PROMOTE LOCAL CIRCULAR ECONOMIES 🇨🇦 🔗

The Progressive Bitcoiner

Fix the Money, Heal the System

Across Canada and around the world, progressive political parties and movements are at a defining crossroads. Growing wealth gaps, housing unafford...

Support cooperatives and community enterprises that use Bitcoin for local trade and financing. This strengthens economic self-reliance, reduces reliance on intermediaries, and keeps wealth circulating within communities.

I’m definitely guilty of fading away from Nostr until I’m reminded why it is so important. I’ll do my best to be more consistent over here and to try to advance use by more than just fellow Bitcoiners! Have a great day Nostriches!

Just listened to Pete Rizzo’s interview with Michael Terpin:

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Supply Shock (@SupplyShockBW) on X

New interview with Bitcoin Supercycle author Michael Terpin dropping tomorrow! @michaelterpin explains why he thinks #Bitcoin's 4-year cycle is N...

While it was excellent overall, there was one thing that I want to respectfully push back on. In discussing Bitcoin and/vs crypto, Michael notes that he looks at Bitcoin as "store of value" and the rest of crypto as "innovation". I feel very strongly that this is a narrative that is not only mistaken but against which we must push back (again, all respect to Michael). I ask: innovation toward/for what? When I look out at the vast landscape of crypto, what I see is a network of projects guided by technological determinism and engineering masturbation. Projects that extol the virtue of innovation but offer up self-referential loops of engineering gymnastics garnished with flourishes of Web3, DeFi, Blockchain (all rhetorical devices). So what is innovation? Well, I believe that it is something that moves us -- humanity -- into a new stage of development, of growth. One can argue over the etymology of the term "innovation" (see etymonline.com/word/innovation), however, I believe strongly that the restoration and renewal to which it speaks is a profoundly humanistic one, focused on virtue and evolution. In its beautiful simplicity and what it offers us -- the ability to communicate truth, trust, value and meaning across time, space and culture (h/t to @Ella Hough and @npub1n3sj...te5l) -- Bitcoin exudes innovation. It enables and ushers us into renewal, restoration, growth, and evolution across multiple domains of existence. The manifest distinction between the self-referential, technological determinism of "crypto = innovation" and "Bitcoin = innovation" is that the latter ultimately makes human action and relationships the locus of activity. We are not anticipating salvation and surrendering ourselves to the tool, we are employing the tool (whether consciously or not in all instances) as a tool for human renewal and growth. We are re-ordering and re-constructing the architecture of human relationships. We are re-fashioning how we "communicate truth, trust, value and meaning across time, space and culture". As far as what this looks like, well, I see it play out in multiple domains. It is evident in opportunity afforded mothers in Kenya participating in @Bitcoin Babies 🍼 who employ Bitcoin as means to re-claim their rightful, virtuous place within community and to restore and empower community in the process. I see it play out in the growth of children participating in @npub1zkr0...k6ec who are moving toward an increased expression of their human potential against the heavy weight of oppressions that time and history have assigned to them at birth. I see it in the almost unimaginable spark of self-determination that is being realized in high Andes Mountain communities through @npub1q0pa...5u4j'S work. And so on, and so forth across community-based projects and human rights cases harnessing Bitcoin. Those of us privileged to live in Canada, the U.S. and other more affluent countries can also witness the innovation of Bitcoin is the unprecedented potential it offers many individuals and groups to climb the hierarchy of needs against the headwinds of social distress either caused by or exacerbated by debt-money. For instance, the opportunity afforded a GenZ-er to realistically plan for the sorts of life goals/goods (home ownership, financially sustainable family life) that were once simply taken for granted by most. In this respect, one can argue that "store of value = innovation". I don't want to get bogged down in semantics nor over-extend this analysis. What I do want to get across is that we must actively resist the Siren call of crypto as innovation. Yes, the "Bitcoin is digital gold" analogy is useful and has some applications...but it only scratches the surface and is utterly inadequate at capturing the many overlapping circles of innovation that Bitcoin achieves or births. Bitcoin is a store of value. Bitcoin is a medium of exchange. Bitcoin is a unit of account. Bitcoin is a network. Bitcoin is a protocol. Bitcoin is a map and the territory. Bitcoin is innovation and gives rise to innovation. Let us not neglect the staggering beauty of this exquisite phenomenon. Let us not surrender the human story and evolution which Bitcoin exalts. Let us not relinquish the rightful claim to innovation which is Bitcoin and is set forth through Bitcoin. 🙏🧡

With all due respect to any OG Bitcoiner who may be selling Bitcoin due to disenchantment, I would humbly say that this is a lack of focus and perspective. Every day, I have the honour via @npub1l00k...nypq of connecting with local projects around the world that are living out the vision of “peer-to-peer electronic cash”. Freedom money. 100 sats here, 1000 sats there. A local barber, taxi driver, cattle rancher, or corner store on-boarded to Bitcoin. A group of children receiving and then spending sats as reward for their participation in an educational program. A mother saving sats for her child’s future schooling costs. On and on, far away from the boardrooms of Wall Street, the original vision for Bitcoin is very much alive, thriving and growing through local Bitcoin circular economy projects. So, to anyone lamenting the entry of large financial institutions to the Bitcoin ecosystem and the #hodl only mentality, I respectfully say: you’re not looking in the right places. Tune into circular economies and the #spedn vibe. Take a step back, look at and support local Bitcoin circular economy projects. You can find them all listed on fbce.io and you can find how to donate to them (multiple options) via our partner website at bitcoinconfederation.org/explore. If the entry of large institutions to Bitcoin frustrates you, if you feel that the soul of Bitcoin is in jeopardy, help the amazing people on the ground in communities around the world who are bringing the Bitcoin white paper to life every single day. Please follow and support @npub1l00k...nypq to help us bring Bitcoin circular economies to scale over the months and years ahead.

Hubris (a short story) In the year 2029, the global economy trembled—not from war or pandemic, but from a quiet revolution that had been gathering beneath the surface like tectonic pressure. The story began a decade earlier. @Microsoft, @Apple, @Google, and the other titans of Silicon Valley were basking in record profits. Their balance sheets overflowed with trillions in cash and equivalents, most of it parked in U.S. Treasury bonds—low-yield, “safe,” and endorsed by decades of convention. CFOs nodded confidently at board meetings. Risk was for startups. Stability was strategy. But a storm was building, and they refused to look up. In a small but growing corner of the global economy, something different was taking root: Bitcoin. While the tech elite dismissed it as volatile, slow, or worse — a haven for libertarians and groups trying to go around institutions — it kept humming along, block by block. @MicroStrategy, a company dismissed as a curious footnote on @CNBC, quietly continued converting its balance sheet into Bitcoin. Others followed, slowly, and then into a growing wave. Sovereigns too: El Salvador, Bhutan, then Brazil, Czech Republic, and more. A parallel system was forming, one that operated beyond borders, beyond central banks, and beyond the cautious worldview of the titans of corporate America. By 2027, inflation had returned—not the kind central bankers claimed to control, but the kind that eroded real wages and made corporate bonds unattractive. U.S. debt spiraled as interest payments surpassed defense spending. Apple’s $200 billion in cash began to shrink—not in numbers, but in purchasing power. They were rich, yes. But so was Rome, once. Still, they didn’t move. Why risk headlines for a speculative asset? Why anger investors stuck in the modalities of the past, those convinced by Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett and other investing giants of the past that this Bitcoin thing was a speculative fad? Why rock the boat when the tide had always lifted them? Because tides change. When the dollar crisis hit in 2029, it wasn’t sudden. But the consequences were. Treasury yields spiked. Foreign investors and stable-coin companies dumped U.S. debt. The Fed, cornered, scaled up its money printing. The world finally noticed that the emperor’s currency had no clothes. Meanwhile, Strategy’s balance sheet exploded in value, as did those of other corporations that joined the early wave of Bitcoin Treasury Companies. Once small-cap and mid-cap firms, these companies now dwarfed the giants of the past. Countries lined up to mine, secure, and settle in #Bitcoin $BTC. A new monetary standard emerged—not by decree, but by demand. At an emergency summit in Davos, the CEOs of the world’s largest firms gathered in panic. Microsoft’s CFO whispered, “We should have bought Bitcoin back when it was under $100K.” Apple’s board, once lauded for its caution, found itself questioned by shareholders who watched their cash erode in real time. The corporations that once shaped the world had missed the future by clinging to the past. It wasn’t lack of information. It wasn’t bad luck. It was hubris. And hubris, history reminds us, is always punished in the end. $MSFT $AAPL $GOOG $NVDA $TSLA $NFLX

Many an athlete was made in the process! 🤣

Reflecting on an inspiring experience from this morning. On my run down by Lake Ontario, there is an indigenous encampment drawing attention to consequences of Bill C-5 (One Canadian Economy Act) and a variety of outstanding Treaty issues. I said hello and thanked them for the beautiful smell of sage that was filling the air, after which an Elder invited me over to smudge. Grateful for the gift, we began speaking about different issues pertaining to their grievances (very legitimate, centuries old grievances). It opened an opportunity to speak to the Elder and a couple of others about Bitcoin and the potential for economic sovereignty (and by extension, other forms of sovereignty). I told them about the work my colleagues Suman Kumar and @Emma are doing to nurture dialogue and learning about Bitcoin with Cree community members in the province of Quebec. The beautiful thing: they got it. The concepts resonated. They were interested to learn more. I’ll be going back to speak with them again and to share some resources. It reminded me that a myriad of groups, communities, nations stand to benefit from the opportunity Bitcoin presents to (figuratively) bulldoze gates, fences, and enforcers that prevent them from achieving autonomy and sovereignty. I we can find more openings and opportunities to engage First Nations, Inuit, and other native communities throughout the Americas regarding Bitcoin. We, the creator’s children, and future generations, all stand to benefit.

HABEMUS PAPADUM! 🙏

Man, I would love to have heard the presentation and walked beside the buyer for a minute just to see if any wheels were actually turning. 🤣

El Salvador’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (6024.18 BTC as of today) now amounts to roughly 0.00095000 BTC per capita based on its population of .~6,300,000. They continue to grow this per capita holding every single day. In order catch up to El Salvador's per capita BTC reserves, these countries would need to hold the following BTC in their own Strategic Bitcoin Reserves as of today (the vast majority haven’t yet started an SBR). These numbers will continue to grow every day as El Salvador's per capita BTC holdings grow. 🇮🇳 1,384,896 BTC 🇨🇳 1,346,727 BTC 🇺🇸 329,000 BTC 🇳🇬 221,045 BTC 🇧🇷 201,809 BTC 🇷🇺 137,579 BTC 🇲🇽124,865 BTC 🇯🇵 117,237 BTC 🇩🇪 80,083 BTC 🇬🇧 65,889 BTC 🇿🇦 61,179 BTC 🇫🇷 63,273 BTC 🇨🇦 37,950 BTC 🇦🇺 25,508 BTC 🇨🇭 8,498 BTC There are only 21,000,000 BTC to be had...ever. Countries for whom the 💡 goes on and realize that BTC is gradually becoming the base layer of the future global economy will be competing not only with each other for BTC, but with the world's 8 billion individuals, as well as companies, investment funds, unions, community organizations, and a myriad of other groups around the world. Sometimes the profound reality of "scarcity" can just smack you in the face. It is very likely that most, or possibly all of these very large (many very wealthy) countries will never possess the per capita wealth of El Salvador measured in BTC. It boggles the mind what this will mean in the future that is taking shape right now. Most importantly though, if YOU are reading this, it means that YOU have the possibility of holding your own BTC and doing so while the vast majority of national and sub-national governments, companies, and other groups are still asleep or have not learned enough about Bitcoin (BTC) to take it as seriously as they should (and will, eventually). The most beautiful thing about Bitcoin, I believe, is that almost everyone on the planet has the ability to hold it and use BTC. That includes youth in the most remote parts of the world, for example; individuals who are excluded from the wealth of the current world in so many ways. It is absolutely remarkable that as governments, companies, and other groups slowly begin to tune into the transformational value of Bitcoin, individuals have already been at this for 16 years. More than 55% of the total available supply of BTC right now -- roughly 19,800,000 BTC out of the 21M that will ever be available -- are held by individuals. This is power to the people in action. Let's keep it that way! Stack sats, stay humble. ✊🧡