Although the holidays are a time for celebration with friends, family, and loved ones, they are also a time for reflection and self-improvement. Each year, millions of Americans come up with ambitious New Year's resolutions, many unfulfilled.

Since its creation, bitcoin has been standing by, like that unused gym membership, ready to work with us.

We all know an unhealthy person who needs to get in shape or reduce bad habits. Unfortunately, the American monetary system is in a similar bind. Inflationary policies are sending us down the road to nowhere.

Thankfully, bitcoin lets us cut the gluttony at its source and lay a new foundation for healthy growth.

With every new year, new opportunities arise. This year, we can peacefully opt out of an unhealthy system into one that aligns with our values. One that offers us the opportunity to save in a currency that cannot be debased by third parties.

Whether setting up a DCA (see Saving Habits from Coinbits), running a node, or educating your friends and family, now is the time to make a bitcoin resolution that works for you. It's time to get the system back in shape. And it starts with each of us.

NEWS

🚔 Bitcoin Bar opens in New York City

Former Fidelity blockchain executive Thomas Pacchia opened PubKey, a new bitcoin-themed bar in Greenwich Village. Pacchia stated that Pubkey should serve as a global communications protocol, similar to bitcoin, in the heart of Manhattan. PubKey is filled with "crypto" paraphernalia, including Matryoshka dolls representing famous crypto scammers.

The bar appears maxi-oriented, which is excellent. In Pacchia's words, "Most of the crypto projects out there are run by individuals or companies, and Bitcoin is the only one that has a true claim to decentralization."

📰 Egypt joins BRICS' de-dollarization campaign

The coalition formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa recently added Egypt as a new member of their New Development Bank. The group is working on its own financial infrastructure, reducing its dependence on the dollar. Roughly 70% of global trade is in dollars, but BRICS nations are pushing back on its dominance in light of recent sanctions.

Some BRICS members have reportedly already begun trading in local currencies instead. It's anyone's guess where this leads, but there's high demand for a neutral, global reserve currency... and, spoiler alert, bitcoin is that currency.

🙃 New bitcoin wallet supports people in Africa with old phones and no internet

Bitcoin company Machankura has made it possible for people in Africa to send and receive bitcoin without needing a smartphone or internet connection. The function works using the company's digital wallet and transferring money via a communications protocol similar to text messaging. In talking about his mission to make bitcoin more accessible to all communities, founder and computer scientist Kgothatso Ngako said, "Anyone who's interested in using bitcoin and living on bitcoin should be able to do so easily."

🌐 Bitcoin fundraiser for ALS research organized by Hal Finney's wife

Fran Finney, the wife of Hal, one of the earliest bitcoin contributors who received the first ever bitcoin transfer from Satoshi Nakamoto, is organizing a half marathon to raise funds for ALS research, the disease which tragically took Hal's life in 2014. Funds will be raised via bitcoin, of course, as the memory of one of its most important contributors lives on.

BITCOIN ADOPTION CONTINUES

Layer 2 Labs, led by prominent bitcoin researcher Paul Sztorc, raised $3 million to help "bring privacy, scalability and better UX solutions to Bitcoin."

Microstrategy announces a new purchase of 2500 bitcoin, worth just over $40 million.

People in the Philippines can now easily and instantly receive zero-fee remittances and other payments via the Bitcoin Lightning network.

The Bitcoin Network surpassed $100 trillion in cumulative transfer volume in 2022. 👀

Legendary investor Bill Miller described his bullishness on bitcoin in an interview with Barron's this week, saying despite bitcoin's drawdown, "the fact that it's still hanging in there at $17,000 is pretty remarkable." Miller also said, "if anyone has a time horizon of longer than a year, you should do quite well in bitcoin."

Twitter has added the bitcoin price chart to their app, automatically displaying the price in the search function.

HOW BITCOIN WORKS

Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week: Bitcoin is a fresh start.

Saifedean Ammous, the author of the Bitcoin Standard, once drew an interesting comparison between the wealthiest person in the world under the gold standard in the early 1900s and that person today.

Then? John D. Rockefeller. The oil tycoon built significant wealth in the oil business, and his work benefitted everyone. Rockefeller's innovative strategies lowered the cost of oil and gas by 80% and were instrumental in distributing hydrocarbons nationwide.

While oil and gas might garner negative sentiment today, they benefit us greatly - significantly increasing our lifespans and overall health.

They let us light our homes, warm our bodies, cook our food, and wash our clothes.

Simply put, Rockefeller earned his wealth by providing immense value to others.

Today's wealthiest person (depending on the month) is Elon Musk. Nothing against Musk, but as Saifedean notes, he built his wealth on government handouts.

Musk's companies, mainly Tesla and SpaceX, rely heavily on government subsidies and regulatory credits. Fortunately for him, the government supports his chosen industries.

Musk stands in stark contrast to Rockefeller, whose wealth was primarily driven by the market, or in other words, heaps of people saying, "you've enhanced our standard of living tenfold; please, let us pay you to continue doing so."

So what can we glean from all of this?

By bringing back sound money that a select few cannot create and distribute to themselves, we reignite a fresh start based on merit.

A new beginning where we allocate our capital and resources to those who provably enhance our lives, as opposed to those who endeavor in industries the government designates as their chosen winners.

Bitcoin's decentralized nature ensures we all get a vote on who raises our standard of living the best - and ensures society's capital is directed towards them, so they can continue doing so.

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

COIN CHECK

About how many more days until the next bitcoin halving cycle?

1. 100 days

2. 450 days

3. 800 days

4. There are no more halving cycles

Check your answer at the end of the page.

FROM THE MEME POOL

BITCOIN ROUNDUP PODCAST

If you love our newsletter, you’ll love our podcast, too.

ANSWER

2. 450 days

   Bitcoiners worldwide are preparing to travel to El Salvador, the first country to make bitcoin an official currency, to ring in the next halving event in style. New bitcoin issuance will drop by 50% every four years until all 21 million bitcoin have been mined.‍

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