Swan Signal Monthly: August Newsletter

Welcome to the August 2020 edition of the Swan Signal monthly newsletter.

This month’s letter includes:

1. Liftoff: a short essay on an impor­tant topic
2. A curated list of recent Bitcoin content
3. Behind the scenes updates from the Swan team

Liftoff: MicroStrategy Buys 0.1 Percent of All Bitcoin That Will Ever Exist

Business intel­li­gence software company MicroS­trategy, a public company traded on NASDAQ, announced in August that it has adopted Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. In a press release announcing the new capital alloca­tion strategy, CEO Michael Saylor said:

“This invest­ment reflects our belief that Bitcoin, as the world’s most widely-adopted cryptocur­rency, is a depend­able store of value and an attrac­tive invest­ment asset with more long-term appre­ci­a­tion poten­tial than holding cash. Since its incep­tion over a decade ago, Bitcoin has emerged as a signif­i­cant addition to the global finan­cial system, with charac­ter­is­tics that are useful to both individ­uals and insti­tu­tions. MicroS­trategy has recog­nized Bitcoin as a legit­i­mate invest­ment asset that can be superior to cash and accord­ingly has made Bitcoin the principal holding in its treasury reserve strategy.”

MicroS­trategy bought $250 million worth of Bitcoin, a staggering 21,454 Bitcoins, or 0.1% of all the Bitcoins that will ever exist. MicroStrategy’s stock shot up 16% on the news and has sustained the gains over the past three weeks. That kind of price increase was certainly noticed by CEOs of other public compa­nies. Two of the company’s biggest share­holders, Black Rock, the largest asset manager in the world, and Vanguard, the largest provider of mutual funds in the world, certainly took notice as well. 

This news comes on the heels of investors like billion­aire Paul Tudor Jones revealing signif­i­cant invest­ments in Bitcoin. When larger players begin to get in the game, it gives valida­tion to other wealthy players to do the same. We expect more news like this in the coming months.

One reason Bitcoin is so inter­esting is that it is readily acces­sible to anyone. It is an internet-based protocol for the transfer of value. Imagine being able to buy a piece of the early HTTP protocol that runs the Web. That would have accrued an incred­ible amount of value over the years. It’s still early. You can start accumu­lating Bitcoin right now before more corpo­ra­tions and big investors start to get in the game.

We have noticed a lot of customers increasing their plans lately. We just increased our per-purchase limit to $10,000. You can increase your plan anytime, just head over to your dashboard. 

Bitcoin Content Showcase

We’ve pulled together some of the best Bitcoin content from this past month for you.

Game Theory: Either you Play or You Lose by Mark Moss
Corpo­ra­tions are putting BTC on their balance sheets. Mark uses game theory to explore the implications.

Sylvain Saurel: HODL is boring. And that’s why it works by Sylvain Saurel
Why good invest­ments should feel boring and why regular recur­ring buys are the best way to accumu­late Bitcoin.

The Investors Podcast 311: Lyn Alden, Luke Gromen, Jeff Booth
Why MicroS­trategy adding BTC to their corpo­rate balance sheet is very bullish for Bitcoin. Bitcoin discus­sion begins at the 1:05:42 mark.

Bitcoin Tidbit: What Does “Hodl” Mean? 

“Hodl” is a popular meme that refers to simply accumu­lating bitcoin rather than trading it. It origi­nated from a famous 2013 post on the Bitcoin Talk forum where a user misspelled “holding.” The Bitcoin commu­nity quickly adopted the phrase and it has become one of the most used memes in Bitcoin. What started as a simple typo has become a rallying cry to hodl bitcoin for the long-term.

On the Brink Podcast with Ray Youssef
Anexciting look into Bitcoin’s rapidly growing peer-to-peer usage in devel­oping countries. Ray is bullish on Africa widely adopting BTC sooner than later.

Raoul Pal on Stephan Livera Podcast
Raoul Pal of Real Vision argues the merits of dollar cost averaging into Bitcoin, a favor­able risk-to-reward ratio, and how market condi­tions have created the “perfect storm for Bitcoin.”

Highlights from Swan’s Content

Swan is dedicated to producing great content to educate and raise aware­ness about Bitcoin. Our blog, Swan Signal, features thoughts and opinions on Bitcoin from the Swan team and industry experts.

Our weekly live broad­cast, Swan Signal Live, pairs notable guests for compelling discus­sions about Bitcoin and economics. The live broad­cast is then published as audio on the Swan Signal Podcast feed.

Swan Signal Live 22: Robert Breedlove and Cory Klipp­sten
How central banking steals human time and corrupts human values, Nassim Taleb’s ideas, ancient wisdom, and the future of the world under a Bitcoin standard. Robert: “I do think we are in the early stages of a currency collapse.”

Swan Signal Live 23: Saifedean Ammous and George Gammon
Monster episode where we cover gold, central banking, the deval­u­a­tion of curren­cies, and how Bitcoin is going to suck value out of every other store of value. Saifedean: “Bitcoin is the way we eutha­nize the fiat standard, peacefully.”

Swan Signal Live 25: Preston Pysh and Andy Edstrom
Preston and Andy get extremely bullish on Bitcoin’s prospects for the next 18 months and over the long term. Andy: “It’s hard to see what the major risks are in the long-term.”

Behind the Scenes at Swan

• We just increased our per-purchase limit from $5,000 up to $10,000. You can increase your Swan plan here.
• Daily buys are sched­uled to go live in September (sign up here for Beta Access)
• We welcomed Gigi (@dergigi) to the Swan engineering team (article and live stream announce­ment). Gigi is a widely respected Bitcoiner and author of 21 Lessons: What I Learned from Falling Down the Bitcoin Rabbit Hole. He has exten­sive software engineering and manage­ment experi­ence. We’re excited to have him on the squad!
• Our weekly Swan Signal Live video and podcast format is growing rapidly. We carefully pair two guests, leading to unique insights not found anywhere else. SSL airs on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch, or you can listen to the audio podcast at swansignalpodcast.com