Weekly Roundup 05/12/23 (BRC20 mania, are high fees good for Bitcoin, the Wyoming stable token) (EP.424)

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

• BRC20 PEPE versus ERC20 PEPE
• Is PEPE an alt right coin?
• What’s driving up fees on Bitcoin?
• The relationship between HEX, XEN, and VPMX
• Bitcoin’s circular firing squad
• The upside of high fees in Bitcoin
• Why the White House’s DAME mining tax is counterproductive
• What is the $18b tax loophole the Biden admin thinks crypto investors are taking advantage of?
• What’s the deal with blue checks?
• The difficulty of bootstrapping new social networks
• Bittrex is filing for bankruptcy in the US
• The Democratic messaging on the crypto hearing
• The US chamber of Congress files an amicus brief in the Coinbase v SEC case
• Texas passes a bill to support flare gas mining
• The Wyoming Stable Token gets closer to becoming a reality
• The US Chamber of Commerce amicus brief in the Coinbase v SEC case
• Can the US government afford these interest rates? 
• Matt and Nic solve the debt crisis

Content mentioned in this episode:

• Reuters, Cryptoverse: Digital coins lure inflation-weary Argentines and Turks
• Nic Carter in Coindesk, The White House’s Bitcoin Mining Tax Undermines Itself
• Two Ocean Trust, Revisiting the Case for Bitcoin
• Nick Neumann at Casa, Hands Off our Self-Custody

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics State of the Network - Bidding on Bytes: A Bitcoin & Ethereum Fee Market Update
• In this week’s report, the Coin Metrics team examines the underlying causes of the recent surge in transaction fees on Bitcoin and Ethereum and explore the implications of this development for the future.