WTFBitcoin Week 17, 2023
Plebs & Whales stacking for a coming bull run.
TLDR: The most bullish publication, WEF advocates for Bitcoin Mining, Russia ramping their mining operations, Whales & Plebs accumulating, LN Markets attracts more capital for trading, Philippines crushing it with Lightning, and more!
Hey there niblings, it’s uncle Bam again, with a summary of the most insightful events in the Bitcoin space. Back at it again digesting all the important news for you.
This week I write you early for two reasons:
I might be the most bullish I’ve felt for a while
I’m heading out for some small rock climbing long weekend escape!
But to be fair, I am not the only bullish one..
"I am incredibly bullish on #Bitcoin specifically." - U.S. Senator Ted Cruz
During the week, I stumbled upon an exceptional and concise paper titled "How To Position For The Bitcoin Boom" by Tuur Demeester. If you have the inclination and time, and want to feel that burning desire to recklessly invest all your emergency funds into bitcoin, then I suggest you close this email or tab right now and go read his article.
Tuur elaborates on how Bitcoin is undervalued based on market metrics, the current optimism after recent Wall Street bailouts, and the likelihood of short-term lower prices, which is quite low. Additionally, he explains why Bitcoin is a winner-takes-all type of event, making it unnecessary to diversify in the space but instead focus solely on Bitcoin.
”Because energy intensity is a conditio sine qua non for any truly decentralized and reliable cryptocurrency, we end up with a winner take- all dynamic: once a functioning mechanism is figured out, the network effects and economies of scale of this system make everything else’s security model seem hopelessly inefficient by comparison.” - Tuur Demeester
But if you take my word for it, trust that bitcoin is positioned to start its intense bull run in the following months.
By the way, do not do anything reckless! But now let’s now go on and enjoy more of these bitcoin bullish news 🗞️🗞️!
THE NEWS
1. The World Economic Forum, has recently started advocating the benefits of Bitcoin Mining.
“By harnessing this otherwise stranded form of energy… It saves fossil fuel companies the money of either operating a flare or disposing of it safely.. And the biggest winner of all is the environment, which is saved from harmful methane emissions” - WEF
2. LN Markets, a bitcoin derivative exchange, achieved a record-breaking first quarter in 2023, with an all-time high in monthly trading volume at 1,850 BTC and a daily trading volume all-time high at 250 BTC! The company saw a 308% increase in volume, a 336% surge in P&L, and a 17% rise in user numbers compared to the previous quarter.
But hey! If you gamble.. gamble responsibly! - Bam
3. Spiral announce they are building a R&D team of bitcoin wizards to improve security, decentralization, privacy, and scaling across all layers of bitcoin. So naturally they are hiring 👀 .
4. Strike now lets Guatemalans receive instant, zero-fee remittance payments in local currency with the Bitcoin & Lightning Network
5. Lightspark is offering 6 months of free service to eligible early stage startups to ensure new companies get all the benefits of our full stack, fully automated Lightning service so they can focus on what matters most, consumer experience!
. Philippines is becoming a big driver of Lightning payments for THNDR Games.
6. Lightning adoption is truly global, as just 13% of THNDR Games lightning payments in April went to US-based users, while the other 87% went to multiple and mainly developing countries .
7. Miramar Bodyboard Shop, in Portugal, got orange’d pill and is now accepting bitcoin and has been added to the BTCMAP.
8. It is now possible to get paid running a Nostr relay with a few clicks using LNBits!
9. Major ASIC producers are seeing bigger sales volumes in Russia than the US right now.
10. Jack Mallers, presented Bitcoin & The Lightning Network: A Public Good For Americans, A Strategic Opportunity For The U.S. in the capitol this 26th of April.
11. Peter McCormack, released the latest film of Follow the Money Part 3- Dear Elizabet Watren, where he travels to Texas and Oklahoma to learn about bitcoin mining and how it reflects core America ideals.
12. Standard Chartered, a $819 billion banking giant say they see potential for Bitcoin to reach $100,000 by end of 2024. ..Mmmh.. some hopium never hurts, right?
13.$23 billion banking group Syz to launch Bitcoin and crypto funds this July.
13. Hong Kong to release cryptocurrency framework next month
14. Help fund Cashu development on Geyser! Consider chipping in on and support FOSS contributors!
FUNDAMENTALS
There is a famous saying in the investment world which goes: “Watch what they do, not what they say”. is a famous quote that gets passed around on the investment circles. It's particularly applicable to bitcoin, where it's important to pay attention to the actions of the largest holders. If you take a closer look, it's this specific cohort who have been accumulating the most during periods such as December 2022 to early January 2023, and again in April. It's clear that they know what they're doing. Preparing for higher prices..
“You're waiting for a dip. The biggest #Bitcoin holders are saying "this is the dip"" - Jesse Myers
While it's true that the largest bitcoin holders have the potential to influence the market price, I find it more interesting to track the cohort of people who hold less than one bitcoin, aka "the plebs". These individuals can signal whether adoption of bitcoin is happening and at what pace. Over the last 12 months, there has been a significant expansion in “pleb” balances, and they appear to be particularly aggressive during sell-off opportunities.
It's exciting to see the increasing distribution of bitcoin ownership and how it may impact the market going forward. Perhaps it is just that it's becoming increasingly clear for the people that the deck is stacked against them. With the way that governments and central banks around the world have corrupted traditional currencies, it's possible that bitcoin may be the only chance for today's generation to either have a proper long-term store of value and even achieve a comfortable retirement. The good news is that we have bitcoin as a beacon of hope in these uncertain times.
Have a great weekend niblings.
Stay humble & stack sats.
Share some love with Uncle Bam for cup of coffee ☕ or a nice ribeye 🥩 <3
Lightning Address: rustybeam47@walletofsatoshi.com
Lightning URL: LNURL1DP68GURN8GHJ7AMPD3KX2AR0VEEKZAR0WD5XJTNRDAKJ7TNHV4KXCTTTDEHHWM30D3H82UNVWQHHYATNW3UKYETPD56RWT9G2XF
If you have understood the why of Bitcoin, you know that the best is ahead for Bitcoin, and therefore what you have to do ;)