Damus
Scott Wolfe
Recent notes
El Salvador’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (6024.18 BTC as of today) now amounts to roughly 0.00095000 BTC per capita based on its population of .~6,300,000. They continue to grow this per capita holding every single day. In order catch up to El Salvador's per capita BTC reserves, these countries would need to hold the following BTC in their own Strategic Bitcoin Reserves as of today (the vast majority haven’t yet started an SBR). These numbers will continue to grow every day as El Salvador's per capita BTC holdings grow. 🇮🇳 1,384,896 BTC 🇨🇳 1,346,727 BTC 🇺🇸 329,000 BTC 🇳🇬 221,045 BTC 🇧🇷 201,809 BTC 🇷🇺 137,579 BTC 🇲🇽124,865 BTC 🇯🇵 117,237 BTC 🇩🇪 80,083 BTC 🇬🇧 65,889 BTC 🇿🇦 61,179 BTC 🇫🇷 63,273 BTC 🇨🇦 37,950 BTC 🇦🇺 25,508 BTC 🇨🇭 8,498 BTC There are only 21,000,000 BTC to be had...ever. Countries for whom the 💡 goes on and realize that BTC is gradually becoming the base layer of the future global economy will be competing not only with each other for BTC, but with the world's 8 billion individuals, as well as companies, investment funds, unions, community organizations, and a myriad of other groups around the world. Sometimes the profound reality of "scarcity" can just smack you in the face. It is very likely that most, or possibly all of these very large (many very wealthy) countries will never possess the per capita wealth of El Salvador measured in BTC. It boggles the mind what this will mean in the future that is taking shape right now. Most importantly though, if YOU are reading this, it means that YOU have the possibility of holding your own BTC and doing so while the vast majority of national and sub-national governments, companies, and other groups are still asleep or have not learned enough about Bitcoin (BTC) to take it as seriously as they should (and will, eventually). The most beautiful thing about Bitcoin, I believe, is that almost everyone on the planet has the ability to hold it and use BTC. That includes youth in the most remote parts of the world, for example; individuals who are excluded from the wealth of the current world in so many ways. It is absolutely remarkable that as governments, companies, and other groups slowly begin to tune into the transformational value of Bitcoin, individuals have already been at this for 16 years. More than 55% of the total available supply of BTC right now -- roughly 19,800,000 BTC out of the 21M that will ever be available -- are held by individuals. This is power to the people in action. Let's keep it that way! Stack sats, stay humble. ✊🧡 https://m.primal.net/NbFd.jpg
In a response to Canadian Member of Parliament, Mark Gerretsen, back on Sept 29, 2022 (linked below) I indicated that I would timestamp and revisit his post in the future. It's time. First, let's get some maths out of the way. Yes, that shawarma which Official Opposition Leader @PierrePoilievre purchased at npub12ym4gud920vsfrudtuey6xc99aamgxtemfg056sgxgd855u93vpq7m2gc5 with on April 1, 2022, at a Canadian dollar equivalent of $10.00, would have cost a Canadian dollar equivalent in Bitcoin (BTC) of $22.35 on Sept 29, 2022. Fast forward to today, however, and that same shawarma purchased with would cost CAD $5.60. That's almost 50% less. All of the above is based on the closing exchange rate of BTC to CAD as follows: Apr 01, 2022: 1 BTC = $57,936 Sep 29, 2022: 1 BTC = $26,772 May 11, 2024: 1 BTC = $83,300 Mr. Gerretsen was seeking to discredit Mr. Polievre's claim that Bitcoin is a powerful tool to help Canadians protect themselves from inflation. Thing is, he was wrong. In fact, if Mr. Gerretsen had decided to exchange 10 of his Canadian dollars for Bitcoin on Sept 29, 2022 (the date of his tweet) he would now be able to take that very same CAD $10 worth of Bitcoin to npub12ym4gud920vsfrudtuey6xc99aamgxtemfg056sgxgd855u93vpq7m2gc5 and buy 3 shawarmas. There would even be enough left over to leave the server a nice tip! Yes, the price of in Canadian dollar terms can be volatile, especially on shorter timeframes. That's because it is a commodity-currency which is still quite young (launched in 2009) and early in its global adoption. However, when one zooms out and looks at the trajectory of BTC against the Canadian dollar and other government-issued currencies around the world, the trend is clear. BTC is continually appreciating in value and purchasing power over time. This is the key point which I believe Mr. Polievre was making when he called Bitcoin a powerful tool to protect Canadians from inflation. The double significance of Mr. Polievre's shawarma purchase at npub12ym4gud920vsfrudtuey6xc99aamgxtemfg056sgxgd855u93vpq7m2gc5 -- an amazing Canadian food chain owned by Canadian-Egyptian entrepreneurs Aly, Omar, and Ahmed Hamam -- was to underscore the global dimensions of Bitcoin. This includes the even greater importance of Bitcoin as a tool to save people from hyperinflating currencies like the Egyptian pound, and its role around the world as a tool for human rights, for financial inclusion, for community development, and for energy growth and climate action. I'll touch further on these in a moment. Getting back to the question of this famous shawarma purchase in April 2022, let's do some more investigation. Let's keep zooming out and take a look at what Mr. Gerretsen's purchasing power with Bitcoin would be if he had exchanged 10 Canadian dollars for BTC on Sept 29 of years before 2022. We've already seen that Mr. Gerretsen's "2022 Bitcoin" would now be able to buy him 3 shawarmas today. What if he had exchanged Canadian dollars for Bitcoin in previous years? Well... Mr. Gerretsen could take his CAD $10 exchanged for BTC on Sept 29, 2020 and buy 5 shawarmas today. He could take his CAD $10 exchanged for BTC on Sept 29, 2019 and buy 8 shawarmas today. He could take his CAD $10 exchanged for BTC on Sept 29, 2018 and buy 10 shawarmas today. And so on, and so on. The point is that Bitcoin is in fact a tool for Canadians to opt out of inflation. Another way of saying this is that, over medium to longer time frames, Bitcoin helps Canadians preserve and INCREASE their purchasing power. The key is for Canadians to study this technology and currency in order to understand how it works and how best to make it work for them. We need education, and we need policy makers to get behind this effort. For many years, various Canadian educators and content creators have done their part of increase education about Bitcoin hoping that it would resonate with a diverse audience. In 2014, educator Andreas Antonopoulos presented information about Bitcoin to the Canadian Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce: https://youtu.be/xUNGFZDO8mM?si=x2EF1x25P9q8PADr However, more was needed still. This is why a wide range of stakeholders from across Canada came together over the past two years, including at the 2023 Canadian Bitcoin Conference in Toronto, to discuss the potential to establish a body for these purposes in Canada. This year that became a reality with the establishment of the Bitcoin Coalition of Canada npub1j46na8czzv909c6zr7charcr63zuxd2d7jw3jjfy9j33d72c0aksgxdffy in January 2024. The npub1j46na8czzv909c6zr7charcr63zuxd2d7jw3jjfy9j33d72c0aksgxdffy is a multi-partisan, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to engage federal, provincial, and municipal policymakers across Canada, as well as media and the general public, to increase awareness of Bitcoin and its many benefits to Canadians and people around the world. This includes not only its role as a tool to protect purchasing power, but a tool for human rights, financial and social inclusion, energy abundance, and climate action. We outline the many uses and benefits of Bitcoin at bitcoincoalition.ca/why-bitcoin%3F and other resources. What's perhaps more encouraging about the potential impact of Bitcoin across multiple domains, is that it should appeal to policymakers across all political parties and it should unite Canadians. As we approach the 2-year anniversary of Mr. Gerretsen's tweet below, I say let's move on. Let's make sure that all policy makers, across all political parties in Canada commit to studying Bitcoin and to engaging in sincere dialogue about how we can harness this technology and commodity-currency to increase opportunity across Canada and to build a better world. https://x.com/markgerretsen/status/1575521175044001793?s=46&t=wq0GoOCdXxA5DblxlsJJng
While the dogs of war have yet again been let loose by state actors fuelled by easy money, others around the world — literally all around the world — are celebrating a different vision; one of hope, peace and putting power back in the hands of people. The is an important event because of what it means for the onward march of and as money with “rules, not rulers”…but it’s also an important moment and opportunity for us to come together around the world, as a species, under the banner of hope and abundance. Let’s dig in and make a better tomorrow a reality. https://m.primal.net/HvgA.jpg
