[PART 2] Major “crypto” bills passed in Washington DC today. Here’s a quick rundown

00:02 All right, part two. Sorry about the
00:04 two-part video here. Okay, so we covered
00:06 the Stablecoin Act, which is a Genius
00:08 Act. We covered the uh Clarity Act,
00:11 which is rules of the road for other
00:12 cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin
00:14 because Bitcoin already has clear rules
00:16 rules of the road. And then the third
00:18 piece of legislation was the anti-
00:19 central bank digital currency, CBDC
00:22 legislation, which passed which bans the
00:24 United States from ever issuing a
00:26 central bank digital currency. As I was
00:28 saying, the CBDC’s are actually quite
00:29 terrifying. There’s one in China, for
00:31 example, and it’s programmable money
00:33 where the government does the
00:34 programming. So, the Bank of
00:36 International Settlements, the BIS,
00:38 which is the central bank of central
00:40 bankers, uh, uh, is basically real high
00:44 on CBDC’s because of the programmability
00:46 of the money, specifically the ability
00:48 to take money from people’s accounts
00:49 without their permission or to decrease
00:52 the value of their accounts. So the
00:54 European Central Bank and the Bank of
00:56 International Settlements are on record
00:58 saying that the great thing about
01:01 central bank digital currencies is that
01:03 if they want to stimulate the economy
01:05 with other people’s money, they can put
01:07 a, you know, programmatic code on the
01:09 money that says basically everybody’s
01:11 bank account has to drop by at least 5%
01:14 per month. Otherwise, they’ll they’ll
01:16 confiscate the money and basically just
01:18 shrink it and it’ll go poof. Um, that’s
01:21 obviously terrifying because the money
01:22 in your bank account should be yours and
01:24 no government should have the ability to
01:26 decide arbitrarily that they don’t like
01:28 how you are spending or investing your
01:30 money and be able to manipulate it or
01:33 confiscate it with the push of a button.
01:35 At least here in the United States, if
01:36 the government wants to take your money,
01:38 generally uh for most of the time in
01:40 most situations, they have to tax it
01:42 away from you or they have to bribe you
01:44 into giving it up by offering interest
01:47 on US Treasury bonds or you know
01:50 government debt or whatever. Uh so
01:52 central banks, digital currencies,
01:54 CBDC’s are terrifying, ridiculous,
01:57 stupid, and a bad idea. And as of the
02:01 anti-CBDC
02:03 law that passed today, the United States
02:06 will not have will never have a central
02:08 bank digital currency. So that’s great.
02:10 Now the good news is where they have
02:12 rolled out CBDC’s like in China and
02:15 other places where they have pilot
02:16 programs going, basically nobody wants
02:18 it. Nobody wants the government to
02:20 control and be able to confiscate with
02:23 the push of a button their purchasing
02:24 power. So the government obviously
02:26 already has that ability by printing
02:28 more money and devaluing everybody’s
02:30 money. But a central bank digital
02:31 currency could uh take it to a whole new
02:33 level. For example, they could decide
02:36 that if you make certain purchases with
02:38 your money that they will automatically
02:40 deduct a certain amount. So with a
02:42 central bank digital currency, if they
02:44 saw, for example, a transaction go
02:46 through for a gun owner, you know, for
02:48 gun ownership, they could immediately
02:50 subtract 25% of your balance. It’s
02:52 ridiculous stuff like that. But it
02:53 doesn’t matter in the United States
02:55 because the central bank digital
02:56 currency uh anti-bill, the bill that
02:59 bans it passed in Washington DC today.
03:02 Meaning we will not have a central bank
03:03 digital currency and we don’t have to
03:05 worry about that. We can just focus on
03:07 Bitcoin. Okay. So what effect does any
03:10 of these bills have on Bitcoin? One, the
03:13 Genius Act, the stable coin bill does
03:15 make it easier for people to have stable
03:17 coins, which is one step away from
03:19 Bitcoin. Obviously, it’s a a stable coin
03:21 goes up and down. Well, never up, always
03:24 down with the value of the US dollar.
03:26 Um, so it’s a bad investment because
03:28 it’s never more valuable than one US
03:29 dollar, but it does get you one button
03:32 click away from buying Bitcoin as
03:34 opposed to the hurdles you have to jump
03:36 through to convert US dollars in their
03:37 current form. Uh, so the stable coin
03:40 bill is generally good for Bitcoin
03:42 because it just moves people closer to
03:44 Bitcoin. The Clarity Act uh should give
03:48 institutions and Wall Street greater com
03:50 comfort around Bitcoin even though it
03:53 doesn’t directly affect Bitcoin because
03:54 Bitcoin has had clarity for a long time.
03:56 Most most people on uh Wall Street don’t
03:60 realize that. So if you ask the average
04:02 investment professional about Bitcoin,
04:04 they will say something like, “Well, I
04:05 just feel like there’s not clear rules
04:07 of the road.” Well, that’s just
04:08 ignorance. They don’t realize that there
04:10 has been clear clear rules of the road
04:12 for Bitcoin for a long time. And the
04:14 clarity act now will send the the
04:17 message to the you know to the world
04:20 that there are clear rules of the road
04:22 for cryptocurrency and bitcoin will
04:24 benefit from that even though it has had
04:26 clear rules of the road for a while now.
04:28 Okay. Um the two pieces that have not
04:32 been passed. Oh, and the anti-entral
04:34 bank digital currency bill is good for
04:36 Bitcoin because we don’t have to deal
04:37 with a central bank digital currency. So
04:40 um the I guess uh two pieces that have
04:44 not passed are the uh Bitcoin strategic
04:47 reserve. So the United States owns some
04:49 Bitcoin mostly or entirely from
04:52 confiscations that they have done in the
04:54 past. And there’s a bill to uh we
04:57 already have a uh a Bitcoin strategic
05:01 reserve as a result of executive order,
05:03 but that can be rescended with another
05:04 executive order. So, there’s an effort
05:06 to pass a bill creating a strategic
05:08 Bitcoin reserve. So, it’s not just
05:11 protected by a um an executive order
05:13 from the president. It has an actual act
05:16 of Congress behind it. So, there’s an
05:17 effort to do that, which would include
05:19 the US government buying a substantial
05:22 amount of Bitcoin, which would obviously
05:24 make the price go up, but it was also
05:25 hopefully set off an arms race with
05:27 other countries of everybody
05:28 accumulating Bitcoin. Now, I’m sort of
05:30 ambivalent on this point. the more
05:32 governments adopt Bitcoin, you know, the
05:35 the more they’re on the side of the
05:37 Bitcoiners like me. So, the upside of
05:40 the government buying Bitcoin is I’d
05:42 rather be in the same boat with somebody
05:44 who owns Bitcoin instead of me owning
05:46 Bitcoin, the government not owning
05:48 Bitcoin, and the government not liking
05:49 that I own Bitcoin. So, I like the fact
05:51 that me and the government are on the
05:53 same boat if the government’s buying
05:54 Bitcoin and I am, but I’m not a fan of
05:56 government. Uh the government screws up
05:59 basically everything it touches. the
06:01 government uh and I served obviously for
06:02 eight years in the House of
06:03 Representatives here in Mississippi in
06:05 the state legislature and I’m just not a
06:07 fan of government. I think the
06:08 government is awful. The incentives are
06:10 bad. The government almost never does
06:12 anything good and generally I don’t want
06:14 the government to have more financial
06:16 resources. I want people to have more
06:18 financial resources. I don’t want
06:20 governments to have more financial
06:21 resources. So, do I want the government
06:23 buying up a bunch of Bitcoin? Not
06:25 really. because I would rather all of
06:27 the people own all the Bitcoin rather
06:29 than the government sitting on it. Uh
06:31 now obviously the government’s not going
06:33 to buy up all the Bitcoin cuz it can’t.
06:35 Um the price would go, you know, into
06:38 infinity and beyond if the government
06:40 started trying to buy up all the
06:41 Bitcoin. But even if the the most they
06:43 can ever buy up is 1% or two 2% 3% 5%
06:47 something like that. uh which is
06:49 possible. The US government could
06:50 certainly buy up two 2% 3% 5% of all the
06:53 Bitcoin and that would probably send the
06:55 price to, you know, a million dollars in
06:57 a hurry. Um that’s going to leave behind
06:59 the 95% of people who do not yet own any
07:01 Bitcoin. And I would rather have all of
07:03 those people own Bitcoin, uh rather than
07:06 just the government hoovering it all up.
07:08 Um so I’m sort of ambivalent. I guess
07:10 I’d rather the government buy I’d rather
07:13 have a strategic Bitcoin reserve versus
07:15 not uh because it puts me and the
07:17 government on the same page. But again,
07:19 I’m just not a fan of the government
07:20 owning a bunch of Bitcoin. I would
07:22 rather the people own the best money in
07:24 the world and the government be stuck
07:26 with its useless printed out of thin air
07:28 trash that they took off the gold
07:30 standard and they deserve to have it
07:32 lose money because it’s their fault.
07:34 They’re the ones who messed it up. So,
07:36 uh anyway, so uh so that’s the quick
07:39 rundown. The other piece missing is uh a
07:42 bill around taxes. Uh there’s a uh
07:45 currently Bitcoin miners are double
07:47 taxed. Uh I won’t go into the nuances of
07:49 it other than to say it’s a a fluke with
07:52 taxes that does not affect people like
07:53 you and I, but it does affect people
07:55 running Bitcoin mining computers, which
07:58 is not something you need to mess with
07:59 because it’s a very very very difficult
08:01 to make money in Bitcoin mining. I don’t
08:04 recommend it. So you don’t have to worry
08:06 about it. But it is there is a a need to
08:09 make it more fair and it would be more
08:11 fair if they fixed the double taxation
08:14 problem of Bitcoin mining. Um, okay. And
08:17 then the last piece which is by far by
08:19 far by far by far the most important and
08:22 would likely be be uh paired with a fix
08:25 for taxation for Bitcoin mining is a
08:28 dimminimous meaning a small amount. the
08:30 word dimminimus. D m i n i mus I think.
08:34 Deminimus, however you say, however you
08:36 uh spell it. A dimminimous exemption for
08:39 Bitcoin purchases uh to exempt them from
08:42 capital gains taxation. And the way that
08:45 works is right now if you sell Bitcoin
08:48 or if you buy a cup of coffee with
08:50 Bitcoin, you are supposed to pay capital
08:52 gains tax on the value increase of the
08:54 Bitcoin. So, if you buy Bitcoin when
08:57 it’s $70,000 per coin for $5, and then
09:02 you sell it when it’s $140,000 per coin,
09:05 which is 100% increase, and your $5 has
09:08 turned into $10, and then you use $10 at
09:11 Starbucks, you’re supposed to pay
09:12 capital gains tax on the $5 increase.
09:15 You do not pay capital gains tax on the
09:18 full amount. you only pay capital gains
09:20 tax on the increase in the value that
09:23 happened while you held it. Um, and for
09:25 a variety of reasons I’ve covered
09:27 elsewhere on Facebook, uh, the way
09:30 taxation handles with Bitcoin is
09:32 actually surprisingly efficient, meaning
09:34 the amount of, uh, tax you pay is
09:37 actually quite low by comparison for a
09:40 bunch of reasons I go into in other
09:41 videos and other posts. Uh, but
09:44 regardless, um, it’s a huge pain. So
09:47 most people do not feel comfortable
09:48 spending Bitcoin in the real world
09:51 because they do not want to worry about
09:53 taxes on a $5 coffee purchase etc. So
09:58 the the conversation in Washington right
10:00 now is and I don’t know that it has
10:02 enough political support to happen. I
10:04 certainly hope it does is a dimminimous
10:06 exemption which in its ideal form would
10:09 look like any purchases under $600. Uh,
10:12 so most I think the most I’ve ever paid
10:14 for groceries is $472 at Costco. So
10:19 under 600 would basically cover pretty
10:21 much any grocery run, Costco run, uh,
10:24 etc. You would be able to spend Bitcoin
10:27 and have it be exempted from capital
10:29 gains tax. So if you buy Bitcoin, sit on
10:32 it for a few years, it doubles in value,
10:34 you use it to buy groceries, as long as
10:36 the total bill was less than $600, it
10:39 would be exempted from capital gains
10:41 taxation, which would mean
10:42 cryptocurrency platforms would not even
10:44 have to track it, which would make it
10:46 much easier to uh implement Bitcoin into
10:50 Cash App. Uh well, Cash App already has
10:52 it, but I should say Google Pay and
10:54 Apple Pay would be the big ones. Uh
10:56 right now a major reason that Google Pay
10:58 and Apple Pay do not have uh uh do not
11:02 have Bitcoin included is because they
11:04 don’t want to deal with capital gains
11:06 tax and helping people keep up with all
11:08 that uh for small purchases. But if
11:11 there’s a $600 exemption to exempt
11:14 purchases under $600 from capital gains
11:16 tax, then any of the consumer financial
11:19 uh apps would have a much easier time
11:22 enabling you to pay for anything with
11:23 Bitcoin up to $600. And most of them
11:26 would probably as a result uh make you
11:28 you know make it clear that hey you know
11:31 if you keep your purchases under $600
11:33 this is sort of simple and
11:34 straightforward. If it goes above $600
11:37 this gets a lot more complicated. But
11:38 that would be amazing to be able to save
11:41 in Bitcoin and spend I mean virtually
11:43 every expense in my life uh other than
11:46 the payment on my Tesla which I’ve
11:48 covered in another video. Uh virtually
11:50 all of my payments and utilities are
11:52 under $600. And if I could pay with all
11:55 of those with appreciated Bitcoin, uh,
11:58 that would be absolutely amazing and it
12:00 would be amazing. So, the number one
12:02 thing I’ve ever wanted from Washington
12:05 DC on Bitcoin is an exemption on capital
12:08 gains for small purchases. And hopefully
12:13 that will be in the cards. Um, so we’ll
12:16 see. But that is that is the big one. uh
12:18 all this other stuff has been a lot
12:21 bigger deal for other people uh in
12:23 crypto that are doing things that are
12:25 not Bitcoin etc. the one that would have
12:27 the biggest profound effect for
12:28 Bitcoiners with regard to the
12:30 dimminimous exemption from capital gains
12:32 taxation, ideally under $600. And if
12:35 they let me write the bill, obviously
12:37 I’m not in federal government Washington
12:40 DC. If they let me write it, I would
12:42 write it $600 in Bitcoin terms like 0.00
12:46 however much Bitcoin, actual Bitcoin,
12:49 like what is that? 0.006 Bitcoin or
12:51 whatever that ends up being 05 Bitcoin.
12:54 Which means as the price of Bitcoin went
12:57 from being worth $600 of Bitcoin down.
13:00 So if the dimminimous exemption was in
13:03 the form of Bitcoin like 0.005 Bitcoin,
13:06 then as 0.5 Bitcoin went from being
13:09 worth $600 to $6,000 between now when
13:14 when Bitcoin hits a million, that would
13:16 be absolutely amazing. So uh that’s a
13:19 bridge too far. I’m sure I think there’s
13:21 less than a onetenth of 1% chance that
13:24 we will get a dimminimous exemption that
13:26 is denominated in Bitcoin. That would be
13:28 the absolute holy grail because that
13:31 meant the $600 dimminimous exemption
13:34 would rise with the value of Bitcoin.
13:35 But regardless, even if all we get is a
13:37 $600 dimminimous exemption, uh that
13:40 would be an absolute gamecher for the
13:42 ability to use Bitcoin in the real
13:44 world. And if that was indexed to
13:46 inflation, obviously that’s not nearly
13:48 as good as indexing it to an amount of
13:50 Bitcoin. That would be infinitely
13:52 better. But even if it was uh indexed to
13:55 fiat government US dollar inflation,
13:58 that would still mean the $600 exemption
14:00 climb to, you know, $65, $610, $625 over
14:05 time, which is still better. Uh but
14:07 anyway, so hopefully my my hope and wish
14:10 and everything is that we get a
14:13 dimminimous exemption under $600 or
14:15 ideally under 0.005 Bitcoin. That would
14:19 be an absolute gamecher and would
14:21 radically increase the incentive for
14:23 people to use Bitcoin to buy stuff
14:25 because you basically get it all of your
14:27 gains taxree if you’re buying stuff of
14:29 Bitcoin, which would be absolutely
14:31 amazing. But anyway, so uh that is my
14:34 hope, that is my prayer, that is my wish
14:36 is that we get the $600, ideally 0005
14:40 Bitcoin exemption uh in Washington DC
14:43 and that is the one big missing piece uh
14:46 that is still on the table. Obviously
14:48 there’s the double taxation of Bitcoin
14:49 miners which is not something I really
14:51 care about although you know it’s
14:53 important it’s just low on my list. Uh
14:55 and then there’s the Bitcoin strategic
14:57 reserve having that c codified in
15:00 legislation rather than just by
15:03 executive order. That is, you know,
15:05 important. But if I could only have one
15:06 thing, one thing in all of this, you
15:09 know, stuff, the Clarity Act, the Genius
15:11 Act, the anti-CBDC act, uh probably the
15:15 thing I value most would be a
15:16 dimminimous exemption for Bitcoin. Maybe
15:19 second on that list would be the
15:20 anti-CBDC bill, which is important. Uh
15:23 but anyway, we might get it all.
15:25 Hopefully in the weeks ahead, we will
15:27 get all of it, which would be pretty
15:28 fantastic. And I’m just hoping, praying,
15:31 wishing, thinking, wow, if we could get
15:33 that dimminimous exemption for capital
15:35 gains tax, everyone would start using
15:38 Bitcoin for everything. Not only because
15:40 there’d be no tax headaches, but because
15:42 it’d be the most efficient way to
15:44 benefit from Bitcoin is to buy Bitcoin,
15:47 wait for it to appreciate, and then
15:48 spend it in increments of less than
15:50 $600, which would not only let you live
15:53 life at a discount because your Bitcoin
15:55 is increasing, but you’re also living
15:57 life at a effectively tax-free because
16:01 as long as you’re spending it in
16:02 increments of $600 or less, then all of
16:04 the gains on your Bitcoin would be
16:06 exempt from taxation, which would be
16:08 absolutely Absolutely fabulous in every
16:10 way. So, that’s the rundown on all of
16:11 that. Let me know if you have questions.
16:13 Exciting times ahead. Thank you
16:15 everyone.