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GM - Arsen here. ☕

Welcome back to Bitcoin Therapy. You know that feeling when your favorite song comes on the radio? We’re the email version of that.

First, happy and relaxing Sunday to 3,132 patients reading today. 👋 

Merry Christmas, anon!

I hope you get to spend your holidays like me: surrounded by family and eating great food.

As always, I will try to orangepill some of them. Wish me luck!

Alright, here’s what I got for you this week:

• You can now censor Bitcoin transactions

• The ETF wars have begun

• Bitcoin 🤝 Bathhouse Spa

Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 18 seconds

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CENSORSHIP HAS COME TO BITCOIN

What’s that sound?

That’s the JPEG h8ers partying.

Why? Because the day has finally come: miners can now actively block Bitcoin NFTs

How? By using the OCEAN pool (I wrote about it here).

It’s a new and unique pool where miners (and not the pool) get to choose what goes into blocks.

And that’s why OCEAN calls itself "decentralized.”

There are 3 options to choose from when mining with OCEAN:

1. OCEAN recommended - blocks most “spam” transactions

2. Bitcoin Core + ‘Ordisrespector’ spam filter - blocks Ordinals

3. Unmodified Bitcoin Core - doesn’t block any valid transactions

1 and 2 will have a 0% fee, while 3 will have a 2% fee

Why? To incentivize miners to make choices that help Bitcoin in the long term (and not only look at short-term profit).

The argument is that profit will be higher in the long term because Bitcoin will be more functional (and not crippled by “spam”).

This is not a new idea. We’ve seen many industries destroy their short-term profit to maximize long-term profit (and vice versa).

As expected, this topic has divided the Bitcoin community into 2 camps:

1. “OCEAN is anti-freedom. You’re the enemy of Bitcoin!!!1”

2. “Giving miners a choice to filter transactions that don’t align with their idealogy is great!.”

Notice how I write ‘spam’ in quotes? That’s because it’s subjective: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The same applies to digital dickbutts.

And giving miners a choice is good, right?

Well, it’s not that simple. Whether you like it or not, this IS censorship.

Don’t get me wrong: censoring certain things is good (for example, child p*rn)

But this makes Bitcoin pools/miners similar to ISPs who have the power to block traffic from certain countries and to certain websites.

And that’s a very slippery slope.

Anyways, Bitcoin is an open protocol. People can run any version of the software (as long as it’s compatible), and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Only time will tell how it’s going to play out.

Here are my thoughts on NFTs perfectly summed up:

PAPER BITCOIN BACKUPS SUCK

I stand by the title.

Why? Because securing your generational Bitcoin wealth on a piece of paper is… let’s just say, not very smart.

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• 100% offline cold storage =100% peace of mind

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• No loose pieces - no risk of losing crucial parts

It’s estimated that ~30% is lost forever. A big reason why is poor seed phrase security.

Be your own bank, anon. Get your Stamp Seed here.

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Thanks for the support! ❤️

BITCOIN ETF MARKETING HAS OFFICIALLY BEGAN

2024 will be a great year:

• Just finished my home gym - jacked Arsen, hello.

• A new LOTR animated fantasy film is coming (shoutout to my fellow LOTR nerds)

• Bitcoin will become a household name

Don’t believe I will get jacked? Fine.

BUT you can’t deny that Bitcoin will reach a new level in mainstream consciousness.

The reason? Bitcoin ETF ads.

We just saw Bitwise drop an 🔥 ad in preparation for their Bitcoin ETF approval.

And not just any ad - they partnered with ‘The Most Interesting Man’ (yup, that old dude from Dos Equis beer commercial).

I’m talking about the living meme and an absolute unit of a man who:

• Steps on legos as part of his morning routine

• Once, he took an arrow to the knee because he wanted acupuncture

• Brushes teeth with wasabi

• Calls brakes ‘coward pedals’

• Says ‘MIFs’ instead of ‘MILFs’

And he’s on our side now 🤝

You can watch the commercial here.

So, there are now 13 Bitcoin ETF applications (!). I can’t wait to see these guys try to one-up each other with their ETF marketing campaigns.

VanEck has already embraced the culture by making the ticker for their ETF ‘$HODL’. And now, we’re seeing epic meme marketing from Bitwise…

What’s next?

The Bitcoin ETF wars have begun, and I’m all here for it 🍸

BITCOIN 🤝 SPA

There are a few things that go well together:

• Peanut butter and jelly

• Bacon and eggs

• Spa and…Bitcoin?

Yup, we got some hot innovation (literally) in the house.

This Spa in Brooklyn, New York, is heating its pools with Bitcoin miners (yup, you read that right). Here’s how it works:

1. They need lots of energy to heat the pools, saunas, etc

2. The owners decided to set up a Bitcoin miner in the spa

3. They’re doing ‘submersion cooling,’ which is placing the miner in a pool of mineral oil

4. The mineral oil keeps the miner cool, and the heat the miner generates heats the pools

Also, the owner is hodling this Bitcoin (approximately 1 BTC per year).

A total Chad move.

This is amazing.

Now imagine all the businesses that require heat:

• Water purification

• Home heating

• Food processing

• Automobile manufacturing

• …and literally 99% of businesses

Bitcoin can generate additional revenue for businesses just by keeping their miners on.

Don’t sleep on this, anon.

QUICK NEWS⚡

• Bitcoin from the Satoshi era is on the move. Satoshi, dat u?

• El Salvador gets the green light to issue Bitcoin Bonds in 2024! Vamosss!

• Argentina proposes massive deregulation. You can now pay your debts in Bitcoin!

THIS WEEK IN A MEME 📅

Bitcoin ETF confirmed ✅

FROM THE ARCHIVE 📁

First they laugh at you…then you laugh back.

PATIENT REVIEW 🧠

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See you next Sunday,

Bitcoin Therapy Team

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