cwest

@newstart_2024 The value is neither the land or the house. It is the price that people are willing to pay to preserve their purchasing power in a debasing currency environment. They just don’t know it or see it that black and white.

“You’re spending 50% of your disposable income on a house a postman owned in 1917.” Rory Sutherland just delivered a brutally funny takedown of London property madness. He pointed out that people with good jobs are now paying enormous sums for a three-bedroom house in Fulham that’s essentially a boring, low-quality building — the real value is almost entirely in the land and planning permission (about 90% of the price). Meanwhile, we live in an incredible technological age where you can buy jet skis, hot tubs, and amazing consumer goods — but most of our money goes into owning a “shit house” in a good postcode. Rory’s friend has a flat in the Barbican and he gets that — it’s actually an amazing place to live. But most London housing? Dross. Rory’s friend has a flat in the Barbican and he gets that — it’s actually an amazing place to live. But most London housing? Dross. It’s like paying £60,000 a year for the parking space while driving a 1970s Ford Cortina. What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve seen people spend huge money on just for location?

@TFTC21 The miscalculation that many Central American countries hoping to adopt Bukele’s tactics forget that El Salvador’s border do not stretch from Pacific to Atlantic and is being simply routed around on the trip North to the US. Let’s see what happens.

Guatemalan tourist visits El Salvador and says what everyone's thinking: why can't our country do this? Bukele's making every neighboring government look bad just by building one that works.

@JesusMartinez @krakenfx Can you buy STRC and reinvest the dividend automatically?

I left Coinbase for @krakenfx. Not because of one thing. Because of everything. Here's what most people don't realize about Kraken in 2026. They're not just a crypto exchange anymore. 11,000+ US stocks. 560+ cryptos. Gold. Oil. Futures. All in one account. Zero commission on stocks. And if you're just holding cash as a stablecoin, you're earning 2 to 4% APR automatically. Your bank gives you 0.5%. Some key things that made me switch: • @krakenpro fees start at 0.25% maker. Lower than most competitors at base level. • Instant USD withdrawals. 365 days a year. Try getting that from your bank. • USDG earns yield the moment it hits your account. No lockups. Paid weekly. • They've never been hacked. Never lost customer funds. Since 2011. • Wyoming SPDI charter. 100% reserve requirement on cash deposits. And then this happened. Nasdaq announced a partnership with Kraken on March 9. They're building tokenized versions of listed stocks together. Full governance rights. Voting. Dividends. The biggest tech stock exchange in the world chose Kraken. Oh and if you hold HBAR, Kraken is running a trading challenge right now. 300,000 HBAR reward pool. Trade the HBAR perp on Kraken Pro, compete based on volume. First 2,000 clients. Runs through March 23. For international users it gets even crazier. xStocks give you tokenized US equities trading 24/7 with up to 20x leverage in 110+ countries. Crypto exchanges are becoming the new brokerages. And Kraken is leading the charge.

@DTAPCAP They show 13% of alt is in. Crypto

Still no gold or btc. (If embedded in alts still tiny) Long way to go.

@JM_speakss It is a logical playbook for sure

Ok, here’s my honest take. Every piece snapping into place like clockwork. China has spent years dodging Western oil sanctions by quietly sourcing from Venezuela and Iran, keeping its economy insulated from USD pressure. Trump’s non-negotiable mission is to obliterate BRICS, bury de dollarization for good, and reinstall the USD as the unchallenged global reserve currency for the next century. To refinance America’s towering debt load he needs interest rates driven into the ground. To steamroll the 2026 midterms he needs stock markets in full blown euphoria. The cleanest, fastest way to deliver both at once? Precision geopolitical conflict that spikes energy prices, supercharges defence and industrial stocks, floods the system with liquidity, and forces every player back onto America’s chessboard. Connect the dots because they’re not random: - The US moves decisively on Venezuela, securing its enormous oil reserves, lithium, gold, and rare earth minerals. - Canada now fully aligned and openly supporting the US steps up with comprehensive diplomatic cover, logistical bases, intelligence sharing, and even limited expeditionary support. Ottawa’s move instantly locks down the entire Western Hemisphere energy corridor, creates a seamless North American fortress, and sends an unmistakable signal to every ally and adversary: “The West is unified, and America is back in charge.” China’s first major lifeline is severed overnight. - Beijing, panicked, doubles down on its Iranian supplies. - Then, literally last night, Trump green-lights “Operation Epic Fury” devastating precision strikes (with Israeli support) that target the Iranian regime’s command centers, nuclear sites, and oil infrastructure while broadcasting direct calls for the Iranian people to rise up. China’s second critical lifeline is gone in hours. That leaves only Russia. But here’s the masterstroke that’s still flying under the radar…Russia and the US I think are already in back channel talks for a historic deal on energy, trade, and security that brings Russian oil and gas flooding into Western markets. Canada’s rock solid alignment gives Trump the perfect geopolitical bridge…a bulletproof North American energy bloc plus Russian resources creating an unbreakable alliance that completely isolates China. BRICS is dead in one decisive stroke. Once China is totally cut off it has zero leverage left. Beijing will be forced to come crawling back to the United States for everything…oil, minerals, technology, and market access. Trump’s response? “Hold our debt.” America sets the terms. China is handed massive tranches of US debt at favorable rates, the dollar undergoes a controlled, orderly reset, and the entire global financial system realigns under Washington’s leadership. Central banks worldwide have been stockpiling physical gold for exactly this moment as the ultimate backstop and hedge against the transition. And here’s what happens to Bitcoin in the next phase because crypto is the missing piece that turns this from dominance into total supremacy: As the conflict premium hits energy markets and defense budgets explode, liquidity floods risk assets. Bitcoin, already positioned as digital gold and the ultimate inflation hedge, breaks out violently first surging past $200k on pure market momentum and institutional FOMO. Then, once the Russia deal is signed and the dollar reset is underway, Trump drops the bombshell…an executive order establishing a strategic US Bitcoin Reserve. Using seized Venezuelan assets and windfall revenues from the new energy alliance, America becomes the world’s largest sovereign Bitcoin holder overnight. This single move does three things at once: 1. It legitimizes Bitcoin under American control, pulling it away from Chinese mining dominance forever; 2. It gives retail and institutional investors the green light to pile in without regulatory fear; 3. It supercharges the market rally needed for midterm victories.

@MacroScope17 What are the different ways to purchase corn in El Salvador

Last week, I flew from New York’s JFK airport to El Salvador. I was struck by the changes since my visit last year, especially in terms of infrastructure. San Salvador’s historic center (Centro Histórico) is a must-see and probably the best example of urban revitalization and smart design anywhere in the world. Many new stores and lots of international tourists. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: US investors should be in El Salvador right now, looking for opportunities. The reason for this trip was the big Bitcoin conference. It was interesting and worthwhile. Discussions were wide-ranging and included different areas of technology and economics. Despite BTC’s recent drop along with other assets, there was lots of buzz and activity; I learned that these are not the type of people who get discouraged or quit. The event was full and the hotels and restaurants were packed. Here’s something I noticed at the conference. Among the international attendees I talked to, there was a sense of impatience with their own countries -- a dissatisfaction with the status quo and a desire to build. Many of them are early in their careers and they want to be part of something big and historically significant. If that also describes you, here’s a recommendation. Go to San Salvador’s historic center on a Friday or Saturday night. Have dinner at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the National Palace, while a DJ's soft beat plays in the background. I promise you will feel like you’re in an important place at an important time.

@sprainhill Great Hockey venue

Knights by a zillion

@LinaSeiche I agree with everything except one key point. The Narcos can physically bypass El Salvador by land as it only touches the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador is a no go zone for the drug trade but it would be different if El Salvador was coast to coastal

You know, when Bukele fixed Nuevo Cuscatlán as mayor, people like you claimed it was easy because it was “just a small town.” When he fixed San Salvador as mayor, they said it was easy because it was “just one city.” And when he fixed El Salvador as president, they said it was easy because it’s “just a small country.” The argument falls apart once you realize that more responsibility always comes with more resources. I promise you that if you put the German chancellor (who can’t even run a rich nation) in charge of El Salvador, he would screw it up in a year. But if you put Bukele in charge of Germany, he would fix it. And then people like you would say, “it’s easy because it’s a rich country.”

@TerriTortuguero It was pretty clear that @saylor thinks the criticism should be focused on companies that don’t hold bitcoin in their treasury. Individual BTCTC should be evaluated on the merits of their business plan and execution nothing more. @_DannyKnowles

What happened here is that, as usual, Saylor studied his host. Just how he studied Jordan Peterson and steered the conversation into the divine and Peterson-isms. In this episode, Saylor knows the host approaches Bitcoin and BTCTCs from an angle which isn't constructive. He may be a good podcaster, but has many basic blindspots in reference to Bitcoin. Saylor set him on the right path and hopefully, his podcast will be better for it from this moment on. youtu.be/J85O-ckNxCw?si…

@sprainhill @ARKInvest Stud

I was very honored by the opportunity to participate in this excellent end of year panel with some distinguished guests and the @ARKInvest team. Getting to discuss economics, finance, policy, dynamism, and prosperity with some of the sharpest minds is a true blessing.

@pete_rizzo_ @grok is this true

JUST IN: $600 BILLION RUSSIAN BANKING GIANT SBERBANK JUST ISSUED THE COUNTRY'S 1st #BITCOIN-BACKED LOAN THE NEXT GLOBAL RESERVE ASSET. BUCKLE UP 🚀

@DTAPCAP @_The_Prophet__ Well put. If we are indeed in the Institutional adoption phase then we should expect confusion from market players trying to understand the paradigm shift.

Thanks @_The_Prophet__ Here is the no-bullshit, highest-coherence, mask-off answer. This article is smart, but it is structurally wrong in the only way that actually matters. It is correct within the paradigm it is measuring, and completely blind to the paradigm that actually determines crypto valuations. This is why its logic feels crisp but lands flat. It is applying Web2 metrics to a monetary technology, not a consumer network. It is mismeasuring the thing itself. I will break this down brutally clean. ⸻ 1. He is right about network effects. He is wrong about crypto. Crypto does not have Facebook-style network effects. Correct. Crypto does not have user stickiness like Meta. Correct. Crypto does not have monetization comparable to Web2. Correct. And all of that is totally irrelevant. Because crypto is not a consumer network. Crypto is monetary infrastructure. You do not measure: •gold •the dollar •oil •bonds •treasuries using DAU, MAU, ARPU, retention, or k-coefficients. This is the categorical error at the heart of the article. He is judging a monetary substrate using the metrics of a social app. ⸻ 2. Crypto is valued the way money is valued: by beliefs, reflexivity, scarcity, and collateral utility. Money is not a business. Money is not a network product. Money is a coordination technology with: •reflexive trust •role in collateral hierarchy •function as energy storage •function as global settlement rail •macro-hedge dynamics •political neutrality premium •liquidity preference None of this shows up in MAU metrics. Bitcoin’s valuation is not based on: “how many users are active this month.” It is based on: •its role in global collateral scarcity •its function as pristine, non-sovereign reserve •its energy base •its terminal supply certainty •its insulation from political coercion •its reflexive monetization dynamic •its place in the global liquidity stack Nothing in the article even touches these domains. He is talking about the wrong organism. ⸻ 3. Crypto is not valued like Meta. It is valued like gold, commodities, reserve assets, and monetary layers. Gold does not have: •retention •daily active users •user flows •stickiness •network effects Yet gold has: •5,000 years of monetary premium •valuation far above its industrial use Because money is not valued by usage. Money is valued by belief, structure, scarcity, and collateral function. Crypto inherits this same dynamic. That is why its valuations look unhinged through his lens. He is measuring “chairs in a restaurant” while everyone else is pricing “land in Manhattan.” ⸻ 4. Crypto’s real network effect IS speculation. And that is not a weakness — it is the ignition phase of every monetary asset. He treats “speculation” like a bug. It is the feature. Monetary assets enter reflexive dominance through: 1.speculation 2.liquidity 3.collateralization 4.institutional adoption 5.settlement role 6.reserve status Gold did this. The dollar did this. Sovereign bonds did this. Every asset that becomes money goes through a speculative monetization phase where network effects are not usage, but belief-induced liquidity spirals. Crypto is in stage 3–4 of this monetization curve. He is complaining that Bitcoin does not look like Facebook when in reality it looks like early gold. ⸻ 5. His entire “valuation per user” framing collapses under one question: Who is the user? Is an oil barrel’s valuation “overpriced” because it has no MAU? Is the U.S. dollar “overvalued” because its ARPU is low? Is gold “overpriced” because it has no retention curve? These questions are absurd because the framing is wrong. Crypto’s “user” is not a person. Crypto’s “user” is global liquidity. Liquidity does not have DAUs. Liquidity has flows, volatility, and collateral demand. By that metric, crypto is underpriced, not overpriced. ⸻ 6. Crypto’s network effect is not n squared. It is 1 ....CUT OFF UNFORTUNATELY.

@sprainhill 😂love it

From a young age Rory Murray was interested in bitcoin-driven asset management

@basedlayer Depends in the country. It’s trust and verify and is nuanced based on each country.

Westerners treat their government like a parent they trust completely while people in Argentina treat theirs like an abusive ex they can't escape

@basedlayer Civility and good dressing. But I suppose we noticed.

What has vanished from society over the last 20 years without people noticing?

@bitcoinpark_ @stephanlivera @sprainhill Love to see it Rory. 👍

‘I can’t take the argument that Bitcoin is zero seriously anymore.’ It’s pristine collateral. It trades 24/7. You can liquidate it on weekends. Listen to @stephanlivera and @sprainhill discuss Bitcoin as a treasury asset at CTS25.

@MartyBent The best collateral always wins and Mass adoption will come AFTER Bitcoin collateralizes the financial markets.

The whole edifice of the financial system needs to be re-collateralized with pristine collateral. They won't say it publicly, but JP Morgan just implicitly acknowledged this.

@mikealfred Once you’ve had the epiphany it makes it hard to contemplate that the majority of humanity do not get it.

The crazy thing is nothing has even happened yet.

@MarketPalmer_ Once Heavy money realizes it can be used as tax free collateral then mass adoption doesn’t matter. The best collateral finds the biggest demand. Gold is inefficient collateral

Unpopular opinion: Bitcoin won't have mass adoption anywhere near the scale people are calling for. At least not in our lifetime. Similar to gold, there will be believers, and there will be people who couldn't be bothered by it.

@basedlayer Is Bitcoin the base layer like the internet was to the music industry and the layer on top of Bitcoin the Napster’s, etc?

I've watched three industries die from the same disease and nobody else sees the pattern because nobody else lived it in sequence. First, Universal Music. I had a front row seat to an empire pretending everything was fine while literal teenagers with laptops destroyed their business model. The music business literally sued their customers lmao 🤣. They called them thieves. They begged Apple for mercy when iTunes came out so they could sell *something* and stay relevant because never, ever, did they think about building something for the new generational shift themselves. The pattern was this: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, death. Never acceptance. Then I saw the thing with traditional banking through Bitcoin's lens at Blockstream. Same pattern. Same denial. JPMorgan "adopting" crypto is like Universal "partnering" with iTunes. It's capitulation when you look at it for what it is but if you asky anyone there they'll call it "strategy". Now I'm watching every institution simultaneously collapse from the same root cause: information asymmetry death. Universities can't hide the indoctrination from the public. Governments can't hide money printing. The pattern is identical and the timeline is compressed. So here's what twenty years of pattern recognition taught me: The chaos gap between destroying and creating is where all the opportunity lives. We're amazing at tearing down what doesn't work especially when any regular joe can see what's going on. BUT - and this is a major issue: We're CHILDREN at building what comes next. IMO that gap is expanding. Argentina taught me to see that gap by the way. When your currency collapses several times, you develop sensors for institutional failure that comfortable people can't imagine. Growing up in Norway taught me the inverse. Perfect institutions creating perfect misery. Everything works. Nobody's happy. The suicide rate is higher than Argentina's. Comfort is its own cage and success is its own failure, etc... Bitcoin isn't interesting because it's better money. It's interesting because it's the first constructive response to institutional collapse that ACTUALLY WORKS. Bitcoin is not complaining nor reforming. It's building. Parallel. Inevitable. I'm not a Bitcoin educator I'm a cultural strategist watching the same movie for the third time. The music biz fought Napster and created Spotify. Banks are fighting Bitcoin and creating CBDCs. So we need cultural hijacking. Make the old system embarrassing. Make the new system inevitable. Don't explain the technology. Change the story.