The future won’t wait for you.

@TFTC21

New York already has the 4th highest electricity prices in the country at 29.45 cents per kWh, 56% above the national average and rising at nearly 15% year over year. This is what decades of self-inflicted energy policy looks like. Governor Cuomo shut down Indian Point, a nuclear plant that provided reliable baseload power to millions. The state blocked natural gas pipelines, divested from fossil fuels, closed refineries, and replaced cheap reliable energy with expensive intermittent alternatives. The result is that New Yorkers pay more for less reliable power while the state's grid becomes increasingly dependent on the very fossil fuels its politicians publicly demonize. Now Albany wants to make it worse. On June 4th, the New York State Legislature passed the "Responsible Data Center Development Act," a first-in-the-nation one-year moratorium on large AI data centers. The bill didn't just pause construction. It layered on mandated renewable energy procurement targets, new environmental impact studies, prevailing wage requirements that function as a union tax on every construction job, and host community benefit programs that developers must fund. The NYISO interconnection queue exploded from 6 projects totaling about 1 GW in 2022 to 48 proposals totaling 12 GW by the end of 2025. Instead of capturing that demand and the jobs, tax revenue, and infrastructure investment that comes with it, Albany is telling the industry to go build somewhere else. The bill is sitting on Governor Hochul's desk right now. If she signs it, New York becomes the first state in America to enact a statewide data center moratorium while simultaneously having some of the highest electricity costs in the nation. The states that embrace energy abundance and welcome these facilities will win. New York is choosing to lose.

@TFTC21

"DAC8 is in my opinion the single biggest threat to both the cypherpunk principles of Bitcoin and to the lives of our users." - @francispouliot_

@TFTC21

Eric Balchunas reports that Vanguard is hiring its first Head of Digital Assets to develop a blockchain and tokenization strategy, but stresses the firm hasn't "bent the knee."

@TFTC21

"What gets you to the other side is literally just some amount of seller exhaustion, the price creeping back up, and people coming to the realization that this thing is not dying." - @BackslashBTC

@TFTC21

Brent crude just surged back above $80/barrel for the first time since June, and the story of how we got here is wild. In late February, US-Israel strikes on Iran began and the Strait of Hormuz shut down, pushing Brent from around $72 to $76. By March 8, Israel had bombed Iranian oil facilities and Brent crossed $100 for the first time since the Russia-Ukraine war. The next day it hit $120+, the highest since the 2008 financial crisis, before Trump hinted the war would end "very soon." Then the bottom fell out. A two-week ceasefire on April 7 sent Brent crashing 16% in a single day. Iran declared Hormuz open to commercial ships. The US and Iran signed an MOU on June 17. Brent cratered 42% from its peak, falling all the way back to pre-war levels around $72. OPEC+ piled on, announcing its fifth consecutive monthly production increase of 188k bpd for August just days ago. Markets were pricing in normalization. The war premium had been completely erased. An oil glut was the new fear. Then today happened. Trump declared at the NATO summit in Ankara that the Iran ceasefire is "over." The US launched fresh strikes on Iranian targets. Treasury revoked the waiver allowing Iran to continue selling oil. Brent surged 6.2% to nearly $80 in hours. But traders aren't panicking. The rally looks more like a short squeeze than a fundamental repricing. Markets have watched this escalation/de-escalation cycle play out multiple times since April. Trump said the ceasefire was over in the same breath he left the door open for more negotiations. Iran condemned the strikes but hasn't abandoned the diplomatic framework. The $80 level is the line to watch. A sustained break above it signals the market believes this time is different. Below it, and this is just another positioning adjustment in the endless Middle East news cycle.

@TFTC21

OpenAI teases the all-new ChatGPT Voice in a new teaser video and will reveal details during a livestream at 10 AM PT today.

@TFTC21

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig: "I'm very concerned about central bank digital currencies. We in the Trump administration have been very clear that is not going to happen under our watch."

@TFTC21

TFTC 768 w/ @francispouliot_: "They're building a list of every Bitcoiner. In France a million records leak every month and when this database leaks, people will be murdered." We discuss: ⚡ Sold to kidnappers ⚡ One taken every 2 days ⚡ Coming to the US next

@TFTC21

Trump says the Iran ceasefire is "over." Renewed Middle East tensions mean more uncertainty for energy markets, more pressure on the dollar, and another reminder why sound money matters.

@TFTC21

Calle demoes NFC Tap-to-Pay with Bitcoin ecash. Two phones tap and instantly transfer funds with the sender needing no internet at all.

@TFTC21

Bitcoin House Malaysia in KLCC installs framed Bitcoin whitepaper and global "Proof of Community" map highlighting Bitcoin hubs worldwide.

@TFTC21

A federal judge just handed Kalshi a major loss in the Southern District of New York. Judge Analisa Torres denied the prediction market platform's request for a preliminary injunction, a ruling that legal experts say will have knock-on effects across multiple pending cases in Connecticut and other SDNY lawsuits. The case centers on whether prediction markets are regulated financial products or unlicensed gambling operations. Kalshi has argued it operates as a CFTC-regulated designated contract market and that federal oversight preempts state gambling laws. New York Attorney General Letitia James disagrees. Her office is now expected to file a civil enforcement action against Kalshi in state court seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties, and injunctive relief. This is part of a broader legal assault on prediction markets playing out across the country. In Minnesota, a federal judge recently signaled sympathy with the state's argument that platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have "far exceeded what Congress initially intended" when creating the CFTC framework in 1974. The key question in that case was how to define what Kalshi actually does. Kalshi says "trading on designated contract markets." Minnesota says "gambling." How courts define that field will dictate who wins. Meanwhile the whole thing may be heading to the Supreme Court. Justice Alito just gave New Jersey until August 4 to file a petition challenging a Third Circuit ruling that had sided with Kalshi and shielded its event contracts from state gaming regulation. If SCOTUS takes the case, it could settle the question nationally. Kalshi will appeal the Torres ruling and seek an immediate injunction pending that appeal. But the momentum has clearly shifted. States are winning the argument that prediction markets function like sports betting and should carry the same consumer protections and oversight that licensed sportsbooks provide.

@TFTC21

New York already has the 4th highest electricity prices in the country at 29.45 cents per kWh, 56% above the national average and rising at nearly 15% year over year. This is what decades of self-inflicted energy policy looks like. Governor Cuomo shut down Indian Point, a nuclear plant that provided reliable baseload power to millions. The state blocked natural gas pipelines, divested from fossil fuels, closed refineries, and replaced cheap reliable energy with expensive intermittent alternatives. The result is that New Yorkers pay more for less reliable power while the state's grid becomes increasingly dependent on the very fossil fuels its politicians publicly demonize. Now Albany wants to make it worse. On June 4th, the New York State Legislature passed the "Responsible Data Center Development Act," a first-in-the-nation one-year moratorium on large AI data centers. The bill didn't just pause construction. It layered on mandated renewable energy procurement targets, new environmental impact studies, prevailing wage requirements that function as a union tax on every construction job, and host community benefit programs that developers must fund. The NYISO interconnection queue exploded from 6 projects totaling about 1 GW in 2022 to 48 proposals totaling 12 GW by the end of 2025. Instead of capturing that demand and the jobs, tax revenue, and infrastructure investment that comes with it, Albany is telling the industry to go build somewhere else. The bill is sitting on Governor Hochul's desk right now. If she signs it, New York becomes the first state in America to enact a statewide data center moratorium while simultaneously having some of the highest electricity costs in the nation. The states that embrace energy abundance and welcome these facilities will win. New York is choosing to lose.

@TFTC21

"DAC8 is in my opinion the single biggest threat to both the cypherpunk principles of Bitcoin and to the lives of our users." - @francispouliot_

@TFTC21

Eric Balchunas reports that Vanguard is hiring its first Head of Digital Assets to develop a blockchain and tokenization strategy, but stresses the firm hasn't "bent the knee."

@TFTC21

"What gets you to the other side is literally just some amount of seller exhaustion, the price creeping back up, and people coming to the realization that this thing is not dying." - @BackslashBTC

@TFTC21

Brent crude just surged back above $80/barrel for the first time since June, and the story of how we got here is wild. In late February, US-Israel strikes on Iran began and the Strait of Hormuz shut down, pushing Brent from around $72 to $76. By March 8, Israel had bombed Iranian oil facilities and Brent crossed $100 for the first time since the Russia-Ukraine war. The next day it hit $120+, the highest since the 2008 financial crisis, before Trump hinted the war would end "very soon." Then the bottom fell out. A two-week ceasefire on April 7 sent Brent crashing 16% in a single day. Iran declared Hormuz open to commercial ships. The US and Iran signed an MOU on June 17. Brent cratered 42% from its peak, falling all the way back to pre-war levels around $72. OPEC+ piled on, announcing its fifth consecutive monthly production increase of 188k bpd for August just days ago. Markets were pricing in normalization. The war premium had been completely erased. An oil glut was the new fear. Then today happened. Trump declared at the NATO summit in Ankara that the Iran ceasefire is "over." The US launched fresh strikes on Iranian targets. Treasury revoked the waiver allowing Iran to continue selling oil. Brent surged 6.2% to nearly $80 in hours. But traders aren't panicking. The rally looks more like a short squeeze than a fundamental repricing. Markets have watched this escalation/de-escalation cycle play out multiple times since April. Trump said the ceasefire was over in the same breath he left the door open for more negotiations. Iran condemned the strikes but hasn't abandoned the diplomatic framework. The $80 level is the line to watch. A sustained break above it signals the market believes this time is different. Below it, and this is just another positioning adjustment in the endless Middle East news cycle.

@TFTC21

OpenAI teases the all-new ChatGPT Voice in a new teaser video and will reveal details during a livestream at 10 AM PT today.

@TFTC21

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig: "I'm very concerned about central bank digital currencies. We in the Trump administration have been very clear that is not going to happen under our watch."

@TFTC21

TFTC 768 w/ @francispouliot_: "They're building a list of every Bitcoiner. In France a million records leak every month and when this database leaks, people will be murdered." We discuss: ⚡ Sold to kidnappers ⚡ One taken every 2 days ⚡ Coming to the US next

@TFTC21

Trump says the Iran ceasefire is "over." Renewed Middle East tensions mean more uncertainty for energy markets, more pressure on the dollar, and another reminder why sound money matters.

@TFTC21

Calle demoes NFC Tap-to-Pay with Bitcoin ecash. Two phones tap and instantly transfer funds with the sender needing no internet at all.

@TFTC21

Bitcoin House Malaysia in KLCC installs framed Bitcoin whitepaper and global "Proof of Community" map highlighting Bitcoin hubs worldwide.

@TFTC21

A federal judge just handed Kalshi a major loss in the Southern District of New York. Judge Analisa Torres denied the prediction market platform's request for a preliminary injunction, a ruling that legal experts say will have knock-on effects across multiple pending cases in Connecticut and other SDNY lawsuits. The case centers on whether prediction markets are regulated financial products or unlicensed gambling operations. Kalshi has argued it operates as a CFTC-regulated designated contract market and that federal oversight preempts state gambling laws. New York Attorney General Letitia James disagrees. Her office is now expected to file a civil enforcement action against Kalshi in state court seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties, and injunctive relief. This is part of a broader legal assault on prediction markets playing out across the country. In Minnesota, a federal judge recently signaled sympathy with the state's argument that platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have "far exceeded what Congress initially intended" when creating the CFTC framework in 1974. The key question in that case was how to define what Kalshi actually does. Kalshi says "trading on designated contract markets." Minnesota says "gambling." How courts define that field will dictate who wins. Meanwhile the whole thing may be heading to the Supreme Court. Justice Alito just gave New Jersey until August 4 to file a petition challenging a Third Circuit ruling that had sided with Kalshi and shielded its event contracts from state gaming regulation. If SCOTUS takes the case, it could settle the question nationally. Kalshi will appeal the Torres ruling and seek an immediate injunction pending that appeal. But the momentum has clearly shifted. States are winning the argument that prediction markets function like sports betting and should carry the same consumer protections and oversight that licensed sportsbooks provide.