Join me today for Episode 1059 of Bitcoin And . . .
Topics for today:
- SEC: Bitcoin Mining is Fine
- Eric Trump Joins Metaplanet
- Strategy's Strife Offer Oversubscribed
- Eminem's Songs Sold for BTC
- NFT's Are DEAD!
#Bitcoin #BitcoinAnd
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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/eric-trump-joins-metaplanets-board-of-advisers
https://www.theblock.co/post/347498/strategy-bitcoin-strf
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/women-building-bitcoin-leaders-in-adoption-and-innovation
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https://www.theblock.co/post/347431/lg-to-shut-down-nft-platform-joining-wave-of-closures-in-the-sector
https://atlas21.com/bitcoin-is-not-part-of-the-swiss-national-banks-plans/
https://bitcoinnews.com/press-release/bitcoin-2025-expands-open-source-footprint/
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[00:00:02]
David Bennett:
It is 08:43AM Pacific Daylight Time. It is the March 2025, and this is episode ten fifty nine of Bitcoin. And no circle p today. I'm just gonna give it a break. Gotta shorten things up a little bit because I've got at least one long read here today, and we're just gonna jump right in. You know, excuse me because, you know, there's no reason to actually go through what we're going to go through and then go through it again. So let's just get it done. Bitcoin, Dogecoin in the clear after the Securities and Exchange Commission says that crypto mining does not, I repeat, does not violate securities law.
I wish that they hadn't put Dogecoin in this, but, hey, it is, you know, what it is. But this is gonna be really important, y'all. Matt DeSalvo writing this one for decrypt. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that proof of work mining does not violate United States securities law. In its latest guidance to clarify rules for the fast moving industry, the regulator said that mining operations do not need to register their actions as they, quote, do not involve the offer and sale of securities. Oh, we're closer to the definite full definition and probably the final definition of Bitcoin being a commodity because it's mined.
You can't just construct it. I'm just saying that's I mean, Bitcoin being a commodity actually makes a lot more sense than a lot of other definitions. Anyway, securing crypto networks has been a controversial issue in the past with the SEC under the previous administration declaring that proof of stake blockchains like Ethereum and Solana could satisfy the Howey Test and therefore be considered a security. Under US law, an asset passes the Howey Test and meets the definition of a security if it is an investment of money in a common enterprise from which there is an expectation of profit based on that enterprise's efforts.
And before we move on, I am going to look for a full blown version of the Howey Test, and this is according to Google Labs AI. I know, but this is gonna be easy for even an AI to be able to get right. So if you are constantly going you say how we test all the time, man. What the hell is the how we test? I gave you a brief description of the how we test from the decrypt article, but, no, let's let's get into a little bit more of what the Howey Test actually is. The Howey Test is the established landmark 1946 Supreme Court case versus the Securities and Exchange Commission versus WJ Howey Company, and it's a legal framework used to determine if a transaction or a scheme constitutes an investment contract and therefore qualifies as a security under the Securities Act of 1933, which, you know, came thirteen years earlier.
So here's the breakdown of what the Howey test is looking at. There's four elements. One, is there an investment of money? The transaction that we're talking about has to, must, absolutely critical for it to involve an investment of money or something of value, like a gold bar or your car or you a house that you own or something like that. Okay? It has to have an investment of money. Number two, is what you're investing in a common enterprise? The investment must be in a, quote, common enterprise, meaning the fortunes of the investor are tied to the efforts of the guys promoting the thing that you're investing money in or other investors.
There's a horizontal commonality where multiple investors' profits are pooled and shared, and then there's a vertical commonality where the fortunes of the investor are tied to the efforts of the promoter. Number three in the Howey Test is the expectation of profit. Investors must have a reasonable expectation of profits from the investment. The reasonable expectation could be generated by promoting something like you're gonna get 10% yield every single day. I I've seen that before in the crypto space. I I've seen that. Even if you're just promoting it, even if it's completely untrue, I generate my I'm I'm like let's say I issue some kind of, I don't know, David's tree coin.
Right? And I tell you that it's gonna generate a yield of anywhere between eight and double digit percentage points of yield every single day. It's a complete freaking lie. I'm lying to you, but I'm generating an expectation of profit. So again, number three in the Howey Test, the expectation of profit. And number four, and finally, profits derived from the efforts of others or a third party because that's others. That's what it means. Profits derived by the efforts of others. Your expectation of the profit from the money that you invested in a common enterprise has to be has to make money due to somebody else's efforts other than yours your own. Otherwise, you're part of the company.
You're not really an investor. You're classified as something else. This is like if my sister decided to invest in in David's Tree coin. She's even though we're related, she's an investor. She's, like, expecting me as a third party to do a thing that generates her profits. Right? So the profits must come primarily from the efforts of a promoter or a third party rather than solely from the investor's own efforts. If I produce David's Tree coin and the SEC finds that I meet all four of those criteria, congratulations, mister Bennett.
You have passed the Howey test. That is not a test you want to pass because now it means if I haven't gone to the SEC and registered this security, this David Tree coin, and I make a single US dollar from it, I'm going to go to prison or at least be fined a large amount of money or be tied up in courts for years and years and years. That's the Howey. That's the Howey test. It has four elements. Keep that in mind the next time you hear somebody talk about their investment. Okay? But let's continue. But major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin all run off of proof of work blockchains. For such a blockchain to function, computers around the world race to solve mathematical problems. No, they don't.
People keep getting this wrong. It's not a mathematical problem. They're making a guess. That's all that's going on. If they're not crunching some kind of differential, they're not putting together some kind of, I don't know, Mandela's function of gravity. I don't know that which is completely fake. They're not actually doing algebra or calculus or anything like that. They're literally rolling dice, just a shitload of them. That's it's not a mathematical function or problem. Please stop saying that. Anyway, the world race to solve mathematical problems in order to process blocks on the network and process transactions.
Proof of work requires miners, which are typically large, industrial operations, and especially with Bitcoin, the biggest and the oldest cryptocurrency. But some people try to mine the asset alone with dogecoin and some other less valuable cryptocurrencies proving easier to mine than bitcoin. And as proof of work miners are rewarded with digital coins, the SEC said it wanted to clear up whether or not this would constitute dealing with securities. Well, according to the regulator, as a miner's expectation to receive rewards is not derived from any third party's managerial or entrepreneurial efforts upon which the network's success depends, it does not come under the SEC's jurisdiction.
Okay. Pause because that's the most important part. Bitcoin mining has been completely divorced from the Securities and Exchange Commission's purview. This is important going forward. I don't see very many people talking about it today, but you're getting it here on the Bitcoin and podcast. Anyway, quote, by adding its computational resources to the network, the miner merely is engaging in an administrative or ministerial activity to secure the network, validate transactions, and add new blocks and receive rewards, the SEC said. I'm sorry. I don't mean to giggle. It's just that I keep I just had this vision in my mind of a miner walking around with, like, a, like, a bishop's miter on its head swinging a freaking incense chalice going.
Sorry. It's Friday, man. We could have a little bit bit of fun. The regulator did not mention any specific coins or networks by name. But Bitcoin and Dogecoin are the two largest proof of work coins by total market cap with both sitting in the top 10 coins by that metric, and Ethereum originally ran as a proof of work until they woodshedded themselves when they transitioned to a proof of stake model in 2022. Of course, that article doesn't actually say woodshed. I'm I'm I embellish sometimes on these articles, ladies and gentlemen. You probably just don't know where. The SEC under ex chair Gary Gensler hit a number of top American crypto companies with fines for offering staking services alleging that they were making profits by allowing customers to stake unregistered securities.
Since the election of pro crypto president Donald Trump, the SEC, under its new leadership, has said it is trying to make rules clear for the industry and has scrapped the number of lawsuits and investigations. I cannot iterate how important this decision is by the SEC. So to recap, the SEC has basically taken themselves off of any future case that involves mining a proof of work coin, and that is Bitcoin. Bitcoin mining will never ever ever see the light of day of a letter from the SEC ever again. Well, unless we get a new administration and they reverse the rules and that but but for the time being, at least in the next four years, because I can't see them reversing themselves inside of one term, mining companies don't ever have to worry about the Securities and Exchange Commission again.
That's going to be a huge lift off of their shoulders so that they can move forward, and they might start making investments that they wouldn't have other otherwise made into mining because they're like, well, but we still don't know what the hell the SEC is gonna do about this shit. Are we are we passing the Howey Test in their eyes? And since they are not, the SEC is hands off, they might, they're probably going to readjust their calculus. Speaking of calculus, Eric Trump has joined Meta Planet's board of advisors as as if as if the enemies of the administration doesn't doesn't need another truckload of ammunition delivered directly to their front door, here we go with the VVX and Bitcoin from Bitcoin magazine. Meta Planet, Japan's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has appointed, anointed, anointed actually, they say appointed, but I might as well say anointed Eric Trump to its newly formed strategic board of advisors, and the move aims to advance MetaPlan as Bitcoin adoption mission as Bitcoin gains mainstream traction. The first thing Eric's gonna do is put Melania coin into their treasury. I almost guarantee it. Anyway, Meta Planet announced the move on Friday stating that Trump's expertise oh, Jesus god. This gets better and better.
Stating that Trump's expertise and passion for Bitcoin will help drive the company's goals. As the son of US president Donald Trump, Eric Trump has emerged as an influential voice supporting the growth of Bitcoin in the crypto industry. The advisory board will also include high profile figures yet to be named according to Meta Planet, and the focus will be bringing together leaders in business and politics and technology to further Bitcoin's acceptance globally. Meta Planet representative director Simon Jarovich welcomed Trump's appointment emphasizing his business acumen and enthusiasm for for the Bitcoin community. He's enthusiastic, guys.
Eric Trump is enthused, man. He's like a cheerleader down there on the field. Anyway, Juravic said, quote, his business expertise and passion for Bitcoin will help drive our mission forward as we continue building one of the world's leading Bitcoin treasury companies. I don't think this is gonna go the way that, Simon thinks it's gonna go. I'm I'm just calling it right now. I think this is gonna end up being a shit show. At least in it at least behind the scenes, we probably won't ever see it. But somehow or another, I get the feeling that Simon is going to regret this decision. I because Trump doesn't have expertise in Bitcoin.
He's a shit coiner. Let's be clear. Anyway, the Tokyo based company has aggressively accumulated Bitcoin reserves. It was established in 1999 and has shifted its focus to Bitcoin investment and advocacy. The company trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and was previously known as Red Planet Japan. Eric Trump is increasingly backed Bitcoin and Shitcoins. He is involved with World Liberty Financial. His father, Donald Trump, recently signed an executive order to launch the strategic Bitcoin reserve. And with Bitcoin going mainstream, Meta Planet is betting on crypto friendly advisors like Trump to drive institutional adoption bullshit. You don't need to know that much about Bitcoin to say, this is an asset I wanna hold.
So what's going on? Well, first of all, I don't know. No. I can only I can only conjecture, and I can only, you know, use my gut instinct to say that they're currying favor with the Trump administration. And like I said, as if this administration needed any more ammunition delivered to their enemies, see, this this is just looks like graft. I mean, it's just and you can say, well, of course, it's graft. I don't you know, maybe it's not. Maybe it's above board. I kinda doubt it. I think because like I said, you don't need somebody like Eric Trump as an adviser if you've got if you've got a Bitcoin strategy. If you're if you're just using Michael Saylor's playbook, you're not, I mean, you're probably not gonna do much better with your strategy than just following what strategy is doing.
You don't need Trump as an adviser. In fact, you probably don't really need advisers. You've already made the decision yourself. So, again, I have to continuously ask, what's there's something else going on there. And and, again, I don't think Simon truly understands the gravity of what he's getting into, but I guarantee you he will. Alright. Onto the block where James Hunt has this headline, strategy has upsized its STRIFE perpetual preferred stock offering to 722,500,000.0 to buy more Bitcoin. Now I brought Strife to you a couple of days ago when it first was announced. What the hell is going on? Well, it's been oversubscribed already.
So Bitcoin treasury company strategy, formally MicroStrategy, announced the pricing of its STRF or Strife offering on Friday, upsizing the deal from 500,000,000 to 722,500,000.0. So when Mike first said, hey. We're gonna do this 10%, you know, thing, and then we're gonna call it strife. It was gonna be for 500,000,000. It was already oversubscribed, and they had to actually bump it up to almost 3 quarters of a million dollars within days. And this is even in spite of the fact that we are crab walking to the right hand side. Trump's talking about tariffs one day, talking about not doing tariffs the next day. The entire equity legacy markets are shitting the bed. Oil's shitting the bed. Everybody's shitting the bed. And yet, even through all of that, MicroStrategy has got so many subscribers to the original offering of Strife that they have to increase the amount of shares that they were going to produce in the first place.
It's actually a good in a way, it's a it's a kind of a good signal. It's like a canary in the coal mine. That canary is far from dead. Strategy will offer 8,500,000.0 shares of its 10% series a perpetual strife preferred stock at $85 per share according to a statement with the sale set to close on March. That's just that's next week, guys. Pending customary closing conditions. The proposed proposed offering was initially announced back on Tuesday. So it was only Tuesday of of this week that they announced it, and they've already had to increase their shit a lot.
The company estimates that the net proceeds from the offering will be approximately $711,200,000 after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and expenses. Strategy said it plans to use the net proceeds from the offering to generate or for general corporate purposes, including including the acquisition of Bitcoin and for working capital. Strife will accumulate cumulative dividends at a fixed rate of 10% per annum per year on the stated amount of $100 per share. Regular dividends will be payable quarterly if declared by strategy's board of directors starting on June. Any unpaid dividends will accumulate and compound at an increasing rate up to 18% per year.
The company can then redeem all shares of the preferred stock under certain conditions, such as if fewer than 25% of the originally issued shares remain or if certain tax events occur. In case of a major company event known as a fundamental change, holders can require the company to repurchase their shares at the stated amount plus any accumulated and unpaid dividends. The liquidation preference starts at $100 per share and may adjust based on market conditions or recent sale prices. Strategy tapped major financial institutions including Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, Citigroup Global Markets, and Moelis and Company as joint book running managers for the Strife offering, so they got some heavy hitters behind this offering.
The Strife sale allows the company's previously announced plan to raise up to $21,000,000,000 via perpetual strike preferred stock, which was STRK, that was its ticker, on March. Last week, it sold a hundred and 23,000 strike shares and approximately 10,700,000.0 doll oh, for approximately 10,700,000.0. And as of March, '20 '1 billion dollars worth of strike shares remain available for issuance and sale under the program. The STRF or STRIFE offering is also in addition to Strategy's twenty twenty one plan, which targets a total capital raise of 42,000,000,000 in equity offering and fixed income securities for Bitcoin acquisitions.
On Monday, strategy announced it had acquired an additional 130 BTC for approximately 10,700,000.0, which is much lower than any of its other prior Bitcoin purchases. So I find it I find it just a bit odd that they still have quite a bit of Strike shares left over, which was paying a 8% coupon, if I remember right. And they've now gone to a 10% coupon, and they're calling this product offering Stryfe. Yet, they were originally gonna offer 500,000,000, and they've had to increase that to 722,000,000. And yet, they still have leftover strike shares at 8% from their previous offering. I don't know. This just it it this I'm sure everything's fine, but that does catch me. That's like snag that's like it's like wearing a sweater and you walk by a door frame or something, and there's, like, a loose nail, and it just catches your sweater, and you're like, oh, shit. That that's what that felt feels like to me. So I don't know if there's some chicanery going on.
I'd at this point, I just kinda always assume that there is. So we'll, again, we'll have to see because that's all the news we got on that one. And for all those people, we're gonna shift gears here. We're gonna shift gears pretty mightily, in fact. We're gonna stay with Bitcoin, clearly, but there's been this underlying and this has been going on for years in the Bitcoin space. You look on Bitcoin Twitter, you get on Nasr, and there's we don't have enough women in Bitcoin. And you might think that I'm about to, go off on that. No. I'm not because I actually I actually agree.
We we there we don't really see that many women in Bitcoin, although we we do have a few really good ones. I mean, Elizabeth Stark comes to mind. She's lightning labs. Okay? She's like like like, I think she's the CEO, or I know she was. It's basically her baby. You know, she's freaking awesome, but she's one of the only ones. And in a in a shakedown of irony, we have this column that's written in Bitcoin magazine by a dude named Dave Birnbaum who who's titled his piece women building Bitcoin colon leaders in adoption and innovation.
So buckle up and let's find out because honestly getting more women involved in Bitcoin is kind of kind of important. Alright? So if for whatever reason you're just gonna, like, you know, pitch a fit, then skip forward. But I think you should probably listen to this one because as Bitcoin moves into the mainstream of American life, people from every background and corner of the planet are contributing to the historic rise. In the spirit of the age, the Bitcoin industry is largely a meritocracy. It is the quality of contributors rather than any singular identity that drives Bitcoin forward. March is recognized as International Women's Month, a tradition rooted in early twentieth century labor and suffrage movements.
It provides an occasion to reflect on the role of women in Bitcoin rather than focusing on the experience of being a woman in a technical field. This article spotlights the real contributions and leadership from individuals who happen to be women, but who have each, in their own light, helped shape the Bitcoin ecosystem. Whether they come from legal, financial, or technical backgrounds, individuals with strong foundational skills often transition naturally into the Bitcoin industry. Many of Bitcoin's growth can be credited to those able to distill complex technical concepts into accessible language.
Women are excelling in this role using skills in marketing, community organizing, and storytelling to broaden understanding and trust in Bitcoin. It's one thing to code or invest in Bitcoin, but quite another to convey its principles effectively to the uninitiated. As more people demonstrate real skill in bridging that knowledge gap through podcasts and workshops and online content, Bitcoin's base of educated users expands exponentially. Quote, women can be powerful communicators and community builders finding ways to distill complex topics into easily understandable and relatable bites, says Kelly Weaver, CEO of Melrose Public Relations and founder of Bitwire. Quote, since Bitcoin fundamentally grows through network effects, this is essential.
I've seen firsthand how women's approaches to explaining Bitcoin can reach people who might otherwise be intimidated. Approachability is essential for Bitcoin's long term success. In recent years, Bitcoin ownership among women has risen significantly. One survey showed that women's shares of digital asset ownership jumped from 29% to 34% in one single quarter. While these numbers vary depending on the source, there's a clear upward trend. If finance was once perceived as a male dominated space, that narrative is shifting particularly for a technology driven asset like Bitcoin, which democratizes participation by removing traditional gatekeepers.
Quote, across Main Street, America and the world, decentralized networks of female leaders can be a catalyst for financial education and increasing understanding about the transformative nature of Bitcoin, says Clive Mesador, executive director of Blockchain Foundation, quote, particularly because of scarcity, most individuals will never own even a fraction of a Bitcoin, which is why women cannot afford to be late adopters, end quote. Messador points out to a key dynamic. Informal, community driven networks excel at at spreading education. Because Bitcoin can be learned and shared peer to peer, it finds fertile ground in the natural social structures that women have historically led, such as book clubs, parent associations, and charitable groups. Such networks become informal nodes of adoption where knowledge flows more freely than it might in a top down environment.
I've gotta pause here because I'm you're you're probably hearing that I'm hitching in my voice here for a little bit, because chances are good if you are a woman and you're listening to what was just read, I did not write it, you're probably going, fucking son of a bitch. They just won't stop. And the reason I say that is simply because they teach school and they lead workshops and bake sales. And it's like, I've seen some women do some pretty terrific shit. My sister, mergers and acquisitions lawyer at the corporate at the corporate level, this this is somebody who is terrifying sometimes when it when it comes to the shit they can execute, and it ain't a fucking bake sale. I'm sorry. I I didn't mean to say that. Anyway, in the past, popular culture often portrayed men as the family financiers while women manage, you know, daily household tasks like sewing and knitting.
Yet, a recent study revealed that about 84% of women say that they're responsible for the family finances from paying bills to setting budgets to overseeing savings and debt obligations. Perhaps more remarkable is that almost all women and couples, about 94%, report being actively involved in shaping household financial decisions. Many women effectively act as chief financial officers for their families, handling budgeting, strategic planning, and long term goal set goal setting. I want to pause again to remind you that there used to be in public schools and at the university level something called home ec, home economics.
And people would laugh and say, oh, you're taking a home ec class, so you're learning how to sew and how to cook. Well, yeah, you did. Because if you don't know how to cook, you're a you're a moron. Okay? If you don't know how to sew, then that means you're depending on somebody else to know how to sew for you because you're going to lose buttons off your shirt, and it would probably be a lot easier for you just to do it yourself. But since you don't know how to sew because you didn't take home ec, you don't know how, and that includes me. I don't know how to sew. I couldn't sew a button on a shirt to save my life, which means that I gotta go to somebody who actually knows. So where's the strength? Just saying.
Also, in home economics, it wasn't about just cooking and sewing and learning how to darn socks and create a bake sale. No. It was actually more about household finances. How much does it cost to put a meal together? How much is your grocery bill? Because that's impactful, especially if you've been buying at the grocery store, oh, I don't know, since fucking COVID. Right? So this shit's more important than anybody actually thinks that it is. But that's what they used to teach in home ec, and that's one of the things that we've lost along with shop. Like, we nobody knows how to fix a car. Nobody knows how to build a box of carpentry. All of our shop classes are gone. Our home economics classes are gone. And whether it's male oriented or female oriented, that particular phase, that particular side of being able to do shit for yourself ripped away.
Anyway, back to this. As Bitcoin continues to gain traction worldwide, it is increasingly one of the tools under consideration, especially for those who like to plan with low time preference mindsets. Bitcoin's design fits neatly with the mindset that prudent financial planners rely on. It's limited supply and disinflationary monetary policy reward discipline saving. As families look to ways to preserve purchasing power, it's natural to add Bitcoin in the mix. Whether it's a small allocation every month or a larger diversification strategy, its overall trajectory shows a clear path toward growth and stability, says Frida Bobbae, cofounder of Bitcoin Sports Network, quote, I never plan to sell my Bitcoin.
Instead, I view it like real estate, an asset I can borrow against while it continues to grow in value, end quote. While it's easy to overgeneralize, data does suggest that women, on average, tend to adopt disciplined approaches to money management. They trade less frequently in stock markets, are more likely to stick to a budget, and often do deeper research before making an investment. One of Bitcoin's most emblematic qualities is its alignment with low time preference thinking, favoring long term wealth building over short term speculations. Studies have shown that women are often methodical, patient, and focus on fundamentals rather than jumping in and out of markets.
This mindset leads to outperformance in traditional investment contexts. Quote, a common misconception is that Bitcoin is too expensive. In reality, this is just a matter of unit bias, says Haley Lennon, general counsel at Fold. Quote, many people don't realize you can own fractions of a Bitcoin, and by that measure, it's still incredibly early and relatively cheap when you compare it to other traditional assets. If women empower themselves with the basic knowledge of how Bitcoin works, they'll see that we're just at the beginning of its potential, making it a compelling opportunity rather than an exclusive high priced investment.
Lenin's perspective highlights a key barrier for new entrants. Bitcoin's per coin price might intimidate some, but the option to purchase Satoshis lowers that barrier significantly. That's often an eye opener for people new to Bitcoin, especially those who excel in careful, long term budget allocation. Quote, by embracing the possibility of stacking small amounts methodically and regularly, one can build a meaningful position over time. Weaver agrees, quote, slow and steady wins the race. My personal strategy is to daily cost average, meaning that I purchase small amounts daily. And you can also do it weekly or monthly, in case you didn't know. But that spread it spreads out the risk. I ultimately think it's more risky to not own Bitcoin in the long term, but I also recognize that it's incredibly volatile.
I always say in the short term, it may never be a good time to buy Bitcoin, but in the long term, it's always a good idea to buy Bitcoin. Sounds like a Bitcoiner to me. Another reason for the surge in interest among women is that Bitcoin is a universal asset. It offers financial independence as well as sovereignty. That resonates strongly with individuals who value autonomy. Quote, Bitcoin is the pathway to financial sovereignty. It removes traditional gatekeepers and allows for independent wealth management without intermediaries, says Evie Phillips, founder of Kree Collective and founding board member of Crypto Connect, now Eve Wealth.
Quote, the blockchain's immutability means assets can't be frozen or seized. Pausing to say that's not true. Most people will because she's well, she's talking about an actual blockchain. A lot of people don't understand what that is and things like XRP, not a blockchain. It's a ledger. And, yes, it can most definitely be frozen. Just wanna make sure that everybody understands that. Anyway, hold on. I've lost my place. Bitcoin doesn't have geographical limitations, making global transactions seamless, and that opens up a flood of opportunities that aren't available through centralized financial systems.
Phillips points out highlight or Phillips point highlights Bitcoin's advantages in personal control over assets. The economy is fundamentally transforming and many are drawn to the reliability of an asset that exists beyond the reach of institutions. The novelty of Bitcoin can be intimidating especially because the mainstream media frequently associates it with scams and hype driven speculative bubbles. Thought leaders in Bitcoin addressed this by pointing to the facts of the technology. Quote, the more I learn about Bitcoin, the more I trust this trustless financial system, says Weaver.
Quote, the network has had zero zero downtime since it launched in 02/2009 and has never been hacked. Over the course of Bitcoin's history, the price has risen and fallen, but consistently tends trends in the upwards in the long term, end quote. Bitcoin is a protocol, and using it does not require trust in any central authority yet thrives on trust, education, and consensus among people. This is why communicators matter so much. Quote, I often see women's entire perspective shift when they recognize Bitcoin's potential, not just as an investment, but as a vehicle for financial empowerment, says Megan Nilsson, host of the Crypto Megan podcast, quote, by leveraging their ability to build networks, drive education, and advocate for broader adoption, women can play a leading role in shaping the future of Bitcoin and decentralized finance.
Bitcoin has fundamentally redefined the concept of financial independence. It has leveled the playing field, offering financial tools that were once only available to accredited invest investors. It eliminates reliance on central systems providing individuals with true ownership and control over their wealth. In the coming years, the world economy and society itself will be reshaped by the convergence of transformative technologies, including AI, robotics, and space travel, all underwritten and financed with Bitcoin. It's no wonder that as families, institutions, and communities discover discover Bitcoin's utility, so many of those leading the charge are women.
They do they do so not because they want to check a box, but because the technology itself demands the best talent available. In celebrating the achievement of women this month, we also celebrate Bitcoin's potential to reshape our collective future. It is a global experiment buoyed by those who see beyond the hype and dedicate themselves to building, teaching, and expanding the Bitcoin network for future generations. Okay. That's the article. And there's there's something to be said about what, you know, what what the author is is trying to convey here.
And I but I think, you know, and this this is kinda going out to people who are, you know, rolling their eyes because I know you're out there. I know there's some people out there going, goddamn it. Do we have to do this shit again? Do we constantly have to talk about women and Bitcoin and the fact that there's not any and how important they are is I'm just freaking sick of it. Yeah. Well, how do you not get sick of it? You you basically recognize that you're you're looking at humanity's and I'm just gonna say it. You're looking at at at humanity's greatest natural resource beyond oil, beyond natural gas, beyond coal, beyond gold, beyond other planets in the universe because without repopulating or or being able to populate the human species here and beyond, then what's what's all that shit worth?
Fucking nothing. And as far as I know, unless you got, like, some kind of Frank Herbert, you know, the author behind Dune, axolotl tank, and, you know, be able to just, like, breed babies outside of outside of a woman. I'm not even sure if that would be considered a human being anymore, by the way, but we have on our hands the greatest natural resource that humanity has. And men are important because without sperm, you're not getting pregnant. So humanity itself is clearly humanity's most essential human resource or natural resource. But here's the thing. Without the other side of the equation, we're not realizing our own potential.
Right? So, like, if you lose all the women, men's sperm don't matter. If you lose all the men, women's uteri don't matter. It's just it's all bullshit. You need both of them. And it is the case that in a lot of places I've seen, women have not really been encouraged to get into Bitcoin. And those that do are pretty scrappy. Like, again, I I I point to Elizabeth Stark. I mean, that chick's pretty fucking scrappy. Don't don't tangle with her because she will probably cut your ass down. She's fucking smart as a whip. But I was talking about natural resource. It's untapped.
You're talking about somebody who who who almost at their base is begging for financial sovereignty, especially in places like Africa or, God forbid, The Middle East where you where as a woman, you can't even get a fucking bank account without your brother and your cousin and your cousin's cousin, who are all male, coming down with you to the bank saying, yeah. It's okay. We give our blessing. That's kinda bullshit, dude. So now we have this tool where not even where even the people in the most strict and fundamentalist of religions cannot stop them, cannot stop women.
All we really have to do is get it through you know? Actually, we don't even get through their heads. We just need to approach them and say, hey. By the way, this might actually interest you. You want bodily autonomy? How about financial autonomy? You wanna not be told what to do? How about we, give you a technology that that infuriates people who try to tell you how to spend? How's that? See, that that's what I'm saying. It's an untapped natural resource, and they represent damn near half of the people on the planet. So that's one of the reasons why I did wanna bring it to you. I had no idea that March is International Women's Month, though, but I don't know any of these months. Every month seems to be some, like, pizza month or beer month or dude month or football month or soccer month or whatever. I don't care. It's it's all bullshit. All I'm saying is that we should probably start taking seriously the fact that we have a damn near one of the most credible yet untapped natural resources that would buy into Bitcoin and understand its value proposition almost fucking immediately, and I don't think we're actually doing enough.
That's why I bring you this. Let's run the numbers. Futures and commodities. Then that that that that that breaking. Trump says there will be flexibility on reciprocal tariffs. So the waffling continues. We're gonna tear off your ass. Oh, but it's not gonna be so bad. You know what? I changed my mind. We're not gonna tear off your ass. Nope. We're gonna tariff your ass, but there will be reciprocal tariffs. The the back and forth is not helping the markets. I actually think that's on purpose. But we've got other fish to fry, oily fish, like West Texas Intermediate, which is up one fifth of a point to $68.21. Brent Norsee sideways at $72.01.
Natural gas up a full point to $4.01. Gasoline is down a fifth of a point no. Quarter of a point to $2.18. Shiny Metal Rock's having a bad day. Gold is down point 8%. Silver is down one and a half. Platinum is down 1.1%. Copper is down a quarter. And palladium is the only one in the other direction reversing green one and a quarter percent to the upside. Ag futures are mostly down. Only lumber and rough rice, which is the winner, today's winner is in the green. Point three four to the upside for the ricey stuff. And then the biggest loser is chocolate, four and a third to the downside. Live cattle is, well, it's walking sideways, but lean hogs is up a point and a half. Feeder cattle is down point six.
Equity markets are having a bad day probably because Trump's waffling. Dow is down a third of a point. S and P down a third. Nasdaq down a third, and the S and P Mini is down three quarters of a point. Bitcoin waffling itself today, we're at 83,930. That is a $1,670,000,000,000 market cap. We can only purchase 27.5 ounces of shiny metal rocks with our one Bitcoin of which there are 19,839,725.9 of, and average fees per block remain low, 0.04 BTC taking fees on a per block basis. There are 42 blocks waiting, no, carrying nine oh, god. 42 blocks are only carrying 9,000 unconfirmed transactions.
That's weird. Anyway, they're waiting to clear at high priority rates of 5 Satoshis per vByte. Low priority is gonna get you in at three. Hash rate remains, under 800. We're down to 788.3 x hashes per second. We'll have to see where that goes from here. From, treasury's surveillance and t bills, which was yesterday's episode of Bitcoin, and I got bit step with a hundred and no. 1,291. Seth says nothing, dude. Thank you. Axle rod axle rod with a thousand says Psyduck. Justin with a thousand says I enjoyed the episode. Thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Anonymous with another thousand says Psyduck.
Let's see. Who else we got? Bitcoin for president five hundred says thank you for the show. You do a fantastic job. Yes. It's the lowest paying job in the universe, and I do it well. Perma nerd with 234 sets says, like, oh, he's like, Ben Jessman's wine. I'm having to actually translate this in pub here. Hold on. Like Ben Jessman's wine, this episode was sweet. Love Ferventers, pies with a hundred, hashtag 40 h b w. That's the weather report. Welcome to part two of the news that you can use. M and M's former studio engineer has been charged with selling stolen tracks for Bitcoin.
Everybody loves the corn, including engineers. This is out of Decrypt.c0 written by Vismayevi, a former sound engineer for Grammy award winning rapper Marshall Mathers, popularly known as Eminem, has been charged with selling the musician's unreleased songs for $50,000 of Bitcoin. Joseph Strange, 40 6 of Holly, Michigan is accused of selling at least 25 tracks that Eminem recorded between 1999 and 02/2018, which were still in development and never meant for public release as per a statement. The federal charges include criminal copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods as the tracks were leaked online without M and M's consent.
The FBI, their probe was triggered by tips from M and M Studios employers. Wait. Hold on. That's read wrong. I am sorry. That probe was triggered by tips from M and M's studio employees who saw the stolen music posted online on platforms including Reddit and YouTube as per an affidavit. And on January, in search of Strange's home in Holly, Michigan, FBI Agents found hard drives containing copies of his stolen music, pretty incriminating, as well as handwritten lyric sheets by Eminem and a VHS tape containing an unreleased Eminem music video. If convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison for interstate transportation of stolen goods and up to five years for criminal copyright infringement.
He could also face a fine of up to a quarter million dollars. Strange, who worked at the studio from 02/2007 to 02/2021, was one of the four employees who had direct access to the hard drives, and authorities allege he took advantage of this access to steal the music. Notably, one of the other individuals with access was Mike Strange or wait. Was Mike Strange. I'm sorry. I'm having a real problem here today, guys. I am so sorry. Notably, one of the other individuals with access was Joseph Strange's uncle, Mike. Uncle Mike, who continues to work at M and M's studio as an engineer.
The agents also found financial records documenting payments for the music Joseph Strange is accused of having sold linking him to the transactions. According to FBI, Strange sold the tracks to a 31 year old man from Ontario, candidate, Canada known as Doja Rat for 50,000 in Bitcoin. I recognize that name. Doja Rat later told FBI that he raised the funds with the help of a group of M and M fans. The Canadian man also revealed that Strange claimed to possess more than 300 unreleased tracks and handwritten lyric sheets created by Eminem. Quote, the significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem's artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated. Oh, yes. It can.
Let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work, Eminem's representative said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. Eminem's music has been leaked without his permission in a number of times in the past with unauthorized tracks appearing online in the early two thousands, '2 thousands, and tens. In 02/2002, a leak of the Eminem show led to the album's release date being moved up to prevent further piracy. Okay. So here's my question.
It's not that it's not that I'm defending this guy for, you know, like, I'm just like a copyright hater. I do agree that people's work should be honored by, you know, if they're gonna work and you like consuming their content, maybe you should actually pay for their content instead of pirating it. Right? So but here's my thing is, like, if you're never going to release this music, I have I've got a problem with that. If you're my favorite band, like, my favorite band is Rush. They were recording for, like, over like, recording and touring for forty years. Well, actually, well over forty years.
You know. I know there is stuff that they've never released, and they have no intention of ever releasing it. Yet I wanna hear it. I would love it. I would love to hear it. Why won't they release it? They haven't said that they have it, but I know that they do. All these artists do. I just wish that there was a mechanism that these guys would say, okay, this was a stupid song, but, hey, you guys have been, you know, my fans for years and years and years. Here it is. Otherwise, you're gonna get your shit pirated.
So if you are an artist out there and you've got unreleased stuff, why don't you make legacy plans to release it after your death or or something. Right? Don't just sit on stuff that you've done when you have a whole group of people that love what it is that you already do. Maybe it would be more well received than you think. Now onto the Korean company, LG. You know, they make all kinds of shit like washers and dryers and god only knows oh, and televisions and god only knows what else. Well, they've decided to shut down their NFT platform joining a wave a wave of closures in the NFT sector.
Maybe it's finally dying. I don't know, but Danny Park from the block is writing this one. Global electronics conglomerate, LG, will shut down their NFT platform LG Art Lab after three years of stealing people's money. Oh, I mean, I I I meant business, quote, after careful consideration. We have made the difficult decision to close the platform, LG Art Labs notice said, quote, we believe it is the right time to shift our focus and explore new opportunities. What? To steal people's money? LG Electronics launched the NFT platform in September of twenty twenty two, allowing users to trade NFTs and display digital art on its smart TVs.
The platform also collaborated with various digital artists, including sculptor Barry x Beltball. The platform said it will automatically return the NFTs on the marketplace to user wallets by the April with complete closure expected on June 17. LG Art Labs closure reflects a broader trend in NFT platforms shutting down amid broader decline of this particular evil ass NFT market. Kraken Crypto Exchange closed down its NFT marketplace in February to streamline resource allocation for further projects, while Nike's wearable NFTs startup RTFKT, sounds like wrecked to me, announced shutdown last December.
NFTs emerged in the early years of this decade as a new frontier to steal people's money, and they encompass digital assets, ownership, and the creative world, spawning successful collections such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Pudgy Penguins. Do y'all remember b a y c? Do you remember having to dig through all the bullshit tweets with those idiots with the apes and their fucking avatar? I just killing me. And we were saying for years this was garbage, and now it looks like they finally figured it out. COVID nineteen's global impact has also fueled NFT adoption with people turning to digital experiences in NFTs and the metaverse under the lockdown. However, the NFT market since experienced a dramatic downturn with weekly trading volumes now less than a hundred million dollars, which is a stark contrast to the $3,240,000,000 peak in August of twenty twenty one according to Block, Block's data dashboard.
Wow. So, yeah, the NFT market has just just destroyed itself. It's my god almighty. This is just terrible. Okay. So just just to be clear, NFTs were never valuable. I don't know if you understand that, but they were never valuable. We begged everybody under the sun to stop putting good money for something that I can right click and save. Did not work, I guess, until now. And this is one of the reasons we've seen such a slowdown at least on the Bitcoin side for the Bitcoin transactions because people finally got it through their head that ordinals and inscriptions are no better than NFTs. It was the same crap.
It's all just at one point or another, somebody will find a high quality use for ordinals and inscriptions, but it's not going to be sexy. It's going to be something like, oh, I don't know, grocery receipts or something. It it's gonna it'll have some kind of impact, but it won't be tracking bananas on the blockchain, and it sure as shit won't be a picture of a dumbass ape. But there there will be usage for ordinals and inscriptions, just not this way. What way, David? I don't know, dude. You figure it out. But until you do, Bitcoin is not going to be part of the Swiss National Bank's plans, from Atlas twenty one.
According to Bloomberg, the Swiss National Bank has indeed rejected any possibility of including Bitcoin in its reserves. In an interview in Zurich with Bloomberg Television, Martin Schlegel, I love that name, Schlegel, vice president of the bank, stated, quote, we do not have any plans to buy crypto assets. We are looking for the preservation of value, for example. And as you know, cryptocurrencies have large fluctuations in value, so this is not a given. So we can just pretty much say bye bye to the Swiss National Bank and any possibility that they had of owning Bitcoin in the near term. To end today and this week's broadcast schedule, I've got this one from Bitcoin news.
Bitcoin $20.25 is coming. It is going to Las Vegas. Bitcoin Twenty Twenty Five expands its open source footprint. Yay. The industry pioneer in Bitcoin news, BTC Incorporated, the world's largest Bitcoin conference holder today has unveiled its newly expanded open source hub for Bitcoin twenty twenty five slated for May at the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas. Building on a proven track record of success, this dedication or dedicated expansion underscores the event's unwavering commitment to fueling collaboration, exploration, and breakthroughs, with Bitcoin's open source ecosystem.
The open source stage remains a cornerstone of the event hosting in-depth discussions with Bitcoin core developers and lightning engineers and privacy researchers. This year's enhancements include new interactive features and dedicated spaces for collaboration, ensuring that Bitcoin 20 20 5 continues to be a hub for advancing decentralized technology. Quote, the conversations happening in Bitcoin's open source community impact the world in ways most of us will never see. And it's been that way for years, said David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Incorporated. Quote, Bitcoin has no CEO, for Satoshis has been gone for over a decade.
These are the people writing the code that will underpin the global financial evolution, and when they gather, it's like lightning in a bottle, end quote. The newly expanded developer track underscores the pivotal role of open source software empowering Bitcoin enabling censorship resistance and borderless financial tools. In addition to cutting edge infrastructure talks on the open source stage, this year's highlights include Hackathon Awards, BitDev's special event, a or rather project stations offering developers a chance to showcase live demos. Chain Dual Arcade. Oh, what's this? An interactive gaming experience where participants compete to build the longest chain and win sats on the lightning network.
Oh, okay. I get it. I guess it's like playing StarCraft or something like that, you know, team against team. And and then finally, the Nostr Lounge, a dedicated space for developers and advocates focused on decentralized, censorship resistant communication tools. It's about fucking time. Because the last time anybody did something with Nostr at Bitcoin twenty twenty four, they had to do it as a separate event, if I remember right. Now it seems that BTC Incorporated have figured it out and are starting to embrace Nasr. Thank God. Bitcoin twenty twenty five is expected to attract over 30,000 attendees and feature more than 300 exhibitors and 500 speakers.
The event will also host its continuing legal education program, providing legal and financial professionals with critical insights into the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding Bitcoin. All journalists, developers, and Bitcoin enthusiasts are invited to join the open source hub and open source stage for the most technical conversations in Bitcoin. Free access to the hub is exclusively for developers with proven code contributions to select selected Bitcoin projects. Journalists can apply for a press pass, which include access to open source programming.
And if you're interested in attending, there's a URL and, like, all kinds of stuff. And, yes, this story, as with all the other stories in today's episode, will be in the show notes as URLs. Just click and go, and I will see you on the other side. This has been Bitcoin and and I'm your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon. Have a great day.
It is 08:43AM Pacific Daylight Time. It is the March 2025, and this is episode ten fifty nine of Bitcoin. And no circle p today. I'm just gonna give it a break. Gotta shorten things up a little bit because I've got at least one long read here today, and we're just gonna jump right in. You know, excuse me because, you know, there's no reason to actually go through what we're going to go through and then go through it again. So let's just get it done. Bitcoin, Dogecoin in the clear after the Securities and Exchange Commission says that crypto mining does not, I repeat, does not violate securities law.
I wish that they hadn't put Dogecoin in this, but, hey, it is, you know, what it is. But this is gonna be really important, y'all. Matt DeSalvo writing this one for decrypt. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that proof of work mining does not violate United States securities law. In its latest guidance to clarify rules for the fast moving industry, the regulator said that mining operations do not need to register their actions as they, quote, do not involve the offer and sale of securities. Oh, we're closer to the definite full definition and probably the final definition of Bitcoin being a commodity because it's mined.
You can't just construct it. I'm just saying that's I mean, Bitcoin being a commodity actually makes a lot more sense than a lot of other definitions. Anyway, securing crypto networks has been a controversial issue in the past with the SEC under the previous administration declaring that proof of stake blockchains like Ethereum and Solana could satisfy the Howey Test and therefore be considered a security. Under US law, an asset passes the Howey Test and meets the definition of a security if it is an investment of money in a common enterprise from which there is an expectation of profit based on that enterprise's efforts.
And before we move on, I am going to look for a full blown version of the Howey Test, and this is according to Google Labs AI. I know, but this is gonna be easy for even an AI to be able to get right. So if you are constantly going you say how we test all the time, man. What the hell is the how we test? I gave you a brief description of the how we test from the decrypt article, but, no, let's let's get into a little bit more of what the Howey Test actually is. The Howey Test is the established landmark 1946 Supreme Court case versus the Securities and Exchange Commission versus WJ Howey Company, and it's a legal framework used to determine if a transaction or a scheme constitutes an investment contract and therefore qualifies as a security under the Securities Act of 1933, which, you know, came thirteen years earlier.
So here's the breakdown of what the Howey test is looking at. There's four elements. One, is there an investment of money? The transaction that we're talking about has to, must, absolutely critical for it to involve an investment of money or something of value, like a gold bar or your car or you a house that you own or something like that. Okay? It has to have an investment of money. Number two, is what you're investing in a common enterprise? The investment must be in a, quote, common enterprise, meaning the fortunes of the investor are tied to the efforts of the guys promoting the thing that you're investing money in or other investors.
There's a horizontal commonality where multiple investors' profits are pooled and shared, and then there's a vertical commonality where the fortunes of the investor are tied to the efforts of the promoter. Number three in the Howey Test is the expectation of profit. Investors must have a reasonable expectation of profits from the investment. The reasonable expectation could be generated by promoting something like you're gonna get 10% yield every single day. I I've seen that before in the crypto space. I I've seen that. Even if you're just promoting it, even if it's completely untrue, I generate my I'm I'm like let's say I issue some kind of, I don't know, David's tree coin.
Right? And I tell you that it's gonna generate a yield of anywhere between eight and double digit percentage points of yield every single day. It's a complete freaking lie. I'm lying to you, but I'm generating an expectation of profit. So again, number three in the Howey Test, the expectation of profit. And number four, and finally, profits derived from the efforts of others or a third party because that's others. That's what it means. Profits derived by the efforts of others. Your expectation of the profit from the money that you invested in a common enterprise has to be has to make money due to somebody else's efforts other than yours your own. Otherwise, you're part of the company.
You're not really an investor. You're classified as something else. This is like if my sister decided to invest in in David's Tree coin. She's even though we're related, she's an investor. She's, like, expecting me as a third party to do a thing that generates her profits. Right? So the profits must come primarily from the efforts of a promoter or a third party rather than solely from the investor's own efforts. If I produce David's Tree coin and the SEC finds that I meet all four of those criteria, congratulations, mister Bennett.
You have passed the Howey test. That is not a test you want to pass because now it means if I haven't gone to the SEC and registered this security, this David Tree coin, and I make a single US dollar from it, I'm going to go to prison or at least be fined a large amount of money or be tied up in courts for years and years and years. That's the Howey. That's the Howey test. It has four elements. Keep that in mind the next time you hear somebody talk about their investment. Okay? But let's continue. But major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin all run off of proof of work blockchains. For such a blockchain to function, computers around the world race to solve mathematical problems. No, they don't.
People keep getting this wrong. It's not a mathematical problem. They're making a guess. That's all that's going on. If they're not crunching some kind of differential, they're not putting together some kind of, I don't know, Mandela's function of gravity. I don't know that which is completely fake. They're not actually doing algebra or calculus or anything like that. They're literally rolling dice, just a shitload of them. That's it's not a mathematical function or problem. Please stop saying that. Anyway, the world race to solve mathematical problems in order to process blocks on the network and process transactions.
Proof of work requires miners, which are typically large, industrial operations, and especially with Bitcoin, the biggest and the oldest cryptocurrency. But some people try to mine the asset alone with dogecoin and some other less valuable cryptocurrencies proving easier to mine than bitcoin. And as proof of work miners are rewarded with digital coins, the SEC said it wanted to clear up whether or not this would constitute dealing with securities. Well, according to the regulator, as a miner's expectation to receive rewards is not derived from any third party's managerial or entrepreneurial efforts upon which the network's success depends, it does not come under the SEC's jurisdiction.
Okay. Pause because that's the most important part. Bitcoin mining has been completely divorced from the Securities and Exchange Commission's purview. This is important going forward. I don't see very many people talking about it today, but you're getting it here on the Bitcoin and podcast. Anyway, quote, by adding its computational resources to the network, the miner merely is engaging in an administrative or ministerial activity to secure the network, validate transactions, and add new blocks and receive rewards, the SEC said. I'm sorry. I don't mean to giggle. It's just that I keep I just had this vision in my mind of a miner walking around with, like, a, like, a bishop's miter on its head swinging a freaking incense chalice going.
Sorry. It's Friday, man. We could have a little bit bit of fun. The regulator did not mention any specific coins or networks by name. But Bitcoin and Dogecoin are the two largest proof of work coins by total market cap with both sitting in the top 10 coins by that metric, and Ethereum originally ran as a proof of work until they woodshedded themselves when they transitioned to a proof of stake model in 2022. Of course, that article doesn't actually say woodshed. I'm I'm I embellish sometimes on these articles, ladies and gentlemen. You probably just don't know where. The SEC under ex chair Gary Gensler hit a number of top American crypto companies with fines for offering staking services alleging that they were making profits by allowing customers to stake unregistered securities.
Since the election of pro crypto president Donald Trump, the SEC, under its new leadership, has said it is trying to make rules clear for the industry and has scrapped the number of lawsuits and investigations. I cannot iterate how important this decision is by the SEC. So to recap, the SEC has basically taken themselves off of any future case that involves mining a proof of work coin, and that is Bitcoin. Bitcoin mining will never ever ever see the light of day of a letter from the SEC ever again. Well, unless we get a new administration and they reverse the rules and that but but for the time being, at least in the next four years, because I can't see them reversing themselves inside of one term, mining companies don't ever have to worry about the Securities and Exchange Commission again.
That's going to be a huge lift off of their shoulders so that they can move forward, and they might start making investments that they wouldn't have other otherwise made into mining because they're like, well, but we still don't know what the hell the SEC is gonna do about this shit. Are we are we passing the Howey Test in their eyes? And since they are not, the SEC is hands off, they might, they're probably going to readjust their calculus. Speaking of calculus, Eric Trump has joined Meta Planet's board of advisors as as if as if the enemies of the administration doesn't doesn't need another truckload of ammunition delivered directly to their front door, here we go with the VVX and Bitcoin from Bitcoin magazine. Meta Planet, Japan's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has appointed, anointed, anointed actually, they say appointed, but I might as well say anointed Eric Trump to its newly formed strategic board of advisors, and the move aims to advance MetaPlan as Bitcoin adoption mission as Bitcoin gains mainstream traction. The first thing Eric's gonna do is put Melania coin into their treasury. I almost guarantee it. Anyway, Meta Planet announced the move on Friday stating that Trump's expertise oh, Jesus god. This gets better and better.
Stating that Trump's expertise and passion for Bitcoin will help drive the company's goals. As the son of US president Donald Trump, Eric Trump has emerged as an influential voice supporting the growth of Bitcoin in the crypto industry. The advisory board will also include high profile figures yet to be named according to Meta Planet, and the focus will be bringing together leaders in business and politics and technology to further Bitcoin's acceptance globally. Meta Planet representative director Simon Jarovich welcomed Trump's appointment emphasizing his business acumen and enthusiasm for for the Bitcoin community. He's enthusiastic, guys.
Eric Trump is enthused, man. He's like a cheerleader down there on the field. Anyway, Juravic said, quote, his business expertise and passion for Bitcoin will help drive our mission forward as we continue building one of the world's leading Bitcoin treasury companies. I don't think this is gonna go the way that, Simon thinks it's gonna go. I'm I'm just calling it right now. I think this is gonna end up being a shit show. At least in it at least behind the scenes, we probably won't ever see it. But somehow or another, I get the feeling that Simon is going to regret this decision. I because Trump doesn't have expertise in Bitcoin.
He's a shit coiner. Let's be clear. Anyway, the Tokyo based company has aggressively accumulated Bitcoin reserves. It was established in 1999 and has shifted its focus to Bitcoin investment and advocacy. The company trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and was previously known as Red Planet Japan. Eric Trump is increasingly backed Bitcoin and Shitcoins. He is involved with World Liberty Financial. His father, Donald Trump, recently signed an executive order to launch the strategic Bitcoin reserve. And with Bitcoin going mainstream, Meta Planet is betting on crypto friendly advisors like Trump to drive institutional adoption bullshit. You don't need to know that much about Bitcoin to say, this is an asset I wanna hold.
So what's going on? Well, first of all, I don't know. No. I can only I can only conjecture, and I can only, you know, use my gut instinct to say that they're currying favor with the Trump administration. And like I said, as if this administration needed any more ammunition delivered to their enemies, see, this this is just looks like graft. I mean, it's just and you can say, well, of course, it's graft. I don't you know, maybe it's not. Maybe it's above board. I kinda doubt it. I think because like I said, you don't need somebody like Eric Trump as an adviser if you've got if you've got a Bitcoin strategy. If you're if you're just using Michael Saylor's playbook, you're not, I mean, you're probably not gonna do much better with your strategy than just following what strategy is doing.
You don't need Trump as an adviser. In fact, you probably don't really need advisers. You've already made the decision yourself. So, again, I have to continuously ask, what's there's something else going on there. And and, again, I don't think Simon truly understands the gravity of what he's getting into, but I guarantee you he will. Alright. Onto the block where James Hunt has this headline, strategy has upsized its STRIFE perpetual preferred stock offering to 722,500,000.0 to buy more Bitcoin. Now I brought Strife to you a couple of days ago when it first was announced. What the hell is going on? Well, it's been oversubscribed already.
So Bitcoin treasury company strategy, formally MicroStrategy, announced the pricing of its STRF or Strife offering on Friday, upsizing the deal from 500,000,000 to 722,500,000.0. So when Mike first said, hey. We're gonna do this 10%, you know, thing, and then we're gonna call it strife. It was gonna be for 500,000,000. It was already oversubscribed, and they had to actually bump it up to almost 3 quarters of a million dollars within days. And this is even in spite of the fact that we are crab walking to the right hand side. Trump's talking about tariffs one day, talking about not doing tariffs the next day. The entire equity legacy markets are shitting the bed. Oil's shitting the bed. Everybody's shitting the bed. And yet, even through all of that, MicroStrategy has got so many subscribers to the original offering of Strife that they have to increase the amount of shares that they were going to produce in the first place.
It's actually a good in a way, it's a it's a kind of a good signal. It's like a canary in the coal mine. That canary is far from dead. Strategy will offer 8,500,000.0 shares of its 10% series a perpetual strife preferred stock at $85 per share according to a statement with the sale set to close on March. That's just that's next week, guys. Pending customary closing conditions. The proposed proposed offering was initially announced back on Tuesday. So it was only Tuesday of of this week that they announced it, and they've already had to increase their shit a lot.
The company estimates that the net proceeds from the offering will be approximately $711,200,000 after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and expenses. Strategy said it plans to use the net proceeds from the offering to generate or for general corporate purposes, including including the acquisition of Bitcoin and for working capital. Strife will accumulate cumulative dividends at a fixed rate of 10% per annum per year on the stated amount of $100 per share. Regular dividends will be payable quarterly if declared by strategy's board of directors starting on June. Any unpaid dividends will accumulate and compound at an increasing rate up to 18% per year.
The company can then redeem all shares of the preferred stock under certain conditions, such as if fewer than 25% of the originally issued shares remain or if certain tax events occur. In case of a major company event known as a fundamental change, holders can require the company to repurchase their shares at the stated amount plus any accumulated and unpaid dividends. The liquidation preference starts at $100 per share and may adjust based on market conditions or recent sale prices. Strategy tapped major financial institutions including Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, Citigroup Global Markets, and Moelis and Company as joint book running managers for the Strife offering, so they got some heavy hitters behind this offering.
The Strife sale allows the company's previously announced plan to raise up to $21,000,000,000 via perpetual strike preferred stock, which was STRK, that was its ticker, on March. Last week, it sold a hundred and 23,000 strike shares and approximately 10,700,000.0 doll oh, for approximately 10,700,000.0. And as of March, '20 '1 billion dollars worth of strike shares remain available for issuance and sale under the program. The STRF or STRIFE offering is also in addition to Strategy's twenty twenty one plan, which targets a total capital raise of 42,000,000,000 in equity offering and fixed income securities for Bitcoin acquisitions.
On Monday, strategy announced it had acquired an additional 130 BTC for approximately 10,700,000.0, which is much lower than any of its other prior Bitcoin purchases. So I find it I find it just a bit odd that they still have quite a bit of Strike shares left over, which was paying a 8% coupon, if I remember right. And they've now gone to a 10% coupon, and they're calling this product offering Stryfe. Yet, they were originally gonna offer 500,000,000, and they've had to increase that to 722,000,000. And yet, they still have leftover strike shares at 8% from their previous offering. I don't know. This just it it this I'm sure everything's fine, but that does catch me. That's like snag that's like it's like wearing a sweater and you walk by a door frame or something, and there's, like, a loose nail, and it just catches your sweater, and you're like, oh, shit. That that's what that felt feels like to me. So I don't know if there's some chicanery going on.
I'd at this point, I just kinda always assume that there is. So we'll, again, we'll have to see because that's all the news we got on that one. And for all those people, we're gonna shift gears here. We're gonna shift gears pretty mightily, in fact. We're gonna stay with Bitcoin, clearly, but there's been this underlying and this has been going on for years in the Bitcoin space. You look on Bitcoin Twitter, you get on Nasr, and there's we don't have enough women in Bitcoin. And you might think that I'm about to, go off on that. No. I'm not because I actually I actually agree.
We we there we don't really see that many women in Bitcoin, although we we do have a few really good ones. I mean, Elizabeth Stark comes to mind. She's lightning labs. Okay? She's like like like, I think she's the CEO, or I know she was. It's basically her baby. You know, she's freaking awesome, but she's one of the only ones. And in a in a shakedown of irony, we have this column that's written in Bitcoin magazine by a dude named Dave Birnbaum who who's titled his piece women building Bitcoin colon leaders in adoption and innovation.
So buckle up and let's find out because honestly getting more women involved in Bitcoin is kind of kind of important. Alright? So if for whatever reason you're just gonna, like, you know, pitch a fit, then skip forward. But I think you should probably listen to this one because as Bitcoin moves into the mainstream of American life, people from every background and corner of the planet are contributing to the historic rise. In the spirit of the age, the Bitcoin industry is largely a meritocracy. It is the quality of contributors rather than any singular identity that drives Bitcoin forward. March is recognized as International Women's Month, a tradition rooted in early twentieth century labor and suffrage movements.
It provides an occasion to reflect on the role of women in Bitcoin rather than focusing on the experience of being a woman in a technical field. This article spotlights the real contributions and leadership from individuals who happen to be women, but who have each, in their own light, helped shape the Bitcoin ecosystem. Whether they come from legal, financial, or technical backgrounds, individuals with strong foundational skills often transition naturally into the Bitcoin industry. Many of Bitcoin's growth can be credited to those able to distill complex technical concepts into accessible language.
Women are excelling in this role using skills in marketing, community organizing, and storytelling to broaden understanding and trust in Bitcoin. It's one thing to code or invest in Bitcoin, but quite another to convey its principles effectively to the uninitiated. As more people demonstrate real skill in bridging that knowledge gap through podcasts and workshops and online content, Bitcoin's base of educated users expands exponentially. Quote, women can be powerful communicators and community builders finding ways to distill complex topics into easily understandable and relatable bites, says Kelly Weaver, CEO of Melrose Public Relations and founder of Bitwire. Quote, since Bitcoin fundamentally grows through network effects, this is essential.
I've seen firsthand how women's approaches to explaining Bitcoin can reach people who might otherwise be intimidated. Approachability is essential for Bitcoin's long term success. In recent years, Bitcoin ownership among women has risen significantly. One survey showed that women's shares of digital asset ownership jumped from 29% to 34% in one single quarter. While these numbers vary depending on the source, there's a clear upward trend. If finance was once perceived as a male dominated space, that narrative is shifting particularly for a technology driven asset like Bitcoin, which democratizes participation by removing traditional gatekeepers.
Quote, across Main Street, America and the world, decentralized networks of female leaders can be a catalyst for financial education and increasing understanding about the transformative nature of Bitcoin, says Clive Mesador, executive director of Blockchain Foundation, quote, particularly because of scarcity, most individuals will never own even a fraction of a Bitcoin, which is why women cannot afford to be late adopters, end quote. Messador points out to a key dynamic. Informal, community driven networks excel at at spreading education. Because Bitcoin can be learned and shared peer to peer, it finds fertile ground in the natural social structures that women have historically led, such as book clubs, parent associations, and charitable groups. Such networks become informal nodes of adoption where knowledge flows more freely than it might in a top down environment.
I've gotta pause here because I'm you're you're probably hearing that I'm hitching in my voice here for a little bit, because chances are good if you are a woman and you're listening to what was just read, I did not write it, you're probably going, fucking son of a bitch. They just won't stop. And the reason I say that is simply because they teach school and they lead workshops and bake sales. And it's like, I've seen some women do some pretty terrific shit. My sister, mergers and acquisitions lawyer at the corporate at the corporate level, this this is somebody who is terrifying sometimes when it when it comes to the shit they can execute, and it ain't a fucking bake sale. I'm sorry. I I didn't mean to say that. Anyway, in the past, popular culture often portrayed men as the family financiers while women manage, you know, daily household tasks like sewing and knitting.
Yet, a recent study revealed that about 84% of women say that they're responsible for the family finances from paying bills to setting budgets to overseeing savings and debt obligations. Perhaps more remarkable is that almost all women and couples, about 94%, report being actively involved in shaping household financial decisions. Many women effectively act as chief financial officers for their families, handling budgeting, strategic planning, and long term goal set goal setting. I want to pause again to remind you that there used to be in public schools and at the university level something called home ec, home economics.
And people would laugh and say, oh, you're taking a home ec class, so you're learning how to sew and how to cook. Well, yeah, you did. Because if you don't know how to cook, you're a you're a moron. Okay? If you don't know how to sew, then that means you're depending on somebody else to know how to sew for you because you're going to lose buttons off your shirt, and it would probably be a lot easier for you just to do it yourself. But since you don't know how to sew because you didn't take home ec, you don't know how, and that includes me. I don't know how to sew. I couldn't sew a button on a shirt to save my life, which means that I gotta go to somebody who actually knows. So where's the strength? Just saying.
Also, in home economics, it wasn't about just cooking and sewing and learning how to darn socks and create a bake sale. No. It was actually more about household finances. How much does it cost to put a meal together? How much is your grocery bill? Because that's impactful, especially if you've been buying at the grocery store, oh, I don't know, since fucking COVID. Right? So this shit's more important than anybody actually thinks that it is. But that's what they used to teach in home ec, and that's one of the things that we've lost along with shop. Like, we nobody knows how to fix a car. Nobody knows how to build a box of carpentry. All of our shop classes are gone. Our home economics classes are gone. And whether it's male oriented or female oriented, that particular phase, that particular side of being able to do shit for yourself ripped away.
Anyway, back to this. As Bitcoin continues to gain traction worldwide, it is increasingly one of the tools under consideration, especially for those who like to plan with low time preference mindsets. Bitcoin's design fits neatly with the mindset that prudent financial planners rely on. It's limited supply and disinflationary monetary policy reward discipline saving. As families look to ways to preserve purchasing power, it's natural to add Bitcoin in the mix. Whether it's a small allocation every month or a larger diversification strategy, its overall trajectory shows a clear path toward growth and stability, says Frida Bobbae, cofounder of Bitcoin Sports Network, quote, I never plan to sell my Bitcoin.
Instead, I view it like real estate, an asset I can borrow against while it continues to grow in value, end quote. While it's easy to overgeneralize, data does suggest that women, on average, tend to adopt disciplined approaches to money management. They trade less frequently in stock markets, are more likely to stick to a budget, and often do deeper research before making an investment. One of Bitcoin's most emblematic qualities is its alignment with low time preference thinking, favoring long term wealth building over short term speculations. Studies have shown that women are often methodical, patient, and focus on fundamentals rather than jumping in and out of markets.
This mindset leads to outperformance in traditional investment contexts. Quote, a common misconception is that Bitcoin is too expensive. In reality, this is just a matter of unit bias, says Haley Lennon, general counsel at Fold. Quote, many people don't realize you can own fractions of a Bitcoin, and by that measure, it's still incredibly early and relatively cheap when you compare it to other traditional assets. If women empower themselves with the basic knowledge of how Bitcoin works, they'll see that we're just at the beginning of its potential, making it a compelling opportunity rather than an exclusive high priced investment.
Lenin's perspective highlights a key barrier for new entrants. Bitcoin's per coin price might intimidate some, but the option to purchase Satoshis lowers that barrier significantly. That's often an eye opener for people new to Bitcoin, especially those who excel in careful, long term budget allocation. Quote, by embracing the possibility of stacking small amounts methodically and regularly, one can build a meaningful position over time. Weaver agrees, quote, slow and steady wins the race. My personal strategy is to daily cost average, meaning that I purchase small amounts daily. And you can also do it weekly or monthly, in case you didn't know. But that spread it spreads out the risk. I ultimately think it's more risky to not own Bitcoin in the long term, but I also recognize that it's incredibly volatile.
I always say in the short term, it may never be a good time to buy Bitcoin, but in the long term, it's always a good idea to buy Bitcoin. Sounds like a Bitcoiner to me. Another reason for the surge in interest among women is that Bitcoin is a universal asset. It offers financial independence as well as sovereignty. That resonates strongly with individuals who value autonomy. Quote, Bitcoin is the pathway to financial sovereignty. It removes traditional gatekeepers and allows for independent wealth management without intermediaries, says Evie Phillips, founder of Kree Collective and founding board member of Crypto Connect, now Eve Wealth.
Quote, the blockchain's immutability means assets can't be frozen or seized. Pausing to say that's not true. Most people will because she's well, she's talking about an actual blockchain. A lot of people don't understand what that is and things like XRP, not a blockchain. It's a ledger. And, yes, it can most definitely be frozen. Just wanna make sure that everybody understands that. Anyway, hold on. I've lost my place. Bitcoin doesn't have geographical limitations, making global transactions seamless, and that opens up a flood of opportunities that aren't available through centralized financial systems.
Phillips points out highlight or Phillips point highlights Bitcoin's advantages in personal control over assets. The economy is fundamentally transforming and many are drawn to the reliability of an asset that exists beyond the reach of institutions. The novelty of Bitcoin can be intimidating especially because the mainstream media frequently associates it with scams and hype driven speculative bubbles. Thought leaders in Bitcoin addressed this by pointing to the facts of the technology. Quote, the more I learn about Bitcoin, the more I trust this trustless financial system, says Weaver.
Quote, the network has had zero zero downtime since it launched in 02/2009 and has never been hacked. Over the course of Bitcoin's history, the price has risen and fallen, but consistently tends trends in the upwards in the long term, end quote. Bitcoin is a protocol, and using it does not require trust in any central authority yet thrives on trust, education, and consensus among people. This is why communicators matter so much. Quote, I often see women's entire perspective shift when they recognize Bitcoin's potential, not just as an investment, but as a vehicle for financial empowerment, says Megan Nilsson, host of the Crypto Megan podcast, quote, by leveraging their ability to build networks, drive education, and advocate for broader adoption, women can play a leading role in shaping the future of Bitcoin and decentralized finance.
Bitcoin has fundamentally redefined the concept of financial independence. It has leveled the playing field, offering financial tools that were once only available to accredited invest investors. It eliminates reliance on central systems providing individuals with true ownership and control over their wealth. In the coming years, the world economy and society itself will be reshaped by the convergence of transformative technologies, including AI, robotics, and space travel, all underwritten and financed with Bitcoin. It's no wonder that as families, institutions, and communities discover discover Bitcoin's utility, so many of those leading the charge are women.
They do they do so not because they want to check a box, but because the technology itself demands the best talent available. In celebrating the achievement of women this month, we also celebrate Bitcoin's potential to reshape our collective future. It is a global experiment buoyed by those who see beyond the hype and dedicate themselves to building, teaching, and expanding the Bitcoin network for future generations. Okay. That's the article. And there's there's something to be said about what, you know, what what the author is is trying to convey here.
And I but I think, you know, and this this is kinda going out to people who are, you know, rolling their eyes because I know you're out there. I know there's some people out there going, goddamn it. Do we have to do this shit again? Do we constantly have to talk about women and Bitcoin and the fact that there's not any and how important they are is I'm just freaking sick of it. Yeah. Well, how do you not get sick of it? You you basically recognize that you're you're looking at humanity's and I'm just gonna say it. You're looking at at at humanity's greatest natural resource beyond oil, beyond natural gas, beyond coal, beyond gold, beyond other planets in the universe because without repopulating or or being able to populate the human species here and beyond, then what's what's all that shit worth?
Fucking nothing. And as far as I know, unless you got, like, some kind of Frank Herbert, you know, the author behind Dune, axolotl tank, and, you know, be able to just, like, breed babies outside of outside of a woman. I'm not even sure if that would be considered a human being anymore, by the way, but we have on our hands the greatest natural resource that humanity has. And men are important because without sperm, you're not getting pregnant. So humanity itself is clearly humanity's most essential human resource or natural resource. But here's the thing. Without the other side of the equation, we're not realizing our own potential.
Right? So, like, if you lose all the women, men's sperm don't matter. If you lose all the men, women's uteri don't matter. It's just it's all bullshit. You need both of them. And it is the case that in a lot of places I've seen, women have not really been encouraged to get into Bitcoin. And those that do are pretty scrappy. Like, again, I I I point to Elizabeth Stark. I mean, that chick's pretty fucking scrappy. Don't don't tangle with her because she will probably cut your ass down. She's fucking smart as a whip. But I was talking about natural resource. It's untapped.
You're talking about somebody who who who almost at their base is begging for financial sovereignty, especially in places like Africa or, God forbid, The Middle East where you where as a woman, you can't even get a fucking bank account without your brother and your cousin and your cousin's cousin, who are all male, coming down with you to the bank saying, yeah. It's okay. We give our blessing. That's kinda bullshit, dude. So now we have this tool where not even where even the people in the most strict and fundamentalist of religions cannot stop them, cannot stop women.
All we really have to do is get it through you know? Actually, we don't even get through their heads. We just need to approach them and say, hey. By the way, this might actually interest you. You want bodily autonomy? How about financial autonomy? You wanna not be told what to do? How about we, give you a technology that that infuriates people who try to tell you how to spend? How's that? See, that that's what I'm saying. It's an untapped natural resource, and they represent damn near half of the people on the planet. So that's one of the reasons why I did wanna bring it to you. I had no idea that March is International Women's Month, though, but I don't know any of these months. Every month seems to be some, like, pizza month or beer month or dude month or football month or soccer month or whatever. I don't care. It's it's all bullshit. All I'm saying is that we should probably start taking seriously the fact that we have a damn near one of the most credible yet untapped natural resources that would buy into Bitcoin and understand its value proposition almost fucking immediately, and I don't think we're actually doing enough.
That's why I bring you this. Let's run the numbers. Futures and commodities. Then that that that that that breaking. Trump says there will be flexibility on reciprocal tariffs. So the waffling continues. We're gonna tear off your ass. Oh, but it's not gonna be so bad. You know what? I changed my mind. We're not gonna tear off your ass. Nope. We're gonna tariff your ass, but there will be reciprocal tariffs. The the back and forth is not helping the markets. I actually think that's on purpose. But we've got other fish to fry, oily fish, like West Texas Intermediate, which is up one fifth of a point to $68.21. Brent Norsee sideways at $72.01.
Natural gas up a full point to $4.01. Gasoline is down a fifth of a point no. Quarter of a point to $2.18. Shiny Metal Rock's having a bad day. Gold is down point 8%. Silver is down one and a half. Platinum is down 1.1%. Copper is down a quarter. And palladium is the only one in the other direction reversing green one and a quarter percent to the upside. Ag futures are mostly down. Only lumber and rough rice, which is the winner, today's winner is in the green. Point three four to the upside for the ricey stuff. And then the biggest loser is chocolate, four and a third to the downside. Live cattle is, well, it's walking sideways, but lean hogs is up a point and a half. Feeder cattle is down point six.
Equity markets are having a bad day probably because Trump's waffling. Dow is down a third of a point. S and P down a third. Nasdaq down a third, and the S and P Mini is down three quarters of a point. Bitcoin waffling itself today, we're at 83,930. That is a $1,670,000,000,000 market cap. We can only purchase 27.5 ounces of shiny metal rocks with our one Bitcoin of which there are 19,839,725.9 of, and average fees per block remain low, 0.04 BTC taking fees on a per block basis. There are 42 blocks waiting, no, carrying nine oh, god. 42 blocks are only carrying 9,000 unconfirmed transactions.
That's weird. Anyway, they're waiting to clear at high priority rates of 5 Satoshis per vByte. Low priority is gonna get you in at three. Hash rate remains, under 800. We're down to 788.3 x hashes per second. We'll have to see where that goes from here. From, treasury's surveillance and t bills, which was yesterday's episode of Bitcoin, and I got bit step with a hundred and no. 1,291. Seth says nothing, dude. Thank you. Axle rod axle rod with a thousand says Psyduck. Justin with a thousand says I enjoyed the episode. Thank you, sir. No. Thank you. Anonymous with another thousand says Psyduck.
Let's see. Who else we got? Bitcoin for president five hundred says thank you for the show. You do a fantastic job. Yes. It's the lowest paying job in the universe, and I do it well. Perma nerd with 234 sets says, like, oh, he's like, Ben Jessman's wine. I'm having to actually translate this in pub here. Hold on. Like Ben Jessman's wine, this episode was sweet. Love Ferventers, pies with a hundred, hashtag 40 h b w. That's the weather report. Welcome to part two of the news that you can use. M and M's former studio engineer has been charged with selling stolen tracks for Bitcoin.
Everybody loves the corn, including engineers. This is out of Decrypt.c0 written by Vismayevi, a former sound engineer for Grammy award winning rapper Marshall Mathers, popularly known as Eminem, has been charged with selling the musician's unreleased songs for $50,000 of Bitcoin. Joseph Strange, 40 6 of Holly, Michigan is accused of selling at least 25 tracks that Eminem recorded between 1999 and 02/2018, which were still in development and never meant for public release as per a statement. The federal charges include criminal copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods as the tracks were leaked online without M and M's consent.
The FBI, their probe was triggered by tips from M and M Studios employers. Wait. Hold on. That's read wrong. I am sorry. That probe was triggered by tips from M and M's studio employees who saw the stolen music posted online on platforms including Reddit and YouTube as per an affidavit. And on January, in search of Strange's home in Holly, Michigan, FBI Agents found hard drives containing copies of his stolen music, pretty incriminating, as well as handwritten lyric sheets by Eminem and a VHS tape containing an unreleased Eminem music video. If convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison for interstate transportation of stolen goods and up to five years for criminal copyright infringement.
He could also face a fine of up to a quarter million dollars. Strange, who worked at the studio from 02/2007 to 02/2021, was one of the four employees who had direct access to the hard drives, and authorities allege he took advantage of this access to steal the music. Notably, one of the other individuals with access was Mike Strange or wait. Was Mike Strange. I'm sorry. I'm having a real problem here today, guys. I am so sorry. Notably, one of the other individuals with access was Joseph Strange's uncle, Mike. Uncle Mike, who continues to work at M and M's studio as an engineer.
The agents also found financial records documenting payments for the music Joseph Strange is accused of having sold linking him to the transactions. According to FBI, Strange sold the tracks to a 31 year old man from Ontario, candidate, Canada known as Doja Rat for 50,000 in Bitcoin. I recognize that name. Doja Rat later told FBI that he raised the funds with the help of a group of M and M fans. The Canadian man also revealed that Strange claimed to possess more than 300 unreleased tracks and handwritten lyric sheets created by Eminem. Quote, the significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem's artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated. Oh, yes. It can.
Let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work, Eminem's representative said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. Eminem's music has been leaked without his permission in a number of times in the past with unauthorized tracks appearing online in the early two thousands, '2 thousands, and tens. In 02/2002, a leak of the Eminem show led to the album's release date being moved up to prevent further piracy. Okay. So here's my question.
It's not that it's not that I'm defending this guy for, you know, like, I'm just like a copyright hater. I do agree that people's work should be honored by, you know, if they're gonna work and you like consuming their content, maybe you should actually pay for their content instead of pirating it. Right? So but here's my thing is, like, if you're never going to release this music, I have I've got a problem with that. If you're my favorite band, like, my favorite band is Rush. They were recording for, like, over like, recording and touring for forty years. Well, actually, well over forty years.
You know. I know there is stuff that they've never released, and they have no intention of ever releasing it. Yet I wanna hear it. I would love it. I would love to hear it. Why won't they release it? They haven't said that they have it, but I know that they do. All these artists do. I just wish that there was a mechanism that these guys would say, okay, this was a stupid song, but, hey, you guys have been, you know, my fans for years and years and years. Here it is. Otherwise, you're gonna get your shit pirated.
So if you are an artist out there and you've got unreleased stuff, why don't you make legacy plans to release it after your death or or something. Right? Don't just sit on stuff that you've done when you have a whole group of people that love what it is that you already do. Maybe it would be more well received than you think. Now onto the Korean company, LG. You know, they make all kinds of shit like washers and dryers and god only knows oh, and televisions and god only knows what else. Well, they've decided to shut down their NFT platform joining a wave a wave of closures in the NFT sector.
Maybe it's finally dying. I don't know, but Danny Park from the block is writing this one. Global electronics conglomerate, LG, will shut down their NFT platform LG Art Lab after three years of stealing people's money. Oh, I mean, I I I meant business, quote, after careful consideration. We have made the difficult decision to close the platform, LG Art Labs notice said, quote, we believe it is the right time to shift our focus and explore new opportunities. What? To steal people's money? LG Electronics launched the NFT platform in September of twenty twenty two, allowing users to trade NFTs and display digital art on its smart TVs.
The platform also collaborated with various digital artists, including sculptor Barry x Beltball. The platform said it will automatically return the NFTs on the marketplace to user wallets by the April with complete closure expected on June 17. LG Art Labs closure reflects a broader trend in NFT platforms shutting down amid broader decline of this particular evil ass NFT market. Kraken Crypto Exchange closed down its NFT marketplace in February to streamline resource allocation for further projects, while Nike's wearable NFTs startup RTFKT, sounds like wrecked to me, announced shutdown last December.
NFTs emerged in the early years of this decade as a new frontier to steal people's money, and they encompass digital assets, ownership, and the creative world, spawning successful collections such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Pudgy Penguins. Do y'all remember b a y c? Do you remember having to dig through all the bullshit tweets with those idiots with the apes and their fucking avatar? I just killing me. And we were saying for years this was garbage, and now it looks like they finally figured it out. COVID nineteen's global impact has also fueled NFT adoption with people turning to digital experiences in NFTs and the metaverse under the lockdown. However, the NFT market since experienced a dramatic downturn with weekly trading volumes now less than a hundred million dollars, which is a stark contrast to the $3,240,000,000 peak in August of twenty twenty one according to Block, Block's data dashboard.
Wow. So, yeah, the NFT market has just just destroyed itself. It's my god almighty. This is just terrible. Okay. So just just to be clear, NFTs were never valuable. I don't know if you understand that, but they were never valuable. We begged everybody under the sun to stop putting good money for something that I can right click and save. Did not work, I guess, until now. And this is one of the reasons we've seen such a slowdown at least on the Bitcoin side for the Bitcoin transactions because people finally got it through their head that ordinals and inscriptions are no better than NFTs. It was the same crap.
It's all just at one point or another, somebody will find a high quality use for ordinals and inscriptions, but it's not going to be sexy. It's going to be something like, oh, I don't know, grocery receipts or something. It it's gonna it'll have some kind of impact, but it won't be tracking bananas on the blockchain, and it sure as shit won't be a picture of a dumbass ape. But there there will be usage for ordinals and inscriptions, just not this way. What way, David? I don't know, dude. You figure it out. But until you do, Bitcoin is not going to be part of the Swiss National Bank's plans, from Atlas twenty one.
According to Bloomberg, the Swiss National Bank has indeed rejected any possibility of including Bitcoin in its reserves. In an interview in Zurich with Bloomberg Television, Martin Schlegel, I love that name, Schlegel, vice president of the bank, stated, quote, we do not have any plans to buy crypto assets. We are looking for the preservation of value, for example. And as you know, cryptocurrencies have large fluctuations in value, so this is not a given. So we can just pretty much say bye bye to the Swiss National Bank and any possibility that they had of owning Bitcoin in the near term. To end today and this week's broadcast schedule, I've got this one from Bitcoin news.
Bitcoin $20.25 is coming. It is going to Las Vegas. Bitcoin Twenty Twenty Five expands its open source footprint. Yay. The industry pioneer in Bitcoin news, BTC Incorporated, the world's largest Bitcoin conference holder today has unveiled its newly expanded open source hub for Bitcoin twenty twenty five slated for May at the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas. Building on a proven track record of success, this dedication or dedicated expansion underscores the event's unwavering commitment to fueling collaboration, exploration, and breakthroughs, with Bitcoin's open source ecosystem.
The open source stage remains a cornerstone of the event hosting in-depth discussions with Bitcoin core developers and lightning engineers and privacy researchers. This year's enhancements include new interactive features and dedicated spaces for collaboration, ensuring that Bitcoin 20 20 5 continues to be a hub for advancing decentralized technology. Quote, the conversations happening in Bitcoin's open source community impact the world in ways most of us will never see. And it's been that way for years, said David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Incorporated. Quote, Bitcoin has no CEO, for Satoshis has been gone for over a decade.
These are the people writing the code that will underpin the global financial evolution, and when they gather, it's like lightning in a bottle, end quote. The newly expanded developer track underscores the pivotal role of open source software empowering Bitcoin enabling censorship resistance and borderless financial tools. In addition to cutting edge infrastructure talks on the open source stage, this year's highlights include Hackathon Awards, BitDev's special event, a or rather project stations offering developers a chance to showcase live demos. Chain Dual Arcade. Oh, what's this? An interactive gaming experience where participants compete to build the longest chain and win sats on the lightning network.
Oh, okay. I get it. I guess it's like playing StarCraft or something like that, you know, team against team. And and then finally, the Nostr Lounge, a dedicated space for developers and advocates focused on decentralized, censorship resistant communication tools. It's about fucking time. Because the last time anybody did something with Nostr at Bitcoin twenty twenty four, they had to do it as a separate event, if I remember right. Now it seems that BTC Incorporated have figured it out and are starting to embrace Nasr. Thank God. Bitcoin twenty twenty five is expected to attract over 30,000 attendees and feature more than 300 exhibitors and 500 speakers.
The event will also host its continuing legal education program, providing legal and financial professionals with critical insights into the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding Bitcoin. All journalists, developers, and Bitcoin enthusiasts are invited to join the open source hub and open source stage for the most technical conversations in Bitcoin. Free access to the hub is exclusively for developers with proven code contributions to select selected Bitcoin projects. Journalists can apply for a press pass, which include access to open source programming.
And if you're interested in attending, there's a URL and, like, all kinds of stuff. And, yes, this story, as with all the other stories in today's episode, will be in the show notes as URLs. Just click and go, and I will see you on the other side. This has been Bitcoin and and I'm your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon. Have a great day.
Introduction and Episode Overview
Understanding the Howey Test
Implications of SEC's Decision on Bitcoin Mining
Market Updates and Analysis
