🇺🇸 President Trump's next FED Chair pick, Kevin Warsh on Bitcoin:
“I think of it as an important asset that can help inform policymakers when they are doing things right and wrong.”
“It can be a very good policeman for policy.”
“It's the newest and coolest software that will provide us an ability to do things that we could have never done before.”
Celsius will send out a fourth round of distributions next month! Here's what you need to know:
- It will be in BTC (but it will be the last distribution you receive in BTC. Future distributions will be in stables)
- It will be equal to 7.2% of your claim
- You will have received 87% of your claim after this (72.1% in crypto, and 14.9% in stock)
- The effective price of the BTC hasn't been decided yet, but will released as we get closer to the date of the distribution
- This is the biggest distribution since the original one in Feb 2024
💥BREAKING
COINBASE CEO HUGE SHOCKER 👀
Brian Armstrong says banks are 'trying to undermine President Trump's crypto agenda'
"They're trying to protect their own profit margins, taking money out of the pockets of hardworking, average Americans"
THIS IS A THREAT TO THE STATUS QUO
Brian Armstrong didn’t dance around it -- banks aren’t pushing back because of “stability.” They’re pushing back because of competition.
The average U.S. savings account pays ~0.14%. Stablecoins can pay ~3.8%, fully reserved, backed by short-term Treasuries. No fractional reserve games.
Armstrong’s point was straightforward: Congress shouldn’t let incumbents tilt the rules to kill challengers.
Set clear rules, let banks and crypto compete & let consumers choose.
That’s exactly why this bill is so contentious. 💯
BANKS ARE FREAKING OUT OVER STABLECOIN YIELDS 😱
Paul Barron translates the JP Morgan earnings call with Matt Hougan of Bitwise.
The core of the issue isn't just competition; it's a fundamental threat to how banks make money. 🏦
💸 The Math: If a consumer can move their money from a bank account paying 0.1% to a digital dollar (stablecoin) paying 4%, they will.
📊 The Scale: The U.S. Treasury and banking groups estimate that widespread adoption could drain up to $6.6 trillion from the traditional banking system. This is a "nightmare scenario" for banks because it creates a massive funding hole.
📝 The GENIUS Act Loophole: Banks are furious because crypto exchanges (like @coinbase) and other third parties are still paying "rewards" to users who hold stablecoins. Banks argue these "rewards" are just interest by another name, allowing crypto to bypass the rules banks have to follow.
53 banking associations just wrote themselves a $6.6 trillion protection bill.
They called it the CLARITY Act.
Here is what they do not want you to understand.
Banks pay depositors 0.1% interest. Stablecoin issuers hold Treasury bills earning 4.5%. If stablecoins could pass that yield to users, banks lose the deposit war. They cannot compete. The math is fatal.
So they made competition illegal.
The Kansas City Fed calculated what happens if stablecoins pay competitive rates. Banks lose 25.9% of deposits. $1.5 trillion in lending capacity vanishes. The entire community banking model collapses.
Their solution was not innovation. Their solution was legislation.
The CLARITY Act everyone is celebrating contains Section 404 prohibiting yield payments through any mechanism. Not just from issuers. From exchanges. From affiliates. From partners. Every single pathway to competitive returns, closed by statute.
Brian Armstrong reviewed the 278-page draft for 48 hours. He withdrew Coinbase support at 11pm. The markup was postponed by morning. He saw what Wall Street analysts missed entirely.
This is not crypto regulation.
This is Dodd-Frank for digital assets. Incumbents writing rules that crush competitors. Regulatory capture so brazen they published the lobbying letters on their own websites.
The American Bankers Association. 52 state banking associations. The Community Bankers Council. All coordinating to eliminate an industry they cannot beat in open markets.
Meanwhile China made e-CNY interest-bearing on December 29.
America is banning stablecoin yield while Beijing is paying it.
The crypto industry spent years begging for regulatory clarity.
They got it.
Clarity that $6.6 trillion in deposits will be protected at any cost. Clarity that banks write the rules. Clarity that if you cannot win in markets, you win in Congress.
This is the largest regulatory capture event in American financial history.
And it is being sold as innovation policy.
WATER HEATER PAYS YOU IN BITCOIN
Superheat unveils a $2,000 electric water heater that mines Bitcoin.
The unit uses the same energy as a standard heater but runs ASIC miners to recoup costs, offsetting water heating bills.
JUST IN: CNBC says "Venezuela may have quietly amassed a Bitcoin reserve worth tens of billions of dollars." 👀 🇻🇪
"If the US seizes those coins and adds them to its own strategic reserve, you're looking at potentially substantial supply of BTC getting locked up for years." 🚀
Looking for a last minute gift for your kids, your nieces, nephews, whatever…
Here’s how to give them the gift of Bitcoin.
When I was a kid, my aunts and uncles gave me Treasury bonds.
But my parents had to hold them, nobody remembered where they went, and of course…
they ended up being basically worthless.
But giving Bitcoin isn’t that easy either…
here’s the issue with Bitcoin gifts:
1. Kids under 18 can’t legally have a River or Swan account.
2. Hardware wallets are like a hundred bucks, so that makes no sense if you’re giving less than that.
3. And little kids don’t even have phones.
So here’s what I did instead.
STEP 1
I downloaded a basic Bitcoin wallet app and created a separate wallet for each kid.
STEP 2
I sent about $50 of Bitcoin into each one.
STEP 3
Each wallet has its own seed phrase. I printed it out and the. I gave one copy to the parents, and I kept one backup.
STEP 4
Then I printed the public address QR code, put it in a small picture frame, and hung it on their wall.
So now they can scan it anytime and see their Bitcoin growing… but nobody can spend it.
After that, I deleted the wallet app completely.
The Bitcoin only exists via the seed phrase.
And every birthday, Christmas, Easter or whenever… I can just send more Bitcoin to that same address.
They watch it stack up for years.