13 The Birthday Episode - Valkyrie

(This episode was recorded November 2, 2021)

Hosts C.J. Wilson and Steven McClurg kick off this episode with a fun new intro and some birthday wishes. McClurg shares his excitement about taproot, “Taproot is the biggest upgrade to the system in the last twelve years”.  Wilson’s birthday wish is for a point of sale and figuring out a way to use it as a method for onboarding more people at his car dealership, saving the percentage fees that come out of paying with USD.

The hosts talk about Bitcoin related ETFs, and how they differ from cryptocurrency trusts. McClurg, CIO of Valkyrie Investments, shares the behind-the-scenes of the single asset trusts as well as how a Bitcoin Futures ETF has been able to come to market. According to McClurg, “The CME and Bitcoin futures are regulated by the CFTC, which gives the SEC comfort.”

Wilson shares that “The SEC has approved bitcoin related instruments, regardless of if they are futures based or spot based, and that’s really interesting. You can even get them through your broker”, and poses the question, “Is this the indicator for us seeing a flood of interest?”

McClurg and Wilson migrate to a conversation about bonds, where McClurg shares that “If you’re holding high yield (junk) bonds, you’re losing money because of inflation… with zero upside”.

He shares that not only has Bitcoin flipped Silver, but also the Swiss Franc. This shows that it is “coming off of being a speculative instrument, and it’s moved to be less of a risk asset and more of an inflation hedge and a transactional instrument.”

“When El Salvador made the announcement that they were to declare Bitcoin as their national currency in the spring of 2021, the amount of profound announcements that have come out since then in the sports industry, music industry, and politics is huge”, Wilson states.

Wilson rides the wave of excitement, sharing that there are so many cool things that we haven’t seen yet. Bitcoin might be at the “iPhone” stage, but not yet at the “App Store” stage. “I feel more bullish than ever now that these things keep happening.”

The two hosts discuss how they pay their kids allowance in bitcoin, pay people back for lunch in bitcoin, and how they will buy art exclusively in bitcoin.

In his closing remarks, McClurg advises, “Don’t hold all your Bitcoin all in one place. Ledgers break. Exchanges get hacked. Things happen. You should really spread it out.”

Listen to the full episode for more!