Striking a Nerve
Daily Ramble
Anytime Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are on the same page, you know something deadly serious occurred. It just happened:
It was one thing to take on the Wall Street hedge funds by the fellas at /r/WallStreetBets. At first, there was a lot of crying that the little guy cost these hedge funds, who were savagely destroying GameStop through short selling, billions of dollars, but yesterday Robinhood closed down the ability for it to continue. Not just GameStop but the other short sellers being hunted by /r/WallStreetBets by target share buying of AMC and others. This massive slight on the little guy absolutely blew up in Wall Street’s face as the rage of the internet turned on them.
I listened to a podcast today talking about this moment as dividing people into two groups: those that understand the cultural change this moment created and those that haven’t understood it…yet.
But why is this such a big deal? Because for the first time, the absolute greed and manipulation of Wall Street were utterly unmasked for the world to see. The /r/WallStreetBets crew self-organized around the principle of beating Wall Street at their own game. Many were individuals that witnessed the devastation wreaked on their families by the 2008 subprime crisis…while not one person was held criminally responsible on Wall Street and the institutions they worked for were bailed out. The anger has seethed for more than a decade. They took a shot at the king…and did not miss.
What does this mean? It means the faith and trust in Wall Street holding retail investors to it by bubble gum and baling wire just broke. Legions of retail traders that have been the prey for Wall Street for decades are exiting stage left — for the cryptocurrency markets. They know that they have to enter the casino to get anywhere in life — the devaluation of the dollar through money printing has made it impossible to get ahead by saving — but they’re choosing to enter the casino where the game is not rigged. And that’s crypto, more specifically, Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is where the game ends. Whether you buy now or later, you’ll buy.
Favorite Thing on the Interwebs Today
Incredible…but I’m glad I don’t live where it’s cold enough to try myself.
Bitcoin Price Prediction
Yesterday: $27.2k - $33k
Today: $32k - $42k
Tomorrow: $34.5k - $45k
The unforeseen happened in the last 24 hours: both Ray Dalio and Elon Musk endorsed Bitcoin. And well…number go up…bigly. Yesterday’s price prediction was right on point with the high clocked at $33.5k, but today, after Elon changed his Twitter bio to simply read “Bitcoin” the price pumped a cool 20% adding a measly $138B in total value to the network. The price is already at $37.6k with a solid chance of reaching $42k and beyond today as the US session and its investors wake up to the news. I’m firmly convinced any chance of further downside has been erased. The worst case is that we bounce around in the $35k-ish area for a few days, but breaking below the lows at $28k is highly unlikely now. That said, the market is volatile and erratic with high emotions so providing a tight price range prediction is near impossible.
Bitcoin Ed Bite
Q: Why won’t another cryptocurrency replace Bitcoin?
A: Because humans value money differently than other technology.
We’re used to an exponentially increasing rate of change when it comes to our technology. But when it comes to money, we seek stability and consistency. Trust is won over the long run and by lots of abuse. The dollar did not get its world reserve status without hard-earned faith by the rest of the world. That faith was originally earned by its redeemable gold backing and later on the economy itself being able to continually produce valued goods and services within a highly secure nation. It’s the faith and trust by the rest of the world that continues to keep the dollar valued.
Bitcoin has been going through the same process, though non-violently. The more it’s survived its beatings, the more trust and faith individuals place in it. After 12 years of consistently working under immense abuse, it’s gained the world’s attention. Any competitor to Bitcoin will need to go through a similar process.
That’s not how it goes for other technologies though: if there is a better version, people drop what they’re currently using for it. Humans are highly conservative with money and freely choosing new versions. And that makes good sense considering money represents the life force, i.e time and energy, a person puts into earning it.
So no, a better cryptocurrency isn’t likely to spring upon us anytime soon.
Thanks for reading,
Kent
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