Jon Matonis
@jonmatonis
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Forbes contributor | At the intersection of free banking, cryptography, and digital currency | Chief Economist at Sol Strategies Inc
Toronto, Ontario
Joined January 2010
Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photo of rush to retrieve gold from Shanghai bank on eve of the communist takeover in 1948
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End of an Era: Room 77 in Berlin Closes Doors Permanently!. Blame it on Covid or blame it on gentrification. Either way, this Kreuzberg landmark has served as a Bitcoin watering hole for over 10 years, with thousands making the obligatory pilgrimage. Thx for the memories, Joerg!
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IMF on Bitcoin: It could displace central banks, conventional banking, and challenge the monopoly of national monies
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Fascinating! "BitTorrent usage has bounced back because there's too many streaming services, and too much exclusive content.".
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Facebook may decide that, after these tortuous and mind-numbing hearings, it will be far simpler to just build on the open source #Bitcoin protocol.
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Imagine having the power to print paper money and NOT using that power to acquire Bitcoin.
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This is dumb. Telegram could easily integrate viral, censorship-resistant bitcoin into platform rather than creating another centralised token.
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Jurisdictions (such as US) that restrict/regulate ICOs are not harming the world, they are only harming their own markets and citizens.
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"What the New York Fed is doing is unprecedented in U.S. history and yet you will find no mention of it on any front page of a newspaper today.".
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Political prisoner Ross Ulbricht deserves a presidential pardon. @realDonaldTrump @Free_Ross.
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As Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written, Bitcoin is “an insurance policy against an Orwellian future.” .
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Asset-backed tokens, like stablecoins, are NOT digital bearer instruments and they are centrally-issued. In addition to reputational volatility, they carry significant counterparty risk.
Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin. Starting today, Coinbase customers in supported jurisdictions can buy, sell, send, and receive USDC at and in our mobile apps. Learn more here:
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Bitcoin (BTC) mining machine eating through the geological layers of the mempool
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"The Fed has NO IDEA what rates should be. The Fed manipulates prices, distorts the economy, & makes decisions by looking at the 'data' of a distorted economy. Central planning produces a world of economic delusions. America needs to get back to reality.".
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"This white-washed version of history is a moral blind spot that is the Left's equivalent of Holocaust denial.".
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It is no one's job to change your mind, Peter. The path to Bitcoin is a personal journey that is best taken through individual exploration and a deeper understanding of what's important in life. You'll know you are there when you realize there is nothing else to convert it to.
@APompliano @SchiffGold I'm doing a bitcoin challenge live on my YouTube channel on Monday night. I'm inviting people to try to change my mind on Bitcoin. Feel free to take a shot. You never know you may convince me that I'm wrong. My mind is open.
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“Lightning Network provides a framework to measure the time-value of bitcoin, a precursor for a capital market and reserve currency status.”
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Common mistake. The stone money people never saw precious metals coming either. @JoeSquawk.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that really needs to be backed by gold to have any value, said famed investor Mark Mobius
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Happy Birthday Bitcoin! While Jan 3rd was date of genesis block, first mined block was actually Jan 9th. This delay was due to multiple crashes and code changes; versions on 3rd and 9th are not the same.
@justicemate Due to some early difficulties, actual start was Jan 9th so I'll make a tweet on that date too. #bitcoin.
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Private blockchains are still a distraction. Bitcoin's sole purpose is to remove the State from the production of money.
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“Only put money in the banking system that you can afford to lose,” advises financial commentator @maxkeiser.
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Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine http://t.co/xyGgt2HChx via @BitGirlMiner @vmatonis
http://t.co/0AburkpUDF.
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The problem with this line of thinking is that Bitcoin is not a product. It is a global value transfer protocol (VTP) similar to TCP/IP and SMTP, which tends to converge toward one dominant protocol for ubiquity.
@Bakkus9 @stephanlivera @pierre_rochard Yeah . who said anything about replacing Bitcoin? The world is big enough for many coins. Not as many as we have now perhaps but a good number. What other industry doesn’t expect to have many players?.
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THE OCTOPUS-ALDRICH PLAN, THE COMING MONEY TRUST. 1912 cartoon by Alfred Owen Crozier, who opposed the re-establishment of a national central back, which Senator Nelson Aldrich proposed. In the 1913, the Federal Reserve banks that he feared were created.
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Inflation is not an unpredictable freak of nature. It is inter-generational theft of value which accrues to the sovereign issuer.
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Money is not value -- money measures value. Thermometers measure temperature. Yardsticks measure length.
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@alpacasw @pavolrusnak @TradingWhaIe @theonevortex As of March 2018, I am no longer associated with nChain. No fallout with CSW. I just disagree with strategy of going all in for Bitcoin Cash. #NetworkEffect more important.
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I don't see the point of Shapeshift if you're required to maintain an identity-based account.
Shapeshift pivots away from being “the exchange without accounts.” . Account registration will soon be mandatory. #bitcoin #blockchain #crypto.
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WePower Launches Blockchain-Powered Green Energy Platform and Announces Registration for Fundraiser #gibraltar.
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The time has come for me to resign as Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation. Thank you for all of your passionate support! More soon.
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Fun Fact: Genesis block has a January 3rd timestamp, however Bitcoin mining didn't begin until January 9th, 2009.
Happy birthday #bitcoin.
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Hal Finney starts running the Bitcoin client on Jan 11th, 2009.
Running bitcoin.
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@VitalikButerin @giacomozucco Proof of stake will signal the end of Ethereum. Massive shorts incoming. #PoW.
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Money was never meant to be used as an identity tracking device.
I fully support law-enforcement agencies & the tough job they have, but I do not believe a currency needs to bleed metadata to assist them.
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I found this article to be condescending and offensive: "If financial activities involving virtual assets are left unregulated or under-regulated, [people] will be able to move funds whenever, and wherever, they want. cc:@izakaminska.
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"We should call private blockchains what they really are: wealth transfer mechanisms from banks to fintech consultants." #FTW15.
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The exodus from mainstream gaming to crypto gaming is only just beginning. @FunFairTech @davidgreyling @cecilebaird #bitcoin #ethereum
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Are you tired of waiting weeks or even months to open a new bitcoin trading account? It doesn't have to be that way. Sign up now at cc: @Licere @globitex_
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Bitcoin Miner Chandler Guo in Davos: "Do not believe any government in the world. I only believe the mathematics."
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Central banks don't realize it yet, but they are building on-ramps to Bitcoin. cc:@DelRayMan
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"If zeros and ones are outlawed, only outlaws will use zeros and ones."
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Real reasons Bitcoin won't experience traditional "financialization": .a) consequences of rehypothecation are extremely punitive;.b) near frictionless storage & permissionless global transfer;.c) clearing/settlement extends beyond regulated exchanges, so less centralised.
5/ the more bitcoin becomes an investable asset, the more it’s price becomes decoupled from its value and its supply and demand. it becomes yet another backwater in the great game of global speculation. it becomes “financialized.” it becomes correlated to macro markets.
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“In the meantime, Bitcoin has performed a very important role in helping people in distressed situations around the world: getting around governments (institutions, really) that want to control you, starve you, and hurt you.” -Steve Forbes.
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"People who have their eye on #Bitcoin are going to eventually be richer than people who talk about blockchain technology." -@DanielKrawisz.
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Nothing like capital controls to focus the mind! First Bitcoin Meetup in Greece v/@RedditBTC
http://t.co/ly3aRQJfnX.
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A fascinating prediction of electricity currency (1921-22).
@GabrielDVine Yet there is another possibility much more.fascinating from a speculative point of view and.offering much more likelihood of being the ultimate.in money. That is electricity currency.
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There is a Wikipedia edit war now going on to remove terms "permissionless" and "bitcoin" from the blockchain entry
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Room77 bar & restaurant in Berlin has a raspberry pi that displays current #Bitcoin hashes/sec.
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BitcoinCore does not stand for neutrality. Their preference is for off-chain scaling, disabling of native OP_CODES, and monolithic software.
Bitcoin Core stands for technical and cultural neutrality, excellence, performance, improvement, security and safety. I support them, 100%.
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"Just as individuals can choose to exit their own economies using cryptocurrency, so too can nations elect to exit the current global financial system.".
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There won't be an on-chain signing from early bitcoin blocks, but there also won't be another Satoshi.
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Socialists in Bitcoin never cease to amaze me. wtf do they think will happen if the State actually loses its monopoly privilege over the production of money?.
@jonmatonis Socialism does not mean eradication of free market enterprise. It means the state provides essential social infrastructure like health, education etc etc.
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Czech government tells its citizens how to fight terrorists: Shoot them yourselves
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@MrHodl @eric_lombrozo Putting UASF next to your Twitter name is like saying "I'm one of the sheeple willing to go over the cliff.".
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I predict that "Blockchain without Bitcoin" companies will be debunked and run out of funding before the end of this year.
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Bitcoin now has a strong and effective counterbalance to Blockstream Corp (Montreal)
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Let’s talk a bit about Bitcoin mixers. I am going to show you that, without using coin control feature you are going to be deanonymized, even if you use Bitcoin mixers. via @nopara73.
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"You can’t prevent people from holding ones and zeros on a device in their pocket." via @kyletorpey.
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“. the product that Silicon Valley will never build, the regulators will never allow, and the VC’s will never invest in. We build the software that Bitcoin deserves.”
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Zcash is the first altcoin backed by so many prominent Bitcoin investors.
Zcash will launch on Oct. 28!
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Corrupt agents learn that, without privacy-enhancing crypto layers, bitcoin is not very cash-like
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Fungibility for a cryptocurrency (via mixing and anti-surveillance protocols) is not an optional feature. It is a matter of economic necessity and survival. #bitcoin.
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How to Be Conversant in Bitcoin Hashing Rates: The Outer Prefixes of the Metric System #HashrateMatters
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ProTip for newbies: Hats play zero role in Nakamoto consensus.
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Regardless of what you think about the Blockstream drama, this is the kind of boss you want to work for. A true meritocracy.
5/ Matt messaged me directly to complain about Neil and told me to “keep him in line.” Neil reports to me and heads up our marketing team. I told Matt that I don’t police the thoughts of my team and that they are free to express their own opinions.
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How fast are people spending bitcoin? (Source: MIT Technology Review) http://t.co/RJJkt8F7X3.
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I attend many mainstream financial conferences. Open, permissionless Bitcoin is unlikely to get on their radar until $10k price exceeded.
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@TraceMayer @maxkeiser @CaitlinLong_ Rehypothecation will lead to the Mother of all Short Squeezes. Look out above.
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The word "Corrected" here means censored, blocked, modified, or reversed. by @RichardLumb1 #shameful.
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Risky myth pervading Bitcoin: The Lightning Network model will inherently improve Bitcoin privacy by @kristovatlas
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A quiet rebellion against copyright is being waged on a single website by a freelance coder, using Bitcoin instead of PayPal via @baidakova via @coindesk.
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With Bitcoin, what's actually under attack is the concept of monetary systems being under the domain of jurisdictional boundaries.
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The ones who need Bitcoin the most may even be unaware of its existence.
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Bitcoin on the path to "unit of account" status is confirmed. @globitex_ @Licere
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How A Worried Safaricom Used Backdoor To Shutdown Bitcoin Which Was Set To Neutralize Mpesa Dominance In Kenya
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Ray Dillinger "Bear" did a code review & security audit for the block chain portion of Bitcoin source code in Nov 08
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Bitcoin network block creation approaching point of lowest historical centralisation http://t.co/w54qzrPqkl
@oocBlog
http://t.co/NRAN4FVFr5.
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“I’ve got 1,200 copies of Human Action, 1,500 copies of Basic Economics, and 4,700 copies of Economics in One Lesson,” the angered senator said. “I’m drowning here.”
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Venezuela Bans Lines Outside Bakeries (claiming that lines attempt to stir up "anxiety") by @anthonyLfisher.
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Must-see TV for derivatives nerds! We may soon have difficulty futures on Bitcoin mining with 2,016-block settlement periods. @JackMallers @maxkeiser
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“If you’re the developer of a bitcoin wallet, I encourage you to implement BIP47, BIP69, BIP126 and others features improving the privacy of your users. And don’t forget to check the results with Boltzmann or OXT.” — @LaurentMT
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