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Bitcoin Market Journal

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HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS

March 3, 2022

“Money moves from those who do not manage it to those who do.”

- Dave Ramsey

Whale Reads



Whale Reads

Worthy news for aspiring whales


Twitter Wants to Reinvent Itself (New York Times): Crypto payments! NFT profile pics! And now a completely decentralized platform?


You read it right: Twitter is planning to go full-on Web3, moving to a decentralized protocol that anyone can use to create their own social media apps (like the decentralized protocol that we use for email or Web pages).


Investor takeaway: Blockchain, crypto, and decentralized Web3 standards are finally starting to get mainstream acceptance. We're no longer the fringe minority; soon we'll be the majority.


As more people move into crypto, the more crypto's value is likely to rise. When Twitter's getting in, that's even more reason to HODL for the long term.

Your Money is Growing



Your Money is Growing

Truth, in numbers


Speaking of Web3, here's a look at current Web3 DeFi interest rates, compared to the interest rates of legacy banks:

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From our DeFi Interest Rates page


Investor takeaway: Web3 is where all the money is going, because that's where the money can be made. (With its stock price down, it's no wonder Twitter is following the money.)


That said, remember that money rates on Web3 DeFi products can be misleading: read our Crypto Interest Rate Guide for more.

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Block Market Daily

with Mati Greenspan


Hi Everyone,


"I know not what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."


-Often attributed to Albert Einstein


There are more than 20 wars and an additional 36 skirmishes and minor conflicts across the globe at this moment.


Wikipedia keeps the following map updated for our convenience, highlighting four different categories of armed conflict.

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It's not extremely pleasant to think about, but now that it's out there, it's wonderful to see the world united in standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin's tyranny. However, I'm left wondering why other armed conflicts seem to go completely unnoticed and unpunished.


With the sad state the world is in, it's fairly easy to imagine Putin's surprise at why people suddenly care so much about a border dispute between two sovereign nations.


There's something extremely compelling and inspirational about Ukraine's plight, but I can't help but wonder if the virtue signaling has gone a bit too far. Out of all the wars in the world, why are people so hyperfocused on Ukraine?


Perhaps it's the fact that this all-out conflict is taking place on European soil, something that hasn't happened since the 1940s. Perhaps it's because for Ukraine, this battle could prove existential.


Or maybe it's the wider implications for NATO countries, China's conflict with Taiwan, and now, as it seems, the global financial infrastructure.

Money as a tool of war


When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a state of emergency and announced that bank accounts would be frozen Feb. 14, he likely saw a means to an end, but what the world must have noticed was the overwhelming effectiveness of economic warfare.


Despite the whining of us libertarians and free money enthusiasts, without funding, the trucker movement was literally dead in its tracks in extremely short order. Now this same kind of warfare is being used against Russia just two weeks later.


What was first considered the nuclear option quickly became a harsh reality for millions of people around the world.


The problem with such measures is that it punishes people indiscriminately. We all saw those brave men and women across Russia, young and old, who risked it all to protest the war.


It must have been a real kick in the teeth for the people of Russia when Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. cut off one of their most common payment methods, and it was no doubt a hindrance to their mobilization.


Their sudden realization that those pulling strings in the West are willing to turn them into collateral damage was likely the opposite of what was intended.


The bigger issue with this, however, is that it's a slippery slope. Should the perpetrating nations behind the conflicts highlighted above in red and brown also be barred from the global financial system?


How about the orange or yellow ones? How would the world look if China also crossed a similar line? Would we stop trading with them altogether? Where is that line? Clearly, Uighur genocide doesn't count. It all seems so arbitrary.


Over the last few decades, the U.S. has invaded more sovereign nations without provocation than I care to count, yet no financial sanctions have been applied to American citizens as of yet.


What we need to understand is that this isn't about right or wrong. It's not about justice. It's about power, and who has the capability to exercise it. Like it or not, money is now as much a tool of war as tanks and guns.

The alternative


Luckily enough, blockchain technology was born just in the nick of time to save us from a world where governments can unilaterally and arbitrarily deprive civilians of access to financial services. 

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Because their services are essentially centralized, many crypto exchanges have already noted their ideological discontent with recent sanctions, but the more regulatory compliant venues may not have much of a choice.


When push comes to shove, if they need to choose between the rights of their citizens and their respective operating licenses, we all know which they will choose.


In his tweet thread, Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell alludes to this reality, and he seems to hint to Russian clients that they should withdraw their funds immediately.


Yes, bitcoin offers protection against sanctions, but only to those who self-custody. This does not extend to coins on exchanges or custodial wallets. Remember, not your keys, not your coins.


Case in point, Infura, which powers MetaMask, announced earlier today that it is was blacklisting certain unnamed jurisdictions as a result of legal compliance. I didn't know MetaMask had the option to do this. It was quite an eye opener.


However, Infura later posted a Twitter thread, in which the company stated that it "mistakenly configured the settings more broadly than they needed to be." "Once we determined what happened, we were able to fix the problem, and service has been restored," the thread added. 


We'd like to end off today with some amazing research analyst Jason Deane, who wrote a piece detailing the legal status of crypto across the world, as well as key considerations that could impact the creation of regulations going forward. 


The full report is available for free at this link.


Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Mati Greenspan

Analysis, Advisory, Money Management

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Hot Tweet


Screenshot 2022-03-03 at 18-58-32 Dennis Porter on Twitter.png

It seems that El Salvador's economic growth has taken off after the country legalized bitcoin as legal tender! This move reportedly reduced the cost of remittances quite a bit, bolstering GDP.

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"Then can you unplug the bitcoin network?"

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