This thread contrasts the certainty of Bitcoin’s immutable scarcity with the macroeconomic uncertainty associated with record-high inflation.
2/ Bitcoin is different from all other assets (crypto and traditional) due to its unique property of immutable scarcity.
Unlike other commodities, Bitcoin has a predetermined algorithmic supply schedule that cannot be changed.
3/ The 2015 - 2017 Blocksize War revealed just how immutable the Bitcoin protocol really is.
A large number of corporations and miners supported a Bitcoin hard fork that would have changed key consensus rules (block size).
4/ Bitcoin users (node operators) were able to resist consensus-altering changes and upgrade the network in a backward-compatible way.
5/ This battle set the precedent that Bitcoin is highly resistant to any changes that could alter its value proposition of being perfectly scarce, portable, durable, divisible, and fungible.
Bitcoin is a Schelling point on a set of rules with no rulers.
6/ There is no second best when it comes to money.
This has become abundantly clear as trillions of US dollars continue to be added to the money supply, driving inflation to historic highs.
7/ Bitcoin’s new supply issuance, by contrast, continues to be Halved every 4 years, as expected, with the most recent Halving taking place in May 2020.
8/ Not only is M2 growing at a rapid rate, but on April 12th, the CPI came in at an elevated 8.5% annual increase.
Prices in the Consumer Price Index have not risen this fast since 1981, over 40 years ago.
9/ Even more concerning is the level of inflation being seen by producers. Below we can see the Producer Price Index (PPI) over the last 40 years.
PPI is currently at 15.2%, and the only time it has ever been higher was for two quarters in 1974.
10/ Progressively lower interest rates since the early 1980s have enabled consumers, corporations, and governments to borrow more and more.
Over the long run, this creates a highly fragile financial system.
11/ You can see the relationship between CPI (white) and the price of WTI crude oil (red).
When oil prices rise, the cost of transporting and manufacturing goods rises. This only exacerbates the ongoing supply chain issues.
12/ Amidst such massive uncertainty, consumer confidence continues to take a hit.
The metric, calculated by the University of Michigan, currently sits below the local low in March 2020, and it is approaching a level not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.
13/ On top of high inflation, the yield curve is inverting.
Investors expect the Fed to increase interest rates in the short term so much (to fight inflation) that it ends up squeezing credit, causing a recession and ultimately leading to lower interest rates in the future.
14/ Last, US Public Debt to GDP is at record highs.
Historically when this occurs as the global reserve currency, governments don’t actually default on their debt, but they end up paying bondholders back in printed, less valuable currency.
15/ Bitcoin, like gold, is a hard, scarce commodity with no counterparty risk, meaning if you hold it yourself, you do not have to trust any other entity to custody (like gold), pay you back (like fixed income), or successfully run a company (like equities).
16/ Not only does Bitcoin have superior monetary properties compared to gold, but it is also disruptive new technology. This tech is starting to gain traction at the same time as incoming supply is exponentially decreasing.
By 2030, ~ 97% of all Bitcoin will be in circulation.
17/ If you want to dive deeper into this Blockware Intelligence Report, look here.
Andrew mentioned BTC has been "going nowhere" ($26,000) despite a potential impending ETF approval, yet Joe notes “it was $4,000 when we started saying it wasn’t going anywhere."
3/ Where does this extreme volatility come from? And why does it occur?
It’s due to immutable absolute scarcity being distributed through proof of work (in an exponentially decreasing distribution schedule) combined with fear and greed emotions of humans.
1/5 The Lightning Network’s interest income opportunity is a revolution in finance for two reasons:
1. Lightning offers interest income without default risk.
2. Income without default risk means we now have an internationally credible risk free rate of return.
2/5 How?
Just like oil provides the energy to drive the oil tanker, sats provide the digital energy to route sats to the recipient of a lightning payment.
Node operators get paid to provide the digital energy to route sats but you remain in custody of the sats at all times.
3/5 In 2022 Lightning generated about ~ $2M in fees for node operators.
This will continue to grow as block space remains fixed, Bitcoin adoption continues to expand, and volume explodes as Lightning becomes a globally trusted payment network.
1/ Bitcoin mining rigs (ASICs) are a segment of computer hardware that can be priced as a derivative of BTC and time.
This thread will outline a new valuation model for #Bitcoin ASICs.
2/ Due to the commoditization of ASICs, the Bitcoin mining industry has experienced a tectonic shift when attempting to determine the market value of this hardware.
ASICs are no longer run for 6-12 months until they end up as e-waste.
3/ These machines now retain their value for significant periods of time and a large (yet fragmented) secondary market has developed for their nearly inevitable resale to a miner with a lower energy cost.
1/ Many ETH talking heads have recently started attacking BTC’s “long term security model” as ETH has underperformed BTC since its “upgrade” to ultra-sound money ~ 4 months ago.
Ironically, it is ETH that has both a long term security and a long term value accrual problem.
2/ Bitcoin’s long term security is fine, as indicated by two of the top Bitcoin Mining companies in the world.
1/ Introducing Bitcoin Energy Gravity - a metric that models the relationship between the price of Bitcoin and its cost of production.
This can be used to identify when the price of Bitcoin is too overheated or when the price of Bitcoin is bottoming.
2/ All Bitcoins are acquired at one of two market prices: $ / BTC or watts / BTC. Both prices are increasing over time, but not necessarily at the same rate.
3/ The prices of Bitcoin grow due to increasing scarcity (time, halvings, and mining difficulty) and more users joining the monetary network due to Bitcoin being the most superior monetary technology.