Bitcoin & The Return of Wartime Economics

[0:01] Boo.
[0:04] All right, this is your fair warning.
[0:07] You're going to get a really loud yo in
[0:10] 5 4 3 2 1.
[0:17] Yo!
[0:19] Welcome back to another episode of the
[0:23] Jack Mallers Show. Can you guess what my
[0:26] name is?
[0:28] You're damn right, it is Jack and you
[0:30] are listening to another edition of
[0:32] Mailbag Monday.
[0:36] Episode 96.
[0:40] The title of today's episode is Bitcoin
[0:42] and the return of wartime economics. I'm
[0:46] very excited for today's episode, but
[0:48] before we get started
[0:52] let's timestamp this bad boy. Ladies and
[0:53] gentlemen
[0:55] the corner of the internet I adore oh so
[0:57] much. I'm talking to you all today on
[1:01] December 15th at slightly after 6:00
[1:03] p.m. Eastern. Sorry I was late. At a
[1:05] Bitcoin price of $86,430,
[1:10] putting Bitcoin's market cap at 1.73
[1:13] trillion US dollars. Our all-time high
[1:16] it remains the same. We made it on
[1:18] October 6th, 2025. It's $126,160.
[1:23] We are now over 30% down from that
[1:25] all-time high at 31.5%.
[1:28] It's been 70 days by the way since that
[1:30] all-time high.
[1:31] Ask the internet, the internet's
[1:32] freaking out. Feels like it's been an
[1:34] eternity.
[1:35] Uh it's been a little over 2 months.
[1:38] Um Bitcoin block height.
[1:41] What was the last You know Bitcoin makes
[1:43] you think very philosophically and
[1:44] conceptually about time. Go down that
[1:46] rabbit hole. I encourage it. It's
[1:48] healthy, trust me.
[1:50] Um anyways, what was the last Bitcoin
[1:53] block mined since I hit record? The
[1:57] answer is block height 928,039.
[2:01] We are almost at 1 million Bitcoin
[2:04] blocks mined. Pretty pretty cool. Okay,
[2:09] without further ado, let's get going.
[2:13] Bitcoin and the return of wartime
[2:16] economics. What a title.
[2:18] I got to say, you guys know I'm not
[2:20] professional podcaster. I produce all
[2:21] this on my own.
[2:23] Sometimes my titles kind of stink. This
[2:26] one?
[2:27] Not so much. Okay, first chapter, our
[2:30] dollar your problem. But I crossed out
[2:34] your problem
[2:36] and it's read to be our problem. Our
[2:38] dollar, our problem.
[2:40] Uh what am I referencing? Well
[2:44] the National Security Strategy of the
[2:46] United States of America is published
[2:48] November 2025.
[2:50] Uh
[2:51] yeah, this is published by the United
[2:54] States government. Guys, wait until you
[2:57] get a hold of what I'm about to show
[3:00] you. Okay guys, again, this is public
[3:04] it's published by the United States
[3:05] government. I repeat, this is not a
[3:07] drill. National Security Strategy of the
[3:10] United States of America. This is a
[3:14] security threat. This is part of our
[3:16] strategy as the United States, the West,
[3:20] the Empire, okay? And I read,
[3:22] "Introduction, what is American
[3:25] strategy?
[3:26] Chapter 1, how American strategy went
[3:29] astray."
[3:31] Wow. Okay, let me read this and shut my
[3:33] pie hole.
[3:35] To ensure that America remains the
[3:37] world's strongest, richest, and most
[3:39] powerful and most successful country for
[3:41] decades to come, our country needs a
[3:44] coherent, focused strategy for how we
[3:46] interact with the world.
[3:48] And to get that right
[3:50] all American all Americans need to know
[3:53] what exactly it is we are trying to do
[3:56] and why.
[3:57] A strategy is a concrete, realistic plan
[4:00] that explains the essential connection
[4:03] between ends and means. It begins from
[4:06] an accurate assessment of what is
[4:08] desired and what tools are available or
[4:11] can realistically be created to achieve
[4:13] the desired outcomes.
[4:15] A strategy must evaluate, sort, and
[4:18] prioritize. Not every country, region,
[4:21] issue, or cause, however worthy, can be
[4:24] the focus of American strategy. The
[4:27] purpose of foreign policy is protection
[4:30] of core national interests. That is the
[4:33] sole focus of this strategy. American
[4:36] strategy since the end of the Cold War
[4:39] have fallen short. They have been
[4:41] laundry lists of wishes and desired end
[4:44] states that have not clearly defined
[4:47] what we want, but instead stated vague
[4:50] platitudes and have often misjudged what
[4:53] we should want. After the end of the
[4:56] Cold War, American foreign policy elites
[4:59] convinced themselves that permanent
[5:02] American domination of the entire world
[5:04] was in the best interest of our country.
[5:06] Okay, hold on guys, I'm going to pause.
[5:08] This is not the United States talking to
[5:09] you anymore, this is Jack. I'm going to
[5:11] pause and start this latest paragraph
[5:13] over cuz especially for those of you in
[5:15] your podcast, I've been there where
[5:17] you're you're driving to work, you're
[5:18] driving home from work, you're in the
[5:20] gym, you're walking to the grocery store
[5:21] and I'm in your ear
[5:23] and I'm reading something that's like
[5:24] really long and you're spacing out. And
[5:26] this is me.
[5:28] Clap clap. Lock back in, king. King, I
[5:31] need you to pay attention to this one
[5:33] part specifically. This is the most
[5:34] important important part. Lock back in.
[5:37] Focus on the road, don't get distracted,
[5:39] but lock the [ __ ] back in, okay? Because
[5:41] I need you to hear what the United
[5:43] States is saying out loud. It is very
[5:46] important that they are admitting the
[5:48] quiet part out loud. Here we go.
[5:52] After the end of the Cold War, American
[5:54] foreign policy elites convinced
[5:56] themselves that permanent American
[5:58] domination of the entire world was in
[6:01] the best interest of our country.
[6:04] Yet the affairs of the other countries
[6:06] are our concern only if their activity
[6:08] directly threatens our interest.
[6:11] Our elites badly miscalculated America's
[6:15] willingness to shoulder foreign global
[6:17] burdens to which the American people saw
[6:21] no connection to the national interest.
[6:24] They overestimated America's ability to
[6:26] fund simultaneously a massive welfare,
[6:29] regulatory, administrative state
[6:31] alongside a massive military,
[6:34] diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign
[6:36] aid complex. They placed hugely
[6:39] misguided and destructive bets on
[6:41] globalism and so-called free trade that
[6:45] hollowed out the very middle class and
[6:48] industrial base on which American
[6:50] economic and military preeminence
[6:52] depended.
[6:54] They allowed allies and partners to
[6:57] offload the cost of their defense onto
[7:00] the American people and sometimes to
[7:02] suck us into conflicts and controversies
[7:06] central to their interest but peripheral
[7:09] to irrelevant to ours.
[7:11] And they lashed
[7:13] Sorry, this is so the text is so small,
[7:15] but I need to get through this. I could
[7:16] barely read it. I'm just going to zoom
[7:18] in.
[7:20] And they lashed American policy to a
[7:22] network of international institutions,
[7:24] some of which are driven by outright
[7:26] anti-Americanism and many by a
[7:28] transnationalism that explicitly seeks
[7:31] to dissolve individual state
[7:32] sovereignty. In sum, not only did our
[7:36] elites pursue a fundamentally
[7:38] undesirable and impossible goal in doing
[7:41] so, they undermined the very means
[7:44] necessary to achieve that goal, the
[7:47] character of our nation upon which its
[7:49] power, wealth, and decency were built.
[7:52] Guys,
[7:54] wow. What the hell is going on? This is
[7:58] crazy. For those just joining or for
[8:01] those that just like are in awe, this
[8:04] serves the same purpose. I'm going to
[8:05] rewind a slide. This is from the United
[8:07] States of America's National Security
[8:09] Strategy published November 2025.
[8:12] Guys, unbelievable.
[8:15] What did they just say? First of all, a
[8:17] self-admission
[8:19] for one that and this is direct quote,
[8:22] "American foreign policy elites
[8:24] convinced themselves that permanent
[8:26] American domination of the world was in
[8:27] the best interest of our country."
[8:31] Our elites badly miscalculated America's
[8:34] willingness to shoulder forever global
[8:36] burdens to which the American people saw
[8:38] no connection to the national interest.
[8:42] Okay, first of all, a self-admission
[8:44] that our elites [ __ ] up. Screwed over
[8:46] the people. Screwed over our future.
[8:49] Screwed over our kids.
[8:52] Second
[8:53] this is not an admission of the
[8:55] Democrats. This is not an admission of
[8:58] Biden's administration.
[9:01] At the end of the Cold War
[9:04] this is decades
[9:07] of elite leadership
[9:11] [ __ ] with peace and the people.
[9:14] Prioritizing war, prioritizing spend,
[9:17] prioritizing debt, borrowing from our
[9:19] future
[9:21] to spend now.
[9:29] They're also let me find it.
[9:32] Is language in here about globalism?
[9:35] Yep. They placed hugely misguided and
[9:39] destructive bets on globalism and
[9:41] so-called free trade. Guys, what do we
[9:44] talk about on this show non-stop?
[9:48] Listen.
[9:49] The way the global order is set up today
[9:52] is the United States decided they want
[9:54] to be the world reserve currency.
[9:58] What comes with that is perpetually
[10:00] exporting dollars, which comes with
[10:03] debt. We have to print, we have to
[10:04] print, we have to print.
[10:06] We import stuff in return for the
[10:09] dollars we export.
[10:11] What does that mean? That means we
[10:13] hollow out our industrial base.
[10:16] We don't produce anything of our own
[10:18] anymore. It was a way to subsidize the
[10:21] world after the World Wars. Was, "Hey,
[10:24] you guys make stuff, we'll buy the stuff
[10:26] from you since we're healthy and you're
[10:27] not."
[10:28] This is what's called globalism.
[10:30] Okay? And the so-called free trade is
[10:33] that this was sustainable.
[10:35] Is that this could last forever. Us
[10:38] printing pieces of paper in exchange for
[10:40] real stuff could last forever. Us as a
[10:43] country running persistent deficits
[10:45] could last forever. Us not as net
[10:48] producers to society, to global trade.
[10:51] We don't produce anything. We don't do
[10:52] any proof of work. We do [ __ ] all except
[10:55] hit the money printer.
[10:59] It's one thing for me to say it.
[11:02] It's another thing for the United States
[11:04] of America to publish it.
[11:08] I will read one more time.
[11:12] They placed hugely misguided and
[11:14] destructive bets on globalism and
[11:16] so-called free trade that hollowed out
[11:19] the very middle class and industrial
[11:21] base on which American economic and
[11:24] military preeminence depend.
[11:29] What does that mean, guys? When you
[11:31] print so much money, you hollow out your
[11:34] middle class.
[11:36] Why? Well,
[11:39] when you print money, you are
[11:42] stealing from the currency holders via
[11:46] dilution. You're creating more shares of
[11:49] dollars, right? You're diluting the
[11:52] dollar holders. Okay?
[11:55] Inevitably, when you print dollars,
[11:57] you're increasing the price of assets.
[11:59] Things inflate. So, not only do your
[12:02] eggs inflate,
[12:03] right? Not only is your electricity bill
[12:05] inflating, but Bitcoin is inflating.
[12:08] It's another way of saying the price is
[12:09] going up. Bitcoin is inflating, housing
[12:11] is inflating, the stock market is
[12:13] inflating.
[12:14] So, what happens is asset holders,
[12:17] people that already own these assets,
[12:20] they're getting perpetually wealthier
[12:22] without having to contribute time and
[12:24] energy to the world, right? They're just
[12:27] sitting on their ass and getting richer
[12:30] for doing nothing. They are a benefit to
[12:33] the money printer.
[12:34] Now, conversely, the people that don't
[12:37] yet have the house, don't yet have a
[12:39] Bitcoin, don't yet have a portfolio of
[12:42] stocks,
[12:43] they're getting perpetually poorer
[12:45] because those things are getting more in
[12:48] in uh inflationary. They're getting more
[12:50] expensive. They're inflating away.
[12:52] And so, instead of having a lower class,
[12:55] a middle class, and an upper class, you
[12:57] have two classes. You either have assets
[12:59] or you don't.
[13:01] You're either poor or not.
[13:04] And that's why,
[13:06] you know, 90% of wealth in America is
[13:09] concentrated with 10% of the population.
[13:12] The elite are really elite and everyone
[13:16] else is poor.
[13:19] There is no middle class. And the
[13:20] analogy I like to give is imagine a
[13:22] three-story building, okay?
[13:25] On the first floor, you have the lobby.
[13:27] And on the third floor, you have the
[13:28] penthouse. Everyone wants to get to the
[13:31] penthouse. And the people in the
[13:32] penthouse that can no longer afford it
[13:34] need to get their ass sent back down to
[13:36] the lobby.
[13:38] But if you get rid of the second floor,
[13:41] the people on the first floor can't get
[13:42] to the penthouse and the people in the
[13:43] penthouse can't get down to the lobby.
[13:46] The second floor is the middle class.
[13:48] It's allows society to function.
[13:51] It's how innovation starts.
[13:54] And it's where filthy elites
[13:57] that no long that are bloodsucking and
[13:59] aren't producing value to society, it's
[14:01] where they get extinguished and washed
[14:03] out and kicked down to the lower class.
[14:06] You see?
[14:11] And so, by printing so much money, you
[14:14] eviscerate the middle class. You hollow
[14:16] out your industrial base. The United
[14:18] States has no ability to produce
[14:20] anything for ourselves. We are solely
[14:22] reliant on China.
[14:24] And the United States is literally
[14:26] admitting this. Admitting this.
[14:28] Self-admission. National Security
[14:30] Strategy. They're not blaming it on
[14:31] Putin. They're not blaming it on China.
[14:33] They're not blaming it on the Democrats
[14:34] or the Republicans, on Biden or on
[14:37] Trump. They're saying, "We [ __ ] up.
[14:39] For decades, we [ __ ] up. And we know
[14:41] we [ __ ] up. And that's why the title
[14:43] of this is our dollar, our problem. It
[14:46] used to be our dollar, our currency, our
[14:48] military, our guns, your problem. And
[14:51] you don't like it, we're happy to fly
[14:53] into your country and [ __ ] you up." That
[14:56] was our policy over the decades since
[14:59] all these wars. Oh, you don't like the
[15:02] way that we want to shove these dollars
[15:04] down your throat? How do you like this
[15:05] gun and this bomb down your throat? That
[15:08] was previously our policy. Now, it's our
[15:11] dollar, our problem because we realized
[15:14] violence, bombing people, and printing
[15:16] money doesn't work forever.
[15:20] And I get a lot of [ __ ] like, "Oh, Jack
[15:22] doesn't like America. He's
[15:23] anti-American." [ __ ] you. How about I'm
[15:26] pro-human? How about that?
[15:28] How about I like peace?
[15:30] I like inclusion.
[15:32] I like equality. I like freedom of
[15:34] speech. I like property rights. How
[15:35] about that?
[15:37] Is that anti-American to you? Since when
[15:40] did that become anti-American?
[15:42] How about [ __ ] you?
[15:46] So, anyways, this is more of a
[15:48] macroeconomic podcast. Let's take a look
[15:51] at what this means financially. So, this
[15:53] comes from Luke Gromen. Okay? This is
[15:56] federal debt as a percentage of GDP.
[15:58] This is a metric we're going to talk a a
[15:59] lot about today. So, this is
[16:02] Again, I've talked about this metric on
[16:03] on the show a lot. Debt to GDP means
[16:06] debt as in how much have we borrowed
[16:08] from our future. GDP is how much growth
[16:10] are we producing to pay it back. Okay?
[16:13] And so, what you can see is
[16:16] in between 1940 and 1950, our debt to
[16:19] GDP peaked very, very high, 120%. And we
[16:22] drove it down. How did we drive it down?
[16:26] Well, you know, the Fed, which we'll get
[16:28] to later on in the episode, the Fed
[16:30] increased its balance sheet during this
[16:32] period of driving it down by 10 times.
[16:35] Okay? GDP exploded. How did we drive it
[16:39] down? We printed the difference. We had
[16:40] a massive, massive print. Things were
[16:42] highly, highly, highly, highly, highly
[16:44] inflationary. So, Luke writes, "We wrote
[16:47] down the expenditures of World War II
[16:49] via financial repression." So, real
[16:51] rates, meaning sure, interest rates can
[16:53] be whatever they want, but infla- real
[16:55] rates, meaning inflation is higher than
[16:58] the rate you're getting. So, that's real
[16:59] rates negative. Okay, the 10 year's
[17:01] paying me 5%, but my eggs are inflating
[17:04] 7%. So, I'm real rates negative. I'm
[17:07] real rates minus 2%. By holding US
[17:09] Treasuries, by blending to the US
[17:11] government, my purchasing power is going
[17:13] down. That's real rates negative. Okay,
[17:16] so real rates bottomed at 13%
[17:19] down. And debt to GDP fell from 118% to
[17:22] 70% in 5 years. Okay? Now,
[17:26] what the US is admitting, as you guys
[17:28] can see, from 1980 until today, we wrote
[17:31] it all the way back up to 120%.
[17:34] And this is now the US coming out and
[17:36] saying,
[17:37] "Yeah,
[17:38] uh we [ __ ] up.
[17:40] We messed up big time.
[17:42] And it's not going to be solved with
[17:43] bombs. It's not going to be solved with
[17:45] guns. And it's not going to be solved
[17:47] any other way than printing the money.
[17:51] Someone has to lose."
[17:54] That's what they just wrote in the
[17:55] National Security Document.
[17:59] So, Luke wrote, "The NSS may have
[18:01] finally admitted the errors of the past
[18:03] 25 years that led to the rise in debt.
[18:05] But the fact that the debt to GDP is
[18:07] still 120% means we have not begun to
[18:11] write down
[18:13] the debt via financial repression. So,
[18:16] where are we in our self-admission?
[18:20] Yes, we we now understand we messed up.
[18:24] We are now admitting that we messed up,
[18:26] but we haven't fixed the fact that we
[18:28] messed up yet. Our debt to GDP is still
[18:31] 120%. Our debt to GDP is still at levels
[18:35] of the World Wars.
[18:37] So, the question is, what can we do
[18:39] about it?
[18:40] Well, that brings me to our three
[18:42] choices. We have three choices, and, you
[18:45] know, spoiler alert, the dollar loses in
[18:48] all of them. Fiat loses no matter what
[18:52] choice we choose. What are our three
[18:54] choices? One, we can sacrifice the bond
[18:57] market. And guys, I know that, you know,
[18:59] a lot of this is this is a show for the
[19:01] common man, for the everyday person,
[19:04] right?
[19:05] Sometimes this financial jargon just
[19:07] it's too complex. The bond market is the
[19:10] market of people lending to the US
[19:11] government from a high level, okay? When
[19:14] you buy a bond, Treasury, these things,
[19:17] you are lending money to the government
[19:20] and the government is paying you
[19:21] interest. And they're paying you back,
[19:22] right? So, what's the interest rate?
[19:23] What's the yield on the 10 year? You're
[19:25] lending the government for a certain of
[19:26] time, okay? So, you can sacrifice those
[19:29] that have been lending to the US
[19:30] government. They can be sacrificed, and
[19:33] that will help square the hole.
[19:35] You can sacrifice the currency. So,
[19:37] those that hold the currency, those that
[19:40] store their time, their energy, their
[19:42] effort, their labor,
[19:43] their value,
[19:45] their savings, you can sacrifice them.
[19:48] Lastly, what we've been doing up until
[19:51] this point is just let China produce all
[19:53] of our [ __ ]
[19:55] Okay? You can try and hold on to the
[19:57] bond market as long as you can. You can
[19:58] try and hold on to the currency as long
[19:59] as you can, but you become a joke of a
[20:02] nation. You can't produce your own
[20:04] stuff. You don't call your own shots.
[20:06] You can't protect yourself or your
[20:07] allies.
[20:08] And China continues on its dominance. By
[20:10] the way, this goes for AI, too.
[20:13] So, China's going to be the factory for
[20:15] the world. China's going to be the
[20:16] military power of the world. China's
[20:18] going to be the AI power of the world.
[20:21] And so, what's what choice do you have?
[20:23] And by the way, sacrificing the bond
[20:25] market is what we call austerity.
[20:28] It means
[20:29] the bond market's going to fail. Then
[20:31] the US government's going to fail
[20:32] because the US government needs people
[20:34] to lend to it because it's not
[20:35] profitable without lenders. It will
[20:37] collapse. So, the bond market fails,
[20:39] bond market fails, US government fails,
[20:40] US government fails, our nation fails,
[20:42] economies fail, everything fails. We go
[20:44] into a great depression times a million.
[20:46] That's austerity. And by the way, that
[20:48] would be a very natural reset. If the US
[20:50] government came out and said, "Hey, this
[20:52] is really bad. We need to reset." That's
[20:55] what the Great Depression was. And guess
[20:56] what came after the Great Depression?
[20:58] Some of the greatest years in American
[20:59] history.
[21:00] Cuz we were built on a solid foundation.
[21:03] First principles, free markets. If
[21:05] things aren't working, they have to
[21:07] fail.
[21:08] Darwinism, right? Only the strong
[21:11] survive, right?
[21:14] So, that's what we call austerity. Now,
[21:16] number two, sacrifice the currency. In
[21:18] simple terms, that's what we call
[21:20] inflation, right?
[21:23] So,
[21:24] sacrificing the currency just means that
[21:26] the currency's not going to get you as
[21:28] much [ __ ] as it used to. You're going to
[21:30] get less food. You're going to get less
[21:32] housing, less vacations. You're going to
[21:34] have less kids. You're going to live
[21:36] less. Your your life expectancy's going
[21:38] to go down. Everything less. Your life
[21:41] sucks.
[21:43] Okay? And then last is kind of the world
[21:45] we're living in now where the bond
[21:47] market people are having a bad time, the
[21:49] currency people are having a bad time,
[21:51] and China's taking over the world.
[21:54] Okay. Well, let's go explore these
[21:56] options a little bit.
[21:58] So, anyway, the point is the dollar
[22:00] loses in all of this. Things like gold
[22:02] and Bitcoin win in all of this. The
[22:03] point is we need a new system. The point
[22:06] is the world can't be collateralized on
[22:08] government debt. The point is printing
[22:10] pieces of paper is not a substitute in
[22:12] the marketplace for time and energy.
[22:15] That's the point. The point is Bitcoin
[22:17] wins no matter what. It's what path do
[22:19] we have to walk because of the mistakes
[22:22] that now the government is admitting in
[22:25] their national security policy they've
[22:27] made. Not yesterday, not last week, not
[22:30] last month, not last year, not last
[22:31] administration, over decades.
[22:37] So, first of all, sacrificing the bond
[22:39] market.
[22:41] As you guys can see, this is from
[22:42] Bloomberg, a global gauge of long-dated
[22:45] yields back to at highest since 2009.
[22:48] So, here's what you're looking at. How
[22:51] much are people demanding they get paid
[22:52] to lend to the US government, which
[22:55] should be a lot because the US
[22:56] government is now $38 trillion in debt
[22:58] with no reasonable plan to be able to
[23:00] pay that back.
[23:02] Said differently, would you lend your
[23:04] friend $38 trill or that's $38 trillion
[23:07] in debt with no plan to pay it back?
[23:09] Would you lend them any more money?
[23:11] Probably not. If you would, you're an
[23:14] idiot and you're going to run out of
[23:15] money soon enough cuz you probably don't
[23:17] deserve that money. That money will find
[23:19] a responsible home.
[23:21] Okay? So, why is this yellow number
[23:24] going back up all the way back to since
[23:26] 2009 in the global financial crisis?
[23:29] Well, it's because people lending to the
[23:31] United States are demanding higher
[23:33] interest rates. They're saying, "In
[23:35] order for it to be worth it for me to
[23:37] lend you money,
[23:39] and you're going to go What are you
[23:40] going to do? Stimulus checks, you know,
[23:42] you guys are going to fight over
[23:43] Medicare and human and health services.
[23:45] You're going to do all this stupid [ __ ]
[23:47] right? You're going to create a bunch of
[23:48] weapons, go bomb a bunch of people even
[23:50] though you probably shouldn't be bombing
[23:51] all these people and you don't need to
[23:52] be in all these wars. Why would I lend
[23:55] you the money? Sure, I'll lend the
[23:56] United States money if they pay me 100%.
[24:00] Right?
[24:02] And so, this goes to show how bad the
[24:04] bond market really is. It's fractured,
[24:05] it's damaged. There are no active
[24:07] lenders to the United States. By the
[24:10] way, context here, guys, is that the
[24:13] West is feeling very threatened from a
[24:15] military standpoint. So, this is from
[24:16] Reuters, NATO's root warns allies they
[24:20] are Russia's next target.
[24:22] So, if you do a little digging, I
[24:23] encourage you guys to Google this.
[24:25] Uh a lot of Europe is really worried
[24:27] that Russia is going to [ __ ] them up. So
[24:29] much so, and listen,
[24:31] to be clear, I'm no fan of China or
[24:33] Russia, to be clear. That shouldn't have
[24:35] to be stated, but, you know, you guys
[24:37] are all you get your panties all in a
[24:39] bunch sometimes. I'm not a fan of
[24:41] either. I want peace for all. I want
[24:43] fairness, equality, freedom speech,
[24:45] property rights, free markets for
[24:46] everyone. That's my stance. I'm not red,
[24:49] I'm not blue, I'm not this, I'm not
[24:50] that, I'm orange, I'm Bitcoin, okay?
[24:53] I'm internet, I'm Bitcoin. That's those
[24:55] That's my affiliation. Okay? Don't try
[24:58] and classify me any other way.
[25:01] Um
[25:02] with that being said, supposedly Europe
[25:04] is really afraid that Russia is
[25:06] outproducing everybody.
[25:08] Uh
[25:09] I mean, listen, China and Russia are the
[25:10] net producers to the world. They produce
[25:13] the stuff. They run their countries
[25:14] profitably, okay? And so, proof of that
[25:17] is this visual here from The Economist.
[25:19] This is the a lot of European countries'
[25:22] defense budgets just skyrocketing. So,
[25:25] this is in in the fainter red, so that
[25:28] What is that? Pink? Maybe? Whatever. Uh
[25:31] in 2022, what they were spending on
[25:32] defense, and now in 2025, it's
[25:34] drastically increased. And for those
[25:36] listening, these countries are Germany,
[25:38] Britain, France, Italy, Poland,
[25:39] Netherlands, Spain, Turkey. Defense
[25:41] spending is going through the roof. And
[25:43] according to NATO, it's because they're
[25:45] really worried about Russia. They're
[25:46] worried about the growth that they're
[25:47] seeing in Russia and China. These
[25:49] countries are net producers. Their
[25:51] manufacturing base is extremely strong.
[25:54] Um
[25:55] they are just outproducing and
[25:57] outexecuting the West because the West
[26:00] is solely reliant on lenders, on debt,
[26:04] on bonds, on treasuries, and on printing
[26:07] money.
[26:07] Over decades, that's not a very strong
[26:10] strategy. That's not a very scalable
[26:12] strategy. Again, guys, you know,
[26:15] think about it. How long would a
[26:17] business last if all it did was lose $2
[26:19] trillion a year? Probably not very long,
[26:23] right? That's the US government. It's
[26:25] been able to bail itself out cuz it can
[26:27] print what it owes. Nonetheless though,
[26:30] that's not a very strong strategy.
[26:32] Eventually, you're going to start
[26:33] getting outproduced when it comes to
[26:35] military. You're going to start getting
[26:36] outproduced when it comes to energy.
[26:37] You're going to start getting
[26:38] outproduced when it comes to AI,
[26:40] food,
[26:41] electronics, cars, which we'll get into
[26:44] in a second, okay?
[26:46] So, on that topic,
[26:49] Oh, by the way, anyways, the the you
[26:52] know, people rant ratcheting up their
[26:53] defense spending, this is really bad for
[26:56] the bond market. Why is it really bad
[26:57] for the bond market? Again, think
[26:59] logically. Don't let this financial
[27:00] jargon People love the financial jargon
[27:02] because they try and make you feel small
[27:04] as the everyday person. Like, "Oh, you
[27:06] can't understand this. This is above
[27:07] your pay grade. Listen to the experts.
[27:09] Listen to the politicians." Hey, no, how
[27:11] about [ __ ] you? How about we're plenty
[27:14] smart, and you guys come to this show so
[27:16] that you can get through all the
[27:18] financial jargon and actually
[27:19] understand. It's super simple. It's
[27:21] super simple. You can't run a $2
[27:22] trillion deficit. You can't just print
[27:24] money. You can't just expect people to
[27:26] lend you money forever.
[27:28] At some point, it all comes due, right?
[27:31] And so, why is wartime like Why is
[27:34] increased defense budget bad for the
[27:36] bond market? Well, guys, think about it.
[27:38] If people are ramping up their defense,
[27:41] they're spending all this money on
[27:42] military, that's not an investment for
[27:45] growth,
[27:46] right? I don't want to invest in
[27:49] building a bunch of weapons to go murder
[27:51] a bunch of people because how the hell
[27:53] am I going to get paid back?
[27:56] If I lend someone money to go bomb spend
[27:59] the money bombing a bunch of people, how
[28:01] are they going to pay me back? That's
[28:03] not a business. That's not growth.
[28:04] That's not assets. That's nothing.
[28:08] So, if you're seeing all of these
[28:09] countries ratchet up their defense
[28:11] spending, that's an expectation of war.
[28:13] That's dead capital. That capital is
[28:15] just sitting in the form of a jet, in
[28:17] the form of a bomb, in the form of a
[28:19] gun. Why the [ __ ] would I lend money for
[28:22] that? Unless I felt threatened. The only
[28:26] reason the people should be subsidizing
[28:28] [ __ ] like this is if they felt their
[28:30] lives were at risk.
[28:33] And so, this is really bad for the bond
[28:34] market cuz people that are being asked
[28:36] to lend money for this [ __ ] they're
[28:39] going to ask for higher yields. If
[28:42] yields go higher, if interest rates go
[28:43] higher, the people that are already so
[28:45] in debt like the United States, they
[28:46] can't afford their interest payments.
[28:48] Like the United States
[28:50] would want a 38 more trillion dollars
[28:53] lent to it, but they can't afford that
[28:55] at 5%, at 6%, at 7%. And that's what the
[28:58] market is demanding. So, the fact that
[29:01] the West feels so ill-equipped to
[29:03] continue to try and shove its demands
[29:05] down the world's throat
[29:08] is really, really bad for the bond
[29:10] market. And so, now let's take a look at
[29:12] what's happening in China, okay? This is
[29:15] from a YouTuber that has 20 million
[29:18] subscribers. I've seen this guy before.
[29:20] Supposedly he's like the the like
[29:22] Michael Jordan of reviewing tech [ __ ]
[29:25] Um Oh, you guys can now see also in my
[29:28] YouTube suggested, you can see what the
[29:29] algorithm wants me to watch. I've been
[29:31] getting into YouTube golf.
[29:33] I'm still really bad at golf, but I love
[29:35] like my happy place when I need to like
[29:37] just take a breath for a second is watch
[29:40] YouTube golf. Anyways, um
[29:43] here nor there.
[29:45] So, this guy, Marques Brownlee,
[29:47] uh listen to the at least intro of this
[29:49] YouTube video. It's a 17-minute video. I
[29:51] encourage you guys to watch it. Uh it's
[29:53] about looking at the Chinese car market,
[29:57] which, you know, we don't get access to
[30:00] the Chinese market of products and
[30:01] services for consumers, and they don't
[30:03] get access to ours. But the point is
[30:05] this this car he's reviewing is
[30:08] supposedly Tesla on steroids, but like
[30:12] half the price. It's like the best
[30:14] version of Tesla that has never come out
[30:17] yet for us. Like it's it kicks Tesla's
[30:19] ass, and it's 40 grand.
[30:24] Which again, just to show how much we're
[30:26] getting outproduced, the lack of a
[30:29] manufacturing back base, the lack of
[30:33] industrial equipment, the lack of a real
[30:36] real productive economy, not printing
[30:39] money, just listen to what this guy has
[30:40] to say real quick.
[30:42] All right, so there are a lot of hot
[30:44] takes in the tech world, and I see a lot
[30:46] of them in the comment section and in
[30:47] articles all the time. And one of the
[30:49] most common ones is, "Yo, have you seen
[30:52] these Chinese electric cars?
[30:54] If they ever came to the US, they would
[30:56] cook everything that we have here. They
[30:58] are too good. They have too much tech,
[31:00] and they are too cheap to not dominate
[31:02] everything."
[31:03] And so I figured [music] I should get my
[31:05] hands on one and actually figure out if
[31:06] that's true or not.
[31:08] And uh
[31:10] yeah, you could say there's a little
[31:11] something to it.
[31:13] >> [music]
[31:18] >> Okay, you guys should go watch this. Um
[31:22] seriously, it's a 17-minute review of
[31:25] this like Chinese Tesla, except it's way
[31:28] better than Tesla, and again, it's half
[31:30] the price. And you're thinking, "How is
[31:31] it half the price?" Again, like China's
[31:35] producing all the things locally. It
[31:36] doesn't need to import all the
[31:38] ingredients to make a car.
[31:40] It's making the car locally. It has
[31:42] cheap labor. It's China is productive.
[31:46] They're producing. Now,
[31:48] with a caveat, they are massively
[31:51] subsidizing this level of growth and
[31:53] production with a seriously weak
[31:55] currency, which allows the labor to be
[31:57] super cheap. China has its cons, okay?
[32:01] I like I've said this before. I think
[32:04] the West versus the East, which is
[32:06] really the US versus China, will
[32:07] dissolve into the internet versus China.
[32:11] I think the battle of the future are
[32:13] things like the internet, Bitcoin, and
[32:15] AI versus the CCP. Which one do you want
[32:19] to be a part of? The one that has
[32:21] freedom of speech, property rights, free
[32:24] markets, transparency, or the one that's
[32:28] run by, you know, this authoritarian
[32:30] state that's very controlling and
[32:32] depriving of human rights. That's what I
[32:34] think the next frontier is. I think
[32:35] America and the West will graduate
[32:37] really into the internet. And we as a
[32:39] country, we need to embody technology
[32:43] uh to protect the ideals of the West.
[32:47] Okay? But China's producing [ __ ] cheaper
[32:50] than us and better than us. That's kind
[32:52] of the point of me encouraging you guys
[32:54] to go watch this.
[32:55] So this tweet from this guy named Steve,
[32:58] don't know who this is, but it's a good
[32:59] tweet. Marques has 20 million
[33:01] subscribers on YouTube. He says $42,000,
[33:04] I don't even know how to pronounce the
[33:04] car, competes with the $75,000 car in
[33:07] the US. Conclusion, Western, which
[33:10] includes Japan and Korean car makers,
[33:12] are cooked if Chinese EVs are allowed to
[33:14] be sold in the US and the EU.
[33:16] And that car is coming to Europe next
[33:19] year.
[33:22] America would never allow that car to
[33:25] come in. Imagine if China also started
[33:28] to crack our capital markets because
[33:30] their products just tore down a Mag 7
[33:34] company like Tesla.
[33:36] That'd be insane. Okay? But you guys
[33:38] catching my drift here? More of China's
[33:40] dominance. China swallows more of global
[33:43] demand. This is China's current account
[33:45] surplus as a percent of global GDP. Look
[33:47] at that forecast, guys. They are
[33:49] ratcheting up for a level of growth that
[33:51] is unprecedented unprecedented. Prior
[33:55] high was the 2008 global financial
[33:57] crisis. They are going to about double
[34:00] that according to current forecast.
[34:02] Another one, cumulative change in volume
[34:04] of China's imports and exports. You're
[34:06] thinking to yourself, "Well, how much
[34:07] are they importing to drive all this
[34:08] growth?" Their imports are down, and
[34:11] their exports are exponential. What does
[34:12] that mean? They're not importing the
[34:14] stuff they need to produce the stuff.
[34:16] They're making the stuff by themselves.
[34:17] They are the world's factory. Do you
[34:20] guys understand?
[34:22] They're able to build these exports
[34:24] without any imports. They are
[34:25] self-reliant. Their industrial base is
[34:28] on fire
[34:29] relative to ours specifically. Okay? So
[34:32] just to recap this chapter, we have
[34:34] three options: sacrifice the people
[34:35] lending to the United States, which is
[34:37] the bond market, sacrifice the people
[34:39] holding the dollar, which is the
[34:40] currency, or let China continue about
[34:42] their way of dominating us with the
[34:45] proper industrial base, proper
[34:47] manufacturing base, proper net
[34:49] productive surplus.
[34:52] All of which results in fiat currency
[34:55] regime era ending. Capiche? Understood?
[34:59] Okay. So then the last chapter is how
[35:02] this is all going to sort itself out.
[35:04] So, you know, a lot of this show is
[35:05] trying to understand, "Wait, what did
[35:07] Jerome Powell just say? Why did Trump
[35:09] tweet that he
[35:10] Why did Trump tweet what he just
[35:12] tweeted?" Because we can really put
[35:14] pieces together and totally understand
[35:16] where all this is going. Cuz listen, on
[35:19] the other side of this madness, Bitcoin
[35:21] is money. It's the dominant money. It's
[35:24] the world reserve currency, and we all
[35:25] live happily ever after, and we get to
[35:27] tell our kids that we were part of one
[35:29] of the most important chapters in human
[35:31] history. But we have to go from today to
[35:33] there.
[35:34] And getting there, sometimes we have to
[35:37] walk very treacherous waters. Sometimes
[35:39] we have to ride out bull or bear markets
[35:42] that where Bitcoin goes down 80%.
[35:45] And so let's walk through what the Fed
[35:48] talked about last week and what Trump is
[35:49] tweeting this week cuz it gives us a lot
[35:51] of clues. Very very very very very good
[35:53] clues. Okay.
[35:56] So this is titled "The Fed is
[35:58] technically buying, not quantitative
[36:00] easing." But hint and disclaimer, it is
[36:03] absolutely QE. What am I talking about?
[36:06] So this from Zero Hedge. So the Fed will
[36:08] ramp up asset purchases, $40 billion in
[36:11] bills monthly, until May, which is when
[36:14] Powell gets the boot and Trump installs
[36:16] whoever he wants, okay? And so if we
[36:18] zoom in on the image here, this is
[36:20] statement regarding reserve management
[36:22] purchase operations from the Federal
[36:23] Reserve. And what is highlighted reads,
[36:26] "Monthly amounts of RMPs will be
[36:28] announced on or around the ninth
[36:30] business day of each month alongside
[36:32] tentative schedule of purchase
[36:33] operations for the subsequent
[36:34] approximately 30 days. The desk plans to
[36:37] release the first schedule on December
[36:38] 11th, 2025." So that was 4 days ago.
[36:42] "With a total amount of RMPs of
[36:43] approximately $40 billion in Treasury
[36:45] bills. Purchases will start on December
[36:48] 12th." So they started purchasing 3 days
[36:50] ago. "The desk anticipates that the pace
[36:53] of RMPs will will non-reserve
[36:55] liabilities in April. After that,
[36:59] the pace of total purchases will likely
[37:01] be significantly reduced in line with
[37:03] expected seasonal patterns in Federal
[37:04] Reserve liabilities. Purchase amounts
[37:07] will be adjusted as appropriate based on
[37:09] the outlook for reserve supply and
[37:11] market conditions." Okay. So what do I
[37:14] mean by
[37:16] the Fed says this is just us purchasing.
[37:19] This isn't QE, but it actually
[37:21] absolutely is QE. First of all, again,
[37:24] we are a show by the common man for the
[37:27] common man. Actually, hold on.
[37:32] I sent Dylan our new tagline uh cuz
[37:35] someone posted it at me. Oh yeah, this
[37:38] is uh this is our our new tagline cuz
[37:40] someone tweeted it at me. Um
[37:44] we are uh we tell the truth and dispel
[37:47] complicated financial jargon for the
[37:49] common man. That's what we do on this
[37:50] show. Let's [ __ ] go. I love you guys
[37:52] so much. Okay, so this is what QE is. QE
[37:56] typically stands for quantitative
[37:57] easing, an unconventional monetary
[37:59] policy where a central bank buys
[38:01] long-term securities to inject money
[38:04] into the economy. Lower interest rates
[38:06] encourage lending and investment and
[38:08] fight deflation, often during crisis
[38:11] when traditional tools fail. Okay. So
[38:14] what QE is,
[38:16] it says in here long-term securities. Do
[38:18] you guys see that's the really important
[38:20] piece, this this idea that it's
[38:22] long-term, the long end.
[38:26] So let's take a step back for the common
[38:28] man here. QE is when the Fed quite
[38:31] literally prints money and buys
[38:34] uh long-term securities. So buys
[38:37] whatever, bonds. Okay?
[38:39] Said differently, QE is when the Fed
[38:42] prints money and lends it to the US
[38:44] government. Said differently, QE is when
[38:47] the US prints money for itself.
[38:51] I'm going to say that again. QE is when
[38:53] the United States prints money for
[38:55] itself.
[38:57] That is absolutely insane. We want to go
[38:59] to war? We want to finance AI? We want
[39:02] to hand out stimulus checks? Well, let's
[39:04] just print money, dilute all the dollar
[39:07] shareholders, deprive wealth from
[39:08] everybody holding the currency. Right?
[39:11] That's obviously inflationary. That's
[39:13] obviously good for Bitcoin, okay? Now,
[39:15] they're saying, and what I've said on
[39:17] this show before is when QE starts, they
[39:20] won't call it QE because everyone now
[39:22] knows what QE is. They have to come up
[39:24] with tools that people don't recognize,
[39:25] or else the public will realize that
[39:28] they're just being robbed in in broad
[39:30] daylight.
[39:32] And so instead of calling it QE, they're
[39:35] saying, "No, QE is for the long end.
[39:36] It's for long-term. We're buying bills.
[39:39] That's the short end.
[39:41] That's the cash and cash equivalents.
[39:43] We're buying bills.
[39:44] So, this isn't This isn't QE.
[39:47] What they call it?
[39:48] It This is It's It's outrageous the
[39:51] level of deception. Technically buying.
[39:54] This isn't QE. This is called
[39:55] technically buying.
[39:58] I'm not stacking sats. I'm just
[39:59] technically buying Bitcoin. [ __ ] What
[40:02] type of [ __ ] is that? Okay? But, it
[40:04] absolutely is QE because the result of
[40:07] it is they are printing money to lend to
[40:10] the US government. You guys understand
[40:11] that? Now,
[40:13] let me
[40:14] let's just like zoom out for a second
[40:16] and start to piece clues together of how
[40:18] this next 12 months is going to go. Cuz
[40:21] mind you, we have midterms coming up and
[40:23] I've been on the show saying the same
[40:25] thing. Bitcoin's down What? I'm looking
[40:26] at the price. $86,410.
[40:29] And everyone's tweeting at me like, "Oh,
[40:31] it's a bear market. Jack's probably
[40:32] embarrassed. Jack probably Jack this.
[40:34] Oh, did you see what Luke Roman said
[40:36] about the price of Bitcoin?" Guess what?
[40:38] If you came to the show to see if I
[40:39] flinched even an inch on any of my
[40:42] predictions or my stance, here you go.
[40:45] I'm not [ __ ] moving. What did Belfort
[40:47] say? "I'm not [ __ ] leaving."
[40:49] We are not in a 2-year bear market. In
[40:52] fact, I don't think we've ever This
[40:54] cycle, we haven't been in a bull market
[40:56] yet. Yes, we have in nominal in dollar
[40:58] terms.
[41:00] But, that's because the dollar's been
[41:01] getting debased so much through fiscal
[41:03] dominance.
[41:04] We have not made a new all-time high in
[41:06] gold terms. We have not been in a proper
[41:08] bull market. The bull market will come
[41:11] when they start printing the money.
[41:13] We've lived through the most aggressive
[41:15] QT, quantitative tightening, ever.
[41:18] The Fed's balance sheet went from round
[41:20] numbers 9 trillion to 6 trillion. They
[41:22] tightened 3 trillion, 33%. That's
[41:24] insane. And by the way, it was over
[41:26] years. It was the fastest rate hike ever
[41:29] that crashed the US banking system.
[41:36] So, no.
[41:37] I'm not worried about the bear market.
[41:39] I'm not thinking Bitcoin's going to 10K.
[41:43] I'm 10 toes down buying dips. 10 toes
[41:46] down.
[41:48] Bitcoin's been chopping sideways for 6
[41:50] months. I got a bunch of crybabies
[41:52] asking for a pacifier on the internet.
[41:57] Okay? Now, let me walk you through
[41:59] what's happening in real time because
[42:01] we've got midterms coming up. QT is
[42:04] over. QE is technically in my book
[42:07] starting.
[42:08] You cannot be printing money to buy
[42:10] bills without technically starting QE.
[42:13] [ __ ] you guys with your, you know, not
[42:15] not not you guys the listeners and not
[42:17] even the internet that tweets at me.
[42:18] Now, I'm going to to the Fed and to the
[42:20] Treasury. You guys can't classify this
[42:22] not as QE over technicalities. That is
[42:26] purposely trying to obfuscate the truth
[42:28] and information at the detriment of the
[42:30] people. This is printing money, okay?
[42:33] Screw you guys. This is printing money.
[42:35] So, what are we looking at here? This is
[42:38] This is a snapshot of the US
[42:41] government's financials for November.
[42:43] Okay? Let's take a close look.
[42:45] Total receipts. Again, God with the
[42:47] financial jargon. These people just
[42:49] can't get out of their own way. They
[42:51] cannot just be transparent, honest, uh
[42:54] approachable, humanizable, relatable.
[42:57] They have to create all this jargon to
[42:59] obfuscate all this information. Receipts
[43:01] is just revenue, okay? How much money
[43:04] are we bringing in? $336 billion
[43:06] in November. Seems like a lot of money.
[43:09] Well, not compared to the $509 billion
[43:12] we lost, which they call an outlay.
[43:14] Okay?
[43:15] So, if you net that out, we're a little
[43:18] under $200 deficit in November alone.
[43:21] That's not annually. We lost almost $200
[43:24] billion which maps because we are on
[43:27] pace on an annualized basis to run a
[43:29] over $2 trillion deficit as a country.
[43:33] Okay? So, we start here. Now,
[43:39] we go to the next. All of this implies
[43:42] that
[43:43] How do I say this?
[43:45] So, basically, listen, guys.
[43:47] Um the US government is running massive
[43:50] massive massive massive deficits, right?
[43:53] We all know that. Okay?
[43:56] Um
[43:59] They
[44:00] So,
[44:01] in order for them to get out of this
[44:03] hole. So, if we go all the way back to
[44:04] this slide,
[44:06] sacrifice the bond market, sacrifice the
[44:08] currency, let China produce everything.
[44:10] We know now that it is a national
[44:11] security threat to let China produce
[44:13] everything. We're going to lose in
[44:14] military. We're going to lose in AI.
[44:15] We're going to lose in cars. We're going
[44:17] to lose in everything. This is no longer
[44:18] the the United States is now admitting,
[44:20] which is the reason I did chapter one.
[44:22] The United States is saying, "We [ __ ]
[44:23] up. We screwed up
[44:25] decades and decades ago. We should have
[44:27] never done this. The whole globalism
[44:29] thing. The whole Oh, everything is free
[44:30] trade. It was a mistake. We messed up."
[44:34] Okay? So, the let China produce
[44:35] everything is off the table. It's a
[44:37] mistake. It's a national security
[44:38] threat. Like the West has to show up.
[44:42] Because Russia and China are starting to
[44:44] dominate. The West has to show the [ __ ]
[44:46] up. Okay?
[44:49] So, the question is, what about the
[44:50] first two? Sacrifice the bond market,
[44:51] sacrifice the currency.
[44:53] When we look at the US's financials,
[44:56] we are losing $200 a month, round
[44:58] numbers. Okay? We're losing over 200 2
[45:01] trillion. Not And And And I say we're
[45:03] losing over as if it's our money that we
[45:06] have that's leaving. We are getting lent
[45:09] money and our debt is just growing.
[45:11] So, the deficit we're running is over $2
[45:13] trillion a year.
[45:14] Okay?
[45:15] If you look here also,
[45:18] let me zoom in here. Our biggest expense
[45:21] in November
[45:23] was social security.
[45:25] We paid out $134 billion in social
[45:28] security.
[45:29] Okay? And so, again,
[45:31] this is a boomer Ponzi, okay? Sorry. I
[45:34] know so many boomers listen to the show
[45:35] and I'm sure you guys are great people.
[45:37] I'm I haven't met all of you in person,
[45:38] obviously. And so, I can't talk to your
[45:41] character. I'm not insulting you
[45:42] personally. Please don't take this
[45:44] personally. What I am saying is the
[45:47] boomers, the wealthiest class in the
[45:49] history of humanity,
[45:51] all the wealth concentration, they own
[45:53] all the homes, all the assets, all the
[45:55] wealth, okay?
[45:57] They're also getting paid out $134
[45:59] billion
[46:00] in November in social security. And yes,
[46:03] I know you put some money in, but it's
[46:05] not one-to-one.
[46:07] It's absolutely not. How much of the
[46:09] $134 billion is going to kids my age
[46:12] trying to afford a home, trying to
[46:13] outbid you guys in the housing market?
[46:16] None of it. Come on.
[46:19] Okay. Anyways, side point. Second and
[46:21] most importantly,
[46:23] the second largest expense is interest.
[46:27] That's interest on the debt. Okay? $88
[46:29] billion in interest.
[46:31] So,
[46:32] let me put it to you this way, guys. The
[46:34] US is spending $88 billion in interest
[46:40] My gosh. In a month.
[46:43] In a month.
[46:47] Multiply that by 12.
[46:49] I'll give you guys a second.
[46:51] What is that?
[46:54] Do the math. What's 88 * 12?
[47:03] That's over a trillion dollars in
[47:04] interest expense a year. Guys.
[47:09] That's over $1 trillion in interest
[47:11] expense a year. So, the point is
[47:14] high interest rates, high yields are now
[47:17] officially not just a Republican versus
[47:20] Democrat, a Trump versus this, that.
[47:23] They are a threat
[47:25] to the United States of America. The
[47:27] United States of America cannot afford
[47:29] that. It will take down the empire.
[47:32] So,
[47:34] what have we seen? Trump wants his Fed
[47:36] chair to cut rates. The economy may have
[47:38] other ideas.
[47:41] The hits keep coming for President
[47:42] Donald Trump's future nominee to head
[47:44] the Federal Reserve. Trump openly
[47:45] acknowledged in an interview with
[47:47] Politico, Dasha Burns,
[47:50] that he would only pick someone to
[47:51] succeed Fed chair Jerome Powell who is
[47:53] committed to cutting interest rates
[47:55] immediately.
[47:58] The commitment was striking.
[47:59] Are the Excuse me, the comment and the
[48:01] commitment. The comment was striking
[48:03] given that central bank policy makers
[48:05] are unusually split on the best course
[48:08] of action next year.
[48:10] I don't think the market us understands.
[48:13] >> [laughter]
[48:14] >> The US If the US And listen, maybe the
[48:17] US says, "You know what? The world's
[48:19] better off if the CCP runs it. The West
[48:21] is dead.
[48:23] Let's just let China do its thing and
[48:25] Russia go like beat the [ __ ] out of
[48:27] Europe."
[48:28] Maybe it
[48:29] Listen, I'm not in charge.
[48:31] Like I said, I'm a Bitcoiner. I would
[48:33] very much advocate against that. I'd be
[48:36] very sad.
[48:38] But, the point is seemingly, they're
[48:40] That's not the decision they're making.
[48:43] They're saying, "We messed up. We got to
[48:45] change course here." If that's the case,
[48:48] high interest rates is not policy It's
[48:50] not a policy decision. It's not a matter
[48:52] of who gets elected. It is a If interest
[48:55] rates remain high, the US collapses.
[48:58] They cannot afford it. They cannot
[49:01] afford a trillion dollars. You are This
[49:04] is what Guys, this is a doom loop. This
[49:06] is a negative feedback loop. What's
[49:07] happening is the US government is
[49:09] borrowing money to pay its interest
[49:11] payments.
[49:12] It doesn't even have a trillion dollars
[49:14] of receipts, of income, to make those
[49:17] payments. So, it is borrowing money to
[49:19] pay interest, which creates more
[49:21] interest, which requires more borrowing,
[49:22] which creates more interest, which
[49:23] requires more borrowing, which creates
[49:25] more interest, which requires more
[49:26] borrowing. You see?
[49:28] Doom loop. Collapse. Sovereign debt
[49:30] crisis.
[49:31] So, this from Trump. Trump says Fed
[49:33] could have at least doubled latest
[49:35] interest rate cut. President Donald
[49:37] Trump said the Federal Reserve's latest
[49:38] decision to cut benchmark interest rates
[49:40] could have been at least double.
[49:42] Trump called Fed chair Jerome Powell a
[49:44] stiff.
[49:45] >> [laughter]
[49:47] >> Who approved a rather small cut. Trump
[49:49] also said he plans to interview former
[49:51] Fed governor Kevner Kevin Warsh, a
[49:54] possible contender to succeed Powell
[49:55] when his term ends.
[49:57] Okay. Now, this is just the interest
[50:00] expense. I want to play you guys this
[50:01] clip that Trump said only 2 days ago.
[50:06] Really, really, really, really, really
[50:09] big clue. Really big clue.
[50:11] Let me mute myself and play this clip.
[50:16] And we're going to go back to the old
[50:18] days. When we announce great results, it
[50:21] doesn't mean we're going to raise
[50:22] interest rates and try and kill it. It
[50:24] means that instead of
[50:26] uh 4% GDP or 3%, which I said so
[50:29] wonderful 3%,
[50:31] it should be able to be 20 or 25%. I
[50:33] don't know why it can't be. You
[50:35] shouldn't kill it.
[50:37] And
[50:40] Okay. So, for one, what's very obvious
[50:43] is high rates, high borrowing costs are
[50:46] a threat to America. So, when you hear
[50:49] things, guys, when I say things like
[50:50] yield curve control, what is yield curve
[50:52] control? Well, if everyone is demanding
[50:55] interest to lend to the United States
[50:57] government needs to be 10%, 15% because
[50:59] they're so insolvent, there's no plan to
[51:01] pay it back, they're such a mess, well,
[51:03] the US can't afford that. So, what do
[51:05] they do? They have the Federal Reserve
[51:07] print money and lend it to them. And
[51:09] that's started by the by the Federal
[51:11] Reserve printing money and buying bills.
[51:13] Now, it's only $40 a month. That's not
[51:16] nearly enough. Not nearly enough.
[51:22] $40 a month, not nearly enough.
[51:27] That's like that's like the size of
[51:29] tether.
[51:30] Nearly enough.
[51:32] Okay? But
[51:34] what I've predicted on this show and I
[51:35] think will continue to happen. Sorry, my
[51:37] feet are falling asleep. I was just
[51:38] sitting on them.
[51:39] What what I think will continue to
[51:41] happen
[51:42] is the Fed will have to do yield curve
[51:44] control. They'll have to print money and
[51:46] suppress yields, suppress the natural
[51:49] demand for the market. Listen, the
[51:51] market wants to get paid more to lending
[51:53] for for lending to the drunken idiot
[51:56] that's $38 trillion in debt. That's the
[51:58] US, right? And so, the the market wants
[52:01] to get paid more for that. Needs to be
[52:02] compensated more for that. But the the
[52:05] government can't afford it. And so,
[52:06] they're going to use the Fed to print
[52:07] money to suppress that, which is
[52:09] obviously extremely inflationary,
[52:10] obviously going to send assets to the
[52:12] moon. The other thing is GDP.
[52:15] So, Trump's saying, instead of GDP at 4%
[52:17] or 3%, what about 20 to 25%? Guys, for a
[52:21] $28 trillion economy, that is unheard
[52:26] of. You cannot grow 20 to 25%. That is
[52:30] the most nonsensical thing ever. So, you
[52:34] have to ask yourself, what is this guy
[52:37] actually talking about? Because what he
[52:39] said does doesn't make any sense in
[52:41] practical terms.
[52:44] And this is from Luke Roman.
[52:46] What we have to understand what he's
[52:47] talking about is what's called wartime
[52:49] footing, wartime financing, wartime
[52:52] spending. Okay? So, what Luke puts
[52:55] together here is wartime footing, which
[52:58] is circled in the red here, is 27% of
[53:01] GDP deficits in World War II, which
[53:04] today would mean the US runs an 8 and
[53:07] 1/2 trillion dollar deficit a year.
[53:12] So, if Trump if what Trump is saying is
[53:16] our way to get out of this is to print
[53:18] our way out, well, how much printing
[53:20] would that be?
[53:22] The US alone would have to go from a $2
[53:26] trillion deficit to an 8 and 1/2
[53:28] trillion dollar deficit a year.
[53:34] And what happened the last time we did
[53:36] this wartime footing thing? I mentioned
[53:38] it earlier in the episode. The Fed's
[53:40] balance sheet went up 10x in 3 years.
[53:46] So, the question I have is this. Is what
[53:48] the US government's preparing us for
[53:51] Let's go all the way back to the
[53:52] beginning.
[53:54] What is the title of this? National
[53:56] security strategy. Is what we're heading
[53:59] is national security.
[54:02] Is that we messed up. We need to
[54:04] re-industrialize. We need to get off
[54:06] globalism, get off this free trade
[54:08] [ __ ] and put ourselves in an in a
[54:10] capacity to actually build our own stuff
[54:13] again. De-risk from China. And this is
[54:15] not an idea. This is not a suggestion.
[54:17] This is national security.
[54:19] And okay, how are you going to finance
[54:21] this national security? Well,
[54:23] we already did it once, didn't we?
[54:26] After World War
[54:28] 27% of GDP deficits?
[54:33] So, is the United States and the Fed
[54:35] going to run an 8 and 1/2 trillion
[54:37] dollar deficit annually for 3 years and
[54:39] print their way out of this?
[54:42] I mean, it sure looks like the gold
[54:43] market is telling us so.
[54:45] Well, well, who's going to absorb all
[54:47] that? Where's the capital going to come
[54:49] from? Oh, the Fed.
[54:51] Is the Fed's balance sheet going to go
[54:52] from 6 trillion sitting today to 60
[54:56] trillion by the end of Trump's term?
[55:00] Listen, I don't know.
[55:02] I've told you guys, Bitcoin wins in the
[55:04] end. The path in which we walk there, I
[55:06] have no idea. I'm not the president. I'm
[55:08] not the chair of the Fed. I don't really
[55:10] like politics, if you can't tell.
[55:13] Not a fan. Less government, small
[55:15] government, no government, free markets,
[55:17] property rights, freedom of speech.
[55:20] So, I don't know the answers.
[55:23] What can I do? Break it down for the
[55:25] common man.
[55:26] Try and piece the clues together.
[55:29] Why would Trump say this? 20 to 25%.
[55:33] That is not a real number unless it
[55:36] means wartime spending, unless it means
[55:38] print the money.
[55:39] Why is Trump so ape [ __ ] about interest
[55:42] rates? It's not a policy thing, guys.
[55:44] It's not a red versus blue. It's not a
[55:46] Trump versus Biden. It's not a
[55:47] Republican versus Democrat.
[55:49] It's a the United States quite literally
[55:52] is going to break
[55:56] if they have to keep interest payments
[55:57] as high as they are. These numbers have
[55:59] to come down. How do you get them down?
[56:01] You cut rates and yield curve control.
[56:05] See? So, you know, I made this this
[56:09] little joke of a slide. Quote Trump
[56:11] saying, "Why can't we have 20 to 25% GDP
[56:13] growth?" Let me translate for the common
[56:15] man. Why can't we inflate our way out
[56:17] like we did before?
[56:20] That's what he just asked Fox News.
[56:23] We already did this. Remember World War
[56:26] Remember
[56:28] back cold cold war days, World War days?
[56:31] Remember that?
[56:32] Why can't we do the same thing?
[56:36] You know, for national security, hedging
[56:38] against China, we have to win the AI
[56:39] race.
[56:44] And then I saw this. Hassett, more
[56:46] fiscal room to do stimulative things
[56:48] now. Hassett, will be recon-
[56:51] reconciliation bill next year.
[56:53] Lot of stuff people have for bill, like
[56:56] on housing.
[56:57] Hold on.
[56:59] There's There's a bill coming?
[57:01] There's more room to do fiscal now? Are
[57:03] we going to get like a national security
[57:07] AI spending bill?
[57:09] Listen, again, I don't know. I'm not I'm
[57:12] not saying these things are going to
[57:13] happen. I'm not making any hardcore
[57:15] predictions.
[57:17] Treat me You know, the media calls me
[57:19] the kid in the hoodie, right? That's all
[57:20] I am. But I don't know.
[57:24] But, you know, the three options we have
[57:26] are very simple.
[57:30] Sacrifice the bond market, which is
[57:32] austerity, super duper duper duper duper
[57:34] great depression. Sacrifice the
[57:36] currency, which is inflation, super
[57:38] duper duper duper duper inflation. Gold
[57:41] to $20,000 an ounce, Bitcoin to a
[57:43] million.
[57:44] Your eggs to
[57:45] shh, who knows.
[57:48] Or
[57:50] China is
[57:52] and Russia and the East,
[57:54] they've been building an industrial
[57:56] base. They've been building military
[57:57] equipment. They've been building. They
[58:00] are the net producers. They are the
[58:01] world's factory. Look at this level of
[58:03] export and surplus.
[58:12] And lastly, the last slide I have is
[58:14] just gold. If you guys, you know, don't
[58:17] take my word for it,
[58:19] because here's the thing, you know,
[58:21] markets are
[58:24] information systems, right?
[58:26] The price of something
[58:29] tells you a lot about the market, you
[58:31] know, of the collective time, energy,
[58:34] effort, labor, and value that humans are
[58:35] contributing, how much are people
[58:37] willing to to pay, to expend, to acquire
[58:41] a good or service.
[58:43] And
[58:44] so, what the what the market is telling
[58:46] us is that, you know, China is running
[58:48] all these trade surpluses.
[58:51] And
[58:54] that like they're putting it into gold.
[58:56] They're not lending it to the United
[58:58] States anymore.
[58:59] Excess capital, those that are net
[59:01] producers. So, net producers meaning you
[59:04] are making more than you are spending.
[59:07] You are producing more value than you
[59:08] are consuming. Okay? Net producers, the
[59:11] people that are productive in society,
[59:13] right?
[59:15] Where are they putting their money?
[59:17] Well, if you pull up a chart, seemingly
[59:20] not US Treasuries,
[59:22] seemingly not equities as much as gold.
[59:26] This is the end of the fiat currency
[59:29] regime, the end of this experiment.
[59:34] And let me wrap it up and get to Q&A.
[59:37] Strike Strike updates.
[59:39] We're on fire.
[59:40] I'm just just going to cut to you
[59:41] straight.
[59:43] I did some of this last episode, but
[59:44] just to recap, I mean, we've shipped I'm
[59:47] going to do a end of the year for Strike
[59:49] of just a recap of all we've achieved
[59:51] because it really, even as a CEO and the
[59:54] founder of the company, gets hard to
[59:55] keep up with. So
[59:57] uh so I'll do it for the end of the year
[59:59] and and that that won't be on the show.
[60:01] I'll post a separate video. It'll
[60:02] probably be on Twitter just recapping
[60:03] all that we've done. We like this time
[60:06] last year, we had never we didn't have a
[60:09] lending product. Now we're like one of
[60:11] if not the biggest retail lenders in the
[60:12] world. Crazy. So anyways, to recap for
[60:16] you guys, we have loan consolidation
[60:18] now. So after I announced it on the
[60:20] show, a ton of you have consolidated
[60:21] your loans. If you have multiple loans
[60:23] on Strike, you want to consolidate them
[60:24] into one loan that gives you lower
[60:27] rates, all sorts of you know, it's just
[60:28] cleaner, it's better, cheaper.
[60:31] Um one-click consolidation. Guys, Strike
[60:33] is the best user experience. It is the
[60:35] Bitcoin bank. It is the bank for the net
[60:38] producers, for the productive, for the
[60:40] future.
[60:41] Okay? So loan consolidations. So now we
[60:45] have you can close early, close your
[60:46] loans early with no penalties. We only
[60:48] charge you once and that's the rate.
[60:50] There's no origination fee, there's no
[60:51] early penalty fees or early repayment
[60:53] fees.
[60:54] You can retrieve excess collateral if
[60:57] you need to. You can refinance your loan
[60:59] instantly and now you can consolidate
[61:01] multiple loans into one. As you guys
[61:03] know, we've got that line of credit
[61:04] product cooking. We also lowered our
[61:06] minimums for Europe. So Europe, this was
[61:08] previously 100,000 euros minimum for a
[61:11] loan is now down to 10,000 euro minimum
[61:14] for a loan. Extremely exciting. I know
[61:17] this was a top request coming out of
[61:18] Europe. I'm glad we were able to do it.
[61:20] This one huge. This is new. I haven't
[61:22] talked about on the show yet. Another
[61:24] update for our global customers. We
[61:26] reference global as not UK, not Europe,
[61:29] not US. So these are primarily our Latin
[61:32] American and African markets. You can
[61:34] now receive ACH and Fedwire transfers
[61:36] from any US bank account, not just
[61:39] accounts in your name. So you can really
[61:40] use this that that you know, the product
[61:42] that you know, is very exciting for our
[61:45] customers in in these regions is that
[61:48] Strike is a dollar plus Bitcoin account
[61:51] for them. So you can use your account
[61:54] routing number, you can accept payments
[61:56] ACH Fedwire from other US-based accounts
[61:59] like a TransferWise, and we also give
[62:00] you access to USDT, so Tether and
[62:03] Bitcoin.
[62:04] So it is really the dream bank account
[62:06] for Africa, for Latin America. And I
[62:08] don't not just guessing that. I'm not
[62:10] just saying that as a Western person
[62:12] that's making assumptions. This is what
[62:14] we've heard from customers. So very
[62:16] excited. We have a lot of folks that are
[62:17] freelancers, a lot of businesses on the
[62:19] platform. You can now use the ACH and
[62:22] Fedwire transfers from any US account,
[62:24] not just an account in your name. Really
[62:26] really big deal.
[62:28] And then the last one um I thought just
[62:30] you know, worth pointing this out.
[62:32] So
[62:34] you know, oftentimes at Strike, first of
[62:36] all, we pride ourselves on transparency.
[62:38] We try to pride ourselves on how um
[62:42] like
[62:43] approachable we are, how like you can DM
[62:47] me and I will respond. Many of you do
[62:50] with customer support. Like we want we
[62:53] don't have this concept of like tech
[62:55] elitism where we're like way up in the
[62:58] sky and you know, you we don't you don't
[63:01] deserve to have our time and attention.
[63:03] Like we are customer-focused,
[63:04] customer-oriented, approachable. Um
[63:08] we're just Bitcoiners that you know, our
[63:10] day jobs consist of building you guys
[63:11] tools as opposed to you know, something
[63:14] else we could be doing, but outside of
[63:15] that, we're all Bitcoiners. We're on the
[63:17] same team. And so anyway, a a question
[63:20] that we get asked all the time is
[63:22] spreads, uh transparency, pricing. And
[63:26] we wanted to write out one, how we've
[63:28] built software to make sure you're
[63:30] getting the most sats possible, and two,
[63:32] how this all works. And so this isn't a
[63:34] feature, but this is a blog that our
[63:36] engineering team wrote. I encourage you
[63:38] to go check it out. It's titled
[63:40] Introducing Smart Order Routing. You you
[63:42] can go find it. The blog is hosted on
[63:44] our website strike.me. And
[63:47] the really cool thing is that we have
[63:49] hooked into liquidity providers all over
[63:51] the world, all over the market. And
[63:53] smart order routing for us is we
[63:55] request, hey, this person wants to buy
[63:58] $10 worth of Bitcoin. Everyone compete
[64:01] and give us your best offer to get this
[64:04] order. And we are able to execute you
[64:06] via the cheapest one. And it the blog
[64:09] walks through what a spread is, why it's
[64:11] natural. You know, we have some of the
[64:13] smallest if not the smallest spreads in
[64:14] the space and we you know, we can prove
[64:16] that. There's websites that track these
[64:18] things. But how our systems work, why
[64:20] things work the way they they are,
[64:22] because we're not trying to hide
[64:23] anything. We're trying to be
[64:24] transparent. We're trying to be the
[64:25] company built by Bitcoiners for
[64:27] Bitcoiners. We want to be approachable.
[64:29] We want to be relatable. We want you
[64:30] guys to understand our business and
[64:32] understand the products you're using and
[64:34] understand when you're paying us for
[64:36] something versus when you're not.
[64:38] And so you know, we have we're able to
[64:40] do things like no spread for we we eat
[64:43] the cost on DCAs, on your direct deposit
[64:46] pay me in Bitcoin. But then when there
[64:48] is a spread, why is it there? How is
[64:50] Strike working for me to make it the
[64:52] best possible product? And this level of
[64:54] transparency is cool. So it's a topic
[64:55] that comes up all the time. You know,
[64:57] people just will tweet at me like,
[64:58] there's a spread, you're an [ __ ] And
[65:01] I get it. I you know, I'm not saying you
[65:03] shouldn't be tweeting those things.
[65:03] Tweet whatever you want. But there's now
[65:06] a blog that answers your questions.
[65:08] And then for 21
[65:10] uh I I assume I'll get a lot of Q&A
[65:13] stuff. I'm happy to answer you know, the
[65:15] operating business lines that uh we are
[65:18] excited about uh and that we're looking
[65:21] into. Um obviously I I can't say too
[65:25] much yet. Um
[65:27] but um you know, we're taking a look at
[65:29] stuff and and we're excited about what
[65:30] we're going to be building. And what I
[65:32] can say is that this is a sooner rather
[65:34] than later thing. So you guys can quote
[65:36] that and clip that and tweet that if you
[65:38] want. This is not a long time from now.
[65:41] This isn't a medium-term plan. I can say
[65:44] this is a sooner rather than later. And
[65:46] you guys take that for what you will.
[65:48] But what I do want to say about 21 is I
[65:50] just thank you guys. Um it was a
[65:51] unbelievable experience at the New York
[65:53] Stock Exchange. Installing the Satoshi
[65:55] statue was one of the coolest
[65:56] experiences of my life.
[65:58] Um putting Satoshi in the heart of Wall
[66:00] Street. Um it was such a symbolic
[66:02] moment. Uh and it just feels like
[66:04] Bitcoin has really arrived. And uh I'm
[66:07] really excited. Now we're out of our
[66:08] quiet period. So I get to hit the media
[66:10] really hard. I'm on Bloomberg tomorrow.
[66:12] I was on CNBC. So you know, I get to do
[66:14] the podcast uh tour again. And I'm
[66:17] excited to just orange pill, actually be
[66:19] able to launch businesses and services.
[66:21] We're a Bitcoin company. We're not a
[66:22] treasury company. And I'm excited to
[66:25] really prove ourselves with our actions,
[66:27] not our words. So I know it's been a
[66:28] long time coming. I know people have a
[66:30] lot of questions.
[66:32] I'm much more focused on our actions and
[66:34] than our words at this point. I'm I'm
[66:36] tired of saying the same [ __ ] I mean,
[66:38] you guys know me. Um
[66:40] I don't want to have to be saying these
[66:42] like legalese answers.
[66:44] Um so I'm excited to just do stuff. At
[66:47] my heart and my core, I'm a doer. I'm a
[66:49] proof of worker. I'm a builder. I'm an
[66:51] entrepreneur. I'm not like a [ __ ] you
[66:54] know, suit, right? Whatever. Um so ask
[66:57] me whatever you want, but my message to
[67:00] all of those that
[67:02] are supporting 21, just thank you guys.
[67:05] I couldn't be more excited. It was very
[67:07] much a put me in coach, I'm ready to
[67:09] play. And we were waiting and waiting
[67:10] and waiting. And we just subbed in.
[67:12] We're on the court. So like now it's
[67:13] time to play. Now it's time to play.
[67:16] Less trash talk, less lip service. You
[67:18] know, tweets mean nothing. Um now it's
[67:20] time to [ __ ] play. And so we're going
[67:22] to play sooner rather than later.
[67:24] Okay.
[67:25] With that we're at the 15-minute mark
[67:27] past top of the hour. I should have time
[67:30] for some questions.
[67:32] Let me uh
[67:34] pull up
[67:35] Dylan's doc
[67:37] and blow up my camera.
[67:39] What a fun episode. I enjoyed this one.
[67:41] I enjoyed preparing for it. Crazy that
[67:43] the United States is like admitting to
[67:45] this stuff in documents.
[67:47] Insane.
[67:50] Okay. Let's see here.
[67:53] Q&A.
[67:55] Shout out Dylan. By the way, you guys uh
[67:58] W's in the chat for Dylan if you don't
[68:01] mind. Dylan helps me out on both Strike
[68:04] and 21.
[68:07] So picture, you know, all that that
[68:10] guy's been through, all the travel. He
[68:12] was at the New York Stock Exchange. Sit
[68:14] like
[68:15] you guys have jobs, right? And you get
[68:17] off I mean, I hope so. I assume so. And
[68:20] you get off work and you're tired. It's
[68:22] 6:00 where Dylan and I live and he's
[68:24] just sitting monitoring the chat so that
[68:26] you guys can ask me questions. That's
[68:28] the type of just hard work that isn't
[68:30] sexy, isn't flashy, and it isn't always
[68:33] fun. But the guy does it and he does it
[68:36] cuz he cares about me. He cares about
[68:38] Bitcoin. So W's in the chat for Dylan.
[68:41] He compiled you guys' questions. I'm
[68:43] sure he's [ __ ] exhausted. It's been a
[68:45] long week for us, you know, doing Strike
[68:47] and 21 stuff, a lot of travel. And he
[68:50] doesn't even get a microphone and get to
[68:52] yell in your guys' ear for an hour and a
[68:53] half. Um he's sitting in the chat
[68:55] hanging out, making sure you guys can
[68:57] ask me questions. So W's in the chat for
[68:59] Dylan. Let me pull up the chat. See if
[69:00] you guys are actually listening to me.
[69:04] Are we getting W's in the chat for
[69:05] Dylan?
[69:07] Yeah, we are. Dylan the goat. W W W true
[69:11] friend. Yes. As true a friend as it
[69:13] comes.
[69:14] Under the definition friend
[69:17] should be just a a picture of Dylan.
[69:20] Um all right. Let's do some Q&A.
[69:24] Uh
[69:25] Hey Jack, what are your thoughts on Luke
[69:27] Roman and these other macro analysts
[69:28] capitulating and turning bearish on
[69:30] Bitcoin?
[69:31] Um, I saw this. I
[69:34] I don't take it too seriously. I mean, I
[69:35] looked at the reasons. Uh, quantum is a
[69:38] threat, that's why. No, it's not. It's
[69:40] not to be concerned with, doesn't really
[69:42] matter. Uh, 4-year cycles. Uh, 4-year
[69:45] cycles
[69:46] I don't think are very scientific.
[69:48] They're not a good reason to be bullish
[69:49] or bearish. The asset class disagree
[69:51] with that. Uh, OGs are selling. Like,
[69:55] listen.
[69:56] The point that needs to be said is
[69:58] unless the United States prints the
[70:00] money and we're talking about like
[70:01] wartime financing, like 8 and 1/2
[70:03] trillion dollars for the deficits. Like,
[70:04] there's no way out of this. And until
[70:06] they do that, there's not enough
[70:08] liquidity. So, you guys will also notice
[70:10] Trump's comments about the stock market.
[70:11] The stock market has not been doing its
[70:13] thing where it goes all-time high,
[70:14] all-time high, all-time high. And
[70:16] Bitcoin is even a stronger liquidity
[70:18] signal than that. And so, my like, my
[70:21] thoughts on like, a lot of these macro
[70:24] guys are traders. Their full-time job
[70:27] is to speculate and manage portfolios
[70:29] and to pick stocks and to do all this
[70:31] crazy [ __ ] Like, people pay them to all
[70:34] day be like trying to make fancy
[70:36] decisions. And that's not that's not me
[70:39] and that's not my listeners either.
[70:40] Like, Bitcoin to me is money. Money is
[70:43] what I save.
[70:45] I'm not I'm not like
[70:47] You got like, trust me. If I'm ever
[70:49] selling Bitcoin, not only will I tell
[70:51] you guys, like, I'll probably be dead.
[70:54] Like, someone will probably have to put
[70:55] a gun to my head to force me to hit the
[70:57] sell button on Bitcoin. I don't sell
[70:59] Bitcoin. I work hard. I make more than I
[71:02] consume, right? I so, I make more money
[71:05] than I spend. And the money that I have
[71:08] in excess based on after I save, after I
[71:11] do the things I need to do to feed my
[71:13] family, take care of myself, make sure
[71:15] that the roof over my head is secure, I
[71:17] save that money.
[71:19] And I put it in Bitcoin. That's And so,
[71:21] I think all of these like speculative,
[71:24] oh, I'm going to sell at 90k and buy
[71:26] back at 72k. Could Bitcoin go to 72k?
[71:30] Sure, it's totally possible. Is Is that
[71:33] to me a multi-year bear market? No.
[71:35] Here's what I'm very definitive on.
[71:37] Bitcoin's not going to be in a 2-year
[71:38] bear market. Bitcoin's not going to 10k.
[71:40] Could it go to 80k, 75k? Sure, and it'll
[71:44] it'll be there for a few days or a few
[71:45] weeks. Um, but what my point is is QT
[71:48] ended, QE has started. Trump's new Fed
[71:51] chair gets in at May. Trump's talking
[71:52] about 20 to 25% GDP. Trump's talking
[71:55] about interest rates have to go down
[71:57] because the US is spending over a
[71:58] trillion dollars a year on interest
[71:59] expense.
[72:01] So, like, guys, this is happening now.
[72:04] Now, the bridge to getting there, are
[72:06] the markets going to be fritzy? Is
[72:07] liquidity going to be dry? Can things
[72:09] get volatile? Absolutely. Do I expect
[72:11] them to be? Yeah, 100%. But am I going
[72:13] to sit naked in a short on Bitcoin? Am I
[72:15] going to be sitting in cash waiting? No.
[72:19] [ __ ] no. I have productive things to do.
[72:21] I'm too busy to be looking at a chart
[72:24] all day. And that's not a knock on
[72:26] anyone else, that's other people's jobs.
[72:27] It's not my job. I build tools and I
[72:30] like productive
[72:31] assets.
[72:33] So, I don't know. And and then
[72:36] obviously, I reference Luke in all of my
[72:38] things. Luke is probably my favorite
[72:39] follow on the internet to navigate all
[72:42] this stuff. None of those comments are
[72:44] directed at Luke. It's all the people
[72:45] tweeting at me like,
[72:47] Oh, Bitcoin's down 6% today. Do you
[72:49] regret not selling yesterday? No, I
[72:51] don't.
[72:52] >> [laughter]
[72:52] >> You know, Bitcoin's up 20,000% since I
[72:56] first got in. Does anyone regret not
[72:58] buying and listening to me over the last
[73:00] 13 years? Like,
[73:02] you know, you're either saving money and
[73:04] being productive and focusing on your
[73:06] future or not.
[73:08] I like
[73:09] I'm not worried about quantum. I'm not
[73:11] worried about 4-year cycle. They have to
[73:13] print money. When they do and how they
[73:14] do it, I'm too busy to worry about that.
[73:17] And you guys should be too. Cuz here's
[73:19] the other thing.
[73:21] If every single person in society has to
[73:25] not only be a doctor, not only be a
[73:27] teacher, not only be an athletic
[73:29] trainer, not only have to be an
[73:31] accountant, not only have to be a
[73:33] lawyer, but they also have to be a
[73:35] trader. They also have to be an expert
[73:37] in central bank monetary policy. They
[73:39] also have to digest all of Trump's media
[73:42] transcripts.
[73:43] What does that do to society?
[73:45] That means you're half the lawyer you
[73:47] could be
[73:48] because the other half means you're a
[73:50] trader. You're half the doctor you
[73:52] should be taking care of people
[73:56] because you're spending all day on
[73:57] Robinhood.
[74:00] And so, my the future I want to live in,
[74:03] I don't want to live in this
[74:04] hyper-financialized future where whether
[74:06] it's Robinhood or Coinbase or Kraken,
[74:08] all of these companies are going to end
[74:10] up in the same place. They're going to
[74:11] have prediction markets, they're going
[74:12] to have equities, they're going to have
[74:14] crypto, they're going to have sports
[74:15] gambling.
[74:17] I'm waiting for Coinbase to buy
[74:18] DraftKings or vice versa, whichever's
[74:21] worth more, right?
[74:23] Hyper-financialized speculation.
[74:24] There'll be a prediction market on am I
[74:27] going to take a piss
[74:29] before or after 9:00 a.m.?
[74:32] I don't want to live in that world. I
[74:33] don't want to live in the world where
[74:35] doing your job and producing value for
[74:37] the world isn't enough.
[74:39] Not only do you have to do that, but you
[74:41] also have to pick the right stock.
[74:43] Everyone's going to be a shitty lawyer,
[74:45] a shitty accountant, a shitty doctor, a
[74:47] shitty sports trainer, a shitty
[74:49] everything, and we're all going to go
[74:51] punt on Monday night football.
[74:54] So, what am I going to do?
[74:56] I'm going to make more than I spend. I'm
[74:59] going to produce more value than it
[75:01] costs me to consume and produce.
[75:04] And I'm going to save.
[75:06] I'm going to buy Bitcoin. I'm going to
[75:07] put it in cold storage.
[75:09] I'm going to go love people, do favors,
[75:11] smile, work out, and build [ __ ]
[75:17] All right, take that as a motivational
[75:18] speech.
[75:20] Guess how many trades I've ever placed
[75:21] on Robinhood. And I like big fan of
[75:25] the Entrepreneur Effort and a lot of my
[75:26] employees have come from Robinhood, but
[75:28] I don't use Robinhood. I don't have time
[75:30] for that [ __ ]
[75:32] Question for Jack. What is stopping
[75:34] major governments like the United States
[75:35] under another administration from highly
[75:37] taxing Bitcoin to the point where it
[75:38] becomes unfavorable to hold?
[75:41] Well,
[75:42] what's stopping the United States from
[75:44] abusing people?
[75:46] Uh, people will leave.
[75:49] You know,
[75:51] my dad always told me tax rates are set
[75:54] by the people, not the government.
[75:58] Meaning, if people started taxing me
[76:00] 90%,
[76:02] guess what? I'm out.
[76:04] And so is everybody else.
[76:07] And I don't mean literally leaving. So,
[76:08] people say, oh, well, what are you going
[76:10] to go to El Salvador? No, no, no.
[76:12] No, I mean, how much of my income is
[76:15] going to be reported as in this country?
[76:17] Zero. Right? Like, people come up with
[76:20] offshore safe haven stuff. Like, and I'm
[76:24] not talking about myself specifically.
[76:25] In fact, my tax bill is massive. Which
[76:28] is cool cuz we've been successful this
[76:30] year between Strike and 21. But, I'm not
[76:33] talking about myself. I'm saying
[76:35] generally speaking,
[76:37] people there there's a certain point in
[76:39] where people
[76:40] their property rights has to be
[76:42] respected. You understand?
[76:47] And so, what's stopping the US
[76:49] government from abusing Bitcoiners'
[76:51] property rights?
[76:52] Well, people just won't respect it.
[76:54] They'll leave. Assets will go elsewhere.
[76:57] You know how much capital gains on
[76:59] Bitcoin is in El Salvador? Zero.
[77:04] So, you know, nation-states compete.
[77:07] Where is your self-sovereignty, your
[77:11] freedom of speech, your safety,
[77:14] your property best treated?
[77:17] And America stands on the fact that it's
[77:21] in the US.
[77:23] That's like been a large selling point
[77:24] of the West.
[77:26] We respect property.
[77:28] We govern laws fairly.
[77:30] We have a fair judicial system.
[77:32] Freedom of speech. It is safe.
[77:35] Now, as we just read,
[77:38] the US is admitting to some very serious
[77:40] mistakes. Major cities in the US aren't
[77:42] that safe anymore.
[77:44] Like, Chicago.
[77:46] My hometown.
[77:49] Right?
[77:51] I mean, Trump's trying to lower taxes,
[77:53] but raising taxes egregiously, forcing
[77:57] the wealthy, which I hate that
[77:59] classified term.
[78:00] It's forcing the net producers, the
[78:03] people that are most productive in
[78:04] society,
[78:06] to subsidize the mistakes of everybody
[78:08] else is a violation of property rights.
[78:11] You know, I find it so funny.
[78:13] God, it takes me a long time to answer
[78:15] all these questions. I just can't help
[78:16] myself. I just get going on tangents.
[78:19] It's so obvious
[78:22] what to do.
[78:23] The wealthiest people in society are
[78:25] wealthy for a reason. They're wealthy
[78:27] because they're net producers. They're
[78:28] productive. They're producing a lot of
[78:30] value for those around them.
[78:32] Why governments think it's a good idea
[78:35] to take wealth from them
[78:39] and give it to government to do
[78:42] productive things. Government's not
[78:44] productive. They're not a company.
[78:46] They're not Government is the least
[78:48] productive pe- like, they're $38
[78:50] trillion dollars in debt.
[78:52] Means they're not that good according to
[78:55] the market at producing value.
[78:59] Right?
[79:04] So,
[79:05] if I need a railroad to be built, if I
[79:08] need a new airport to be built, if I
[79:10] need a highway to be built, would I
[79:12] rather let the net producers in society,
[79:16] the Elon Musks,
[79:18] the Tethers,
[79:20] the Ama- the Jeff Bezos, would I rather
[79:22] let them do it or the government takes
[79:25] 30% of their money and tries to do it
[79:27] themselves? It's so insane to me.
[79:31] Obviously, the right answer is like let
[79:34] your superstars
[79:35] continue to be superstars. It's like if
[79:39] Michael Jordan is on your team and you
[79:42] need to get a bucket, why would you give
[79:46] the ball to the government?
[79:49] Let Michael Jordan
[79:53] So taxing egregiously now has never made
[79:57] any sense to anybody. Why are you
[79:59] abusing
[80:01] the most productive people?
[80:03] So stupid.
[80:08] Um anyway,
[80:10] next, what happens if we get to 300%
[80:12] debt to GDP similar to Japan? What will
[80:14] that look like? It'll be really bad. Um
[80:17] Japan is is very different than the US
[80:19] because they have a lot of assets. They
[80:20] have like a lot of actual things that
[80:22] they can monetize and sell. Uh we don't.
[80:27] We just have the money printer. And so
[80:29] what it will look like, first of all,
[80:31] it'll it can never get that high. Global
[80:33] debt to GDP is above 300% but it as you
[80:36] guys can see, after the World Wars, it
[80:38] got to about what level it is now.
[80:41] Empires traditionally fall when debt to
[80:43] GDP reaches about 130%
[80:46] and so we can't get that high.
[80:48] Uh we're actually like at our peak right
[80:51] now and we got to fix it or else we're
[80:54] going to collapse, which is a lot of
[80:55] what we talk about on this show every
[80:57] week. And so it won't get that high and
[80:59] what it's going to look like is they're
[81:00] going to have to print their way out.
[81:01] Again, think of it simply. You either
[81:03] sacrifice the bond market, which is
[81:05] sacrifice the people that have lent
[81:06] money to you, which is austerity, which
[81:08] is Great Depression. You sacrifice the
[81:10] currency, which is the people holding
[81:12] the money, which is inflation,
[81:14] which is what we've been living through
[81:16] but just a more extreme degree.
[81:18] Or you try and hold on to those two as
[81:20] long as you possibly can
[81:22] and the empire falls apart and China
[81:25] rules the world, which it seems like no
[81:28] one's interested in.
[81:30] Uh maybe not even China.
[81:32] So
[81:33] I I don't think we get close to 300%
[81:35] debt to GDP. We're very different from
[81:37] Japan and we print the money.
[81:39] Uh Jack, imagine you're a European.
[81:42] Most of your family {slash} friends are
[81:44] there but you see the path the EU is
[81:46] following. War, chat control, CBDCs,
[81:49] cost of living crisis. Would you stay or
[81:51] leave?
[81:53] >> [sighs]
[81:53] >> Uh jeez. Yeah,
[81:56] EU's in a tough spot, man.
[81:58] And I said at the Bitcoin Amsterdam
[82:00] conference, I love Europe. I love
[82:03] visiting Europe. It's so rich in
[82:05] culture, not not Don't don't clip that
[82:07] clip too short. Not rich rich in culture
[82:11] and history.
[82:13] It's beautiful. The food, the energy,
[82:16] the culture. I love spending time there.
[82:20] I love learning from the European people
[82:22] rituals like I really got into sauna,
[82:25] um which I do spiritually and and it's a
[82:28] huge ritual for me.
[82:30] Uh I got into that in Europe.
[82:32] So it's just so great and the food is
[82:34] unbelievable.
[82:36] Uh but it's it's decaying and it's going
[82:39] to collapse.
[82:40] So I
[82:41] I don't know. I'd probably leave. But
[82:43] but I like you could make the same thing
[82:45] about the US. You could say the same
[82:47] thing about the US and I'm not going
[82:48] anywhere.
[82:50] So
[82:51] you know, it's like uh how much
[82:54] you know, I believe in the ideals of the
[82:57] United States and I'm going to try and
[82:59] help to the best I can. Um if you
[83:02] believe in the ideals of Europe and you
[83:04] want to see it through, you should help.
[83:05] If not though, like I can't blame you
[83:07] for leaving.
[83:08] Um if QE started, then why is Bitcoin
[83:10] still falling?
[83:12] Well,
[83:13] technically QE hasn't started. I think
[83:15] it technically has because they're
[83:16] printing. The the the point is though
[83:18] like because it's not nearly enough
[83:20] liquidity. And look at the stock market,
[83:22] too. $40 billion a month is not enough.
[83:25] It's the fact that they started and that
[83:26] they're admitting to it is a huge step
[83:29] cuz now it'll be substantive and then
[83:31] Trump's going to get whoever he gets in
[83:33] May
[83:33] and rates are going to come crashing
[83:35] down, right? Supposedly. Uh he's talking
[83:38] about 20 to 25% GDP.
[83:40] That's
[83:41] printing trillions and trillions and
[83:43] trillions of dollars. Yield curve
[83:44] control's only going to have to go up
[83:45] from here and it's technically not yield
[83:48] curve control
[83:49] um because the long end and long
[83:51] duration blah blah blah blah.
[83:53] Point is it's just not enough.
[83:56] Anything outside of printing a
[83:58] gargantuan amount of money is
[83:59] tightening.
[84:01] Like that's just where we are.
[84:03] Like there's so much liquidity that's
[84:04] sucked out to financing the government.
[84:07] They need to print an
[84:08] insane amount of money like an
[84:10] unfathomable amount of money. Anything
[84:12] that isn't that is tightening, is going
[84:15] to be bad for markets, going to be bad
[84:16] for the economy. We've reviewed on the
[84:18] show I left AI and all that stuff out
[84:20] today just to keep the message simple
[84:22] but you know, without AI, we're not only
[84:25] in a recession, we're in like a deep
[84:27] deep deep deep recession. We're in like
[84:30] a like majority of the world right now
[84:33] is in severe pain. No one can afford a
[84:35] home. They're about to declare a housing
[84:38] crisis, a housing affordability crisis.
[84:41] So you know, Bitcoin is simply
[84:44] reflecting the state of reality, which
[84:46] is what I've been trying to advocate for
[84:48] the whole time. Don't get mad at
[84:49] Bitcoin. Get mad at the world. Bitcoin
[84:52] is simply telling you the truth. It's
[84:54] not its fault. All it knows is to be
[84:57] honest.
[84:58] You see?
[85:00] And so Bitcoin's telling us the truth.
[85:02] The world's [ __ ] up. There's not
[85:03] enough liquidity. Shit's falling apart.
[85:06] That's what Bitcoin's telling us and
[85:07] that's cuz it's the truth. And if you
[85:09] get rid of all this like
[85:11] basically scammy ways to report CPI and
[85:13] inflation and scammy ways to report
[85:15] growth because of all the AI like
[85:19] uh you know,
[85:21] merry-go-round spend against each other,
[85:23] like the economy is utterly and
[85:25] completely destroyed.
[85:27] Just a fact.
[85:29] So that's why. But I think Bitcoin is
[85:33] going to
[85:34] And and what's interesting is the same
[85:36] people like bullish gold for all the
[85:38] right reasons, like the ETFs are
[85:40] continuing to plow in and buy Bitcoin.
[85:42] Harvard's endowment continues to average
[85:44] in and buy Bitcoin. It's, you know, the
[85:45] hedge funds, the traders, the retail
[85:48] that's having a tough time feeling
[85:50] really tight and dumping.
[85:52] You know, I I think Bitcoin's going to
[85:54] It's just changing hands into macro
[85:57] institutional long-term holders that
[85:59] understand the forest for the trees,
[86:02] that understand the other side of this
[86:03] game.
[86:05] So
[86:06] I'm just I'm a buyer
[86:08] and you got to see the other side. The
[86:10] other side is a gargantuan amount of
[86:12] money printed.
[86:14] Um okay, if if Bitcoin truly does make
[86:18] individuals sovereign, do you think this
[86:19] will change politics as we know it? Any
[86:22] ideas of the implications of short,
[86:23] medium, and long term?
[86:26] I do think I think a society is as
[86:29] strong as its money.
[86:31] Right? If the money is easy and cheap,
[86:34] then so is society. And your time
[86:37] preference is very high.
[86:40] And it just ruins our ability to
[86:42] coordinate and make decisions.
[86:44] Conversely, if your money is hard and
[86:47] your time preference is low,
[86:49] humans become more future-oriented.
[86:52] We can be patient. We can carefully plan
[86:55] for the future. We can save.
[86:58] Right? And so in a society where your
[87:01] paycheck literally is decaying the
[87:03] moment you get it, you need to go on
[87:06] FanDuel and you need to go on Robinhood
[87:08] in order to afford a home someday,
[87:11] then yeah, you're going to get people
[87:13] aren't as optimized for their future.
[87:17] There's a huge discount on their future.
[87:20] And so they're going to commit more
[87:21] crime. They're going to take more
[87:22] shortcuts. They're going to be
[87:23] unhealthier.
[87:25] They're going to have less kids. They're
[87:27] going to treat each other with less
[87:28] respect.
[87:31] If the money is hard
[87:34] and it lasts through the test of time,
[87:38] then our future has a premium on it.
[87:40] Tomorrow can be better than today.
[87:44] And so you don't compromise on your
[87:46] future. You don't eat unhealthy and
[87:50] treat yourself like [ __ ] You do have
[87:52] more kids. You do treat people with
[87:54] respect. You do optimize for the long
[87:57] term by building businesses, by saving
[87:59] money, not expending today, not gambling
[88:02] on Monday night football, but taking
[88:04] that money and saving it.
[88:06] You see?
[88:09] Uh long time listener, first time
[88:10] caller. Haha, that's awesome. What's
[88:12] your take on Bitcoin's privacy
[88:14] mixers and how do you think it compares
[88:16] to something like Monero? Well, Bitcoin
[88:18] and Monero have fundamentally different
[88:19] properties. Monero is technically more
[88:21] private but it compromises on being
[88:23] money at all because Monero like we we
[88:26] can't and I'm I'm being high level um so
[88:29] bear with me. This is a common man show.
[88:31] But we can't audit Monero like we can
[88:33] Bitcoin. Like audit its supply.
[88:37] That's that's the level of privacy
[88:39] Monero gives
[88:41] but you know, what what good is privacy
[88:43] if it can't be money? At at its at its
[88:46] most pure form, Bitcoin has to be money.
[88:49] It has to be a thing that people want to
[88:52] exchange for their time and energy.
[88:55] Right? Money is very simply the market
[88:57] good that you acquire to save and later
[88:59] exchange for the things you need.
[89:01] So it is, you know, what you get instead
[89:03] of barter.
[89:05] If I could report record this podcast
[89:07] for a few steaks, maybe I wouldn't need
[89:09] Bitcoin. But I can't. I record the
[89:11] podcast. I do my stuff. I get a
[89:13] paycheck. I spend some of the paycheck
[89:16] on the things I need. the excess goes
[89:17] into Bitcoin. Bitcoin has to be that.
[89:19] Monero isn't that because it doesn't
[89:21] have the monetary properties that can
[89:22] protect my time and energy, and it
[89:24] compromised on those for privacy. So, it
[89:26] isn't a one-to-one comparison. It isn't
[89:28] apples to apples. It is a privacy tool.
[89:31] Sure.
[89:33] But, it
[89:34] it's like constantly going to go down in
[89:36] Bitcoin terms.
[89:37] So, you know, could people theoretically
[89:40] like quickly swap into Monero to do
[89:42] something they need to do privately and
[89:43] then swap back out? I guess. But, you
[89:45] know, Bitcoin's privacy is going to
[89:47] continue to get better with time. I
[89:48] don't see like a long-term sustainable
[89:51] value for that. You know, I wouldn't be
[89:53] Put another way, I wouldn't be short
[89:55] Bitcoin privacy in perpetuity.
[89:58] Bitcoin software that continues to
[89:59] attract talent and capital and interest.
[90:02] And so, the tools are already very,
[90:03] very, very good and are only going to
[90:05] get way, way, way better.
[90:07] And so, it all starts with are you
[90:08] money? Same thing with Ethereum and
[90:10] Solana, like are you money? Are you
[90:12] fundamentally a market good that can
[90:14] store tens of trillions of dollars worth
[90:16] of value? Yes or no?
[90:18] And to be honest, Apple isn't that.
[90:20] Nvidia isn't that. These things are only
[90:22] storing 4 trillion, 2 trillion, 1
[90:24] trillion dollar worth of value. I'm
[90:25] talking about money. I'm talking about
[90:26] what gold is.
[90:28] Can you be that? Yes or no?
[90:30] If you can't, don't talk to me. Doesn't
[90:32] matter. Stop comparing yourself to
[90:34] Bitcoin.
[90:35] Question, Jack, do you believe there
[90:36] will be enough transactions on Bitcoin's
[90:38] main layer that incentivizes its miners
[90:40] that secure its hash rate? Thanks and
[90:41] appreciate the content. Yes, absolutely,
[90:43] and we should appreciate how long-term
[90:45] of a problem this is. Um yes, 100%. By
[90:49] the way, Bitcoin incentivizes miners. Um
[90:52] you know, if if interest in in mining
[90:54] Bitcoin drops, then the difficulty gets
[90:57] easier. So, Bitcoin is constantly
[91:00] incentivizing miners appropriately based
[91:03] on the demand that there is to mine. And
[91:05] 100% um this is not something we have to
[91:08] figure out in the near term. Really, the
[91:09] question is very simple.
[91:11] Is Bitcoin going to work or not? If
[91:13] Bitcoin is storing tens of trillions of
[91:14] dollars, hundreds of trillions of
[91:16] dollars of human work and time and
[91:19] effort,
[91:20] then yes. If it isn't,
[91:23] then no cuz it's going to be a failed
[91:25] project. It's very bi- it's a very
[91:27] binary thing. It's either going to work
[91:29] or it isn't, right?
[91:31] So, yeah, the short answer is yeah.
[91:33] Sorry, I'm just trying to speed up.
[91:35] And I think that's it.
[91:38] I see some Hold on. Let me ping the team
[91:41] here.
[91:51] Uh
[91:53] I just want to make sure
[91:55] I'm reading the right document.
[92:04] Uh
[92:07] I don't know. I'll I'll read a few of
[92:08] these even if they're repetitive and I'm
[92:10] in the wrong document, but um
[92:14] When will loans roll out in California?
[92:18] Let's see. Manuela, are you around?
[92:22] Cuz if you are, I want to make sure
[92:25] I'm not saying something I shouldn't be.
[92:30] Okay, anyways, I don't know if they're
[92:32] around. Uh when will loans loans roll
[92:34] out in California? As soon as tomorrow.
[92:37] Ah! Don't tell anyone I told you that,
[92:39] I'll get in trouble. Not really, I'm the
[92:41] boss, but uh as soon as tomorrow, we'll
[92:43] see if we'll get the product live. But,
[92:45] uh loans in California very, very, very,
[92:47] very, very, very, very, very soon. Very,
[92:50] very, very soon.
[92:51] One strike in New York City, potentially
[92:53] before the year's over. We're just
[92:54] working with New York uh getting our bit
[92:56] license. So, you know, I've been told
[92:58] it's very soon.
[92:59] Um
[93:01] and uh we're like
[93:02] right on the cusp. Right on the cusp.
[93:05] So, uh
[93:07] So,
[93:08] California should be tomorrow, fingers
[93:11] crossed, and New York should be before
[93:14] the end of the year, fingers crossed,
[93:15] which is within the next 2 weeks.
[93:17] Um
[93:19] Okay.
[93:20] I don't I think that'll be it for now.
[93:24] Um Keep asking me stuff. I'll be in the
[93:27] comments.
[93:28] Uh
[93:30] Oh, one more.
[93:31] Will Europe see lending amounts as low
[93:33] as some states in the US next year?
[93:36] Hopefully.
[93:37] Um but, we did bring European lending
[93:39] amounts down to 10,000 euros. So, I
[93:42] mean, that's really, really low. Um so,
[93:45] I don't know if you asked this question
[93:46] without knowing that information, but
[93:48] definitely check it out. 10,000 euro
[93:51] minimum. Uh oh, here's an interesting
[93:54] question. I'm thinking about switching
[93:56] from a traditional bank to just using
[93:57] Strike. The disclosures say that there's
[93:59] a 1% fee for transfers. Are there any
[94:01] fees for using bill pay with cash
[94:03] balance? Thanks. No, no fees for using
[94:05] bill pay cash balance. Um I use Strike
[94:09] as my
[94:10] Strike. I use Strike as my primary
[94:14] uh financial account.
[94:16] So, when I got to bank from Chase,
[94:19] I didn't flinch cuz
[94:22] Strike's better anyway. So, no, you you
[94:24] should be all good. Let us know if you
[94:25] need any help. And then uh when can we
[94:28] expect to see Strike lending in the UK?
[94:30] Uh that's a sooner rather than later
[94:31] thing for us. So, we're working on it.
[94:33] So, definitely a 2026 thing, but um you
[94:36] know,
[94:38] 2026 is is a lot That's that's a long
[94:40] time. 12 months is a long time. So,
[94:41] sooner rather than later.
[94:44] Um okay.
[94:46] My girlfriend made dinner, I can smell
[94:47] it.
[94:49] Smells like steak
[94:51] and butter.
[94:52] My favorite.
[94:54] >> [laughter]
[94:57] >> I wonder how many uh
[94:59] how many like capital markets analysts
[95:01] are tuning into this show cuz I just
[95:03] took a company public.
[95:05] For all the people that are like, he
[95:07] sold out, he changed, he's a suit now.
[95:11] This episode should give you all the
[95:12] answers you need. Man of the people. I'm
[95:15] not changing for [ __ ] We're bringing
[95:18] Bitcoin to Wall Street.
[95:20] You hear me?
[95:22] And we're excited about it. All right,
[95:24] guys. Love you guys dearly, even if you
[95:28] don't love me back. It's that
[95:30] unconditional love that you get from
[95:32] like a parent, you know? That's the type
[95:34] of love I have on this show. Um you guys
[95:36] are the best. I appreciate you. This is
[95:39] so much fun. Running two companies
[95:41] sometimes can be a lot. And so, the fact
[95:44] that I get to kind of just hit record
[95:46] and hang out, it's fun, man. It's just
[95:49] like a Bitcoin
[95:51] uh tree house, like a Bitcoin country
[95:53] club. We're just hanging. So, I
[95:56] appreciate you. Keep giving me feedback.
[95:58] I read all the comments, you know,
[96:00] I care a lot about my job, which is to
[96:03] just try and
[96:04] participate in this whole Bitcoin story
[96:06] and you know, give you guys valuable
[96:08] [ __ ] whether it's products or content.
[96:11] So, keep giving me feedback. Um don't be
[96:14] afraid to hurt my feelings. It's how I
[96:16] get better, you know, I'm an adult, so I
[96:18] can handle it. And thanks for tuning in.
[96:20] Thanks for supporting my businesses.
[96:22] Thanks for being a customer.
[96:24] Uh Enjoy Monday night football.
[96:27] Love you guys. See you next week.