Two facts at once speak in favor of investing in digital gold.

1. Adoption of BTC-ETF. Only the lazy ones have not spoken out on this topic. Numerous experts have honed their wit, ridiculing optimists waiting for Bitcoin at a hundred thousand. But the obvious cannot be ignored: Bitcoin's rollback from the spring peaks of this year is surprisingly reminiscent of the history of gold.

Let me remind you that back in 2003, the Australian Stock Exchange first accepted an ETF for the yellow metal. The leading countries of the world quickly adopted Australia's experience. Despite a short-term pullback in price, over the next decade, gold demonstrated a dizzying rally, rising in price many times over.

There are many reasons to compare Bitcoin with gold. Both assets have a limited supply and are not subject to the Fed's printing press. There are good reasons to believe that the adoption of an ETF on Bitcoin will greatly affect its price growth in the long term.

2. Presidential elections in the US. The Nashville conference became a landmark event: Donald Trump for the first time clearly spoke out in favor of DeFi and Bitcoin. Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, this is an important step towards the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.

An additional factor speaking in favor of Bitcoin is the global instability of the geopolitical situation and the gradual loss of confidence in the centralized financial system of the United States. In such a situation, DeFi assets like gold and Bitcoin gain special power.

#BTC #gold #BTC-ETF #Bitcoin_2024_Nashwille_conference #Presidential_election_2024

However, a more disruptive threat has emerged – one that even blockchain might struggle to overcome. A new focal point of concern is the vulnerability of submarine internet cables, the critical infrastructure transmitting 99% of the world’s telecommunications.

Since our dependence on the internet grows, so does the impact of these cables. Several 'extraordinary' outages have recently highlighted the vulnerability of this system. The incidents raised the question then: what happens when the internet goes down? Without the cables, even the most advanced decentralized systems face potential paralysis.

However, there is an interesting solution on the horizon.The platform Sui has come up with an interesting technology for offline crypto transactions.

The team of Sui develops radio waves technology enabling using your crypto wallet without the internet.When the internet is down, mobile networks and radio waves can be used to transmit crypto transactions with data compressed for efficient transfer. The method can be used in low connectivity areas and during outages. The developers of the project call it internet-less transactions. The technology has been tested and needs to be integrated in the IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

I think it opens incredible opportunities and adds resilience to the digital world. It can revolutionize how people interact with financial services, especially by bringing those services to areas that previously lacked web access. This technology could serve as a robust solution for DeFi in regions ensuring financial inclusion where it’s needed most. What’s even more remarkable is its simplicity—it’s an elegant yet powerful innovation.

#Blockchain #Crypto #DeFi #IoT #Innovation #RadioWaves #OfflineTransactions #DigitalFinance #Internetless

However, it turned out that in this case "any" has quite tangible boundaries. Today, not only economic theorists but also business practitioners talk about the risk of excessive debt.

At the same time, real actions to limit public debt are not taken and are not even discussed. At best, there are debates about a certain limit to growth.

From the everyday logic point of view, the situation is quite understandable: if you constantly take loans, sooner or later, there will be a limit. There is an obvious balance of income and expenses, expenses can be tried to compensate with new loans, but the cost of loan servicing increases. In an era of low near-zero inflation, it was relatively comfortable to pay interest, interest rates have now jumped, and this is becoming problematic.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is a person who cannot be called an alarmist or suspected of being in a hype. BlackRock is a completely system company, one of the foundations of the American, and even the global economy.

In an annual letter to shareholders, Fink noted that the problem of US public debt requires urgent solutions.

Monetary authorities simultaneously faced high external debt and high inflation. And this makes it harder to fight inflation - the classic method of raising interest rates immediately raises the cost of debt servicing.

However, Fink remains optimistic that the acute phase of the debt crisis is not inevitable; his recipe is to invest in infrastructure, especially energy.

This is acceptable, but only on one condition - a fundamental change in economic policy. Is it possible?

Imagine now, the US federal budget is $1.7 trillion at $6.13 trillion. Will anyone believe that the US authorities are ready to give up 28% of the budget spending?

That’s why I can’t be as optimistic as Mr. Fink. I do not believe that in the foreseeable future politicians can agree on adequate economic policies. Consequently, debt will only increase, making it more difficult to attract new borrowing and making it easier for donor countries to invest in their economies. The main problem of today’s centralized economy is the need to make subjective decisions. Any solution must take into account the interests of different elitist groups and therefore cannot be optimal for the whole economy. And this leads to the conclusion that we are faced with a fundamental problem in today’s economy.

Fundamentality means that the problem cannot be solved in the existing system. The build-up of the debt problem is inevitable, and it can only be resolved through a crisis. The issue is it possible to avoid debt-like crises? The crisis is an inevitable part of the modern economy. And that is normal. It is not normal that crises are accelerated by subjective decisions. Excessive public debt is an example of such subjective decisions.

The only way to combat this is to change the economic paradigm and go away from centralized governance. Decentralization is the only tool capable of managing such complex systems.

Unfortunately, however, decentralization is not able to correct the current situation. It is rather a process of moving towards normality. Yes, there will be a crisis, hopefully it will not reach catastrophic proportions. But it will pave the way for the construction of a new, healthy, decentralized economy.

Vitalik Buterin posted a message on platform X advising the crypto community not to select their presidential candidate solely on the basis of his pro-crypto stance. This sparked debate within the crypto community. He emphasized broader tech freedom and the values that originated the crypto movement, particularly, the cypherpunk ethos, which promoted open and free technology to protect individual freedoms. He also stressed the importance of internationalism, a core value within the community. Thus, he cautioned against the allure of pro-crypto candidates but doesn't support internationalism and broader freedoms, warning that they may exhibit authoritarian tendencies. In Buterin’s opinion, focusing solely on a candidate’s stance on crypto without considering their broader values is a mistake that risks undermining fundamental principles.

Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer at Variant Fund, agreed with Buterin’s “solid points”, but added that he can be misinterpreted as advocating for a particular candidate. He also noted that good crypto policy requires a pro-crypto candidate reflecting the political reality over idealism.
Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, called Buterin a “politically naive” idealist and disagreed with his stance.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson also suggested voting for a pro-crypto candidate. He specifically stated that Biden’s presidency would mean the downfall of the American crypto sector.

The discussion reflects the diversity of thought within the crypto space and highlights a fundamental tension between idealism and pragmatism in political engagement.

#VitalikButerin #cryptocommunity #PresidentialElections

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to have noticed Ether.

In March, several companies associated with Ethereum received requests for information from the SEC. The experts immediately assumed that the Commission was going to file claims for illegal trading in securities. This is standard wording suggesting that the asset (in this case Ether) is a security.

Frankly, such a demarche of the SEC was expected. Commissioner Gary Gensler has repeatedly argued that all cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin are securities. Ether, therefore, was by default classified as a securities, so the attack on Vitalik Buterin’s creation was just a matter of time.

Even Ripple and Coinbase court decisions have not influenced the SEC’s decision.

Had this been the case a year or a year and a half ago, it would certainly have caused serious fluctuations in the course of the crypto. Now, the market has received signals from the SEC completely quietly. On the one hand, this is due to the focus on Bitcoin and its ETF, and with a dash - the practice of successful actions against the Commission decisions. Again, we remember Ripple and Coinbase cases. Of course, if Ether is recognized as a security, hundreds, if not thousands of crypto companies, will be at stake.

The prospects of the SEC in litigation are far from obvious, the defense line is sufficiently well developed. There is a perfectly reasonable question: why does the Commission persist in pressing the crypto company? What is its motivation? The answer is far from obvious. It would seem that a federal American agency should operate within its own powers, in accordance with the law and monitoring the implementation of the law. However, this is an ideal situation. In reality, the SEC is often accused of exceeding its authority. The legitimacy of claims regarding the classification of cryptocurrencies as securities is also questionable. We return to the question of the SEC’s motivation.

The key word in the response is "control".

It is the desire to control the crypto business, not the letter of the law, and not even the personal ambitions of managers, that make the SEC act.

Control of cryptocurrencies is the strategy of the "fiat" elites to maintain their dominant position.

Blockchain, as presented by Satoshi Nakamoto, is fundamentally against the interests of the banking system. Transactions with cryptocurrencies do not need intermediaries in the form of banks. If non-cash fiat currencies can be stored only in bank accounts, which are actually controlled by the bank. The cryptocurrency is stored on a wallet that only you have access to. Banking system losses can be critical. Naturally, the system will resist.

The SEC represents the "fiat" community.

The SEC’s desire for total control is becoming apparent.

Consensys sued the SEC, accusing the commission of attempting to control the future of cryptocurrencies. A rather unexpected, albeit logical, move.

From a practical point of view, the lawsuit is filed in an attempt to prevent an attack on Ethereum. It is difficult to say how successful this attempt will be, but in any case, the process will be interesting.

I often criticize the economic situation in the world and in particular in the United States. Why? Because it concerns everyone- it’s important for our personal lives and for business. We try to get away from fiat economics by developing our own independent cryptocurrency projects, but we live in the real world, where fiat still plays a decisive role.

Discussing actual real economic processes, I do not turn to personalities, realizing that the main problem is not the personal qualities of executives of companies and even States, but the crisis of the economic model with which we came in the twenties of the 21st century.

The economic model has much to do with the established role of the State, which has largely arrogated to itself the right of a "global administrator", intervening in both citizens' privacy and economic processes. At the same time, instead of a State, real personalities and elite groups hide themselves behind the myth of the "public good" completely. They are the main beneficiaries of State action in economics and politics.

The crisis of this system is inevitable, and it does not depend on good and bad leaders. It is a crisis of subjectivism. If the State, as the "global manager", has the power to make decisions in favour of its beneficiaries, it will eventually do so. If the state has the slightest opportunity to spend money, it will do so even by getting into debt. Such policies destroy economic freedom and inevitably lead to a crisis.

Human history is, in fact, a history of crises.

Two thousand years ago there was a superpower of the ancient world, it was the Roman Empire. No one could match it in military, economic, and political power. There were all the attributes of great power: an invincible military machine, a hierarchy of power, democratic procedures, elaborate legislation…

And yet the empire fell and collapsed. It was not simply defeated by barbarians; the military defeats were not the cause, but the consequence of critical internal problems. And the main one was the economy.

While states currently prefer to raise funds by increasing public debt, Roman emperors have used other methods (though, of course, borrowing has also been used). They preferred to go directly into the pocket of their citizens (and other states where the Roman coin was in circulation), banally reducing the content of precious metals. Perhaps modern central bankers regret not being able to do the same.

If under the emperor Augustus (the first Emperor of Rome, the beginning of the first century AD) in the course of were full-fledged gold coins, then under the emperor Diocletian (late third century AD) the content of gold in the coins was one percent.

The policy of gold surrogates coverage led to hyperinflation and a severe economic crisis.

The empire collapsed, unable to bear the weight of its own ambitions.

Let no one be misled or reassured by the length of the process. It took 300 years to bring the gold content of the gold coin to near zero. This is the dynamic of the ancient world, where all processes proceeded much more slowly.

Today everything is different. During the life of one generation almost completely changes the technological way. There are transformations in economy, politics, social life. Overton’s windows are wide open.

What is happening now is the transition to an acute phase of the crisis of the economic system. Note: not the economies of individual states or industries, but all systems. Many subjective decisions made have had a cumulative effect, and already in the US, the world’s largest economy, experts are sounding alarms about catastrophic high public debt.

Almost nobody pays attention to another problem: the regulation of the economy. Those who deal with cryptocurrencies can feel the hard look of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other industries also suffer from the increased attention of the authorities. As a result, we get a violation of business freedom, the emergence of a corporation-monopolies and direct state participation in business processes. All these are extremely disturbing signs.

Is there a positive way out of this?

No, we don’t have it in the current economic model. In the most optimistic case, we will see a mild crisis without tectonic shocks. However, it will not resolve the situation, but only give a delay.

The way out is to reconsider the role of the state, to give up the state regulation of business and complete freedom of business. It doesn’t matter what you call such a policy," whether it’s libertarianism or whatever, as long as the system provides freedom - business and personal.

The financial system should be based on the blockchain - the only way to ensure transparency, security and independence of finance from power. The problem is that the authorities are not going to give up their privileges, and the introduction of a new "cryptocurrency" financial system will be painful and slow. But it will. And so, let’s stay optimistic.

With the general increase in the popularity of cryptocurrencies in society, not only in the sense of speculation, but also in the context of expanding access to financial resources, the authorities are beginning to become active.

We may soon be faced with a situation where central banks come under fire. Just look at what Christine Lagarde, a representative of the European Central Bank, says: she expresses fears about the loss of their anchor role, emphasizing that without digital currencies central banks risk losing relevance.

Lagarde notes the need to respond to demands in the field of digital payments, but no one is immediately demanding the introduction of central bank digital currencies - CBDC. According to her, this is more an attempt by central bankers to strengthen their control.

Thus, she is trying to absolve herself of responsibility, citing the fact that banks themselves will soon ask to introduce control over the movement of money.

Now imagine a world without central bankers. What will the globalists do then? I believe the following will happen by 2030:

• A digital ID will be assigned via a vaccination passport.
• Quotas will be designated through the so-called carbon wallet (it will display all expenses that resulted in an increase in the carbon footprint).
• A table will be displayed that summarizes the carbon points.

Vladimir Okhotnikov: the use of a central bank digital currency to track all expenses will be the apogee

The issue of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is causing lively debate. On the one hand, proponents see their potential to improve the efficiency of the financial system and simplify cross-border payments. On the other hand, critics fear excessive government control.

Indeed, the introduction of a CBDC could open up new opportunities to monitor transactions and enforce stronger measures against money laundering, tax evasion and the financing of criminal activities. However, this also increases the risk of compromising the confidentiality of personal financial data. But who cares?

The SEC is busy regulating. They have no interest in the lawful use of digital money. Their task is to drive the crypto business into the legal framework as much as possible, after which all that remains is to collect taxes.

Regarding the idea of introducing digital IDs and carbon footprint systems, there are serious concerns about the possible infringement of civil liberties and human rights. Such measures may be regarded as excessive control by the state and an invasion of the privacy of citizens.

On the other hand, proponents of such initiatives cite the need for urgent action to combat climate change and ensure sustainable development. They see digital IDs and carbon credits as an opportunity to encourage responsible consumption and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

In any case, the implementation of such systems will require careful public debate and a search for a balance between individual rights and public interests. It is important to ensure transparency of processes and guarantee reliable protection of citizens’ personal data.

Perhaps a more sensible approach would be the gradual introduction of innovations based on the voluntary participation of citizens, rather than directive imposition of technological solutions from above. This will allow society to adapt to new realities and form generally accepted norms and rules for the use of digital tools.

So, we move to a new stage when enough influential people are included in the process. I have written about this recently: Тrump doubles down!

As you can see, the topic is quite important for understanding the consequences of financial innovations and their impact on our lives.

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The next five years will be a renaissance in the world of artificial intelligence. Just as humanity experienced a period of incredible intellectual and creative growth during the Renaissance, modern AI is preparing to take a leap.

This will be a time when the boundaries between man and machine become blurred, like shadows at dusk. We will enter an era where it will become increasingly difficult to discern where human intelligence ends and artificial intelligence begins. Like a mirror reflecting our faces, AI will become a reflection of our consciousness, digitally embodying our thoughts, emotions and creativity.

In this new world, machine learning will become a powerful source of creativity. Like the great artists of the Renaissance, AI will shape the minds and opinions of the masses, exerting influence through social networks, instant messengers, websites and the entire Internet in general. His hands will create in decades what humanity has been moving towards for centuries.

And in this storm of change, I see the Worldcoin project at the forefront, which has already challenged established norms.

I would like to remind you that the concept of the project is based on the idea of the increasing influence of artificial intelligence in our everyday lives. I suspect that at some point we will get to the point where the process of distinguishing between humans and machines will become quite complex. To achieve this, the company is already concerned with confirming the humanity of each person - Worldcoin offers a solution called “proof of humanity.”

The Worldcoin system scans eye irises using an Orb device, which records information about human eyes in the form of a cryptographic code. Project participants receive WLD tokens as periodic subsidies. The creators consider this a form of global basic income. By the end of 2023, more than 4 million people had been scanned.

According to this concept, in every bright digital future there will be only one identifier - World ID, which promises an unconditional basic income. However, many have doubts about this project, especially those who express their views and worries about digital control.

Despite some promises, several scandals arose in just the first six months of the project's development. One of them is related to the hacking of the Orb database and the leakage of users’ personal information.

Interestingly, the US government is behind the Worldcoin project. How did you know this? According to information from the source, the US government tried to persuade Kenyan officials to lift the suspension of Worldcoin activities in the country. However, Home Affairs Minister Kithure Kindiki confirmed the suspension would remain in place and a review of the decision was not currently being considered.

It is now clear who supports Sam Altman, his ChatGPT and Worldcoin. Behind all this are the familiar American intelligence services.

However, the question is different: how can we determine that we are dealing with a person and not an artificial intelligence, when the line between them becomes almost indistinguishable?

The collection of biometric data is their attempt to create a kind of “fingerprint” for humanity, a unique identifier that will distinguish us from our digital counterparts. Although many countries consider this approach an unacceptable invasion of privacy.

In this renaissance, where AI will dominate other fields, we will see a race to develop reliable methods for distinguishing between man and machine - the race to find ways to identify artificial intelligence will only accelerate by 2030.

Thus, humanity will enter a new era, where the boundaries between reality and the virtual world, between man and machine, will be erased. And as great leaders, we must be prepared to meet these changes with an open mind, curiosity and a creative spirit to shape a future in which man and machine coexist in harmony, mutually enriching each other.

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