Economists refer to the paradox of economic progress as "creative destruction." Technological innovations increase net prosperity but upend industries and displace workers.

Many workers are understandably hostile to such change. Learning new skills or changing careers takes considerable time and effort.

The term "Luddites" refers to those resistant to disruptive technologies. It originates from a group of 19th-century British textile workers who destroyed factories instead of working in them.

For many in the traditional finance industry, bitcoin elicits a similar reaction. Its monetary qualities and 24-hour network are too great to compete with, and like the Luddites of old, today's fiat financiers want to maintain the status quo.

In this context, J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon's unhinged CNBC interview on bitcoin makes much more sense.

NEWS

🚔 Chase CEO attacks and proves a lack of basic understanding of bitcoin, again

During a CNBC set at the World Economic Forum, hosts asked JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon about bitcoin's store of value properties and its scarcity. As usual, he wasn't too happy about it. Dimon stated that we don't know if only 21 million bitcoins will ever exist, positing that someone could change the code.

Oh, but we do. Just look at the source code - it is accessible to everyone. Any alteration would result in something that is no longer bitcoin. (see: hard fork)

Mr. Dimon appears sick of being asked about bitcoin, threatened by it, or both. But bitcoin doesn't mind and will welcome him just like everybody else ;)—more on all of this in How Bitcoin Works.

📰 Famous fiat economist downplays inflation

Paul Krugman, an economist in a previous life before becoming a columnist for the New York Times, caught an internet drubbing for his recent "supercore" inflation measure. What is supercore inflation? Curiously, it isn't an official term but describes when economists choose what to exclude from inflation measurements to provide what they think is most accurate. To Krugman, "supercore" inflation excludes food, energy, and used cars, precisely the goods that have experienced significant price increases.

If you're left wondering why anyone would pay attention to such nonsense, you aren't the only one.

⚡️ First nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining center is opening in Pennsylvania

The first nuclear-powered data center in the United States has completed construction on a bitcoin mining facility. The Nautilus Cryptomine will use nuclear energy to validate bitcoin blocks on the blockchain. The zero-carbon bitcoin mining operation is another excellent example of bitcoin using "clean" energy and expects to be up and running in the next couple of months.

🚨 Genesis bankruptcy

After failing to secure a billion-dollar bailout, crypto lender Genesis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, citing losses from loans made to the defunct hedge fund Three Arrows Capital among others. The filing places Genesis in the same league as other collapsed crypto firms, BlockFi, Voyager, Celsius, and FTX. Per the filing, Genesis owes funds to over 100,000 creditors, with aggregate liabilities in the billions.

The message is the same: not your keys, not your coins. Avoid these exchanges like the plague.

BITCOIN ADOPTION CONTINUES

The Governor of New Hampshire is asking the Department of Energy to research how bitcoin mining can help stabilize the grid and lower consumer energy costs.

Cash App has officially integrated the Bitcoin Lightning network, offering off-chain bitcoin transactions making payments faster and cheaper.  

The Bitcoin logo was projected onto the Berliner Fernsehturm tower this week, the tallest building in Germany. Many took pictures of the giant B, which circulated on social media. Projections of bitcoin logos and messaging have become normal across Europe.  

Miami Mayor Francisco Suarez confirmed he is still receiving his paychecks in bitcoin this week and that his salary has increased despite the bear market, as he is buying every two weeks. DCA for the win;).  

Thanks to a new deal between Fountain and mobile payments firm ZEBEDEE, podcast fans can now earn bitcoin just for listening to their favorite podcasts.

HOW BITCOIN WORKS

Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week: Bitcoin is disruption.

This week, an interview about bitcoin at the World Economic Forum left JP Morgan Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon visibly frustrated.

The CEO stated the fact that bitcoin is scarce is "totally untrue."

Elaborating further, Dimon said: "Oh yeah really? How do you know its going to stop at 21 million? Everyone says that, well maybe its going to get to 21 million and Satoshi's picture is going to come up and laugh at you all."

Dimon also described bitcoin as a hyped-up fraud.

These are strong words from the CEO of a bank that paid billions in fines after various federal and state investigations uncovered participation in numerous frauds—most notably the biggest one of all time, the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.

But rather than trade jabs and note the hypocrisy, we should focus on the most significant takeaway from the interview: Dimon lacks a basic understanding of how the bitcoin protocol works.

See, Mr. Dimon hails from the legacy fiat banking system. A system built on the need to trust those that control the money. He has benefitted from this system, where he and others wield significant power. We should not attack him for past successes.

But today is a new day.

Today, we have bitcoin. A new monetary system that doesn't make participants vulnerable to centralized institutions that gatekeep their money.

Satoshi described it best:

"The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts."

Bitcoin requires none of this. It is open source and decentralized - the network rules are accessible to everyone, and no single entity controls it - instead, all of its users do - creating an incentive structure that ensures everybody plays by the rules.  

Dimon doesn't understand this. If Satoshi returned today, they would have no more influence over the network and its rules than you or I.

Until Dimon connects these dots, he won't understand what is arguably the most important aspect of bitcoin: it is uncontrollable, especially by people like him.

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

COIN CHECK

What is the Latin translation of “fiat,” the most common term used to described the money we use today?

1. Commodity based

2. Currency

3. It shall be

4. Legal tender

Check your answer at the end of the page.

FROM THE MEME POOL

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