THE CLARITY ACT IS A TRAP!!! Here's what they're Trying To SNEAK Through...| EP 1505

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Everyone is optimistic on the Clarity Act being passed this year, but that's only because they're not paying attention. We have a really dangerous story developing behind closed doors with rumors suggesting the most important protections for Bitcoin is being quietly sacrificed for the bill to pass. We've been very skeptical on this show about this bill since day one, but if this rumor is true, it could confirm our worst fears about the Clarity Act.

[00:00:30]So, to start this story, I do want to give a huge shout out to the boys over at TFTC, Marty and Matt, for basically highlighting and having this inside scoop. So, here's a clip from yesterday's rabbit hole recap, and it is something we've been talking about all week, and it's really not looking too good. Short clip, but a very powerful one. Here we go.

[00:00:54]Breaking news from the hill. My birdie on the hill is texting me right now saying, "Update. Dems are coming for BRCA, specifically protection for devs.

[00:01:04]RS are willing to remove some protections to get some dems on board.

[00:01:08]Dems are hitting three angles. Dev protections, Trump family crypto ethics, and yield stable coins. We have to sound the alarm regarding BRCA protections.

[00:01:18]Coinbase could push harder on that end, too, considering they're spending millions to be here on the hill. So, we should pressure Coinbase to draw the line there. Um, but the fact that Republicans didn't secure Van Holland's vote is a big signal, a bad signal. He has been trying quite a bit to help create bipartisan agreement on that end.

[00:01:40]>> Kill the bill, >> guys. Kill the bill. Uh if they're not gonna if they're not going to get developer protections enshrined into this law as Bitcoiners, like everything else that they're going to push for, the expansion of the Patriot Act, all that [ __ ] and really just cater to the crypto lobby, then we should use our voices. Kill the bill. No bill is better than a bad bill. It's gonna sour a lot of people in DC. Trump administration won't be happy as a big priority for them, but [ __ ] it. If you're not going to secure civil liberties uh in the digital age, particularly for open source software developers when this is a very straightforward protection for any other manufacturer, any other tool that could be used by criminals, then don't let them get it. Kill it on demand. um unless they keep these protections in and arguably uh unless they make them clear too because um it's so [ __ ] up how politics works. Like it literally >> it's [ __ ] sitting here horrible.

[00:02:48]>> They're horse trading for all this [ __ ] and one of the things they're going to horse trade developer protections for stable coin yield. It's like what?

[00:02:57]Uh >> yeah, I mean literally without developer protections, we get absolutely nothing from this bill.

[00:03:03]>> Yeah.

[00:03:03]>> Once again, >> guys, we've been saying it for a minute.

[00:03:08]A bad bill or no bill is better than a bad bill. And and I have some more. It's not just Marty and Matt saying this. I I actually have uh a lot more in this, but Nico, if you want to go on uh just first first instinct, first impressions of I mean, we've been covering this all week.

[00:03:24]the B it's in particular the BRCA provisions um to protect open source development it seems as of now based on the rumors and even the conversation we've heard coming out of you know Washington DC is that it looks like they're trading those developer protections for the stable coin yield it's not a good look now that we have the whole bill at least now that we know what's going to be in the bill I guess now we can nitpick on what is actually going to get passed into law So, the fight's not over, but as of now, are we really that surprised?

[00:03:58]>> Uh, no. And I I I do, first of all, shout out to Marty and and Matt. Always great commentary. You know, those two are legends. Uh, Rabbit Hole Recap was a precursor.

[00:04:10]>> Dude, we wouldn't be here without that.

[00:04:11]>> We wouldn't be here without Rabbit Hole Recap. So, shout out to those legends.

[00:04:14]That's the first thing I got to say.

[00:04:16]Second thing is um I do slightly disagree with with Odell on his point because the protection the self-custody protections are still there.

[00:04:26]>> True.

[00:04:27]>> However, I do agree. It's very difficult for me to say what Matt is saying because so many of our of our of our partners are again these are uh these are US-based companies and they benefit from the passage of the Clarity Act, right? Um, so at the same time, the Bitcoiner and me, this is nuance.

[00:04:50]There's there's two two things could be true at the same time. Um, listen, that was one of the biggest things for Bitcoiners, guys. Like, I if you don't want a tornado cash 2.0 type of situation, um, that provision in the bill was specifically there to protect that type of situation occurring again. And as we continue into the rest of this decade and as the the the the the separation of money and state continues to accelerate, this is the type of provision that because it's not included into law can and will be used against open-source developers as more and more of the world's population chooses to use Bitcoin as a nons sovereign alternative to their local fiat currency. And as you can imagine, you know, this is why Satoshi remained anonymous, right? And I fundamentally believe that if Satoshi was not anonymous, I think he'd be in jail today.

[00:06:05]So, because the the argument can be made and Elizabeth Warren used this argument in the Senate Banking Committee um in in the Senate Banking Committee um you know conversation yesterday where Elizabeth Warren, one of her talking points was Iran uh you know wanted to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for people to cross the straight of Hormuz. Now, I played you the clip of Senator Lumis kind of rebuffing that and saying, "Listen, like this bill actually allows even more it's so crazy saying this, but even more oversight, even more surveillance, right?" Um but this is this is this is a very this is a very difficult provision where like as a Bitcoiner you know that supports Bitcoin holding Bitcoin in in spot and holding Bitcoin in self custody if this provision was allowed then again developers in the United States wouldn't feel like they're just one administration away from potentially living in a hostile environment. And I know that's not a problem now, but I guarantee you that as more and more of the world's population adopts Bitcoin and uses Bitcoin outside of the system, you can see how governments would react to this. And it actually reminds me of again the book from the the a passage from the book the sovereign individual where they specifically this book was written in I believe 1997 um and it specifically says and when I say tax by the way I'm not talking about income tax to be very specific that's a whole other conversation whole discussion that I want to get into today but when I talk about tax I'm I'm specific speifically talking about the inflation tax because all western governments specifically in the United States continue to spend more re more than they collect in tax revenue. So it's this deficit spending and the reason that they're able to fund this deficit spending in the very in the first place is because they're able to print money. But if more if more and more people stop using that said money, then the effectiveness of being able to print for pay to pay for things starts to go down. So you can just see and guys, we've been so right about so many things throughout the years. Like we were right about a nation state adopting Bitcoin. We were right about the ETFs.

[00:08:42]We were about We were right about public treasuries uh about public companies adopting Bitcoin. We were saying these things back when it was unpopular. We were saying these things back in 2020 when none of these things were true, right? When none of these things came to fruition. And the reason we were so confident in those thesis is not because we're geniuses, but because we understood the game theory of Bitcoin.

[00:09:07]Ultimately, Bitcoin is fundamentally better money for two reasons. two re more reasons but for ultimately two reasons. Number one, it's censorship resistant properties and that makes it immune from uh that makes it immune from censorship.

[00:09:25]That makes it immune from capital controls, right? You saw this with the Canadian truckers protest. And thing number two is it's a non-inflationary currency. You can say it's a deflationary currency. It has absolute scarcity. So it doesn't have inflation built in, right?

[00:09:42]So again, I'm going to read you guys this passage from the book, The Sovereign Individual. I've read it so many times throughout the show, but it it really applies to the point that I'm trying to make here. Lacking their accustoms uh their accustom scope to inflate, governments, even in traditionally civil countries, will turn nasty. As income tax becomes uncollectible, older and more arbitrary methods of extraction will resurface.

[00:10:07]The ultimate form of withholding tax, the de facto or even overt hostage taking will be introduced by governments desperate to prevent wealth from escaping beyond their reach. Unlucky individuals will find themselves signaled out and held to ransom in an almost medieval fa fashion. Now, this is what applies to samurai. Businesses that offer services that facilitate the realization of autonomy by individuals will be subject to infiltration, sabotage, and disruption. Arbitrary forfeite of property, already common place in the United States, where it occurs 5,000 times a week, will become even more pervasive. Governments will violate human rights, censor the free flow of information, sabotage useful technologies, and worse. So again, this book wrote was prophetic. It called out censor the free flow of information.

[00:11:02]Even in the United States of America, do you guys remember that clip of the googlyeyed lady, you know, like making like a like a song talking about like, you know, information sensor d like it was crazy. But basically, they were trying they were trying to like set up like a ministry of truth in the United States. Ultimately that didn't work out because of the first amendment. Thank God for the wisdom of the founding fathers to understand but sabotage useful technologies included in the passage as well. This was written back in 1997.

[00:11:37]What is going after, you know, open-source software developers that are working on privacy tech, privacy tools, privacy pro uh protocols that don't have access to that money? Uh what is that but not sabotaging useful technology?

[00:11:55]And you could say, okay, but Nico, what about the what about the hostage taking?

[00:12:00]What is putting someone in a box for a certain amount of time not a form of hostage taking, right? Like that is literally it's like and it's not even hostage taking, it's hostage taking, making an example out of that person and then literally keeping that person in a box. A big part of this election was a big motivation for Bitcoiners to vote for Trump, which I don't regret, was the fact that he was going to free Ross Albrich. and he made good on that promise. We did put a lot of pressure.

[00:12:32]Um, and he ended up freeing Ross Olrich.

[00:12:35]So, this is what I'm talking about and this is where I want you guys to understand where we are in the movie. We are in the disintermediation of information and the disintermediation of money. This is what we're living through. I think we went we already went past the worst of the the battle for the disintermediation of information. Uh, you know, a big portion of that was the internet. A big portion of that was Elon acquiring X. With the X Files came out, it literally exposed that the United States government was telling social media platforms to censor the free speech of Americans. Ladies and gentlemen, we have not even begun the disintermediation of money. We have not even begun the separation of money and state. That hasn't even started yet.

[00:13:21]That only begins and and we had Adam O'Brien, the CEO of Bitcoin Well, yesterday on the show and he was talking about it.

[00:13:29]That doesn't begin until a percentage of the population is actively holding Bitcoin in self-custody outside of the traditional financial system and transacting peer-to-peer with other people. circular economies the way that we see at Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador is a great example of that, right? Until I would say maybe five to 10% of the population is doing that. And as as we said on yesterday's show, I believe only 1% less than 1% I would say a 100,000 of us worldwide actually use Bitcoin, actually take it in self- custody, actually understand the ethos of Bitcoin.

[00:14:12]I think that this specific provision not being passed, first of all, it sets up a precedent.

[00:14:21]Second of all, you can see just using basic common sense and logic how that will be weaponized in the future to go after opensource developers. And if they went after Tornado Cash, what makes you think they're not going to use the same arguments to go after Bitcoin developers? Because they can make the case and say, "Hey, this Bitcoin developer, you know what? He contributed code to the Bitcoin protocol. And because he contributed code to the Bitcoin protocol and because Iran is receiving Bitcoin, he's breaking the law and he's enabling essentially, you know, the transmission of money to sanctioned countries in the U sanctioned countries that on the that are on the list of foreign uh office of foreign asset control. So you can see how that argument gets made. So, this is a part of me where like I'm a little bit divided, you know, and and I'm glad that I have OPI here because I know where OPTI is going to side on this, but there's a lot of our partners that will benefit tremendously and us too as a Bitcoin business in the United States from something like the Clarity Act bill passing. However, simultaneously, you know, Matt is right in the sense that that was a very strong position.

[00:15:42]That was a very strong pro provision and it also exposes a lot of incentives, right? Like if this was a hill that the Elizabeth Warren camp was unmovable on, it tells you everything you need to know in terms of what they plan to use in the future to go after opensource developers that again are inconvenient to the system. So you guys have to understand where we are in the movie.

[00:16:12]You guys have to understand the implications of this. Another passage that I want to read for you guys is the authors of the sovereign individual have also predicted that with the rise of this new cyberspace and consequently cyber money again 1997 this was written it will be I wish I read it. It will but I was a baby. Um it will become harder for a nation state to collect taxes from it.

[00:16:35]>> You can't even read now.

[00:16:36]>> It will become harder for a nation state to collect taxes from its citizens.

[00:16:40]Again, when I mention taxes, I'm not just talking about the income tax.

[00:16:44]Specifically, I'm talking about the inflation tax. They compare the state to a farmer uh keeping cows in a field to be milked, but that soon the cows will have wings. They predict that for the government to collect taxes from its citizens in this type of society, it will have to violate human rights, even traditionally civil countries will have to resort and turn nasty. And you can apply that like to the samurai guys like like let's talk about that. And I think we're having one of them on the show uh uh somewhat soon. Let's talk about that for a sec.

[00:17:21]What did they do? They definitely poked the bear a little bit by being vocal on X, right? Um, however, ultimately what they did was they just designed a piece of software that allowed Bitcoiners to get more privacy.

[00:17:42]They didn't have access to the funds that were being used using that piece of software. They didn't have access to those funds.

[00:17:51]But all the argument that the government had to make was listen, even though 97% of the funds that are going through samurai are not tied to illegal activity, 3% is tied to the North Koreans.

[00:18:10]Therefore, you're breaking the law.

[00:18:12]Simultaneously, let's talk about all the money laundering that occurs in the traditional financial system that has all the rules and regulations in place.

[00:18:25]Why isn't that being focused on? You had these massive news of these big banks that were facilitating money laundering for the Mexican drug cartels.

[00:18:36]Do you see the CEOs of those big banks being locked up in a box? No, the big banks got fines.

[00:18:46]Our industry gets thrown in jail. The banks get fines. So, justice is supposed to be equal. But, as you can see, it's not being treated as equal. And the reason it's not being treated as equal, let's be clear here, is because ultimately the reason that governments just give banks fines is because governments ultimately do control banks through the bank secrecy act through the Patriot Act. So the way that I described it is a bank account is essentially a two of three multisig where you hold one key, the state holds another key, and then the bank holds another key. That's not a great multisig. That's not a good multiig at all. You don't control the majority of the keys in that situation.

[00:19:30]Right? So, a lot of things to unpack here. It's not equal justice.

[00:19:37]There's hypocrisy there. If it's not equal justice, by definition, it is not justice. They're picking and ch they're picking and choosing which rules to enforce in order to protect the system.

[00:19:52]And that fundamentally is unjust, right?

[00:19:57]So yes, I mean that's a big loss. It's a big big loss.

[00:20:02]>> Well, well, to be clear, it's not completely out. And that's that's where I do want to kind of nitpick that the detail >> nitpick on that. I'm I'm I'm glad that that that you're you're rebuffing on you're rebuffing me on that.

[00:20:15]>> So you're you're right. if it does get lost, which is what we're seeing happen, but currently it's not completely out.

[00:20:21]>> So, nitpick on that before I do want to get your opinion on Odell, right? So, you know where I stand, right? Where I'm kind of on the fence. I'm like, listen, I see both sides. I see how this could be a tremendous benefit to Bitcoin businesses in the United States, this being passed. And then simultaneously, I'm like, dude, like this is not good for >> I mean, look, I kind of agree with them.

[00:20:44]I've been saying for a while like kill the bill.

[00:20:46]>> So you're on the kill the bill.

[00:20:48]>> I mean I'm on and I said this a while ago like I don't agree with Brian Armstrong much but I do agree with the statement that we heard in January that I'd rather have no bill than a bad bill that actually hurts us. And by us, I mean us Bitcoiners because it it has been, you know, looking like for a while that the Clarity Act with all of its compromises, with the banks lobbying on it, that it has become a quote crypto bill and not so much a Bitcoin bill, maybe a digital assets bill or whatever you want to call it. And so, yes, I see there is some good in here. Like I mentioned when we covered the initial markup release that, hey, there is some good in it.

[00:21:29]But also if this provision does get tossed out then like it it doesn't set a good precedent for where we are and as we know we are currently in a privacy war in or in the world right now. There is a free speech fight going down right now on privacy. As we know, there's been a huge move towards digital IDs and CBDC's and basically, you know, transparency and everything in one app and all of our information being tracked and bagged for our benefit. And now it looks like if this does get tossed out, and I'll I'll jump into the the technicals here in a second.

[00:22:09]It does look like it's going to be very dangerous work to work on open-source software. And we already know like it's already a tough job for Bitcoin developers to work on Bitcoin. So yeah, it's it's looking it's looking not the best. But here, let me >> I I do So like I do want to add I I want to add more context so you guys understand like the hypocrisy.

[00:22:31]>> Well, can I can I read let's read the technicals and then and then we'll we'll chat about it cuz we we've been ranting for a minute.

[00:22:37]>> I mean, dude, it's good.

[00:22:39]>> This is the thing to talk about.

[00:22:40]>> Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. Okay, so here we go. So, as I said, it's not just a rumor coming from um wow, I'm blanking Marty's source on Capitol Hill. We are seeing Coin Center write about it. We saw the Bitcoin Policy Institute. They're a little more favorable on this. If you guys saw this tweet, they're saying huge. Uh Coin Center does echo what Bitcoin policy said. This is big, but I think they give us a little more insight into what is going on. So, here's Coin Center, Coinenter.org, and here's the headline.

[00:23:15]The BRCA did survive Clarity's markup, so let's not give up on it now. And I just highlighted a couple portions. So, as a reminder, the BRCA explicitly protects blockchain developers and service providers that do not have control over assets from being considered quote money transmitters for purposes of regulatory lensure and potential criminal liability. The purpose of the BRCA is to prevent what has already happened several times in the past. aggressive regulators and prosecutors broadly interpreting money transmission laws to target developers of blockchain tools or open-source development. So going a little further, what happened today? Obviously, as we saw, the Clarity Act passed. Wow. What's it might be your phone? The the Clarity Act pass markup. Well, it passed the Senate Banking Committee. We already passed the Senate Agricultural Committee. Now, that will be combined and that will be voted by the Senate and then that will be turned into the law.

[00:24:12]But here's where the nitty-gritty comes in. So, in order to gain wild wider support, the Lumis amendment removed recently added language that cross referenced the BRCA in order to exempt non-controlling developers and service providers from S301 or 301. Even with that language removed, 301 still contains robust developer protections.

[00:24:32]Most notably, the section is premised on a meaningful distinction between decentralized protocols and quote non-deentralized protocols in which a group of persons under common control have the ability to alter the protocol or restrict access. In other words, the section is designed to apply to actors doing more than simply developing and publishing permissionless and neutral software protocols for exchanging assets. We are still waiting and this is kind of the the big point here that really kind of relates to what we saw in the clip from Marty and Matt. We are still waiting the final full amendment text but have discussed various edits since January and have assurances that those edits maintain the essential components of the previous draft. Now going further, the BRCA remains necessary to clarify that a money transmitter, someone who takes control of the customer's assets and that blockchain developers who never exercise such control should not face the threat of criminal liability under money transmission laws. Now, what remains so far is workable and a principled compromise. At least this is what Coin Center saying. The BRCA continues to provide critical protections against misuse of money transmission laws by the DOJ and financial regulators while 301 preserves meaningful protections for truly decentralized developers, which might be the big kind of, you know, phrase here without abandoning long-standing securities laws principles applicable to intermediaries acting in positions of trust. Now, here's the big takeaway. This is where we currently stand. So, you heard all of our concerns. You heard kind of the breakdown of what is actually in contention here. Here's the final thoughts from Coin Center. And I think this is where we currently stand. Hence why the headline was like, let's not give up on this. But as I've been saying, as Marty and Matt kind of said, even as Nico has been kind of saying, and I think all of us have been feeling this is like if we finally get the final clarity act and it's bad, I think no bill might be better than a bad bill.

[00:26:31]Anyways, the final concern, the final takeaway here is the narrow support from Democrats and the potential for some stakeholders to abandon developer protections in favor of their own interests make Coin Center very concerned that last minute negotiations on the floor could strip the BRCA's developer protections from the br from the bill right at the time of passage.

[00:26:51]So again, this fight isn't over. It's not completely been scrapped. the the developer protections aren't gone yet, but as we've been seeing, the stable coin yield compromise has been the biggest concern. And if that still becomes contentious when the Final Clarity Act does get voted on by the Senate, there's been a lot of talk from a lot of the and I hate to, you know, get partisan here, but from the Democrats essentially talking about ethics provisions and a part of that, the developer protections might get scrapped to get a final bill through the door and signed by President Trump. So, the fight's not over. It's not completely doom and gloom, but we are seeing that if this is becoming the contentious point, there is a very very big possibility that it will probably get scrapped. So, the Clarity Act as of now, now we finally get the whole picture of what might be in it. I don't know, dude. I I think I might stand with no bill is better than a bad and this is why we have two hosts, right? Yeah, to give you guys to give you guys the the the uh >> I would say maybe balance view. Balance view from 242 IQ's.

[00:28:06]>> So I I kind of want to go back to the hypocrisy aspect that I was talking about a little bit earlier. And Opti, if you can make this widescreen because I'm I'm I'm be reading off of this.

[00:28:15]TD Bank pleaded guilty to historic federal charges of conspiracy to commit money and violating the Bank Secrecy Act, agreeing to pay over $3 billion in fines. An investigation revealed that the bank failed to monitor $18.3 trillion in transactions and was utilized by criminal networks to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

[00:28:41]TD Bank became the largest bank in US history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations in the major in the first major bank to plead guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to commit moneyaundering. The fines the 3 $3.09 09 billion total penalty includes payouts to the department of justice, the office of comproller of the currency and the federal the federal reserve and a record $1.3 billion penalty assessed by finent.

[00:29:11]Now check this out. What were they moneyaundering for? Fentinol trafficking. The bank's lacks oversight made it an attractive conduit for narcotic sales. In one notable scheme, traffickers bribed bank employees to launder up to $670 million, including bringing duffel bags filled with cash directly to branch counters.

[00:29:38]It goes on to say, "This sounds like Scarface, dude.

[00:29:43]No executive charges. Legal experts point out that assigning personal criminal liability is highly decentralized in big banks making intent difficult to prove. Consequently, no h high ranking executives were named or charged individ individually.

[00:30:02]Contrasting precedent and this is what I'm talking about. The lack of executive jail time has drawn heavy criticism, specifically compared to other Fed federal financial crackdowns, such as the 4month prison sentence handed to Binance founder CZ for similarly failing to maintain adequate anti-moneyaundering controls. So again, why couldn't CZ use the same argument? Why couldn't Arthur Hayes use the same argument? And this is why I'm telling you that this isn't justice. This is unequal justice. And if it's unequal justice, it ain't justice.

[00:30:43]It's rules for the but not for me. Now, to be fair, several low-level branch employees and retail bankers face extensive prison time after pleading guilty to acting as internal insiders for criminal syndicates. Okay, that's fine. then why couldn't the same argument be made for CZ and Arthur Hayes, right? So like again it's just like guys like the magnitude it it they were facilitating money laundering for narcotics. $18.3 trillion in transactions was utili utilized by criminal networks to launder hundreds of millions of dollars. $18.3 trillion.

[00:31:32]So like let's take Elizabeth Warren's stance here for a second.

[00:31:40]The banks have the regulations.

[00:31:43]The banks have the controls. The banks have the KYC's. They have everything that that you say that the Bitcoin industry doesn't have.

[00:31:53]Do you think the Bitcoin industry has facilitated $18.3 trillion in transactions and was utilized by criminal networks?

[00:32:02]The market cap of Bitcoin is 1.5 trillion.

[00:32:06]Again, it's unequal. It's not fair.

[00:32:09]Right? So any type of argument that they're making, you have to look at the incentive, which is so important because if they really cared about these things, if they really cared, then highlevel bank executives would be in jail.

[00:32:28]What about 2008 and 2009, which I would say was the biggest crime committed to the millennial generation, the Gen Z generation, the Gen Alpha generation, and the Gen Beta generation.

[00:32:40]No single high ranking banking executive went to jail for what happened in 2008.

[00:32:49]And that caused materially more harm to the American people, to the average American citizen, than anything that the Samurai Wallet developers did, than anything that Ross Obi did. Not even close.

[00:33:09]And then to weave this back in, this is exactly what the book The Sovereign Individual was talking about.

[00:33:18]I don't they're applying these what what was it? What's the the phrase? It's um it's it's prosecution by what is it?

[00:33:27]>> Uh engagement by enforcement or prosecution by enforcement >> or prosecution by enforcement. So if they're applying the rules unequally, then that isn't that isn't justice. That isn't the law. I mean technically you could say it's the law. These are cases, etc., etc. But that isn't justice. That by definition is unjust, right? So again, why are they so hellbent on that specific provision? And thank you for providing that Coin Center, you know, article. Um, but we do have to remember that Coin Center is a lobbying group and they're and they're obviously >> a little more shitcoiny focused.

[00:34:03]>> I didn't say that, but we like what they're doing or I like what they're doing, but you know, >> but like calling a spade a spade. I didn't say that. But you know, like >> I did >> like again if we want justice and if we want justice and we want equal equal application of the law, then why do the bankers get away with it? And then why does anybody from our industry get locked in a box? That's like clearly two different treatments of depending on where you are on the side of the football, right? And then you have to ask yourself, why is it that our industry gets targeted so much? And I I keep telling you guys, it's because they want a central bank digital currency.

[00:34:46]They do not want competition for a central bank digital currency. They do not want competition for it. I mean, I'm going to play you guys the clip after the break, but you know what? F it. I'm going to play you guys the clip right now of Elizabeth Warren saying the choir part out loud. It pushes more of the market into crypto and removes protections for investors and removes recourse for victims. That is the wrong direction to go in.

[00:35:10]>> All right.

[00:35:11]>> When this blows up at the economy, I hope everybody remembers.

[00:35:16]>> So, okay, let let's use th let's use those arguments.

[00:35:22]What What about 2008, Elizabeth Warren?

[00:35:25]I think you were a senator back then, weren't you not? What about 2008?

[00:35:29]>> Oh man.

[00:35:30]>> Were there recourses for all the individuals got that got affected for that?

[00:35:35]>> No. You know what happened? The big banks got a bailout. Main Street bailed out Wall Street. What about recourses then?

[00:35:46]Like again, I it's it's pure utter hypocrisy. That's the problem. It's pure utter hypocrisy. But I love that she's saying the quiet part out loud, which is like, you're goddamn right more of the economy is going to go into Bitcoin. And that's what you ultimately fear. That's what you ultimately fear. You fear Bitcoin being integrated into the traditional financial system because you know that once Bitcoin is integrated into the traditional financial system and all the Tradfi is starting to benefit from number go up, it's going to be a whole lot harder for you to roll out that CBDC and mandate the American people to adopt it. It's going to be a whole lot harder because all your donors, your big donors, and we know who the big donors of Elizabeth Warren are.

[00:36:36]They're the big banks.

[00:36:38]You know what? I don't think they're going to take your side so much on on that, right? So, again, like it it's just the pure and utter hypocrisy coming from the likes of Elizabeth Warren, right? These are the same people that were taking donations from Sam Bankman Freed, right? same people. So, it's like like you know it's rules for thee but not for me. It's unequal justice. And that is not right. That is not correct.

[00:37:08]And that's why I'm not I'm I'm these arguments. They fall short on me. They they they don't even make logical sense.

[00:37:14]And you're not being truthful. And you're taking a advantage of the information asymmetry with low information voters that don't know anything that have a preconceived notion of crypto.

[00:37:26]And unfortunately, and this is what I said yes on yesterday's show, unfortunately the Bitcoin industry gets joined with the crypto industry. Like if you are a lowinformation voter, if you don't know much about Bitcoin, you think that Bitcoin and crypto are one and the same. You cannot differentiate the two.

[00:37:49]So she's taking advantage of that. And what is that but not opportunist?

[00:37:56]What is that but not being honest? What is that but not being honest? Let's if if we want to talk about, you know, the the American people and who gets affected the most, you know who gets affected the most when they print money?

[00:38:12]It's the people that don't own assets.

[00:38:14]You know who doesn't own assets? The lower and middle classes. These are the people that Elizabeth Warren is saying that she's advocating for. This is the thing that Bitcoin specifically fixes.

[00:38:30]So, let's be real here about what's going on. She's being dishonest with her arguments. She's being incredibly dishonest.

[00:38:40]And maybe it's because she doesn't know any better. Or maybe, and I agree with Opti, by the way, or maybe, again, it's because she wants an alternative system and she knows that that alternative system isn't popular. She ran part of the Camala campaign, ran on, this is Elizabeth Warren's own campaign slogan, creating an anti-crypto army.

[00:39:10]That didn't work out too well during the election. But again, simultaneously, it doesn't help. And I told you guys she was going to use this as ammunition. I told you guys this. It doesn't help that the Trump and that that President Trump launched a memecoin a week before he got inaugurated and the memecoin was like straight up like a pump and dump, right?

[00:39:32]It doesn't help, right? That doesn't help the case, right? And I told you guys that what was always going to was going to be weaponized as well is the fact that Iran made this announcement that they were going to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment to pass the straight of Hormuz. So I mean that's my take on all that Opti. I mean like it's it's kind of like you know it's rules for thee and not for me. It's unequal justice. It's not it's not right. It's not correct. I'm not buying her arguments. and she's taking advantage of the fact that some people just don't know any better. They just don't It's It's not that they don't know any better. It's just that they're just not truly informed about what's actually going on and she's clearly taking advantage of that.

[00:40:16]Yeah. I mean, not surprised at all to be honest here, but I it's probably tripe to say at this point, but in our circles, we all know the real criminals use a dollar. So, like I I know I know it's I know it's like a meme, but That could be like but like okay like that could be like a like a meme and like whatever but like I ran you guys the numbers like >> Yeah, that's what that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. But anyway.3 trillion dollar in transactions was utilized by criminal networks to launder hundreds of millions of dollars via TD Bank, a heavily regulated bank within the traditional financial system with all the KYC and AML uh protections.

[00:40:57]Despite all of that, $18.3 trillion in transactions. And by the way, the vast majority of money laundering and the ma vast majority of elicit finance is still conducted through the traditional financial system. It's not conducted through the Bitcoin protocol or the Bitcoin network. So why is there such a focus on this and not on that? And the reason is because they don't control this, but they control that. And ultimately what it comes down to is they care about control.

[00:41:31]That's what it comes down to. So anyways, I think we've covered this thoroughly in my opinion. Yeah, probably too long. Um, actually, one last thing I do want to say because I have been mentioning this for a long time. It is very interesting, especially now that we're seeing a lot more conversation around Bitcoin in Washington DC, that they always kind of say the same thing that if the system is failing, and there's obviously debate on that. It is funny that the framing is, oh, look, hey, it might be frame uh failing, but like don't don't look at what the left hand's doing. It's because of what Bitcoin's doing, and we're we're basically going to become the scapegoat here. And we've been talking about that for a long time. Like if the god forbid we see an absolute meltdown of the traditional financial system, we all probably know they're going to be blaming Bitcoin and and crypto. It's it's like it's being telegraphed now. I mean, I don't know if it's actually going to happen that way, but if it does, know that we will be the scapegoats >> 100%. And people aren't going to be able to differentiate between Bitcoin and crypto. And unfortunately, this law, too, again, it like the reason it's been held up for so long is because this bill isn't just a Bitcoin bill. It's a Bitcoin and DeFi and crypto and and everything. And Opti's like laughing his ass off.

[00:42:54]>> I'm laughing at the chat. I'm laughing at the chat. Opti is the left hand.

[00:42:58]Oh, man. Okay. Um All right. All right.

[00:43:01]I I think we've >> I think we've beaten the dead.

[00:43:04]>> We We've covered it thoroughly.

[00:43:06]>> Yeah. Yeah. I think.

[00:43:07]>> Anyways, guys, we're going to be right back just after the break. Uh stay tuned because we have a video of Senator uh uh Senator Lumis talking about the significance of this bill, how difficult it's been to pass, and we have to understand where we are in the movie, the pivotal shift that is happening in human society with the integration of Bitcoin, with the adoption of Bitcoin worldwide, what it means for us as human civilization, what it means for us as a country, what it means for us as the world, right? Um, and I think Elizabeth Warren touched on a little bit of that.

[00:43:42]So, we're going to be right back just after the break. Stay tuned.

[00:43:47]Today's episode is brought to you by Bitcoin Well Infinite. If you're a serious Bitcoin buyer, you've probably hit the same wall. Most platforms make you give up custody just to play by the rules. Bitcoin Well Infinite fixes that.

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[00:45:57]All right, everybody. Welcome back. By the way, guys, we're developing something new. We can't tell you what it is, but it's coming very, very soon.

[00:46:06]We've been working on this for the last couple months. We've put a lot of love and a lot of attention into it. It is not a shitcoin, but if you want to find more about what we're working on, scan the QR code on your screen right now and you can sign up. All you got to put, all you got to do is you put your your email and we'll update you on it. But we're very very excited to announce what we've been working on on Simply Bitcoin. And again, it's not a shitcoin. It's not an altcoin, ladies and gentlemen. So, because I know it gives that kind of vibe when you're saying it that way, but it's not. It's really, really awesome. a lot of love, a lot of attention, and you're going to find a lot of value out of it if you're a Bitcoiner. So, scan the QR code below uh and uh it will take you to the website. Anyways, at the time of recording, the Bitcoin price is $79,440.

[00:46:54]Sats per dollar, 1259. Block height 949,540.

[00:47:00]Realized monetary inflation 83%. Market cap 1.59 trillion. Bitcoin verse gold market cap 5.29%. 29% Percentage issued 95.3% decline from all-time high negative 37%.

[00:47:17]So if you're buying Bitcoin right now, you're getting it at a 37% discount.

[00:47:22]Anyways, no more delay. Here is Senator Lumis talking about the significance and the difficulty that it's been passing the Clarity Act into law.

[00:47:33]I'll let her talk about it.

[00:47:36]This is the hardest piece of legislation I've ever worked on. I served 14 years in the Wyoming legislature, eight years as state treasure, and now 14 years in the Congress. This is by far the hardest piece of legislation I've ever worked on. And your colleague, uh, Kirsten Gillibrand said the same thing, and she has more experience than I do in the US Senate. And it's because this is a case of first impression.

[00:48:04]This is a very new commodity and security and it takes time to craft something to address the innovation that has been brought about through blockchain technology.

[00:48:23]And that's why it's taken such a bipartisan effort, heavy lift, lots of negotiations, involvement from those people who are in the industry. And it has morphed since we began this bill five years ago because the industry has matured over those years. This is new and to have something this innovative uh come to us uh via legislation today really is quite remarkable. So I want to thank the people in this room uh both in the audience and at the table for their tireless dedication.

[00:49:08]Treasury, the White House, the industry, we have all worked hard together. And I pledge to you, we will continue to work hard together after today and before this bill hits the floor to address that maybe 1% of the remaining issues uh that didn't come to fruition uh before today. In spite of our roundthe-c clock negotiations, this is America's innovation of the 250th anniversary of our Constitution. There's been nothing like it in our history. Um, this bill continues the legacy of America by ensuring innovation happens here on US soil under clear progrowth pro-consumer guidelines. And I can't resist, Mr. chairman when I was listening to uh the ranking uh member the risks of which she spoke exists now right now because there is no regulatory framework. There is no way now uh that this industry can protect the good actors, discover, vet and punish the bad actors and create a playing field with clear regulation both at the SEC and the CFTC that everyone can play under and continue to innovate. We can return this industry to the United States because the majority of it has already left for overseas because this legislation wasn't ready until today.

[00:51:13]>> Dude, I can't I can't believe I I I had the honor of being able to to interview her. Um, epic epic speech, right? And, you know, she hit on all the points. Um, but you you heard it from Senator Lumis.

[00:51:27]This has been the most difficult bill and you said you heard her say how um how gamechanging this would be for the country and how how pivotal this would be for the country and how unique this specific bill is and how throughout her entire career she's never had so much difficulty passing a bill. And I think that tells you everything you need to know. And then again, I think the the the beauty kind of like the the the the symbolism of the Trump administration's goal of getting this passed by July 4th, which again would be the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, which again, maybe it got a little bit sidetracked, you could say. Uh but this was a country that, you know, was founded on the base of freedom, right?

[00:52:20]Um, so you know what is Bitcoin but not freedom.

[00:52:25]Anyways, I have some other updates for you guys.

[00:52:28]>> I I before we go, I I do just want to say I I do appreciate Senator Lumis' optimism on this. Obviously, as you guys know, I've been very cynical about the whole Bitcoin meets politics, Bitcoin meets Washington DC, but we I think every single Bitcoiner throughout this whole process has realized like Senator Lumis is the real MVP. You know, if you don't know Senator Lumis, I know some people just have a blanket cynicism about politicians, but I think Senator Lumis has really put in the good fight.

[00:52:58]We all know she's basically going to be gone 2027. She's, you know, going to move on to bigger and better things, but she is a Bitcoiner and she, >> let's be specific, she's not running for re-election.

[00:53:09]>> Exactly. She's not running for re-election. Yeah, that actually that might have sounded worse than I than I wanted it to. Um, but she is a Bitcoiner. She's been holding Bitcoiner or sorry, been holding Bitcoin. She has Bitcoiners, very, very influential Bitcoiners that are part of her family, her extended family. like yes, she's only one piece of, you know, everything going on in Washington DC, but I think every single one of us can truly say that she's done everything that she could. And I think we all got to give, you know, Senator Lumis, the Bitcoin senator, a lot of praise for the work she's done. I'm sure it was a lot harder than we've seen publicly. I'm sure, you know, it it definitely, as she said in that clip, tried her like it was it was very difficult. So, hey, again, I know I've been cynical about this process, what's going to go in the Clarity Act, etc. But I do got to give the props to Senator Lumis for for staying in the fight, for doing the fight, for being in the arena, as we always say. So, you know, shouts out to Senator Lumis. I I truly love the optimism there. Absolutely. Guys, we still have a ton to get to right after the break. Uh, I'm going to give you guys an update on poly market. Also historic day, ladies and gentlemen, coming out of the Federal Reserve. I'll give you guys an update on the Federal Reserve. Who is on the Federal Reserve, what their stance is on Bitcoin, and also some news coming out of JP Morgan?

[00:54:41]Again, another major major bank moving uh towards the industry. So guys, stay tuned. You're not going to want to miss it. And OPTI's got something special for you guys during the culture segment.

[00:54:53]Someone used Claude to break into an old Bitcoin wallet they thought they lost the passcode to.

[00:55:01]>> Does Can AI crack our wallets?

[00:55:03]>> So, no, there's there's more there's more nuance there. There's more detail totally. You guys don't want to miss the rest of the content for the rest of the show. So, stay tuned. We're going to be right back just after this quick break.

[00:55:16]>> I want to give a shout out to our partner, Letin. Here's something most Bitcoin holders never figure out until it's too late. You're sitting on wealth you can't touch without selling. Letin fixes that. Bitcoin back loans. You keep your stack. You get cash. And they just introduced their lowest rates ever. No complexity, no fine print. The larger the loan, the lower the rate. These new rates apply to all new loans, refinances, and renewals. You'll see all the rates up front before you apply. The new lower rates come with Letin's Gold Standard protection. Your Bitcoin remains custodied and is never lent out for interest. Perfect 8-year track record of keeping clients assets safe.

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[00:57:04]All right everybody, we are back ladies and gentlemen. Uh I do want to talk about um the new bit key guys. So now there's bit key gen 2. So it's an update to the bit key. Again, if you go to bitkey.world, use promo code simply. You'll be able to get 10% off Gen 2 Bit Key. It has a screen on the back. I'll be able to show it off to you guys next week. Uh but guys, guys, again, not your keys, not your cheese. You want to take self-custody of your Bitcoin. If your Bitcoin is not in self- custody, does it really belong to you? So, go to bitkkey.world today and use promo code simply. Again, promo code simply to get 10% off anything on the bitkey.world store. All right, everybody, getting into today's news. Uh, massive, massive news coming out of the Federal Reserve.

[00:58:02]And again, I'm going to say the line that OPTI absolutely hates. Elections have consequences.

[00:58:10]So, um, Jerome Powell's tenure at Fed Chair ends today.

[00:58:16]And now we have a new Fed chair. And check this out. Uh, River did a pretty good job at putting this together. These are >> Will you click it? Will you click it?

[00:58:27]>> These are all the uh, Fed governors. Um, and uh, let's check this out. Kevin Worsh quote, "If you're under 40, Bitcoin is your new gold." Michelle Bowman again, and they put pro and and neutral and all that stuff. So, Kevin Walsh, the chair, is pro stance on Bitcoin. Again, he said, "If you're under 40, Bitcoin is your new gold."

[00:58:52]Michelle Bowman, pro, she's the VC super uh I think supervision. Does he mean supervisor? I guess supervision. Uh, you don't need a tech background to appreciate the opportunity that blockchain provides to the financial system. That's a big one. Chris Waller Pro, I have always argued that Bitcoin was going to end up being something like electronic gold. It's a store of value.

[00:59:18]That is massive, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:59:20]Jerome Powell, neutral to positive. It's like gold only it's virtual gold. It's really a competitor to gold. Lisa Cook, neutral to positive. she says encourages financial innovation while cautious of stability risks. Phil Phillip Jefferson, he is a vice chair uh neutral to unknown, no public record statement on Bitcoin or digital assets. And then Michael Bar, the only cautious/skeepical one, emphasizes guard rails, consumer protection, and financial stability risk. Again, these these are like these are like 2017 arguments. Like what about the guardrails on the banks laundering money? What about like consumer protection from debasement of the currency? I want consumer protection from debasement of the currency, right?

[01:00:05]I What about financial stability risk?

[01:00:07]What about, you know, not debasing the currency? I would say that that causes more financial instability for the lower middle classes than any type of, you know, thing that Bitcoin does. So again, you know, but we're making progress, ladies and gentlemen. More of these are pro to neutral than cautious/keepical.

[01:00:27]So again, you could see how elections have consequences. You can see how the political winds are moving. You could see how the cultural needle to worldwide Bitcoin adoption is moving as well. And also, I want to get to this other headline before I get OP's takes on all of this. JP Morgan increases Bitcoin ETF holdings by 174% according to an article on Intellectia.ai.

[01:00:55]Significant increases. JP Morgan disclosed a 174% increase in its holdings of Black Rockck's ETF and its Q1205 filings, making a notable shift in the bank's exposure to Bitcoin ETFs and indicating growing interest from traditional financial institutions in crypto products. Quarterly comparison.

[01:01:20]The report shows a substantial increase in JP Morgan's Black Rockck position as of March 31st, 2025 compared to the end of Q4 of 2024. Although the exact timing and price of the increase remain unclear, suggesting a combination of market value appreciation and potential new shares share purchases. Market attention. As the largest bank in the US, JP Morgan's increase in Bitcoin ETF exposure draws significant market attention, signaling that large financial institutions are actively engaging with regulated crypto project uh products with IBIT being the dominant vehicle for institutional Bitcoin exposure since its launch in January of 2024. Regulatory transparency. The 13F filing provides market participants with a transparent view into how banks and asset managers are positioning themselves around Bitcoin. And while it does not clarify the reasons behind JP Morgan's increase in IBIT, the scale of the change undoubtedly contributes positively to the narrative of institutional adoption of Bitcoin ETFs.

[01:02:34]I mean, is it the best? No.

[01:02:38]Is it a step in the right direction?

[01:02:40]Yes. Would I have wished them to say, "Hey, JP Morgan significantly increased by 174% their spot Bitcoin exposure to Bitcoin." Absolutely.

[01:02:58]I don't know, man. Like look, like the problem with the ETF is like ultimately guys, like the way we win is institutions, nations, states, and individuals taking Bitcoin into self-custody. That's how we win.

[01:03:16]What's yet to be seen and yet to be determined is like what happens if the majority of these institutions don't adopt traditional spot Bitcoin but they adopt Bitcoin through the ETF.

[01:03:35]Is that regulatory capture? Are they going to have influence over the Bitcoin network? Is Black Rockck going to propose a fork of some type?

[01:03:46]and then force the exchanges through regulations to adopt that certain fork and you know like these are all considerations to have right um OPI thoughts ideas concerns um well look I'll start with the JP Morgan news because we also saw this morning that a US or sorry uh UAE sovereign wealth fund has also will increase their exposure. I forget the name. It's like moo mudala or moo, forgive me, but we've been we've been covering them for a while. So anyways, with this idea of the institutions coming in, obviously we're not at the full at the scale of full-blown FOMO into Bitcoin, but I think we are seeing the foundations for I don't want to say the institutional push or I was going to say like capture of Bitcoin, but we are seeing that the institutions are here.

[01:04:47]Whether you love them or hate them, whether you're a fan of the ETFs or not, it's becoming very obvious that, and I've said this before, I think 2026 is going to be the year that we can very clearly stamp on the history of Bitcoin as the year that we did get embraced for better or worse. And this is starting a new era in Bitcoin. It is starting a new phase in Bitcoin, potentially the ending of the early adopter into the early majority phase. Now, it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. Obviously, as I've been showing on the show, as we've been covering for a while, retail is nowhere to be found. So, institutions are the ones currently, again, for better or worse, that are wholly in control of where the short-term action of Bitcoin is going. I'm sure that will change at a certain point. We will see Bitcoin, I believe, pop to the up upside once they're obviously either have their bags packed or they can no longer really control the momentum and liquidity of buying of Bitcoin. But where we currently are is obviously them trying to position themselves and this is further data points for that idea. Now for I believe personally what is more interesting to me obviously I'm as you guys know I I've really started to follow a lot more on the macro stuff and it is I would say a stark change from what I've done in the past you know I came into Bitcoin and was like and the Fed I don't care about what 12 people deliberate about in uh inflation rates and interest rates and all this stuff like to me I don't think 12 people you know a small group of people should be able to one control the money supply, but two be able to have enough information to accurately predict what is best for the economy. That's just kind of my my first principles here. But what is very interesting is we are seeing the end of an era. You know, Jerome Powell's out. The the J Powell memes I think we have to put to rest now. No more J Powell money printer meme. We're going to have to update this. So, it is an end to an era here.

[01:06:56]We are in the midst of a transitional period from a Jerome Powellled Fed to now a Kevin Worshled Fed. Now that is going to be obviously a cultural change.

[01:07:09]He you know Kevin Worsh is now the basically the leader of the Fed. So there will be some some change here.

[01:07:17]Now, as I've said in the past, what is going to be the most interesting thing to me is if we encounter a Gary Gendzer type scenario here where he is pro Bitcoin before he gets in a position of power and then afterwards, what is his stance going to be? Now, obviously, in a more macro sense, what we what is going to be very interesting for every single one of us is whether Worsh is going to cut interest rates. How is he going to be hawkish? Is is it going to be doubbish? Are we going to see an increase in interest rate cuts or are we going to see kind of a similar standing, you know, holding down of what Jerome Powell did? Are we going to see quote independence from the Fed or will he do exactly what the Trump administration wants, which we know what they want?

[01:08:05]They want to cut interest rates. The money printer is going to turn on. So, it is an interesting time. Now, I know a lot of Bitcoiners don't really care about the Fed. I know we have the classic idea of like, I thought we got into Bitcoin so that we can, you know, separate money from state. Why are you guys talking about the Fed so much?

[01:08:22]Well, part of this story is the connection between what is happening at the Fed and what these institutions are doing. Because as we have a new investor coming into Bitcoin, they are looking at the broader macro markets, they are looking at different signals in the market to invest their capital. Now, if Bitcoin isn't being led by retail FOMO or retail investors or us Bitcoiners anymore and it is being led by the institutional capital, then this is why we are starting to see and as the signals have been saying and we've been repeating on this show, Bitcoin is entering into the macroeconomic picture.

[01:09:04]Bitcoin is growing up. It is maturing.

[01:09:06]So, we kind of can't just dig our heads in the sand anymore and ignore everything going on in the macro. As we like to joke, we are all macro experts now. You know, every every couple of months on Twitter, we become a new expert on something that is going crazy in the world. Well, now I think it's upon us to really look at what is happening in the macro, global, economic perspective so that we can very clearly and truthfully view Bitcoin in the proper context. I think that is probably the biggest signal that I'm getting. I actually I I do want to move on to the culture, but I'm reminded of this Magoo tweet and I really liked it. It it was it's I was laughing about it. It's a good troll. I love Magoo. He's a really good troll.

[01:09:57]But he did say something and even though it was a troll, it does, I think, have a lot of signal in it. And you guys might get mad about it, but this the tweet was something on the lines of um you can't take financial advice from Bitcoiners because they are basing their perspective on how they wish the world was versus how the world is. And I think there is a very, you know, there's a very strong case to to like see that there is some some value in that troll.

[01:10:30]And this is what I've been trying to do on this show for the last year and a half. This is what I'm going to continuously try to do is obviously try to look at the at the world at economics, geopolitical situations and have as clear of a lens as possible so that I can, you know, give you the best insight that that puts Bitcoin in the context of the global markets. And obviously that's not going to change how I view Bitcoin, but it will, I think, change how I'm seeing Bitcoin in the context of the broader markets and the broader view here. And so I think right now it is very important for us to really recognize, okay, we have a changing of the guard at the Fed. Things are going to be at the very least a little different. Now, how does Bitcoin react in this environment now? And I think that's something that we will constantly be talking about. I will obviously be reiterating and trying to update my perspective on things.

[01:11:29]>> I mean, I don't know if if uh Kevin Wash is going to beat the POW memes, bro.

[01:11:34]Like, it's >> he's not going to beat the the anime money.

[01:11:37]>> Like like what are we going to do? We're not going to put POW on the thumbnails now? Like, you know, that's that's kind of sad. Could we have like a moment of silence?

[01:11:47]>> All right, it's over.

[01:11:50]Not wait a moment of to be clear a moment of silence for the J pal money printer meme not for necessarily J pow leaving.

[01:11:57]>> I mean both >> honestly I'm I might hot take we should have put him on the thumbnail today.

[01:12:05]>> We probably should have hot take though I'm starting to come around on on Jay Powell. I don't know if he was as bad as we all thought he was and and that's probably like in hindsight Wait, hold on. Hold on. In hindsight, you know, it's like you don't know what you got until you lose it.

[01:12:21]>> You're you're you're bearish on uh >> No, I'm not bearish on Kevin Walsh. I I'm actually pretty bullish on him, but I'm just saying we we the unknown unknowns. We don't know what we don't know and we don't know what is going to happen. So, look, I'm just holding out.

[01:12:39]Look, I don't think Jay Powell is probably gonna go down in history as one of the best Fed chairs, but it might he might not be as bad as we thought he was is all I'm all I'm trying to say. Uh I don't think necessarily that Kevin Wash is going to be worse.

[01:12:54]That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying maybe we kind of gave him a really hard time and maybe maybe maybe we can just look back on the memes and remember the good times.

[01:13:06]Maybe. I don't know. Hey, look, maybe he's the worst Fed chair we've had, but I'm just saying I'm I'm not going to um say he's going to have the best Fed chair legacy, but I'm also not necessarily saying that I I'm 100% convinced that he was the worst Fed chair.

[01:13:22]>> Maybe, maybe, maybe.

[01:13:24]>> I think time I think hindsight will will help me make that decision.

[01:13:28]>> Oh, guys, we're going to be right back just after the break. We're going to hit the culture. We're going to talk about Claude. Apparently, Claude helped someone recover. AI's cracking Bitcoin wallets, boys. It's over.

[01:13:40]>> We're going to be right back.

[01:13:42]>> I want to give a shout out to our partner, Hive Digital Technologies.

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[01:15:20]Wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, the chat's funny there, guys. I'm trolling. Yeah, I'm not funny. I'm I'm not funny here. I was trolling. Okay, Chef Tommy, I was trolling. I'm trolling. Okay, it was a troll. Hold the tomatoes. I was trolling. Okay. All right. Anyways, what what happened? I'm sure you guys some of you guys have saw um if if you're not on Twitter. Oh, wait. Scene scene. Scene.

[01:15:45]Sorry. Whatever, dude. It's It's the last bit of the Friday show. All right.

[01:15:51]Give me some give me a break here. Okay.

[01:15:53]Um I'm sure some of you guys have seen if you are perpetually online like we are and you're on Twitter and you yell at us like Opti, this is old news. Yeah.

[01:16:04]Well, you know, we've had guests on all week. I didn't have an opportunity to talk about this. Okay. I wanted to talk about it earlier. I actually wanted to make a show on this, but no one really cares about AI. I I was going to really do a clickbait FUD title on this, but um I my my my better angels got the best of me. Anyways, anyways, what am I talking about? So, this guy CP RKM uh on Twitter, he goes, "Holy effing shiite. Oh my god, Claude just cracked this. Thank you, Enthropic AI. Thank you, Dario Omeia, naming my kid after you. So, uh, apparently he used he lost his wallet. Uh, he says, "My I've been locked out of my Bitcoin wallet for 9 years, and he basically let Claude in." And, I'll give you the whole tweet where he kind of breaks it down. He let Claude have access to his Bitcoin wallet, and it helped him get back into his Bitcoin wallet that he was locked out of. Now, obviously the prevailing FUD line, if you want to use that, is like, uh-oh, AI's cracking Bitcoin wallets, guys.

[01:17:14]It's all over with like, you know, Bitcoin, like, why? What are we doing here? AI is going to take over the world. We're all cooked. Like, there's no point in doing anything. Now, I don't think that's the case. Um, there is a very particular kind of technical aspect of this, which is obviously why Claude was able to help this guy get into his Bitcoin wallet. So, here we go. Here's like the uh I guess the summary of it.

[01:17:38]He goes, "So, he gave Claude access to the hardware that his Bitcoin wallet was on." And it goes, "Okay, let me check BitTover's actual second pass decryption." Ran two codes. It goes, "Let me use BTC recover directly with dump private keys to decrypt." Ran two commands. It goes, "Found the bug. The password passed is in shared key plus password uh concatenated.

[01:18:03]Rand decrypt with correct BTC recover algorithm. Shared key plus password.

[01:18:08]Private keys decrypted. Let me convert to a WIF format and verify addresses.

[01:18:13]Ran three commands. And he got into his wallet that had five Bitcoin in it. So for this guy, super hyped. Got into what what's five Bitcoin right now? It's like >> five times 80,000. Someone do the math.

[01:18:28]>> Yeah. Yeah. A decent size. Decent size.

[01:18:31]Anyways, let's go. Let's go further. And he goes, "I tried like 7 trillion passwords. Found this old pneumonic a few weeks ago that ended up being the old password before I changed it.

[01:18:42]Thought I was screwed. Last ditch effort. Dumped my whole college computer into Claude. It found an old wallet file that the pneumonic successfully decrypted. Locked out 11 plus years because I got stoned and changed the password. Spent $250 on each law. Holy f." and he goes, "Seriously, shout out to Enthropic AI. Ended up being the most obvious opening ever, but I would have been too dumb to figure it out. Best part is the password was lol 420 [ __ ] the police with with some characters."

[01:19:15]And then he goes, "Last tweet muting.

[01:19:17]Ask Claude to summarize our recovery efforts. TLDDR tried roughly 3.5 trillion passwords. None worked. ended up matching an old seed phrase that I found in a college notebook with an old wallet file. So, to be clear, and to minimize the fact that you guys are going to say I'm fdding, Claude didn't actually crack the password if it wasn't help from, you know, the guy finding some stuff. So, here we go. It goes, "Blockchain.com wallet recovery recap. what we were trying to do.

[01:19:51]Recover five Bitcoin stuck in a blockchain.com wallet encrypted with a forgotten second password. The recovery path that worked, an old wallet backup from a December 2019 download on an old computer was decryptable with the old second password that we already knew from a notebook pneummonic. Bitcoin private keys never change, only the encryption around them does. Decrypting the old backup with the old password gave us the same private keys controlling the current funds. swept five Bitcoin out, roughly 395K.

[01:20:20]What we tried, that didn't work. Eight weeks of effort. Uh BTC Recover, roughly three 34 billion passwords tested.

[01:20:29]Hashcat, roughly 3.4 trillion passwords tested across generic brute force pattern attacks and gap phase attacks.

[01:20:37]Pneumonic decoding found two blockchain.com legacy pneumonics in a notebook decoded them to old main and old second passwords and then comprehensive password search across two max um total passwords tested roughly 3.5 trillion nonmatched current hash total spend $15 on a vast Li GPU rental and then just to put the cherry on top this is probably the funniest part about this whole saga he tweeted later. Best part is I'm finally able to dump my Bitcoin cash. F you, Roger.

[01:21:14]Legend. Legend. Absolute legend. One of us. One of us. One of us.

[01:21:18]>> One of us.

[01:21:19]>> Um, but like the technicals of it.

[01:21:21]Obviously Claude or AI didn't actually crack the wallet.

[01:21:27]>> No, no, no. It just found his password.

[01:21:28]>> It just Yeah, it exactly. So, you know, shouts out to this guy and backing up.

[01:21:34]>> It didn't crack the password yet.

[01:21:37]H dude, you're already getting bearish on me. Already getting bearish. But hey, I guess the takeaway here is one, uh, probably don't smoke while you are, you know, riding down your seed for phrase.

[01:21:51]>> He didn't know, bro. This was back in the day.

[01:21:54]>> I know, but we are >> this five bitcoin was probably worth like like >> I mean 11 years ago it's worth it was worth like what what's 2015? Maybe like 500 bucks.

[01:22:05]>> Yeah. some maybe 5,000 bucks, dude.

[01:22:07]That's if it's Can you imagine those nine years of just like >> hating yourself? But anyways, anyways, we are in 2026. So, good hygiene when you are writing down your seed phrase.

[01:22:20]We were getting there. We were getting there and your seed phrase and your password.

[01:22:24]>> Stamp them or use the bit key, which is seedless, right?

[01:22:29]>> And and on top of that, probably don't smoke while you're doing this process.

[01:22:34]you should be as sober and clear-headed as possible.

[01:22:37]>> I agree with that.

[01:22:38]>> And or as well, multiple backups.

[01:22:41]>> I agree with that, too.

[01:22:42]>> Um, but, you know, it it is a pretty pretty kind of cool story for this guy. First of all, obviously, he got back into his wallet. Shouts out to AI. I guess AI is might be good for something.

[01:22:54]>> Might be good. Might be good for something.

[01:22:56]>> And um, yeah, AI is not cracking Bitcoin wallets. So, but it's a good FUD line. I do like the good line. has the quantum.

[01:23:05]>> Okay. So, never.

[01:23:08]Anyways, guys, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Simply Bitcoin Live. I do want to give a shout out. That's a crazy story, by the way.

[01:23:17]Uh, >> wait, wait, wait. This is This is funny.

[01:23:20]3 point Hold on. 3.5 trillion passwords and none of them were 420. [ __ ] the police.

[01:23:27]That's a good one, guys. You don't want to miss the largest Bitcoin Bitcoin mining conference of the year, Mining Disrupt, July 21st through the 23rd in Miami, Florida. You definitely don't want to miss it. It's going to be the biggest Bitcoin conference of the year. Again, July 21st through the 23rd of 2026 in Miami, Florida. Mining Disrupt. You don't want to miss it. Get your tickets now by scanning the QR code on your screen. that gets you 20% off Mining Disrupt tickets. And of course, the entire Simply Bitcoin crew will be there. You definitely don't want to miss it. We'll see you guys at Mining Disrupt. Take care, everybody.

[01:24:11]>> Today's episode was brought to you by Bitcoinwell.com, a Bitcoin platform on a mission to enable financial independence.