Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 2/10 - Taleb is not a random critic. Author of The Black Swan and Antifragility, he built a career identifying risks conventional wisdom misses. When Taleb calls something fragile, people listen. When he blessed Bitcoin in 2018, Bitcoiners cited it for years.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 2/10 - Taleb is not a random critic. Author of The Black Swan and Antifragility, he built a career identifying risks conventional wisdom misses. When Taleb calls something fragile, people listen. When he blessed Bitcoin in 2018, Bitcoiners cited it for years.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 3/10 - That blessing came in the foreword to Saifedean Ammous’s The Bitcoin Standard, the foundational text of Bitcoin maximalism. Taleb called it an excellent idea that belonged to its users rather than any authority, and described it as ‘the first organic currency.’
R to @daily_btc_lore: 3/10 - That blessing came in the foreword to Saifedean Ammous’s The Bitcoin Standard, the foundational text of Bitcoin maximalism. Taleb called it an excellent idea that belonged to its users rather than any authority, and described it as ‘the first organic currency.’
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 4/10 - The reversal was personal before it was intellectual. Taleb and Ammous clashed repeatedly over COVID, diet, and politics. Taleb blocked Ammous in 2020. By early 2021 he was writing that Bitcoin had been ‘taken over by Covid denying sociopaths.’ The paper was coming.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 4/10 - The reversal was personal before it was intellectual. Taleb and Ammous clashed repeatedly over COVID, diet, and politics. Taleb blocked Ammous in 2020. By early 2021 he was writing that Bitcoin had been ‘taken over by Covid denying sociopaths.’ The paper was coming.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 5/10 - On June 21, 2021, Taleb posted the paper to arXiv. Bitcoin was around $32,000, having crashed from $64,000 six weeks earlier. Applying quantitative finance methods, he reached a stark conclusion: Bitcoin’s expected long-run value is zero.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 5/10 - On June 21, 2021, Taleb posted the paper to arXiv. Bitcoin was around $32,000, having crashed from $64,000 six weeks earlier. Applying quantitative finance methods, he reached a stark conclusion: Bitcoin’s expected long-run value is zero.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 6/10 - The core argument: a true currency must have minimum variance relative to a basket of goods. Bitcoin is too volatile, cannot reliably hedge inflation, and generates no yield. Without yield, a technology-dependent asset with no alternatives tends toward zero.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 6/10 - The core argument: a true currency must have minimum variance relative to a basket of goods. Bitcoin is too volatile, cannot reliably hedge inflation, and generates no yield. Without yield, a technology-dependent asset with no alternatives tends toward zero.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 7/10 - The sharpest irony: in 2018 Taleb had seen these same problems and called them temporary. ‘It may be too volatile to be a currency, for now,’ he wrote. Three years later he concluded ‘for now’ had become ‘forever,’ calling Bitcoin a ‘zero-sum maximally fragile asset.’
R to @daily_btc_lore: 7/10 - The sharpest irony: in 2018 Taleb had seen these same problems and called them temporary. ‘It may be too volatile to be a currency, for now,’ he wrote. Three years later he concluded ‘for now’ had become ‘forever,’ calling Bitcoin a ‘zero-sum maximally fragile asset.’
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 9/10 - The paper ends with a Damascus merchant joke about cucumbers sold at two prices because they came on higher quality mules. Taleb’s point: Bitcoin’s price reflects the quality of the story told about it, not any underlying value. The mules, he argued, are very convincing.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 9/10 - The paper ends with a Damascus merchant joke about cucumbers sold at two prices because they came on higher quality mules. Taleb’s point: Bitcoin’s price reflects the quality of the story told about it, not any underlying value. The mules, he argued, are very convincing.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 10/10 - Bitcoin hit $69,000 five months after Taleb published this and has never traded at zero. Make of that what you will. The mules are still in business.
Have a favorite Bitcoin history moment? Help me make sure it’s in my list and drop it below 👇🧡
R to @daily_btc_lore: 10/10 - Bitcoin hit $69,000 five months after Taleb published this and has never traded at zero. Make of that what you will. The mules are still in business.
Have a favorite Bitcoin history moment? Help me make sure it’s in my list and drop it below 👇🧡
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
June 21, 2019 (7 years ago)
FATF extends the Travel Rule to crypto
A 23-year-old banking rule got applied to Bitcoin. Years of slow & patchy implementation followed, and the biggest gap it left is exactly where Bitcoin’s original promise still lives. Brief thread… 🧵👇
June 21, 2019 (7 years ago)
FATF extends the Travel Rule to crypto
A 23-year-old banking rule got applied to Bitcoin. Years of slow & patchy implementation followed, and the biggest gap it left is exactly where Bitcoin’s original promise still lives. Brief thread… 🧵👇
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 2/8 - FATF is the Financial Action Task Force, founded in 1989 to set global AML standards. It has 39 member countries plus the EU. Its recommendations aren’t binding law, but countries that ignore them risk being cut off from the global banking system. In practice, they comply.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 2/8 - FATF is the Financial Action Task Force, founded in 1989 to set global AML standards. It has 39 member countries plus the EU. Its recommendations aren’t binding law, but countries that ignore them risk being cut off from the global banking system. In practice, they comply.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 3/8 - The Travel Rule dates to 1996, when FinCEN introduced it for US banks: when money moves between financial institutions, identifying details of both parties must travel with it. On June 21, 2019, FATF extended that same requirement to crypto exchanges and custodial wallets.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 3/8 - The Travel Rule dates to 1996, when FinCEN introduced it for US banks: when money moves between financial institutions, identifying details of both parties must travel with it. On June 21, 2019, FATF extended that same requirement to crypto exchanges and custodial wallets.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 4/8 - The tension with Bitcoin’s design is direct. Satoshi built a system for peer-to-peer transactions without trusted third parties or identity disclosure. The Travel Rule doesn’t apply to self-hosted wallets or direct on-chain transfers. It only reaches regulated exchanges.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 4/8 - The tension with Bitcoin’s design is direct. Satoshi built a system for peer-to-peer transactions without trusted third parties or identity disclosure. The Travel Rule doesn’t apply to self-hosted wallets or direct on-chain transfers. It only reaches regulated exchanges.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 5/8 - The gap created the ‘sunrise problem.’ Countries implemented at different times, so compliant exchanges had to collect data they couldn’t send. Counterpart exchanges elsewhere had no systems to receive it. Complying unilaterally was pointless.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 5/8 - The gap created the ‘sunrise problem.’ Countries implemented at different times, so compliant exchanges had to collect data they couldn’t send. Counterpart exchanges elsewhere had no systems to receive it. Complying unilaterally was pointless.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 6/8 - Banks transmit wire data through SWIFT, built in 1973. Crypto had nothing equivalent, and an entire compliance industry had to be built from scratch. Five years on, FATF’s own 2024 report found 75% of jurisdictions still only partially compliant.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 6/8 - Banks transmit wire data through SWIFT, built in 1973. Crypto had nothing equivalent, and an entire compliance industry had to be built from scratch. Five years on, FATF’s own 2024 report found 75% of jurisdictions still only partially compliant.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 7/8 - The EU moved furthest and fastest. Its Transfer of Funds Regulation went live December 30, 2024, requiring full Travel Rule compliance on every crypto transfer between exchanges, no minimum threshold. Every transaction, every time, full KYC data on both sides.
R to @daily_btc_lore: 7/8 - The EU moved furthest and fastest. Its Transfer of Funds Regulation went live December 30, 2024, requiring full Travel Rule compliance on every crypto transfer between exchanges, no minimum threshold. Every transaction, every time, full KYC data on both sides.
Today in Bitcoin History / @daily_btc_lore:
R to @daily_btc_lore: 8/8 - Self-hosted wallets remain outside the rule. It applies to exchanges, not people controlling their own keys. That gap is exactly where Bitcoin’s original promise still lives.
Have a favorite Bitcoin history moment? Help me make sure it’s in my list and drop it below 👇🧡
R to @daily_btc_lore: 8/8 - Self-hosted wallets remain outside the rule. It applies to exchanges, not people controlling their own keys. That gap is exactly where Bitcoin’s original promise still lives.
Have a favorite Bitcoin history moment? Help me make sure it’s in my list and drop it below 👇🧡