Share on social media:

Episode 1142 of Bitcoin And . . . is LIVE!

Topics for today:

• Tornado Cash Trial is Over: Guilty!
• Solomon's Zombie Lays Claim to Millions of BTC
• Trump 401(k)s some BTC?
• Mullvad Now Accepts Lightning Payments
• Your Unfriendly Government

SHILL ONCE BITTEN!

Circle P:

GreatGhee
Product: 100% Pasture-Raised, Grass-Fed, Jersey Cow Ghee sourced and produced in SW Virginia
Put BitcoinAnd in the Shopstr order comments section
https://greatghee.com/
nostr Profile: https://ditto.pub/@[email protected]

Today's Articles:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/tornado-cash-trial-concludes-roman-storm-found-guilty-of-one-of-three-counts
https://nostrudel.ninja/n/nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzq46rsulmv4uqvm83zs9f6v0rdra44wztlz45jpljlfgdp6k4t37qqqsgpqyfvxr6msfll3zjhkfslv252dh0ps2ynacfdy9daaz3nau3cgs24vn5s
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/08/07/salomon-brothers-say-it-has-completed-process-of-notifying-abandoned-crypto-wallets
https://primal.net/e/nevent1qqs0r67d2eltmjh9md8pvnagfr355m43u4xn9juk6fznfqp22vp0ceqqx3yqk
https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-crypto-401k-executive-order

• https://www.cnbc.com/futures-and-commodities/
• https://dashboard.clarkmoody.com/
• https://mempool.space/
• https://www.bitcoinandshow.com/
• https://fountain.fm/show/eK5XaSb3UaLRavU3lYrI

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/takes/the-government-is-not-your-friend
https://mullvad.net/en/blog/lightning-payments: LN Address - 029ca6d8397617d1bbe42714613dce0f262aa4db67123431113a148f5467029a0b@lightning.mullvad.net
https://www.theblock.co/post/365974/uk-oil-gas-firm-eyes-bitcoin-mining-btc-treasury-strategy
https://atlas21.com/united-states-explores-bitcoin-reserve-through-gold-revaluation/

Find the Bitcoin And Podcast on every podcast app here:
https://episodes.fm/1438789088

Find me on nostr
npub1vwymuey3u7mf860ndrkw3r7dz30s0srg6tqmhtjzg7umtm6rn5eq2qzugd (npub)
6389be6491e7b693e9f368ece88fcd145f07c068d2c1bbae4247b9b5ef439d32 (Hex)

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DavidB84567

StackerNews:
stacker.news/NunyaBidness

Podcasting 2.0:
fountain.fm/show/eK5XaSb3UaLRavU3lYrI

Apple Podcasts:
tinyurl.com/unm35bjh

Mastodon:
https://noauthority.social/@NunyaBidness

Support Bitcoin And . . . on Patreon:
patreon.com/BitcoinAndPodcast

Find Lightning Network Channel partners here:
https://t.me/+bj-7w_ePsANlOGEx (Nodestrich)
https://t.me/plebnet (Plebnet)

Music by:
Flutey Funk Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

[00:00:02] Unknown:

It is 08:44AM   Pacific Daylight Time. It is the August   2025.   This is episode eleven forty two   of Bitcoin and the Tornado Cash   Verdict is in. We will talk about it. I promise.   But then there's some serious   chicanery   with Solomon Brothers. Yes. They're back from the dead.   They died in the 2008   thing with Bear Stearns and   all   the the the great financial   collapse of two thousand and eight. Solomon Brothers has risen from the fucking debt. It's like a bunch of priests in Egypt gathered in the main chamber of the Great Pyramid Of Giza,   chanted some Druidic crap, and raised this   scum sucking miscreant   directly from the grave.  

And if you wonder why I'm a little upset about this, you're gonna find out why. This is all the news you can use. It's about Bitcoin. It's going to tell you what the hell happened probably yesterday.   Well, definitely yesterday,   and what's going on at least this morning. And, man, this Solomon Brothers story is really freaking creepy, dude. Really creepy.   Trump and four zero one k plans and Bitcoin will talk about it.   And, Shinobi has something to say about the government.   It's not your friend.   I don't I don't need Shinobi from Bitcoin Magazine to tell me that the government is not my friend, but there may be somebody out there that really needs to know about it.   Mullvad VPN,   if you've never used a VPN or if you are using a VPN and looking for a different way to do it or some some other VPN vendor,   Mullvad   may be   your go to because they've announced something.  

And an oil and gas firm in The UK, which I'm surprised they even allow oil and gas companies to actually operate in The United Kingdom considering how idiotic   the UK government has become, and it's become really bad, man. Really bad.   Well,   they, they're they're they're doing the mining thing, and they might do something more,   And it's possible,   although I ain't holding my breath,   that The United States   might revisit this Bitcoin reserve thing.   I mean, you know, actually act upon what they said that they were going to do. Who who knows?   I don't trust them and neither should you. But first,   we gotta talk about the tornado cash thing, man.  

Because the tornado cash trial   has finally   and formally   concluded,   and Roman Storm has been found guilty on one   of the three counts that he was on trial for. Our good friend Frank Korva from Bitcoin Magazine has it today.   Excuse me. Pardon me. Pardon me. Excuse me. Today, in the Southern District Of New York,   Tornado Cash cofounder   Roman Storm was found guilty   on the second count of his three count indictment,   conspiracy to operate an unlicensed   money transmitting   business.   The jury did not come to a unanimous verdict on the other two counts,   which were conspiracy to commit money laundering   and conspiracy to violate   sanctions.  

The jury arrived at this guilty verdict after three and a half days   of deliberation   and probably some free lunches, breakfasts, and dinners, and hotel rooms, if I might add. And after a trial that began   in the middle of last month, well, we're done.   It's finished. Yay.   As a result   of the guilty verdict on the money transmission charge,   Storm now faces up to five years in prison.   In the wake of the verdict being issued, the prosecution immediately made a motion to remand Storm into custody   claiming   flight risk.   The defense's Ms. Klein pushed back on the government's assertion,   stating that Storm had little reason to flee The United States, especially considering   that his home in Seattle, Washington is tied up in a $2,000,000   bail bond.  

His daughter, of which he has partial custody, is here.   The girlfriend   are based in The US, and his parents are green card holders.   And that much of the crypto community that supported Storm is based in The US and that they'll hopefully continue to support Storm as he appeals this verdict.   The prosecution then claimed,   now that Storm has been convicted of a crime,   he has yet more incentive to actually flee, but the judge was not convinced.   No. No. No. No. No. She claimed   that the stability of the verdict is still in play,   likely referring to the notion that Storm will appeal the verdict, and he damn well better. But before adding   that his incentives have shifted tremendously,   subsequently denying the prosecution's   motion to remand him.  

Shortly after the verdict was issued, US attorney for SDNY   and former US Securities and Exchange Commission chair Jay Clayton   issued a statement on the verdict,   quote, Roman storm and tornado cash   provided a service for North Korean hackers and other criminals to move and hide more than $1,000,000,000   of dirty money, said Jay Clayton. Quote, the speed,   efficiency, and functionality of stablecoins and other digital assets offer great promise, but that promise cannot be an excuse for criminality.   Criminals who use new technology to commit age old crimes, including holding dirty money,   undermine the public trust and unfairly cast a shadow on the many innovators who operate lawfully.  

Quote, this office and our partner agencies are committed to holding accountable those who exploit emerging technologies   to commit crime. God. Every time somebody says like, somebody like Jay Clayton says,   your intent to commit crime, you know what I think about?   I think about, like, what was what was his name?   Ruff the or Rufus the the crime dog. He was looked like a detective. He was dressed in a freaking trench coat. This shit was from the from the eighties, man. He was like, he was always talking about fighting crime. It was with his neighborhood   watch and fighting crime, and oh my god. It just makes me just is what whatever.  

Clayton   did not acknowledge the memo issued by US deputy attorney general Todd Blanche or Blanche,   excuse me, in in which Blanche stated that the US Department of Justice will stop participating in regulation   by prosecution   in the crypto space and that it will no longer target virtual currency mixing services   for the acts of their end users. And he also did not mention that the vast majority of funds that moved to Tornado Cash users   were not proven to have been obtained   illicitly.   Okay. So that's Frank Korva's take, but he's mainly focusing here   on the flight risk and the fact that the judge has denied the prosecution   to remand Roman Storm into custody   after this verdict.  

The judge thinks that he's okay. He's probably not gonna run, and he can basically be remanded to his home. I'm he's not gonna be able to go overseas   most likely.   I mean, I I don't think the judge actually said it, but I I just know that it's probably not gonna happen.   So how restricted are his movements going to be? Nobody really knows at this time. But he ain't going to prison. He's not gonna go to county jail. He's not gonna go to city jail. He's not gonna go to a halfway house.   I don't know if he's gonna have, like, some kind of house arrest thing going on or not.   But that's not the point.  

Because there's one other thing that the judge said   that is extremely   telling.   It's very important,   and I'm going to let   this gentleman   from the rage, which is Lola Leitz's outfit,  

[00:08:27] David Bennett:

explain it to you. And, ultimately, judge Fila said and she said some very interesting stuff. She said   that, first of all, she did not remand him. He he will be free until sentencing and during the entire appeals process.   And she said specifically that the MCB charge that he was found guilty on was perhaps the one with the most route to an appeal, which was quite interesting to hear the judge herself say,   in open court. She said there were a lot of interesting, I think questions or problems, something to that effect.   And so there's there's, you know, two things there.  

Roma Storm will not be in jail waiting his sentencing.   He'll presumably be home in Seattle. I don't know what travel restrictions he has. I'm almost certain he can't leave The United States, but I'm not sure about his ability to move around other than   that. And, and the second note being, you know, we,   we have indications from the judge who heard the case that there   are some interesting legal routes for challenging the one count on which he was convicted.   And so, again, to emphasize that MTV charge maximum sentence is five years.   He would probably get less than that, maybe.  

And,   so there is, this was another reason why the defense argued and and successfully argued that he was a low fright flight risk because the MTV charge is fightable and the sentence is light relatively.  

[00:09:47] Unknown:

And there it is.   The judge herself   is actually saying you've got a route to an appeal.   Now, I'm not a lawyer. I've never argued in court. I've never argued in criminal court. I've never it's just I I was out of my wheelhouse,   but it does, to me, seem extremely   odd   that the judge that heard the case   is saying in in effect two things here when it comes to the fact that she basically said, oh, this is totally appealable.   One is   that weighed in on her decision   to not remand Roman Storm to custody   because this is appealable.   And the second thing is is that she gave   hints   as to routes   of how that appeal might take course.  

It's amazing that that judge did this.   It's and honestly,   very honestly here, guys,   it makes me have a lot of hope that they are I mean, they are going to appeal. That's just that's   that's gonna be immediate. Right? I have high hopes that he's gonna win the appeal   and that all these charges are basically just gonna go away And that he's Roman Storm will be a completely free man, and it will set a precedent   that people that are developing   these kinds of technologies will not be able to be held liable for the actions of others   who use that technology.  

Let's let's   look at it this way. Let's say   time   wasn't the linear thing that we have now, that everybody   who has ever existed on this planet   still actually is alive. Like, we're all like, the timeline of humanity is compressed.   Now let's say that I go pick up a printed book of the anarchist cookbook,   And I read it. And I read about how to make a pipe bomb out of, I don't know, Play Doh and gasoline and nails in a in a lead pipe with caps on the end. I I don't know if Play Doh's involved, but I'm I because I've never actually read the book. But it's a printed book.   Well, who's responsible for the technology of printing?  

Gutenberg.   So let's go get Gutenberg because, like I said, timeline of the humanity is compressed and we all exist all at once. Let's go drag Gutenberg   into a trial because   I use the technology that enabled the print of the book to lay in my hands so that I could read how to make a pipe bomb and then I deploy said pipe bomb and cause damage   or loss of life. It's Gutenberg's fault.   It's not my fault. I have no responsibility   whatsoever   for making the decision to assemble all these things. No. No. No. It was the instructions.   So not only is Gutenberg   responsible,   but the authors of the anarchist cookbook is responsible.  

And if we can go find the guy that actually came up with the idea for the pipe bomb itself,   the very first pipe bomb ever, we we can go get that guy. We put put his ass on trial.   You see how fucking ridiculous this is?   Everything becomes everybody else's fault.   Nobody has to take any responsibility   for their actions   ever   because we can always find somebody else to blame.   This has nothing to do with Roman Storm. It has nothing to do with tornado cache.   It has everything to do with the fact that the prosecutors representing the United States government feel the fear of the United States government like a small child in a dark room   scared of monsters under their bed and understands   that there are indeed real monsters under their bed that are coming to eat them.  

That's that that's what's going on here. It's has never been anything but about control.   They don't give a shit about tornado cash. They don't care about Roman Storm. They just wanna make an example of them so that everybody else   just gets scared,   remains terrified,   and never ever ever tries to develop   any technology.   Because if you do and somebody uses it that you don't know that they used it, you can be held liable.   It's all bullshit,   but not as much bullshit as this one. This   one is freaking me out.   Solomon Brothers say it has completed the process of notifying, quote, abandoned   crypto   wallets.  

Oliver Knight has this one for CoinDesk,   and ladies and gentlemen,   this one, it half of me wants to just roll my eyes because I know in effect it has no effect.   But the other part of me is just like,   I cannot believe   human beings like this actually roam the fucking planet. The revived   Solomon Brothers announced on Thursday   that it has completed   the process of inserting   op return notices   to Bitcoin wallets assumed   to have been abandoned.   According to a press release shared with CoinDesk, the New York based investment bank are sending the notices to prevent, quote, rogue states and criminal organizations with significant resources   from potentially   accessing these wallets   in the future.  

It's   laughable.   The process itself has created a wealth of debate with speculation suggesting that Solomon Brothers have ties to people like Craig Wright. Yeah. That it sounds like it. That's the that's a Craig Wright playbook, man. Quote, they are using Bitcoin's own infrastructure as a bulletin board, David Carvallo,   CEO of Neoras Protocol, told CoinDesk.   It's very clever,   and they're going big, targeting some infamous wallets like the OneFiX   address,   which holds around 80,000 BTC.   I'm pausing here to remind you the OneFiX   address   is 1 f e e x. That's why we call it OneFiX. It's the first   five digits of that wallet address.  

That's the wallet address that was made very, very famous   in the Craig Wright trials   versus what was it? I can't remember. Was it Hal Finney's brother?   Anyway, whatever. It wasn't the it wasn't the, the Peter McCormick case. It was the case about the business, and they had a claim on the million million Bitcoin in Satoshi's wallet. One fee x is one of those wallets.   Continuing.   According to the Solomon Brothers website, assets left untouched for fourteen years   may be considered legally   abandoned   under a doctrine of abandonment,   thus leaving the front door open in terms of repossession.  

The method of gaining access to those wallets remains unclear, Carvalho told CoinDesk, that the Bitcoin community   isn't doing what it needs to be done or isn't doing what needs to be done to prevent methods like quantum hacking. So this is just getting ridiculous almost immediately.   Oh my god. We're all gonna die. Is we gonna die?   Considering   6,510,000.00   Bitcoin worth $700,000,000,000   is at stake,   it's staggering how slow the Bitcoin community is moving, he added.   The Solomon Brothers   said   that its client,   who remains anonymous,   plans to allocate a portion of the recovered Bitcoin to a fund intended   for wallet owners who lost their keys,   details of which will be released over the coming months. The notices sent to wallet holders gives a ninety day deadline   within which they can, quote, claim ownership   of the wallets   by sending a transaction   or   or filling out a form on the Solomon Brothers website.  

Jesus Christ.   The press release notes that some owners responded to the notices by moving their digital assets to new wallets.   Are you fucking kidding me?   Okay. First of all, let's let's go back in time to 02/2008.   Solomon Brothers is one of the one of the brokerages   that folded hardcore because they had exposure   to all the,   real estate or mortgage backed, real estate crap that was going on back then. So they go away.   Right?   But here they've been resurrected, like I said, probably by the Druidic Egyptians in the Great Giza Pyramid.   I don't know. But they come back to life.  

And then they start talking about the one fee x wallet,   and they're literally taking a page out of Craig Wright's playbook.   Some kind of legal   mumbo jumbo that   has   it may apply   insofar   as there is a doctrine of abandonment.   There is a fourteen year   structure behind that, at least in The United States.   But it doesn't matter because it doesn't fucking apply. If you don't have the private keys to that wallet,   you can send me op returns all day long and twice on Sunday.   And I don't care.   I'm not going to fill out a form on Solomon Brother or yeah. The Solomon Brother's website.   I'm not gonna send them a message or sign a transaction   for them. I'm not even I might I probably wouldn't even move my funds because they would just follow to the next wallet,   and then make some kind of harebrained argument that just because it moved doesn't mean that it's transfer of ownership.  

It doesn't matter.   I don't know what's up here,   but everything about this,   it stinks.   But luckily,   they have no   power.   They have no   they they might even have legal recourse,   but it's not going to matter.   It's just not gonna matter. Unless you have the private keys, you can't do dick.   I'm sorry for you,   but that's just the way it goes. But this should be an object lesson of the kind of people   we share this planet with.   In my opinion,   they should all be chucked into the sun.   I I mean, I I don't wanna be harsh about it, but   this is this is why humanity doesn't doesn't express itself to its fullest extent.  

This is why we don't build cathedrals anymore.   This is this is why we don't   have great works. This is this is why everybody is mired down in the bullshit of daily existence,   literally just waiting to die.   And I I I don't wanna be so blackpilled about it, but and and we don't have to be. We we can make the choice to not think that way.   That's up to us.   Right?   But when I look out across   my brothers and sisters, all I all I really see is people that, for the majority of them, hate their jobs,   that they work until they pray they they pray for retirement while all the time they're working the shitty job   so that they can quit working and do and do what?  

Again, wait you know, many of them wait for death.   Now,   I hope a lot of them actually have fun with their retirement, but   we're not building what humans are able to build.   We haven't done so in a very, very long time. And it's because of people like the people here   that figure out a way to revive this zombie brokerage company that died in 02/2008,   and its first move   is absolute   ridiculousness.   It's just dumb.   And that's why   it's gonna be great to sit down   with the first ever raw milk chocolate   and Oshi hotl butter chocolate sourdough cookie ice cream.   Probably the best dessert great ghee has ever had in his entire life. I've got not one, but two Circle p vendors up for you today.  

The first is great ghee, which is actually our our,   technically our real vendor of the day.   Great   ghee makes some great ghee and great ghee now you can find at greatghee.com.   That's greatghee.com.   He no longer has a shopster. He's got a full blown website, a landing page   for his product, which is ghee. It is clarified butter.   But he's got a really nice looking website.   So let me just kind of go through this for you. He has three different project or products here.   He's got   a 16 ounce jar of 100%   grass fed pasture raised ghee.   He also has 16 ounce and 32 ounce jars   of pasture raised, but not 100%   grass fed   ghee.  

Now what is ghee? And he's this I'm reading directly from his website.   So I want to do this because   this is informative, and people with informative websites   generally win. Ghee   or clarified butter   is made by simmering butter to remove water,   milk solids, and other impurities,   leaving   behind a golden   lactose free oil with a nutty flavor and high smoke point.   Unlike regular butter, ghee is shelf stable and versatile for cooking,   baking,   or even skin care. Hey. Have you ever used a 100% tallow?   Yeah. Well,   you can use butter too. It's still animal fat   from from a beef cow. Right? So well, well, from a milk cow, but cows are cows.  

When he says smoke point, he has a graph here,   and it talks about different kinds of oils and   oils that you cook with. So he's got this chart up here that's got the smoke points and some other information   about ghee, butter, coconut oil, beef tallow, lard, avocado oil, and extra virgin olive oil.   Smoke point refers to the temperature at which an oil can go before it starts to burn   and actually emits smoke, which is, generally speaking,   an oxidative process, and you do not want oxidation   in your oil.   So extra virgin olive oil starts to smoke   at 375   to 410   degrees Fahrenheit.  

You do not deep fry shit in olive oil.   You deep fry shit in something like beef tallow or lard. Lard has a smoke point of 370   to 400.   Beef tallow, it goes from 400 to 420   before it starts to smoke.   Coconut oil goes to three fifty to 400.   Butter has one of the lowest smoke points. It starts to smoke between three hundred and three hundred and fifty degrees.   But when you take it through the ghee making process,   your smoke point goes to 450   to 485   degrees   Fahrenheit   before it even starts to smoke.   So   this means that it has a very low oxidation   potential,   and that is one of the reasons why it makes it shelf stable. You can keep it on your shelf at room temperature   for   if I've kept ghee on my room temperature   in a with with a jar closed   for, like, six months.  

No freaking problem.   Your mileage may vary, but the health benefits from ghee is rich in vitamins.   It helps digestive support. It's heart healthy fat, guys. It's lactose free and allergen friendly. It has an antioxidant   boost, and it's a weight management   aid. Yes. You can lose a little bit of weight with ghee. Well, at least according to Great Ghee, who makes great ghee. And you can get great ghee at greatghee.com.   That's greatghee.com.   And,   by the way,   just   use Bitcoin and in the comment section   of the order form.   And that lets Great Gi know   that I made the sale for him because this is the circle p where I bring plebs with goods and services for sale to plebs just like you that want to buy said goods and services. And you can do it at greatghee.com.  

That's greatghee.com.   And by the way, that ice cream thing that I was telling you about, that's not actually for sale. That's just great ghee who apparently used some of his product mixed with some of Oshi, you know, the guy that makes huddle butter,   and made ice cream out of it. He's got a picture of it here.   Freaking looks delicious.   I mean, honestly,   huddle butter chocolate   sourdough cookie ice cream. Let me read it to you again.   Raw milk   chocolate oshi butter chocolate sourdough cookie ice cream.   I wish there was a way that he could package that and ship it because I would try to sell it. Now onto something and someone else who's trying to sell   something completely different.  

Trump is going to allow crypto in four zero one k plans for United States workers.   This is out of the White House press office.   Ezra Reguera reporting for Cointelegraph.   Trump,   the orange man, will sign an executive order,   opening the door for cryptocurrencies   to be included in four zero one k retirement plans,   reshaping Americans   investing their savings.   The White House press office confirmed   to CoinTelegraph   on Thursday that the order directs the US Labor Department to reevaluate restrictions around alternative assets in defined contribution plans, including digital assets, private equity, and, of course, real estate because Orange Man is a real estate developer.   The senior White House official said that the order   instructs the labor secretary to clarify the department's stance on alternative assets   and provide guidance on fiduciary processes   for offering these types of investments in retirement portfolios.  

Once implemented,   the order will grant Americans access to digital assets through their four zero one k plans,   part of a $12,500,000,000,000,   trillion with a t, dollar retirement market, and they sought after opportunity for crypto firms aiming to reach more retail.   That's right. We want more retail.   The move would be a significant step forward for the crypto industry, which has long sought broader retail exposure and financial system legitimacy.   Despite institutional   investors' increase in crypto allocations,   everyday savers have been restricted due to fiduciary risk,   regulatory uncertainty, and volatile   concerns.  

Excuse me.   The White House official said   that Trump's directive would call for interagency coordination with the Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission to export rule changes   that may support the adoption of alternative investments like crypto and retirement products.   On July 18, the Financial Times cited anonymous sources saying the president was eyeing   alternative   investments like crypto assets for $4.00 1 k's.   In a previous statement to Cointelegraph,   White House spokesman, Khash Desai, said that nothing should be deemed official unless it comes from Trump.   Desai said Trump is committed to restoring prosperity   to everyday Americans and safeguarding their economic future. No decision should be deemed official. However, unless they come for president Trump and sell blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. So they go they go into a cover your ass statement here at the end of Cointelegraph   or at least rather the the White House secrete or, the press secretary or whatever spokesperson is is   given a cover your ass thing.  

It doesn't matter.   If Trump does this,   everything explodes.   And, yes, you'll have to actually live through another yet one more alt season   because the retirement plans   still don't know enough about Bitcoin to figure out that they're getting scammed by everything that's not Bitcoin.   That's too bad. We don't have time. We've got numbers to run.   Futures and commodities. Oil going south like a nuckey in winter. A third of a point to the downside.   West Texas Intermediate clocking in at $64.15   per barrel. Brent Norcid down over a quarter of a point to $66.71.   Natural gas down one and a quarter to just over $3 a thousand cubic feet. And gasoline is down a quarter to $2.08.  

8 United States pennies, ladies and gentlemen.   Metals,   most of them are doing well today. Gold is up two thirds of a point to $34.55.   Silver is up 1.3.   Platinum is up just over a point, but copper is crawling sideways in the red.   Palladium is up two and a half, so it's the big winner for the day.   Ag is mostly in the green, and the biggest winner here is chocolate,   2.7%   to the upside. Biggest loser is lumber, 1.7   to the downside.   Live cattle is up point four, but lean hogs are down a row of sticks, 1.11.   Feeder cattle are up two thirds of a point. Meanwhile, the Dow suck in swamp water, point seven to the downside.   S and P is down point 15%,   but the Nasdaq is up a quarter,   balanced by the S and P Mini, which is down exactly   a quarter.  

Bitcoin at a $116,640   gives us a $2,320,000,000,000   market cap. You can get 34.3   ounces of shiny metal rocks with your one Bitcoin of which there are 19,903.   No. 19,000,000   sorry. 19,903,038.32   of an average fees per block or slightly elevated at 0.04   BTC   in fees on a per block basis of which there are 21 blocks   carrying 92,000   unconfirmed transactions,   clearing at high priority rates at 2 Satoshis per per vbyte. Low priority is gonna get you in at one.   Hash rate remains   right around where it was yesterday,   at 962   exahashes   per second. So you can do with that what you will.  

I, however, will be like water, which was the title of yesterday's episode of Bitcoin. And I got Justin,   who's coming in strong with 5,000   satoshis, my brother.   Thank you. I appreciate that. He says enjoyed the show. Justin, I enjoy making the show. That's why donations are very, very important because I can't I can't continue making the show unless people say, I want the show. I want here's here's money so that you can, I don't know, put food into your mouth? Progressively worse,   comes in with 2,000, says, here are some digital shekels to fatten thy purse   for the seven cures for a lean purse will surely help one become the richest man in Babylon. That's a great book.  

If you have not read that book,   dude, go search it on YouTube. You'll get the audio version. It's free.   It takes about three and a half hours to four hours to get through.   It's a great book. It really is. It's a great book.   Awesome book recommendation. Yes. Yes, it is. I'm on my second playthrough and see more or many more in the future. Thank you for your content, mister   BD.   I appreciate that, man.   User forty two seventy five twenty four forty five with five hundred eleven sat says nothing.   Psyduck with seven forty one says   Psyduck.  

Turkey With Five hundred says nothing.   God's death with $2.37 says thank you, sir. No. Thank you. And that's the weather report.   Welcome to part two of the news that you can use the government is not your friend.   Shinobi,   I love you dude, but honestly,   no kidding.   Duh.   However, Shinobi always makes some really good points. Let's see what he's got to say from Bitcoin Magazine. Yesterday's guilty verdict   for Roman Storm   on the count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money service business is absolutely   insane.  

FinCEN, the regulator responsible for licensing, monitoring, and enforcement actions   concerning criminal activity and money transmission has itself explicitly stated   that self custodial tooling that facilitates the transmission of value using cryptocurrencies   are not money transmitters   and are not subject to the relevant regulations.   So how did we get here?   Eight months after the election of a president who describes himself as a Bitcoin   and cryptocurrency   advocate,   after the Department of Justice themselves have explicitly stated that they are not going to engage in regulation   by prosecution   or prosecute mixing services,   how was Roman Storm found guilty?  

There is nothing to describe this situation   except pure, unbridled insanity,   incoherence,   hypocrisy,   and contradiction.   There's a lesson here, though,   one that I think it's time more people in this space learns.   The government's word is worthless.   It means nothing.   They will continue cracking down on privacy.   They will continue pushing KYC surveillance through, like,   things like the Genius Act   and through the backdoor,   applying them to just stablecoins   for now.   They will continue treating the desire for privacy as evidence of criminal intent. They will do all these things while talking out of the other side of their mouth about supporting Bitcoiners and the importance of self custody.   This is what the government does.  

This is what politicians   do.   It is inherent   in their very nature. We need to stop treating these people as our friends.   We need to stop pretending and lying to ourselves that they can be won over and become powerful allies to push the values and tools that we wish to see in the world.   They are not our friends.   They will not become   allies.   They will not be sharing a common cause with us.   They are, in fact, our enemies.   It's time to stop pretending these people must be treated as hostile and dealt with as such. We need to stop begging them for clauses and riders and bills. We need to take them to court.   Okay. I gotta pause, Shinobi.  

The court system is part of the federal government.   What on earth makes you think that's going to change anything?   It's part of the very thing you're talking about.   It's time to stop pretending.   These people must be treated as hostile and dealt with as such, and that includes, my friend, the courts.   Sorry.   We need to stop kissing their ass and pandering to their egos and notion of public persona.   We need to call them out as the two faced,   spineless people they are.   If there is any legitimacy whatsoever to the legal foundations of the United States government, we do not need new laws.   We do not need these people's permission.  

We have the constitution.   Remind them of that   in court.   If at the end of that,   this system is so corrupt and hypocritical that it functionally ignores the constitutional rights of Americans and non Americans,   then we need to ignore them.   Civil disobedience   is the last mechanism we have to hold the government accountable   to the foundational constraints they are built upon short of violence,   and it's time to use it.   Free human beings do not ask for their freedom. They take it. In a digital age   creeping ever closer to Orwellian   totalitarianism,   that is the only way we will ever attain it. Now that shit, Shenobi, I agree with. And I will reiterate what I've said a couple of times on this podcast.  

It is time   for us   to basically   beg off the next ten years as far as as development of digital tools,   money,   all that is concerned.   Nostr,   Bitcoin.   Next up is ISPs.   How the hell do we get onto the Internet without an ISP? Guys, that is a huge bottleneck.   A license to be able to access the ISP system   is on the horizon. It's it's a boat. I can see the mast out on the fucking horizon. It's coming to the new world, and it's going to bring with it the acolytes   and the priests   and the bishops   and the archbishops and the fucking pope of bullshit,   and it's gonna land on the shores and it's going to spread its fucking disease just like   Columbus   accidentally. They had no idea they were going to do that, but still, the effect was the same. It completely   decimated.  

It actually, it didn't decimate. That's when you kill one out of every ten people. No. No. No. No. What it did to the new world was bay what it nonated   them. It killed ninety percent   of all the indigenous peoples in the new world when they landed.   They brought their disease   with them.   Of course, they themselves were pretty much unaffected by the disease because they had lived with this shit. But the new people the the new guys, the guys over there in what became Central America and Mexico and and South America, they had no defenses   so ever against this bullshit.  

And when they paraded themselves   onto the shore   carrying the quote word of God,   they ended up   destroying   everything   they saw. It was like a marine corps battle unit   on the battlefield.   If you ever saw Full Metal Jacket,   you know why God loves the marine corps?   Because we kill   everything we see. I mean, it was an amaze it's an amazing movie. If you have not seen Full Metal Jacket,   dude,   that movie is badass. But let's get back to this shit.   The government is not your friend.   And you know how how they keep us in check?   They continuously   tell us how we're poor and that everybody else's life is great. You need to be a doctor. You need to be a lawyer. You need to be you need to be some kind of licensed by the state individual   to make the kind of money that you see on Robin Leach's lifestyles of the rich and famous, which basically told everybody in the eighties how much they sucked and showed it to them on the television set   every freaking Thursday night.  

It may have been Sunday. I'm not sure. I don't care. But basically, Robin Leach was basically rubbing your nose in the fact that you didn't have what these people have.   Right? They got all these people, they they're they're just going to always do what the government tells them to do. They don't want to lose that wealth.   What happens?   What happens   if a whole bunch of people says, fine. Fuck it. I'll be a hermit.   And I want to build tools that are absolutely   unassailable   by any government, much less the United States government, so that I can transact   my ideas,   my version of a value of wealth with anybody,   anywhere,   at any time.  

I'm just not gonna be able to get rich from it because I won't be able to have a corporation because that corporation will have a license, and that license will tell them where I'm at. I'll have a phone number. I'll have an email. I'll have a PO box. I'll have a secretary   that can answer the phone that says, yes, mister federal prosecutor. I think he's in his office. Let me ring him for you.   It doesn't work anymore.   You want freedom. We if we want freedom,   we're gonna have to figure something out. And it may absolutely   have to begin with the fact that   we may have to learn how to have fun staying poor.  

I don't know how else to say it,   but I feel that it's it's an important shift   in the mental capacity of humanity to say,   I could probably do this for ten years.   Just enough   to get enough technology   pushed through   that none of these people will ever be able to find any of the developers   that do anything   because we don't use our names.   There's no linkages to us. And the main linkage that they always have to us is if we go for profit.   And if you wanna make sure that you don't get a profit, be a podcaster   like myself and my good friend, Daniel Prince, from the Once Bitten   podcast. I love Once Bitten.  

It's a great podcast.   He he does interviews. He doesn't do news like I do. Okay? We have a completely different ways of doing things, but we are both Bitcoin centric.   And what I love about   Daniel is he he homeschools his kids, and he gives practical   practical advice about that and a whole bunch of other things.   But the most practicality I've ever seen out of most podcasters is the fact that Daniel   is literally training his daughter how to interact with   other   people by getting her to ask the first few questions of any interview that he does.   She's smart as a whip,   and she asked some of the best questions that I've ever heard, and she writes them herself.  

Dan knowing Daniel, he does not write those questions for her.   He does not. These are her questions.   You know? And she's she's young. She's like I don't know. I'm gonna say 14. I I don't know. I don't know. But she she's not like 20. Okay? When I mean young, she's not 20. She's way younger than that. She's like a   kid, an adolescent. Right?   Ask good questions.   She gets good answers.   This is a girl that was asking Michael Saylor questions.   So go to the Once Bitten, a Bitcoin podcast podcast,   talk to my friend Daniel, and tell Daniel that you heard about his podcast here on the Bitcoin and podcast   because   Daniel's my friend. I've been on the show a couple of times, and I just love promoting plebs   because this is how we win   with lightning payments   and VPN.  

Okay. Well, it's not how we win, but it's definitely in the toolbox there. Yeah. Mullvad.net   is a VPN company. If you if you wanna kinda mask where your, your IP address and and kinda spoof the system a little bit, you're gonna wanna use VPN.   But Mullvad is a really good VPN,   and for as long as I've known them, they've always taken Bitcoin payments.   Now they're doing something else.   They've installed   lightning payments.   And here's from their blog, mullvad.net/en/blog.   At long last, we are accepting payments through the Bitcoin Lightning Network.   This means instant transactions,   lower fees, and enhanced privacy compared to on chain Bitcoin payments.  

Bitcoin lightning is a protocol that allows paying with regular Bitcoin in a cheaper and faster way.   Transaction costs are on the order of pennies,   and speeds are on the order of seconds,   not minutes.   Lightning also offers a significantly   different privacy model than regular on chain Bitcoin payments   since Lightning payments are not stored on the blockchain.   Instead, Lightning payments are routed   through a network called the Lightning Network, which allows payments to be anonymized   through onion routing similar to how Tor works.   In order to make Bitcoin Lightning payments, you need to use a Lightning compatible Bitcoin wallet.  

Then you can generate a lightning invoice on our website and put that into your wallet.   The payment should not take longer than a couple of seconds.   We do not provide refunds for lightning, but we do offer a 10%   discount   for any lightning purchase.   In case you wanna open a channel to us, we have a lightning node.   Just like with all our other cryptocurrency   payments, we run our own lightning node using the LND implementation.   So   if you want, you can open your own channel   to it in order to either pay for VPN   time directly   or route through it and reach the larger lightning network. Our lightning nodes address is and they give the lightning node address.  

Note that you do not need to open a channel directly to us in order to pay.   Routing through the network   works just fine.   I will have   their lightning address in the show notes.   So that if you have a lightning node of your own,   you can open one directly to Mulvad.   And I kind of recommend that that we I'm gonna try to do that later today   because Mulvad is gonna be one of those points on the lightning network that gains   a lot of attention. And I would like to be attached to it, not to get attention,   but to have other routes into the Lightning Network more than I already have.   Yeah. I know.  

Somebody's out there going, yo, Roger Verz had it right, man. His spoke and wheel. No. It's mini spokes and wheels,   and they're all interconnected.   And they're so interconnected to the point that I kinda can't see the spoken wheel anymore. All I see is a very, very large network   that is so ridiculously   interconnected that it kinda looks like mushroom mycelium, but that that's another   blog post or   or possibly a a a an episode here on the Bitcoin and podcast.   Still though, Mullvad   now taking lightning payments for their goods and services.   It's good news, everybody.  

Onto The UK   or The United Knuckleheads.   A UK listed oil and gas firm eyes Bitcoin mining at hydrocarbon   site considers   BTC treasury strategy.   James Hunt for the block says union jack oil,   a US and UK focused onshore   hydrocarbon production, development, exploration, and investment company,   plans to monetize gas production at a joint venture discovery site in East Yorkshire.   Is that where pudding came from?   Through a new Bitcoin mining operation, and The UK listed firm said on Thursday   that the joint venture   operated by Rathlin Energy   has entered into a nonbinding agreement with Texas based natural gas offtake and monetization   provider   three sixty Energy   to deploy the Bitcoin mining infrastructure   as regulatory delays continue   to hamper traditional development pathways.  

A binding definitive agreement is expected to follow under the same terms.   Following a feasibility study,   the proposed initiative   would convert natural gas from existing wells into electricity   on-site,   powering modular data centers that mine Bitcoin   subject to regulatory and third party approvals   according to the statement.   The company's plan to roll out the initiative in phases.   Union Jack   said the joint venture partners   view Bitcoin mining as an innovative way to generate near term value, offering early production and cash flow ahead of any full gas field development.   The company added   that the initial economic estimates suggest the approach could yield, quote, very attractive returns   from stranded and uneconomic   natural gas wells that might otherwise remain unused.  

The site has been independently assessed to contain nearly   200,000,000,000,   that's billion with a b, 200,000,000,000   cubic feet of recoverable   gas. Guys,   that is a lot of natural gas.   Union Jack stock is currently up one and a half on Thursday   following the news, but remains 44.8%   down, oh, year to date according to TradingView.   Alongside our joint venture partners, we are delighted to offer a positive update on the possible development of a gas monetization   and Bitcoin mining concept at West Newton. We continue to believe that this asset   holds material value, which could eventually deliver significant volumes of onshore low carbon sales gas into The UK's important domestic natural gas market.  

Bramhill   explained oh, by the way, that was Union Jack executive chairman David Bramhill, and he continued to explain that onshore energy developers   have had to adopt unconventional   strategies   to overcome challenges   and drive growth, adding that Union Jack's board   sees the proposed Bitcoin mining concept as a creative approach with strong potential   for sustainable returns, which could ultimately support the introduction   of a Bitcoin treasury strategy   if successful.   Alright. So that's the end of the article, and there's a lot of ifs, ands, or buts here.   But   it seems   that they're real that they're actually trying to go for it. Now, I wanna get back to this statement.  

The company added   that initial economic estimates suggest the approach could be could yield very attractive returns   from stranded or uneconomic   natural gas wells that might otherwise   remain unused.   And that Bitcoin mining   is an innovative way to generate near term value   by offering and here it is.   Early production   and cash flow   ahead of any   full gas field development. Do you know what that sounds like?   That almost is the exact mirror image   of the statement that we make when we talk about   electrical grid infrastructure   build out. What do I mean by that?  

Let's say you got a hydroelectric dam they've built in the back hills of, I don't know, let's say Arkansas or something like that. Maybe not Arkansas. Something more hilly.   Yeah. And and but nobody lives back there.   Right? Now we we've seen this in other countries. El Salvador's got one of these things. They got a hydro they've got, like, a geothermal thing going on in a couple places   and hydroelectricity   going on in a couple places, but there's no real connection to the grid. There's no real way to get the electrical   generation   actually   transported   to where it needs to be. So enter Bitcoin, where you've got a buyer of first resort.  

Set up mining.   You build out the the mining infrastructure right there on-site.   You suck off all the electrons. You burn them into Bitcoin and boom, you've got Bitcoin   that you can use to invest   in the build out   of connections   from the energy generation thing, which in this case would be like a dam out in the middle of nowhere,   out to, I don't know, San Salvador.   And then you pull up the Bitcoin mining facility and you move it somewhere else because the Bitcoin mining facility   paid for the build out of the transport.   Now let's go over to natural gas. In general,   in comparison   to oil,   natural gas does not hold a candle   to the electrical or the the energy density that oil does. However,   you it is highly useful,   but not useful enough   to build the pipeline infrastructure   that you need   to transport   all of the stranded natural gas around the world   to some place that can compress it and utilize it.  

You know, turn it into an actual energy stream.   Nobody's gonna build a a you know, I don't know. Let's let's say that there's a West Texas well out there that's out in the middle of nowhere and it's all by itself. And the nearest place   that you could attach its natural gas output   would be 15 miles away.   That is a lot of money to spend on building a pipeline for this one well.   But if you were to burn   the natural gas converted into electrons and burn those electrons into Bitcoin   and use that Bitcoin to build out that pipeline,   well, now you got something.  

That's what that's how I read this statement.   That and   honestly,   we need to stop losing our natural gas.   We need to build these pipelines to where we can capture it and save it. This is very useful stuff. Sure. It doesn't have the energy density of oil   and the and oil doesn't have the energy density of nuclear energy, but that doesn't mean that it's useless.   I love natural gas.   The one thing that I miss about my house in Lubbock the most aside from my massive 75 year old pecan tree   was my gas stove   and my gas water heater   and my gas, you know, heater for the whole house.  

It all ran on natural gas.   It's cheap as shit.   And it had enough energy density to do everything I needed it to do around the house.   Hell, I even plumbed in directly to the natural gas line, illegally, I might add. But I figured out how to break down the meter out in the alley.   I hooked up a second line to it.   I ran a line to my garage   and I ran I I had all of the jets in my pro I was using propane burners   to brew beer with. I took out the   the little plug and I took them over to a guy that was a welder in a machine shop. And I said, would you would you do me a favor and redrill these to where I can accept natural gas instead of propane? They have to be a little bit bigger.   So he drilled them out. I put them back into my burners, and I had   I did never had to fill up another propane tank.  

Of course, I didn't have I'm not a plumber. I'm not a licensed plumber, but I did it anyway.   And they didn't catch me for three years. In fact, they didn't catch me until I had moved out of that house for a year to move to Austin,   and I let my in laws stay there rent free so they could take care of the house and get something out of the deal.   And all of a sudden, I don't know, they they called somebody. It has something to do with the gas line. Maybe they smelled gas one day, and the whole thing got torn out. Whole thing got I busted my ass trenching that trench, and I did it to code.   That natural gas is useful, and we really need to stop wasting this shit. Anyway, let's get on to the last story of the day, and that is that The United States is exploring Bitcoin reserve   through gold revaluation.  

Oh, shit. Atlas21.com.   A recent report by the Federal Reserve   has sparked debate   over whether The United States Government could fund Bitcoin acquisitions using gains,   I can't stand these gains, bro, From the revaluation   of its official gold holdings.   The study titled   Official Reserve Revaluations,   the International   Experience   outlines   how five countries have used profits from their official gold reserves to raise liquidity.   While it does not explicitly   propose that The US follow suit,   the document explains the steps involved and what to expect if a similar path   were pursued.  

The report reviews the cases of Germany, Italy, Lebanon,   Curacao,   and Saint Martin, and South Africa.   Some of these countries used   revaluation   proceeds to reduce public debt while others applied them to cover central bank losses.   Get rid of your you lose the central bank, and you won't have that problem. Currently,   the US Treasury values its gold reserves   at $42.22   per ounce.   That price was set in 1973.   The Treasury holds   261   and a half million ounces.   Most of it stored   at Fort Knox, Kentucky.   At the official price, the gold is worth about $11,000,000,000.   But at today's market price, it would be worth   $750,000,000,000,   which honestly is still   a drop in the bucket compared to outstanding   debt for The United States, but I digress.  

The Trump administration has already taken initial steps towards creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve.   On March 6, the US president signed an executive order establishing the reserve   using only the digital assets previously seized by the treasury. Is there anything else? No. See, this I hate I hate I hate these things   Because we're making conjecture   that they might,   when they didn't say anything, but that they might buy Bitcoin if they revalue the gold.   Honey, if they revalue that gold,   all hell's gonna break loose across sectors that you never even dreamed of.   All of a sudden, electronics prices   are gonna be affected. All of a sudden,   durable goods are going to be affected. All of a sudden, everything is going to be affected.  

That's probably why they haven't done it yet. In either event,   I would take this one with a grain of salt. It is the last story of the day,   but I want to reiterate that   even though Roman Storm   got hosed   and   he did get hosed   on that count   I I can't imagine   Roman Storm   not appealing   and I have the highest of hopes that Roman Storm will win on   appeal,   which is completely tempered   by the moronacy   behind the revival of the Solomon Brothers brokerage firm and their idiotic move to try to claim   abandoned wallets by sending a message in an op return to that wallet.   That is not a legal   means   to file a subpoena   or to to to   serve somebody notice. There there's no recognition   in United States code that that is a viable   way   to serve somebody information that of a legal nature or put them on quote unquote   notice of a legal nature.  

It's bullshit.   Do not worry about it except   understand   this.   It would not surprise me   in the least   that two things are occurring here. One, that Craig Wright and his crew   are directly or adjacent   to this   somehow.   Two, and if I can remember what the hell two was, I would actually tell it to you,   it it's gonna be used as FUD. That that's what I was getting at. It's gonna be used as FUD. Even if the the Craig Wright part is left out of the FUD   by itself, I could see US News and World Report,   The Economist,   Financial Times, all the rest of the baggage that we're dragging behind us from the legacy world that is burning   down, thankfully.  

I could see them using head see, writing headlines such   as, Solomon Brothers claims half of all Bitcoin. Everybody's gonna die,   with a picture of Jar Jar Binks on the on the cover. Or something like,   Solomon Brothers   legal claim   to billions   billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin.   It would not surprise me in the least. And you know what I'm gonna do about it?   Nothing. You know how I feel about   it? Nothing. You know why?   Not my first rodeo.   Been in this shit since 2015.   I've seen every fucking dirty trick ever used. And at this point, it's nothing but recycling.   This one, however, is slightly different, so I will give them points and kudos for at least being   creative.  

I'll give them that.   But hopefully, I won't see them on the other side.   This has been Bitcoin, and and I'm your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon.   Have a great day.