Gen-Zers have it rough: coming to age and entering the workforce in a period where ‘Bidenomics‘ has utterly failed and most everything is unaffordable. 

It’s not us saying this, but the poor, broke generation taking to social media platforms, X, TikTok, and Facebook, complaining about “owning nothing,” inflation, and working. 

Rabobank senior macro strategist Benjamin Picton recently explained, “Gen Z’s in developed countries can’t afford to buy a home no matter how much they save, so why not embrace nihilism and buy those Taylor Swift tickets?” 

The current mood of Gen-Zers…

But for the Gen-Zers who can afford homes. Don’t expect to be buying the suburban house featured in the 1990 Christmas movie Home Alone. 

Because you won’t be able to afford it. 

So, here you go – a tiny house community: Welcome to the tiny jail cell tiny house. 

You might not want to, but you’re going to live here pic.twitter.com/B1MqyQaK0O

— 🌴 Josh Lekach 🌴 (@JoshLekach) November 28, 2023

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Sen. Rand Paul is planning to force a vote on a resolution he introduced to withdraw all US troops from Syria, as US bases in the country have come under frequent attack since mid-October, Responsible Statecraft reported on Wednesday.

Paul introduced the resolution on November 15, and it would order the removal of the approximately 900 US troops stationed in Syria within 30 days unless President Biden receives authorization for war from Congress.

Sources told RS that the vote could happen as early as next week. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a similar resolution in the House earlier this year, which failed in a vote of 103-321.

According to the Pentagon, there have been at least 73 attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria, including over 30 in Syria. The attacks started on October 17 in response to President Biden’s support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.

The US has conducted several rounds of airstrikes in response, which have killed at least 15 people, according to US officials speaking to The New York Times. Strikes launched in Iraq targeted Kataib Hezbollah, a leading Iraqi Shia militia that’s aligned with Iran.

There has been a lull in attacks since the Israel-Hamas truce went into effect on Friday, but Kataib Hezbollah and other Shia militias have signaled the attacks will resume once the pause in Gaza is over.

The Iraqi government has warned without a durable ceasefire in Gaza, the war risks escalating into a major regional conflict. The US occupation of eastern Syria, which is strongly opposed by Damascus, has always been a possible trip wire for a broader war in the region due to Russia and Iran’s presence in the country.

“senior US military officials say that only luck has spared the United States from more serious casualties.”@dandcaldwell and I have been writing about this for a long time. A shame this article doesn’t even ask why we have troops in Iraq and Syria. https://t.co/DoUMPdpFhB

— Justin Logan (@JustinTLogan) November 29, 2023

On paper, the US is in the country to help fight ISIS remnants, but the occupation is part of the economic campaign against Syria, which also includes crippling sanctions, and is seen by hawks in Washington as a hedge against Iran.

The number of suicides in the United States hit a record high in 2022 according to new provisional data from the federal government.

An estimated 44,449 people committed suicide in 2022, which is 3% higher than the 48,183 people who did so in 2021 – the previous high, according to a Wednesday report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The suicide rate in 2022 was 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people vs. 14.1 per 100,000 in 2021, marking the highest rate since 1941.

The numbers will likely be higher in the final report due to lagging suicide reports, according to the authors.

“Reporting of suicides in particular can be delayed due to investigations regarding the cause and circumstances surrounding the death.”

Demographics

By sex, the suicide rate for males were 1% higher in 2022 than in 2021 at 23.1 per 100,000 vs. 22.7. For women the rate was 4% higher vs. 2021.

By age, the suicide rate declined for those aged 34 and under, and increased for those 35 and older. The rate for men aged 75 and older was the highest last year at nearly 44 per 100,000 people. While women have suicidal thoughts more frequently, men are four times as likely to actually do so.

This should be the number one news story every day. Why are suicides hitting an all-time high in America?

Why are so many American men killing themselves? pic.twitter.com/UMdayspDBj

— Benjamin Carlson (@bfcarlson) November 29, 2023

By race, Native Americans had the highest rate at 26.7 per 100,000 – though the rate was 5% lower in 2022 vs. 2021 and this was the only group to experience a decline in rates, ABC News reports. All other races had a 1-3% increase in suicide rates.

Life Expectancy Rebounding

On the bright side, the same report reveals that life expectancy has increased 1.1 years from 2021, a slight rebound from the depths of covid, but still not back to pre-covid levels.

Life expectancy at birth represents the average number of years an infant would live. The improvement was primarily driven by a drop in Covid deaths, but decreases in heart disease and cancer mortality also helped.

There’s still more ground to recover to get back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, average life expectancy was 78.8 years. In the two years following the onset of the pandemic, life expectancy had the biggest back-to-back decline in a century.

Life expectancy rose for all races in 2022. Asian and Hispanic people can both expect to live at least 80 years — longer than White, Black and American Indian and Alaska Native people. –Bloomberg

The biggest gains by race were seen in the Native American and Hispanic populations.

“In 2022, the number of deaths from COVID-19 was not insubstantial,” Elizabeth Arias, a researcher with the NCHS who was the lead author of the report, told CNN (via the Epoch Times) “Holding everything else constant, we’d need to see another large decline in COVID mortality for life expectancy to increase.”

“We only made up close to half of the loss [in life expectancy], and for some groups, it’s even less,” Arias continued. “We would need the same pattern that we observed in 2022 again in 2023 and then, perhaps, the following year to completely make up the loss.”

By John Cheng, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

China’s battered banking stocks will likely decline further as they are summoned by local authorities to support the country’s struggling property developers, analysts say.

Latest policy moves to boost lending to developers — including via the use of unsecured loans — have only strengthened the conviction that lenders’ shares may weaken further. Even record-low valuations have not been enough to lure investors, with the CSI 300 Banks Index slumping to a one-year low amid worries over shrinking margins.

“Unfortunately, we think banks may have to do more national service this time to stabilize the growth expectations,” said Xiadong Bao, a fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management in Paris. “We think those headwinds may persist given the challenging macro condition and weak consumer sentiment. It is difficult to have a positive view before the credit cycle comes back.”

China’s banks face a conundrum of balancing support for the property sector and the economy with the need to manage their already depressed earnings. The sector’s net interest margins slumped to a record low of 1.73% as of September, below the 1.8% threshold seen as necessary to maintain reasonable profitability.

In a readout last week, China’s parliament asked lenders to step up funding for developers to reduce the risk of additional defaults and ensure completion of housing projects, adding that the financial sector’s profits have room to fall as a share of the economy. Lenders are also being directed to refinance loans to local governments at lower rates.

Still, banks could circumvent guidance to provide unsecured loans to developers “due to credit risk concerns,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Katherine Lei wrote in a note.

While banks may stay selective on new property loans, “headwinds from rising system leverage, prolonged property stress, and a shifting policy environment are weighing on banks’ growth and profitability,” Fitch Ratings Inc. analysts including Lan Wang wrote in a note, adding that the impact on larger state banks will be more modest.

The Texas attorney general is suing pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company’s Covid-19 “vaccine” and for conspiring to censor those who questioned its claims. 

The suit, filed Thursday, alleges that Pfizer violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by engaging in false, deceptive and misleading acts as it promoted the drug.

“The facts are clear. Pfizer did not tell the truth about their COVID-19 vaccines,” said Attorney General Kenneth Paxton in a statement revealing the suit. 

“We are pursuing justice for the people of Texas, many of whom were coerced by tyrannical vaccine mandates to take a defective product sold by lies.“

The suit comes about eight months after Paxton announced an investigation of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for potential misrepresentations about Covid-19 vaccine efficacy and “potential manipulation of vaccine trial data.”

He has accused the company of “unlawfully misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine and attempting to censor public discussion of the product,” according to a press release.

“Pfizer engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices by making unsupported claims regarding the company’s COVID-19 vaccine in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act,” the release continues

Much of Paxton’s 54-page-complaint focuses on Pfizer’s December 20, 2020 claim that its vaccine was “95% effective.”

However, according to the complaint, “more Americans died in 2021, with Pfizer’s vaccine available, than in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.” He also cites government reports concluding that in some places, deaths among vaccinated people outpaced those among the unvaccinated, even on a percentage basis. 

Pfizer’s claim of 95% efficacy rested on deceptive framing of clinical trial observations, says the complaint:  

That number was only ever legitimate in a solitary, highly- technical, and artificial way—it represented a calculation of the so-called “relative risk reduction” for vaccinated individuals in Pfizer’s then-unfinished pivotal clinical trial.

But FDA publications indicate “relative risk reduction” is a misleading statistic that “unduly influence[s]” consumer choice.

Indeed, per FDA: “when information is presented in a relative risk format, the risk reduction seems large and treatments are viewed more favorably than when the same information is presented” using more accurate metrics.

The critical 95% claim came at a point when Pfizer only had an average of two months data on participants, says Paxton.

Specifically, the Texas AG says that of the 17,000 who received a placebo, only 162 contracted the illness, which makes for a poor baseline from which to judge the efficacy of the so-called vaccine. 

Had Pfizer used the FDA’s preferred metric — absolute risk reduction — it would have instead informed the public that “the vaccine was merely 0.85% effective,” writes Paxton.

“Moreover, according to Pfizer’s own data, preventing one COVID-19 case required vaccinating 119.”

Paxton also accuses Pfizer of creating a false impression about the vaccine’s duration of protection without having any basis. Worse, the complaint accuses Pfizer of “withhold[ing] highly relevant data and information from the consuming public showing that efficacy waned.” Pfizer is also alleged to have made baseless claims and insinuations about the vaccine’s supposed ability to thwart transmission and to be helpful against variants. 

The complaint also says Pfizer “took overt action to intimidate and silence persons who spread factual information about vaccine efficacy,” a censorship drive that allowed the company to “secure commitments to purchase at least 415 million and 2.7 billion doses from the U.S. and foreign governments respectively.” Pfizer’s actions included pressuring social media platforms to silence influential doubters. 

It’s with no small amount of hesitation that we’ve referred to Pfizer’s shot as a “vaccine.” After all, in practice, it behaved nothing like how that term was understood before the pandemic. For example, prior to Covid-19, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defined “vaccination” as “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.”

After the so-called Covid-19 vaccines proved to produce something far short of reliable immunity, the CDC moved the goalposts to benefit pharmaceutical companies and their fellow travelers in the public health bureaucracy. As Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie highlighted, in September 2021, CDC posted new language defining vaccination as “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease”:

Check out @CDCgov’s evolving definition of “vaccination.” They’ve been busy at the Ministry of Truth: pic.twitter.com/4k2xf8rvsL

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 8, 2021

Related:

• Busted Pfizer R&D Exec Claims He Lied About “Mutating COVID” To “Impress A Date Like Normal People”

• Fauci And Pfizer Lied To Trump About COVID-19 Vaccine, Claims Navarro

• Pfizer Exec Admits Under Oath: ‘We Never Tested COVID Vaccine Against Transmission’

• COVID-19 Vaccine Found In The Hearts Of Dead People: Study

• “What About The Sudden Deaths?”: Pfizer CEO Confronted At Davos Over COVID-19 Vaccine

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

An FBI employee’s vehicle was carjacked near Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 29, according to officials, marking the latest incident to take place in the nation’s capital as it continues to battle soaring crime.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, officers responded to the armed carjacking incident in the 100 block of 12th Street NE at about 3:45 p.m.

Police confirmed the victim was a federal agent who told officials that two suspects took their vehicle.

The stolen vehicle was recovered shortly after the incident, at about 4:10 p.m. in the 1000 block of 15th St SE, less than a mile from where the car was taken, officials said.

“At this time, we can confirm that an FBI employee was carjacked on the afternoon of November 29,” an FBI spokesperson said in an emailed statement to NBC Washington.

“The vehicle was recovered, and the FBI Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department’s Carjacking Task Force are investigating,” the spokesperson added.

No further information has been released regarding the two suspects and officials did not provide further details regarding the lead-up to and aftermath of the carjacking.

The incident comes as violent crime rates have surged across Washington in the past year, according to police data, up 40 percent year-on-year, with homicides up 23 percent, robberies up 69 percent, and arson up 125 percent.

The significant rise in carjackings and auto thefts has prompted police, via an initiative launched by Mayor Muriel Bowser’s government, to hand out auto-tracking devices.

In October, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) revealed he was also the victim of a carjacking near the Capitol, which he said was carried out by three armed assailants who stole his car.

The lawmaker was not injured during the incident, which took place while he was attempting to park his vehicle outside of his Washington apartment in Navy Yard.

The 68-year-old Texas Democrat’s car was later recovered about two miles away in the Anacostia neighborhood.

Prior to that incident, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), another Democrat, was attacked in an elevator at her Washington apartment building in February.

During that incident, a homeless man later identified as Kendrick Hamlin approached the lawmaker, assaulted her, and then fled when she defended herself, according to police.

Police said Phillip Todd—a staffer for Mr. Paul on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee—was stabbed “multiple times” by suspect Glynn Neal, 42, of Southeast Washington. Mr. Neal was subsequently arrested and charged with assault with intent to kill using a knife.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Secret Service confirmed its agents tasked with protecting President Joe Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi Biden, opened fire after three people attempted to break into an unmarked Secret Service vehicle in the capital.

No one was struck by the gunfire, the Secret Service said in a statement. The three people were seen fleeing in a red car, and the Secret Service said it put out a regional bulletin to Metropolitan Police to be on the lookout for it.

Amid growing criticism of the surge in crime across Washington, Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, has announced legislation aimed at addressing “public safety challenges” and “giving law enforcement more tools to hold criminals accountable and keep neighborhoods safe.”

Introduced in October, the “Addressing Crime Trends Now Act” (ACT Now), will, among other things reinstate a law preventing criminals from wearing a mask for the purpose of conducting a criminal act or intimidating, create criminal penalties for organized retail theft, limit loitering, and establish “temporary drug-free zones” across the city.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A bank investigator hired to monitor Hunter Biden’s company, Owasco P.C. raised the alarm over an influx of Chinese money while despite the company providing zero services.

In a June 26, 2018 email from the investigator, concerns were raised over wire transfers from a Chinese company, and Biden’s joint Chinese venture, Hudson West III. Specifically, $5 million initially sent to Hudson West was described as a business loan, however “there was no loan agreement document submitted,” wrote the investigator, whose name and which bank he was working for was redacted.

Most of the funds were sent to Owasco via 16 wire transfers labeled as management fees and reimbursements.

“We find it unusual that approximately 58 percent of the funds were transferred to the law firm in a few months and the frequency of the payments appear erratic,” said the investigator. “It was also previously indicated that Hudson West III LLC does not currently have any investment projects at this time, which raises further concerns as millions in fees are being paid but does not appear to have any services rendered by Owasco PC.”

The investigator also noted that Hunter was the son of then-former VP Joe Biden, and that there were allegations that Hunter was spending money on drugs, strip clubs and prostitutes (such as his baby mama), and concerns were raised that the CCP was “targeting children of politicians and purchas[ing] of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals.'”

“Specifically, Hunter Biden’s $1.5 billion dollar deal with the Chinese-State to establish a private-equity firm in which they manage the funds over time and make huge fees,” the investigator wrote. “The management company’s purpose is to invest in companies that benefit [the] Chinese government. Thus, the activity on the account appears unusual with no current business purpose.”

As the Epoch Times notes further,

Mr. Biden has previously defended his business dealings that occurred while his father was vice president, and before his father became president, saying he did nothing wrong.

“Even worse, we know that the sitting president of the United States knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family’s shady China dealings,” Mr. Comer added. “Joe Biden showed up to his son’s CEFC meetings and benefited from the money wired from China. The White House and their Corporate Media allies’ efforts to excuse and coverup [sic] this blatant corruption is appalling to the American people. House Republicans will continue to unearth the facts and provide the accountability the American people deserve.”

Northern International Capital Holdings was affiliated with CEFC, which was a Chinese energy firm.

Republicans say that records they obtained established that $40,000 sent by the wife of James Biden, President Biden’s brother, to the then-former vice president in 2017 and labeled as a loan repayment originated in China as part of the $5 million for Hudson West.

The White House and a lawyer for Mr. James Biden have defended the transaction, saying it was a normal loan repayment.

“Unfortunately, the information does not help much as it reiterates that there’s [sic] payments to Owasco per operating agreement, but it still does not indicate any reason for the large payments as management fees, when this entity does not have any stated project,” the investigator responded.

In a follow-up message, the bank’s assistant vice president said they spoke with Mervyn Yan, the Chinese businessman operating Hudson West with Mr. Biden. Mr. Yan said that Hudson West was working on “sourcing large projects, including LNG, shale, solar, and port infrastructures in US, hence the carrying cost is very high.”

He alleged the firm was in negotiations for deals in Louisiana, Texas, California, and Pennsylvania.

“To the extent that where are no guarantees [sic] incomes derived from any of these negotiations, only time will tell, and subject to further roadshow and capital raising in China and other market markets [sic],” Mr. Yan was quoted as saying. “The typical deals size [sic] we are considering is over 500 millions [sic] and more. It is time consuming and a lot of efforts [sic] spent. The expenses are inline with these types of high risk high return venture activities.”

A later email from the bank said that an official spoke with an expert and that she thought the activity was “reasonable and consistent with the business profile.”

The expert “does not see any signs of bribery as the activity is clearly written in the operating agreement,” the message said. She also assessed that “the activity does not appear unusual.”

Authored by Danny Yang via BitcoinMagazine.com,

The Ordinals protocol was introduced to Bitcoin in early 2023 at a most opportune time. Bitcoin had nearly two years of low transaction fees from the lack of demand to actually send Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin is considered to be the most secure blockchain in the world, but that security depends on miners who receive their revenue from transaction fees and block rewards. As part of the predetermined supply schedule, the block rewards are expected to be halved around April 2024 which would further drastically cut the miner revenue. To support the miners, Bitcoin needed something new to spur growth, and that was Ordinals. Ordinals drove huge demand to send Bitcoin transactions. Over $100 million (USD) worth of transaction fees have been spent so far this year just to create inscriptions, one type of transaction attributed to Ordinals.

Source: https://dune.com/dgtl_assets/bitcoin-ordinals-analysis

Ordinals is a protocol built on top of Bitcoin that allows Bitcoin to secure and transact other fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFT). Bitcoin is the oldest blockchain and similar protocols (“Bitcoin 2.0”) actually existed years earlier. Mastercoin (later renamed OMNI), colored coins, and Counterparty are all protocols that enabled other digital assets on Bitcoin, and had sizable markets for their time. However smart contract-based blockchains like Ethereum took over this market in recent years. Now at the end of 2023, Ordinals is starting to capture some of this market back on Bitcoin.

In the last couple of years, NFTs have been advancing and evolving on other blockchains. In 2017, the original 10,000 digital art character collection (i.e. profile picture or PFP collection), CryptoPunks was launched on Ethereum. Then in 2018, the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Standard, ERC-721 was introduced on Ethereum. An explosion of NFTs followed the standardization of NFTs on Ethereum, and the NFT markets on other blockchains also grew because of this standard.

The ERC-721 NFT standard is a digital certificate model. The NFT is a certificate, a unique identifier for some item. The actual item can be anything and does not need to be stored on the blockchain. The NFT enables the trade of these certificates on the blockchain. For example, if the NFT is a certificate for an art piece, the art itself is typically stored off-chain, either on IPFS (a distributed file system) or a third party data storage provider.

BLOCKCHAIN AS A MEDIUM, THE ON-CHAIN NFT

As NFT technology advanced, a class of NFTs developed where the digital item referenced by the NFT could also be stored directly on the blockchain. Although this type of on-chain NFT was more difficult and more costly to create, it had advantages that off-chain NFTs did not, such as security and longevity. For art, on-chain NFTs actually use the medium of the blockchain as the medium of the art, as the art is created on the blockchain itself. Art Blocks built an entire infrastructure on Ethereum to support this new type of on-chain art, or Crypto Art. Creating on-chain art requires new skills and blockchain expertise to master, so up until the beginning of 2023, only a small percentage of NFTs were on-chain, and Crypto Art that used the blockchain as the medium had been little explored.

Lascaux cave paintings. Age estimated at 17,000 years. Culture was preserved in this amazing art that is more than 10,000 years older than the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux

The choice of the medium for an art piece is one of the most important aspects of the art. The artist tells the story through the medium. Each medium has its own expressive constraints and requires specific skills to master. The artist’s legacy is preserved in the medium, so the permanence of the medium is very important. The sculptures of Michelangelo have lived on for hundreds of years after his death. The famous cave paintings of Lascaux continue to amaze people after over 10,000 years! In today’s digital world, we have a new medium for digital art in the form of the blockchain. The Bitcoin blockchain offers many unique expressive constraints, and in terms of permanence, it may be the most permanent digital medium in the world.

BITCOIN AS A MEDIUM FOR NFTS

Even before ERC-721, NFTs have existed on Bitcoin for years (such as Spells of Genesis and Rare Pepes trading cards). The Bitcoin NFT market was later dwarfed by the NFT markets on other blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. Now in 2023, because of Ordinals, the Bitcoin NFT market is rapidly catching up to the top NFT markets on all the other blockchains. NFTs using Ordinals differentiate from almost all other NFTs because the Ordinals protocol treats Bitcoin as a medium for the NFT, as opposed to the usual certificate model for NFTs. Ordinals was launched at a time when the overall NFT market had matured enough to understand this new type of on-chain NFT that used the blockchain as a medium.

THE ORDINALS PROTOCOL ENABLES DIGITAL ARTIFACTS ON BITCOIN

We care even more about using Bitcoin as a medium for NFTs because Bitcoin is the oldest, most decentralized, most secure, and highest value blockchain. NFTs on Bitcoin using Ordinals inherit Bitcoin’s impressive security properties, using the same ledger as Bitcoin to record ownership. The Ordinal NFT is permissionless, uncensorable, immutable, and complete. Permissionless means that we have the right to transfer the NFT to whoever we want without needing anyone else’s permission. Uncensorable means that no other party can censor our NFT. Immutable means that the NFT cannot be altered. And complete means that the NFT is complete on the medium it was created on, Bitcoin (i.e. on-chain). The NFT that satisfies all these properties is a Digital Artifact.

THE ORDINAL PROTOCOL

The Ordinal Protocol can be boiled down to three definitions, the satoshi (sat), the inscription, and the mapping of ownership for the inscription.

1. Satoshi (sat). The satoshi is the smallest unit of bitcoin. The Ordinal Protocol defines a unique number to identify every satoshi in Bitcoin, and allows each unique satoshi to be tracked through every Bitcoin transaction. Ownership of a satoshi is determined by the Bitcoin ledger.

2. Inscription. The Ordinal Protocol defines a way that data can be written on-chain on the Bitcoin blockchain. The data asset is called an Inscription.

3. Mapping of ownership. The Ordinal Protocol maps the ownership of an Inscription to a unique satoshi. Whoever owns the satoshi also owns the Inscription.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY FOR ORDINALS

The Bitcoin protocol was a revolutionary technical achievement, but it would not have succeeded without the community that grew around it. Ordinals is a similarly elegant protocol for digital assets using the medium of Bitcoin, and it is being adopted by a community. Galaxy Digital reports that the total trading volume of Ordinals for the first 8 months of 2023 was $596.4 million (USD), and projects that the Ordinals market would reach a $5 billion (USD) market capitalization by 2025. In 2013, I started building a community for Bitcoin, started the Stanford Bitcoin Meetup, and witnessed the growth of Bitcoin’s strong developer community. In recent years, Ethereum and other blockchains have been more successful at building their communities. Now in 2023, we’re seeing a reinvigoration of the Bitcoin developer community. Ordinals is the main driver as NFT communities and developers are again excited to be building on Bitcoin.

OCM NYSE meetup: https://twitter.com/SPIRIT_0_247/status/1696631586912117089

OnChainMonkey (OCM) is an NFT community originally launched in 2021 on Ethereum, and now migrating to Bitcoin. The OCM community is aligned around the core values of !RISE – Respect, Integrity, Sustainability, and Enrichment. On-Chain is important to OCM because these are the digital assets that are best secured by the blockchain. So in early 2023, when Ordinals emerged, the move to this new protocol for on-chain assets on Bitcoin made sense. Few in the market agreed with us then, but we were confident in our move. Our team has the unique experience of both building on Bitcoin since 2013 and building NFTs and digital artifacts in recent years. We understood that Bitcoin fees will be and need to be higher in the future. We worked on growing both the OCM community and the Ordinals community. We focused on explaining why Ordinals matters, and showing how to best use the medium of Bitcoin with techniques like Recursive Inscriptions, Parent-Child Provenance, and Reinscription, all of which we’ll cover below, along with the migration (upgrade!) of OCM from Ethereum to Bitcoin.

Today marks 2 Years of OCM

Join us as we celebrate Two Years of Innovation Through Art and Technology 🔽https://t.co/xd1okkLV80

Since 2021 we’ve been building a conglomerate of the greatest minds in web3 and delivering the most innovative, most significant digital assets.… pic.twitter.com/PqLRjuUFc6

— OnChainMonkey (@OnChainMonkey) September 11, 2023

2 year anniversary video: https://twitter.com/OnChainMonkey/status/1701251213767983299

THE INNOVATIVE CREATION OF OCM GENESIS

OCM launched as art on the medium of Ethereum in 2021. I wrote about the creation of OCM (now known as OCM Genesis) in “The Making of OnChain Monkey.” The OCM art is a juxtaposition of a simple distinctive design with a complex on-chain transaction. All 10,000 unique monkeys were created on-chain in a single Ethereum transaction. The single transaction was an important part of the OCM art. 10,000 unique monkeys, with a distribution of traits and meta-traits designed with rich and interesting combinations to fascinate collectors, were all birthed in one atomic self-contained and complete transaction. The beauty of this art was also how it used the shared public blockchain in a sustainable and efficient manner that was respectful of everyone else using Ethereum. OCM had an extremely low blockchain footprint, with the whole 10k PFP image collection created on-chain in a single transaction. That had never been done before, and that would matter two years later when we launched on Bitcoin Ordinals.

THE 10K DIGITAL ARTIFACT ON BITCOIN, INSCRIPTION 20219

In early February 2023, all 10,000 images and metadata of OCM Genesis were inscribed on Bitcoin in Inscription 20219. The inscription number, 20219, means it is the 20,219th inscription on Bitcoin, and that particular number matched the exact year (2021) and month (9) of the original creation on Ethereum in September 2021. Inscription 20219 was the first time 10,000 images of a collection were written to and secured on Bitcoin. What’s particularly important was how this was done. Just like in 2021, the single inscription meant that OCM used the medium of the blockchain, a public resource, in an extremely efficient manner. In fact, the single transaction that inscribed all 10,000 OCM images required less than 20 kilobytes of Bitcoin blockspace, or less than 2 bytes per image! This transaction did not clog the Bitcoin network. As Bitcoin becomes more widely used, efficiently using Bitcoin’s block space, in the way we created OCM, will be increasingly more important for everyone who uses Bitcoin.

PROGRAMMING ON BITCOIN: GENERATIVE AND RECURSIVE INSCRIPTIONS

One of the great powers of Ordinals is that we can now inscribe code on Bitcoin, using Ordinals to program Bitcoin! Code is what allowed us to create 10,000 images on-chain efficiently. We inscribed a piece of code that could generate 10,000 SVG image files for the OCM collection in a single inscription.

Another power of code is that code can call other code. OCM helped pioneer using inscribed code to call other inscribed code in a technique named Recursive Inscriptions. Inscription 20219 is one of the first recursive inscriptions. The code in 20219 could be used in other inscriptions to retrieve each individual OCM image. Recursive Inscriptions and code will be more and more important as Bitcoin grows. With Recursive Inscriptions, all the previous code that has been inscribed on Bitcoin can be used by future builders. When we created OCM Dimensions, we were first to inscribe the javascript libraries for compression, Three.js, and p5.js — and these libraries are being used by creators on Bitcoin more and more to create amazing new applications on Bitcoin. Three.js and p5.js are widely used libraries for generative art, and we have a tutorial and tools on how others can use them on Bitcoin.

As Bitcoin fees increase, using a generative coding approach will be critical in keeping inscriptions from being cost prohibitive. We saw Bitcoin fees go up by a factor of more than a hundred times in 2023 because of the early growth of Ordinals and increased usage of Bitcoin’s block space. Inscribing a single image can cost over $10,000 today! The reason we inscribed OCM Genesis in the generative approach was to show how much could be done on Bitcoin using minimum bytes and fees. 10,000 images of OCM Genesis were inscribed for just a couple of dollars.

ORDINALS ENABLES CLEAR PROVENANCE: PARENT-CHILD PROVENANCE

One of the main reasons to use NFTs is provenance. Ordinals has a powerful feature called Parent-Child Provenance. This is a way to show the provenance of “child” inscriptions by creating them from a “parent” inscription. For example, if we want to create an NFT collection with clear provenance on Bitcoin, we can use a Parent inscription with Parent-Child Provenance to inscribe the many Child inscriptions that form the collection. When we inscribed 20219, this was the Parent inscription for OCM Genesis collection. Both Parent-Child Provenance and Recursive Inscriptions were not possible at that time, so most people did not understand why we would inscribe all the assets of a collection in a single inscription. OCM Genesis was the pioneering collection that first showed how to use Parent-Child Provenance to distribute a 10k collection. OCM also distributed the collection most efficiently with Recursive Inscriptions. In the future, more collections will take advantage of this powerful combined approach of using both Parent-Child Provenance and Recursive Inscriptions because of the provenance and efficiency.

DISTRIBUTING THE 10K DIGITAL ARTIFACT, INSCRIPTION 20219

The concept of a digital artifact or digital good is quite new to most people. When we inscribed 20219, this was a digital artifact that contained 10,000 unique OCM. The whole collection met the criteria of complete, ownable, uncensorable, permissionless, and immutable for a digital artifact. At first, all 10k OCM were owned by a single entity. This is similar to a car manufacturer, say Bugatti, producing 10,000 cars and initially owning all of them. Then, when Bugatti delivers each car with the title and keys to individuals, those individuals become the car owners. Similarly, for Inscription 20219, each of the 10,000 OCM will be delivered to individual owners using Parent-Child Provenance and Recursive Inscriptions. Parent-Child Provenance tracks the ownership of the individual OCM in the Parent to the Child. Recursive Inscriptions show that each child is distributing one of the 10k OCM digital artifact elements in the Parent.

SAVING FEES WITH BATCH INSCRIPTIONS

Another approach to be efficient on-chain is to use Batch Inscriptions. This can be combined with Parent-Child Provenance to distribute many NFTs in a single transaction. This saves on both the fees and the time (or number of Bitcoin blocks) it takes to create the inscriptions. By using Batch Inscriptions for OCM Genesis, we were able to inscribe the 10k collection 250 times faster than if we didn’t use Batch inscriptions.

One of the batch inscription transactions for OCM Genesis. https://mempool.space/tx/ed293ff57a1415ce581fdd09752c9aa978cc5f929cc7863abd2a5901fdff988f#flow=&vin=0

RARE AND EXOTIC SATOSHIS, A UNIQUE FEATURE OF ORDINALS

Ordinal theory tracks every satoshi (sat) in Bitcoin, from every mined block. Block 9 sats are historic because they were mined by Satoshi himself. The first ever Bitcoin transaction was 10 bitcoins that Satoshi mined in Block 9 and sent to Hal Finney. The first bitcoin used in this first transaction is known as 450x sats. These are the sats with the lowest sat numbers in circulation and these numbers all start with 450. Sat hunters have been tracking down these specific 450x sats for almost a year now because these sats are historic and collectible. These 450x sats also make a great medium to inscribe art on Bitcoin. Both 450x and Block 9 sats are called exotic sats. There are also common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, and mythic sats, named in the Rodarmor Rarity Scale as defined by Casey Rodarmor, the creator of the Ordinals protocol.

OCM Genesis used Block 9 sats for the whole collection. All 10k children were inscribed on Block 9 – 450x sats. Additionally, the range of sats (450x) that Genesis was inscribed on is one of the lowest ranges of Block 9 sats: the first 0.2 BTC of the first bitcoin in Block 9. Genesis was inscribed on sequential Block 9 sats, and the last 5 digits of the sat number exactly matches the Genesis number. For example, OCM Genesis #1 is on sat 45017800001 and OCM Genesis #10,000 is on sat 45017810000 (there are only 178 sat ranges like this that are earlier than this one on Block 9). The advantage of using such precision in the sat inscriptions is two fold – it’s part of the art as it takes skill to use the Bitcoin medium in this way, and the matching sat numbers makes the provenance and linkage between the sat and the OCM Genesis art very clear.

When matching sat numbers are combined with generative art, there’s another nice possibility of Bitcoin. The generative art can actually be generated from the sat number. The OCM Genesis collections are all generative art, and the code inscribed on Bitcoin actually uses the sat number to generate the art of the inscription on that sat. This is another way to incorporate the Bitcoin medium into the art.

REINSCRIPTION, THE UNEXPLORED FRONTIER FOR PROGRAMMING BITCOIN

Reinscription is a feature of Ordinals that allows a sat to be inscribed multiple times. The cost of each reinscription is just as much as any other inscription. Each reinscription is on the same sat as the prior inscription(s), so all these inscriptions are linked together and transferred together. Only the owner of a sat can inscribe or reinscribe that sat. Reinscriptions can allow ordinals to record state changes when used with the newly released Ordinals sat endpoint feature. This allows for on-chain programs and applications to be built on Bitcoin with Ordinals.

OCM Genesis used reinscription to inscribe multiple 10k collections on the same sats. These reinscribed collections are “soul-bound” (i.e. permanently linked) to the originally inscribed collection. A benefit is that it’s easy to navigate between these collections, and the value of the original collection is increased with the addition of the reinscribed collections. OCM Genesis was the first to do a reinscribed 10k collection. OCM Genesis will have four collections inscribed on each sat:

1. OCM Genesis: Perspectives

2. OCM Genesis: 20219

3. OCM Genesis: Deconstructed

4. OCM Genesis: Certificate of Ownership

THE 10K COLLECTION AS AN ART FORM

Art on Bitcoin ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/ZHH45SUwwr

— OnChainMonkey (@OnChainMonkey) November 20, 2023

The 10k collection has become an art form in NFTs. Many collections follow this form. On Ethereum, whether a collection is size 10 or 10,000, the difference in creating either one is trivial, just a one line change in the smart contract. The curious thing about Bitcoin is that a 10,000 collection is 1,000 times more expensive to create than a collection of 10. And 1,000 times harder to create! The reason is that each NFT on Bitcoin has to be created as a digital artifact on-chain, so each costs something to create. Every creation is immutable, so if any single NFT of the collection was created incorrectly, then the whole collection may have to be scrapped. Also, some techniques like Parent-Child Provenance or using sequential sat numbering involve quite a bit of sat manipulation, so it’s quite easy to make a mistake along the way, especially as the number of sats required goes up with the collection size. This is why the 10k collection as an art form on Bitcoin stands out even more! The best 10k collections can really shine on the medium of Bitcoin.

The art of OCM Genesis combined Recursive inscriptions, Parent-Child Provenance, sequential Block 9 sats, and reinscriptions of several 10k collections. Each Genesis had to be inscribed perfectly the first time on the 10k specific sats, with no room for any mistakes. Tens of thousands of inscriptions were required to pull off this exceedingly complex feat of creating Genesis on Bitcoin. Any number of things could have gone wrong. A single mistake would have tarnished the collection. It took incredible skill, preparation, timing, and luck to create the Genesis art on Bitcoin.

THE CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP ON BITCOIN

Earlier we discussed how the NFT standard was different on Ethereum and Bitcoin. In fact, the concept of digital ownership of NFTs is different between Ethereum and Bitcoin. In the Ethereum Certificate model, we own the tradable certificate for a digital item, but the actual digital item is generally off-chain and may not even be known to us. In Bitcoin, the digital item is on-chain on Bitcoin, and directly ownable and tradable.

The OCM Genesis art explores these two concepts of digital ownership. In the upgrade, we are transferring the ownership from Ethereum to Bitcoin. The process involves a teleburn in which the Genesis on Ethereum is transferred to the Ethereum address for the corresponding Bitcoin Inscription. Now the ledger entry for the Ethereum asset is transferred to the Bitcoin ledger. The Ethereum asset is “soul-bound” to the Bitcoin inscription. Whoever owns the Bitcoin Inscription also owns the Ethereum asset. To make this more clear, we created a 4th collection that is re-inscribed onto the same sats. This collection is called OCM Genesis: Certificate of Ownership, and it is exactly what the name states, the certificate of ownership of the Ethereum asset that was teleburned. The Certificate of Ownership is a digital artifact on Bitcoin, but it also is a certificate to another digital artifact on Ethereum, the original Genesis. Ordinals does not respect off-chain pointers like this in general, and this Certificate concept on Ordinals is part of the art of OCM Genesis: Certificate of Ownership. The social consensus that this Certificate is valid also means that the act of the teleburn was not one of destruction, but one of transferring the ledger.

Provenance of the art is a key reason to use the blockchain. We created a smart contract interface on Ethereum so that the teleburn process can be recorded with the best provenance on Ethereum. This smart contract interface can be used by other Ethereum collections that wish to follow our lead and teleburn with clear provenance on Ethereum. On Bitcoin, the Certificate of Ownership inscription includes all the details of the teleburn. The Certificate of Ownership is a step towards Real World Assets (RWA) being secured on Bitcoin. RWA is a huge market and one I worked on in 2015 when I worked on land titles on the blockchain for the country of Egypt. (link) One of the long term potentials of Ordinals is that RWA such as titles, deeds, and securities are secured on Bitcoin.

Certificates secured on Bitcoin for RWA include the art use case. Not all art can be on-chain, but the art can be certified on-chain on Bitcoin. Artists will always want to explore beyond the constraints of Bitcoin, and they can benefit from Ordinals by securing the certificate on-chain and establishing the provenance of the art on Bitcoin.

THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL ASSETS ON BITCOIN

Bitcoin as the blockchain to store and secure assets beyond its native bitcoin, the fungible token, is in the very early stages, where much infrastructure needs to be built, and the potential is huge. We have witnessed the potential for these asset markets on other chains like Ethereum and Solana, and we are going to see that market grow similarly on Bitcoin, facilitated by Ordinals. OCM Genesis is one of the pioneering assets and art on Bitcoin, and showcases how future assets can be realized within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

This is a guest post by Danny Yang. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

Update (1545ET):

Musk begins to personally hand deliver Cybertrucks to owners. 

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Update (1540ET):

Elon Musk said the Cybertruck can outperform the Ford F-350 in a ‘truck and tractor pulling’ competition. 

*   *   * 

Tesla’s long-awaited Cybertruck is almost here. These electric trucks will feature a 301 stainless steel exoskeleton, known for its bulletproof capabilities against 9mm rounds and the ability to deflect arrows from compound bows. 

At 1500 ET, Tesla is holding a Cybertruck delivery event at its Tesla Giga Texas factory in Austin. The event will showcase the delivery of Tesla’s first new passenger vehicle in at least three years, expanding a lineup that includes Models S, 3, and X and a semi-truck. 

For many reservation holders, especially the nearly 2 million of them, the event is a welcoming sign that pricing and vehicle specs will finally be released. 

Tomorrow… pic.twitter.com/TFQY4xczEo

— Tesla (@Tesla) November 30, 2023

During his now-viral conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin last night, Musk predicted that the Thursday Cybertruck launch would be “by far” this year’s largest product launch.

“[The Cybertruck event] will be the biggest product launch of anything by far on Earth this year,” Musk said during the summit.

“Whether you hate me, like me or are indifferent, do you want the best car or not the best car?”

Watch Live below:

Cybertruck Delivery Event https://t.co/rWd111HvHc

— Tesla (@Tesla) November 29, 2023

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note earlier this week, “This is another historical moment for Tesla and Elon Musk with the Cybertruck unveil as the Street is excited to see the formal vehicle launch featuring the dual-motor trim and its top-level tri-motor AWD performance model along with updates regarding production and scaling of the Cybertruck platform which is expected to be ~250k units per year by FY25.”

Ives expects the Cybertruck will cost between $50,000 for the single motor version and up to $80,000 for a dual motor version. 

Cybertruck production line pic.twitter.com/sGYuVFLy3c

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2023

“Although no FY24 delivery targets, we estimate that the company will churn out 2k-3k units this quarter with the first 10k unit quarter to come in 1H24 with pilot production capacity in Austin at 125k units while the reservation count/pre-orders has reportedly topped the ~2 million unit threshold as a gauge of demand,” Ives said. 

The launch of Cybertruck comes four years after Musk debuted the steel-clad apocalypse-looking vehicle. It also resembles the video game Halo’s Warthog light reconnaissance vehicle.

Also, it comes as the billionaire launched a price war against legacy automakers and EV manufacturers to secure EV market share. 

Musk said last month that Tesla plans to crank out 250,000 Cybertrucks a year, a production run rate that might be achievable in 2025. 

Color us less than surprised; but a New York appeals court reinstated Thursday the gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump by the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial.

The gag order was initially imposed by Judge Engeron on Oct. 3 (after President Trump accused the judge’s top clerk of political bias in a post on social media).

An appeals court judge temporarily paused the gag order on Nov. 16 while the former president appealed the order.

But now, in an order issued on Nov. 30, a four-judge panel of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, overturned the temporary suspension of the gag order:

“Now, upon reading and filing the papers with respect to the motion, and due deliberation having been had thereon…

…it is ordered that the motion is denied; the interim relief granted by order of a Justice of this Court, dated November 16, 2023, is hereby vacated,” the appeals court’s order states. 

Trump’s legal team filed a mistrial motion earlier this month purporting that Engoron and his clerk have “tainted” the trial with their bias against Trump.

Engoron denied the motion, calling it “utterly without merit.”

President Trump has not publicly commented on the latest development.

Trump also faces a gag order in his federal 2020 election subversion case. That order is currently on pause as a panel of federal judges weighs its merit.