Bitcoin Well

A rule that could let 401(k) plans offer crypto just reached the White House for final review. Even then, your plan picks the menu. An old 401(k) from a past job doesn't have to wait.

Your bank's app says "pending until Monday." Bitcoin doesn't have a Monday.

Murray Rothbard, 1983, on how banks stay open: "a few people can redeem their deposits only because most depositors do not follow suit." This week nearly 3 million Ueno Bank customers in Paraguay found out what that means. Bitcoin in your own wallet doesn't need everyone else to stay home.

"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." John Gilmore, 1993. Bitcoin is that sentence, applied to money.

Nov 2021 to Nov 2024: running the same AI model went from $60 to $0.06 per million tokens. US consumer prices rose 13.5%. The Star Trek computer showed up. The cheaper life didn't. That's a money problem, not a tech one.

Three countries this week. Same screen. Paraguay, Tuesday: the central bank takes over Ueno Bank. Nearly 3 million customers lose their app and cards. The first payouts only cover balances up to about $1,600. Japan, Friday: one equipment failure at a shared data center takes 128 shinkin banks offline. ATMs, counters, transfers. Officials say it wasn't a hack. South Korea, Friday: Gopax stops withdrawals after a threatening email. Nothing was stolen. A takeover, a broken box, an email. Nobody asked the depositors. Bitcoin you hold yourself doesn't have a closing time.

Wealthsimple says a loonie stablecoin is coming, with 3.25% in rewards for holding it (pending regulator approval). Ottawa's draft rules bar issuers from paying holders interest or yield, directly or indirectly. Either way, it's still a loonie.

A former FBI agent just pleaded guilty to stealing $2.47 million in crypto. The keys came from the FBI itself: wallet credentials it had collected in 35 investigations. Even the FBI's vault had just one person with a login. Can't make this stuff up.

Big public bitcoin miners are moving to AI. IREN reported today: $28 million from mining last quarter, $200 million from AI cloud. @DannyCondon1989 at #BFFS26: "I don't think that's priced in." Fewer machines competing means more bitcoin for the miners who stay. Mining as an Asset Class with @SustainHashMike, @AbundantMines and @jordanguess. Thanks @wyattorourke_ and @bffs_media.

Binance lost $6.3 billion from its servers. Now the Fed is calling banks to check theirs. Nobody is calling bitcoin’s. Here’s why:

Canadians can now buy bitcoin inside @cluborange, powered by Bitcoin Well. First 21 members to buy 21 CAD of bitcoin get 21 CAD in sats back.

$100 today buys what $77 bought in February 2020. But remember, Bitcoin has no use case.

Picture this. You have $50,000 saved at Paraguay’s biggest bank by number of customers. Monday night, the bank tells everyone it’s “operating normally.” Tuesday morning, the government takes it over. Your app is frozen. This week, you can get about $1,600. Later, up to about $37,000, on a date nobody has set. The other $13,000 gets in line with everyone else the bank owes. That’s Ueno Bank, right now, for nearly 3 million people. Eight months ago, JPMorgan and Bank of America were selling its bonds to investors around the world. Money in a bank isn’t sitting there waiting for you. It’s a loan to the bank. And when things go wrong, someone else decides when you get it back.

Canada's finance minister: "We have the lowest net debt to GDP ratio in the G7." Technically true. Here's the trick: "net" means debt minus assets, and those assets include the pension fund you pay into every paycheck. Count only what governments owe, and Canada lands right around the G7 average. That pension money is already promised to you. It shouldn't be making the debt look small.