Ross Stevens has Entered the GigaChad Zone #BTC
Ross Stevens dropped dimes at Microstrategy’s Bitcoin for Corporations Conference. Full video below. If you don’t have an hour to burn I summarized it in 5 minutes.
“Bitcoin is not volatile”
There is a misconception that Bitcoin is volatile and USD is stable. A British (Silver) Pound started at a 1:1 ratio to silver. Today it is 174:1. A pound of silver has not changed at all, a British Pound has lost nearly 100% of its value. Is Bitcoin changing or is the USD? Recognize the difference.
“We finally got a monetary system governed by rules not rulers”
Final Settlement: “Bitcoin is the first-ever electronic bearer instrument”
Bitcoin transactions are not the same as swiping your VISA card at Starbucks. VISA introduces counterparty risk between two banks. Banks take 2 or 3 days to settle. Bitcoin transactions reach final settlement in minutes. Compare apples to apples.
Misconception: Bitcoin mining is wasteful. “Bitcoin is the biggest catalyst for abundant, clean, cheap energy.”
“The energy problem has never been production. The energy problem has always been channeling loss… Here’s the insight: as Bitcoin’s price rises, Bitcoin mining will be the most profitable use of energy in human history that does not need to be located near human settlement.”
The biggest cities are centered around sea ports because oceans offer the greatest return on energy for commercial transportation. “We’ve developed fossil fuels but now fossil fuels are killing us… We’re moving energy (fossil fuels) to where there are people. In a green energy future we may move people to energy… Energy is prosperity… For the first time we have a huge pull towards renewable energy with a profit motive” without government subsidy.
“Just owning Bitcoin is table stakes.”
“Institutions want to do more pretty soon Americans will be able to take payment in Bitcoin from income annuities, paycheck salary, or interest on CD all paid in Bitcoin.”
“Bitcoin is de-risked… Years ago the conversation was ‘what are chances Bitcoin goes to zero?’ What are the chances that Christianity goes to zero.” That conversation is over. His clients bought more Bitcoin in 2020 than in 2013–2019 combined. Stone Ridge “expects [clients] to buy more in the next 2 years than in the previous 8 years.”
Chapter 1: Bitcoin the Asset
Bitcoin didn’t exist, now it is here to stay. This 10 year chapter cements Bitcoin’s position as the best money ever created capturing millions of users, Terabytes hashrate, branding, and education. Primary purpose is to buy and hold Bitcoin the asset.
Chapter 2: Bitcoin the Network
Continue to build on Bitcoin the asset and adds Bitcoin the network. Imagine the following scenario: you are in New York and want to send your friend in Italy $1000, internationally bank to bank. How do they do this for free and instantly?
Answer: Use Bitcoin lightning network.
- Strike takes dollars from your NY bank account and debits it.
- Strike works with NYDIG and does a trade of $1000 to Bitcoin.
- Strike uses the Lightning Network to zip Bitcoin to Milan with zero fees.
- It hits another Forex exchange in Italy then NYDIG converts Bitcoin to Euros.
- Strike credits your friend’s bank account with Euros.
How is the Above Example Possible?
- “For the first time in history, we have an electronic bearer asset and an open source monetary network that together can achieve cash finality anywhere in the world, anytime with liquidity in any currency pair you care about.”
- “Critical: the volatility of bitcoin the asset was nowhere to be found because we didn’t use Bitcoin for its properties as an asset, we used Bitcoin for its properties as an open source monetary network.”
Insight: even banks benefit from the Bitcoin network because Bitcoin eliminates their counterparty risk.
And btw, this is what it actually looks like…
Now Think Bigger
- Imagine the $18T global import export industry with instant and free international settlement.
- Imagine the $200B global credit card industry with instant final settlement and zero merchant fees.
- Imagine the $680B global remittance industry go to instant with zero fees.
Why would these industries, and their customers, stay with a slower more expensive option? The internet consumed entire verticals by making them faster, cheaper, better. Bitcoin is the internet of money. Get it now?
Bitcoin (the asset) as we know it today is synonymous with Buy and Hold. Bitcoin the network takes the underlying trust property of Bitcoin reshape global finance. Humanity is rate limited by the speed and settlement of its currency.
“Your decision to hold bitcoin or not comes at high consequence.”
