Block height: 880,290
Bitcoin Price: $106,072 USD/BTC
Blue Ridge Bitcoin (BRB) held our first meetup this weekend and it was a smashing success. We had 19 people in attendance and not even enough chairs for everyone to sit down. (Sorry!). In attendance were the bitcoin-curious as well as a few hardcore Bitcoiners. I look forward to getting to know all of you better!
Beyond our little group, big things happened in Bitcoin this week. Here are the highlights:
$TRUMP coin
Donald Trump has been inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. Trump is considered the first ‘Bitcoin President’ by most people in the space. He was the first presidential candidate to speak at a bitcoin conference and he made numerous pro-Bitcoin promises, such as ending the Biden administration’s ‘war on crypto’, freeing Ross Ulbricht on day 1, creating a national strategic bitcoin reserve (SBR), and even hinting at removing the capital gains tax on bitcoin.
As excited as Bitcoiners are by these promises, we are dismayed by Trump’s release of his very own shi*coin just days before his inauguration. The $TRUMP coin is a massively degenerate move. If you were at our first BRB meeting in January, you know we stressed the uniqueness of bitcoin compared to all other alt coins. The main differences being the decentralized nature of the network (no known founder in control), the fixed supply at 21 million bitcoins, the fair and equitable distribution of coins, and Bitcoin’s proof-of-work that links the virtual coin to the real, physical world. None of these are true of $TRUMP coin. Indeed, when you read the fine print, 80% of $TRUMP coins were held by the creators before launch (this is called a pre-mine), and retail buyers of $TRUMP cannot sell for 24 months. This will give the insiders more than enough time to pump the price, then dump their coins, leaving retail buyers holding the bag. It is a classic pump-and-dump scam, and it’s disgraceful that Trump is doing this. Many blue collar, hard-working MAGA folks with barely two dimes to rub together will lose money in this scam.
Ross Ulbricht is FREE
Ross Ulbricht was a pioneer in the Bitcoin space. When Bitcoin was less than 2 years old, Ross started a website called the Silk Road that operated on the dark web and used bitcoins for currency. It was an experiment in a totally free and unregulated market. Yes, it was mostly used by drug dealers and buyers, but the site was more than that. Ross accidently leaked his identity and immediately he was arrested, tried for crimes (the major ones fabricated), and handed 2 life sentences + 40 years with no chance of parole. Still in his 20’s, his life was destroyed. The elites were determined to make an example of him: in their view, a totally free and unregulated market is FAR worse than mass murder or serial rape.
Ross’ mother, Lyn, never gave up on her son. Neither did the Bitcoin community. Bitcoiners made it clear to candidate Trump that their support came with strings attached, the main one being Ross Ulbricht’s freedom. During his speech at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, a large chunk of the crowd wore "Free Ross Vote Trump" t-shirts. Trump promised he would commute Ross’ sentence on day one of his presidency. Well, it took 36 hours, but he over-delivered: Trump gave Ross a FULL & UNCONDITIONAL PARDON. Ross is free.
Did Ross make some mistakes? Maybe. But 11 in years in federal prison was enough time served for any mistakes he made on the Silk Road. Thank you, Donald Trump, for keeping your promise.
The God candle
Bitcoin saw a God candle on January 20th. In stock markets, a candle represents the spread in buying highs and lows over a given period of time. Red candles represent a downturn in price and green candles represent an upturn. A God candle is loosely defined as a large, unprecedented price move. In recent years, Bitcoiners have waited with baited breath for a $10k God candle - a price move of $10,000 in a single day. That day came on January 20, 2025, when bitcoin ripped from $99k to $109k in a matter of hours. (The price quickly recapitulated to about $103k). We now wait for the Omega candle.
Also, the disgraced Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, has left the building. Don't slip up on the way down the steps.
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