Bitcoin News Roundup: September 29th, 2023
Listen to this episode on Fountain or watch on YouTube / Rumble.
Bitcoin News Roundup for September 29th, 2023: the biggest Bitcoin and Bitcoin-adjacent stories of the week.
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Greetings and salutations my fellow plebs. My name is Walker and this is THE Bitcoin Podcast.
It’s Friday, September 29th, 2023. The Bitcoin block height is 809929 and the value of one Bitcoin is still one Bitcoin.
Today’s episode is the Bitcoin News Roundup. I’m going to go over the big stories, run through a few rapid fire news, then zoom out and give you some perspective…
You can find all the links and accounts mentioned in this episode via the article version of this show, linked in the show notes, or by going to bitcoinpodcast.net/words
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Without further ado, let’s get into the Bitcoin News Roundup.
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DEBT BY A THOUSAND CUTS
Does debt matter?
Well, if you’re an individual, some people will advise you to take on as much debt as you can when interest rates are low and debt is cheap. To buy assets, like real estate, with that debt because when rates are low, it’s basically free money, right?
Others will say you should try to stay debt-free as much as possible – don’t overextend yourself because things can get out of hand fast and the future is uncertain.
When interest rates are low and the money printer is purring, things seem to be going OK on the surface. But when the Fed decides to raise rates at a historically fast pace, things start to look a little less rosy…
So, what does the household debt situation look like in the USA right now?
On September 16th, the Kobeissi Letter reported:
The U.S. Now Has:
1. Record $17.1 trillion in household debt
2. Record $12.0 trillion in mortgages
3. Record $1.6 trillion in auto loans
4. Record $1.6 trillion in student loans
5. Record $1.0 trillion in credit card debt
The average house payment is about to hit $3,000/month for the first time in history.
All as oil prices are up ~40% in 3 months, mortgage rates hit 7.5% and credit card rates are at a record 25%.
Borrowing more debt is not the solution to high inflation.
This is unsustainable.
So, the household debt situation is looking pretty bleak… But what about government debt?
Well, if you’re the government suckling off the teat of the taxpayer, or one of their state-sponsored fiat economist stooges, you’ll likely say “debt doesn’t matter, it’s just money we owe to ourselves” or some other idiotic thing like that.
Remember: the government does not produce ANYTHING – we, the taxpayers, produce value and the government takes an ever-growing chunk of the fruits of our labor to finance the ever-growing bureaucracy.
But they also spend more than they take in, and so they must borrow money to make up the difference between the tax revenue they take in and the amount they spend.
So just how much debt has the U.S. government accumulated?
On September 23rd, The Kobeiss Letter Reported:
U.S. national debt has jumped by nearly $1 trillion per month since the debt ceiling "crisis" came to an end in June.
Total U.S. debt is now up $10 TRILLION since 2020.
To put this in perspective, it took the U.S. 232 years to add the first $10 trillion in debt.
The worst part?
The debt ceiling is effectively UNCAPPED until 2025 in the latest debt ceiling agreement.
Deficit spending has no limits until 2025.
If we see a recession, we could easily see $50 trillion in U.S. debt within 5 years.
Why is this not getting more attention?
On September 25th, the Kobeissi Letter reported:
Total U.S. debt has jumped by $100 BILLION since it crossed $33 trillion exactly one week ago.
That's $14.3 billion PER DAY being added to U.S. debt over the last week.
Add in ~$3 billion per day of interest expense and that's over $17 billion per day.
Meanwhile, deficit spending has become so large that the U.S. is issuing $2 trillion in bonds over 6 months which is driving rates higher.
Simultaneously, the U.S. is refinancing debt at current rates which have more than doubled.
U.S. debt and interest expense are on track for exponential growth.
When will this be called a "crisis?"
James Lavish, quote tweeted a great thread he wrote on government debt, summed it up succinctly on Twitter:
When I wrote this a year ago, federal debt was $30.7T and the annual interest expense was $400B.
Today, federal debt is over $33T and annual interest expense is $970B, and growing.
This is why it is called a Debt Spiral.
THE HYPOCRISY OF CHASE
Earlier this week, Chase bank sent out a notice to their customers in the U.K. stating they will no longer be allowed to purchase cryptocurrencies using debit cards or through bank transfers.
To help keep your money safe from fraud and scams, we’re changing the types of payments you can make from Chase.
From 16 October 2023, if we think you’re making a payment related to crypto assets, we’ll decline it. If you’d still like to invest in crypto assets, you can try using a different bank or provider instead – but please be cautious, as you may not be able to get the money back if the payment ends up being related to a fraud or a scam… We’ve made this decision because fraudsters are increasingly using crypto assets to steal large sums of money from people. Declining these payments is one of the ways we’re helping keep you and your money safe.
Now, it’s important to note that the CRYPTO industry is rife with scams and fraud. If you’re new to all this and want to understand the difference between Bitcoin and “crypto,” I have a whole episode dedicated to that. Tl;dr: Bitcoin and “crypto” are not the same.
I’m not going to focus on that distinction today. Instead, I want to point out the blatant hypocrisy displayed by Chase, because earlier this week it was announced that JP Morgan Chase just settled their Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking lawsuit with the U.S. Virgin Islands for $75 million…
Via CNBC: JPMorgan Chase said it will pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands alleging that the American bank facilitated and benefited from the sex trafficking of young women by its longtime customer Jeffrey Epstein.
Chase claims they care about fraud and scams – they’re the good guys, right? But in reality, JP Morgan Chase is one of the worst facilitators of crime in existence. Don’t believe me?
Here’s a rundown of just SOME of their dirty dealings over the last couple decades:
2002: J.P. Morgan Chase settled with investors for $2.2 billion over its role in the Enron scandal.
2003: J.P. Morgan Chase Agrees to Pay $135 Million to Settle SEC Allegations that It Helped Enron Commit Fraud
2011: J.P. Morgan Pays $153.6 Million to Settle SEC Charges of Misleading Investors in CDO Tied to U.S. Housing Market
2012: J.P. Morgan paid $5.29 billion over mortgage practices related to the 2008 financial crisis.
2013: "London Whale" trading scandal - The bank paid $920 million in penalties due to large and risky trading positions resulting in over $6 billion in losses.
2013: J.P. Morgan settled for $1.7 billion for its oversight linked to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
2013: The bank paid $410 million for manipulating the electricity market in California and the Midwest.
2013: J.P. Morgan was fined $108 million as part of a larger bank settlement over manipulating the LIBOR rate.
2013: Illegal Credit Card Practices – JP Morgan fined $389 million for deceiving customers into signing up for costly, unnecessary services when opening a new credit card.
2014: The bank agreed to a $13 billion settlement related to its sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities.
2014: J.P. Morgan paid over $1 billion in fines for manipulating the foreign exchange market.
2015: Violation of the Bank Secrecy Act: The bank agreed to a $2.6 billion penalty for failing to report suspicious activity tied to Bernard Madoff.
2018: Breaching Sanctions – J.P. Morgan was fined $5.3 million over its "princeling" hiring practices breaching U.S. sanctions.
2019: Seizure of MSC Gayane: A ship financed by J.P. Morgan was seized due to the discovery of 20 tons of cocaine onboard.
2019: Precious metals and U.S. Treasuries market manipulation – J.P. Morgan faced fines and criminal charges over market manipulation allegations.
2020: Record $920 million spoofing penalty – The bank paid $920 million for allegations of manipulating commodities markets through spoofing.
2020: J.P. Morgan paid $250 million for misleading investors about its SPOE strategy.
2020: Unauthorized Trading – The bank was fined $3.9 million in Hong Kong for regulatory breaches, including unauthorized trading.
2021: JPMorgan Admits to Widespread Recordkeeping Failures and Agrees to Pay $125 Million Penalty to Resolve SEC Charges
2023: JPMorgan fined $4 million for deleting 47 million emails including some requested in subpoenas
And of course the most recent achievement…
JPMorgan will pay $75 million on claims that it enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operations
I think I need to go take a shower after reading all those… Here’s the point in sharing these stories: big bankers like to claim that “Bitcoin is used by criminals” and “it’s only good for money laundering,” but in reality, the biggest money launderers and criminal-supporters on the planet are bankers. And they do it all with fiat money – no Bitcoin required.
Rapid Fire News
Via Bitcoin Archive: Bitcoin mining energy mix is now +50% from sustainable sources according to Bloomberg Intelligence
Via @ck_SNARKs: @HRF (the Human Rights Foundation) gifts ~19 BTC ($505,000) via its Bitcoin Development Fund to support 15 projects worldwide
Targeting: Global education, Bitcoin Core, DLCs on lightning, E-cash, Scholarships
For some Nostr news from Will Casarin AKA jb55: Someone built a hacker news for #nostr. So cool. >> here he links oddbean.com - go check it out.
Via BTC Times: Nomura’s $500 Billion Digital Asset Unit Launches Bitcoin Fund for Institutional Investors
Via Bitcoin Archive: SEC delays BlackRock, Valkyrie, and Bitwise spot #Bitcoin ETF application decisions.
Via Bitcoin Magazine: SEC further delays $94.2 billion WisdomTree's spot #Bitcoin ETF application.
Via Michael Saylor: MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 5,445 BTC for ~$147.3 million at an average price of $27,053 per #Bitcoin. As of 9/24/23 @MicroStrategy hodls 158,245 $BTC acquired for ~$4.68 billion at an average price of $29,582 per Bitcoin.
Via Daniel Batten: KPMG report picked up in Mainstream media:
"Mainstream media remained unfair and inaccurate in its criticism of #Bitcoin's energy consumption...The KPMG report counters this, showing the significance of Bitcoin across the 3 pillars of ESG."
Via Bitcoin Archive: Bitcoin miner Core Scientific buys 27,000 Bitcoin mining rigs for $23 million in cash and a $53.9m equity investment.
Zoom Out
To wrap up today’s show, let’s zoom out and talk about narrative shifts. I recently read a surprisingly fantastic article on Bitcoin mining in Africa shared by Daniel Batten. The reason this article was surprising is that it was published on msn.com – a legacy media site.
I want to read a couple excerpts from this article, written by Steven Sidley and titled The surprising, simple answer to Africa’s rural energy problems – Bitcoin mining”
Small Bitcoin mines can be immediately profitable, and can therefore fund a renewable minigrid and supply power to the community at no cost. And, if this seems too good to be true, it gets even better.
Bitcoin mines are unlike any other industry. They can live anywhere. And, if the energy is stranded, uncontested and free, you have a perfect marriage where everyone benefits – the community, the investors, even the Bitcoin bros.
Unlike any other buyer of bulk electricity, Bitcoin mines are a buyer of first resort (when no one else is buying), a buyer of last resort (when there is no other demand) and a grid balancer of last resort, keeping the grid stable at all times. No other energy-consuming enterprise has this profile.
This is a factual, well-researched article about Bitcoin mining in rural Africa published on a legacy media site. These are topics that Bitcoiners have been talking about for a long time, but often that conversation doesn’t make it outside of the Bitcoin Twitter echo chamber. Now, we’re seeing these conversations begin to reverberate into the greater public consciousness, and that’s beautiful.
But getting positive stories about Bitcoin into the larger discourse doesn’t just happen; it requires hard work. It requires that Bitcoiners tell these stories first. It requires that Bitcoiners seek these stories out across the world, and share them.
Joe Nakamoto and Paco de la India (AKA Run With Bitcoin) are doing a great job of this right now in Peru, documenting stories of Bitcoin adoption on the ground in small communities. You should go check out the stories they’re sharing – you’ll learn something and laugh a lot along the way.
Rikki and Laura (AKA Bitcoin Explorers) are two other Bitcoiners currently traveling the world sharing stories about the realities of Bitcoin adoption on the ground. They just published a great piece on BTCtimes.com about their experiences in Turkey. I encourage you to check them out as well.
You can grab all their links in the article version of this episode at bitcoinpodcast.net/words.
The great thing about Bitcoin is that it is fundamentally based in truth. As Bitcoiners, we don’t need to make up imaginary tales about why Bitcoin is good; we just have to continue telling the truth, and wait for more people to listen.
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And that’s a wrap on this week’s Bitcoin News Roundup.
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Bitcoin is scarce – there will only ever be 21 million–but Bitcoin podcasts are abundant. So thank you for spending your scarce time to listen to another fucking Bitcoin podcast.
Until next time, stay free.
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