Huw Pill’s “let them eat cake” moment could get its just desserts with a slice of Bitcoin
The week in Review
with Jason Deane
Since my last update another Bitcoin anniversary has passed.
On April 23 2011, Satoshi Nakamoto officially passed Bitcoin’s custody to the growing community with a simple message that read: “I’ve moved on to other things, Bitcoin is in good hands”
Any google search usually attributes this quote as his very last, but in actual fact, it does seem that Nakamoto kept his communication lines open until April 26th when this message was received…
“I wish you would stop talking about me as a mysteriously shadowy figure. The press just turns that into a pirate currency angle. Maybe instead make it about the open source project and give more credit to contributors. It helps motivate them.”
I have used the masculine here purely for convenience, but, of course, we can’t be sure what Nakamoto’s pronouns were.
In any case, the only thing we can be sure of is that 12 years ago this week, the community took over and the rest, as they say, is history.
One thing that has always intrigued me about Bitcoin’s creation is actually nothing to do with who Nakamoto was – something that I personally believe should remain unknown for all time – but the timing of it.
Throughout history money has always been the product of our latest technology so, in that sense, it’s not revolutionary. But could Nakamoto really have foreseen what was going to happen with the fiat system we were all so dependent on?
Maybe. Many, including myself, think that the events of the global crisis in 2008 were a contributing factor to Nakamoto’s work as the signs of eventual collapse were, in retrospect, already visible even then.
And, in a week where the Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, looked down on us mere mortals from his golden pulpit and pointed out that we should “accept that we are now poorer” while inflation continues to rocket ahead at 10.1%, the fact that those same mere mortals now have a viable alternative for the first time in history is not lost on me.
To me, Pill’s comments are a modern day “Let them eat cake” moment, words allegedly spoken by Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France during the French Revolution, when being told that her starving peasant subjects had no bread. It didn’t end well for her and I have a feeling Pill’s quote will come back to haunt him, albeit in a less lethal way.
Meanwhile, credit card debt in the US is about to reach a trillion dollar milestone for the first time, and pretty much every other debt indicator is red-lining across the board. For anyone who is paying attention, the alarm bells are going off.
Countries like El Salvador have already nailed their colours to the mast, and, thanks to the tireless work of Samson Mow’s Jan3 team, other countries are exploring the possibilities of doing the same.
Could Nakamoto really have foreseen all of this?
Who knows? But if and when the (financial) revolution comes, we’re all going to have to pick a side eventually.
Have a great weekend!
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Yesterday’s Crypto AM Daily
In the Markets
The Bitcoin Economy
*Data can be found at https://terminal.bytetree.com/
Total crypto market cap
The total capitalisation of the entire cryptocurrency market this morning was $1.202 billion.
What Bitcoin did yesterday
We closed yesterday, April 27, at a price of $29,473.79. The daily high yesterday was $29,871.55, and the daily low was $28,402.89.
Bitcoin market capitalisation
Bitcoin’s market capitalisation this morning was $565.58 billion. To put it into context, the market cap of gold is $13.145 trillion and Tesla is $507.72 billion.
Bitcoin volume
The total spot trading volume reported by all exchanges over the last 24 hours was $34.931 billion.
Fear and Greed Index
Market sentiment today is 64, in Greed.
Bitcoin’s market dominance
Bitcoin’s market dominance today is 48.54. Its lowest ever recorded dominance was 37.09 on January 1 2018.
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
The daily RSI is currently 47.93. Values of 70 or above indicate that an asset is becoming overbought and may be primed for a trend reversal or experience a correction in price – an RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.
Soundbite of the day
“I like Bitcoin for the same reason that the Chinese communist government doesn’t like Bitcoin. They don’t like Bitcoin and they banned it because they can’t control it.”
Ted Cruz, US Senator
What they said yesterday
Has he recovered?
Probably nothing…
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Crypto AM: Editor’s picks
ChatGPT urges crypto conference panel not to become over-reliant on AI
Mt. Gox customers will have to wait until November to recover lost Bitcoin funds
Sam Bankman-Fried: A tissue of lies soaked with fake tears?
Three-in-four wealth managers are gearing up for more cryptocurrency exposure
Crypto.com granted FCA licence to operate in UK
Q&A with Duncan Coutts, Principal Technical Architect at IO Global
Jamie Bartlett – on the trail of the missing ‘Cryptoqueen’
MPs are falling silent over potential of cryptocurrency
Erica’s ‘Crypto Wars’ handed honours in Business Book Awards
‘Let people invest’: Matt Hancock makes case for liberal crypto rules
Crypto AM: Features
Crypto AM: Founders Series
Crypto AM: Industry Voices
Crypto AM: Contributors
Crypto AM: In Conversation with James Bowater
Crypto AM: Tomorrow’s Money with Gavin S Brown
Crypto AM: Mixing in the Metaverse with Dr Chris Kacher
Crypto AM: Visions of the Future, Past & Present with Alex Lightman
Crypto AM: Tiptoe through the Crypto with Monty Munford
Crypto AM: Taking a Byte out of Digital Assets with Jonny Fry
Crypto on the catwalk
Crypto AM: Events
Cautionary Notes
It’s definitely tempting to get swept up in the excitement, but please heed these words of caution: Do your own research, only invest what you can afford, and make good decisions. The indicators contained in this article will hopefully help in this. Remember though, the content of this article is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or any form of recommendation or invitation. Morning Wire, Crypto AM and Luno always advise you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.