513: Crypto—Innovation or Insanity? Meme Coins, Hacks, and Strategic Bitcoin Reserves

We consider the incongruency of a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, the latest crypto exchange hack, and how most participants lost money on the Trump meme coin. Given all that, we review some areas where cryptocurrency is helping individuals and businesses.

Topics covered include:

• What is the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve
• Why it makes little sense for the U.S. and individual states to create and participate in a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
• What led to the latest and largest cryptocurrency exchange hack in history
• How financial and other data breaches impacted over 1 billion people last year, costing over $15 billion
• How quantum computers could disrupt the security of cryptocurrency and traditional financial systems
• Why most speculators lose money on meme coins
• What are some current ways cryptocurrency is helping individuals and businesses achieve greater financial stability and lower costs

Show Notes

All Information (Except Text) for S.4912 – BITCOIN Act of 2024—Congress.gov

House Bill No. 4087—Michigan Legislature

2025 South Dakota Legislature House Bill 1202—South Dakota Legislature

State of Arizona Senate SB 1025—Arizona State Legislature

Quantum computers and the Bitcoin blockchain by Itan Barmes, Bram Bosch and Olaf Haalstra—Deloitte

Bybit Hack, Crypto’s Biggest Ever, Spoils Coinbase’s SEC Victory Party by Olga Kharif, Muyao Shen, and Emily Nicolle—Bloomberg

Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024—IBM

ITRC Annual Data Breach Report—Identity Theft Resource Center

Post by @realDonaldTrump—Truth Social

Trump Meme

Early Investors in Donald Trump’s Memecoin May Have Been Tipped Off, Experts Claim by Joel Khalili—Wired

Exclusive: Trump’s meme coin made nearly $100 million in trading fees, as small traders lost money by Tom Wilson and Michelle Conlin—Reuters

Memecoin scandal rocks Argentina’s Javier Milei by Ciara Nugen—The Financial Times

Tether Brings Its $140B USDT Stablecoin to Bitcoin and Lightning Networks by Krisztian Sandor—CoinDesk

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Transcript

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