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Nathaniel Whittemore Profile picture
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31 Dec 20, 58 tweets, 23 min read
THE 2020 YEAR IN #BITCOIN

Ah yes, New Year's Eve. A time to reflect, look forward, celebrate, and throwback Long Reads Sunday style with the BEST BITCOIN TWEETS OF 2020.

Strap TF in, it's time for a thread!

👇👇👇👇
2) Let's start by going back to February.

Even before the full impact of COVID-19 kicked in, bitcoiners were thinking big about the epoch shifts we were in the midst of.

3) When the markets DID start to finally react, bitcoiners were quick off the draw to point out that, whatever the risk the virus posed, the economic threat was significantly predetermined by fragility borne of decades of decisions.

4) Focus quickly shifted to a global dollar shortage and what it might mean across industries - The "Dollar Wrecking Ball" as @RaoulGMI put it.

5) As every market (including BTC) crashed on the infamous March "Black Thursday," Coinbase buying told a story that would be persistent throughout the year - the bitcoin community scooping underpriced corn as others fled to safety.

6) @scottmelker had easily one of the most prophetic tweets of the year, presaging the massive institution demand that would start flowing in just a few short months.

7) @prestonpysh meanwhile explained how the veneer of market independence was crumbling around us, and why we're careening toward a very different market model.

8) Back over in the land of #bitcoin, we were discussing the upcoming halving, or as some started to refer to it, "Quantitative Hardening" - a direct contrast to Quantitative Easing that would become increasingly important to the bitcoin narrative.

9) By the end of April, a new player had entered the stock game, finally realizing a fundamental truth of QE world.

10) @krugermacro articulated macro drivers of #BTC that continues to remain relevant to now.

11) The Halving was a chance to reflect on how far bitcoin had come. @coinmetrics put together a phenomenal thread of data from Epoch III.

12) @balajis used a phrase to describe the halving that perfectly illustrated why it was such a seminal narrative moment, especially in the face of wild "unlimited" central bank intervention.

13) Right around the same time, one of the first Wall Street legends who would convert to the BTC cause this year announced himself - Paul Tudor Jones who came out with his "Great Monetary Inflation" thesis, with #bitcoin at the center of it.

14) In May, the @stoolpresidente Davey Day Trader effect became a major subject of discussion in financial media.
15) Meanwhile, @jk_rowling got bored on lockdown and started trolling us.
16) Around that same time, we started all realizing that @LynAldenContact was going to be the breakout macro mind of 2020.

17) We also saw the start of another trend which would get more poignant throughout the year....@BarrySilbert and Grayscale buying more #BTC than was being minted.

18) As civil unrest gripped the nation, many pointed out that, while the cause was immediate, there was a larger legacy of inequality of opportunity in which central banks were complicit.

19) Around the world, #bitcoin was proving its mettle not only as a speculative investment.

20) Early June saw one of the more remarkable bubbles - a retail/Robinhood driven flood into bankrupt stocks. Fundamentals be damned!

21) It was also around this time that a lot of folks were wondering, with such a juicy macro backdrop, why wasn't going up more?

Sitting where we are today, there are only two things to say:

1) Travis was right
2) lol

22) News also broke that month (confirmed much later) that PayPal would be rolling out crypto features.

23) Let's pause now to acknowledge the emergence on the scene of one of the year's best new Twitter follows, @SahilBloom whose 101 threads on financial concepts are better than most business schools for learning the basics.

24) @DTAPCAP also through out the interesting idea that, given the macro context, we might be heading into an unbelievable golden age for gold, bitcoin and equities.

25) Again, we saw the official story of inflation remaining low not matching the lived experience of people.

26) It was around this time that "DeFi Summer" started - an emergence of a whole new modality in that space that would drive billions of speculation and experimentation over the course of the next few months particularly.
27) When Twitter was hacked and everyone from Elon Musk to Barack Obama was asking for people to send bitcoin, it took a Congressman to make the point about what the real issue was.
28) In July, the OCC clarified that banks could custody crypto assets. While this hit the Twitter-sphere as medium-sized news, behind the scenes I heard over and over from institutional players what a huge deal this was.

29) Another prophetic tweet came from @pete_rizzo. We're still in uncharted territory today, but getting some first glimpses.

30) One of the somehow massively under the radar stories throughout the year was just how much the supply of and volume on stablecoins grew. This was driven in part by DeFi and crypto trading but also by adoption in the context of global dollar demand.

By the end of August, we were getting a much clearer picture of just how much energy was going into DeFi

32) At the beginning of September, legendary investor Stan Druckenmiller started talking about the possibility of 5-10% inflation.

33) Underneath the return of the stock market lurked a larger structural issue showing just how tied the Fed's hands are.

34) Also in September, Wyoming became the first state to approve a banking charter for digital assets. Kraken and Avanti would go on to get licenses under the new regime.

35) But of course, the biggest news of that month was the entrance onto the scene of the gigichad himself.

36) Another breakout voice of 2020 @JeffBooth explained the need for a currency that enables deflation.

37) ...and while some were claiming boredom with bitcoin's price, others were noting that we were in the midst of the asset's longest run above $10k
38) In October, Square became the second public company after MicroStrategy to announce a balance sheet move into BTC - this one both smaller but also more easier to imitate for CFO's than MSTR's all in play.

39) Another lurking story of 2020 that I anticipate we'll hear much more of in 2021 is the rise of central bank digital currencies. China moved the quickest, but others are working diligently to catch up.

40) With a slew of regulatory action coming around this time (something that has continued to now) @jchervinsky framed the battle as around self-custody and privacy - perfectly put.

41) Also in October, PayPal confirmed that it was entering the crypto space in a significant way.

42) Throughout the fall, reports from banks and financial institutions showed just how significantly the tenor of the bitcoin conversation was changing.

43) Remember Druckenmiller discussing inflation in September? Well, by November, he was long #btc (publicly). @RaoulGMI nails the significance.

44) Seriously...for those keeping track at home...

45) In the lead up to what we now know would be bitcoin's smash through new ATH's @nic__carter put together a list of 9 metrics other than price where bitcoin was thriving. In many ways, these tell a more complete story.

46) We also saw a new wave of celebs get into the space -- and this time, it wasn't random named cryptocoins but the king itself.

47) @CitizenBitcoin wrote perhaps my favorite thread of the year on the concept of HODL FOMO - a totally different basis for a new bull run with massively more strength than anything we've seen previously.

48) We also started to notice something of a shortage in available corn, thanks to the likes of CashApp, PayPal, GBTC and others...

49) Around Thanksgiving, warning bells rang around impending last minute regulations around self-hosting.

50) We started to see a more crisp picture of what @Travis_Kling aptly called "The Traditional Onslaught."

51) Some very thoughtful and very juicy prediction threads started as December rolled around.

"I've never been so bullish for 2021"

52) A little company called Visa plugged stablecoins into their infrastructure

53) The US Govt's regulatory shenanigans continued with the introduction of the STABLE Act, which @jerallaire explains as a major step backwards.

54) As bitcoin and stablecoins become more prominent, we're also starting to see the brewing battle lines of the future.

55) Travis came back with another quick recap of the recent history of Fed action, and why it sets the context for bitcoin going forward.

56) As if big hedge funders and corporate treasuries scooping bitcoin wasn't enough, then we learned that a storied 169-year old insurance firm - one of the most risk averse types of institutions on the planet - had bought $100m #BTC

57) The end of the year has been a flurry of bullish news. @Coinbase capturing the hype to IPO is exemplary.

58) To me, however, the real big story of this year is the setup for next year.

What players are quietly accumulating even as you read this?
What news will trigger a new flow in?

The possibilities have never been brighter. HAPPY NY2021 ALL!

• • •

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More from @nlw

Nathaniel Whittemore Profile picture
14 Aug 20
Belarus is the most interesting story people aren't paying attention to:

-26 year dictator arrests popular YouTuber who plans to run for prez
-YouTuber's wife runs on promise to hold real elections 6 months later, gets huge support
-Dictator claims to win 80% of vote...

(cont.)
-Massive demonstrations begin, not just in the capital but in 20+ cities around the country
-Police are INCREDIBLY brutal. 6000+ arrested. Widespread reports of torture. Horrifying audio evidence of torture all over the internet.
-Some police shown renouncing dictator.

(cont)
-Internet shut off for 4 days
-Only app even a little usable is Telegram, which says it activated "anti-censorship tools"
-The main TG channel coordinating efforts of ~2 million Belarusians was started as a music channel 5 years ago by a teenager and has 4 staff and no website
Read 4 tweets
Nathaniel Whittemore Profile picture
10 Jul 20
Welcome to the Macro Media Index: The most important macro content for June 2020.

This was an INSANE month. Social unrest and market disconnect. The Hertz bankruptcy bet.

If you want to understand the macroeconomic story right now, this thread is for you.

Let's dive in! 🧵👇
2/ A quick note! If you’re more of the audio type, I did this best of macro content as a @BreakdownNLW podcast as well.

Check it out on @coindesk coindesk.com/inequality-soc…

Or subscribe and listen directly: nlwcrypto.libsyn.com/social-chaos-a…
3/ The month kicked off with the realization - a stunning one to many to be sure - that not only had the market come screaming back after March lows - it had done so with record vigor.
Read 36 tweets
Nathaniel Whittemore Profile picture
20 May 20
As if #bitcoin didn't have so much else going for it right now, the absolute fucking *intrigue* of the living history of it is insane.
Read 4 tweets
Nathaniel Whittemore Profile picture
3 Mar 20
Do you use Discord?
For science...

Do you use Telegram?
Screw it let's round this thing out.

Do you use Reddit for bitcoin/crypto?
Read 4 tweets
Nathaniel Whittemore Profile picture
19 Feb 20
@alexisohanian 1/ Okay, so, let's dive in.

One imp thing is that there is growing specialization based on focus, which I think you could roughly divide into:

1. Bitcoin only
2. News/Analysis
3. General Interest Interview
4. Investor/Institutional
5. Technically-oriented
6. Idea adjacent
@alexisohanian 2/ First up, we have our bitcoin-only's

@WhatBitcoinDid w @PeterMcCormack
@TFTC21 w @MartyBent @matt_odell
@stephanlivera
@BitcoinMagazine podcast

+ a number of others
@alexisohanian @WhatBitcoinDid @PeterMcCormack @TFTC21 @MartyBent @matt_odell @stephanlivera @BitcoinMagazine 3/ Next, our news/analysis programs

Actually a surprisingly newer category

#TheBreakdown w me (dist on @CoinDeskPodcast)
Markets Daily w @GamerAndy on @CoinDeskPodcast
@laurashin has Unconfirmed and Unchained, w/ Unconfirmed being more of the news react pod
Read 10 tweets
Nathaniel Whittemore Profile picture
9 Feb 20
LONG READS SUNDAY #82

5 themes that defined the week:

The sociological impact of Coronavirus
Crypto VC and M&A
$1B locked in DeFi
The Fed joins the game of coins
@HesterPeirce proposes safe harbor

Plus, why psychological barriers like $10k #BTC matter lrs.substack.com/p/long-reads-s…
@HesterPeirce A few of my favorite threads:

@Melt_Dem on central bank digital currencies
@brian_armstrong on what happens when payments become as cheap and ubiquitous as messaging
Read 5 tweets

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