Hemant

nostr:nprofile1qqsgydql3q4ka27d9wnlrmus4tvkrnc8ftc4h8h5fgyln54gl0a7dgspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds8py5ck nostr:nprofile1qqsqfjg4mth7uwp307nng3z2em3ep2pxnljczzezg8j7dhf58ha7ejgpr9mhxue69uhhxetwv35hgtnwdaekvmrpwfjjucm0d5q3vamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwwpexjmtpdshxuet5mm8xr7, low value bitcoin payments will likely be the last use case to gain traction. (Only makes sense when there is no tax on disposal which need SoV to happen) Nostr zaps are great. But if we want to accelerate, we first need the use cases that allow use of bitcoin as collateral. - bitcoin backed loans - bitcoin denominated insurance - bitcoin rewards credit cards (surely cashapp can do this one?) L2’s are essentially bitcoin banks with some kind of “crypto POS/ optimistic roll up” governance. We need a marketplace of competing L2s (and custodians and cash mints) with frictionless lightning bridges between them so that users can exit bad governance

How to destroy wealth and get sub market returns while paying extortionate fees. But hey, the guy was smiling in the advert. #jomorgan

We dont need a strategic reserve of any kind. Money should be in the hand of individuals - not insitutions.

So what did everyone this about the #trump #zelensky spat? nostr:nprofile1qqs2auxkkgfgylem580xrztp8ek5sf83s86k0vfq2feuz6y4lkhskgcprpmhxue69uhkc6t8dp6xu6twvaex2mrp0yhxxmmdqyd8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytn0wfskuem9wp5kcmpwv3jhv9cj04f - what do you think Keir will do? Seems like the first time the UK will have to choose sides between the US and Europe.

Welcome to Nostr

Is there a uk equivalent of nostr:nprofile1qqs9mus73mq3ug08kug2cltvj3p8gpawd85n5l70p59rach6cn7usjcpr9mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuumwdae8gtnnda3kjctv9uq3vamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wd45kcmm49ekx7mp0flfned or nostr:nprofile1qqstvj22wngc5t0687qvak06mt34spm3dl8pqu0ymcv7946xkmv8vpspr4mhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt4w35ku7thv9kxcet59e3k7mf0qythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2ap0kpmjwl ? nostr:nprofile1qqs2auxkkgfgylem580xrztp8ek5sf83s86k0vfq2feuz6y4lkhskgcpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejszxnhwden5te0wfjkccte9ehx7um5wf5kx6r9wvhx7un879rrzq surely you’re in the know?

#GM

Is there a #bitcoin community in #london? Like pubkey or bitcoin park

Is this bullish? #dogs

Good morning #gm

Bitcoin can solve the housing crisis Our economic system is built on treating housing as a store of wealth. If homes weren’t used in this way, they’d be about 30% cheaper. The cost of building a house typically represents 60% of its market value, while the rest is a “monetary premium” – and that’s the problem. Bitcoin fixes this. Once you’re on the ladder, you’re against everyone else If you’re home owner – you dont want a tower block built next door. And it’s not just because tower blocks look ugly. More housing supply, means a potential buyer has more options and you lose leverage in negotiations. TLDR – Your house will be worth less. Basic supply & demand. So, you are incentivised to do whatever is in your power to restrict or delay the construction of new builds, particularly affordable housing – the kind that would especially put downward pressure on your house value. And it’s not just on the individual level – housing as a wealth store impacts all levels of society. The most powerful societal actors and insitutions are incentivized, and often existentially dependent, on preventing rapid increases in housing supply. There is a systemic conflict of interest. Let’s go through each group to understand who wins and loses in the current system. Who stands to lose if housing gets cheaper Existing individual & family home owners What they stand to lose: Asset Value: For the median family in the UK, their family home represents more than 50% of their wealth. If their house value goes down, this has a huge impact on their economic situation. Negative equity & risk of eviction: Many people take on 20-30 year mortgages with just 10% equity in their homes, meaning their debt is highly leveraged against property values. If home values fall below their equity, default becomes a rational, though devastating, choice – as seen in 2008. How they protect their interests: NIMBY-ism: “Not In My Back Yard.” In developed democracies, individuals often use local planning structures to dispute or delay affordable housing projects in their areas. Landlords What they stand to lose: Asset Value (Same as individuals) Rental Income: More housing puts downward pressure on rental prices, which means lower income for landlords. How they protect their interest: NIMBY-ism (Same as individuals) Local Property Banking: Buying up housing in strategic areas (e.g., student housing near universities) to establish local monopolies, keeping prices high by limiting supply. Large property developers (Land Bankers) – Also technically landlords What they stand to lose: Revenue: Lower property values mean lower revenues and profit margins on development How they protect their interest: Land banking: Many large developers strategically buy land around cities to control new development supply, leveraging this control to influence local zoning regulations in their favor. This monopolistic behavior allows them to release land when market conditions are most advantageous. Commercial Banks & Lenders What they stand to lose: Defaults on existing loans: The mortgage business is the back-bone of a retail bank. They make revenue from spread between the central bank borrowing rate & the rate at which they can loan money to homebuyers. If housing values go down existing loans held on their balance sheet would be at risk of default. How they protect their interest: Lobbying demand side inflation: They push and work with the government to create more schemes to artificially support the demand side with ‘help to buy’ type schemes. Investment Banks What they stand to lose: Mortgage backed securities business revenue: Mortgage debt is packaged by investment banks into fixed income securities. These fixed income securities are sold for a premium on the public markets, primarity to pension funds. Derivatives revenue: Mortgage-backed securities also serve as collateral in the broader financial market, enabling speculative trading. Investment banks earn fees and spreads from these activities. How they protect their interest: Systemically: Entrench themselves as Systematical Important to the point where the government has no option but to bail them out in case of defaults and failures Pensioners What they stand to lose: Fixed income security: Pension funds hold significant mortgage-backed securities, so any revaluation negatively impacts pensioners. How they protect their interest: They don’t – pensioners are often vulnerable to these market dynamics and may not even be aware of them. Who stands to gain if housing gets cheaper? First time buyers They’ll be able to buy a house sooner and will have to take on materially less mortgage debt Renters They’ll be able to find housing at a more affordable price The economy as a whole Both buyers and renters will have more disposable income which will stimulate the economy Why regulators have failed so far The incentives of powerful stakeholders are stacked against the regulators. Demand side policies like Help-to-buy and governement backed loans, just inflate the demand side and push the prices up. Rent controls reduce the velocity of new developments. NIMBY-ism and short term local council tenures make any meaningful government backed development very difficult. It’s very hard to realize policy that works against the interest of land-owners. But there is another way. If we can separate the “long term wealth preservation” function from the “a place to live” function of housing, we will be fix the incentives that are stopping us from building more houses. How bitcoin can solve the housing crisis Bitcoin, as a digital, deflationary asset, offers a compelling alternative to real estate as a store of value. Its limited supply and decentralized nature make it a more predictable and transparent store of wealth, immune to many of the risks associated with real estate investments, such as government regulations, taxes, or even physical maintenance. Bitcoin’s key advantages as a store of value Perfect scarcity: With a fixed supply of 21 million, Bitcoin cannot be inflated or manipulated in the same way as real estate or fiat currencies. Global accessibility: Unlike real estate, which is often tied to specific geographic regions, Bitcoin is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, reducing the need for foreign capital to flow into localized housing markets. Divisibility: Bitcoin can be divided into smaller units (satoshis), allowing investors of all scales to participate, unlike real estate which requires significant capital. Reducing the investment pressure on housing Bitcoin can absorb much of the speculative capital currently flowing into housing. Instead of pouring money into physical assets like homes, investors could park their wealth in Bitcoin, which doesn’t distort the housing market. This would Lower housing prices: As housing becomes less attractive as a store of value, the monetary premium inflating house prices would decrease, making homes more affordable for people who want to live in them rather than use them as investments. More efficient use of property: With less speculative capital driving prices, housing would revert to its primary function—providing shelter. This could lead to fewer vacant homes and more properties available for rent or purchase at reasonable prices. How governments can demonitize housing in favour of bitcoin Housing stock currently benefits from tax benefits that encourage investment to flow in – especially capital gains exemption on primary residences. This makes sense, as it promotes the idea of housing as a ‘place to live’ rather than an investment. Long term tax advantaged bitcoin bonds This would be a bold move. Treasury bonds can no longer compete with real estate. The new form of monetary policy must be backed by a superior, perfectly scarce asset. The governement could intermittently issue tax advantantaged 10 year, 30 year bitcoin backed bonds. These bonds would attract a lot of capital and demonetize real world assets. In order to protect vulnerable stakeholders like pensioners, they could promote pension fund allocation toward these bitcoin backed bonds. In order as to not have price shocks that push individual and family home owners into negative equity, they can issue these bonds over a defined period of time. Perhaps even create home equity trade schemes where homeowners can trade their equity in their house for the bitcoin backed bonds. Over time, this could lead to a more equitable distribution of wealth, as Bitcoin adoption grows across various income brackets. But more importantly, it would free housing to be housing again. Long term tax advantaged scarcity bonds (80% Treasury Bond + 10% Gold +10% Gold) This is the diluted, more practical version of the fully reserved Bitcoin backed bond. The mix is conservative enough to appeal to traditional investors while adding enough scarcity elements to attract those seeking inflation protection. Making these bonds tax-advantaged could significantly increase their attractiveness, especially to individuals and institutions looking for long-term wealth preservation strategies. This feature would allow for capital gains deferrals, further aligning with the objective of drawing speculative interest away from housing. Conclusion Bitcoin presents a real opportunity to alleviate some of the systemic issues caused by the financialization of housing. By offering a superior alternative as a store of value, it could reduce the speculative pressure on the housing market, lower property prices, and democratize access to wealth. While Bitcoin won’t solve all aspects of the housing crisis, it could play a key role in making housing more affordable and accessible for everyone.

Make treasury bonds great again https://glassmind.co/make-treasury-bonds-great-again/

Why blockchains will thrive while their coins stall https://glassmind.co/why-blockchains-will-thrive-while-their-coins-stall/

Bitcoin is financial minimalism. I’ve always been drawn to minimalism. There’s a certain peace that comes from stripping away the unnecessary, decluttering both physical and mental spaces. Yet, when it comes to finances, I’ve found myself tangled in complexity. As an 'optimizer,' I spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about investments, managing risk, and endlessly tinkering with my portfolio. This preoccupation contradicts the minimalist principles I try to live by. It seems absurd to me that the financial world has become so complicated that we need money managers to simply preserve the value of our money. If investing is so intricate that the average person must hire professionals just to preserve (let alone grow) the value of their savings, then something is fundamentally wrong. For the past five years, I've immersed myself in the history and mechanics of financial systems. The deeper I delved, the clearer it became: Bitcoin is a force of minimalism in an increasingly financialized and complex world. *The Clutter of Modern Finance* Our financial system has become bloated with complexity. The hyper-securitization of assets has created an environment filled with financial clutter. Derivatives, for example, represent layers upon layers of financial engineering, often so convoluted that even experts struggle to understand them fully. More troubling is the way nearly everything of value has been financialized. Real estate and art, two things that should embody personal value and cultural significance, have been transformed into mere asset classes. They are bought, sold, and speculated upon not for their intrinsic qualities but as instruments in the game of wealth preservation. But why has this happened? It’s actually quite simple: our money is constantly losing value. The dollar, for example, debases at a rate of around 7% per year. Holding cash feels like holding melting ice, so it’s only natural for people to seek out scarce assets to preserve their wealth. *The Never-Ending Game of Diversification* This pursuit of scarce assets sets off a complex game—a game that forces people to diversify endlessly: - Equities - Bonds - Real Estate - Commodities - Art - Collectibles We’re told to spread our investments across these asset classes to mitigate risk and preserve our hard-earned money. Those who can afford to hire money managers generally fare better in this game, as they have access to expertise and strategies designed to navigate this maze of complexity. Ironically, this system creates an incentive for more complexity. The more convoluted the financial landscape becomes, the more we need money managers, and the more entrenched this cycle of financialization and securitization becomes. It’s a force of ever-increasing entropy—quite the opposite of minimalism. *Bitcoin: Simplicity in a Complex World* In the midst of this financial chaos, Bitcoin emerges as a beacon of simplicity. It offers a way out of the clutter, a chance to reclaim financial minimalism. Bitcoin embodies the concept of scarcity with a rare kind of perfection: there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins. **No more.** This scarcity makes Bitcoin the perfect savings technology. Unlike traditional currencies, no one can debase your holdings. You don’t need to chase after real estate, art, or other assets to preserve your wealth. You don't need to constantly diversify and rebalance a portfolio to stay ahead of inflation. Bitcoin’s scarcity gives you a way to hold your wealth securely, without the need for endless tinkering. I'm not blind to Bitcoin's short-term price volatility. However, it's crucial to understand that we're still in the early stages of adoption. As more people embrace this perfect form of scarcity, Bitcoin’s qualities as savings technology will express itself. Bitcoin has the potential to de-financialize the housing market. It can de-financialize art. Ultimately, Bitcoin has the power to replace those aspects of our lives that currently serve as proxies for scarcity. *A Minimalist Approach to Wealth* Bitcoin allows us to step off the treadmill of constant financial optimization. It offers a simpler way to safeguard the fruits of our labor. Rather than spending our time, energy, and attention on navigating a complex financial system, we can focus on what truly matters: living a meaningful life. By embracing Bitcoin, we embrace a minimalist approach to wealth. We reject the idea that we must play a never-ending game of diversification to maintain our standard of living. Instead, we adopt a simple, elegant solution that aligns with the principles of minimalism. *Conclusion* In a world that grows more financially cluttered by the day, Bitcoin stands as a path to financial minimalism. It frees us from the complexities of traditional finance, allowing us to preserve our wealth without the need for constant vigilance and management. By embodying scarcity and simplicity, Bitcoin gives us a way to reclaim our time and energy. It’s not just a financial tool; it’s a way to simplify our lives, to step back from the chaos, and to focus on what truly matters.

Venice.ai is awesome. Well done @erikvorhees

nostr:npub15dqlghlewk84wz3pkqqvzl2w2w36f97g89ljds8x6c094nlu02vqjllm5m is the goat. He should be the next treasury secretary.

Met nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s at bitcoin #nashville. I can zap now :)