Crypto, DLT and emerging asset classes. CEO, co-founder of Facet. Co-founder of Simoleon Long-Term Value cryptoassets fund. Independent board director.
However, when we discover that our life has value, that we are loved, awaited, and called to carry out a task in the world, then hope is born. This spiritual force sustains life, even in the most difficult moments.
Dropped a new substack post today...brief summary:
Trump promised $100 billion in oil investments to rebuild Venezuela.
On January 9th, he got oil executives in a room and got a reality check instead.
ExxonMobil CEO to Trump's face: "Venezuela today is uninvestable."
ConocoPhillips CEO: We're owed $12 billion from the last time we trusted Venezuela.
Trump: "Good writeoff."
CEO: "It's already been written off."
Here's what nobody's saying out loud:
Chavez claimed 300 billion barrels of reserves in 2011. Never independently audited. OPEC just publishes what members report. Actual recoverable reserves? Probably 80 to 110 billion. Maybe.
Venezuela owes $60 billion in arbitration awards from seizing foreign assets. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips got burned in 2007. Assets nationalized. Years of legal battles. Billions awarded. Venezuela hasn't paid.
And now Trump wants them back for round three.
The regulatory reforms needed? Constitutional amendments. Legislative action. 3 to 5 years minimum.
The timeline problem? Trump has 36 months left. Oil companies think in 10 to 20 year payback windows.
Nobody's betting $100 to $200 billion on that.
Full breakdown of what we know so far, including the exact arbitration awards, what needs to change legally, and why the timeline makes this impossible, and other details on my substack. (link in bio)
"The observer effect in quantum physics states that where you direct your attention is where you place your energy. As a consequence, you affect the material world (which, by the way, is made mostly of energy). If you entertain that idea even for a moment, you might start focusing on what you want instead of what you don’t want." -- @DrJoeDispenza
@bneeditor Very little downside to seizing these assets? It will mean that countries will see a stark choice between US dollar assets and their own sovereignty. Seems like a big risk.
In some countries, like the UK, there’s a tradition of letting the party of any lawmaker killed in an act of political violence run unopposed in the by-election.
It lets people know violence cannot change the balance of power. It would be good for the US to do this.
A Chris Rock Joke fits well here:
"Stop telling kids they can be whatever they want to be. You can be anything you're good at, as long as they're hiring. And even then it helps to know someone."
https://t.co/KvzITwxIEu
Wow, they actually achieved it, and 6 years ahead of target.
It's now confirmed that China's CO2 emissions have been declining for a year now, since 2024, when their official target was to reach peak emissions by 2030 (and carbon neutrality by 2060).
You can say what you want about China but there's no denying that this is an impressive achievement and excellent news for the whole world.
Weird how holding absolutely nobody accountable for the Bush administration’s post-9/11 kidnapping and disappearing people to torture prisons without any due process does not seem to have deterred Trump from also doing that.