Serious
Daily Ramble
I don’t have the head for serious today. But I’m going to do it anyway. There’s too much afoot when it comes to being a Bitcoin miner to avoid the topic. What am I talking about? The US infrastructure bill. It’s not a small thing, this bill. Stoked full of pork chops which few US citizens want, the bill is a major focus for the US Democratic president and the Democratic majority in the House.
While it’s been de-larded by half from the initial $1.2T price tag to $550B, one of the more exciting features was the last minute inclusion of language meant to capture some of the funds flowing through the crypto space by way of regulation increase. $28B new tax dollars that come, not by way of tax, but by stretching the lasso of “broker” regulations around the crypto industry. No one knows how the Joint Comittee on Taxation arrived at $28B, but coming in at 2,702 pages, the bill makes up a measly 5 reams of paper, making it approximately the same weight and height as an adult penguin. I’m willing to bet good money that not a single elected official will read the entirety of the bill.
I could be good with all the above, but the part that sticks in my craw is the miraculous change to the definition of a “broker” that was thrown into the bill at the last minute. I’ll get to the “whodunit” part later, but for now, here is the current text of the bill which could bring the crypto industry to a halt in the US.
This text comes after the hard work of Jerry Brito and his team at Coin Center lobbied elected officials into changing it from a more draconian form, but it still leaves enough ambiguity to include crypto miners and other decentralized infrastructure services. Working for a Bitcoin mining company, I know there is no way that this is technologically feasible to comply with — we literally have no insight into the identity of the people transacting inside the blocks we mine. What this means is that either the crypto mining industry will need to operate illegally, or will be forced to shut down.
Now here’s my favorite part: rumor, and it is rumor, has it that this language was inserted by the US Treasury department. I love this rumor because it implies that the system governing the US Dollar is beginning to fight Bitcoin. Although it was wrapped in a pretty package of “capturing taxes from tax dogers” (not true), the end goal seems likely to have been to shut down the mining industry and weaken the Bitcoin network.
Here’s the amazing part — there’s now too many Bitcoiners in the United States to let this type of thing slide. In 48 hours, the original language was weakened by a flurry of phone calls to senators over the weekend. There’s still a shot it will be dropped before the bill is finalized. Why? Because almost 20% of Americans are invested in the crypto space at this point. Given it’s accelerating adoption, it’s clear that this is probably the last shot for the USD system to try and root out the upstart crypto community before the constituency backing it becomes too large a political force to thwart. So, as ugly as this is, and as directly as it impacts me and my team as Sazmining, I couldn’t be more bullish for the future.
First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. — Neil Klein
Rad Things on the Interweb
Bitcoin Price Prediction
Yesterday: $38k - $41k
Today: $36k - $40k
Tomorrow: $36k - $41k
Bitcoin’s gone and done the unthinkable — it’s fallen back into the previous range. Ok, I’m dramatic, but it’s not a great sign to see the price break out of the range high and then fall back in again. It’s not the end of the world as long as the critical $36.5k area holds on a daily close. At the moment, the bulls are trying to stage a rally from $38k, which is the last major support before I see prices sliding into the $36k range. I’m mildly optimistic it will hold. Regardless, I’m anticipating we’ll chop around between $36.5k and $41k for a few days before a bullish breakout. My tune will change if we lose $36.5k, though.
Bitcoin Q & A
Q: How do I restore my Bitcoin if I lose access to the Bitcoin wallet app on my phone?
A: Using a seed phrase.
When you create a wallet on your phone, you will be provided a seed phrase. The seed phrase is the only access you have to restore your Bitcoin wallet. If you lose both the seed phrase and access to the app, your Bitcoin will be gone. Therefore, it’s critical to write down and store the seed phrase in a safe place.
Thanks for reading,
Kent
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