 I don't get into a bullish mood quite easily, as you can tell by the channel as I've progressed throughout the last months. I'm pretty bearish, but if the next couple of stories and videos don't give you some bullish vibes, I don't know what to tell you. So today we're going to talk about a couple of things. The first thing I want to talk about is David Rubenstein. That's David Rubenstein there on the right hand side. He is the founder of Carlisle Group. They have a third of a trillion dollars of assets under management, 29 offices against five continents, and more than 2200 professionals worldwide. So needless to say, this guy has been in the traditional finance space for decades. And the things he's going to talk about right now, as far as Bitcoin and what's happening, he's going to talk about how people make fun of Bitcoin, and that would include himself. And now really nobody's laughing right now, how they wish they bought it earlier, and why TradFi or BlackRock and different people are in it right now. And hint, it's not for the altruistic type of environment that you may think it is. So this is about two minutes. Just take a listen and enjoy. This is perfectly timed because Novogratz has been the pinata of Bitcoin when it goes down. It's been the genius of Bitcoin when it goes up. And all of a sudden Larry showed up at the door to say, hey, big respectable firms can prosecute and do Bitcoin. Link Lawrence Fink of BlackRock to Mike Novogratz. Well, what's happened is people, as you suggest, make fun of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But now the establishment, Larry Fink at BlackRock is now saying they're going to have an ETF if approved by the government in Bitcoin. So you're saying, wait a second, if the mighty BlackRock is willing to have an ETF in Bitcoin, maybe Bitcoin's going to be around for a while. Lisa wants to jump in here, but I'm going to cut to the news moment. Is Carlisle announcing this morning a Bitcoin advocacy? No, I don't think so. But there's no doubt that Bitcoin is something that I wish I had bought it at $100 a Bitcoin when Mike Novogratz started buying it. It's now at $29,000. So he's made a lot of money. And a lot of people who bought it at $100 or less are feeling pretty good. Now it went up as high as $61,000. I think even down to $31,000 or even $29,000 now is still a pretty good profit if you're bought at $100. We all wish we would have bought it at $100 to ride it up. It's one thing for BlackRock to come up with an ETF because they believe the proposition of Bitcoin. It's another because they see a profitability proposition where they can basically take advantage of the interest other people have. I mean, isn't that more of what this is that basically Wall Street is saying, if there is a market for it and we can viably make one for them and make some money, why not? Well, remember, Wall Street is in business to make money. And this is something they can probably make money of. You have to remember, the United States government has been somewhat skeptical of it. I think Democrats in the Congress and particularly the people regulating the SEC are skeptical of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But outside the United States, there's a lot of interest in it. I think FTX really hurt when it went bankrupt and it hurt the crypto industry. But a lot of people around the world want to be able to trade in a currency that their government can't know what they have, and they want to be able to move it around rightly or wrongly. And so I don't think Bitcoin is going away. I think the Republicans on Capitol Hill have been pretty supportive of it. Yeah, and I couldn't say better myself. And thanks to Bitcoin Magazine and Bloomberg Radio for allowing us to use that clip, it really comes down to this. This is the things that we have seen recently, which is we've seen traditional finance players that would shun Bitcoin. And then all of a sudden, when BlackRock gets it again, they're like, you know what, maybe we should take a look at this. So when he talks about how he wished that he would have bought $100 Bitcoin, that's pretty much all of us. The other thing is that this is that traditional finance institutions, they're right now sitting on their hands waiting for this ETF to be approved, but they're going to get into it at some way, shape, or form. So congratulations for us, for front running the traditional finance groups. And for me, when I take a look at this, I'm just like, well, this is just par for the course, because it doesn't really matter moving forward what actually happens with the ETF itself, whether that be ARC or BlackRock or Bitwise or Van Ecke or all the litany of different companies that are trying to are buying and jockeying for a Bitcoin ETF. It doesn't matter personally if it gets approved or not. It's the narrative that pushes things forward. And just like Mr. Rubenside said right there, because the almighty BlackRock gave it a stamp of approval and is putting manpower and time and energy into filing for this, that just gives it authenticity. So moving forward, I don't think we're going to hear a lot more people going, you know what, Bitcoin's a scam and it's awful. I mean, we're still going to hear that, but it's going to be a heck of a lot less. So I find this to be bullish. I'm going to think about that in the comments section, but I will say this. I've been very vocal on the ETF. I don't really think it's going to be approved. Could be wrong. Hope I'm wrong. The final deadline for a lot of these, like for ARC is in January, because they filed a long time ago, Kathy Wood and such. But everything kind of just corresponds to March 15th of 2024, which again, if it gets approved, it'll be a nice little bump. People will be excited and that's right before the Bitcoin having, which is in April of 2024. However, even if it doesn't get approved from here until there, everybody's going to be talking about it. Of course, the crypto people, the Bitcoin maxis, Ethereum, it doesn't really matter. All the traditional finance people are going to be talking about it all the way up to this point. If it doesn't get approved, then who gets blamed? Gary Gensler. He's the one that's going to have to take that blame, but the positive narrative will still push things forward and will lead us into that next having. Then just so you know, ARC, as of today for their deadline itself, August 13th 2023. Right now, it's August 11th. Just so you know, the SEC has already come out and they're going to say, yeah, we're going to delay ARC investment and 21 shares spot Bitcoin ETF. Next decision is scheduled for this November. This is not surprising. Don't take this as a defeat. I couldn't care less because the narrative is what really counts. And then also, speaking of the Bitcoin ETF, there was another great clip I want to share with you. And this is Mark Yusko. And he's sitting down with Michelle McCory from Kitco News. If you don't know, Mark Yusko, pretty bullish on Bitcoin, then made the rounds. Pretty smart guy over there at Morgan Creek Capital. And the question really becomes is, will the Bitcoin ETF, is it going to be good for Bitcoin? Because remember, me personally, again, just like what Mr. Rubenstein said in the last clip, it's not altruism of why these Treadfy companies are getting into it. It's to make a dollar. And how they do that, to do it off you. Could this be good? Yeah, sure. But you have to understand that there's different layers to it. And there's a lot of things to consider. So just listen to this question. That's a great question from Michelle. So does the SpotBitcoin ETF then make it more difficult to manipulate the price? Because it hasn't, according to what many Gold people would say, it hasn't really helped with the Gold and Silver market to have spot Gold ETFs while you still have Gold Futures ETFs. How does the SpotBitcoin balance the futures when it comes to market manipulation? It's such an excellent point. Such an excellent point. It's a really, really good point. And I'm hesitating here because it is such a good point that the thing I hadn't thought about, honestly, is the scenario where both sides are so profitable that you don't allow, in essence, the price to move. So you could have the spoofers making a ton of money shorting, and you could have the long ETF spot making tons of fees. They're not making any money because the price doesn't rise, but they don't get paid incentive fees. They get paid fees for assets. So Michelle, that's actually a really good point that the only argument I could make against that point is I believe that the wave of spot demand will dwarf the capacity of the Bitcoin futures market at this point. It doesn't mean the Bitcoin futures market couldn't grow like the Gold futures market or the Oil futures market. But again, I think your point is really, really well taken. You see, and that's the thing. And you could see it in Mark's expression. When Michelle asked that question, he had to really think about it because we get so sure in our analysis, we're like, it's going to happen. It's going to be this way. And we believe it is. And then you have to take a step back and go, you know what, that's some pretty good data pieces that I really need to put together and think to myself, maybe this isn't going to go as smooth as I thought it would. So again, these are the things that I think about. This is what keeps me up at night. And nothing's guaranteed. And I think that is the big thing. Also, on this channel, you know that I'm a big believer in the four-year cycles. But again, I could be wrong on that as well. There's data that comes out that looks like that maybe we might have a blow off top in 2024 instead of 2025, maybe it'll be closer to the Bitcoin having. Nobody knows for sure. So the thing that you have to do right now is not just to listen to one person, go out there, get a ton of information from everybody that you possibly can to make the best decision for yourself. And I would also recommend Dan Teacher's Grypto. It's a 100% free website. I made it free. It'll always be free. And there's one module I'd like you to take a look at under the basics and safety are great, but under module three under investing, if you just click on that, I don't even ask you if all they ask you for is your email. I don't even spam you. It's very, very simple and easy to use. And we just take a look at the one video I'd like you to really pay attention to the bull run exit strategy, the different indicators that I'm looking at, because really, you have to take a look at the most pieces of data that you possibly can. And then also to watch this video right here, wondering why I'm selling 80% of all my crypto. And lastly, I will just say this, when we talk about as far as ETFs and they're awesome and people love them, I've been around long enough to realize that when people say it's going to be awesome, everybody's going to say it's going to be awesome. Sometimes it doesn't work out like that. I will remind you that in 2017, 15th of December, to be primo exact, we launched the CBO Bitcoin futures, excuse me, on December 17, 2017. And we actually hit our all time high in 1906. When they launched those CBO futures for Bitcoin, it crashed the market. And the reason was, is because everybody wanted to short it and they shorted the live and tar out of it. And that's what happened. And it made us have a multi multi year bear market, essentially, as everything just dropped off the face of the planet. So these Bitcoin futures, not Thomas spot, but futures, repeated again. And it seems like the futures kind of comes at the top. Here's pro shores Bitcoin futures ETF 19 October 2021, you had Van Eck, 10th of 2021, which also is applying for a spot ETF. And you have Valkyrie also for a spot ETF on 26 October 2021. Again, they were almost at the near the top. And he had a couple over here, which was a, which was a two X leverage Bitcoin short. And one of the better ones, looks like we had volatility shares. And then lastly, there are actual spot Bitcoin ETFs out there just not in America. But you can see again, that they kind of just rotate towards the top. And then kind of things go down. Again, could this happen? I don't know. And no one really knows 100% for sure. I'd like to hear your comments in the comment section below. And then also another piece that I think is bullish in the, in the near term, we'll say a little bearish in the near term bullish in the long term. And that's this sec says it will appeal partial defeats in case against Ripple Labs. Now, before the XRP Army jumps all over me and says, you don't know what you're talking about. There's a different difference of what they're doing as far as the appeal process. And this is nothing to do with the case. Wait, just hold on and take a listen. So sec, nobody likes them, not a big fan. It is what we have. So the sec said Wednesday, I planted challenge a partial defeat against Ripple Labs. It will seek an interlocatory appeal. What the heck is that? It's a great question. An interlocatory appeal in the law of civil procedure in the US occurs when a ruling by a trial court is appealed while other aspects of the case are still proceeding, which is going on right now with Judge Torres. Interlocatory appeals are allowed only under specific circumstances, which are laid down by the federal and the separate state courts, and more specifically in New York state court. So they state interlocatory review is warranted here, which is a letter to Judge Annalisa Torres. These two issues involve controlling questions of law on which there is substantial ground for differences of opinion as affected by an intra-district split that is already developed. And we had talked about this previously when I talked about another case that's going on with Terraform, Terra Luna. And the judge out there said that essentially Judge Torres and her decision may not be the best way to state things. And there was a little bit of a way that they decided a little bit against that. Now, that has nothing to do with the Ripple case. I want to make that 100% clear. However, I said in that video they could use that in the case that they have going on right now. And they definitely did. So in the interlocatory appeal, they cited a recent case against Terraform Labs, where a judge rejected Torres's approach. Again, this is not just because one case is talking about it, it doesn't have overlap, but they can use that. And that's what they're doing right now for the legal counsel. I'm not a judge or I'm not a legal counsel, I'm not a lawyer. This is just the information I have. Again, don't shoot the messenger. This is what it is. Here's the good news. It's going to take a lot of time. For them to actually pull this off, the SEC being, they need approval from the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York to appeal. That's one. And then from the Court of Appeals, that's two. If both of those things happen, maybe, then the SEC would need permission from the Second Circuit, which then would look into the interlocatory appeal. So just for them to get it looked at, they got to go through a bunch of loopholes and extra steps. So we'll see if it happens. But again, I don't think this is going to play a big role. It's going to take quite a long time. And will this affect us moving into the next bull run? Probably not. But it could be wrong. I've been wrong before. How do you think this is going to actually affect everything? And then to finish up a couple of deals, I just want to ask for some help here. There was an article that came out that Polygon-based UTS, which is an NFT project, are going to migrate to Ethereum and return $3 million grand. Now, look, I don't know how bad Polygon is for them to say, you know, we don't want to use this, we got to go to Ethereum. I know I understand the article is going to talk about they want to merge the community together, but $3 million, I can make that work definitely for $3 million. Here's what we got. So the UTS project, which only migrated from Solana to Polygon earlier this year, said it will make another switch to Ethereum. So they went from Solana to Polygon to ETH. It will return a $30 million grant Polygon had provided. And they state, we still love Polygon. It's just time to unite the D Gods and UTS communities. Adding to the migration date will be announced very shortly. And I reached out on Twitter, and I don't know these guys, but if anybody knows the UTS community and the different players that are in it and especially the people that are in charge of UTS, I'd love to have them on the show and talk to them about what exactly is going on. That'd be great. And if they'd like it, I'll link this tweet in the description. Hopefully, you can tweet it out yourself. But it got me thinking, what's the problem with Polygon? I'm concerned about that because I'm super biased and I own a boatload of Polygon. So is this a dead chain like what some people had informed me on Twitter? Not so much. So this is into the block, which is not to be confused with the block, which is journalism. So into the block, which is all by on-chain analysis, we can take a look at daily active addresses for Polygon. And at the peak, active addresses were 10,600, which is a lot of active addresses, people actually using Polygon, not just buying it and sitting it and things like that. But that was back on May 24, 2021. Remember that bull run? Oh, that was sweet. And now we're taking a look at, and we've got active addresses of 1,730. So a little bit of a drop off from 10,000, I would say. But hey, that's how it is across the board, I think. Now there may be other chains that are doing more, but I think everybody dropped off just a little bit. Here's the total addresses. Of course, addresses have actually Polygon inside it. And we can see that the total addresses, not to be confused with active, actually have been keeping going up as people are buying and moving things around. So that's the total addresses. And right now, a total with a balance is 582,000, roughly half a million. Active address ratio looks to be down a little bit. And we know that things are going on, and things are actually moving on the chain itself. However, the big question, oh, here's a good one, number of transactions, I forgot about this one, number of transactions, again, back in, let's see, May 24, 2021, number of transactions, 16, 17,000, roughly in a day. And now, number of transactions, we've got 2,370. So that's just transactions. But someone correct me and said, Rob, you understand. If we're taking a look at NFTs, which is what use is all about, you have to take a look at wash trading. And I was like, what? Tell me more. There's a great website. It's called cryptoslam.io forward slash blockchains, linked in the description. And what's great about this is it can take a look at the wash percentage and wash transactions. And what I like about it is got the sales of NFT sales volume. And Ethereum is crushing it. I mean, for now, I'm sure before it was like much, much more. But the sales, 12.12 million, 486,000. That's pretty good, quite honestly. But the wash, people just moving it back and forth, selling, buying back real quickly, is 6.4. So the total of the sales and the wash is 18.9 or almost 19 million. But the wash percentage is 34%. Polygon is the second biggest chain out there. The sales are almost 2 million, but the wash is 2.6. Total is 4.6. So the wash percentages is 57.61%. Do not shoot the messenger. This is the data that I have. If you're welcome to dispute it, put that in the comment section of where this website is wrong. And the next closest one is Solana, 1.2 million. But look at that wash, $12,000. So the wash percentage is less than a percentage point. Let's see what else is good. Bitcoin is zero. Cardano is 1.85%. Everybody else is like really super low. Avalanche may be the highest next one, almost 5%. But it just goes to show you that these on-chain transactions, a little bit shaky at best. Anyhow, and then to truly finish up, sorry, it's going a little bit long, but a lot of things to talk about, Web3. And if you want to know about Web3 and property rights, digital property rights, we did a great video. It was me and Yatsu. He is the co-founder of Animoka Brands, and we sat down for about 30 minutes or so just talking about it. And he had this great quote. It wasn't him. It was actually George Washington. And he said, freedom and property rights are inseparable. You can't have one without the other. So think about the data that you're losing. Think about the in-game assets that you're losing because they're on a platform that you can't take off. And just think about the things that you have left online that you can't claim because it's controlled by centralized entities. And that's what YAT was really talking about and it got through my thick head. So I definitely recommend for you to listen to that. It's really great. But what I want to do is I'm big on gaming. There's roughly 7.8 billion people in the world. And out of those 7.8 billion, 3.2 billion people are gamers and that could be on consoles or mobile. And out of those 3.2 billion, you have 1.6 billion who are casual gamers and the rest are the triple A type rate games. I'm not a big gamer. As you can tell, I'm a little bit older. However, that has nothing to do with investments. And I need some data. I need some information. So I sent out a tweet. I said, who's your go-to YouTube channel for a Web3 and blockchain gaming? And I got a ton of responses. And here's the ones that came up the most. Stash, quite of course. He's been on the show like three or four times. Love the guy. Good guy. Got a good band. Check them out. Classy games. Hustle. Johnny at Hustlepedia. And also Peyton for Champions Ascension. I don't know what these guys see in games, but I guess they can kind of figure it out. Beyond this piece, I think there is massive amounts to be made. And I think that this will lead the next bull run in crypto digital assets. So I'm going to reach out to all of these gentlemen and try to get them on the show individually. And they can tell us what we're missing out on investments and go from there. I don't want to put it all together. I'll leave it to those experts. And then also, I've reached out to Josh and Rob for Konecopias. And I'll be testing their game. The only thing is that I have a Mac. And apparently that's all these games are mostly PC. So I'll be buying a gaming PC so I can play these games. Hey, could be worse life, right? So we'll get that done. And then lastly, I will just say that I know this has been a bad bare market, but think about outside of that. This is video from Hawaii. And I will just say my heart goes out to everybody. I mean, different parts of the islands are ablaze. Things are burnt to the ground. And people where they were living is now just a slab. So think about these things when you think about, oh, I lost this or I lost this much money in this project. And this is awful. And my life sucks. It could be worse. It could always be worse. And that's it for today. So look, I know a little bit along a lot of things to go over. If you like today's video, give it a thumbs up, consider subscribing. Everything we talk about is time sensitive. So thanks so much for stopping by. I do appreciate you. And I'll see you on the next one.