While the old guard clings to power with outdated bully tactics, bitcoin offers a new way.

Welcome to Bitcoin Roundup #8.

You probably heard about Elon Musk trying to buy Twitter.

To stop him, Twitter's board of directors tried an old corporate trick known as a poison pill. In this maneuver, new stock is created and offered at a steep discount to existing shareholders, but not the acquirer.

This would dilute Musk's stake, making the acquisition much more expensive for him, and thus less likely to happen.

The old guard is good at playing this game. When under threat, they create "new" assets (which really only exist on paper), and give them to buddies who will help them stay in power.

Bitcoiners couldn't help but notice the parallels between the Twitter shares created by the poison pill and U.S. dollars, which are created out of thin air by the Federal Reserve and distributed through political networks.

Whether or not Elon Musk's bid for Twitter ultimately works out, one thing is certain: Sadly for the crony capitalists (emphasis on crony), but happily for the rest of us, bitcoin changes the game in a way that makes the old tricks useless.

Bitcoin is going to teach every one of us, one way or another, that we need to create real value for our fellow human beings if we want to get paid.

NEWS

⚡ CNBC demonstrates the power of bitcoin

CNBC publicly tested bitcoin's instant payments system, known as the Lightning Network, by sending bitcoin from Miami to a Ukrainian refugee in Poland.

The result? She received the bitcoin on her phone and withdrew the equivalent amount in Polish currency from an ATM. Astonishingly, this all happened in under 3 minutes, and was essentially free. Meanwhile, a transaction like this on legacy financial rails would typically incur transfer fees of 10% or more, and take days to arrive, even in a best case scenario.

👀 Hodlers are hodl'ing more than ever

An eye-popping stat from this week: 63% of bitcoin has not moved in over a year. Either all these people lost their keys and can't move it, or they believe that holding on to their bitcoin is their best move. Bitcoin conviction and knowhow are growing, making the second possibility the more likely one.

🎢 Goldman: 35% chance of recession in next 2 years

Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius said that Fed policy has increased the likelihood of a recession to 15% in the next year and 35% in the next two. Deutsche bank predicted the same earlier this month. The Fed's challenge of combatting inflation while not damaging the economy isn't getting any easier.

🤦 IMF attacks crypto because...

The IMF published a report about crypto as an alternative financial system. It mentioned adoption by emerging markets and 'allowing countries to monetize their energy resources,' as well as sanction avoidance and greater privacy. We can't help but notice that the IMF has a vested interest in keeping today's high-surveillance, top-down international monetary order in place for as long as possible.

HOW BITCOIN WORKS

Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week:

Anyone can audit bitcoin – even you!

Bitcoin is seen as mysterious and complicated, but in reality it is completely transparent and open.

Roughly every 10 minutes, a block of transactions on the bitcoin network is confirmed. This block is immutable, forever etched into the blockchain, unable to be changed as long as bitcoin exists.

Moreover, the blockchain is completely transparent. Every transaction that has taken place since the first block can be viewed by anyone. Wallet addresses are also visible, ensuring your ability to prove the existence and value of all transactions and holdings.

You can also determine exactly how many bitcoin are in circulation at any given moment. At the time of this writing, there are 19,015,493.75. This number increases every 10 minutes as new blocks are mined, and will top out at about 21,000,000 a century from now.

This structure stands in direct contrast to our current system, in which monetary policy decisions are made in private meetings of central bankers. We are simply expected to trust that these unelected officeholders are wise and benevolent.

As we like to say, "don't trust, verify." With bitcoin, we can.

Ready to get started with bitcoin? Coinbits is the best option. It's fast, safe, and free to create your account.

COIN CHECK

In approximately what year will the last bitcoin be mined?

1. 2040

2. 2140

3. 2030

4. Trick question. The supply of bitcoin can be increased at any time.

Check your answer at the end of the page.

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ANSWER

2. 2140

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