Scott Bessents Bitcoin ATTACK JUST BACKFIRED! HERES THE PROOF | EP 1588

Nico Moran (0:01)

Over the past two months, the US Treasury has tried multiple times to sanction Iran for using Bitcoin in international trade. However, the Financial Times released a new article this morning highlighting that the US Treasury's attack might have backfired. Iran has been forced to go all in on Bitcoin, but of course, we've been covering that they're not the only country who is using Bitcoin to escape Western sanctions. But as I've been saying, and I'm right here, but one of the interesting things for me in regards to what has happened in the US-Iran war is that Bitcoin does seem to be the big winner here. It has entered the macro geopolitical mainstream. Literally, the thesis that a lot of Bitcoiners have been using for a long time of using Bitcoin, if you are in a hostile regime to escape, it's coming through at the nation state level. It's one of the crazier stories that we've seen throughout the Iran war. It's actually been, maybe for us Bitcoiners, one of the highlights of the war. And I'm not saying we're endorsing Iran here. I'm just saying the Bitcoin thesis that we have held for a very long time is coming through. If you are in not only a chaotic place, but if you are in a situation where you need a non-political neutral money, you're going to be forced to use Bitcoin. And that's exactly what's going on in Iran. It's actually kind of a crazy story. So let me just dive into the article first. And then I guess maybe I'll give a little bit of background here. So Financial Times reported, Iran turns the crypto to show up economy. The subheadline, authorities have quietly relaxed controls on foreign currency to encourage traders to repatriate much needed funds. Pretty interesting. Obviously, of course, we heard, what was it, two weeks ago, the Economic D-Day, aka Operation Economic Outcasts, they have doubled down on sanctions on Iran. Again, depending on what new source you're reading, it is a way to get a choke hold on Iran. Because obviously, if you stop the money, you defund the IRGC, then they're not capable of doing any military actions. That was the intended goal here. Well, now it seems that Iran is basically just using Bitcoin now. There is a little mention of Tether there as well. But obviously, we will highlight the Bitcoin part because, hey, even though Tether is, I think now officially the most used stable coin in the world, it is still dollar backed and further you can get cut off on Tether. So it's a baby step. I would say if the majority of use in Iran is Tether, I guess it's a first step until they realize, yeah, actually, we need to use Bitcoin. But anyways, going further.

Excuse me, guys. Sorry. Hold on.

Wow. Amazing. So here is the article. Iran is turning to crypto to try and keep trade flowing during the US war on blockade, relaxing its strict foreign currency controls in order to counter tightening sanctions. Obviously, Iran has been shut off from the Western global financial system. And for years, it was impossible for them to kind of route around this and they were very much subject to these sanctions. And at the same time, Iran really wasn't that open to using Bitcoin. And as this article will mention, tether either. They were still trying to use their local currency. And then obviously, what this article doesn't mention is the Iranian real has hyperinflated. I think I forget what the numbers were, but it was like 100, I don't know, it was like 100 million reals per dollar. And I don't mean to laugh about it. It's just the it's the Zimbabwe all over again, right? So there's two factors going on here. Obviously, the US has ramped up the sanctions on Iran. They are the big boogeymen here. You know, they're the part of the... I think I'm the only one coining it, but I swear I've heard them say like the Axis of Evil here. They are the nemesis in the Middle East, the pariah state, the radical quote unquote lunatics in the Middle East that are destabilizing everything going on in the Middle East. So we've ramped up sanctions. And at the same time, as this war continues to go on, the Iranian local currency is hyperinflating.

It's just like it's basically useless, which if you are even a simple student of history, this is usually what happens around a very big war.

How do you pay for the war efforts? Well, usually you just print more money. At least since World War II, that's pretty much how this plays out. If you are in a war, you will just print more money to keep your economy afloat, keep your military afloat. Obviously that has disastrous effects for the population of that country. Well, in fact, we're seeing that happen right now.