With Strike’s and nostr:nprofile1qqsvf646uxlreajhhsv9tms9u6w7nuzeedaqty38z69cpwyhv89ufcqprpmhxue69uhhqun9d45h2mfwwpexjmtpdshxuet5qyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2mz3uf3 recent BTC loans announcement, I’ve been reading a lot of the back and forth on the subject. Having over 10 yrs of fiat lending experience, I have some reflections.

TL;DR

1) If you use the BTC loans to consume, you will fail and will never get your Bitcoin back. Might as well just sell some to live your life

2) If you use the BTC loans to produce, you will have access to amounts of capital that have the potential to truly make the world a better place. If you provide value to the world, you’ll take out the loan and never lose your BTC (you might even have more than if you hadn’t taken the loan)

Bitcoin is just a financial tool. It’s the best one we’ve ever had, but it’s only a tool. I like nostr:nprofile1qqsx45yrjtgm4glklaafgz0z4309gs6cwfja3d99s8rqvlvgagcptpqprpmhxue69uhhqun9d45h2mfwwpexjmtpdshxuet54gjttu's take on topic. If you have your values misaligned and you only want to be a degen consumer in this world, Bitcoin will not change you. It will actually help you do all of that to a much greater degree. You will still be a degen, just with a Lambo and a yacht (maybe even a Lambo yacht, I heard those exist). The beautiful thing about this scenario is that it allows the spread of Bitcoin to those who will possibly value it more and have values and virtues to help guide their decisions. In turn, maybe they will use the Bitcoin to create a better life for themselves and their families.

BTC loans will just accelerate the degeneracy if one uses them for consumption. It’s like leveraged trading… if you go the wrong way, you just get rekt faster and more violently. That’s exactly how BTC loans will play out for those who decide to consume.

On the flip side, BTC loans will be the greatest tool to free capital into value producing and world building humanity has ever seen. We will live through some unprecedented growth. In every way possible our lives will be better, our children’s and their children’s lives will be better. BTC Loans will accelerate growth and allow builders, creators and entrepreneurs to build and create faster than with just native BTC. This will in turn actually increase BTC adoption and the cycle will continue. Some entrepreneurs will succeed and some will fail. No matter what, it will make the system stronger and all of our lives better.

If you have BTC at this point, no matter how much or how little, put yourself in the shoes of nostr:nprofile1qqsqfjg4mth7uwp307nng3z2em3ep2pxnljczzezg8j7dhf58ha7ejgprpmhxue69uhhqun9d45h2mfwwpexjmtpdshxuet5qyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2aqnz0fd0 and nostr:nprofile1qqsp4lsvwn3aw7zwh2f6tcl6249xa6cpj2x3yuu6azaysvncdqywxmgpzfmhxue69uhk7enxvd5xz6tw9ec82cspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfdumlww9r. What will you do with all of that wealth 10 years from now? What will you build? What will you create that will make your family and community better. We are all just them from10 years ago.

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Discussion

Is a house producing or consuming?

I agree. A good loan is a loan that gives you the cash required to bootstrap a positive cash flow business. The positive cash flow pays back the loan and if then generates additional cash flow for you.

Anything else is a bad loan. Some bad loans are still "normal" like a mortgage. But they are nevertheless a bad loan.

Absolutely, as long as the rate of growth of your business is more than the interest rate of the loan, you’re winning

BTC loans sound like reinventing the wheel — but this time it’s not a circle, it’s a square. If you want to consume, the much more rational choice is to go straight to the Bitcoin standard. You simply convert your entire fiat wage into Bitcoin and start spending the corn. Chances are, you’ll end up with way more sats than if you stick to your measly 10–15% monthly DCA, because now you’re 100% in scarcity territory and far more conscious about emotional spending.

At the same time, you’re directly incentivizing merchant adoption — to the point where merchants start onboarding other merchants. That creates a cycle of perpetual adoption and rising monetary demand. And historically, monetary demand has always led to NGU.

On the other hand, you take a loan equal to your Bitcoin’s fiat value — but you surrender self-custody to the lender. You take on massive counterparty risk plus an interest rate that roughly matches global inflation. The lender gets to ride inflation while the debtor eats all the risk. It’s so opaque, it blows my mind that people are even considering it.

And let’s not forget — this keeps credit expansion alive, which is the exact opposite of where we need to go: toward a deflationary economy and low time preference. Honestly, it’s such a dumb idea. But I always knew Wall Street would find some roundabout way to separate plebs from their sats — and I guess this is it.

100% agree.

Well put. We don't want to incentivize people spending money they don't have. We want to engender fiscal responsibility. It's kind of the whole point of bitcoin.

I don’t disagree with your take, but have a couple thoughts.

Yes, completely agree that if you’re going to consume, then just use BTC. Like I wrote in the post, if you use leverage to consume you’ll just get rekt faster and to a greater degree.

Absolutely, I wish this whole fiat game would just go away, but I don’t think it will happen as quickly as we all hope. As far as inflation to the lender, that is the calculation and risk they are assuming, not the debtor. When the value of dollars goes down, the value of the dollars the debtor borrow also go down, hurting the lender. It’s the reason why a 30yr mortgage at a fixed rate is a great tool for normies and only works with gov subsidies. No bank would ever make that loan in a free market.

I agree with you that the custody issue is problematic. It is the biggest risk. I’m still mulling that one over in my own head. Something like a time locked multisig might be a solution. I’m not sure… any thoughts there?

(Side note a Lambo Yacht just sunk near Miami last week cuz idiots doubled the passenger capacity)

I saw that! That’s why I threw it into the post 👊

I’d put more savings into BTC if I had a decent fiat loan. 12% still a bit high, overall just reduce my cash holdings.

The only decent one I’ve found where it makes sense is a primary residence mortgage loan 30 yr fixed. As long as you can make the payments, it’s a fairly easy calculation.

Exactly my thoughts

Thoughts on a Fiat loan to buy Bitcoin?

Yes.

I’ve done it and the math works out. As long as you can make the payments, it’s an easy way to get more Bitcoin now before the price goes up. It’s almost like a mini Saylor strategy. The only risk is miscalculating the ability to repay the loan.

I think your overall reflections are good , reflection number 1 is debatable,depending on your stage in life…. Trying to couple the thought of selling BTC to live off of and hearing to never sell your BTC for the last 10 years(which I agree with) is difficult to come to terms with.

I agree, the “never sell vs. live life now” is always going to a conversation for each one of us and we’re all going to have a different balance between the two.

You take BTC loan if your paycheck is in BTC. If not, it's smart to forget about it.