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. 

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 is the solution.

This is the answer.

This is our Louisiana Purchase moment!#Bitcoin2024 pic.twitter.com/RNEiLaB16U

— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) July 27, 2024

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

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”.

This week, @DigiOats alongside with #MassCyberTech completed a groundbreaking seminar for @NDICNigeria 🇳🇬on “Cryptocurrency in the Evolving Financial Industry”. We explored #Bitcoin adoption, regulation, and sustainable finance marking a key moment for Nigeria’s financial future pic.twitter.com/hpWQOqZt8L

— DigiOats⚡️ (@DigiOats) November 21, 2024

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.

Peak Bitcoin, hardly.

As I wrote in Forbes in 2021, the world is waking up to a new reality in regards to Bitcoin – the unlikely truth that Bitcoin’s programming has cyclical effects on its economy.

This has led to at least 4 distinct market cycles where Bitcoin has been branded a bubble, skeptics have rung their hands, and each time, Bitcoin recovers more or less 4 years later to set new all-time highs above its previously “sky-high” valuation.

I personally watched Bitcoin go from $50 to $1,300 in 2013. Then, from $1,000 to $20,000 in 2017, and I watched it go from $20,000 to $70,000 in 2021.

So, I’m just here to relate that, from my past experience, this market cycle is just heating up.

For those who have been in Bitcoin, there’s one tried-and-true and that’s Google Search. As long as I’ve been in Bitcoin, this has been the best indicator of the strength of the market.

Search is low, you’re probably in a bear market. Search heading back to all-time highs? This means new entrants are getting engaged, learning about Bitcoin, and becoming active buyers.

Remember, this is a habit change. Bitcoin HODLers are slowing shifting their assets to a wholly new economy. So, Google Trends search then, represents a snapshot of Bitcoin’s immigration. It shows how many new sovereign citizens are moving their money here.

And it’s something that all who are worried about whether bitcoin’s price topping out in 2024 should pay attention to.

Last year was the Bitcoin halving, and historically, the year following previous halvings has led to price appreciation. Maybe you’re tempted to think, “this time is different” – not me. I look at search and I see a chart that continues to accelerate into price discovery. Trust me when I say no one I know is selling bitcoin.

As shown above, buyer interest is accelerating, and these new buyers have to buy that Bitcoin from somewhere. Add nation states, US states, and a coming Trump administration set to ease the burden on the industry?

Well, I think the chart above says it all really. 

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