Been Musk'd?
Daily Ramble
I had a conversation with a buddy about sir Elon yesterday that inspired today’s Ramble.1 Coming on the heels of yesterday’s McAfee Ramble, where I post-humously praised John McAfee's authenticity, the irony is not lost on me.
Why? Because as incredible as I think Elon is pushing humanity forward on a mission to leave the planet, reign in the threat of AI, and reduce our fossil fuel consumption, authenticity is not his strong suit. The last few months of observing Elon’s relationship with Bitcoin has brought his authenticity to the fore in a way that I hadn’t previously noticed. Go ahead, beat me up because I don’t think he’s authentic.
A few months ago, I was agog that he pushed Tesla into Bitcoin, making a $1.5B purchase to hold in Tesla’s treasury instead of dollars and accepting Bitcoin for Tesla purchases. But my short hairs started to tingle when he droned on and on about Doge, a meme crypto coin without substance. How could someone that intelligent purchase a massive amount of Bitcoin only to troll his own investment by promoting a sham alternative? It didn’t and still doesn’t make sense to me. But then when Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin for Tesla purchases, then sold $150M of their Bitcoin treasury position, and then claimed they would only accept Bitcoin again for Tesla purchases once Bitcoin was provably secured using at least 50% renewable energy, the bright red authenticity button in my head started to scream “hypocrite” at me.
So, yesterday is not the first time I found myself explaining why Elon’s authenticity issues put him in the hypocrite camp. Shockingly, I’ve seen very little coverage putting these glaringly obvious points together for the public to see: Elon’s Tesla vehicles run on electricity. Bitcoin is secured using electricity. Bitcoin is a monetary disruptive technology. Teslas produces transportation disruptive technology. Bitcoin’s electric consumption is under the microscope. Tesla vehicle electric consumption is ignored. Elon attacking Bitcoin for its electric consumption while ignoring Tesla vehicles’ electric consumption is the height of hypocrisy. The founder of a disruptive technology consuming electricity from an undetermined origin shading another disruptive technology consuming electricity from an undetermined origin. “Mr pot, you’re black,” said the kettle.
“But, but, shifting to electric vehicles will reduce our carbon emissions,” you say? Absolutely. And, just as true, shifting to Bitcoin will reduce the carbon emissions from the military and banking structure defending the dollar. So, if Elon will demand 50% of the energy protecting the Bitcoin network come from renewables, shouldn’t he be demanding the same in the energy mix powering the vehicles he sells?
Your retort, Mr. Authentic?
True Things on the Interwebs
I’ve said it once, and I’ll probably say it a lot more, but Jack is Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Price Prediction
Yesterday: $31.6k - $34.9k
Today: $32.5k - $35.5k
Weekend: $31.8k - $38k
Bitcoin is at a tricky point here. It pushed up to $35.5k in the opening hours of today’s session and has since pulled back to $33.5k. While the price could come back to $32.2k before it’s seriously at risk of the bears retaking full control, it’s currently at the limbo point where either bulls or bears could take charge. At this point in the game, the bears retaking control would likely get very painful for the bulls as it would mean a retest of the low $30ks region. I’m very doubtful it holds if we go there again. So the key for the bulls is to get some push today and over the weekend. The real challenge is the weekend, where wild things can happen. On the bullish side, if the bulls can close the day over $35.5k, the doors open up for upside to the $40k region. The long and short is that this weekend could see volatility in either direction.
Bitcoin Q & A
Q: What is an open, decentralized monetary network?
A: Bitcoin
Ok, that’s a snarky Q&A, but I intentionally framed the question to have folks think about what Bitcoin represents without the label Bitcoin attached to it. Bitcoin, like many words, is becoming increasingly loaded with emotion as folks argue over it. At its core, Bitcoin is an open, decentralized monetary network. If we were to regulate access to the internet — an open, decentralized information network — society would rise to defend it. As Bitcoin’s adoption spreads, I fully believe we’ll see the same happen to Bitcoin, not just from Jack Mallers in the clip above.
Thanks for reading,
Kent
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Thanks, Jet!