Bull markets can be more strenuous and disorienting than bear markets. Tread lightly, don't do anything stupid, don't lose your mind, and try your best to remain calm and focused. It's relatively easy to "stay humble and stack sats" in a bear market. It's harder in the bull, especially the first part. That said, don't forget to take care of yourself and make sure to enjoy the ride.

Grateful to be on this journey with ya'll.

🌊 SURF 'N TURF 🏝️

-THE ISLAND LIFE-

I thought it was a Rolex watch and it was Frankfurt Airport.

Frankfurt Airport (German: Flughafen Frankfurt Main [ˈfluːkhaːfn̩ ˈfʁaŋkfʊʁt ˈmaɪn]) (IATA: FRA, ICAO: EDDF), is Germany's main international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. In the German Aeronautical Information Publication, its name is Frankfurt Main Airport.

The airport is operated by Fraport and serves as the main hub for Lufthansa, including Lufthansa City Airlines, Lufthansa CityLine and Lufthansa Cargo as well as Condor and AeroLogic.

It covers an area of 2,300 hectares (5,683 acres) of land and features two passenger terminals with capacity for approximately 65 million passengers per year; four runways; and extensive logistics and maintenance facilities.

Credits Goes to the respective

Author ✍️/ Photographer📸

🐇 🕳️

#Bitcoin #Satoshis #Freedom #Apocalypse #Music #Movies #Philosophy #Literature

#dogstr

Tell that to those in North Korea friend. Grow up.

So trillions in stimmies and fake loans didn't cause inflation? 🤔

#Nostr has to be 10x better than Twitter/X in every way to unravel it's network effects and become the world's defacto town square.

Lot's of work to do, but the progress so far is incredible.

Dragon's Deflationary Spiral: China's Economic Warning Signs

Consumer prices in China dropped 0.3% month-over-month in October, while annual inflation crawled at just 0.3% - below the expected 0.4%. The world's second-largest economy is showing concerning signs of deflation, with only food prices bucking the downward trend.

The perfect storm: aging population meets Keynesian monetary policy requiring constant inflation to roll forward massive debt. The Communist Party's heavy-handed market interventions, especially visible in the real estate sector, have burst asset bubbles and wounded balance sheets across the banking sector.

Experts suggest Beijing needs massive stimulus measures to restart their economic engine - far beyond current interventions.

#China #Economy #Deflation #GlobalMarkets #MacroEconomics #RealEstate

JP Morgan maintains a bullish stance on Bitcoin going into 2025. In a recent report, analysts including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou underscored that the debasement trade "is likely to be reinforced by both tariffs and geopolitical tensions as well as an expansionary fiscal policy.”

#Bitcoin #BTC #JPMorgan #Nostr

Without fiat currency and its expansionary effects, entities like BlackRock would likely shrink over time, as their core model—relying on managing other people’s assets in a system of infinite liquidity and leverage—would no longer be viable. In a system built around real, finite assets, BlackRock’s growth potential would face natural limits. Here’s how that might unfold:

1. **Shift from Asset Accumulation to Custodial Role**: BlackRock would likely transition into more of a custodial or advisory entity, focusing on preserving and managing wealth rather than aggressively expanding assets under management. Without fiat’s inflationary backing, people would favor holding their assets directly, reducing reliance on intermediaries. BlackRock’s role would shift from “growing” wealth to safeguarding it.

2. **Reduction of Asset Dependence**: With fewer people and institutions trusting centralized asset managers, more investors might turn to decentralized alternatives. Blockchain and other digital ledger technologies could allow individuals to manage their own assets securely, limiting the need for large custodians like BlackRock. This would lead to a natural reduction in the firm’s scale and influence.

3. **Decline of Leverage and Fee-Based Revenue**: BlackRock’s current revenue model is deeply tied to management fees, which are viable only with high asset inflows and leveraged returns. In a non-fiat system, where credit and debt-based investments dwindle, fees would need to drop, especially as decentralized finance (DeFi) provides low-fee alternatives. This would reduce BlackRock’s revenue streams, shrinking its size over time.

4. **Localized and Decentralized Asset Ownership**: Without fiat currency’s global dominance, local economies could become more self-sufficient and decentralized, with individuals and communities taking direct control of assets rather than funneling them into large, centralized managers. BlackRock’s role would shrink as local asset management and decentralized solutions become more accessible and trustworthy.

5. **Greater Competition from Smaller, Specialized Firms**: In a finite-resource economy, smaller asset managers focused on niche markets or specific real assets might outperform a large, centralized entity like BlackRock. This would diversify the financial landscape, drawing assets away from behemoths and contributing to BlackRock’s gradual contraction.

6. **Erosion of Trust in Centralized Custodians**: The rise of decentralized finance and the desire for true financial sovereignty might weaken people’s trust in centralized custodians. Individuals would have stronger incentives to control their own wealth directly, whether in digital assets like Bitcoin or physical assets, further reducing BlackRock’s scope and asset base.

In essence, a world without fiat would force BlackRock to operate within real-world constraints of value and productivity, making endless growth unsustainable. It would have to evolve into a smaller, more specialized, and custodial-focused entity, possibly even relegated to a role in the background of a decentralized financial system. As people and communities reclaim direct control of their assets, entities like BlackRock would likely shrink, their influence gradually fading in favor of decentralized alternatives.

Senator Lummis has put forward a bill for the U.S. Govt to buy 200,000 #Bitcoin per year over 5 years for a total of 1,000,000 $BTC

At today's price that would be worth $76 BILLION

Now we get to find out if Elon Musk can trim the $7 Trillion Federal Government down while still running 3 multi billion dollar companies.

Whitney Webb officially has #Bitcoin derangement syndrome. Why is it so hard to avoid for so many smart people?

Question: have you heard anyone say they voted early?

They are saying 78 mill voted early there are only 239 million eligible. 🧐

Gm frens,

I have a hopefully message for you all today:

No matter what the state does, who is elected, or what new bullshit they come up with today; they cannot destroy bitcoin and they cannot take away the sovereignty that is found within cryptography.

So long as there are still the crazies, the radicals, and those who refuse to live within the bounds of a walled garden society, there will always be the space for the he rabble rousers to create a life for themselves. And now with bitcoin, there will be a way for them to protect and save their wealth against any and all governments that seek to impose their tyrannies upon them.

Rejoice and celebrate for we are winning and we are only a short 16 years into this. Within another 16 years we will become the preliminary political force to be reckoned with that will offer all people everywhere, and into the future, the power and capacity to protect their wealth beyond the violations of any state.

It is a most beautiful and fitting story for the destiny of man, and what it means to be free in our day and age.

Amazon launched in 1994 with Bezos parents help. Company went public in 1997, this means it was floating without profits for 3 years. Going public gave it access to funding (this is literally the market - the same market that would exist on the bitcoin standard, maybe not as generous).

Obviously investors saw potential, or they wouldn’t buy Amazon’s shares (I don’t know if index funds / passive money was a thing in 1997).

According to my handy AI prompt, it became full-year profitable in 2003. So it was floating on market sentiment for 6 years, not quite a decade.

The big unknown for me is exactly how mucH VC money Amazon raised, but it sounds like it wasn’t much. ChatGPT seems to think it was 8 million from one VC (not a big deal if you ask me - especially if they understood Bezos’ vision).

I don’t buy the idea that the bitcoin standard would basically humble any company trying to achieve scale because those companies would still have access to the same markets (perhaps more conservative, but still ready to fund the right companies). We have to also assume that on the bitcoin standard, bitcoin is not going to be ripping 40% year over year. In bitcoin terms, the yield would be much less, and investing in companies would still make sense if they can achieve scale.

Is Amazon and the likes destroying competition? Sure. But are they destroying value? I am not so sure. Insane profit growth seems to indicate they are providing much more value than any single smaller business could. I also don’t see why it would not provide equivalent value on the bitcoin standard. It’s not like smaller companies would be all the wiser all of a sudden to do just as good of a job or better. If they could, they would be. They too had the same access to VC funding at that stage yet here we are.

Public transportation is often called a mirror of a nation’s civility. Why? Because you can learn a lot about a society by observing how people behave in those crowded buses and minibuses at the crack of dawn. A country’s level of development may not be measured by the number of buses per capita, but whether those buses are on time, the seats are clean, the driver is courteous, or at least if people make an effort to give up their seats – even discreetly – says a great deal.

The quality of public transportation is a subtle yet striking indicator of the “true” level of civilization in a region. Imagine this: as someone hanging onto a bus handle in the early morning, still half asleep, you find yourself given a seat, not out of kindness, but simply as a matter of “duty.” A silent scream rises within you, “Is this for real?” Yet, as the bus fills to the brim and punctuality becomes a luxury overlooked, it’s not hard to see how deeply ingrained – or absent – mutual respect, empathy, and even societal peace truly are in that country.

In a place where the metro runs like clockwork, schedules are reliable to the minute, and people actually line up to board – and yes, there are such places – that society has not only mastered public transportation but achieved a level of respect and trust among people. But where public transit triggers arguments before the next stop, where a missed announcement has everyone looking around, wide-eyed, asking, “What’s going on now?” there, a certain unease is surfacing. Because the chaos in public transportation is a miniature of a greater chaos.

We live this chaos every day; the pushing and shoving, sweaty faces, buses that never arrive on time… In a system without punctuality, people’s daily stresses are a stark reminder that what we call “civility” may exist only on the surface. It’s like a polite slap in the face; we may believe we live in a civilized society, but maybe we’re just part of a “survival” game.

Sometimes, even a one-minute delay, a seemingly minor problem at first, can set people into a downward spiral of negativity. A person who arrives late to work because the bus was late may stew in that stress all day long. By the time they get home in the evening, that single delay has essentially drained their entire day. So, the quality of public transport – its timing, comfort, and reliability – serves as the lubricant in the machinery of societal peace. When this machinery runs smoothly, people are at ease; when it doesn’t, everyone lives in a state of tension with one another.

In short, the quality of public transportation is an indirect yet sharp reflection of a nation’s level of civility, of the respect people hold for each other and for life itself. And let’s not forget: “If a country forces its citizens to endure cramped, sweat-filled commutes, then that veneer of civility may only be a superficial smile plastered on the surface.”

I will not be voting in this election, or any others for that matter.

Not because I don’t believe in democracy, nor because I don’t believe in the political rights that have been won by generations past; but because of how atrophied both have become in the mutilated abomination that we currently call our form of politics and voting. The false dichotomy that is the current forms of red and blue I believe are much more damaging and pernicious than refusing to vote for either could ever be. Our political agency has been lost, and politics is most squarely to blame.

There once was a time that our elections were actually free and fair, that voting for the right people in the right places and circumstances could make significant differences that actualized The Political; but that is no longer true of the system of politics that has replaced The Political. All that we have now is a system of false and petty differences that will ensure that the machine of government and military continues to crush on, be it under a banner of blue or red—this is the only real ‘political’ choice that we are given. As for everything else, it will continue on to masquerade and marionette towards the promise of possibilities that will never come, just as the broken dreams of change will continue to tell.

I say this to you as the US federal government funnels billions of dollars into foreign wars and shell corporations that will get their money no matter who wins. I tell you this as every budget continues to spiral out of control with every politician having more concern with how they will get their cut, than how they will stop the madness. I say this at the very moment that some child is being killed with munitions from money that each of us as citizens had our dollars financed, and with there being no possibility for any of us to end any of this—at least not as far as voting is concerned.

While I believe in democracy, it is not the one of the state provides, and while I believe in voting, it is not a principle that doing once every four years can solve anything at all. Our current system of politics is at its end, and it has been for quite a while. It is all entirely clear and apparent for anyone to see, and yet the consequence of this truth is far too profound and existential for anyone to actually speak to. That is because the terror of having to admit to ourselves that our political system has been overthrown and taken over by non-elected officials who are responsible to no one but themselves and their contingency of politics is all that matters within the engine of the state, and its demand to remain in power no matter what. The real danger is the state of emergency that has become every day of our lives, with no possible hope of it ending, no matter who is elected to whatever role it may be. The machine of the state operates in one direction, and it is to continue to gather more power for itself no matter what.

To accept the truth of the darkness that we are in is to also accept the fact that this is not something that we can vote our way out of. If we are to create the radical change that we must manifest not only to save ourselves from the destitution and squaller that the current system of politics seeks to impress upon us, but to also create a radical new hopeful future where the vote and democracy can means something again, than it is something that we must build for ourselves alone. If we are to give ourselves and posterity a future that is more free and far than the one that we were given, where The Political can open itself up to politics once again, we must accept that the current path leads to nowhere. We must demand of ourselves to go out into that darkness and seek out new and different solutions that are outside and beyond the power of the state to influence or control so that we may access The Political once again and see what the truth of voting and democracy can offer, or what new and different political systems can offer.

The Political is the radical power that all people everywhere are alway entitled to when the see that the power to create change comes not from asking for approval from the old systems; but to neutralize them with something new. While I do not know what these new systems are, or how they will be created, I do see that there is something immensely powerful in what is being built here. The internet and the possibilities that it offers along with decentralized, censorship-resistance systems imbedded with cryptography at their heart, and sovereignty in mind may just be the kind of protocol that we need to breath life into The Political once again. Few of you will believe in the possibility of such new system of politics for the future, and even fewer will participate in attempting to building such systems, but I believe it is our only hope to create a future which is more free than the one that we have been given, and it is the only hope we have now to ever access The Political again.

Voting has never changed money counterfeiting practices—never once, not ever. Believing that one individual could magically dismantle a centralized machine that enriches a select few is as naive as believing Clark Kent alone could liberate a city from corruption. The power structures, built and sustained over decades, aren't toppled by a single vote or a single leader. True change requires a shift in collective awareness and a conscious decision to abandon these systems in favor of alternatives. Until we stop expecting heroes to save us and start building decentralized systems ourselves, we'll remain entangled in a web woven by those who profit from our dependency.