First Up...
There's been quite a bit of chatter lately regarding the UK imprisoning citizens for making posts on social media that they deem to be unacceptable. While it's difficult to condone citizens inciting violence and hate against minorities and whathaveyou, it's even more difficult to condone a government with that much power. They've even gone so far as to claim they can extradite citizens from other countries and prosecute them based on these extremely flimsy online offenses under literal anti-terrorism laws. Eek. Police state strong.
In a perfect world where we can trust authority and those in power, something like this might be just fine. However, we've all seen how issues like this can become political, allowing whoever is currently in power to weaponize the police state against the citizens, making up arbitrary rules and enforcing them arbitrarily as well against the targets they don't like.
In the wake of this complete and utter lack of privacy and freedom comes a ban against the official @ukgov on Twitter, presumably signed-off on by Elon Musk himself. This is honestly kind of hilarious because wow who would have ever thought an official government account could get itself legitimately suspended or banned just a couple of years ago. Imagine threatening everyone in the entire world and then being put out when a social media site bans you for it. Wild.
However, this is obviously just more of the same bullshit. The UK is abusing their power, and in response Elon Musk is also abusing his power right back at them. This isn't a balancing of the scales so much as digital warfare... and there are very few actual winners when it comes to war. Most people end up as collateral damage or remain unaffected. This entire situation highlights the need for neutral platforms that can't be abused by any one entity in such ways. I'm not a fan of Elon Musk but I do tend to find this situation (and Clown World in general) highly entertaining.
Advertising Coalition Shuts Down After X, Owned by Elon Musk, Sues
The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a nonprofit coalition of major advertisers led by the World Federation of Advertisers, told its members it would cease operations two days after Mr. Musk accused the group of orchestrating a boycott against X. The lawsuit claimed that the group, known as GARM, had violated antitrust laws by coordinating with brands to dissuade them from spending money on the social media platform.
In other Musk related news, he got this non-profit completely shut down just by filing a lawsuit against them. Many right-wingers are asking "what are they hiding", but reality probably isn't that interesting. The narrative that GARM simply doesn't have the resources to fight this kind of lawsuit sounds like a credible one. Not everything is a conspiracy, but who knows.
The World Federation of Advertisers, which is also named in the lawsuit, will remain operational.
California DMV Makes History, Digitizes 42 Million Car Titles on Avalanche Blockchain
When I first heard about this one I thought it must be fake, but this actually happened. A notoriously slow and unproductive government agency put their data on a blockchain; a 'gaming' EVM blockchain no less. Will this actually help them conduct business more effectively? I have no idea, but it is interesting and worth paying attention to going forward.
Official Santa Monica "Bitcoin Office"?
The Santa Monica Bitcoin Office is dedicated to educating our community on the transformative potential of Bitcoin*. In partnership with Proof of Workforce Foundation, we are committed to providing comprehensive education about Bitcoin and its role in the modern economy, helping Santa Monica residents and businesses alike understand this innovative technology.
In addition to providing education, the Bitcoin Office's mission is also focused on identifying and facilitating Bitcoin industry partnerships that actively support Santa Monica's economic recovery and cultivate new employment opportunities. By fostering strategic collaborations, we aim to create a resilient and forward-looking local economy that benefits all members of our community.
By further positioning Santa Monica as the Silicon Beach hub for Bitcoin innovation, we strive to unlock new opportunities, attract investment in our community, and ensure our city thrives in the digital age.
Wow that is quite the word-salad you got there.
But then again, it's absolutely mind-boggling to see something like this plastered on top of an official *.gov website. I would not believe something like this was real unless I was able to confirm it with my own eyes, which I just did.
Proof of Workforce Foundation?
Santa Monica Firefighter Union is the first union in the country to buy bitcoin and hold it in self-custody. Explore the proof of workforce adoption model, how they did it, why they did it, what the risks were, and what the response has been.
So I guess the only question that needs answering here is... is this just complete bullshit? Or is this Michael Saylor's Bitcoin Standard playing out just like we all thought it might? It's hard to tell but I guess we'll find out in 12 months after it's had some time to ferment.
15% APR on HBD
We have some local news on Hive in that HBD APR is officially at 15%, with 14/20 witnesses signaling 15% or above. It would stand to reason that we might be at this level for a while, and my feelings on the issue are mixed.
On the one hand I view this as a terrible time to be lowering APR. It screams weakness and caters to "can-devs-do-something" users who are concerned about number-go-up in the immediate short term. Potentially this is the absolute worst time to be lowering the APR, as lowering it is akin to capitulating and selling the bottom of the market (assuming 15 cents was the bottom).
Of course for this theory to match reality there'd need to be some evidence of HBD whales exiting here and pushing the price down further with sell pressure created by the peg. This all comes off the heels of the debt ratio reaching 10% for the first time since the previous cycle... which has nothing to do with HBD inflation and everything to do with the Hive spot price plummeting in recent months with the rest of the market.
The hysteria around increased short-term inflation is quite misplaced. It's a 4-year cycle. Why did we have high inflation in 2019 and 2020? Why did we have negative inflation in 2021? If we add up inflation over this entire cycle (2022-2025) it's highly likely we still come underneath the target. This is essentially guaranteed if we go negative again in 2025 as is significantly likely in the irrational bull market year of the cycle.
@dalz/hive-inflation-for-july-2024-or-running-hot-for-a-second-months-in-a-row
Need I remind everyone that economics always revolves upon lagging indicators. Lowering the APR today does not have an affect on anything until 6-12 months have passed. Where will the spot price be in 6-12 months? We have no idea but there is a reasonable expectation that it will be higher than now due to the 4-year cycle and mega-bull-run year of 2025.
@acidyo/hbd-apr
There's also posts like this from @acidyo and associated @ocd-witness talking about the change to 15% and pointing out that the witnesses has been signaling this amount the entire time. There is A LOT of drama in the comments which I personally think is undeserved so I didn't want to fuel the fire there at all.
At the end of the day 15% is still very high and the entire reason for jacking it up to 20% in the first place was to stay competitive during the previous bull market. Now that all that competition has imploded to zero, 15% is still basically the best option out there so it will probably end up being just fine on the macro side of things.
The dip of the dippty dip dip?
On July 6th I wrote this post speculating that we still had at least one more significant dip to go before hitting bottom. Many of the bottom indicators are now in. Was that the last one? There's a good chance, but also I'm still waiting until Q3 is over before pulling any triggers. As crazy at it sounds it's much safer to buy BTC at $65k in early Q4 than it is to buy at $61k now. $50k was also a huge buy target for me and I'm pretty annoyed I was on vacation again during all the action. Oh well; next time.
Conclusion
Lots going down in cryptoland. The Bitcoin Standard is coming into play. Mainstream adoption is coming in a big way and all anyone can whine about is wen number go up. It's only a matter of time at this point. The need for neutral platforms can not be denied forever. 4-year cycle is 4-years. See you in 2025.