Wars, shortages, and price spikes seem to harm everyone but those in charge. And yet, as crises cascade across the globe, the political class is beginning to face a backlash.

In the U.S., we all feel the pain of inflation in prices of fuel, food, and housing. Inflation is unifying the middle class around the need for real solutions.

In the 1970s, stagflation led to a shift in American politics. The middle class (temporarily) rejected Keynesian economics and big government, ushering in an era of economic freedom in the 1980s. Might the economic crisis of the early 2020s foreshadow similar events?

The difference between this crisis and past ones is in technology. What if, this time, a new form of money offered a solution that transcended politics – and finally ended the cycle of market distortion and manipulation?

With bitcoin, the ebbs and flows of political power have no impact on money. Economic influence is distributed, allowing people to control and utilize money as a neutral tool, as it was always meant to be.

News

💢 75% of pandemic relief money went to the rich

A Federal Reserve report analyzed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a stimulus meant to keep workers employed during the pandemic. It found that only 25% of funds went to workers, while the majority flowed to wealthy households.

⚡ Bitcoin miners support Texas electric grid

As Texas braces for a brutal heat wave, bitcoin miners turned off their machines. By temporarily shutting down operations, the miners allow ERCOT to conserve energy for an anticipated increase in demand, enhancing grid stability.  

🏴 Protests, riots, and bank runs

Farmers in the Netherlands are protesting environmental controls that threaten their farms – and the Dutch food supply. In Sri Lanka, "ESG" initiatives and related money printing triggered an economic crisis, and the people are rising up as food, fuel, and medicine shortages ravage the nation. Protests are also occurring in China, Italy, Panama, and Germany.

🙃 Fed sends mixed messages on bitcoin

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland stated that the Lightning Network is "turning bitcoin into money." But, in a separate blog post, Fed researchers denounced bitcoin, citing "towering peaks of the inflation rate in bitcoin."

The authors ignore that bitcoin was up 45x against the dollar during the time period they examined. They also claim government control of the money supply is necessary to "avoid high inflation, deflation, and inflation volatility."

The Fed-caused great depression of the 1930s, stagflation of the 1970s, and current inflationary crisis are curiously absent from their report.

Bitcoin adoption continues

PayPal equivalent in Brazil launching bitcoin service, enabling its 65 million users to buy bitcoin. The platform also offers bitcoin education.

Manchester's Premier League team signed OKX, a bitcoin and digital asset exchange, as its official training kit sponsor.

Rockefeller Chairman makes a bullish case for bitcoin, citing the need for a more stable currency than the US dollar. He is hopeful bitcoin will become that in three to five years.

Lightning Network capacity reaches new all time high of 4200 bitcoins. Lightning is a protocol that makes small bitcoin transactions inexpensive and instant.

The total number of bitcoin addresses ever created reached 1 billion this week.

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How bitcoin works

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

Hard money is money that is difficult to produce. Unlike fiat money, it is not printed out of thin air.

Because it is difficult to produce, hard money naturally imposes fiscal discipline. Under hard money systems, representative governments are accountable to spend only what they have in their treasury, and must make the case to the people that spending that money for any particular purpose is worthwhile.

If you are reading this, you likely operate such a system when it comes to your personal finances.

However, governments that possess a money printer are unaccountable for how they spend. The result is always uncontrollable debt and capital misallocation on a grand scale, leading to inflation, shortages, and rapidly increasing disparities in wealth. It is only ever a matter of time.

Worst of all, when currency is debased, it dilutes the capital produced by our forefathers and mothers, and steals the capital of our children and grandchildren.

In a hard money world, markets reward capital allocators that best serve the needs of consumers. The less successful suffer the consequences of their decisions, and adapt, leading to ever more true wealth creation.

Fortunately, bitcoin gives us a path to get out of the woods. Bitcoin is the hardest money ever created. Below are two reasons why.

First: You must expend costly real-world resources (in the form of electricity) to create new bitcoins.

Second: The supply of bitcoin is finite and unchangeable. No more will be produced once all 21 million are mined. The supply is capped.

A hard money network guarantees the accountability of those who hold and make decisions with capital, ensuring they are delivering goods and services that people most desire.

Coin check

What is the Federal Reserve's mandate?

• A. Fulfilling ESG requirements
• B. Promoting price stability and maximum employment
• C. Increasing the money supply at a steady rate of 10% annually
• D. Maintaining the federal government's balance sheet

Check your answer at the end of the page.

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Answer: B. Promoting price stability and maximum employment