From Lawrence Lepard: Bitcoin is a revolution. It is much more than number go up. It is an invention which can free humankind from the long sad history of monetary debasement, which empowers few and taxes everyone else. In a fiat system the wrong people win. We all pay for it. It is unjust and unfair. Throughout all of human history we never had a monetary standard that did not dilute over time. Now we do. Those of us who are partisans and are fighting for it understand the stakes. Freedom, fairness, prosperity, less war, etc. Unsound money is the issue of our age. Currently few see it, but this will change. This Fourth Turning is well on its way and the monetary issue will be resolved. As I observe the current Bitcoin landscape and the attacks on its leaders i am reminded of the opening of Thomas Paine's second writing, The American Crisis. Written in December 1776 after Washington had gotten his ass kicked on Long Island and retreated from Brooklyn and through New Jersey, Paine wrote: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the service of their country: but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have the consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value." Sound money has to win. History will be kind to sound money partisans. This is about a lot more than number go up. Don't forget why we are in this fight. Spread the word. The system they run is evil. We know the antidote. Time is on our side.

‘MERKA!

"Bitcoin is too volatile to be real money." Fine. Let's look at the other side of that trade. The Argentine peso has lost over 90% of its value in the last decade. The Turkish lira, the Lebanese pound, the Venezuelan bolivar: each one a "real" currency that wiped out the savings of everyone forced to hold it. Even the U.S. dollar has quietly lost most of its purchasing power since 1971. Bitcoin is volatile up and down on its way up. Fiat is remarkably stable on its way to zero. Volatility you can ride out. A slow, guaranteed bleed you can't. Short-term noise is the cost of owning money they can't print. The "stable" option just takes everything, quietly, instead. — Zach 🧙‍♂️

The first time you help someone set up their own wallet, watch their face. Not when they buy. When they send. That moment they move their own money, to their own keys, and realize no bank approved it, no app could freeze it, and nobody had to say yes. Something shifts. They stop seeing Bitcoin as a number that goes up and down. They start seeing it as theirs. We've watched grandparents do it. Teenagers do it. People who swore they were "not a tech person" do it in about ten minutes. That quiet click of understanding is the whole point. Money you actually own, that answers to you and no one else. You can't hand someone a feeling. But you can hand them the keys, and let them find it themselves.

Dear Fort Bragg City Council, Fort Bragg likely adopted Flock cameras with good intentions—safer neighborhoods. My concern is that few of us are stopping to consider where this path leads. Surveillance capabilities are growing exponentially as AI layers onto cameras, sensors, and databases. A tool that reads license plates today can evolve into one that tracks and profiles people through countless digital signals—phones, smartwatches, vehicle systems—building a remarkably complete picture of someone's life. These changes happen gradually. Each new capability arrives as a small, reasonable upgrade. Viewed individually, they sound harmless. Combined, they become something very different. History shows freedoms are often surrendered one small step at a time. In trying to build a safer society, we risk building one where everyone is monitored by default—without fully realizing it. I hope the Council keeps asking not just what these technologies can do today, but what they may become. Once this infrastructure exists, it's nearly impossible to roll back. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely,

Just in case you hadn’t noticed…

Bitcoin is multifaceted. It’s a censorship-resistant network, a savings tool, a global settlement system, and a hedge against inflation. These different uses don't clash—they actually feed into each other. Whether it’s an activist escaping capital controls, a family protecting their life savings, or a business using Bitcoin on its balance sheet, everyone is tapping into the exact same network and making it stronger. Game-changing tech spreads because of incentives, not ideology. Most of us didn't start using the internet or smartphones because we loved the engineering or shared a philosophy; we used them because they made our lives easier. Bitcoin is no different. Companies aren't going to start exchanging dollars for bitcoin because they're fans of economic theory. They'll do it simply because it's the smartest way to protect their cash. You don't need everyone to agree philosophically to change the world. Every time someone moves capital into Bitcoin, the entire network gets deeper, safer, and more resilient. When millions of regular people, businesses, and institutions voluntarily choose this network over traditional paper money, the power naturally shifts away from political institutions and into a transparent system that anyone can use.

The flag represents different things to different people. For me, I just really like the freedom, decency, shining city on a hill, entrepreneurial, opportunity parts of it.

Dear FlockSafety.com: Please would you stop covering the U.S. with surveillance equipment under the pretense of “safety is a fundamental right” so that we don't end up in a dystopian panopticon like they have in China? Privacy is a human right too. Thanks.

"Official" inflation just came in at 4.2% Here is what the purchasing power of $100K in today’s dollars looks like in the future: 2026: $100,000 2027: $95,800 2028: $91,776 2029: $87,922 2030: $84,229 2031: $80,732 2032: $77,341 2033: $74,113 2034: $71,020 2035: $68,053 2036: $65,219 2037: $62,500 2038: $59,895 2039: $57,394 2040: $54,994 2041: $52,690 2042: $50,485 ← half the value is lost 2043: $48,365 2044: $46,334 2045: $44,392 2046: $42,528 2047: $40,742 2048: $39,031 2049: $37,392 2050: $35,821 2051: $34,316 2052: $32,875 2053: $31,494 2054: $30,171 2055: $28,904 2056: $27,690 2057: $26,527 2058: $25,413 2059: $24,346 2060: $23,323 2061: $22,343 2062: $21,404 2063: $20,505 2064: $19,644 2065: $18,819 2066: $18,029 2067: $17,272 2068: $16,546 2069: $15,851 2070: $15,185 2071: $14,547 2072: $13,936 2073: $13,351 2074: $12,790 2075: $12,253 2076: $11,739 2077: $11,246 2078: $10,774 2079: $10,322 2080: $9,888 2081: $9,473 2082: $9,075 2083: $8,694 2084: $8,329 2085: $7,979 2086: $7,645 2087: $7,324 2088: $7,017 2089: $6,722 2090: $6,440 2091: $6,170 2092: $5,911 2093: $5,663 2094: $5,425 2095: $5,197 2096: $4,979 2097: $4,770 2098: $4,570 2099: $4,378 2100: $4,194 ~~~ Study bitcoin.

• Age verification laws requiring government ID or personal data have passed in roughly 25 US states for sites with “harmful to minors” content and app stores (e.g., Texas effective 2026), with similar pushes in the UK, Australia, and EU, showing a real expansion trend. • The third-party doctrine is established US law allowing warrantless government access to data shared with companies, as it is considered voluntarily disclosed.

Strategy is sitting on a 13 billion dollar unrealized loss this week as Bitcoin's price drops. The options desks have started betting against them. Here's the part worth your attention. The saver who holds the same Bitcoin in a cold wallet is down the exact same percentage this week. Same asset. Same price. Same red number. One of them can be forced to sell. The other can't. That's the whole difference, and it's the difference self-custody was built to create. A company that holds Bitcoin through layers of financing has stakeholders, instruments, and obligations stacked on top of the coins. When the price moves, all of that machinery moves too, and at some point the machinery can decide for you. Coins on a key you control have no machinery. No preferred holders. No options chain pricing your pain. No quarter to answer for. A 30% drawdown is a feeling, not a forced event. The price falling tests everyone the same way. What it can't do is reach into a cold wallet and pull the trigger. Down bad is survivable. Forced to sell is not. Hold the version nobody can liquidate but you.

It may seem harmless at first glance, but six Flock Safety cameras have been installed in Fort Bragg. These cameras record every vehicle that passes, capturing license plates, make, model, and other identifying details. Flock Safety’s materials emphasize a “connected system” for evidence and faster law enforcement response. That sounds appealing, and it’s easy to see why officials sign up for these cameras, operated by private, for-profit companies using taxpayer dollars. What officials often overlook is the exponential advancements in surveillance tech. Flock Safety already offers audio detection (for cries for help) and could soon add facial recognition. Companies such as Palantir can combine large datasets—phone records, ISP logs, police StingRay captures, and more—creating powerful cross-referencing capabilities that will only expand. Fort Bragg and the coast have a countercultural history that values freedom. But we are quietly sliding toward a total-surveillance model similar to what exists in China. Once established, such a system is nearly impossible to unwind. These tools are sold as public safety measures, but they also accelerate the erosion of Fourth Amendment protections. If you care, speak up. Do we want this level of surveillance in Fort Bragg—or anywhere in our county, state, or country? Find out more:

DeFlock

Find license plate readers (LPRs) near you.

FIRST FANNIE MAE BITCOIN-BACKED MORTGAGE IS LIVE Better and Coinbase have issued the first Fannie Mae-backed Bitcoin mortgage, allowing a Michigan couple to use their Bitcoin as collateral for a conventional 30-year fixed-rate home loan without selling their BTC. The structure lets borrowers pledge Bitcoin as collateral while avoiding capital gains taxes and maintaining exposure to future price appreciation. Better CEO Vishal Garg called Bitcoin-backed mortgages a “generational next step,” arguing that Americans now hold far more wealth in stocks, bonds, and digital assets than in traditional bank accounts. Because the loan conforms to Fannie Mae underwriting standards, a government-sponsored enterprise is effectively recognizing Bitcoin as collateral within the traditional mortgage system. A broader rollout is expected later this summer. Better says demand is strong, with 76% of waitlist respondents already using Coinbase, 37% holding more than $500,000 in Bitcoin and projected loan volume reaching $250M.