• 🧠Quote(s) of the week:
• 🧡Bitcoin news🧡
• 💸Traditional Finance / Macro:
• 🏦Bank
• 🌎Macro/Geopolitics:
• 🎁If you have made it this far, I would like to give you a little gift:

§🧠Quote(s) of the week:

“Bitcoin isn’t physical!” Neither is your credit score, your mortgage, or the $7 trillion the Fed printed in 2020. But you believe in those. Money is a mental construct. Always has been. Bitcoin is just the first version that can’t be diluted by committee. - Jeff Swanson

Rohan Hirani: ’There are three main reasons why someone would sell their bitcoin at a loss:

1. They never understood what they actually own.
2. They don’t have the stomach to handle volatility.
3. Life expenses: kids, medical bills, divorce, house down-payment, whatever.

That third one isn’t a weakness; it’s just reality. The first two, though, are where the edge still lives. If this thing went up in a boring straight line, every pension fund, every sovereign wealth fund, and your Uber driver would already be maxed out—still, a stable SoV but less asymmetric upside.

The reason there’s still a ton of upside is that most people will either (1) never do the homework required or (2) do the homework and still tap out when it hurts. So if you truly get it and you don’t need the money to live, selling during a period of extreme fear is the only fundamental mistake you can make.’

§🧡Bitcoin news🧡

Photos hosted by Azzamo ( https://azzamo.net/)

Price up, price down…this is it:

Disclaimer: I am still a bit behind on the news each week, but I still want to share these insights with you.

On the 19th of January:

➡️Netherlands: ’Today, the parliamentary debate on the Actual Return Tax (Box 3) begins. This legislation must be approved by the House of Representatives before March 15 to allow implementation by 2028. For real estate investors, this brings some improvements:

• Better cash flow
• Deductibility of actual costs
• An end to fictional (assumed) returns

But it also introduces a significant change: From 2028 onward, capital gains on real estate will be taxed. Inheritance, in particular, is about to become much more expensive. Heirs will be required to settle with the tax authorities not only for inheritance tax, but also for tax on unrealized capital gains on real estate — even though the wealth remains locked in bricks and mortar.

One might have a property right by an ever-heavier ‘I’m sharing more,’ which already happens today. If you inherit a primary residence (Box 1) and cannot quickly free up liquidity, you still have to pay inheritance tax based on the current value, or the tax authorities may demand security (such as a mortgage lien or bank guarantee).

The difference is that the burden now increases significantly: In addition to inheritance tax, heirs will face a 36% tax on the increase in value of Box 3 properties (from 2028 onward).

The WOZ value as of 1 January 2028 (possibly adjusted using the vacancy ratio for residential properties) will serve as the starting value. This raises a fundamental issue.’ - Arjen Robijn

‘The property rightby an ever heavier, more. This, by an ever heavier, I’m sharing more. This is not a luxury — it is a cornerstone of a free and democratic society. Anyone who lacks certainty over what they own ultimately lacks certainty over their autonomy. In the Netherlands, this foundation is not abolished outright, but gradually eroded by an ever heavier, more complex tax burden. Not by formal expropriation, but by a structural shift of ownership from citizen to state.’ -Rob Roos

Got Bitcoin? I’m sharing more on the above below.

➡️Joe Burnett: ’How long could the median U.S. household live on 1 BTC?

• 2012: 50 minutes
• 2014: 1.5 days
• 2016: 4 days
• 2018: 3 months
• 2020: 2.2 months
• 2022: 6 months
• 2024: 13 months
• 2026: 15 months (current price this is now ~ 10 months)’

On the 20th of January:

➡️Bitcoin accumulation wallets holding between 100 BTC and 1K BTC have seen a 33% increase over the last 24 months. - Bitcoin News

➡️’THE NETHERLANDS TO TAX UNREALIZED BITCOIN GAINS’- Bitcoin News The Netherlands is moving toward taxing unrealized capital gains on bitcoin, stocks, bonds, and other assets, following parliament’s vote to overhaul annual income tax filings. Under the new system, investors will owe tax each year based on changes in asset value, even if nothing has been sold. The reform, known as Wet werkelijk rendement Box 3, is scheduled for 2028 and will tax actual returns by measuring the difference between an asset’s value at the start and end of the year, plus any income received. That means both realized and unrealized gains will be taxed. Critics warn the shift could create serious liquidity problems, forcing investors to pay taxes on paper gains without having cashed out.

A lot of wealth will leave the Netherlands soon.

Great tweet by Bart Mol: https://x.com/Bart_Mol/status/2014633674051101124 Bart Mol: “…I’m not the only one who thinks there are better options. The Council of State (the Netherlands’ highest advisory body on legislation): “Don’t do it. It’s too complex (for both the tax authority and the citizens). Look for alternatives.” And still, the government marches on. And the House of Representatives reluctantly agrees, this… What the fuck does that even mean? “Yeah, we also don’t like this bill, but we still are going to sign it into law.” It’s batshit crazy. But it’s where we are. That’s what the quoted tweet is about.”

As a Dutch citizen, please sign the petition below: https://petities.nl/petitions/stop-belasting-op-papieren-winst-behoud-rente-op-rente-voor-de-kleine-spaarder

And this is why you never should tell a government that you have Bitcoin. Even if you don’t plan to sell, this will bankrupt you, which lowers the risk they’ll screw you later. And extortion.

This is not just about Bitcoin. It applies to all financial assets in the Netherlands. The result is predictable: an exodus of wealth, including millionaires and billionaires, to jurisdictions like Dubai or Singapore. Just have a look at what happened in the UK>

On the 21st of January:

➡️Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong calls out the Central Bank Governor’s misunderstanding of Bitcoin. “Bitcoin is a decentralized protocol…Bitcoin is more independent.” Explaining decentralization to a central banker is like explaining WiFi to a fax machine. It won’t work.

➡️Nearly half of all bitcoin is held in self-custody.-River

On the 22nd of January:

➡️’The famous Tulip Mania lasted 6 months. Bitcoin is 17 years old. Tulips round-tripped to baseline, and that was that. Bitcoin has rebounded to new highs after ~5 drawdowns of 80%+, monetizing from 0 value to $2T and counting. Very, very different. - Jesse Myers

On the 23rd of January:

➡️Vijay Boyapati: “The fundamental reasons why Bitcoin is superior to gold and fiat have not changed. In the long term, to negotiate payments in Bitcoin voluntarily, long-term fundamentals always win out.”

➡️Quinten: Bitcoin = historically undervalued Gold = historically overvalued

➡️Oklahoma lawmakers have introduced Senate Bill 2064, which would allow state employees, vendors, private businesses, and residents to vote on the coin. -Bitcoin News

On the 25th of January:

➡️Bitcoin is currently on track for 4 down months in a row. The last time that happened:

1. Bottom of the 2018 bear market
2. Bottom of the 2014 bear market
3. Bottom of the 2011 bear market

On the 26th of January:

➡️Since the start of 2025, 11 months ago…

• Silver: +278%
• Gold: +93%
• Bitcoin: -10% Precious metals investors are dancing on Bitcoin’s grave. That always ends well. - Jesse Myers

➡️14 trillion BlackRock files for a new iShares #Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. - Bitcoin Magazine

➡️Boomers hold $78 trillion in assets. Millennials have $14 trillion. The wealth transfer is coming. And the next generation isn’t buavetailwind for Bitcoin.

➡️Strategy has acquired 40,150 BTC so far in 2026. Only 1.00 BTC has been mined so far in 2026. Eventually, the BTC price must go higher. Much higher.

➡️The Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index is now at “Extreme Fear”
At $88,000 per BTC.

➡️This is not an altcoin. This is the US Dollar since Wednesday.

The US Dollar is in free fall vs. the Swiss Franc. It’s down 24% since late 2022 and is plummeting further. The world reservecurrecy, folks. You must price your portfolio in something other than the dollar.

§💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

On January the 23rd:

👉🏽‘The fact that natural gas, one of the most essential commodities in the world, just casually rose +70% in 5 days is a perfect testament to how incredible this market truly is.’ - TKL

§🏦Bank

👉🏽No news

§🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

Ray Dalio: “It’s now happening. The existing fiat monetary order, the domestic political order, and the international geopolitical order are all breaking down, so we are at the brink of a breaking World Order. Do you understand the Big Cycle, and do you know how to deal with it? I want to help you. I will continue to share with you my understanding of how the mechanics work and how I see things transpiring. If you want me to send you my postings, you can sign up below.”

Full video: https://youtu.be/xguam0TKMw8 Give it a go, you might learn a thing or two.

On the 19th of January:

👉🏽Giorgia Meloni: “There is an ongoing process of Islamization in Europe, which is very far from the values of our civilization, with its regulations, overtaxation, and left-wing redistribution mindset.” Then you can, with its regulations, overtaxation, and left-wing redistribution mindset, do something substantial to reverse it.

On the 20th of January:

👉🏽Michael A. Arouet: ‘Eye-opening chart of privately held tech companies valued over $1B. While innovation thrives in the US free market, Europe, with its regulations, overtaxation, and left-redistribution mindset, remains stuck with last-century industries, which are now challenged by China as well.’

👉🏽Gold is up 9% in the first three weeks of 2026, and up 75% in the past 12 months.

👉🏽 Scott Bessent brought up an eye-opening datapoint at Davos. Since 1980, the US has spent $22 trillion more on defense than all other NATO members combined. They preferred to ramp up welfare instead. That’s about two-thirds of outstanding US debt. Have you said thank you once? This is a perfect visualization that challenges the left’s Capitalism and Germany’s Capitalism, and has a narrative that gives the most significant ‘I’m sharing more,’ share to European “democratic socialism.” There is no such thing as “democratic socialism.” It’s Capitalism with expanded welfare. As socialism never works, it’s never truly democratic, and it always ends in dictatorship.

👉🏽Wall Street Mav: ’The Germans and the French are already fighting over how to respond to Trump. France wants to act tough, but has Germany pay for everything because France has massive budget issues and can’t afford to do anything.

Germany is massively outspending France on military spending and aid to Ukraine, but French President Macron wants to take the leadership role without paying for anything. Germany is basically refusing to confront Trump because Germans recognize Trump holds all of the cards, while Macron isn’t smart enough to understand such details.’

👉🏽Ursula von der Leyen compares the shock of de-linking the U.S. dollar from gold and the new “global order” it created as a lesson “that geopolitical shocks can and must serve as an opportunity… the seismic change we are going through today is an opportunity.” She said that at the Annual Meeting in Davos.

I am just going to leave this here: https://wtfhappenedin1971.canyther of all deals,“ with India, “Europe will always choose the world, and the world is ready to choose Europe.” For fuck sake. Any trade deal with India always involves importing millions of Indians. Europe will always choose anyone BUT Europeans.

👉🏽‘This is simply unreal. Believe it or not, in London, parents are trying to reduce their income because they are better off earning £99k than £144k. The UK is on track to replace Germany as Europe’s champion of absurdities. How is this even possible?’ - Michael A. Arouet

👉🏽Japan, we have a problem! 40-Year Bond Yield soars to 4.22%, the highest level in history!

Global Markets Investor: ‘Japan’s 30-year government bond yield spiked 30 basis points in one session, to 3.90%, the highest in HISTORY. 40-year yield surged 28 basis points, to 4.22%, the highest EVER. 40-year yields have soared by ~80 basis points since the new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, took office on October 20. The 10-year yield jumped 12 basis points, to 2.37%, the highest since the 1990s. This comes as investors worry that the tax-cut promises ahead of the February elections mean the government will raise less revenue, take on more debt, and put even more strain on Japan’s already extremely weak finances. Meanwhile, demand collapsed at a 20-year government bond auction, sending buyers to the sidelines. Thin demand opened the floodgates, pushing yields into levels Japan has never seen. Japan controls its bond market. Gold and silver are skyrocketing as a response.’

Stack Hodler: ‘The Japanese bond market is completely unhinged. Global bond yields have been building a base at current levels since 2023. For nearly 3 years, people have been waiting for yields to fall….the Fed will start cutting“ “I’ll refinance when rates fall.“ “Trump and Bessent will lower yields.” But the US 10-year remains above 4%. What if, instead of falling, yields start following Japan and break higher? It’s been clear for a while now that global sovereign debt is just a confidence game. And confidence is failing. Gold is telling you what’s about to happen. Anyway, konnichiwa’

👉🏽TKL: President Trump threatens 200% tariffs on France after France’s President Macron declines to join his “Board of Peace.” Reporter: “Any response to Macron saying he will not join the Board of Peace?” Trump: “If they feel hostile, I’ll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes.”

👉🏽DENMARK TELLS TRUMP TO “F*** OFF.” As tensions over Greenland escalate, Denmark is taking direct aim at the US. A Danish Member of the European Parliament addressed President Trump bluntly: “Let me put this in words you might understand, Mr. President: f*** off.” The backlash is also financial. A $25 billion Danish public pension fund is exiting its US Treasury holdings, citing rising credit risk under President Trump. CIO Anders Schelde said US finances are no longer sustainable, citing weak fiscal discipline, a weakening dollar, and Trump’s remarks on Greenland. The fund holds roughly $100 million in Treasuries and says safer alternatives are available. - Bitcoin News

On the 21st of January:

👉🏽EU holdings of US assets are massive: EU investors now hold a record $10 TRILLION worth of US assets, according to Treasury data. US equities represent the largest share at $6 trillion, or ~58% of total EU holdings. At the same time, EU holdings of US Treasuries stand at ~$2 trillion, or ~19% of the total. Expanding beyond the EU, all European countries, including the UK, Norway, and Switzerland, reflect ~40% of all foreign Treasury holdings. EU investors also own $2 trillion in US corporate and other bonds, and $225 billion in agency bonds. Europe’s financial exposure to the US has never been larger.

On the 22nd of January:

👉🏽German Chancellor Merz admits: Both Germany and Europe have wasted incredible growth potential in recent years by dragging their feet on reforms and unnecessarily curtailing entrepreneurial freedom and personal responsibility. We must substantially reduce bureaucracy in Europe. The single market was once created to form the most competitive economic area in the world. Instead, we have become the world champion of overregulation. That has to end. - Clash Report

Bingogoes, sehr gut, Herr Merz! Europe is so fucked that it won’t be recovered until the EU is stripped to its initial state as a bare-minimum free-trade area with practically zero regulation.

👉🏽Lyn Alden: One of the best multi-year calls out there has been @LukeGromen predicting a much higher gold-to-oil ratio. Both in terms of specificity (not just “commodity X goes higher” but “commodity X dramatically reprices vs commodity Y”) and in terms of persistence (repeated conviction).

If you expect oil to stay below $200/barrel for the next 5-8 years, you’re ignoring 150 years of evidence:

👉🏽James Lavish: ‘Are you paying attention? Gold is up ~80% in one year, Platinum up 175%, and Silver up an eye-watering 200%+ in ONE year. The debasement trade is not just; it is ripping people’s faces off. And so, the next question is not “if”, but “when” does Bitcoin resume higher?’

👉🏽In April 2025, Katy Perry burned 498 tons of fuel to do space tourism. If you believe she really did some space tourism… Today, she arrived in Davos to raise awareness about the “environment.”

Blue Origin’s Shepard suborbital rocket uses approximately 25 metric tons (roughly 55,000 lbs) of propellant, consisting of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX). The BE-3 PM engine burns these propellants, emitting primarily water vapor. Grok: ‘Water vapor is a greenhouse gas—it’s the most abundant in Earth’s atmosphere and accounts for about half of the natural greenhouse effect, per sources like NASA and MIT. It amplifies warming but isn’t directly emitted by human activities like CO2 is.’ And the Hydrogen they use as fuel is extracted from natural gas, which releases an enormous amount of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas.

HYPOCRISY!

On the 23rd of January:

👉🏽TKL: ‘The US margin debt surged +$11.3 billion in December, to a record $1.23 trillion. This marks the 8th consecutive monthly increase. Over this period, margin debt has risen by $375 billion, or 4%. Meanwhile, margin debt growth is now outpacing S&P 500 gains by 20 percentage points YoY, the widest gap since the 2021 meme stock frenzy. Excluding 2021, this marks the largest divergence since 2007, when this metric hit 50 percentage points. Investors are using more leverage than ever.’

👉🏽How cooked is the EU? Digital EU: “We’ve heard 2016 is making a comeback… but not when it comes to chargers. Remember the cable chaos? Thankfully, that’s now part of the past. USB-C is the single charger to power all your devices, regardless of the brand.” Source: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/electrical-and-electronic-engineering-industries-eei/radio-equipment-directive-red/one-common-charging-solution-all_en

Michael A. Arouet. We are in the middle of the deepest, most profound, and fastest technological revolution ever. The US and China are spending gazillions to build AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, the official EU Commission account “Digital EU” is proudly bragging about chargers. Europe is so cooked.

Oh, and by the way, leave it to the EU regulatory busybodies to brag about USB-C charging cables as a success while using a picture of a charging cable with a USB-A plug on one end. You literally can’t make this stuff up. Maybe, just maybe, they should apply the same logic to ethnic diversity that they did to cable diversity. Oh well, cherrio!

👉🏽Davos, Annual Meeting. ECB President: “We have heard quite a lot of European bashing in the last few days… we should say thank you to the bashers, because I think it has given us a complete realization of the fact that we have to be more focused…”

Wall Street Mav: “She recognizes the problem of European stagnation and falling behind in AI, but she thinks the solution to create more “energy and data, and productivity” is:

1. distribution of wealth
2. regulations to make it happen Christine Lagarde was a French socialist politician before becoming the head of the European Central Bank. She still is obviously a socialist.“

One slight bright point from this all. She correctly diagnoses the problem, up from $56/oz in, but then reaches for the same tools that caused it. You don’t regulate your way into innovation. Energy, data, and productivity come from incentives, not redistribution. If regulation created innovation, Europe would be leading AI right now.

👉🏽Silver prices officially rise above $100/oz for the first time in history, now up +40% in 2026. We have all witnessed history today. Shanghai silver has exploded to a record $112/oz, up from $56/oz in November.

👉🏽Lower GDP growth than Germany over the past ten years — no small accomplishment. Especially considering Germany’s policy track record. Has Canada adopted European-style economics, or is this purely domestic underperformance?

👉🏽Bernstein predicts that the copper shortage will start in 2027 and progressively deepen by 2050. Demand will explode, but supply will be limited as operating mines are being depleted, and obtaining permits for new ones is very hard. The copper supercycle is coming.

Wall Street Mav: “Copper has many of the same supply problems as silver, just a few years behind. Silver has been in a supply deficit for 5 years, with demand exceeding supply by 100-200 million oz per year. Copper is starting to show the same signs. Globally, all of the mines cannot meet global demand. And it takes many years to bring new mines online. New mines tend to be smaller, with lower-quality ore, more remote, and more expensive. The best deposits have been mined for 100+ years and are being depleted.”

👉🏽Poland just became a $1 TRILLION economy Poland has the fastest-growing economy in the European Union, and it is the safest country. How did they do it? They maintain their cultural identity, allow free markets (as much as possible within EU rules) but keep their borders closed (to immigrants), and even ignore the EU on some issues (coal power).’

But make no mistake: the NUMBER ONE reason they achieved this all… Sucking all the EU grants they could. EU funds top rebuilding its infrastructure, EU businesses investing, and the Single Market. Most of the GDP growth is down to trade with the EU. A bit outdated, but you will get the picture:

👉🏽’Honeywell CEO: Renewables replacing fossil fuels is physically impossible

• Energy mix doesn’t matter
• Energy intensity matters
• Renewables can’t produce energy-intensive products In other words, the push for renewables is a push for deindustrialization of energy-intensive industry.’ - Lukas Ekwueme

Joules. Density. Finally, someone speaking the truth. Physics! Energy is the base layer on which technology rests.

👉🏽 Treasury Secretary Bessent: “In the ultimate act of irony and stupidity, guess who was buying refined products in India made from Russian oil. The Europeans. They are financing the war against themselves.”

On the 24th of January:

👉🏽‘In a move that is still referred to as the “Brown Bottom”, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sold 60% of Britain’s gold at $275 per oz between 1999 and 2002. 400 tons of gold = 12,860,000 oz At $275 = $3.5 billion At $5,000 = $64 billion today. He announced it in parliament before he did it, making it even worse because the price of gold dropped immediately and stayed down until he finished selling, then launched in the following years.’

On the 26th of January:

👉🏽NATO Chief Mark Rutte: “If anyone thinks here, again, that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US… keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t. We need each other.” Some people won’t like this truth, but that’s how it is.

👉🏽The Netherlands: Unprecedented and unacceptable.

The minority government of D66, CDA, and VVD is going all-in on the climate agenda: €200 billion. For comparison, that is equal to the Netherlands’ total annual spending on healthcare and social security combined (National Budget 2025). Significant funds invite waste and corruption — as we already saw with the COVID fund — and remove spending from meaningful democratic oversight. Concrete policies should be scrutinized by parliament, not parked in vague funds with open-ended mandates. Given the German energy transition debacle, as you have read above, including Merz’s statement, one question becomes unavoidable: have we really learned nothing? The Netherlands has 8 million households. This spending item, therefore, costs an average of €25,000 per household. And remember: average means that for every household that pays “only” €10,000, there is another household paying significantly more.

https://www.rijksfinancien.nl/miljoenennota/2025/summary

👉🏽Global Markets Investor: The Eurozone is becoming less relevant in the global economy: Eurozone GDP as a percentage of world GDP is down to 14.80%, the lowest EVER. A -8 percentage point decline since 2004. This comes as the EU imposed overly restrictive regulations, destroyed its industrial base, and made catastrophic energy policy mistakes. The EU abandoned nuclear power and prematurely banned fossil fuels. In, and failed to build renewable capacity at scale. Nothing will stop this decline until something resets.

§🎁If you have made it this far, I would like to give you a little gift:

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Click here: https://youtu.be/25l-AiKimic

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

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