Crypto Chatter - no FUD, no PUMP, no FOMO

Friday Rundown. ELONWEEK - Friday, May 15.
Webonanza crypto news summary – week 19

Crypto Markets Revert to Buzzword Game Theory

Well, it was fun until Elon Musk and Tesla executed a crazy Ivan and repeated old FUD about Bitcoin being bad for the environment, and Elon's car company Tesla stopped accepting bitcoin.

Let's hope Elon can learn about the differences between bitcoin mining and electricity production.

The latter can be green or not. Bitcoin mining is neutral regarding the environment.

Bitcoin miners can power their mining with wind and solar, like every other industry can. Miners actually do not decide how electricity is produced, that's up to nation states like China.

And there are no alternatives out there, no "next Bitcoin", regardless of what Vitalik is saying today. The world's love of buzzwords has made the Ethereum preminer Vitalik Buterin a very rich man indeed (he cashed out the cool sum of $55M just the other day - maybe he is buying another house?). But Vitalik also gives to charity, and he is the biggest fix star on the crypto heaven since Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared.

Other cryptocurrencies would need to use the same levels of energy to reach Bitcoin's security level. The energy-consumption is part of the invention. Bitcoin is protected by power instead of passwords. As passwords are secrets, and secrets can leak, they can be hacked. Cryptocurrencies protected by passwords, like proof-of-stake, are less secure than proof-of-work currencies.

But what if all this Bitcoin pampering is another marketing move from the giant? That the next big thing from Elon is a solar-powered Gigamine?

And what should we say about Elon's mining for metals? Maybe it's time to stop accepting Tesla cars for money. They aren't "green", really.

In April, consumer prices in the US rose 4.2 per cent in April, fueling fears that the humongous stimulus packages push prices higher, steering economies towards real inflation. Some, like Michael Saylor, argue that inflation is already here, and it's at 15-20 per cent, if you look at real estate prices in desirable areas. How to hedge? Bitcoin, of course.

Nah, the Bulgarian government aren't OG Bitcoin Hodlers

Some misinformation has been re-circulated this week, and sadly also added to the Bitcoin Treasuries list site. The false info is the idea that the Bulgarian government controls over 200,000 bitcoins.

This article, from 2017, stands as reference at Bitcoin Treasuries:

The Bulgarian Government Is Sitting on $3 Billion in Bitcoin - CoinDesk

Bulgarian authorities seized more than 200,000 bitcoins from criminals back in May, an amount which now has a total value of more than $3 billion.

CoinDeskMuyao Shen

But in reality, the Bulgarian government is not in possession of billions in bitcoin.

They've actually denied it themselves. Check this reporting:

Bulgarian Official Denies Country Possessing $3.2 Billion USD Worth of Bitcoins

In May, a series of raids by Bulgarian law enforcement were reported to have resulted in the seizure of over 213,000 BTC on the part of Bulgarian authorities, at the time valued at more than half a million dollars, the bitcoins are now valued at $3.2 billion USD. Yesterday, however, the head of Bulg…

Bitcoin NewsSamuel Haig

The whole thing is explained by a misunderstanding on where to place the comma in a large number. The two thousand bitcoin is rather closer to two hundred bitcoin. Not thousand. Read this:

The Mystery of the ”Lost” Bulgarian Bitcoins Sparks Questions Again – Bitcoin News

Comments on social media sparked questions about this mystery – what happened with those 200,000 Bitcoins Bulgaria seized from gangsters?

Bitcoin NewsLubomir Tassev

And on that subject, is this the next company to be added to the list at http://bitcointreasuries.org? Hopefully better referenced and sourced than the bulgarian info above if so...

Jealous of the life styles of the "rich" crypto traders?

Now, take a look at Sam Bankman-Fried. A famous crypto trader. This is a guy who thinks he is living his life to the fullest. But look at him. Engulfed in screens. Look at his leg. How fast is it shaking? Is this the picture of a relaxed and happy man? Well, Sam Bankman-Fried, and his "quant" trading friends, obviously believe that a man should be sitting lit by thousands of small LEDs while stressing about what to buy and what to sell next. Yea. Great, what a dream job guys. Don't you wanna get into crypto trading you too, so you can sit and stare at charts all day long?

Term of the week: "unit bias"

Another round of discussions among Bitcoin pumpers have started  on why exchanges and everyone else should start setting the Bitcoin price in sats instead of bitcoins (BTC). There are 100 million sats in a Bitcoin. Some want the moniker "bits", some want "sats".

So, "unit bias" became a known term this week. Apparently that is also good for Bitcoin. The latest argument: get rid of sats and bits altogether and rename sats to bitcoins. That means, if you have 1 bitcoin today, after the change you will have 100 million bitcoin. If you own 5 bitcoin today, you will own 500 million of them after this change:

One US dollar equaled 1,770 sats at the time of writing. Use this site to quickly check different bitcoin units priced in your local fiat currency.

The discussion will probably continue forever, or until a bit or a sat is worth a dollar. Today a dollar is worth about 2,000 sats:

sats per dollar

sats per dollar

Luckily there are always people who can come up with bullish charts. This week it's William Clemente THE THIRD:

Bitcoin upgrade in progress

The latest techno infusion into Bitcoin is called Taproot, and it'll increase Bitcoin's privacy features as well as help with scaling. It's a soft fork upgrade and and least 90 per cent of miners need to signal approval of the change for it to take effect. Taproot activation watch is a site that monitors the progress. At the time of writing the number stood at 32.39%. However, the online chatter seems to indicate this number will rise quickly during the next activation period, and we are now betting that Taproot will activate in 4-8 weeks.

Norway goes all-in

Bitcoin is heating up in Norway. Now this is what I call a modern minister of climate and energy:

Norway has taken the crypto lead in the nordics, with otherwise tech-savvy Sweden trailing behind. If you haven't yet, do read Kjell Inge Røkke's letter explaining the rationale behind getting into bitcoin:
https://www.seetee.io/static/shareholder_letter-6ae7e85717c28831bf1c0eca1d632722.pdf

Back to the Buzzword Game Theory Theory

Crypto markets all the more hegelian. Powerful priming words with "flow" reign supreme. Taste the sonic flavours of "Ethereum" and "Cardano". Markets are betting on which promising wordings will captivate the herd next.

But the biggest question this week on everybody's lips was, and is (as Doge has climbed 24% just since yesterday): Bitcoin, or Doge?

However; the difference in value isn't THAT large when you look at it in bitcoin terms: On Jan 1, one doge was worth 0.000001 BTC.
On May 6, one doge was worth 0.00001 BTC.

Just one zero then.

And, are you thinking about quitting your job to "join the crypto craze?" Well, maybe you should read this first:

Here's a comparison list, how much you would've gained if you sold some BTC six months ago and put that value into one of these altcoins:

Even Ripple has gained.

Oh, the humanity, if you are a bitcoin maximalist and hear about how wall street professionals are retiring after making a killing on DOGE.

Another classic for all poor (in a double sense) maximalists:

The weekly reading/watching/doing tips:

Did you know that you need what a "covenant" is? Well, you need it to power a so called Spacechain, a "permissionless chain creation without a new speculative asset."

Ruben Somsen explains this latest attempt to create a buzzword meme:

And a classic tip here at the end: did you see this guide on inflation by Lyn Alden? It's a good refresher, worth a look through: https://www.lynalden.com/inflation/

Tips & Tricks & Tools

Marina can acess the Liquid Network directly from your web browser. It's a new Liquid wallet.
https://vulpem.com/marina.html

Lopp simplifies setting up a node:

And that's it for this Friday Rundown.

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