48 - Getting feet on the pedals
🇹🇭 We are now fully settled in to our new apartment in Central Bangkok. This is an amazing place with so much atmosphere, so many interesting things to do and people to meet and it's warm and sunny!
With a longer term horizon available now we scaled back on the tourist location visits and focussed on getting our routines going as well as the inevitable administration that goes with international travel.
I also found what seems to be a great little Yoga studio. It takes a short motorbike taxi ride to get to it but this is just one of the joys of Bangkok. I'll let you know more about how this goes and my goal is to get back into my regular yoga practice that I have managed to do in the past - and I still need to fit in all the Bitcoin meetups and project work that I have on the go.
One thing that we do miss from Hong Kong is the ready availability of the hiking trails and all the hikers. Bangkok really is a world city and whilst there are parks around they do not compare with the easy accessibility to nature that you have in Hong Kong. The solution that many adopt (and we may well too) is to spend some time in Bangkok and alternate with time in other locations like Chiangmai and Hua Hin.
This year we will also be including some European travel in our planning - more on that in due course. How is your planning going? Recall we did discuss some tips and tricks to help you get that done.
I was encouraged this week to hear from one of my subscribers who is making a 2-month move to live and work in HK to get some world experience. May the force be with him - and who knows, it does seem that HK (and China) are switching into a different gear for this next phase of the game. He could well "catch a wave"!
I was happy to hear too from another subscriber that the HK Bitcoin Meetup is alive and well and he really enjoyed the latest meeting. Nice too to have one of the co-founders of the HK Bitcoin Association visiting here in Bangkok for a bit.
📖 Book of the week
I was happy to have a bit more time to get back into book reading again and I read an amazing book this week. I had to struggle to get hold of this due to "regional restrictions" but it was well worth the struggle. Has anyone else noticed that "not available in your region" is becoming an increasingly common problem?
Mandibles - The plot: In 2029, the United States is engaged in a bloodless world war that will wipe out the savings of millions of American families. Overnight, on the international currency exchange, the “almighty dollar” plummets in value, to be replaced by a new global currency, the “bancor.” In retaliation, the president declares that America will default on its loans. “Deadbeat Nation” being unable to borrow, the government prints money to cover its bills. What little remains to savers is rapidly eaten away by runaway inflation.
Is is truely remarkable how prescient this book is from 2016. Reading chapters 3 and 4 is like watching the news today and the chapters that follow seem eerily realistic and expected. FYI in the book the events of 2029 and beyond follow on from a debilitating Cyberattack in 2024 that triggered many other negative consequences - where did I hear that story before? The best review of the book comes from John, Guy, Matt, James and Ben. Click below to listen to their full review and discussion - ⚠️ spoilers aplenty!
🎙️Podcast and Newsletter of the week
Yes - we are all fed up with FTX and keep in mind that this is a traditional finance scam but what is more interesting is who really does seem to have been behind this. ⚠️ This goes very deep and will surprise you. Watch here as Guy explains a the analysis done by Whitney Webb and Ed Berger. You can also read their analysis directly here and the Protos investigation from November. You really do have to consider the implications of how deep this corruption goes.
If you are not subscribed to Guy's weekly newsletter - you should be. Click below for his latest - and do sign up - they are free to receive.
Read on - more in this week's newsletter
- 📸 Around Bangkok - photo memories from an evening in Siam
- 💰 Bitcoin in Bangkok - a couple of interesting meetings this week
- 🎓 Links for reading, listening and learning
- 😳 Some rather thought-provoking observations and analysis
📸 Around Bangkok this week
Below are a few photo memories from and evening walkabout this past week in around Siam - enjoy... Needless to say there are rabbits popping up everywhere and Chinese tourists even begin to appear.
💰 Bitcoin in Bangkok
I had two meetups this week: Monday and Wednesday - they were both excellent and inspiring. It is great to be able to meet up with such interesting and informed people from all around the world with all their talents, skills and experience - many of whom share the same views on the need to break the corrupt cycle that is destroying lives and more today.
Discussions ranged from how to find and encourage more people to work on Bitcoin projects (do also listen to this interview of Josibake with Stephan Livera) to how to get people to better understand the nature and value of bitcoin and to start using it. Many of us already do use bitcoin wherever possible - Lightning is the great enabler (a full how-to explainer back in Issue 14). I was happy to meet someone who is really using bitcoin to run his business and uses it daily.
Simple suggestion that often works: when you pay for something ask if they accept bitcoin and if not use cash wherever possible. In many cases you will want to offer a tip - if they want the tip they can have it in bitcoin! The more that people hear the question and receive the offer, the more likely they are to take that first step. Be ready to help them download their first Bitcoin wallet (give them correct app store links) and then send them the tip using Lightning. Once they have it they can watch how it evolves in value and they have something new and interesting to discuss with their friends.
Other discussions focussed on Decentralised Social Media. By now you will be well aware of how centrally controlled media has been used to manipulate the minds of entire populations by those with other agendas. I have already mentioned some of the interesting technologies - including Holepunch and Keet (as the related open sources products from Synonym). Especially interesting is Nostr which has got quite a following and is already has many active ongoing developments - not to mention the support of Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Twitter). Here in Bangkok I have already met quite a few people that are using Nostr and trying to make it better - the joy of open source. You can find out more here and I might do a deeper dive next week. In fact Nostr stands for "Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays" - it's obvious when you think about it!
Each of the meetings in the week has a different focus and I particularly appreciate the goals of the BoB Build On Bitcoin team and their plans for outreach and education. More on this in due course too.
BTW - in case you were wondering what goes on behind the scenes when a Lightning channel is opened, read here:
Speaking of Lightning - this is a fascinating Twitter thread. It clearly demonstrates the power of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and the potential ahead - read and learn what one developer can do from his bedroom:
Here is a little story of how I built a #Bitcoin Lightning payments app used by more than 10,000 users at the time running on two Raspberry Pi's from my bedroom.
— calle ⚡️ (@callebtc) January 25, 2023
My conclusion: The banks are so fvcked ☠️ pic.twitter.com/JmqB3LRdAc
Find of the week: thanks to one of the BTC meetup participants: 42 Bangkok aims to produce quality programmers and IT developers, currently a scarce resource worldwide, through a teaching format that responds to learning in the disruptive era. This new era of learning will demonstrate that learning is not limited to university, reducing the need to use old systems, proving to be a disruptive turning point as digital disruption in the Thai education industry.
🎓 Reading, listening and learning
The following are links that I was reminded of or found this week - each of which has particular relevance and is worth understanding.
- One last comment on FTX - remember what we discussed back in November and Alan Farrington's series on "Only the Strong Survive". This was all foreseeable.
- All you knew about money is wrong - Macro Alf published a fascinating thread two distinct tiers of money: real-economy money (potentially inflationary) and financial-sector money (potentially asset-price inflationary)
- Anatomy of a Scam - Guy Swann explains how the evil corruption of IMF and World Bank works. Having done this to all of the developing countries the resulting cancer is now metastasising and consequences are appearing in the developed countries. It's payback time and the populations will pay!
- Jeremy Ferrar and the WHO - Whitney talks to Johnny Vedmore about the imminent appointment of former Wellcome Trust head Jeremy Farrar to be the World Health Organisations Chief Scientist and how it relates to the WHO’s attempts to obtain new powers through a secretive regulation amendment process. We have discussed this several times and more details are becoming clear - recall Arthur Dent's discovery and think through the implications of saying and doing nothing about it; better still - speak up and do something!
- Am I the only one to be wondering about this coincidence? In the news this week is that Crypto lending company Genesis is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. What does it say in Genesis Chapter 11?
- Contrarian views: There isn't a day goes by when someone isn't shouting about the US dollar's imminent demise and most often they say it has to do with China and oil. The world's current reserve currency system may be reaching the end of its useful life, but Jeff Snider assures us it has absolutely nothing to do with either of those. In fact, the only reason the thing has stuck around is because of what a real reserve currency is and what is has to do.
- Guy's weekly news update is also required watching - so much information that is good to know. 1:51 Crypto Rally Continues 5:08 What The FUD? 8:34 Ethereum’s New Uncertainty 11:57 Bearish Catalysts Incoming 15:23 Job Cuts Intensify 18:36 Ben Cowen Crypto Analysis.
- For those who consider speculating in crypto (ie the altcoins that are not bitcoin) you really should watch James' analysis. The more you understand, the better... 00:53 CryptoSlate - $102B of Unlocks in 2023 01:52 Why Unlocks are Bad? 02:36 IA Digital Asset DAPT 03:29 Warning! 03:45 This is Just Math & Data 03:48 The “Best” Unlocks i.e. Best = WORST 04:40
Sorry to come back on this topic but it is important and I am sure it will continue to get worse. It needs to be acknowledged and properly discussed - recall the options. Needless to say nothing about it will be seen on mainstream media who did not even bother to report on the mass protests outside the BBC the other day.
...and Richard Vobes asks what I think everyone is and should be thinking and he concludes with at least one practical step to take.
and then there is this:
Steve Kirsch
😳 Closing thoughts..
Continuing the intriguing series by Lei - here are two more to think about. It really is true that we have absolutely no idea what is really happening in China.
This next one will surprise and amaze you. Lei does some digging into numbers that are available from various sources and makes a fairly solid argument. Make up your own mind (these numbers are very surprising), look for holes in the arguments and reflect on the implications.
... and even a third provocative one to reflect on - certainly food for thought.
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