Bitcoin Bear Market Diaries: Volume 6 with Marty Bent
By @piratebeachbum - Analyzing The Bear Market
Name
Marty Bent
Country
United States
How do people know you?
People probably know me best from my newsletter and podcasts, TFTC and Rabbit Hole Recap.
How long have you been into Bitcoin?
I started falling down the rabbit hole in 2013.
How many Bitcon market cycles have you been through?
I think this is the beginning of my fourth.
What are you optimistic about in this space despite the current state of the market?
Very optimistic about the convergence of bitcoin mining and the energy sector, privacy projects that make it easier to receive and send bitcoin more privately, and the peer-to-peer content monetization via the Lightning Network.
What tips do you have to those who are new to this or who might be upside down?
Expand your time horizon. The bitcoin price is extremely volatile but it moves chaotically up and to the right over time. Bear markets are incredible opportunities to sharpen your technical understanding of bitcoin because there is significantly less noise and distraction. When you better understand bitcoin at a technical level you become more confident in storing your value in it.
Biggest regret during the last bull market?
Getting over excited. Happens every cycle.
What have you learned so far in this bear market?
Bitcoin is much more mature from a liquidity perspective. I would have expected bitcoin to crash harder considering the amount of interconnected leverage that was just wiped out.
What is the biggest fail you have seen during the last bull cycle?
Otherwise respectable individuals falling prey to the siren calls of “DeFi” and trying to bring that “innovation” to bitcoin. “DeFi” is a symptom of the late stage fiat monetary system that has created a high velocity trash economy.
What do you think helped trigger the current bear market?
The Fed hiking and centralized lenders taking insane risks with user deposits.
Who was exposed during this last market meltdown?
Thinkbois who were riding a fed-induced liquidity rush that created the illusion of innovation and the VC grifters who were more than eager to reap the benefits of an uneducated retail market.
What kind of damage do you think the latest price drop has done to buyer sentiment?
It’s certainly done some damage, but compared to past cycles it seems to be relatively little damage. People are very worried about inflation right now and are more open to bitcoin as alternative to the fiat monetary system despite the price “crash”.
What is it going to take to turn this around?
Blocks being produced roughly every ten minutes.
What type of carnage do you expect to see in Bitcoin startups?
Those who overextended themselves during the bull market and depended on marketing and retail flows over cash flow positive business operations will be hurting the most.
What are your tips for HODLing Bitcoin through downturns?
Keep your fiat job and try to create supplementary revenue streams. It’s much easier to hold when you don’t have to worry about whether or not you can afford your lifestyle.
How do you feel about alt-coins and NFT’s?
Disgusted by the shamelessness and disingenuous nature of altcoin promoters and the abysmal aesthetics of “crypto art”.
What kind of impact do you think the radical drop in alt-coins and NFT’s will have on their future?
Unfortunately, very little.
What do you think about shitcoins like Luna, Celsus, etc imploding?
I feel bad for everyone who got wiped out by them but it should have been obvious that the implosions were inevitable if you had any sense of a bullshit detector. The promoters of these projects were some of the worst con men out there.
What is your take on Blockfi’s business model in trouble being acquired by FTX?
I think this recent contagion event has proven that those who lend out user deposits to risk takers don’t have acceptable due diligence processes. The fact that Sam Bankman Fried and FTX are swooping in to acquire companies in the space is a bit unnerving because I think it is pretty clear that they are bad actors.
What is the best way to accumulate Bitcoin during a down market?
Keep dollar cost averaging on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis and try to work for sats when possible.
How bullish are you on Bitcoin despite this recent pullback?
More bullish than I ever have been. It’s never been more obvious than it is now that the world desperately needs a private money that cannot be controlled by central planners.
Any tips you want to give to people new to Bitcoin?
Do the work to understand how bitcoin works at every layer of the stack that is being built out.
Any last words of wisdom?
The noise is very loud. Train your mind to tune it out.
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