From “Rat Poison” to $100,000: The “Bitcoin Blueprint” Is Playing Out Again

From “Rat Poison” to $100,000: The “Bitcoin Blueprint” Is Playing Out Again

My neighbor cornered me at the mailbox last week with a question. It floored me.

“I keep hearing about these stablecoin things. What are they actually used for?” he asked. “Nobody I know uses them. Sounds like something only criminals would use.”

I almost laughed out loud. Not because his question was ill-informed – but because I’d heard this type of skepticism before.

Eight years ago, people used the same language to describe bitcoin.

The Pattern Wall Street Wants You to Ignore

Here’s the thing about revolutionary technology: It always starts with the same accusation.

“It’s only used by criminals.”

In the 1920s, people accused radio of spreading unregulated propaganda and immoral entertainment… In the 1950s, they accused television of spreading indecent content… In the 1990s, some claimed the internet was a hub for hackers and criminals.

In 2016, when Daily Editor Teeka Tiwari first recommended bitcoin around $420, we heard similar accusations about the new technology.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called it a “fraud.” Super-investor Warren Buffett dismissed it as “rat poison squared.” And then-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned it was “mainly used for illicit transactions.”

The financial establishment was united: Bitcoin was digital money only for drug dealers, tax evaders, and terrorists.

Of course, they were dead wrong.

Last month, bitcoin hit a new all-time high above $123,000 before pulling back with the broad market.

Today, it’s held by more than 160 public companies as a treasury reserve. Tesla owns $1.3 billion in bitcoin. Strategy owns 628,791 bitcoins, worth $74.2 billion.

And that’s just the corporate demand…

Since bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched in January 2024, they have attracted over $54 billion in inflows.

In its first year alone, BlackRock’s bitcoin trust (IBIT) surpassed $70 billion in assets under management. That’s record time for that amount of capital accumulation.

And look at how IBIT compares with ETFs for every other asset class. It blows them out of the water…