235 - Play Fiat Games and Win Fiat Prizes

McIntosh and Kenshin explore the dangerous world of "fiat games" and their consequences across global markets. They discuss Cardano's spectacular collapse after an AI-assisted coding error split the blockchain, triggering FBI involvement, and celebrate Texas becoming the first US state to actually purchase Bitcoin with $5M in iBit ETF. The Federal Reserve's pivot back to quantitative easing with a liquidity injection draws parallels to COVID-era money printing that launched Bitcoin from $3,800 to $29,000. The Japan carry trade unwind takes center stage as rising interest rates force massive deleveraging, with Bitcoin serving as the "canary in coal mine" through overnight liquidations. The episode explores Austrian versus Keynesian economics and sobering statistics from https://wtfhappenedin1971.com showing how abandoning the gold standard distorted everything from housing affordability (average first-time buyer now age 40) to soup prices—proving that playing fiat games only wins you fiat prizes.Bitcoin Price at Time of Recording Dec 4th, 2025: $92,800 USD | 79,500 Euro Block Height at Time of Recording 926,308News and Resourceshttps://www.businessinsider.com/yen-carry-trade-boj-japan-interest-rate-hike-stocks-bonds-2025-12https://www.theblock.co/post/380466/texas-reportedly-kicks-off-state-bitcoin-reserve-5-million-ibit-purchasehttps://www.theblock.co/post/380056/hoskinson-involves-fbi-after-developers-careless-experiment-splits-cardano-blockchainhttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-fed-ends-qt-13-095949732.html1971 chartshttps://wtfhappenedin1971.com/  Music Credits My Favorite Band - Racer Wide Number Two Websitehttps://satoshis-plebs.comPodcasting 2.0 Apps available at http://podcastapps.com and Value4Value information page available here: https://value4value.infoMcIntosh can be reached by email at [email protected] and on Twitter at @McIntoshFinTech. His mastodon handle is @[email protected] and his Nostr.  Kenshin can be reached on Twitter at @kenshin_ninja or on Nostr. Kenshin’s email is [email protected]. You can also follow the Satoshi’s Plebs podcast account on Nostr. We are looking forward to hearing from you!We are looking forward to hearing from you!