September 28, 2022 • 54 mins
For this week’s YouTube selection, we bring you an investigation into the practice of weather modification and a look at how various arms of the US government responded to President Biden’s executive order about cryptocurrency from earlier this year.
It’s been a longstanding human aim to control the weather, but it’s only recently that we’ve taken a technological approach to fulfilling it. Prior to that, we simply entreated one god or another to do it for us, but now we’re learning to play god ourselves. From showmen in the early 20th century burning chemicals to stimulate rain to governments shooting clouds with lasers in the 21st, we’ve come a long way from sacrificing the odd goat or two.
What’s particularly intriguing is that it appears as though these technologies we’ve developed are actually very effective. That opens the door to all sorts of possibilities, both benign and otherwise. Back in 1974, many countries pledged to refrain from modifying the weather for warlike purposes, but there are now suspicions that some are no longer abiding by these terms. Weather modification is a huge but seemingly underreported subject, so we thought we’d take a break from the gloom of the crypto markets to shed some light on it for you.
Crypto concerns can’t be ignored for long though, because authorities in the United States appear to be gearing up for a big regulatory push against the industry. IN March this year, President Biden issued an executive order about cryptocurrency and the deadline for responses to it fell just a few weeks ago. The result is a report which reviews these responses and provides some important indications of what crypto regulations in the United States could one day look like. It’s required reading for anyone interested in crypto, whether US-based or otherwise, so we’ve summarised it for you in the second part of today’s episode.
We hope you enjoy the show.
Producer for iHeartMedia: Noel Brown
Editor: Semir Mutapcic
Theme music composed by: Noel Brown
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode from the
midweek edition of the coin Bureau podcast. Every week, I
pick out two of my favorite videos from coin Bureau's
YouTube channel to present to you in podcast form. The
audio you're about to hear is from those videos I've
chosen this week. Many of you have been in touch
to ask whether it's possible to listen to our videos
(00:20):
in podcast format, and so your wish is my command.
This week I've selected our videos on weather modification and
the White House's efforts to crack down on cryptocurrency. Now,
every so often we like to go a bit off
piece here at coin Bureau and look into something removed
from crypto. It could be a scandal from the world
(00:40):
of traditional finance, or, as in today's case, some strange
goings on that don't get nearly the amount of media
coverage they should. Humans have been trying to control the
weather for millennia, but it wasn't until the twentieth century
that we started getting any good at it. It's now
thought that many countries around the world are involved whether
modification schemes of some kind, both for benign and possibly
(01:04):
nefarious purposes. What striking is that the technology which has
been developed to make this possible is in many cases
apparently extremely effective. In the first part of today's episode,
I look at some of these technologies and tackle the
question of why hardly anybody seems to be talking about this.
Next up, a look at what's been going on with
(01:25):
regards to crypto at six Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, d C.
You might recall that President Biden issued an executive order
about cryptocurrency all the way back in March, and the
deadline for US agencies to submit their responses to it
fell earlier this month. Shortly afterwards, the White House released
a summary of these responses as a quote comprehensive framework
(01:48):
for responsible development of Digital assets. This report has important
implications for cryptocurrency, which is why we've read and summarized
it for you. I hope you enjoy are listening to
these two pieces, and I'll be back talking crypto with
Mike very soon, so be sure to stay tuned, and
if you want even more content from coin Bureau, be
sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit us
(02:11):
on social media too. Humans have been trying to control
(02:35):
the weather since the dawn of time, and to this day,
it's generally believed to be something that we can't do
very well, if at all. Well, what have I told you?
That almost every major country is actively modifying the weather,
and that the effectiveness of such technologies has been increasing exponentially.
(02:56):
Being British, I can't possibly pass up an opportunity to
talk about the weather. So today I'm going to give
you a brief history of weather modification, go over the
different methods and their effectiveness, and examine whether this technology
is secretly being used for nefarious purposes. As I mentioned
in the introduction, humans have been trying to control the
(03:18):
weather for thousands of years through all sorts of rituals.
More often than not, these rituals were meant to try
and appease a god, to cause rain, usually in response
to a drought, or to try and prevent a dry season.
This is actually the same reason why most governments continue
to try and manipulate the weather today, at least on paper.
(03:39):
More about that later now. Not surprisingly, none of the
historic rain rituals were successful, and their perceived success was
only ever due to coincidence rather than any solid science.
Then again, nobody can say for sure, because it's harder
to figure out what happened the further back you go.
What is well documented is that many militaries around the
(04:02):
world started to notice that rain would fall after large
battles involving lots of gunfire in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds.
This resulted in the United States and others trying to
cause rain by shooting into the sky, but it's believed
that these experiments failed. We now know that air pollution
has the potential to seed clouds, and it's believed that
(04:25):
this is the main reason why there is now less
snow and ice in mountainous areas. Clouds are seeded prematurely
by car pollution, causing it to rain or snow before
the clouds can reach the mountains. The more you know now,
it wasn't until the late eighteen hundreds that a German
American inventor named Louis Gaffman proposed a scientific way of
(04:47):
creating rain, specifically by shooting liquid carbon dioxide into clouds.
It was around this time that so called rainmakers started
to emerge across the United States. Now, rainmakers were basically
traveling showman who would try and modify the weather using
a series of chemicals, among other things, Although most rainmakers
(05:07):
were not much better at making it rain than the
ancient ritualists, there was one man who seemed to have
a high success rate, and his name was Charles Hatfield.
Charles became famous in nine four when he caused it
to rain over Los Angeles using a series of towers
spraying chemicals into the sky. When he was asked about
(05:29):
how he did it, Charles reportedly said, quote, I do
not make it rain. That would be an absurd claim.
I simply attract clouds and they do the rest. This
is why the city of San Diego contacted Charles at
the end off in the middle of a massive drought.
Charles agreed to their request to make it rain and
(05:50):
even said the city only had to pay him if
he succeeded, a deal too good for San Diego's officials
to pass up. Charles's confidence didn't disappoint because in January
nineteen sixteen, he made it rain so much that many
parts of San Diego experience floods, something he achieved by
reportedly burning chemicals in a forest outside of the city.
(06:15):
Nineteen sixteen would go on to be the wettest year
in the region's history. Now as amazing as Charles's rainmaking was,
it was still more showmanship than science. It was hard
to prove that Charles's chemical shenanigans were the actual cause
of the rain, particularly in nineteen sixteen, when the rains
(06:35):
continued long after his modification. This is why Charles's rainmaking
is disputed to this day. This is also why the
history of weather modification is more often associated with Vincent Schaefer,
an American scientist who's credited with the creation of cloud
seeding in nineteen forty six while he was working as
(06:56):
a researcher at General Electric. What's wild is that Vincent
reportedly discovered cloud seeding by accident. The story goes that
he was working on another project related to ice formation
on aircraft when he breathed into a box where he
had placed dry ice, causing ice crystals to form in
the air. Note that ice crystals form before rainfall. By
(07:21):
the end of ninety six, Vincent had developed a way
to consistently seed clouds using aircraft to create both rain
and snow, and shortly afterwards he was contacted and contracted
by the US military to continue his cloud seeding research.
Note that I'm leaving out some details here for the
sake of time. Now. In seven, Vincent worked with the U.
(07:45):
S Military on Project Serrus to weaken hurricanes using cloud seeding,
and their first attempt took place in October that year.
Believe it or not, but the cloud seeding caused the
hurricane to suddenly change direction, resulting in lots of damage
in the state of Georgia. Naturally, the people of Georgia
were none too happy, and they filed a lawsuit, which
(08:08):
was dismissed after the defendants found examples of hurricanes suddenly
changing course in the past, specifically in nineteen o six,
around the time Charles Hatfield was active in his own
weather experiments. Funny that, in all seriousness, it seems the
same happened in the United Kingdom with Project Cumulus in
(08:29):
the nineteen fifties. Many believe that a massive flood in
nineteen fifty two was caused by the British military's cloud
seeding operations, though this was also largely dismissed on the
grounds that this region had flooded before. Now, the Georgia
incident reportedly paused cloud seeding research in the United States
(08:50):
for a decade. If true, this may be a tacit
admission by the US government that Project Sirrus may in
fact have caused that horror came to change course in
at the very least, it means they didn't know for sure,
or just didn't want to be judged in the court
of public opinion. Maybe both at the same time. However,
(09:12):
it's equally likely that the US government continued to experiment
with cloud seeding in secret. And this is because of
all the secret cloud seeding programs that were revealed shortly
afterwards by inquisitive journalists, such as Operation Popeye in the
nineteen sixties and seventies. Now, if you watched our video
about the mysterious food plant disruptions, you'll know Operation Popeye
(09:36):
involved creating severe storms over the Ho Chi Minh trail
used by the viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Operation
Popeye was halted in nineteen seventy two after an article
in The New York Times blew the lid on it.
What's odd is that the US military claimed that they
stopped the operation because their attempts at weather manipulation had failed.
(09:59):
This is despite the fact that the US and forty
seven other countries signed the Environmental Modification Convention, a few
years later prohibiting weather modification in warfare. Now, logically this
suggested that Operation Popeye was much more effective than the U. S.
Military was letting on, and this efficacy was effectively proven
(10:22):
when countries such as Russia and China started actively modifying
their weather for domestic purposes in the nighties. Beijing modifying
the weather to keep the opening ceremony dry during the
two thousand and eight Olympics is probably the most famous
example of weather modification in recent years, and there's really
no shortage of examples from all around the world. Check
(10:44):
Wikipedia if you don't believe me. As of twenty seventeen,
there were over fifty countries actively engaging in weather modification
to quote disperse fog, enhanced rain and snowfall, and suppress hale,
according to the World Meteorological Organization. Note that the sources
for everything in this video are in the description. Only
(11:07):
facts here, no fiction. Now, the prevalence of weather modification
begs the question of just how effective the process actually is.
The answer ultimately depends on which kind of weather modification
method we're talking about. The most common method is, of course,
cloud seeding. There are actually many ways of seeding clouds,
(11:28):
but they all follow the same principle that Vincent Schaffer
discovered almost eighty years ago, and that's creating something in
the cloud for the ice and rain to form around.
This first way to see the cloud is to use
some kind of salt, including silver iodide, potassium iodide, dry
ice as Vincent did, and even standard table salt. Under
(11:51):
the right conditions, spraying these salts into a cloud will
cause ice to form around the salt, which then results
in rain. This is the basic explanation. The second way
to see the cloud is to shoot it with lasers,
and yes, this is obviously my preferred method. This approach
to seeding clouds has been around since at least twenty ten,
(12:13):
but there doesn't seem to be much public information about it.
This might have something to do with the fact that
seeding clouds with lasers is apparently extremely effective. Case and Point.
In a news report about laser cloud seeding, the newscaster
and guest explain that this technology could allow governments to
make it rain at the click of a button, and
(12:35):
even control the trajectory and intensity of storms. The link
will be in the description It's truly crazy stuff. Now,
the third way to see the cloud is similarly sci fi,
and that's to use electricity. Zapping clouds with electricity using
drones is actually how the United Arab Emirates creates artificial
(12:55):
rain and as far as I understand, it's a brand
new approach to clouds needing that was first tried last
year in Dubai. The effectiveness of seeding clouds with electricity
is also unclear, but the fact it continues to be
used by the UA in lieu of the other available
approaches suggests that it's the most effective. For reference, the
(13:18):
UAE is extremely wealthy, meaning that every other approach is
in fact available to the country. That said, research by
UA scientists suggests that standard cloud seeding, meaning with salts
can quote enhanced rainfall by as much as thirty to
thirty five pent in a clear atmosphere and buy up
to ten to fifteen percent in a turbid atmosphere. Note
(13:42):
that these statistics are from way back in twenty fift
what's reassuring is that these statistics are consistent with a
cloud seeding study by the University of Wyoming, which lasted
from two thousand and eight to two thousand and thirteen
and found that cloud seeding can increase precipitation buy up
to fifteen percent. Note that these statistics also apply to
(14:04):
salt based cloud seeding and are also arguably outdated. It's
also important to point out that the effectiveness of cloud
seeding almost always depends on pre existing weather conditions. For example,
cloud seeding is believed to work much better on clouds
that form over large bodies of water, such as oceans
(14:25):
and seas. Conversely, the absence of clouds makes cloud seeding
next to impossible, because well, there are no clouds to seed. Luckily,
for governments looking to modify the weather, however, there are
many ways to create clouds artificially. I'll leave a link
in the description to a video that shows you one
(14:45):
effective method. Now, if you're feeling overwhelmed by all these
weather modification revelations, you're in for a real treat, because
cloud seeding isn't the only way that governments can modify
the weather. Some of you may have heard of the
U government's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program or HARP
in Alaska, which lasted from to two thousand and fourteen.
(15:09):
HARP was subsequently declassified and its facility was handed over
to the University of Alaska for academic use in two
thousand and fifteen. If you've heard of HARP, it's because
it is famous for being the go to example given
by conspiracy theorists who claim the government can control the
world's whether using harp's Ionospheric Research Instrument or I s I.
(15:33):
This mostly has to do with a bunch of patents
filed by physicist Bernard Eastland, which implied that harp's I
see I could do everything from disrupting military communications to
influencing the moods of individuals around the world, a sort
of directed energy weapon, if you will. While the HARP
facility in the United States were shuttered in two thousand
(15:55):
and fourteen, similar facilities continue to operate in other countries,
notably in Norway and Russia. Some have taken this as
evidence that some of the claims in Bernard's patents were true. Now,
the science of HARP is outside the scope of this video,
but I'll leave a link to an excellent video about
the experiment by Curious Droid. In the description, He's a
(16:18):
fellow British YouTuber whose content helped with the creation of
this video, So be sure to send in my regards
and subscribe to his channel now. The next frontier for
weather modification is space, specifically using satellites to beam large
amounts of energy into storms to make them stronger or weaker,
(16:38):
a job for Elon Musk, if ever there was one.
Not like you'd have the time, though, Speaking of billionaires,
another outlandish way that we might soon modify the weather
is by spraying dust into the atmosphere to block out
the sun. This brilliant idea was brought to you by
none other than Bill Gates, who is currently funding a
company to do exactly that. There are also lots of
(17:01):
new weather modification methods that are taking a bottom up approach.
One example is pumping air into the lower waters of
seas and oceans to bring cold water up to the surface.
The cool air this cold water creates can be used
to weaken or even eliminate hurricanes. Pumping air into lower
waters is already being done in countries like Norway to
(17:23):
bring up salty water and prevent freezing around hydroelectric power
plants so they can continue operating through the winter. Another
example of a novel bottom up approach is to spray
salt water into the sky to reflect some of the
sun's light back into space. There are actually concerns though,
that this and other methods such as pumping air into
(17:45):
lower waters, could actually cool the oceans too much and
cause other unwanted weather issues. In my opinion, the most
promising weather modification method was proposed in a twenty thirteen
TED talk by scientist Alan's Savery titled quote how to
Green the World's deserts and Reverse Climate Change. It's quite
(18:06):
possibly one of the most amazing videos you will ever watch,
and I'll leave a link in the description. In short,
the world is slowly turning into a desert, and this
trend will continue regardless of whether all the mainstream climate
action targets are met, namely eliminating emissions and fossil fuels
of all kinds. Note that deserts create lots of heat,
(18:29):
which causes the kinds of extreme weather we've seen lately.
Alan's solution is so simple that it's almost stupid. This
is to guide animals to graze around the land without
interference the way they did historically. With this simple solution,
Alan has managed to turn literal deserts into green and
watery oases around the world. Just look at this comparison image. Now,
(18:55):
if that wasn't incredible enough, Alan thinks this solution could
solve climate change in a matter of years while simultaneously
enriching developing countries through all the animal product production and exports.
The availability of meat in developing countries would also significantly
improve nutrition as a cherry on top, all the emission reductions,
(19:18):
limits on energy use, and other such policies would not
be needed since all the additional greenery would absorb all
the CEO two while simultaneously cooling the world. Seriously, watch
that video and share it with your friends and family
while you're at it. Now, given all these facts, stats,
and solutions, you might be wondering why weather modification is
(19:40):
seldom discussed in the context of climate change, or even
just extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and fires that
have recently been ravaging the planet. As far as I
can tell, this is because governments admitting to widespread weather
modification is likely to raise more questions than answers, namely
why governments aren't using this technology to combat climate change
(20:02):
or extreme weather events, especially revolutionary solutions like Alan's guided grazing.
To be clear, there have been some reports of countries
using weather modification methods to address whether extremes, such as China,
which tried to end its record breaking droughts with cloud
seeding over the summer. What doesn't make sense, however, is
(20:23):
that these countermeasures always seem to be less effective than
the proactive ones. This is where a bit of science
based speculation comes in. As I mentioned earlier, forty eight
countries signed the Environmental Modification Convention in the nine seventies
to prevent the use of weather modification in warfare. As
(20:43):
of two there are seventy eight countries which have joined
the convention. Even so, that doesn't guarantee that these countries
aren't still using weather modification as a form of warfare.
It just may not be as avert as say, creating
abnorm William massive storms over Vietnam. Here's a great example
(21:04):
to illustrate what I mean that I also mentioned in
our food plant disruptions video. In the the Soviet Union
used cloud seeding after the Chernobyl nuclear plant meltdown to
ensure that radioactive rain fell on Belarus instead of Moscow. Now,
riddle me this, did the Soviet Union use whether for
(21:24):
military purposes in this scenario? The answer is not that clear,
and it would be hard to prove either way, because
the Soviet Union could claim the rainfalls natural, whereas Belarus
could claim it was not, assuming it even new at all.
This is simply because WHETHER modification can't always be detected,
(21:44):
especially with the newer types of technologies. Whether also isn't
contained to a single country. It crosses borders and boundaries,
and this means what happens within a country could easily
affect the country next door. This is why there is
a lot of speculation in India that China is stealing
India's rain by causing it to reign prematurely on the
(22:06):
Chinese side of the mountain range that divides both countries.
This wouldn't be surprising given that China is heavily testing
weather modification in this region, including in the Pool. Now.
You can sum up this speculation in a sentence from
an article about China's weather modification by futurism. Quote, if
(22:27):
one country is able to control its own weather, it could,
in theory, do so elsewhere. In other words, countries might
be actively trying to manipulate each other's weather. Bringing up
this technology could shed light on questionable practices by domestic
and foreign governments, leading to very serious domestic and foreign conflicts.
(22:49):
This ties into the very real possibility that governments are
manipulating their own weather to take more control of their
own citizens. After all, you can control the weather, you
can control the food supply, and that's the kind of
power that the folks at the World Economic Forum are
explicitly seeking. More about that using the link in the
(23:11):
description anecdotes aside, The fact of the matter is that
governments have the technology to make extreme weather events better
or worse, or rarer or more frequent. This is terrifying
given how governments have been acting lately, and it's something
that must therefore be part of any environmental discussions. So
(23:34):
I'll leave you with this thought. Once upon a time,
humans engaged in rituals to appease the gods to influence
the weather. It looks like we're starting to see history repeat,
except it's other humans with powerful technologies playing god, demanding
compliance in exchange for better weather. This may not be
(23:55):
the case today, but mark my words, at the rate
that whether modification technology is advancing, it will almost certainly
be the case tomorrow, and in some places it probably
is already be on the lookout and remember to question
the weather and don't just complain about it like US
Brits do. Back in March, US President Joe Biden signed
(24:21):
an executive Order about Cryptocurrency, which instructed all relevant government
agencies to produce reports about crypto and how to regulate it.
The deadline for these reports was earlier this month, and
last week the White House put together a summary of
these reports, as well as their regulatory recommendations. Today, I'm
(24:42):
going to explain what the White House's Crypto Framework says
in simple terms and tell you exactly what it could
mean for the crypto market. The document I'll be discussing
today is titled quote fact sheet. White House releases first
ever comprehensive Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets. It
was published on the sixteen September, and I'll leave a
(25:05):
link to the full text in the description if you're interested. Now,
the White House's Crypto Framework begins with a juicy statistic,
and that's that around sixteen percent of Americans hold crypto
as part of their personal portfolios. This is a few
percentage points shy of the of Americans who have ever
(25:26):
held crypto, according to research by NBC News. Respect to
the Hoddlers. The authors go on to explain that crypto
has the potential to quote reinforce US leadership in the
global financial system. However, they caution that these potential benefits
come with risks and cite terrors collapse in May as
(25:46):
an example, without naming any names. What's odd is the
author's claim that terrorist collapse caused six hundred billion dollars
of damage to the crypto market in the months that followed.
This is highly debatable, as there were other macro factors
that caused the crypto market to go lower, namely the
stock market, which was also crashing around that time. In
(26:10):
any case, the authors touch on Biden's Executive Order about
cryptocurrency from back in March and explain that all the
relevant agencies have spent six months putting together their respective reports.
The result is a series of policy recommendations related to
six areas of focus in the Executive Order. These are
(26:31):
quote consumer and investor protection, promoting financial stability, countering illicit finance,
US leadership in the global financial system, financial inclusion, and
responsible innovation. The authors revealed that a total of nine
reports were provided to the White House by US agencies.
(26:51):
We summarized one of them last weekend, and you can
find out what crazy things that report said using the
link in the description. Now, the authors also revealed that
these nine reports quote reflect the input and expertise of
diverse stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and civil society. Obviously,
(27:12):
there are a lot of loaded terms here, and it
certainly begs the question of exactly which personnel they consulted.
What's particularly questionable is that these reports focus on quote,
helping cutting edge US firms find footholds in global markets. Now,
I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but crypto
(27:32):
isn't about private companies establishing global dominance. It's about competition
between decentralized developers. Naturally. The authors also single out crypto
mining as an area of concern and call for quote
common sense efficiency standards. I reckon what counts as common
sense depends on who you ask, and as the saying goes,
(27:55):
common sense is not that common If that isn't spooky enough,
the authors say. The reports call on the Federal Reserve
and the Treasury Department to accelerate the development of a
central bank digital currency or CBDC. They even call for
the creation of a quote inter Agency working group to
(28:16):
develop a digital dollar. This is more significant than you think,
because it suggests that the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department
could eventually become one and the same. In fact, some
would say this is inevitable given the trend towards hyper
centralization in the financial system. Spooky stuff, indeed. Now, the
(28:38):
rest of the Crypto Framework gives a summary of the
policy recommendations for the six areas of focus I mentioned earlier.
You'll recall I hope that one of these is quote
consumer and investor protection, which has been used to justify
all kinds of things in recent years. In this case,
the authors go straight for the jugular quote digital assets
(29:00):
pose meaningful risks for consumers, investors, and businesses. Not surprisingly,
there is absolutely no mention of the rewards that come
with greater risks, nor the benefits of cryptocurrency. Instead, the
author's focus on the negatives, including cryptos volatility and the
lack of transparency around cryptocurrency. Interestingly, they cite a study
(29:23):
by the Wall Street Journal from eighteen which found that
a quarter of cryptocurrency I c o s had transparency issues.
That's actually not as bad as I thought. In all, seriousness.
The authors take it one step too far when they
claim that quote outright, fraud scams and theft in digital
asset markets are on the rise. According to FBI statistics,
(29:47):
reported monetary losses from digital assets scams were nearly six
higher in one than the year before. Now, there seems
to be some sleight of hand going on here, because
crypto price is were much higher in one than they
were in As such, it's to be expected that the
monetary losses from crypto scams would be much higher in
(30:10):
Fiat terms while staying the same in terms of frequency.
Very sneaky indeed. Unfortunately, the real facts and stats are
not of much concern to the authors, and they reveal
the steps the current administration will take to address consumer
and investor protection in cryptocurrency. First, it will instruct the
(30:31):
Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC and the Commodities Futures
Trading Commission or CFTC to quote aggressively pursue investigations and
enforcement actions against crypto projects and companies. Looks like the
SEC is ahead of the curve on that one. Second,
it will instruct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB
(30:54):
and Federal Trade Commission or FTC to quote, monitor consumer
complaints and to enforce against unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices.
If the CFPB sounds familiar, that's because it's one of
the many organizations that were created as part of the
Dodd Frank Act in twenty For reference, the Dodd Frank
(31:15):
Act was put together by Michael Barr in the aftermath
of the two thousand and eight financial crisis. As it
so happens, Michael Barr is the current Vice Chair for
Supervision at the FED. This is significant because this position
was also created by the Dodd Frank Act. More about
that and what it means for the crypto market using
(31:37):
the link in the description. Now, the third step the
current administration will take to protect consumers and investors will
be to instruct various agencies to quote address current and
emergent risks in cryptocurrency. I couldn't help, but notice that
the authors don't clarify what kinds of risks the administration
(31:59):
is concerned about. Finally, the current administration will instruct the
Financial Literacy Education Commission or FLECK to quote help consumers
understand the risks involved. Call me crazy, but I don't
think they'll be talking very much about the benefits of crypto.
It also reminds me of the International Monetary Fund or
(32:20):
i MFS campaign to educate about that is, promote c
b d c s and educate about a k A
discredit cryptocurrency in countries around the world. What would we
do without these unaccountable international organizations, eh Now. The second
set of crypto policy recommendations relates to financial conclusion, and
(32:41):
this is where the authors drop some more juicy statistics. Quote,
roughly seven million Americans have no bank account another twenty
four million rely on costly non bank services. As a
random fact, I first heard this statistic when listening to
the testimony of Cryptoca see CEOs earlier this year, which
(33:02):
we also summarized by the Way. Believe it or not,
but around five percent of Americans are unbanked and another
fourteen percent are underbanked, meaning they use non bank services
for finance. Rather than leaning into these efficient non bank
services provided by the private sector. The author's focus on
(33:22):
the fed's upcoming fed NOW Fast Payment service as the solution.
Note that fast payment services are a precursor to CBDCs.
According to the Bank for International Settlements or b I
s NOW to the author's credit. They do admit that
some cryptocurrencies can make financial services more accessible, but also
(33:44):
note that there's still lots of work to be done
on that front. This is a valid point, but it
again begs the question of which cryptocurrencies the authors are
referring to, probably stable coins. Regardless, the current administration is
clearly dead set on the fed now payment service. This
is because it's the first step to addressing financial inclusion,
(34:06):
which will be to quote encourage the adoption of the
fed now service in the U S economy. What's particularly
scary is that this step includes using fed now payments
quote in the context of distribution of disaster, emergency or
other government to consumer payments. Note that taxation and emergency
(34:28):
relief is how governments around the world will likely achieve
the adoption of CBDCs, and because there can't be any
competition to the CBDCs, the second step the administration will
take is to instruct regulators to crack down on non
banking entities. This presumably includes cryptocurrency exchanges, as many of
(34:49):
them offer services similar to banks. In addition, the administration
will quote align global payments practices, regulations, and supervision protocols.
This means that there will be no escape from these
dystopian systems once they're implemented, or at least that's the idea.
To ensure that these dystopian systems are adopted at all,
(35:12):
the administration will instruct the National Science Foundation or NSF.
Plenty of acronyms in today's video, aren't there to research
quote behavioral economics in the context of fast payments basically
figure out how you can convince Americans to adopt the
fed's dystopian technology. As a fun fact, the b i
(35:33):
S estimates that between four and twelve percent of people
will voluntarily adopt CBDCs in developed countries. The question then
is how they'll convince those who will not voluntarily adopt CBDCs.
Knowing governments, the answer will probably involve a lot of
force and financial censorship. Anyways. The third set of crypto
(35:55):
policy recommendations relates to financial stability. Here, the authors highlight
the fact that the crypto market and the existing financial
system are becoming more intertwined. They specify that stable coins
is where most of these connections are. On that note,
I should explain why regulators aren't so concerned about stable coins.
(36:18):
In short, it's because most stable coins are backed by
US government debt. If stable coins become too big and
there is a run on their stable coin issuer, they
could dump these treasuries assets on the open market. This
is why it's a bit silly to use the collapse
of Terror's US T stable coin as an example of
how much damage crypto could do to the existing financial system.
(36:41):
I suppose the authors don't want to reveal that centralized
stable coins are a way of subsidizing US government spending.
What the authors do reveal is that the Financial Stability
Oversight Council or f SOCK, will be publishing a report
about the risk crypto pose it's to financial stability in October.
This report will be more significant than you think, and
(37:03):
that's for two reasons. First, the FSOCK was also created
by the Dodd Frank Act. If you watched our aforementioned
video about Michael Barr, it really looks like he's eager
to use his powers and the powers of these agencies
to crack down on crypto when the next financial crisis
comes around. This ties into the second reason why the
(37:24):
fsck's upcoming report is so important, and that's because it
will be released around the time the crypto market will
likely be seeing its bear market lows. This would make
it the perfect time for Michael and co. To exercise
their powers. More about that in the description now. The
authors go on to reference the stable Coin Report put
together by the President's Working Group on Financial Markets last
(37:47):
year as a place for policymakers to start. We actually
summarize that report too, and I recommend checking that video
out sooner rather than later. Link is also in the description.
Funnily enough, the current administration only identifies two steps it
is planning to take to address the financial stability risks
supposedly posed by cryptocurrency. The first is quote, the Treasury
(38:12):
will work with financial institutions to bolster their capacity to
identify and mitigate cyber vulnerabilities. The second step is similarly strange,
and that's to quote, identify, track, and analyze emerging strategic
risks in cryptocurrencies. The fact that the authors couldn't identify
any concrete financial stability risks caused by cryptocurrencies in these
(38:36):
two steps suggests that there aren't any, at least not
yet now. The fourth set of crypto policy recommendations relate
to advancing quote responsible innovation. The authors start with another statistic,
and that's that around half of the most valuable tech
companies in the world are based in the United States.
(38:57):
This might have something to do with all the back
door deals these tech companies have with U S intelligence agencies,
but hey, let's not go there. Ironically, the authors underscore
the US government's role in facilitating technological innovation in the
private sector. If you're wondering just how innovative the government
can be, check out our recent video about whether modification
(39:20):
link will be in the description of course, now fact
short conspiracies aside, the authors jump straight to the steps
that the administration will take to preserve the peculiar dynamic
between the public and private sectors. The first step will
be to instruct the Office of Science and Technology Policy
or o s t P to quote develop a digital
(39:42):
assets research and development agenda. If you watched our aforementioned
video about one of the White House's reports, you'll know
that the os TP isn't all that scientific. Meanwhile, the
aforementioned NSF will quote back social science and education research
that develops methods of informing, educating, and training diverse groups
(40:06):
of stakeholders. Sounds good on the surface, but there always
seems to be something bad lurking down below with these
crypto initiatives. Now, the second step will be to instruct
the Treasury Department and other financial regulators to quote provide
innovative u S firms developing new financial technologies with regulatory guidance,
(40:27):
best practices, sharing, and technical assistance. This could actually be
a very good thing if done right, because institutional investors
have been itching for the regulatory clarity they need to
invest in cryptocurrency. The regulatory uncertainty caused by ethereums transition
to proof of steak is particularly concerning to both retail
and institutions alike. The third step will be to instruct
(40:52):
various environmental regulators to you guessed it, quote track digital
assets environmental impacts, develop performance standards as appropriate, and provide
local authorities with the tools, resources, and expertise to mitigate
environmental harms. The author's add that quote, opportunities exist to
align the development of digital assets with transitioning to a
(41:15):
net zero emissions economy and improving environmental justice. This makes
me wonder if they really will ban proof of work
and whether they'll use some unscientific justification to do so. Now,
the fourth and final step is interesting as it involves
quote establishing a standing forum to convene federal agencies, industry, academics,
(41:37):
and civil society to exchange knowledge and ideas that could
inform federal regulation standards, coordinating activities, technical assistance, and research support.
If the getting of all hands on deck to address
cryptocurrency is not a sign that the government are threatened
by crypto adoption, I don't know what is any who.
(41:59):
The fifth set of crypto policy recommendations relate to the
status of the United States as a leader of the
status quo of global finance, as well as the country's
financial competitiveness. Incredibly, the author's commenced by saying the quiet
part out loud. Quote. Today, global standard setting bodies are
establishing policies, guidance, and regulatory recommendations for digital assets. The
(42:24):
United States is working actively with its partners to set
out these policies in line with our goals. In other words,
unelected international organizations such as the Financial Action Task Force
or fat F ACT in accordance with the interests of
the United States. What's even more telling is that the
authors explained that the United States has a quote valuable
(42:47):
opportunity to partner with countries still developing their digital asset ecosystems.
In other words, the US is positioned to ensure that
its dominance of the global financial system continues. To ensure
all of the above, the administration will take the following steps. First,
it will leverage the power of international organizations like the
(43:08):
fat F to ensure quote US values find their way
into cryptocurrency. Note this is code for financial control and
financial surveillance, not freedom and liberty. Second, the Administration will
instruct various government agencies to partner with similar government agencies
around the world. Oddly enough, this step does not include
(43:30):
any mention of cryptocurrency, so maybe it's just a way
of sneaking in some more global governance stuff. Third, the
Administration will help developing countries develop their digital asset infrastructure.
If the i m f's help is anything to go by,
this aid will come with lots of strings attached. Fourth,
(43:51):
the Administration will quote help cutting edge US financial technology
and digital asset firms find a foothold in global markets
for their products. This step also doesn't mention crypto, but
I have a feeling this is a reference to regulated
stable coin issuers like Circle. If you missed the memo.
Circle has started releasing stable coins for other fiat currencies,
(44:14):
notably the euro. I reckon it would be in the
interest of the United States for Circle to provide its
digital currency infrastructure two countries in Europe. It's certainly in
the interests of black Rock, which backs Circle. More about
black Rock in the description anyhow, The sixth set of
policy recommendations relate to the favorite topic of anti crypto critics,
(44:39):
and that's illicit activity in cryptocurrency. The authors begin by
revealing that the United States has been the entity pushing
for k y C around the world. The authors then
say something extremely concerning, and that's quote, while our efforts
have strengthened the US financial system, digital assets, some of
(44:59):
which are sud mus and can be transferred without a
financial intermediary, have been exploited by bad actors. If you
don't understand why this is so concerning, consider that every
single cryptocurrency is pseudonymous, and that every single cryptocurrency can
be transferred without a financial intermediary. They're not talking about
(45:20):
privacy coins here, They're talking about all cryptos. This rhetoric
is consistent with the fat f's endgame of killing crypto
by labeling any crypto transaction or activity that doesn't involve
a regulated intermediary as high risk, and over time, the
fat F will pressure countries to cease providing services to
(45:40):
individuals and institutions who are high risk. As expected, the
authors go on to give examples of crypto being used
by bad actors for illicit purposes, and I couldn't help
but notice that they didn't provide any statistics as concrete evidence.
That's probably because they know that only zero point one
(46:02):
of all crypto transactions are related to illicit activity. For context,
between two and five percent of all THEAT transactions are
related to illicit activity. This is despite all the extensive
k y C and a m L that's been enforced
around the world by the fat F. As a matter
(46:23):
of fact, it seems that the fat f's so called
recommendations have done next to nothing to reduce illicit finance
over the last thirty years. All they've done is create
a multibillion dollar industry of compliance companies and justified lots
of government overreach. More about all that in the description now,
(46:44):
when it comes to the steps the current US administration
will take to combat illicit activity in cryptocurrency. The first
will be to call on US politicians to expand the
Bank Secrecy Act to all of crypto. The authors explicitly
stayed that this coverage will include Defy and n f
t s. This means that every crypto transaction worth more
(47:07):
than ten thousand U S dollars would have to be
reported to the authorities, including peer to peer crypto transactions,
which will recall the authorities want to get rid of
case and point. The administration will also push politicians to
quote raise the penalties for unlicensed money transmitting, which presumably
means going after Defy protocols and possibly even crypto wallets.
(47:30):
It will also push politicians to let the Department of
Justice quote prosecute digital asset crimes in any jurisdiction where
a victim of those crimes is found. To my understanding,
this means the U. S Government could go after crypto
crimes anywhere in the world now. The second step the
(47:51):
administration will take is to instruct the Treasury Department to
publish two reports about the illicit finance risks of Defy
and n f T s. These reports will be released
by the end of February and by July next year, respectively.
Will be sure to cover those when they come out. Now.
The third step the administration will take is to quote
continue to expose and disrupt illicit actors and address the
(48:15):
abuse of digital assets. The details of this step suggest
we will see more sanctions against crypto projects and protocols
like Tornado Cash. The fourth step the administration will take
is to work with the private sector to make sure
it understands the illicit financing risks of cryptocurrency. I suspect
this will include labeling certain crypto activities as high risk,
(48:38):
as per the fat f's game plan. I also couldn't
help but notice that the authors revealed that quote the CFPB,
an independent agency, also voluntarily provided information to the Administration
as too risks arising from digital assets. This is suspicious,
as you'll recall that the CFPB was created by the
(48:58):
Dodd Frank Act, which was written by an individual who
seems to be out to kill cryptocurrency. Watch out now.
The final part of the White House's crypto policy recommendations
relate to a digital dollar CBDC. It seems that this
(49:19):
was snuck in as well, since it wasn't exactly emphasized
at the beginning. Of the fact sheet. The authors start
by talking about all the benefits that are digital dollar
would bring benefits that could just as easily be achieved
by an existing non bank entity or cryptocurrency. These include
financial inclusion, cross border payments, you know, the usual talking points.
(49:41):
It's towards the end of the first paragraph where the
authors reveal the real reason why the US government wants
a digital dollar, and that's because it could quote help
preserve US global financial leadership and support the effectiveness of sanctions,
as the recent sanctions against Russia's central bank shown. However,
these two goals seem to be mutually exclusive. No same
(50:06):
country would adopt a digital dollar if it meant the
US government could effectively turn off its economy at the
flick of a switch. This degree of power would be
possible if the us D maintains its reserve currency status
in a digital form. Hence why the two goals are
mutually exclusive. Either the us D remains neutral to be
(50:26):
the world's reserve currency, or it is weaponized at the
expense of this status. The more you know now, the
authors reveal that quote, the Administration has developed policy objectives
for a US CBDC system which reflect the federal government's
priorities for a potential US CBDC. Put differently, the ball
(50:47):
is already rolling towards the creation of a digital dollar.
The authors reiterate that the Treasury Department will work hand
in hand with the Federal Reserve to develop a digital dollar,
again for shadowing the possibility of these two entities merging
as many have predicted. And of course, there was no
mention of all the down sides of a CBDC. If
(51:11):
you've watched any of our videos about CBDCs, you'll know
that they will give governments the power to decide how
you spend, where you spend, and what you spend your
money on, and even how much you can save. That's
just on the individual level. At the economic level, CBDCs
will make borrowing extremely expensive due to their effects on
(51:34):
bank lending and profitability. Good luck getting a mortgage. It
will also mean that the stock market itself will be manipulated.
Think Robin Hood blocking trades during the game Stop Saga,
but on steroids. So this brings me to the big question,
and that's what the White House's crypto framework means. For
(51:55):
the crypto market to be blunt. It's not good, it's
clear that the current administration wants to crush cryptocurrency. If
you've seen any of our summaries of crypto related testimonies,
this should not come as a surprise. Logically, then it
means that the success of the crypto policy recommendations laid
out in the framework ultimately depends on what happens during
(52:19):
the next election cycles in the United States. It looks
like pro crypto politicians will gain ground in the upcoming
mid terms, but at this point it's anyone's guest as
to what the outcome of the four election will be.
That's going to be the more significant election, since it's
around the time the next crypto bull run should come.
(52:41):
Take note. If pro crypto politicians do gain ground in
the upcoming midterms, then I reckon most of these anti
crypto policies will never be pursued. Then again, so many
of them are being undertaken by unelected officials that have
been appointed by anti crypto politicians, so it's uncertain. One
(53:01):
thing is for sure, however, and that's that a wave
of regulation is coming to the crypto industry. Some of
it will be reasonable, and we could see large institutional
inflows as a result. It's the unreasonable regulation that we
must be on the lookout for. This includes labeling of
all crypto related activities as high risk as a way
(53:22):
of choking off and eventually killing the industry. Given that
the United States is behind the international organizations engaging in
this kind of guerrilla regulation, American voters might be the
ones who decide what comes next for crypto at the
end of the day. As such, I strongly suggest that
any American viewers inform themselves about pro crypto candidates in
(53:45):
their areas. You'll notice that pro crypto politicians sit on
both sides of the aisle, so you should be able
to find one you can support, regardless of your political stripes.
I'll leave a link to coin bases crypto politician tool
in the description you need it, and I'll leave you
with this thought. The crypto world is counting on you
(54:06):
to make sure financial freedom continues. Financial freedom is required
for everything else. Last I checked, freedom is an American value,
so let's see it ring. Thank you so much for
listening to the Coin Bureau podcast. If you'd like to
learn more about cryptocurrency, you can visit our YouTube channel
(54:27):
at YouTube dot com forward slash coin Bureau. You can
also go to coin bureau dot com for loads more
information about all things crypto. You can follow me on
Twitter at at coin bureau or one word, and I'm
also active on TikTok and Instagram too
Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode from the
midweek edition of the coin Bureau podcast. Every week, I
pick out two of my favorite videos from coin Bureau's
YouTube channel to present to you in podcast form. The
audio you're about to hear is from those videos I've
chosen this week. Many of you have been in touch
to ask whether it's possible to listen to our videos
(00:20):
in podcast format, and so your wish is my command.
This week I've selected our videos on weather modification and
the White House's efforts to crack down on cryptocurrency. Now,
every so often we like to go a bit off
piece here at coin Bureau and look into something removed
from crypto. It could be a scandal from the world
(00:40):
of traditional finance, or, as in today's case, some strange
goings on that don't get nearly the amount of media
coverage they should. Humans have been trying to control the
weather for millennia, but it wasn't until the twentieth century
that we started getting any good at it. It's now
thought that many countries around the world are involved whether
modification schemes of some kind, both for benign and possibly
(01:04):
nefarious purposes. What striking is that the technology which has
been developed to make this possible is in many cases
apparently extremely effective. In the first part of today's episode,
I look at some of these technologies and tackle the
question of why hardly anybody seems to be talking about this.
Next up, a look at what's been going on with
(01:25):
regards to crypto at six Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, d C.
You might recall that President Biden issued an executive order
about cryptocurrency all the way back in March, and the
deadline for US agencies to submit their responses to it
fell earlier this month. Shortly afterwards, the White House released
a summary of these responses as a quote comprehensive framework
(01:48):
for responsible development of Digital assets. This report has important
implications for cryptocurrency, which is why we've read and summarized
it for you. I hope you enjoy are listening to
these two pieces, and I'll be back talking crypto with
Mike very soon, so be sure to stay tuned, and
if you want even more content from coin Bureau, be
sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit us
(02:11):
on social media too. Humans have been trying to control
(02:35):
the weather since the dawn of time, and to this day,
it's generally believed to be something that we can't do
very well, if at all. Well, what have I told you?
That almost every major country is actively modifying the weather,
and that the effectiveness of such technologies has been increasing exponentially.
(02:56):
Being British, I can't possibly pass up an opportunity to
talk about the weather. So today I'm going to give
you a brief history of weather modification, go over the
different methods and their effectiveness, and examine whether this technology
is secretly being used for nefarious purposes. As I mentioned
in the introduction, humans have been trying to control the
(03:18):
weather for thousands of years through all sorts of rituals.
More often than not, these rituals were meant to try
and appease a god, to cause rain, usually in response
to a drought, or to try and prevent a dry season.
This is actually the same reason why most governments continue
to try and manipulate the weather today, at least on paper.
(03:39):
More about that later now. Not surprisingly, none of the
historic rain rituals were successful, and their perceived success was
only ever due to coincidence rather than any solid science.
Then again, nobody can say for sure, because it's harder
to figure out what happened the further back you go.
What is well documented is that many militaries around the
(04:02):
world started to notice that rain would fall after large
battles involving lots of gunfire in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds.
This resulted in the United States and others trying to
cause rain by shooting into the sky, but it's believed
that these experiments failed. We now know that air pollution
has the potential to seed clouds, and it's believed that
(04:25):
this is the main reason why there is now less
snow and ice in mountainous areas. Clouds are seeded prematurely
by car pollution, causing it to rain or snow before
the clouds can reach the mountains. The more you know now,
it wasn't until the late eighteen hundreds that a German
American inventor named Louis Gaffman proposed a scientific way of
(04:47):
creating rain, specifically by shooting liquid carbon dioxide into clouds.
It was around this time that so called rainmakers started
to emerge across the United States. Now, rainmakers were basically
traveling showman who would try and modify the weather using
a series of chemicals, among other things, Although most rainmakers
(05:07):
were not much better at making it rain than the
ancient ritualists, there was one man who seemed to have
a high success rate, and his name was Charles Hatfield.
Charles became famous in nine four when he caused it
to rain over Los Angeles using a series of towers
spraying chemicals into the sky. When he was asked about
(05:29):
how he did it, Charles reportedly said, quote, I do
not make it rain. That would be an absurd claim.
I simply attract clouds and they do the rest. This
is why the city of San Diego contacted Charles at
the end off in the middle of a massive drought.
Charles agreed to their request to make it rain and
(05:50):
even said the city only had to pay him if
he succeeded, a deal too good for San Diego's officials
to pass up. Charles's confidence didn't disappoint because in January
nineteen sixteen, he made it rain so much that many
parts of San Diego experience floods, something he achieved by
reportedly burning chemicals in a forest outside of the city.
(06:15):
Nineteen sixteen would go on to be the wettest year
in the region's history. Now as amazing as Charles's rainmaking was,
it was still more showmanship than science. It was hard
to prove that Charles's chemical shenanigans were the actual cause
of the rain, particularly in nineteen sixteen, when the rains
(06:35):
continued long after his modification. This is why Charles's rainmaking
is disputed to this day. This is also why the
history of weather modification is more often associated with Vincent Schaefer,
an American scientist who's credited with the creation of cloud
seeding in nineteen forty six while he was working as
(06:56):
a researcher at General Electric. What's wild is that Vincent
reportedly discovered cloud seeding by accident. The story goes that
he was working on another project related to ice formation
on aircraft when he breathed into a box where he
had placed dry ice, causing ice crystals to form in
the air. Note that ice crystals form before rainfall. By
(07:21):
the end of ninety six, Vincent had developed a way
to consistently seed clouds using aircraft to create both rain
and snow, and shortly afterwards he was contacted and contracted
by the US military to continue his cloud seeding research.
Note that I'm leaving out some details here for the
sake of time. Now. In seven, Vincent worked with the U.
(07:45):
S Military on Project Serrus to weaken hurricanes using cloud seeding,
and their first attempt took place in October that year.
Believe it or not, but the cloud seeding caused the
hurricane to suddenly change direction, resulting in lots of damage
in the state of Georgia. Naturally, the people of Georgia
were none too happy, and they filed a lawsuit, which
(08:08):
was dismissed after the defendants found examples of hurricanes suddenly
changing course in the past, specifically in nineteen o six,
around the time Charles Hatfield was active in his own
weather experiments. Funny that, in all seriousness, it seems the
same happened in the United Kingdom with Project Cumulus in
(08:29):
the nineteen fifties. Many believe that a massive flood in
nineteen fifty two was caused by the British military's cloud
seeding operations, though this was also largely dismissed on the
grounds that this region had flooded before. Now, the Georgia
incident reportedly paused cloud seeding research in the United States
(08:50):
for a decade. If true, this may be a tacit
admission by the US government that Project Sirrus may in
fact have caused that horror came to change course in
at the very least, it means they didn't know for sure,
or just didn't want to be judged in the court
of public opinion. Maybe both at the same time. However,
(09:12):
it's equally likely that the US government continued to experiment
with cloud seeding in secret. And this is because of
all the secret cloud seeding programs that were revealed shortly
afterwards by inquisitive journalists, such as Operation Popeye in the
nineteen sixties and seventies. Now, if you watched our video
about the mysterious food plant disruptions, you'll know Operation Popeye
(09:36):
involved creating severe storms over the Ho Chi Minh trail
used by the viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Operation
Popeye was halted in nineteen seventy two after an article
in The New York Times blew the lid on it.
What's odd is that the US military claimed that they
stopped the operation because their attempts at weather manipulation had failed.
(09:59):
This is despite the fact that the US and forty
seven other countries signed the Environmental Modification Convention, a few
years later prohibiting weather modification in warfare. Now, logically this
suggested that Operation Popeye was much more effective than the U. S.
Military was letting on, and this efficacy was effectively proven
(10:22):
when countries such as Russia and China started actively modifying
their weather for domestic purposes in the nighties. Beijing modifying
the weather to keep the opening ceremony dry during the
two thousand and eight Olympics is probably the most famous
example of weather modification in recent years, and there's really
no shortage of examples from all around the world. Check
(10:44):
Wikipedia if you don't believe me. As of twenty seventeen,
there were over fifty countries actively engaging in weather modification
to quote disperse fog, enhanced rain and snowfall, and suppress hale,
according to the World Meteorological Organization. Note that the sources
for everything in this video are in the description. Only
(11:07):
facts here, no fiction. Now, the prevalence of weather modification
begs the question of just how effective the process actually is.
The answer ultimately depends on which kind of weather modification
method we're talking about. The most common method is, of course,
cloud seeding. There are actually many ways of seeding clouds,
(11:28):
but they all follow the same principle that Vincent Schaffer
discovered almost eighty years ago, and that's creating something in
the cloud for the ice and rain to form around.
This first way to see the cloud is to use
some kind of salt, including silver iodide, potassium iodide, dry
ice as Vincent did, and even standard table salt. Under
(11:51):
the right conditions, spraying these salts into a cloud will
cause ice to form around the salt, which then results
in rain. This is the basic explanation. The second way
to see the cloud is to shoot it with lasers,
and yes, this is obviously my preferred method. This approach
to seeding clouds has been around since at least twenty ten,
(12:13):
but there doesn't seem to be much public information about it.
This might have something to do with the fact that
seeding clouds with lasers is apparently extremely effective. Case and Point.
In a news report about laser cloud seeding, the newscaster
and guest explain that this technology could allow governments to
make it rain at the click of a button, and
(12:35):
even control the trajectory and intensity of storms. The link
will be in the description It's truly crazy stuff. Now,
the third way to see the cloud is similarly sci fi,
and that's to use electricity. Zapping clouds with electricity using
drones is actually how the United Arab Emirates creates artificial
(12:55):
rain and as far as I understand, it's a brand
new approach to clouds needing that was first tried last
year in Dubai. The effectiveness of seeding clouds with electricity
is also unclear, but the fact it continues to be
used by the UA in lieu of the other available
approaches suggests that it's the most effective. For reference, the
(13:18):
UAE is extremely wealthy, meaning that every other approach is
in fact available to the country. That said, research by
UA scientists suggests that standard cloud seeding, meaning with salts
can quote enhanced rainfall by as much as thirty to
thirty five pent in a clear atmosphere and buy up
to ten to fifteen percent in a turbid atmosphere. Note
(13:42):
that these statistics are from way back in twenty fift
what's reassuring is that these statistics are consistent with a
cloud seeding study by the University of Wyoming, which lasted
from two thousand and eight to two thousand and thirteen
and found that cloud seeding can increase precipitation buy up
to fifteen percent. Note that these statistics also apply to
(14:04):
salt based cloud seeding and are also arguably outdated. It's
also important to point out that the effectiveness of cloud
seeding almost always depends on pre existing weather conditions. For example,
cloud seeding is believed to work much better on clouds
that form over large bodies of water, such as oceans
(14:25):
and seas. Conversely, the absence of clouds makes cloud seeding
next to impossible, because well, there are no clouds to seed. Luckily,
for governments looking to modify the weather, however, there are
many ways to create clouds artificially. I'll leave a link
in the description to a video that shows you one
(14:45):
effective method. Now, if you're feeling overwhelmed by all these
weather modification revelations, you're in for a real treat, because
cloud seeding isn't the only way that governments can modify
the weather. Some of you may have heard of the
U government's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program or HARP
in Alaska, which lasted from to two thousand and fourteen.
(15:09):
HARP was subsequently declassified and its facility was handed over
to the University of Alaska for academic use in two
thousand and fifteen. If you've heard of HARP, it's because
it is famous for being the go to example given
by conspiracy theorists who claim the government can control the
world's whether using harp's Ionospheric Research Instrument or I s I.
(15:33):
This mostly has to do with a bunch of patents
filed by physicist Bernard Eastland, which implied that harp's I
see I could do everything from disrupting military communications to
influencing the moods of individuals around the world, a sort
of directed energy weapon, if you will. While the HARP
facility in the United States were shuttered in two thousand
(15:55):
and fourteen, similar facilities continue to operate in other countries,
notably in Norway and Russia. Some have taken this as
evidence that some of the claims in Bernard's patents were true. Now,
the science of HARP is outside the scope of this video,
but I'll leave a link to an excellent video about
the experiment by Curious Droid. In the description, He's a
(16:18):
fellow British YouTuber whose content helped with the creation of
this video, So be sure to send in my regards
and subscribe to his channel now. The next frontier for
weather modification is space, specifically using satellites to beam large
amounts of energy into storms to make them stronger or weaker,
(16:38):
a job for Elon Musk, if ever there was one.
Not like you'd have the time, though, Speaking of billionaires,
another outlandish way that we might soon modify the weather
is by spraying dust into the atmosphere to block out
the sun. This brilliant idea was brought to you by
none other than Bill Gates, who is currently funding a
company to do exactly that. There are also lots of
(17:01):
new weather modification methods that are taking a bottom up approach.
One example is pumping air into the lower waters of
seas and oceans to bring cold water up to the surface.
The cool air this cold water creates can be used
to weaken or even eliminate hurricanes. Pumping air into lower
waters is already being done in countries like Norway to
(17:23):
bring up salty water and prevent freezing around hydroelectric power
plants so they can continue operating through the winter. Another
example of a novel bottom up approach is to spray
salt water into the sky to reflect some of the
sun's light back into space. There are actually concerns though,
that this and other methods such as pumping air into
(17:45):
lower waters, could actually cool the oceans too much and
cause other unwanted weather issues. In my opinion, the most
promising weather modification method was proposed in a twenty thirteen
TED talk by scientist Alan's Savery titled quote how to
Green the World's deserts and Reverse Climate Change. It's quite
(18:06):
possibly one of the most amazing videos you will ever watch,
and I'll leave a link in the description. In short,
the world is slowly turning into a desert, and this
trend will continue regardless of whether all the mainstream climate
action targets are met, namely eliminating emissions and fossil fuels
of all kinds. Note that deserts create lots of heat,
(18:29):
which causes the kinds of extreme weather we've seen lately.
Alan's solution is so simple that it's almost stupid. This
is to guide animals to graze around the land without
interference the way they did historically. With this simple solution,
Alan has managed to turn literal deserts into green and
watery oases around the world. Just look at this comparison image. Now,
(18:55):
if that wasn't incredible enough, Alan thinks this solution could
solve climate change in a matter of years while simultaneously
enriching developing countries through all the animal product production and exports.
The availability of meat in developing countries would also significantly
improve nutrition as a cherry on top, all the emission reductions,
(19:18):
limits on energy use, and other such policies would not
be needed since all the additional greenery would absorb all
the CEO two while simultaneously cooling the world. Seriously, watch
that video and share it with your friends and family
while you're at it. Now, given all these facts, stats,
and solutions, you might be wondering why weather modification is
(19:40):
seldom discussed in the context of climate change, or even
just extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and fires that
have recently been ravaging the planet. As far as I
can tell, this is because governments admitting to widespread weather
modification is likely to raise more questions than answers, namely
why governments aren't using this technology to combat climate change
(20:02):
or extreme weather events, especially revolutionary solutions like Alan's guided grazing.
To be clear, there have been some reports of countries
using weather modification methods to address whether extremes, such as China,
which tried to end its record breaking droughts with cloud
seeding over the summer. What doesn't make sense, however, is
(20:23):
that these countermeasures always seem to be less effective than
the proactive ones. This is where a bit of science
based speculation comes in. As I mentioned earlier, forty eight
countries signed the Environmental Modification Convention in the nine seventies
to prevent the use of weather modification in warfare. As
(20:43):
of two there are seventy eight countries which have joined
the convention. Even so, that doesn't guarantee that these countries
aren't still using weather modification as a form of warfare.
It just may not be as avert as say, creating
abnorm William massive storms over Vietnam. Here's a great example
(21:04):
to illustrate what I mean that I also mentioned in
our food plant disruptions video. In the the Soviet Union
used cloud seeding after the Chernobyl nuclear plant meltdown to
ensure that radioactive rain fell on Belarus instead of Moscow. Now,
riddle me this, did the Soviet Union use whether for
(21:24):
military purposes in this scenario? The answer is not that clear,
and it would be hard to prove either way, because
the Soviet Union could claim the rainfalls natural, whereas Belarus
could claim it was not, assuming it even new at all.
This is simply because WHETHER modification can't always be detected,
(21:44):
especially with the newer types of technologies. Whether also isn't
contained to a single country. It crosses borders and boundaries,
and this means what happens within a country could easily
affect the country next door. This is why there is
a lot of speculation in India that China is stealing
India's rain by causing it to reign prematurely on the
(22:06):
Chinese side of the mountain range that divides both countries.
This wouldn't be surprising given that China is heavily testing
weather modification in this region, including in the Pool. Now.
You can sum up this speculation in a sentence from
an article about China's weather modification by futurism. Quote, if
(22:27):
one country is able to control its own weather, it could,
in theory, do so elsewhere. In other words, countries might
be actively trying to manipulate each other's weather. Bringing up
this technology could shed light on questionable practices by domestic
and foreign governments, leading to very serious domestic and foreign conflicts.
(22:49):
This ties into the very real possibility that governments are
manipulating their own weather to take more control of their
own citizens. After all, you can control the weather, you
can control the food supply, and that's the kind of
power that the folks at the World Economic Forum are
explicitly seeking. More about that using the link in the
(23:11):
description anecdotes aside, The fact of the matter is that
governments have the technology to make extreme weather events better
or worse, or rarer or more frequent. This is terrifying
given how governments have been acting lately, and it's something
that must therefore be part of any environmental discussions. So
(23:34):
I'll leave you with this thought. Once upon a time,
humans engaged in rituals to appease the gods to influence
the weather. It looks like we're starting to see history repeat,
except it's other humans with powerful technologies playing god, demanding
compliance in exchange for better weather. This may not be
(23:55):
the case today, but mark my words, at the rate
that whether modification technology is advancing, it will almost certainly
be the case tomorrow, and in some places it probably
is already be on the lookout and remember to question
the weather and don't just complain about it like US
Brits do. Back in March, US President Joe Biden signed
(24:21):
an executive Order about Cryptocurrency, which instructed all relevant government
agencies to produce reports about crypto and how to regulate it.
The deadline for these reports was earlier this month, and
last week the White House put together a summary of
these reports, as well as their regulatory recommendations. Today, I'm
(24:42):
going to explain what the White House's Crypto Framework says
in simple terms and tell you exactly what it could
mean for the crypto market. The document I'll be discussing
today is titled quote fact sheet. White House releases first
ever comprehensive Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets. It
was published on the sixteen September, and I'll leave a
(25:05):
link to the full text in the description if you're interested. Now,
the White House's Crypto Framework begins with a juicy statistic,
and that's that around sixteen percent of Americans hold crypto
as part of their personal portfolios. This is a few
percentage points shy of the of Americans who have ever
(25:26):
held crypto, according to research by NBC News. Respect to
the Hoddlers. The authors go on to explain that crypto
has the potential to quote reinforce US leadership in the
global financial system. However, they caution that these potential benefits
come with risks and cite terrors collapse in May as
(25:46):
an example, without naming any names. What's odd is the
author's claim that terrorist collapse caused six hundred billion dollars
of damage to the crypto market in the months that followed.
This is highly debatable, as there were other macro factors
that caused the crypto market to go lower, namely the
stock market, which was also crashing around that time. In
(26:10):
any case, the authors touch on Biden's Executive Order about
cryptocurrency from back in March and explain that all the
relevant agencies have spent six months putting together their respective reports.
The result is a series of policy recommendations related to
six areas of focus in the Executive Order. These are
(26:31):
quote consumer and investor protection, promoting financial stability, countering illicit finance,
US leadership in the global financial system, financial inclusion, and
responsible innovation. The authors revealed that a total of nine
reports were provided to the White House by US agencies.
(26:51):
We summarized one of them last weekend, and you can
find out what crazy things that report said using the
link in the description. Now, the authors also revealed that
these nine reports quote reflect the input and expertise of
diverse stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and civil society. Obviously,
(27:12):
there are a lot of loaded terms here, and it
certainly begs the question of exactly which personnel they consulted.
What's particularly questionable is that these reports focus on quote,
helping cutting edge US firms find footholds in global markets. Now,
I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but crypto
(27:32):
isn't about private companies establishing global dominance. It's about competition
between decentralized developers. Naturally. The authors also single out crypto
mining as an area of concern and call for quote
common sense efficiency standards. I reckon what counts as common
sense depends on who you ask, and as the saying goes,
(27:55):
common sense is not that common If that isn't spooky enough,
the authors say. The reports call on the Federal Reserve
and the Treasury Department to accelerate the development of a
central bank digital currency or CBDC. They even call for
the creation of a quote inter Agency working group to
(28:16):
develop a digital dollar. This is more significant than you think,
because it suggests that the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department
could eventually become one and the same. In fact, some
would say this is inevitable given the trend towards hyper
centralization in the financial system. Spooky stuff, indeed. Now, the
(28:38):
rest of the Crypto Framework gives a summary of the
policy recommendations for the six areas of focus I mentioned earlier.
You'll recall I hope that one of these is quote
consumer and investor protection, which has been used to justify
all kinds of things in recent years. In this case,
the authors go straight for the jugular quote digital assets
(29:00):
pose meaningful risks for consumers, investors, and businesses. Not surprisingly,
there is absolutely no mention of the rewards that come
with greater risks, nor the benefits of cryptocurrency. Instead, the
author's focus on the negatives, including cryptos volatility and the
lack of transparency around cryptocurrency. Interestingly, they cite a study
(29:23):
by the Wall Street Journal from eighteen which found that
a quarter of cryptocurrency I c o s had transparency issues.
That's actually not as bad as I thought. In all, seriousness.
The authors take it one step too far when they
claim that quote outright, fraud scams and theft in digital
asset markets are on the rise. According to FBI statistics,
(29:47):
reported monetary losses from digital assets scams were nearly six
higher in one than the year before. Now, there seems
to be some sleight of hand going on here, because
crypto price is were much higher in one than they
were in As such, it's to be expected that the
monetary losses from crypto scams would be much higher in
(30:10):
Fiat terms while staying the same in terms of frequency.
Very sneaky indeed. Unfortunately, the real facts and stats are
not of much concern to the authors, and they reveal
the steps the current administration will take to address consumer
and investor protection in cryptocurrency. First, it will instruct the
(30:31):
Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC and the Commodities Futures
Trading Commission or CFTC to quote aggressively pursue investigations and
enforcement actions against crypto projects and companies. Looks like the
SEC is ahead of the curve on that one. Second,
it will instruct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB
(30:54):
and Federal Trade Commission or FTC to quote, monitor consumer
complaints and to enforce against unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices.
If the CFPB sounds familiar, that's because it's one of
the many organizations that were created as part of the
Dodd Frank Act in twenty For reference, the Dodd Frank
(31:15):
Act was put together by Michael Barr in the aftermath
of the two thousand and eight financial crisis. As it
so happens, Michael Barr is the current Vice Chair for
Supervision at the FED. This is significant because this position
was also created by the Dodd Frank Act. More about
that and what it means for the crypto market using
(31:37):
the link in the description. Now, the third step the
current administration will take to protect consumers and investors will
be to instruct various agencies to quote address current and
emergent risks in cryptocurrency. I couldn't help, but notice that
the authors don't clarify what kinds of risks the administration
(31:59):
is concerned about. Finally, the current administration will instruct the
Financial Literacy Education Commission or FLECK to quote help consumers
understand the risks involved. Call me crazy, but I don't
think they'll be talking very much about the benefits of crypto.
It also reminds me of the International Monetary Fund or
(32:20):
i MFS campaign to educate about that is, promote c
b d c s and educate about a k A
discredit cryptocurrency in countries around the world. What would we
do without these unaccountable international organizations, eh Now. The second
set of crypto policy recommendations relates to financial conclusion, and
(32:41):
this is where the authors drop some more juicy statistics. Quote,
roughly seven million Americans have no bank account another twenty
four million rely on costly non bank services. As a
random fact, I first heard this statistic when listening to
the testimony of Cryptoca see CEOs earlier this year, which
(33:02):
we also summarized by the Way. Believe it or not,
but around five percent of Americans are unbanked and another
fourteen percent are underbanked, meaning they use non bank services
for finance. Rather than leaning into these efficient non bank
services provided by the private sector. The author's focus on
(33:22):
the fed's upcoming fed NOW Fast Payment service as the solution.
Note that fast payment services are a precursor to CBDCs.
According to the Bank for International Settlements or b I
s NOW to the author's credit. They do admit that
some cryptocurrencies can make financial services more accessible, but also
(33:44):
note that there's still lots of work to be done
on that front. This is a valid point, but it
again begs the question of which cryptocurrencies the authors are
referring to, probably stable coins. Regardless, the current administration is
clearly dead set on the fed now payment service. This
is because it's the first step to addressing financial inclusion,
(34:06):
which will be to quote encourage the adoption of the
fed now service in the U S economy. What's particularly
scary is that this step includes using fed now payments
quote in the context of distribution of disaster, emergency or
other government to consumer payments. Note that taxation and emergency
(34:28):
relief is how governments around the world will likely achieve
the adoption of CBDCs, and because there can't be any
competition to the CBDCs, the second step the administration will
take is to instruct regulators to crack down on non
banking entities. This presumably includes cryptocurrency exchanges, as many of
(34:49):
them offer services similar to banks. In addition, the administration
will quote align global payments practices, regulations, and supervision protocols.
This means that there will be no escape from these
dystopian systems once they're implemented, or at least that's the idea.
To ensure that these dystopian systems are adopted at all,
(35:12):
the administration will instruct the National Science Foundation or NSF.
Plenty of acronyms in today's video, aren't there to research
quote behavioral economics in the context of fast payments basically
figure out how you can convince Americans to adopt the
fed's dystopian technology. As a fun fact, the b i
(35:33):
S estimates that between four and twelve percent of people
will voluntarily adopt CBDCs in developed countries. The question then
is how they'll convince those who will not voluntarily adopt CBDCs.
Knowing governments, the answer will probably involve a lot of
force and financial censorship. Anyways. The third set of crypto
(35:55):
policy recommendations relates to financial stability. Here, the authors highlight
the fact that the crypto market and the existing financial
system are becoming more intertwined. They specify that stable coins
is where most of these connections are. On that note,
I should explain why regulators aren't so concerned about stable coins.
(36:18):
In short, it's because most stable coins are backed by
US government debt. If stable coins become too big and
there is a run on their stable coin issuer, they
could dump these treasuries assets on the open market. This
is why it's a bit silly to use the collapse
of Terror's US T stable coin as an example of
how much damage crypto could do to the existing financial system.
(36:41):
I suppose the authors don't want to reveal that centralized
stable coins are a way of subsidizing US government spending.
What the authors do reveal is that the Financial Stability
Oversight Council or f SOCK, will be publishing a report
about the risk crypto pose it's to financial stability in October.
This report will be more significant than you think, and
(37:03):
that's for two reasons. First, the FSOCK was also created
by the Dodd Frank Act. If you watched our aforementioned
video about Michael Barr, it really looks like he's eager
to use his powers and the powers of these agencies
to crack down on crypto when the next financial crisis
comes around. This ties into the second reason why the
(37:24):
fsck's upcoming report is so important, and that's because it
will be released around the time the crypto market will
likely be seeing its bear market lows. This would make
it the perfect time for Michael and co. To exercise
their powers. More about that in the description now. The
authors go on to reference the stable Coin Report put
together by the President's Working Group on Financial Markets last
(37:47):
year as a place for policymakers to start. We actually
summarize that report too, and I recommend checking that video
out sooner rather than later. Link is also in the description.
Funnily enough, the current administration only identifies two steps it
is planning to take to address the financial stability risks
supposedly posed by cryptocurrency. The first is quote, the Treasury
(38:12):
will work with financial institutions to bolster their capacity to
identify and mitigate cyber vulnerabilities. The second step is similarly strange,
and that's to quote, identify, track, and analyze emerging strategic
risks in cryptocurrencies. The fact that the authors couldn't identify
any concrete financial stability risks caused by cryptocurrencies in these
(38:36):
two steps suggests that there aren't any, at least not
yet now. The fourth set of crypto policy recommendations relate
to advancing quote responsible innovation. The authors start with another statistic,
and that's that around half of the most valuable tech
companies in the world are based in the United States.
(38:57):
This might have something to do with all the back
door deals these tech companies have with U S intelligence agencies,
but hey, let's not go there. Ironically, the authors underscore
the US government's role in facilitating technological innovation in the
private sector. If you're wondering just how innovative the government
can be, check out our recent video about whether modification
(39:20):
link will be in the description of course, now fact
short conspiracies aside, the authors jump straight to the steps
that the administration will take to preserve the peculiar dynamic
between the public and private sectors. The first step will
be to instruct the Office of Science and Technology Policy
or o s t P to quote develop a digital
(39:42):
assets research and development agenda. If you watched our aforementioned
video about one of the White House's reports, you'll know
that the os TP isn't all that scientific. Meanwhile, the
aforementioned NSF will quote back social science and education research
that develops methods of informing, educating, and training diverse groups
(40:06):
of stakeholders. Sounds good on the surface, but there always
seems to be something bad lurking down below with these
crypto initiatives. Now, the second step will be to instruct
the Treasury Department and other financial regulators to quote provide
innovative u S firms developing new financial technologies with regulatory guidance,
(40:27):
best practices, sharing, and technical assistance. This could actually be
a very good thing if done right, because institutional investors
have been itching for the regulatory clarity they need to
invest in cryptocurrency. The regulatory uncertainty caused by ethereums transition
to proof of steak is particularly concerning to both retail
and institutions alike. The third step will be to instruct
(40:52):
various environmental regulators to you guessed it, quote track digital
assets environmental impacts, develop performance standards as appropriate, and provide
local authorities with the tools, resources, and expertise to mitigate
environmental harms. The author's add that quote, opportunities exist to
align the development of digital assets with transitioning to a
(41:15):
net zero emissions economy and improving environmental justice. This makes
me wonder if they really will ban proof of work
and whether they'll use some unscientific justification to do so. Now,
the fourth and final step is interesting as it involves
quote establishing a standing forum to convene federal agencies, industry, academics,
(41:37):
and civil society to exchange knowledge and ideas that could
inform federal regulation standards, coordinating activities, technical assistance, and research support.
If the getting of all hands on deck to address
cryptocurrency is not a sign that the government are threatened
by crypto adoption, I don't know what is any who.
(41:59):
The fifth set of crypto policy recommendations relate to the
status of the United States as a leader of the
status quo of global finance, as well as the country's
financial competitiveness. Incredibly, the author's commenced by saying the quiet
part out loud. Quote. Today, global standard setting bodies are
establishing policies, guidance, and regulatory recommendations for digital assets. The
(42:24):
United States is working actively with its partners to set
out these policies in line with our goals. In other words,
unelected international organizations such as the Financial Action Task Force
or fat F ACT in accordance with the interests of
the United States. What's even more telling is that the
authors explained that the United States has a quote valuable
(42:47):
opportunity to partner with countries still developing their digital asset ecosystems.
In other words, the US is positioned to ensure that
its dominance of the global financial system continues. To ensure
all of the above, the administration will take the following steps. First,
it will leverage the power of international organizations like the
(43:08):
fat F to ensure quote US values find their way
into cryptocurrency. Note this is code for financial control and
financial surveillance, not freedom and liberty. Second, the Administration will
instruct various government agencies to partner with similar government agencies
around the world. Oddly enough, this step does not include
(43:30):
any mention of cryptocurrency, so maybe it's just a way
of sneaking in some more global governance stuff. Third, the
Administration will help developing countries develop their digital asset infrastructure.
If the i m f's help is anything to go by,
this aid will come with lots of strings attached. Fourth,
(43:51):
the Administration will quote help cutting edge US financial technology
and digital asset firms find a foothold in global markets
for their products. This step also doesn't mention crypto, but
I have a feeling this is a reference to regulated
stable coin issuers like Circle. If you missed the memo.
Circle has started releasing stable coins for other fiat currencies,
(44:14):
notably the euro. I reckon it would be in the
interest of the United States for Circle to provide its
digital currency infrastructure two countries in Europe. It's certainly in
the interests of black Rock, which backs Circle. More about
black Rock in the description anyhow, The sixth set of
policy recommendations relate to the favorite topic of anti crypto critics,
(44:39):
and that's illicit activity in cryptocurrency. The authors begin by
revealing that the United States has been the entity pushing
for k y C around the world. The authors then
say something extremely concerning, and that's quote, while our efforts
have strengthened the US financial system, digital assets, some of
(44:59):
which are sud mus and can be transferred without a
financial intermediary, have been exploited by bad actors. If you
don't understand why this is so concerning, consider that every
single cryptocurrency is pseudonymous, and that every single cryptocurrency can
be transferred without a financial intermediary. They're not talking about
(45:20):
privacy coins here, They're talking about all cryptos. This rhetoric
is consistent with the fat f's endgame of killing crypto
by labeling any crypto transaction or activity that doesn't involve
a regulated intermediary as high risk, and over time, the
fat F will pressure countries to cease providing services to
(45:40):
individuals and institutions who are high risk. As expected, the
authors go on to give examples of crypto being used
by bad actors for illicit purposes, and I couldn't help
but notice that they didn't provide any statistics as concrete evidence.
That's probably because they know that only zero point one
(46:02):
of all crypto transactions are related to illicit activity. For context,
between two and five percent of all THEAT transactions are
related to illicit activity. This is despite all the extensive
k y C and a m L that's been enforced
around the world by the fat F. As a matter
(46:23):
of fact, it seems that the fat f's so called
recommendations have done next to nothing to reduce illicit finance
over the last thirty years. All they've done is create
a multibillion dollar industry of compliance companies and justified lots
of government overreach. More about all that in the description now,
(46:44):
when it comes to the steps the current US administration
will take to combat illicit activity in cryptocurrency. The first
will be to call on US politicians to expand the
Bank Secrecy Act to all of crypto. The authors explicitly
stayed that this coverage will include Defy and n f
t s. This means that every crypto transaction worth more
(47:07):
than ten thousand U S dollars would have to be
reported to the authorities, including peer to peer crypto transactions,
which will recall the authorities want to get rid of
case and point. The administration will also push politicians to
quote raise the penalties for unlicensed money transmitting, which presumably
means going after Defy protocols and possibly even crypto wallets.
(47:30):
It will also push politicians to let the Department of
Justice quote prosecute digital asset crimes in any jurisdiction where
a victim of those crimes is found. To my understanding,
this means the U. S Government could go after crypto
crimes anywhere in the world now. The second step the
(47:51):
administration will take is to instruct the Treasury Department to
publish two reports about the illicit finance risks of Defy
and n f T s. These reports will be released
by the end of February and by July next year, respectively.
Will be sure to cover those when they come out. Now.
The third step the administration will take is to quote
continue to expose and disrupt illicit actors and address the
(48:15):
abuse of digital assets. The details of this step suggest
we will see more sanctions against crypto projects and protocols
like Tornado Cash. The fourth step the administration will take
is to work with the private sector to make sure
it understands the illicit financing risks of cryptocurrency. I suspect
this will include labeling certain crypto activities as high risk,
(48:38):
as per the fat f's game plan. I also couldn't
help but notice that the authors revealed that quote the CFPB,
an independent agency, also voluntarily provided information to the Administration
as too risks arising from digital assets. This is suspicious,
as you'll recall that the CFPB was created by the
(48:58):
Dodd Frank Act, which was written by an individual who
seems to be out to kill cryptocurrency. Watch out now.
The final part of the White House's crypto policy recommendations
relate to a digital dollar CBDC. It seems that this
(49:19):
was snuck in as well, since it wasn't exactly emphasized
at the beginning. Of the fact sheet. The authors start
by talking about all the benefits that are digital dollar
would bring benefits that could just as easily be achieved
by an existing non bank entity or cryptocurrency. These include
financial inclusion, cross border payments, you know, the usual talking points.
(49:41):
It's towards the end of the first paragraph where the
authors reveal the real reason why the US government wants
a digital dollar, and that's because it could quote help
preserve US global financial leadership and support the effectiveness of sanctions,
as the recent sanctions against Russia's central bank shown. However,
these two goals seem to be mutually exclusive. No same
(50:06):
country would adopt a digital dollar if it meant the
US government could effectively turn off its economy at the
flick of a switch. This degree of power would be
possible if the us D maintains its reserve currency status
in a digital form. Hence why the two goals are
mutually exclusive. Either the us D remains neutral to be
(50:26):
the world's reserve currency, or it is weaponized at the
expense of this status. The more you know now, the
authors reveal that quote, the Administration has developed policy objectives
for a US CBDC system which reflect the federal government's
priorities for a potential US CBDC. Put differently, the ball
(50:47):
is already rolling towards the creation of a digital dollar.
The authors reiterate that the Treasury Department will work hand
in hand with the Federal Reserve to develop a digital dollar,
again for shadowing the possibility of these two entities merging
as many have predicted. And of course, there was no
mention of all the down sides of a CBDC. If
(51:11):
you've watched any of our videos about CBDCs, you'll know
that they will give governments the power to decide how
you spend, where you spend, and what you spend your
money on, and even how much you can save. That's
just on the individual level. At the economic level, CBDCs
will make borrowing extremely expensive due to their effects on
(51:34):
bank lending and profitability. Good luck getting a mortgage. It
will also mean that the stock market itself will be manipulated.
Think Robin Hood blocking trades during the game Stop Saga,
but on steroids. So this brings me to the big question,
and that's what the White House's crypto framework means. For
(51:55):
the crypto market to be blunt. It's not good, it's
clear that the current administration wants to crush cryptocurrency. If
you've seen any of our summaries of crypto related testimonies,
this should not come as a surprise. Logically, then it
means that the success of the crypto policy recommendations laid
out in the framework ultimately depends on what happens during
(52:19):
the next election cycles in the United States. It looks
like pro crypto politicians will gain ground in the upcoming
mid terms, but at this point it's anyone's guest as
to what the outcome of the four election will be.
That's going to be the more significant election, since it's
around the time the next crypto bull run should come.
(52:41):
Take note. If pro crypto politicians do gain ground in
the upcoming midterms, then I reckon most of these anti
crypto policies will never be pursued. Then again, so many
of them are being undertaken by unelected officials that have
been appointed by anti crypto politicians, so it's uncertain. One
(53:01):
thing is for sure, however, and that's that a wave
of regulation is coming to the crypto industry. Some of
it will be reasonable, and we could see large institutional
inflows as a result. It's the unreasonable regulation that we
must be on the lookout for. This includes labeling of
all crypto related activities as high risk as a way
(53:22):
of choking off and eventually killing the industry. Given that
the United States is behind the international organizations engaging in
this kind of guerrilla regulation, American voters might be the
ones who decide what comes next for crypto at the
end of the day. As such, I strongly suggest that
any American viewers inform themselves about pro crypto candidates in
(53:45):
their areas. You'll notice that pro crypto politicians sit on
both sides of the aisle, so you should be able
to find one you can support, regardless of your political stripes.
I'll leave a link to coin bases crypto politician tool
in the description you need it, and I'll leave you
with this thought. The crypto world is counting on you
(54:06):
to make sure financial freedom continues. Financial freedom is required
for everything else. Last I checked, freedom is an American value,
so let's see it ring. Thank you so much for
listening to the Coin Bureau podcast. If you'd like to
learn more about cryptocurrency, you can visit our YouTube channel
(54:27):
at YouTube dot com forward slash coin Bureau. You can
also go to coin bureau dot com for loads more
information about all things crypto. You can follow me on
Twitter at at coin bureau or one word, and I'm
also active on TikTok and Instagram too
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