Post Office
Daily Ramble
I spent the better part of my morning at CTT, the local post office — after spending the better part of my yesterday afternoon there. In Portugal, the mail provider is private, which means that it’s run as a for-profit business. There is no public mailing option. CTT has a borderline monopoly on mailing letters and packages in Portugal. FedEx, DHL, and UPS exist but unless you need assurance your package is going to arrive, their prices are out of reach.
Having a mailing monopoly means that when the higher-ups at CTT decide to change mailing policies requiring different forms for packages sent abroad, the computer systems change but the employees sitting in the saddle don’t get the knowledge until the computers start glitching. The line of people flowed out of the office and down the steps into the street by the time my six packages being sent outside the EU were properly bandaged with the appropriate graffiti.
Now there’s a lot of good folks out there who think the US Postal Service should be privatized because it’s wasting tax payer’s money. I dare them to move to a foreign country where the mail service is private. Let’s see how long before their tune changes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for making the USPS run as efficiently as possible, but if I’m ever living back in the US, you’ll never hear me complain about the USPS running at a loss. My sanity is worth the small price the public has to pay to make up their bottom line.
Favorite Thing on the Interwebs Today
It’s been a minute since I was sucked down a Jimi rabbit hole — you’ll have to click through for the experience.
Bitcoin Price Prediction
Yesterday: $30.3k - $36.5k
Today: $32.3k - $36.7k
Tomorrow: $30.3k - $40k
So far, the prediction from yesterday is holding — the longer we hold this range, the more likely the floor is in. All signs point to this being a classic pullback in a macro bull trend. I see a tighter range for price action throughout today and into tomorrow where a direction will likely be chosen. I was off base thinking we’d choose a direction today. It now looks more likely it’ll be another day before that happens. The bottom line: the longer we go sideways, the more likely we go up. On the flip side, when the consolidation concludes, there is a chance that it breaks to the downside, but even then, I don’t see it going below $30.3k.
Bitcoin Ed Bite
What is the Lightning Network?
The Lightning Network is to Bitcoin what the US dollar was to gold in the 1800s. Did that SAT level analogy go right over your head? Mine to the first time. Let me break it down.
In the 1800s, gold was the primary store of value and the way banks settled imbalances between each other. It was literally shipped from bank to bank. The dollar rose as a way to transact value without having to move gold for day to day transactions. It represented a certain amount of gold and could be redeemed for gold in a bank. The dollar was a monetary technology upgrade.
Digitally speaking, as more transaction volume clogs the Bitcoin network, the more costly it becomes to send a transaction. Just like gold is difficult to transact, the Bitcoin network is anticipated to become similar. That’s where the Lightning Network comes in. The Lightning Network allows quicker and anonymous transactions with almost no cost. Sounds an awful lot like using dollars instead of gold for transactions? Yep. A monetary technology upgrade.
Like it’s Pops, the Lightning Network is open-source and decentralized as well. The future of money is here.
Thanks for reading,
Kent
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