Bitcoin Headlines that Matter - 11/19/2020

Bitcoin General News

Ray Dalio tweets that he might be missing something with bitcoin, asking bitcoiners for feedback

Bitcoin market cap makes new ATH as BTC touched $17K

This is a big milestone. The previous record high market cap for bitcoin back in December 2017 was $323 billion. It broke the record to hit $335 billion when price was around $18,000. Beginners might wonder how this can happen at a lower price than the All Time High price. It's because more bitcoin has been mined since the previous record.

Billionaire Salinas Has 10% of ‘Liquid Portfolio’ in Bitcoin

Third richest man in Mexico.

Salinas, 65, who contracted Covid-19 last month, said in a later tweet he first invested in Bitcoin four years ago, adding he holds the balance of his liquid portfolio in precious metals miners.

Bitcoin Development

Poolin Launches Initiative To Activate Taproot, Encouraging Other Mining Pools To Join

Taproot will be included in the next release of the Bitcoin Core code, but does not have an activation mechanism yet. Several mining pools are trying to find a market led solution, and it's a great sign for bitcoin development in my opinion.

Geopolitics

Trump reveals sudden troop withdrawal

(I had to go to an Australian news site to find simple factual reporting. Sad.)

President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw thousands of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan by January 15 next year - just five days before Joe Biden replaces him.

Europe Can No Longer Rely On The US For Protection Even With Biden In Office, Macron Warns

I am a follower of Peter Ziehan's work in which he explains why the US is pulling back from the world to become more isolationist, and France may rise in Europe as the most dominant regional power. This article fits along these lines.

(Video) Dueling Perspectives On China's Economic Reality

An interesting dialogue between two China experts, Kyle Bass and Michael Pettis. They discuss China's role in the global economy, the CCP's position within the China, and what to expect in the next few years.

Altcoin Insanity

Yield-generating stablecoin project Origin Dollar exploited for $7M

Another week, several more Defi hacks. This is just one of many similar headlines. Most of these hacks are probably inside jobs. Defi projects are easy to clone, and are scams with unknowns at the helm. We are certainly past the peak of the Defi hype cycle.

New Podcast "Sh*tcoin Insider" with Guy Swann is worth a listen

I've been acquaintances with Guy Swann for a few years now. His original podcast Bitcoin Audible is a great resource for the space, and he now has a new pod. This one is centered around exploring the weird and scammy world of altcoins from a view point firmly set in Bitcoin Maximalism. The first two episodes are fantastic, and a third episode discussing the recent Ethereum hard fork disaster should be out very soon.