Rabbit Hole Recap: Stimulus Package 2020.03.23
3/23/2020 · 82 min · transcript via mlx
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Key topics
— The Federal Reserve announced unlimited quantitative easing (QE infinity) with no dollar caps on asset purchases, removing previous limits on Treasury securities, mortgage-backed securities, and corporate debt purchases.
— Neil Kashkari stated the Fed has an "infinite amount of cash" available, contradicting his earlier claim that the dollar's scarcity comes from the government's monopoly on production.
— The House stimulus bill failed to pass twice and contained unrelated pork provisions including election audit funding, climate change studies, and African Development Fund contributions, revealing that politicians prioritized special interests over crisis response.
— Bitcoin continues to outperform traditional markets; since March 12, 2017, Bitcoin has outperformed the S&P 500, and the price hovered around $6,323 at recording time.
— Privacy tools for Bitcoin are rapidly improving: JoinMarket released fidelity bonds to combat Sybil attacks in CoinJoin transactions, Whirlpool volume tripled in March, and Nodl Dojo integrated Whirlpool CLI for automated coin mixing.
— Governments worldwide are expanding surveillance capabilities under the guise of coronavirus response: Israel implemented phone tracking, the DOJ sought indefinite detention without trial, and the Chula Vista Police deployed drones with facial recognition and audio capabilities to monitor lockdowns.
Market & price signals
— Bitcoin traded around $6,323 per dollar (sats per USD) at episode recording. Fee-to-subsidy ratio stood at 3.17%, with average fees per block at 0.4 BTC. Hash rate had declined slightly to approximately 102 exahashes per second. The halving remained scheduled for May 12 with 7,318 blocks remaining. Since July 12, 2017, Bitcoin has outperformed the S&P 500—Bitcoin rose above $6,000 while the S&P fell below $2,300 during the market turmoil discussed in this episode.
Actionable insights
— Opt out of the corrupt system from the bottom up: Rather than trusting politicians or central bankers to solve crises, focus on building personal freedom and resilience through open-source tools, Bitcoin adoption, and hardened privacy practices like Graphene OS and CoinJoin mixing.
— Use Lightning-enabled exchanges and non-custodial tools: Platforms like LN Markets offer derivatives trading via Lightning with instant settlement and no registration; however, verify legality in your jurisdiction before trading.
— Enable automatic Bitcoin stacking on Cash App: The recently released sats-display feature and incoming auto-buy functionality (referenced as "coming soon") make passive accumulation simpler; set up recurring purchases to remove emotion from timing.
Episode sponsorships
Paid placements mentioned in this episode. BTC Pods is not sponsored by or affiliated with these advertisers. Links are included so you can find offers mentioned on the show.
— Cash App lets you buy, sell, send, and receive Bitcoin with integrated Lightning Network payments for fast, cheap transactions and automatic DCA stacking with zero fees on buys over $2,000; withdraw on-chain or to Lightning 24/7 to your own node or hardware wallet. For a limited time, new Cash App customers can get $21 added to their balance by using code TFTC10 when you sign up, and send at least $5 to a friend in the first two weeks; terms apply. Bitcoin services by Block, Inc. See Bitcoin disclosures at https://cash.app/legal/podcast.