Balaji Srinivasan, a venture capitalist and former CTO of Coinbase, claimed that the US economy would enter a phase of hyperinflation in 90 days, catapulting BTC to $ 1 million.
Balaji, whose crypto venture Earn.com was acquired by Coinbase in 2019, also offered to pay $1 million in BTC to the best 1,000 tweets that alert about stealth financial crisis.
Balaji Bets BTC to be at $1 Million
Yes. Just moving money for the bet. We can do it via smart contract, but for simplicity old-fashioned escrow may work.
The escrow person would need one BTC address and one ETH address (for the USDC). The assets would sit on chain for 90 days.
If BTC < $1M in 90 days after… https://t.co/TP82ecUf9J
— Balaji (@balajis) March 18, 2023
“… I am putting up the BitSignal. $1M in BTC to alert us to the stealth financial crisis. $1000 per tweet, for the best 1000… They hid their insolvency from you, the depositors. And they’re about to print $2T to hyperinflate the dollar… So buy Bitcoin *now* and get your coins off exchanges,” Balaji tweeted on March 16.
The next day, he went hammer and tongs. “THE BANKS ARE INSOLVENT We should have learned to distrust bankers after the 2008 crisis. Back then, they used complex language to hide the simple fact that the mortgages were bad. And today, they do it to hide the fact that the money is gone. Not in one bank, in all the banks. And they knew months ago…,” he said.
In the final salvo, he said Signature and Silvergate were forced to close because they banked crypto.
While Balaji’s tweets generated huge responses, including from the likes of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who seemed to be much amused by the turn of events, famous cryptocurrency critic Molly White pointed to venture capitalist’s self-interest in painting a doom of traditional banking and finance.
“it’s not like we can put the genie back in the bottle! ” – VC who stands to profit massively from the release of the genie, and who has worked tirelessly to release said genie,” she tweeted in reply to Balaji’s tweet and followed up with, “i am also pretty good at putting cats in bags, as it happens.”
Buy the Pivot: Arthur Hayes
Asking investors to buy bitcoin, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX crypto exchange, earlier said that US banks are having an unrealized loss of $620 billion. And the US government is planning to provide a $4.4 trillion bailout to the banking industry.
The huge bailout package will give a boost to the entire financial sector, including cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin and other leading coins. During Covid-19, when the US government pumped $4.19 trillion into the economy, bitcoin had surged to $69k, he argued.
Banking Crisis at Center Stage
The regulatory heat brought on cryptocurrency companies in recent weeks has given way to a much larger issue – the banking crisis of 2023. In about a week, three US mainstream banks folded up operations, leaving behind a vast trail of institutional and individual depositors with no access to the funds in their bank accounts. This also triggered massive bank runs involving hundreds of regional banks.
The liquidity crisis faced by the banks is said to have been caused by government bonds becoming cheaper after the Fed Reserve increased the interest rate in recent months in a bid to tame inflation, which at one point had hit a 40-year high.
Binance Free $100 (Exclusive): Use this link to register and receive $100 free and 10% off fees on Binance Futures first month (terms).
PrimeXBT Special Offer: Use this link to register & enter POTATO50 code to receive up to $7,000 on your deposits.
