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Trump Is Not Bitcoin's Savior

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The election is over, and Trump is now going to be President again. He pulled off something that hasn’t been done since Grover Cleveland in the 1800s, a successful re-election following a loss after his first term. People all of this space are celebrating this as some kind of victory for Bitcoin, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Ross will likely be freed, Trump is too full of himself to back out of such a trivial to deliver on campaign promise, so he will probably do it. It’s too easy, and something he can parade around and take credit for, so it will happen.

That is where anything substantial will end. A strategic reserve is not happening without the approval of Congress, even seized assets are by law required to be disposed of on the open market. Trump cannot from any reading of his authority I am aware of unilaterally push the federal government to begin accumulating bitcoin. Even if by some miracle that Congress did act to pass such legislation, what good does it do Bitcoin? A government accumulating bitcoin isn’t going to help make it more scalable, it isn’t going to make it more private, it isn’t going to protect it from government overreach and interference. It won’t even help us pay off our debt, the price appreciation necessary for such an outcome is frankly delusional.

Instead the most likely outcome is more of the same. More attacks on Bitcoin privacy. More encroaching regulation in the form of KYC and AML. Miners will likely come under scrutiny as Bitcoin’s elevation onto the global political stage continues. The question of their liability and involvement in confirming sanctioned or otherwise undesirable transactions has already been floating around Washington D.C. for a few years now, the tone of those questions will likely get more serious.

Exchanges and other on/off ramps will likely be pressured to engage in ever more invasive surveillance of their users in pursuit of stamping out terrorism, criminal use, child trafficking, etc. All of the traditional boogiemen of the digital world will be trotted out, and the regulatory noose will be tightened. Sure, Trump might push for enshrining self custody as a right, but does that on its own really provide any serious degree of freedom without privacy? Without censorship resistance?

Trump even spoke in Nashville about regulations, and the expansion and endorsement of stablecoins. “People who see Bitcoin as a threat to the dollar have it exactly backwards.” He wants to push dollar backed stablecoins all over the world, taking advantage of a new route for us to export our inflation without the need for diplomacy. People in other countries can just use them, they don’t need their government to choose to dollarize, or hold dollar reserves. Just download an app and start using them. The approach he wants to take to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will breath new life into the dollar, and push Bitcoin down a path to stagnation and capture.

People are cheering this on as a victory for Bitcoin, the reality is it is us entering the gauntlet. It is still an open question whether we can successfully run it and come out the other side without having to make serious and potentially fatal compromises. 



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Michael Saylor

Microsoft Should Buy $78 Billion Worth of Bitcoin

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As someone who has used Microsoft products my whole life, it pains me to see they are fumbling the bag on Bitcoin. The company’s $78 billion in cash reserves are losing value daily. Meanwhile, they stubbornly refuse to follow MicroStrategy’s proven winning strategy — convert those melting dollars to scarce Bitcoin!

Microsoft announced a couple of months ago that it would buy back shares up to $60 billion; it seems like this did nothing to increase the stock price. Imagine if they had bought Bitcoin instead. That money would have been much more powerful if allocated to Bitcoin. The company would likely have added hundreds of billions in market cap.

Just look at MicroStrategy. In just four years, they turned their $1 billion company into $100 billion by adopting Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. They are now the most compelling and successful story in corporate finance, with the best-performing stock in the last four years, beating every US company – even NVIDIA.

Yet Microsoft clings to an outdated financial strategy, destroying shareholder value. Microsoft should follow its technology instincts, not faulty financial logic. There is no long-term viability in holding cash.

I was listening to X Spaces yesterday, during which MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor revealed that he offered to explain Bitcoin’s benefits privately, but Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella rejected the meeting. Now, he is making a last-ditch appeal by presenting a 3-minute Bitcoin proposal to Microsoft’s board.

Earlier, the board already advised shareholders to reject assessing Bitcoin’s potential upside. Nonetheless, I am interested to see how this meeting will turn out. Saylor is a great educator, so you never know.

They should realise that no corporate treasury asset like Bitcoin can enhance enterprise value. Even a small $5 billion Bitcoin allocation could add tens of billions in market cap.

Look, Microsoft, the choice is clear – hoard melting dollars or embrace uncensorable digital gold. Your shareholders are begging you to buy Bitcoin. It’s time to listen before that $78 billion completely disappears. This is your fiduciary duty as Bitcoin continues mass adoption.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.



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$100

Bitcoin Nears $100,000 As Trump Council Expected To Implement BTC Reserve

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What an enormous day it has been today.

Gary Gensler officially announced that he is stepping down from his position as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and minutes later, Reuters reported that Donald Trump’s “crypto council” is expected to “establish Trump’s promised bitcoin reserve.” A bitcoin reserve, that would see the United States purchase 200,000 bitcoin per year, for five years until it has bought 1,000,000 bitcoin. 

Image via Julian Fahrer

Right after both of those, Bitcoin continued its upward momentum and broke $99,000, with $100,000 feeling like it can happen at any second now.

It is hard to contain my bullishness thinking about the United States purchasing 200,000 BTC per year. They essentially have to compete with everyone else in the world who is also accumulating bitcoin and attempting to front run them. There are only 21 million bitcoin and that is a LOT of demand.

To put this into context, so far this year the US spot bitcoin ETFs have accumulated a combined total of over 1 million BTC. At the time of launch the price was ~$44,000 and now bitcoin is practically at $100,000. And that’s all ETFs combined. Imagine what will happen when just one entity wants to buy a total of 1 million coins, having to compete with everyone else accumulating large amounts as well?

I mean MicroStrategy literally just completed another $3 BILLION raise to buy more bitcoin, and will continue raising until it purchases $42 billion more in bitcoin. The United States are most likely going to be purchasing their coins (if this legislation is officially signed into law) at very high prices. The demand is insane and only rising in the foreseeable future.

With two months left to go until Trump officially takes office, it remains to be seen if this bill becomes law, but at the moment things are looking really good. As Senator Cynthia Lummis stated, “This is our Louisiana Purchase moment!” and would be an absolutely historic moment for Bitcoin, Bitcoiners, and the future financial dominance of the United States of America.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.





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Bitcoin Policy

Want Greater Bitcoin Adoption? Engage With Your Government.

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It’s been a good week for Bitcoin and its status in the eyes of federal deposit insurance corporations. (Well, there’s a weird sentence I never thought I’d write.)

On Tuesday, the anti-crypto U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman, Martin Gruenberg, announced he’d be stepping down in January.

And yesterday, Heritage Falodun, CEO of DigiOats, Nigeria’s leading Bitcoin education and consultancy platform, educated members of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) about the benefits of bitcoin and other digital assets.

Falodun, an indefatigable Bitcoin proponent, spearheaded a seminar for the NDIC entitled “Cryptocurrency in the Evolving Financial Industry”.

In it, he highlighted the following points:

  • Bitcoin can serve as a reserve asset for nation states, including Nigeria
  • Using bitcoin (and other digital assets), banks can reduce settlement time
  • Bitcoin can reduce capital controls, as its censorship resistant

Falodun and his team also provided an overview on the evolution of money and financial systems and also touched on the ways in which bitcoin and crypto are already integrated into traditional financial structures in efforts to convince the NDIC of Bitcoin and crypto’s importance.

“Nigeria must adopt balanced regulations that protect citizens and foster innovation,” Falodun told Bitcoin Magazine. “By embracing Bitcoin’s uniqueness and engaging the Bitcoin community, Nigeria can lead the global financial revolution.”

Falodun knows that without properly educating government officials, Bitcoin runs the risk of being misunderstood and, therefore, regulated improperly.

“I would like regulators to understand that Bitcoin’s decentralized nature is not a flaw to be regulated out of existence, but a feature that offers unprecedented opportunities for inclusion, economic freedom and optimization of financial rails,” he added.

I respect Falodun’s efforts.

Before you go calling me a statist or some other silly reductive term, I’d like to remind you that even well-known cypherpunks like Adam Back have said that part of the struggle around greater Bitcoin adoption (and encryption in general) will include engaging with governments (and courts).

Proponents of Bitcoin should acknowledge our current political reality and make the case for Bitcoin to those in power if they want to see it flourish — or if they want to at least stop governments from crafting poor policy around Bitcoin and/or attacking the industry.

Take a cue from Falodun and do your part to educate local government officials, members of state-level administrative agencies or even Federal-level bureaucrats about Bitcoin.

It’s one of the most important things you can do to keep your country from falling behind.





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