2021W51 - WTF has happened in bitcoin this week?
Bitcoin continues to dominate.
TLDR: El Salvador buys more bitcoin, CashApp does giveaways, Human Rights Foundation & Strike donate bitcoin to further develop The Lightning Network.
Hey there niblings, it’s uncle Bam again, wishing you the most enjoyable and beautiful Christmas with your dear and loved ones. Just as we love to stop our activities, and take breaks; remember that Bitcoin never stops, and this is why it is so important for us, and humanity. It is also the reason why I’m back at it with a summary of the most insightful events in the Bitcoin space, digesting all the important news for you.
I’ve been reflecting on the difference between Bitcoin and Altcoins. This week I had a conversation where Turkey came into the subject, and people couldn’t understand why they were experiencing 10% currency depreciation on a single day, and felt blessed to live where they live, because it is “a developed country” and this clearly can’t happen in THEIR country.
This is the notion we all feel: “It cant happen to me”, until it does. The problem is to utilize a currency as money where you can’t take part of the decisions on issuance and a small group of people can decide to dilute its value by issuing, or printing, money as they see fit. This would be like playing monopoly with a group of friends, but one can have infinite amount of cash, and whoever he decides to make his allies, then would be getting the benefits of borrowing and buying assets at a lower cost. At some point they’ve acquired most of the assets, and now it becomes harder for you to buy properties.
This is exactly what Bitcoin comes to fix, having fair & scarce money, while altcoins seem to attempt technological innovations in shape of utility, while a small group of people is basically playing the Central Bank’s role of issuing money, marketing them as the yield and safe heaving people desperately need, only to dump them on them later.
If you want to have your money safely stored and eternally appreciating in the long run with low risk-return ratio, then buy bitcoin. If you want to gamble your money away for the opportunity of buying the “next big crypto” potentially having massive returns but with a high risk of losing your money, then buy crypto.
If you have a favorite Altcoin, chances are it was in the top 10, and never came back again, or that it just never even arrived to the top 10. If you are newer to the space, you probably don’t even recognize some of the logos from 2-5 years ago.
All while bitcoin continues dominate, improve itself and the lives of many.
And this is how the week started.
1. Nayib Bukele announced El Salvador to have bought an additional 21 bitcoin on the 21st of December of 2021 at 21:00 hours. It seems he must be sending a message to the world.
2. Michael Saylor disclosed to personally own over 17,000 bitcoin, worth more than $866 million.
3. The Human Rights Foundation & Strike partnered together to launch a set of bounties for further development on the Lightning network. Together they will donate a total of 3 bitcoin (1 each) for achieving each of the desired challenges:
Lightning Tip Jar
Stabilized Lightning
E-Cash
4. Stronghold Digital Mining, has entered into agreements to purchase 9,080 Bitmain and MicroBT mining rigs in 2022.
5. Compute North, bitcoin miner, quickly powered down part of its data center to provide needed relief to Nebraska’s energy grid during storm restoration efforts.
6. According to a survey conducted by CNBC: Over 80% of the young millionaires own bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and 53% have at least half their wealth in such assets. 45% of the millennial millionaires credited inheritance as a factor in their wealth.
At some point people will realize that bitcoin is not only here to stay, but an important part for our future.
7. Bull Bitcoin’s, Canadian Exchange, new service aims to help users maintain sovereignty over their bitcoin holdings.
8. 4,400 households are now mining Bitcoin in Irkutsk, Russia's new mining capita
9. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is giving away $500,000 in bitcoin via Cash App
FUNDAMENTALS
The price seem to recover strength after having been down for a couple of weeks right after bitcoin marked new highs of $69,000 in November. People have wondered if that was the end of the “4-year cycle” and the beginning of a new bear market, but history does not necessarily repeat itself, it only rhymes, and while no exponential appreciation has taken place, the likelihood of a long bear market also decreases, especially while we see stackers accumulating non-stop.
Bitcoin Miners on their way to hit an all-time-high in terms of holdings.
Holders are accumulating much more than selling ever since the summer.
The trend seems to change towards a more positive one, according to technical analysts.
There is no indication of a bear market, this does not mean bitcoin will go on an appreciation rampage tomorrow, but the trend is clear:
Adoption is increasing
Miners are improving their facilities
Giveaways continue to increase awareness of Bitcoin
Many politicians are turning in favor of bitcoin
High inflation is almost not giving people any other choice.
Having money artificially designed to be fairly issued, limited, transportable and censorship resistant, is basically designing it to appreciate forever. Acquiring a percentage of the whole supply, guarantees your participation for the same percentage in perpetuity, this is only possible with Bitcoin.
As a summary note..
I just want to say thank you, it has been an incredible year, and Uncle Bam is off for vacations. After 51 weeks of reporting the news and my opinions about bitcoin, I will take time to think about my next steps..
Will I continue the newsletter in 2022? It is uncertain.. I very much appreciate doing it, but it is a decision I will meditate, as there are many other things I want to focus on as well.
If you are in Europe and want support me by supporting yourself, then consider stacking sats through Relai, utilizing the referral code: BAM.
It is the last week of 0% fees until 2022, for buying bitcoin with minimal KYC, without the need of creating an account.
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Now go back and enjoy your holidays niblings.
Stack sats.
How to buy bitcoin with Relai?
If you are in Europe, I made a pretty simple guide with 3 steps
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