6 ms·

Senate Bill 21, Establishing the Texas Bitcoin Reserve

19 points by ttyprintk 2y ago

ttyprintk 2y ago
One promoter, back in Feb.: “All fiat currency eventually goes to its natural worth, which is the paper it’s printed on,” Schwertner said at the February 18 hearing. “We can buy land. We can buy gold. I think Texas should have the option of evaluating the best-performing asset [Bitcoin] of the last 10 years.”
ttyprintk 2y ago
Unlike the President’s announcement, this is taxpayer money.
- quantified 2y ago
  In what way is the President not referring to taxpayer's money? All revenues and seizures really ought to be considered "the taxpayer's".
  - ttyprintk 2y ago
    Not many people think that way. Taxpayer money implies boring workaday revenue “appropriated” by the legislature. What they do with one budget has a reasonable chance to also land in the next. The Federal strategic Bitcoin reserve is supposedly formed from FBI seizures. It might be touchable by the judicial branch (returned to a person) and there’s no guarantee how much more the FBI will add. These are different kinds of money. People who want more of the first kind are usually elected and must face voters about the wisdom of taxation. People who want more of the second don’t set any tax rates and directly benefit when more crimes are caught, however those crimes manifest.
nikolay 2y ago
What a stupid attempt at pumping a dead craptocurrency!
- celticninja 2y ago
  It dies so often too.
  - npoc 2y ago
    https://bitcoindeaths.com/ https://bitcoindeaths.com/
throwaway657656 2y ago
Imagine if Fort Knox had a magic key allowing the bearer to walk in and out of it, at will, with as much riches as they wanted. Now imagine that bearer is a politician who blames the North Korea for the missing assets. Or imagine that key is damaged and no one can get the coins. It is lost forever. I almost hope this stupid experiment is done on a state level, rather than national, and that it fails miserably as cautionary tale.
- celticninja 2y ago
  Laundering it would be very difficult. NK can do it because they have a nation state that will protect them. That's the only way to be able to spend that money. So sure steak the keys and live a life of luxury in north Korea I guess.
  - free_bip 2y ago
    Unfortunately, there are plenty of DEX's that will launder your bitcoin of questionable providence into completely untraceable Monero.
  - lern_too_spel 2y ago
    Or Russia or Belarus or Georgia.
- npoc 2y ago
  I assume you haven't heard of m-of-n multi-signature vaults?
  - ttyprintk 2y ago
    ByBit heard of n-of-m.
    - npoc 2y ago
      Shame they trusted information they read in a web browser rather than verifying it on an independent offline device.... The average bitcoiner pleb with a single air-gapped signing device has better security. It was a rookie error, helped by the overly complex nature of Ethereum.
quelup 2y ago
Seems overly risky. Probably better to put money in domestic/international bonds/stocks. Crypto is fun but I still haven't seen a practical use case (not to say there isn't one, I just haven't seen it yet).
- captainkrtek 2y ago
  This is the biggest hurdle I can’t get over and why I lack crypto fomo. What can one reasonably buy with crypto that is relevant to day-to-day needs? Additionally, given the volatility and the speculative nature of crypto, even if I could buy my groceries, would I? And risk missing additional upside by holding? It’s gambling as far as I can tell.
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > What can one reasonably buy with crypto that is relevant to day-to-day needs? States don’t buy investments for day to day use. Your point is valid but irrelevant to SB21.
  - npoc 2y ago
    You have to first understand what is wrong with the current money we use. What happens to the value of each dollar, if we double the number of dollars? What if I told you they do that every decade? What if I told you that real estate hasn't gone up in value over the last 50 years....only its price? The supply of bitcoin is hard capped and most of it has already been issued. Think of it as the perfect long-term savings tool for now.
    - survirtual 2y ago
      The fixed supply / deflationary nature is actually less important than the method of minting. PoW demands massive energy & computational input, which can spontaneously arise without any human regulating authority. In other words, physics / the laws of nature are the authority. This creates an implicit resilience in the network and elevates the standard of money creation to go beyond human authority, and enter something higher. I see PoW systems as mechanisms to quantify human technological development and mastery over energy. As access to energy & computing increases, the implicit value of crypto increases in kind. It is a crystallization of energy into value, and a rather "pure" one at that. As people sit here and talk, debate, buy into propaganda by dying platforms, this value crystallization marches on. It cannot be stopped. Because of the limited supply, it motivates people who see and understand these facts to buy in, but even when "easy" access to the crystallization ceases, it still promotes 2nd tier energy to value capture via transaction fees, which also scale with energy & computation. People get confused and think it is imaginary money. Managing the logistics of server farms, optimizing access to cheap energy sources, and developing increasingly powerful / efficient circuits is far from imaginary. This and much more is required to compete in today's crypto mining. The crypto itself is representative of countless modern industries working in harmony, all in cutting edge industries that push humanity further. The criticisms are largely thoughtless and nonsensical. The energy is agnostic of the production; you can mine bitcoin with coal power, but you can also mine it with solar and nuclear. You can even mine it with a dyson sphere. It doesn't matter. It isn't wasted energy, insomuch as massive office buildings in the center of every city dedicated to an inefficient banking system is a waste of money, or countless lives lost over wars and access to resources is a waste of money. Anyway I could write all day about this, but I believe what I am saying strikes closer to the heart of what you were bringing up.
j_timberlake 2y ago
Horrible waste of money. They could have bought Dentacoin (the coin for dentists) which has a market cap of only $600K and then pump it to $600M. They have no idea what they're doing.
dan10400 2y ago
The value of a currency is the value of an issuing government to tax it's citizens demanding payment in that currency. If cryptocurrency is the answer, then the government should start a new 'coin', and start from there. There is no reason why wealth should be transferred by fiat to holders who were either speculators or engaging in criminal activity (as their are limited other values for cryptocurrency at the moment).
- ttyprintk 2y ago
  One of Trump's campaign promises was that Treasury would not form a new coin.
  - dan10400 2y ago
    and some of trump and the families actions prior to inauguration was to create some new $TRUMP, $MELANIA coins as well as other 'ventures'... https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-new-crypto-coin-sparks-ethics-concerns-2025-01-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-new-crypto-coin-spar... https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/inside-the-trump-family-crypto-empire/ https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/inside-the-tr...
    - ttyprintk 2y ago
      All of that is true; he asked supporters to buy a memecoin “to show support”. This is exploitative, of course, but the question is: is it tolerated? What Trump promised about the central bank is that he would prevent the formation of a central bank digital currency. His audience dislikes the CBDC because it has different rules for what’s tolerable. The most important innovation for those people is that crypto apparently tolerates everything.
- npoc 2y ago
  Here's what Nobel prize-winning (when it still meant something) economist Hayek had to say: “I don’t believe we shall ever have a good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government, that is, we can’t take it violently out of the hands of government, all we can do is by some sly roundabout way introduce something that they can’t stop.” – F.A. Hayek 1984 https://youtu.be/CBIidtaUCzs https://youtu.be/CBIidtaUCzs https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
Avshalom 2y ago
So Texas is now paying people to mine bitcoin and paying people to not-mine bitcoin?
thefuq 2y ago
[dead]

19 points by ttyprintk 2y ago

One promoter, back in Feb.: “All fiat currency eventually goes to its natural worth, which is the paper it’s printed on,” Schwertner said at the February 18 hearing. “We can buy land. We can buy gold. I think Texas should have the option of evaluating the best-performing asset [Bitcoin] of the last 10 years.”

ttyprintk 2y ago

Unlike the President’s announcement, this is taxpayer money.

quantified 2y ago
In what way is the President not referring to taxpayer's money? All revenues and seizures really ought to be considered "the taxpayer's".
- ttyprintk 2y ago
  Not many people think that way. Taxpayer money implies boring workaday revenue “appropriated” by the legislature. What they do with one budget has a reasonable chance to also land in the next. The Federal strategic Bitcoin reserve is supposedly formed from FBI seizures. It might be touchable by the judicial branch (returned to a person) and there’s no guarantee how much more the FBI will add. These are different kinds of money. People who want more of the first kind are usually elected and must face voters about the wisdom of taxation. People who want more of the second don’t set any tax rates and directly benefit when more crimes are caught, however those crimes manifest.

nikolay 2y ago

What a stupid attempt at pumping a dead craptocurrency!

celticninja 2y ago
It dies so often too.
- npoc 2y ago
  https://bitcoindeaths.com/ https://bitcoindeaths.com/

throwaway657656 2y ago

Imagine if Fort Knox had a magic key allowing the bearer to walk in and out of it, at will, with as much riches as they wanted. Now imagine that bearer is a politician who blames the North Korea for the missing assets. Or imagine that key is damaged and no one can get the coins. It is lost forever. I almost hope this stupid experiment is done on a state level, rather than national, and that it fails miserably as cautionary tale.

celticninja 2y ago
Laundering it would be very difficult. NK can do it because they have a nation state that will protect them. That's the only way to be able to spend that money. So sure steak the keys and live a life of luxury in north Korea I guess.
- free_bip 2y ago
  Unfortunately, there are plenty of DEX's that will launder your bitcoin of questionable providence into completely untraceable Monero.
- lern_too_spel 2y ago
  Or Russia or Belarus or Georgia.
npoc 2y ago
I assume you haven't heard of m-of-n multi-signature vaults?
- ttyprintk 2y ago
  ByBit heard of n-of-m.
  - npoc 2y ago
    Shame they trusted information they read in a web browser rather than verifying it on an independent offline device.... The average bitcoiner pleb with a single air-gapped signing device has better security. It was a rookie error, helped by the overly complex nature of Ethereum.

quelup 2y ago

Seems overly risky. Probably better to put money in domestic/international bonds/stocks. Crypto is fun but I still haven't seen a practical use case (not to say there isn't one, I just haven't seen it yet).

captainkrtek 2y ago
This is the biggest hurdle I can’t get over and why I lack crypto fomo. What can one reasonably buy with crypto that is relevant to day-to-day needs? Additionally, given the volatility and the speculative nature of crypto, even if I could buy my groceries, would I? And risk missing additional upside by holding? It’s gambling as far as I can tell.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > What can one reasonably buy with crypto that is relevant to day-to-day needs? States don’t buy investments for day to day use. Your point is valid but irrelevant to SB21.
- npoc 2y ago
  You have to first understand what is wrong with the current money we use. What happens to the value of each dollar, if we double the number of dollars? What if I told you they do that every decade? What if I told you that real estate hasn't gone up in value over the last 50 years....only its price? The supply of bitcoin is hard capped and most of it has already been issued. Think of it as the perfect long-term savings tool for now.
  - survirtual 2y ago
    The fixed supply / deflationary nature is actually less important than the method of minting. PoW demands massive energy & computational input, which can spontaneously arise without any human regulating authority. In other words, physics / the laws of nature are the authority. This creates an implicit resilience in the network and elevates the standard of money creation to go beyond human authority, and enter something higher. I see PoW systems as mechanisms to quantify human technological development and mastery over energy. As access to energy & computing increases, the implicit value of crypto increases in kind. It is a crystallization of energy into value, and a rather "pure" one at that. As people sit here and talk, debate, buy into propaganda by dying platforms, this value crystallization marches on. It cannot be stopped. Because of the limited supply, it motivates people who see and understand these facts to buy in, but even when "easy" access to the crystallization ceases, it still promotes 2nd tier energy to value capture via transaction fees, which also scale with energy & computation. People get confused and think it is imaginary money. Managing the logistics of server farms, optimizing access to cheap energy sources, and developing increasingly powerful / efficient circuits is far from imaginary. This and much more is required to compete in today's crypto mining. The crypto itself is representative of countless modern industries working in harmony, all in cutting edge industries that push humanity further. The criticisms are largely thoughtless and nonsensical. The energy is agnostic of the production; you can mine bitcoin with coal power, but you can also mine it with solar and nuclear. You can even mine it with a dyson sphere. It doesn't matter. It isn't wasted energy, insomuch as massive office buildings in the center of every city dedicated to an inefficient banking system is a waste of money, or countless lives lost over wars and access to resources is a waste of money. Anyway I could write all day about this, but I believe what I am saying strikes closer to the heart of what you were bringing up.

j_timberlake 2y ago

Horrible waste of money. They could have bought Dentacoin (the coin for dentists) which has a market cap of only $600K and then pump it to $600M. They have no idea what they're doing.

dan10400 2y ago

The value of a currency is the value of an issuing government to tax it's citizens demanding payment in that currency. If cryptocurrency is the answer, then the government should start a new 'coin', and start from there. There is no reason why wealth should be transferred by fiat to holders who were either speculators or engaging in criminal activity (as their are limited other values for cryptocurrency at the moment).

ttyprintk 2y ago
One of Trump's campaign promises was that Treasury would not form a new coin.
- dan10400 2y ago
  and some of trump and the families actions prior to inauguration was to create some new $TRUMP, $MELANIA coins as well as other 'ventures'... https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-new-crypto-coin-sparks-ethics-concerns-2025-01-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-new-crypto-coin-spar... https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/inside-the-trump-family-crypto-empire/ https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/inside-the-tr...
  - ttyprintk 2y ago
    All of that is true; he asked supporters to buy a memecoin “to show support”. This is exploitative, of course, but the question is: is it tolerated? What Trump promised about the central bank is that he would prevent the formation of a central bank digital currency. His audience dislikes the CBDC because it has different rules for what’s tolerable. The most important innovation for those people is that crypto apparently tolerates everything.
npoc 2y ago
Here's what Nobel prize-winning (when it still meant something) economist Hayek had to say: “I don’t believe we shall ever have a good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government, that is, we can’t take it violently out of the hands of government, all we can do is by some sly roundabout way introduce something that they can’t stop.” – F.A. Hayek 1984 https://youtu.be/CBIidtaUCzs https://youtu.be/CBIidtaUCzs https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

Avshalom 2y ago

So Texas is now paying people to mine bitcoin and paying people to not-mine bitcoin?

thefuq 2y ago

[dead]