Ahoy fellow Pirates!
It’s the week of American thanksgiving. No matter where you are in the world, this time can act as a reminder to express gratitude for what you have, no matter how small it may seem.
Thank you to all who read and comment on these ARRRticles! We’ve now reached the 20th post and your continued support is appreciated. The weekly articles can now be expected once a month from here on in. To those who took the time to read it every week, I salute you!
A thank you to the Pirate Chain crew and community in general as well. The Pirate Chain flag acts as a beacon of hope, a reminder that there are still people in this world who are fighting for freedom. This freedom comes in the form of having complete control and privacy over our assets.
We need to take advantage of that by holding onto our treasure regardless of the scare tactics that the government and media uses. We can’t give in to them. The purpose of our fight—our treasure—is so that we have no need to be at the mercy of what is going on in the world right now. It is currently our only guarantee of security.
But, to achieve this freedom, we must take care not to keep ourselves in shackles. So long as we give in to the media we are keeping ourselves bound by government control.
Selling off crypto every time regular stock markets fluctuate, or when we experience news of new variants of any virus, means we are still letting ourselves be chained by others. Be sure, if you do sell your treasure, that you are doing it for the right reasons, because you feel it would serve you in the long-run, and not just to give in to the daily pressure and fear.
Unlike regular markets, cryptocurrency is decentralized, which means it is not bound by a central authoritative entity. We need to embrace this aspect of crypto. To do that, we can’t sell off what we own just because others are doing the same. We are in it for the long haul, just as El Salvador is, as was mentioned in the previous ARRRticle. Keep your eyes on the future, for we know the tides will turn.
El Salvador’s vision for Bitcoin adoption continues to expand, as president Nayib Bukele announced during an event closing the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference that they plan to build a Bitcoin city that it will include everything—residential areas, commercial areas, services, museums, entertainment, bars, restaurants, airport, port, rail. The city, and the Bitcoin mining, will be powered by geothermal energy from a volcano. The aim is to have sustainable and efficient public transportation with no CO2 emissions.
The city will have a circular design, with a plaza in the center to resemble the BTC coin from above, and will be located in the eastern area of La Union, near the Conchagua volcano. There will be no income tax, capital gains tax, property tax, payroll, or municipal tax. The only tax will come in the form of a 10% VAT (value added tax); half of which will be used to buy the bonds to build up the city, while the other half will go to the municipality for maintenance, to keep the city clean and tidy. According to Bukele, they are committed to free and equal access to everything.
The chief strategy officer of Blockstream, Samson Mow, also spoke during the event regarding the Bitcoin bonds. El Salvador plans to issue “Bitcoin bonds” in partnership with Blockstream, a blockchain technology company, and iFinex, the parent company of trading platform Bitfinex. These bonds will be available in 2022 and will be backed by Bitcoin. Half of it will go into buying Bitcoin while the other half will go to infrastructure, especially energy infrastructure and energy mining. It is going to be called the “volcano bond.” The first bond will be known as the EBB1 (the El Salvador Bitcoin Bond 1). The government is working on modern digital securities laws. The bonds will be tied to citizenship as well.
Bukele ended the presentation by saying that, “Like Samsung [Mow] said, Bitcoin is going to change the world. It has already changed it but it is going to change even more” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqoJkVvKmy0).
Benjamin Bloom National Children’s hospital, one of the largest in El Salvador, received an over 1 Bitcoin donation from the Liberland Aid Foundation, a U.S. based nonprofit. In a report published on Bitcoin Magazine, Joey Langenbrunner, LAF Chairman, shared a statement:
“This initiative has allowed Liberland citizens the opportunity to not only give back, but also to show the power of what Bitcoin can do to empower the people of El Salvador” (https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/el-salvador-childrens-hospital-receives-over-1-bitcoin-donation).
One of Singapore’s leading banking institutions, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Limited (OCBC Bank), is considering setting up a crypto exchange in order to offer crypto services and respond to customer needs. The bank is not looking to rush into it, but, according to Chief Executive Officer Helen Wong in an interview with Bloomberg, they believe it is “worth studying crypto technology due to its potential to boost efficiency” (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-19/singapore-s-ocbc-studying-crypto-exchange-ceo-wong-says). Rival banks, such as DBS Group Holdings, Ltd. are already planning to expand their cryptocurrency services.
A report by Blockdata reveals that the Bitcoin network has processed more dollar volume than Paypal this far. The estimated value processed for Bitcoin is an estimated average of $489 billion per quarter in 2021, while Paypal processed an average of $302 billion per quarter (https://www.blockdata.tech/blog/general/bitcoin-volume-mastercard-visa). Bitcoin network growth continues as more countries experience double-digit inflation.
In the same report, Blockdata verified inflation numbers posted by Alex Gladstein on Twitter (https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1453087434623754240) and found that a minimum 1.12 billion people across 28 countries suffer from double-digit inflation
Cryptocurrency can act as our safe haven of money, if we let it. To do this we must treat it separately than regular stock markets because it is in a field of its own. It provides an answer in this time of inflation.
Pirate Chain provides us even greater security and privacy. It may seem less usable than Bitcoin, which is one of the most widely used cryptocurrency, but don’t forget that the atomic swap is coming. The atomic swap allows you to exchange your cryptocurrency for another without a centralized intermediary. By exchanging your ARRR for Bitcoin and then back again, you can retain your privacy. This means you can utilize the benefits of Bitcoin while making the most of the security that only Pirate Chain provides.
Stay strong, Pirates, and horde your treasure. Our time is coming. Fare thee well until next time!
