With recent rumors of a major bullion bank/metals player under stress, and this week’s Bitcoin waterfall moment hinting a crypto fund or exchange was liquidated; it felt like the right time to revisit of an old piece on the behavior of a crisis moment.

https://open.substack.com/pub/kanemcgukin/p/repost-time-money-and-people-change

The human urge is to corral collateral and then print.

We saw it with gold

We saw it with oil

We see it with Treasuries

We’re seeing it with Bitcoin, but we’ll call it Digital Credit for the sake of making it feel different.

A new generation of gold bugs is born.

https://kanemcgukin.substack.com/p/how-to-make-a-bitcoin-mint-print

The tariff comments seem to be misplaced.

It’s not about Tariffs. They are secondary to the important point. It’s about access.

China has effectively threatened to do what the US did when cutting Russia off from SWIFT.

Except there are other ways to make money transfers and there aren’t many other ways to ship goods.

The power is in the supply chains, as I noted in 2021 when kicking off my SubStack: https://kanemcgukin.substack.com/p/current-personal-thesis-and-reflections

Enjoyed sitting down with @Pierre Rochard for EP64 to explore the rise of Bitcoin-backed notes.

We discuss what happens when Bitcoin becomes collateral, SPVs, private credit, and why declining volatility helps set the stage for a true Bitcoin yield curve.

🔗 🎧 to listen👇

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/navigating-bitcoins-noise/id1583424361

YouTube: https://youtu.be/jJlUNUp0ALk

In 1913, bankers promised “decentralization.” What we got was the Fed and the death of gold as sound money.

Today, Bitcoin faces the same ghost in Core vs. Knots.

First principles are non-negotiable.

New essay 👉Bitcoin Faces Its 1913 Moment.

https://kanemcgukin.substack.com/p/bitcoin-faces-its-1913-moment

The Yuan peg and allowance of floating gold prices through a global network of exchanges is the 4D chess move.

It allows for control of global liquidity without facing Triffin’s Dilemma.

Options: checkmate or come to the bargaining table.

The Network Wars Are Here… Railroads won the Civil War. The cloud and the arrival of Monetary Tech Stacks will decide the next one.

History has proven, the empire that controls noise will control the future.

Network Power: How Networks Build Empires, Break Nations, and Shape Order 👉 https://open.substack.com/pub/kanemcgukin/p/network-power-how-networks-build

Last week, the White House cited @nprofile1q... & @Bitcoin Policy Institute / @Bitcoin Policy Institute / @btcpolicyorg (RSS Feed).

🎙️ I enjoyed chatting with Matthew shortly after on:

⚔️ The battle for global monetary power

💥 Bitcoin/Stablecoins - America’s new Monetary Tech Stack

🕸️ Narrative warfare


🎙️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/navigating-bitcoins-noise/id1583424361

📺 https://youtu.be/x7mTX0C7rUw

Fiat-🧠 & high time preference are back in play.

The Bitcoin Treasury 🫧:

✅Equity-funded BTC flywheels.
🏁Securitized hype.
💸mNAV mania.

BTC is sound money. BTC-TCs are a risk wrapper, a speculative attack.

The Bitcoin Treasury Bubble: Reflexivity, Metrics, & the Coming Unwind

👇 Read + Download: 🔗 https://open.substack.com/pub/kanemcgukin/p/the-bitcoin-treasury-bubble-reflexivity

🚨 unpopular opinion 🚨

We are still early in Bitcoin not bc of the technological innovation around currency.

But more bc of the low levels of credit relative to the underlying collateral asset.

The early shift to credit & lending in bitcoin is what is in the early innings.