, like, this year. But down the road, I think that people are gonna start reaching out to people who hold Bitcoin and pay them a substantial yield to be able to borrow their Bitcoin. Now, I'm not suggesting companies like BlockFi. That's not what this is about. Go back and listen to what we were reading. I will and if you want to read it for yourself I always include all the links of all the stuff I read in every single show.
So go find this one from Bitcoin Magazine and understand what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying that I'm going to, you know, park my money my Bitcoin with something like BlockFi. No, no, no. I wouldn't even think about that. I might be persuaded if the price is right and there are safeguards that I think are applicable. I might do business with somebody like JPM. I know you want to kill me. It's okay. But just understand what I'm saying. A very large player that understands that they they have the deals. They've got the deal flow, but they need this credit product and they can't do it without a substantial amount of Bitcoin. They are going to come calling and they are going to want to rent your Bitcoin because what is it that you have?
You have security in the Bitcoin time chain. That's what this boils down to. You have permission to vector this. You have permission to vector that security to anyone you wish. And with collaborative custody or multisig wallets I would actually feel kind of okay thinking: hey, if you're gonna give me, you know, like 15%. And don't don't laugh. Don't I mean, I'm like, if you get some some boob off the street saying, hey, you're gonna earn 15% doing this, give me your bitcoin. Yeah, you're gonna lose your bitcoin. But if somebody like Jamie Dimon says, I'm gonna give you 15% if you let me rent your bitcoin.
That could be a considerable monthly income. I'm just saying don't sneeze at it because we're at this point where things are going to start to change. Now the big boys are here, and they're going to want to play big boy games. They understand that what we've built got completely away from them. And they're going to have to make up time. And if they ain't got the time and they don't, then they do have money. And if we take that money and convert it right back into Bitcoin so that it's actually safe from the fiat world, well, ladies and gentlemen, all of a sudden, we now have all the seats at the table.
Because we hold the credit. We hold the credit of the future of the world. Let just just ruminate on that and if you still hate me I understand and I will not get into your shit about it. But I think I'm right. Okay. Let's talk just a bit about Bitwage. They just celebrated their 10 year anniversary, highlighting the growth in Bitcoin and crypto payroll solutions space since 2014. The company has now stated that they are serving over 4,500 registered companies 90,000 registered users. Bitwage allows companies and individuals to send and receive payments in Bitcoin and Stablecoins, offering an alternative to traditional payroll and bank wire services. There is an increasing demand for Bitcoin payroll due to benefits like avoiding foreign exchange fees and delays for remote workers and saving costs for company or companies. Sorry. Bitwage is expected to process over get this $400,000,000 in payroll transactions this year.
And the company has now raised $3,000,000 in funding from investors, including our good friend from yesterday, Tim Draper, who just invested something like $1,500,000 or $2,000,000 in Arc Labs. So Tim Draper is all over this thing. So, bit wage I just wanted to bring this up. It's not an advertisement. It's just that 4,500 registered companies and 90,000 people getting their wages in Bitcoin through Bitwage is nothing to sneeze at. All right. Moving on to U. S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs. Are they healthy today? Do we care? Probably not. But it's part of the world that we live in today and this is part of what's going to bring us to that whole future of credit situation.
It's it's all part and parcel of the same thing. The United States spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded their 6th consecutive day of net inflows on August 23rd totaling around $65,000,000. BlackRock's iShares leads the inflows with 75,500,000. It launched in April of 2024, has become the largest spot Bitcoin ETF with over 20,000,000,000 in assets under management. Fidelity Fidelity's wise Origin Bitcoin Trust saw inflows of a mere 9,200,000 and Arc 21 Shares ETF added 7.8. Smaller ETFs like VanEck and Wisdom Trees also gained several million. Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust experienced a $28,400,000 outflow as investors move to cheaper ETF options, losing over $20,000,000,000 since converting to an ETF in 2024.
And they were leading the charge for getting the ETF. Oh, my God. BlackRock's I bet with over 20,000,000,000 in assets has attracted significant investments, and US spot Bitcoin ETFs in general saw cumulative $250,000,000 of inflow this week reflecting renewed institutional interest in a resurgent Bitcoin market. And after today's Fed speech by Jerome Powell, I would expect those numbers to go up even more. Last up is the Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETFs. Well, how are those doing? Well, the Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETF saw their largest inflow in over a month, indicating growing Asian interest in Bitcoin investment vehicles. And, again, if you think that the dude that we know is Jerome Powell speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming did not affect Asia, you would be wrong. You would be very, very wrong. Yes. It did. And you're going to see Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETFs surge in price as well.
The China AMC Bitcoin ETF received 274 Bitcoin worth approximately 15,000,000, its largest single day inflow since July 12th. The other 2 spot, Bitcoin ETFs, Bocera, Hashkey, and Harvest recorded no inflows on the same day. Hong Kong approved its first 3 spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, While volumes in Hong Kong's Bitcoin ETFs are smaller compared to US, the inflows have been steadily increasing. The total assets under management across the 3 Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETFs amount to approximately 4,450 BTC valued at around $270,000,000 The growing inflows suggest increasing interest and adoption of Bitcoin among Asian institutional investors. So there you go.
It looks to me like Jerome Powell just kind of possibly opened up the floodgates for us all. And I know I know we're we're not really all that, you know, generally excited about, ETFs, the spot Bitcoin ETFs. I will never buy them. The the the only reason that I would buy them would be this, is somehow or another, I end up working in fiat land and I have to take a 401 k. I'm going to be telling my human resources and the, 401 k guys, hey, I need a bitcoin solution and if you can't provide it to me then I'm not going to participate in your 401 k and you can just send, you know, I don't know either I buy bitcoin myself or I use a third party 401k that that, you know, is actually is is bitcoin, reliant. But be that as it may that'd be the only reason because I can buy bitcoin now there might be a world in which I you know the United States does something really stupid and all of a sudden all the on ramps to bitcoin are closed in the United States I would definitely consider moving down south to something like you know El Salvador or Costa Rica or something like that where clearly those people have their shit or are starting to get their shit together.
So I'm just saying, I I honestly don't think the United States will close all that stuff down. I just I'm just saying that would be the only time that I would consider an ETF. But the problem is is that these things exist. And BlackRock is nothing to be sneezed at and neither is Fidelity for that matter. And these people are it's going to affect what happens with Bitcoin in the very near future, the medium term future, as well as the long term future. So if you don't know what the hell's going on, you need to figure out what the hell's going on. Please do. Please do. Just as a minor note, I just got an email that wave lake 1.1.0 for iOS is now available to test.
Let's see. Let's see if they got some new features here. Oh, check it out. What are the new features? You can add wave lake wallet support for users that log in with a verified Wave Lake account that uses Nostra Wallet Connect NIP 47. And they fixed a bug. Added support for hex private key entry on Nostra login page in addition to the insect support. So wave lake has been chilling out with, nostril for quite a while and it took fountain, a little bit longer to, well, to wrap them to put a wrapper around, noster and get that son that son of a bitch into fountain. Good job for both those companies. Really happy to see that. We're running out of time. I'm just gonna end it here and say I will see you on the other side. Have a good weekend.
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.
Bitcoin Price Movements and Market Reactions
Market Updates and Financial News
Bitwage and Bitcoin Payroll Solutions
US Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Hong Kong Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Wave Lake Update and Closing Remarks
