🇺🇸Our brave warfighters executed counterterrorism airstrikes, killing dozens of ISIS jihadis hiding in a cave complex in Somalia. We continue to mop up the mess left by Biden. For years, terrorists killed Americans with impunity. Now, they are the prey—and we are the hunters. https://t.co/wXlnuj5qqP

#BLACKPINK# ‘Shut Down’ DANCE PERFORMANCE VIDEO Release Counter ‘Shut Down’ DANCE PERFORMANCE VIDEO ✅2022.09.18 11AM (EST) & 2022.09.19 12AM (KST) #블랙핑크# #2ndAlbum# #BORNPINK# #ShutDown# #DANCE_PERFORMANCE_VIDEO# #Release_Counter# #YG# https://t.co/otWogsY0MH

In a major intelligence-led operation, Counter Intelligence, Amritsar, has successfully dismantled a terror module backed by #Pakistan’s# ISI, preventing a potential attack in Punjab. Jaiveer Tyagi @ Jawed, a resident of Ludhiana (originally from Saharanpur, UP), was apprehended near Tara Wala Pul, Amritsar. He was acting on the instructions of his cousin Sehlam, an ISI operative based abroad. FIR registered at PS State Special Operations Cell (#SSOC#), Amritsar under the Explosive Substances (Amendment) Act. Investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest other associates involved. Recovery: One hand grenade @PunjabPoliceInd remains resolute in its commitment to dismantle organized crime and ensure peace and harmony across the state.

In an intelligence-led operation, Counter Intelligence Ferozepur busts a cross-border drug cartel by arresting Sukhdev Singh @ Sukhi, a resident of #Ferozepur#, and recovering 3.5 Kg #Heroin#. Preliminary investigation reveals the consignment was sent by #Pakistan-based# drug smugglers. Further investigations are underway to uncover forward and backward linkages. An FIR under the NDPS Act has been registered at PS #SSOC#, Fazilka. @PunjabPoliceInd remains committed to dismantling drug cartels and making Punjab drug-free. #YudhNashianVirudh# #WarAgainstDrugs#

In an intelligence-led operation, Counter Intelligence #Amritsar# strikes a major blow to illegal weapons smuggling in #Punjab# by arresting 3 persons (Abhishek @ Abhi, Gurjant Singh & Gursharan Singh @ Gursharandeep) Recovery: 6 pistols (One Glock Pistol 9mm, two .30 bore Pistols, three .32 bore Desi Pistols) & 9 live rounds of .32 bore. Preliminary investigations reveal that the accused have multiple criminal cases registered against them. An FIR is registered at PS #SSOC#, Amritsar. @PunjabPoliceInd remains committed to eradicating illegal arms trade and ensuring the safety and security of Punjab.

In a major breakthrough against organized crime, Counter Intelligence, Tarn Taran, has dismantled an illegal arms smuggling network linked to Pakistan-based operatives. The operation led to the arrest of Fateh Singh & Gurpreet Singh, both residents of Dhalla, #TarnTaran# The duo, in connivance with #Pakistan-based# smuggler, was receiving weapon consignments via drones and supplying them to associates in #Punjab#, including operatives linked to foreign-based Gangsters Lakhbir Landa & Satta Naushera.  Recovery: Five pistols (2 PX5 .30 bore and 3 Star Marked .30 bore). An FIR has been registered at PS SSOC, #Amritsar#, and efforts are underway to trace forward and backward linkages of this cross-border smuggling network. @PunjabPoliceInd remains relentless in crushing cross-border terror and criminal networks, safeguarding National Security, and maintaining peace and harmony.

I motivated my 9-year-old son to develop an 8-bit binary counter as an ASIC using Wokwi, following certain instructions. Here is the result. @WokwiMakes @tinytapeout @UriShaked @matthewvenn #wokwi# #asic# #dff# #binary# #counter# #revolution# #logicDestroyer# generation change, game changer The future belongs to our KID chip designers.

🇪🇺🇺🇸 Ursula "Russia's Economy Is In Tatters" von der Leyen: Europe is ready to negotiate with the US. We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods. Because we're always ready for a good deal. But we’re also prepared to respond with countermeasures. And protect ourselves against indirect effects through trade diversion.

⚡️Regime forces looted public institutions in Koremash Kebele, Hageremariam-Kessem Woreda (📍North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia) between April 2–4, before a Fano counter-offensive killed 15 ENDF soldiers and injured at least 19 others. #Amhara_War_Updates# https://t.co/ypQrmlZCWh

In a thrilling tribute to @SGWug ring donor @CodyRhodes, Coolman channels the American Nightmare, setting up for the devastating Crossrhodes on Kapeeka! But the tide turns in a heartbeat. Kapeeka counters drilling Coolman with a reversal that shifts the momentum in an instant. https://t.co/9YLafQ58lO

In a major breakthrough against cross-border smuggling and terror networks, Amritsar Rural Police apprehends Jarman Singh with weapons & counterfeit currency. Recovery: One Glock 9mm Pistol, One .30 Calibre Pistol, 3 Magazines & ₹2,15,500 in fake currency Preliminary investigation reveals the consignment was sent by ISI operatives to create unrest in the region. FIR registered at PS Gharinda, Amritsar and Further investigations ongoing for forward & backward linkages @PunjabPoliceInd remains committed to dismantling terror modules and protecting public safety.

桑德斯：“我想说说亚历山大”。人群中有人说：“未来的总统！” 欢呼声响起。但桑德斯已经83岁。如果特朗普下次竞选副总统，民主党可能会推出希拉里和奥巴马来应战。Crowd member: “Future president!” But Sanders is 83. If Trump runs as VP, Democrats might counter with Hillary or Obama. https://t.co/7eGsHFL3l4

🇷🇺 Leaving NATO behind: Russian rocket ‘flamethrowers’ win battles without a single shot Russia has outpaced NATO countries in the development of heavy thermobaric rocket launchers, with no comparable Western machines in sight, according to Bekhan Ozdoev, Industrial Director of Rostec’s weapons cluster. The experience from the Special Military Operation (SMO) has shown that the launchers, which fire 220mm-caliber rockets with fuel-air explosive warheads, can allow troops to take enemy positions without firing a single shot. The new TOS-2 Tosochka offers several key advantages: 🔴Enhanced firing range: Greater striking distance than previous models 🔴Updated fire control system: Precision targeting for guaranteed destruction of enemy positions 🔴Wheeled platform: Allows for rapid positioning and retreat, increasing the machine’s survivability from counter-battery fire Its features highlight Russia's leadership in heavy flamethrower technology, leaving NATO behind As well as the TOS-2, the tracked TOS-1 and TOS-1A Solntsepyok are also used in the SMO zone. The TOS-1 is nicknamed Buratino (Pinocchio) due to the distinctive shape of its warhead, which sticks out of the body like the nose of the fairy-tale character, Rostec explained.

Winners Announced: The Buidl Battle Competition 🟧 Over the past few weeks, @StacksOrg hosted the Buidl Battle—an open competition for Bitcoin builders to ship powerful new tools, protocols, and apps across the Bitcoin ecosystem. With nearly a hundred submissions, two intense judging rounds, and a finale judged by top-tier VCs, Buidl Battle proved that the next wave of Bitcoin apps is already being built. Round 1: Themed Innovation Round 1 of the Buidl Battle was organized around four major themes: DeFi, the Digital Economy, Real World NFTs, and Developer Tooling. Each theme surfaced winners who demonstrated strong technical execution and potential for real impact on Bitcoin and Stacks. DeFi 🏆 BigMarket – A Bitcoin-native, AI-powered prediction market 🥈 BitForward – NFT-backed forward contracts using Bitcoin as collateral Digital Economy 🏆 KultureFun – Token-gated wallet chat and ad channel with DAO governance 🥈 StacksTube – AI-driven memecoin launchpad and entertainment platform Real World NFTs 🏆 Offers & Counter Offers – A seamless marketplace for BNS name trading 🥈 Truth-Chain – Onchain verification for digital content authenticity Tooling / Infrastructure 🏆 Blaze – A scaling protocol for fast off-chain transfers with secure onchain settlement 🥈 PoX Agents – Conversational interface for blockchain operations Partner Challenges To expand the playing field, partners held Challenges, incentivizing builders with more prizes for building innovative solutions with cutting-edge technology on the Internet Computer Protocol, AWS Bedrock platform, and AIBTC’s Agent-governed DAO platform. ICP Challenge 🏆 ckBoost — Reduce confirmation times to 15 minutes while rewarding liquidity providers 🥈 CounterParty ICP — API for retrieving asset information related to the Counterparty AWS Bedrock Challenge 🏆 StacksAI – AI-powered Clarity contract generator leveraging AWS Bedrock. Honorable Mentions Alongside these winners, a number of strong entries earned Honorable Mentions, including AutoStacks, Claride, Stacks Brain, Creator’s Web3 Economy, Bitcoin Loan Bank, TipCloud, Bolt Protocol, Kraxel, and Skullcoin. Wildcard Finalists To keep the competition dynamic and inclusive, four teams were nominated as Wildcard Finalists based on creativity, execution, and promise: TipCloud Bolt Protocol Kraxel Skullcoin After a final vote, Bolt Protocol—which enables users to pay transaction fees with sBTC and supports instant transfers between Bolt Wallets—earned its spot in the finals as the Wildcard Winner. From Builders to Finalists Round 1 was judged by a panel of experienced developers and startup operators who selected the top projects from each theme. These winners advanced to Round 2, where venture capitalists judged the finalists based on the problem their product solves, their vision, and team execution. Round 2: The Final Showdown In Round 2, twelve finalists—eight selected from the four themes, three teams from the partner challenge categories, and one wildcard—competed for the top prize. After pitches, demos, and a lot of deliberation, the judges awarded: 🏅 4th Place: ckBoost (ICP Challenge) 🥉 3rd Place: BitForward (Bitcoin DeFi Theme) 🥈 2nd Place: BigMarket (Bitcoin DeFi Theme) 🥇 1st Place: Blaze Protocol (Infra & Tooling Theme) Blaze Protocol by @lordrozar stood out as the most well-executed and visionary project, offering a new scaling layer for Bitcoin and Stacks apps with responsive, invisible blockchain interactions. The team impressed with both technical execution and long-term potential. What’s Next? The Buidl Battle was more than just a hackathon—it was a showcase of what’s possible when Bitcoin builders are given the right tools, support, and platform to build. These teams now have a launchpad to take their prototypes into production, and the Stacks community will be watching—and supporting—every step of the way. To all the builders: You showed up. You shipped. And you’re building the future of Bitcoin.

Just a reminder the architect of these protests is Norm Eisen and he told us this was the playbook in 2019. In Norm Eisen’s “Democracy Playbook” (specifically The Democracy Playbook: Preventing and Reversing Democratic Backsliding, originally published by the Brookings Institution in 2019 and updated in later versions), civil protest is framed as a legitimate and essential component of democratic resilience, particularly in the face of authoritarian tendencies. Key Themes from the Playbook Regarding Civil Protest: 1. Nonviolent Protest as a Democratic Tool •Eisen emphasizes peaceful mass mobilization as a key mechanism for resisting authoritarian encroachments. •He draws on examples from Eastern Europe, the U.S., and Latin America to show how civil protests can defend democratic norms, especially when institutions are under threat. 2. Strategic Protest to Pressure Institutions •The playbook encourages strategically timed protests to coincide with political decisions (e.g., Supreme Court rulings, elections, executive overreach) in order to pressure courts, legislatures, and public opinion. 3. Coordination with Civil Society & Media •Protests are seen as most effective when coordinated with civil society organizations, legal advocacy groups, and sympathetic media. •The document urges forming alliances with NGOs, academics, and international observers to amplify protest messaging. 4. Framing & Messaging •Eisen stresses that successful protests need a clear moral message, emphasizing “defense of democracy,” “protection of rights,” or “constitutional accountability.” •Framing should avoid violent rhetoric and instead focus on inclusion, lawfulness, and democratic integrity. 5. “Pre-Bunking” and Countering Authoritarian Narratives •The playbook suggests that activists prepare preemptive narratives to counter expected government backlash (e.g., labeling protests as “unpatriotic” or “insurrectionist”). •Encourages “pre-bunking” through media campaigns and grassroots education. Tell me how that’s not the literal playbook for these Tesla protests?

Democrat Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin gave a speech on the floor of the Senate, attacking me for exposing disloyal members of the NSC and NSA who don’t support President Trump’s agenda. This isn’t shocking given the fact that Elissa Slotkin abused her power to target Trump supporters, and she supported the use of the CIA to label Trump supporters who attended J6 as TERRORISTS. Now, she’s crying on the floor of the Senate, calling me an extremist and is defending the NSA and NSC officials who President Trump fired after meeting with me. Why would a woman who has called Trump a tyrant, implied he is a Russia puppet, spread the Russia Collusion hoax, and who supported OPEN BORDERS under Joe Biden, be sad about the firing of Trump admin officials in National Security positions if those people are truly loyal to Trump and his agenda @POTUS? Here’s what you need to know about Elissa Slotkin. .@SenatorSlotkin Elissa Slotkin voted to impeach President Trump. She literally did a photo shoot with Vanity Fair magazine last month (she thinks she’s a model lol) where she posed for glamor shots for a profile piece about how she’s “committed to fighting Trump everyday”, even though she lied to the voters of Michigan and said she would be “bipartisan”. She is a rabid Trump hater, who many people believe cheated her way into a US Senate seat in Michigan. She campaigned for OPEN BORDERS KAMALA HARRIS. As a former CIA analyst, Slotkin justifies her attacks on President Trump via her prior work history at the CIA, which is further evidence those NSA and NSC officials deserved to be fired, because Elissa Slotkin is ideologically aligned with them, and that’s dangerous for our national security. Prior to winning her election to Congress in 2018, Slotkin, who served as the Congressional chair of the Committee on Homeland Security's Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, had a career “tackling” foreign terrorist threats while working for the Central Intelligence Agency, alongside officials at the National Security Council and the Department of Defense. After J6, Slotkin said she would be using her experience and connections from the CIA, NSC and the DOD to combatting what she calls “domestic terror on the home front” : Aka support for Trump and election integrity. Slotkin supports weaponizing the intel agencies against her opponents, and as a rabid Trump hater, she is furious over the firings at NSC and NSA. Why? Because they hate Trump the same way she does, and now they have been fired. After J6, Slotkin said Trump supporters pose a bigger terror threat to the US than the Islamic terrorists who committed 9/11. She literally said Trump supporters who attended J6 made the domestic terror threat a bigger national security threat for our country than any foreign terrorist did after 9/11. Source: https://t.co/TZ82WU8l4J The woman is deranged. This is more evidence I made the right decision to warn President Trump when I met with him at the White House last week. Elissa Slotkin is a traitor to her country and her “service” shouldn’t be respected since she uses her credentials to support the weaponization of our intel agencies against Trump supporters, which is UNAMERICAN. RECEIPTS 👇🏻

Understanding His Faithfulness Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations. Have we ever wondered why Jesus came only approximately 4000 years after Adam? There are estimated to be thirty-four generations from Adam to Abraham and forty-two generations from Abraman to Jesus, totalling seventy-six generations. The figures imply that salvation came after 4000 years and seventy-six generations later. Are these figures just numbers, or is there significance in them? Many might be unaware that GOD not only speaks through His Words but also His actions. Therefore, the Bible consists of more than the law, rules, and practices. It consists of stories and events that reflect the act of GOD in the lives of His people. When GOD says He will be good to His people, the stories will reflect His goodness to His people. Then, the next question we will ask is, how many times? If it is all the time, then there must be sufficient records proving it. Basically, GOD will do what He says and what He says are not empty words. Hence, the Bible records the events as testimonies of GOD's goodness. If GOD says He will show loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments, He will do it. Even if the promise is yet to be fulfilled, then heaven and earth will have to wait for Him to fulfil His promise before the world can come to an end or anything else can happen that will jeopardise His promise. If not, GOD does not live up to His Words, speaking in a figure of speech and exaggeration. It means He cannot be trusted, overpromising and under-delivering. Therefore, GOD let time prove everything, and what He says is true. GOD took 4000 years and seventy-six generations to demonstrate His faithfulness to His Word. Despite all the unfaithfulness from His people through the generations, God remains faithful and even sends Jesus to the cross for His unrepentant people. In any given situation, even if all have given up, GOD will never give up. GOD has to prove Himself faithful even in our unfaithfulness. Paul asserts that if we are faithless, GOD remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. Therefore, time became the acid test of GOD's true nature. He is what He is according to His Words, without addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to them. When GOD says, 'My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish,' there can be no deviation. And if GOD says a thousand generations to those who love Him, it must be a thousand generations and nothing less. Just imagine someone telling us something, giving us a solemn promise, and at the end of it, saying he was joking and did not mean what he said. GOD is not like that; He is not a Joker, and He does not joke with His promises. GOD is faithful in His promises, but not all promises are easy to grant, especially those involving the destruction of our enemies. Because being kind to one is being cruel to the other, we must be patient with GOD because all things must happen according to His will in His time. Our enemies are nothing more than good people being disobedient. Therefore, many things cannot be rushed, and we must understand that if it is not within GOD's perfect timing, we cannot see the promise. It is written in Hebrews that many were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. To say it bluntly, GOD did not save them from their enemies because the timing was not right. The reality of living in the dualistic world is that for good to live is for evil to die, or for light to exist is for darkness to vanish. Therefore, if it is not time for GOD to destroy evil like the way GOD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, then the good will have to suffer. When we pray for GOD to deliver us from evil, and if it is not happening, it is not that GOD is dead, but we need to have patience. As much as GOD wants to deliver us from our sufferings by destroying evil, He first needs to save those still in bondage to evil. In Epistle 2 Peter writes: The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. As long as there is a possibility that someone might change his heart for GOD, GOD is willing to wait. It is similar to taking a plane. As long as we have checked for departure, the plane will wait even though we are late for boarding. Therefore, Jesus said, "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them at the last day. For it is My Father's will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him at the last day." In other words, as long as our names are in GOD's manifest, we will never miss the plane. God is adamant about fulfilling His promises on the one condition that none of His chosen ones perish, but everyone comes to repentance. That is GOD's faithfulness. Only when GOD is assured that all who are good have left the so-called Sodom and Gomorrah will He show no mercy in destroying it. GOD is answerable to those who love Him and keep His commandments to be faithful to their thousand generations. There is a little secret here. If we want to see our children, grandchildren, and many generations after that be well, we must love GOD and keep His commandments faithfully and carefully. Even if we are not good parents and grandparents, GOD will not fail us in taking care of them. In other words, when we are faithful to GOD, He will take care of our fruit. It is when we take care of the roots, and the fruits will take care of themselves. When we have strong roots with GOD, our fruit will naturally be strong. Even when we are long gone, His faithfulness will never leave them. In view of GOD's commitment to the descendants of those who love Him, He must be faithful not only to the living but also to the dead. GOD is in a tight spot, having to find a fair balance between them. Therefore, in the parable of the weeds, GOD did not remove the weeds from the wheat but let them grow together until harvest. There is another way of looking at this parable. GOD is faithful even to the evil ones, as seen in the parable. He will not prematurely remove the weeds until harvest, giving the weeds a chance to be full-grown before they are removed. The epistle of James writes: Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Only when sin is full-grown will it lead to death. Any time shorter than full-grown, GOD will not sentence them to death. That is GOD's mercy and grace. Though a weed cannot change to a wheat, a man can change from one who belongs to evil to good. The penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus changed in his last hours. If GOD had prematurely removed him, he would have missed his salvation. Many times, we will not understand GOD's wisdom, especially those whom the thief stole from. Just imagine the frustration, anguish, and suffering the thief would have caused if he had stolen from the poor, needy and helpless. We must know that a thief has no morals; if not, he would not be stealing. He would not have considered the consequences of his actions to his victims. Despite all the evil he had done, everything could be forgiven through Jesus. To the thief, this is grace, but to his victims, it is injustice and unfairness. That is the fact, whether we like it or not. GOD is not going to ostracise the thief for us. It becomes our obligation to forgive if we love GOD. To forgive is a huge obstacle we must overcome. As Jesus taught us to pray: And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. Instead of hating our enemies, we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, that we may be sons of our Father in heaven. If we do not forgive, GOD is not going to forgive us. Therefore, when we meet with our oppressors, we must be magnanimous and forgive. No matter how unwilling we feel, this unwillingness will turn to willingness if we understand how much Jesus suffered for us. If we are reluctant because we cannot see the pain of Jesus on the cross, then we will lose more than what we have lost: our eternity. Never be penny wise, pound foolish. Therefore, when we pray, please refrain from praying for the death of our enemies or curse them to hell. That is not biblical. All we can do is to ask GOD to deliver us from our enemies. Anything more than that is evil. We must understand that GOD hates the sin but loves the sinners. Therefore, when sinners oppress us, we must learn to forebear and not sin against GOD by complaining. We must remember the condition of GOD's forgiveness is that we forgive those who sin against us. As in the story of the prodigal son, GOD shows His faithfulness by His willingness to wait and keep on waiting for His sons to come back. However, it is on His terms and not on their terms. That wait can be as many years as it needs, as nothing can stop GOD from being faithful. In our lifetime, we can only see a fraction of GOD's divine plan, not the whole plan. Therefore, we must have faith in GOD as Abraham did when GOD promised to make him a great nation and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham never once saw any of those happen. GOD is faithful; even when Abraham was long gone, GOD ensured that He fulfilled what He promised. What can we understand through this? We count our time by years within a lifetime, while GOD counts His by generations by thousands of years. What is considered a long time to us is not long to Him. Though long, GOD's plan is not infinite but finite, with a definite beginning and an ending. Within His allocated time, He will demonstrate who He is through the lives of His people. If GOD does not prove Himself, what He says might be empty words. However, when GOD reveals Himself, it is not as simple as writing a book. His Words must become life, force or energy to His people, leading the way and revealing the truth. When we want to know GOD, we must read His actions. As action speaks louder than words, we must countercheck His Word with His action to know His true intent. His actions are a way GOD uses to define His Word so that there is no misinterpretation. If GOD says He loves us, then how much does He love us? For that, He has to show us through His action. If GOD does not demonstrate it, then what is the value of His Word? When GOD says He loves us, it means He is willing to die for us. That is when we see GOD as Christ on the cross. That far exceeds any love declaration from any man to his lover. Without His actions, we cannot understand the magnitude of His love. Therefore, be highly suspicious of salesmen promoting GOD, like selling snake oil, with their stories and testimonies from their unverified scriptwriters, which are fictitious. Do not be swept away like Eve did by the words of the Serpent. Be also suspicious of false prophets who weave lies with the truth. Only the Bible is the officially accepted Word of GOD. Therefore, please do not believe in any unofficial sources that will convince us with a bit of truth and lead us to lies. GOD has used 4000 years to write about Himself in His stories, and they should be enough to lead us through the most one hundred and twenty years of our lives. Prayer: Thank you, God, for your faithfulness to me through time and generations. Your faithfulness knows no boundary or obstacle. Even when I am unfaithful and evil, you remain faithful. Your love for me will never change. As you will never give up on me, let me not give up on myself. Continue to be that hand that lifts me when I fall and to guard me from my foolishness as I find my way home to you. Amen.

Lessons To My Future Bull Market Self: This is partly to keep me accountable during bull market euphoria and also serves as a guide for those coming into the markets for their first cycle. I’d be extremely impressed if you managed to “make it” the first time and even more impressed if you managed to keep it. The former isn’t even the hard part. It is very much the latter. A blind Bored Ape Yacht Club member could make money in a roaring bull market. This is why many enter the markets for the first time and throw money at something they saw on Twitter, hear from a colleague or (the best one) get shilled by their Uber driver and convince themselves they have cracked the markets. Stuff goes up because more money flows into the system. The opposite is also true. Hence the past 2 years of pain. Your mission, if you choose to accept it… is to bet on the fastest and fittest horses in the race. This way you don’t miss an opportunity of a lifetime sat holding some worthless piece of shit whilst the rest of the people around you are making serious dough. There are plenty of ways to get to that arbitrary number that you think will help you achieve eternal happiness. Whether it will or not is a different matter. The following are some of the most important points that I have sat and stewed over which I think were at times the parts I personally went wrong in the last cycle, primarily. 2017 was just a blur. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing if I am honest. If you check the residuals in my Coinbase account it would be very embarrassing indeed. The last cycle was infinitely better from a performance perspective. That being said, in hindsight, there were still so many stupid and silly mistakes that either stunted my portfolio growth or cost me a small fortune in losses. Let’s get to it. Disclaimer: If you are not mature enough to read this and take responsibility for your own actions in the markets please just stop reading. There are probs a few things I have missed that I will add on as time goes by and I get a brain zap and remember. This is not financial advice, I am extremely stupid. You will lose all your money listening to me Stay Curious and Try Shit - Funnily enough, I think this applies more to people who may be on their second or third cycle. Naturally, when you come into the markets for the first time, all you want to do is digest information and buy shit. The further down the rabbit hole you go the more likely you are to find something early. The reinforcement of making great returns from being early encourages you to continue your exploration of the crypto/on-chain world. Always maintain this edge of being one of the first to try shit out. You never know when you will stumble upon something great. As a bull cycle goes on the edge in the markets tends to erode due to increased competition both on a capital and skill front. People will outwork and outsmart you and there’s always someone with more capital around the corner. Edge can be reestablished by trying shit early and deciding for yourself whether it has something about it. There were many different times last cycle that you could have picked up assets before the masses just by trying the protocol and seeing for yourself. Never leave it down to someone else to tell you. They can’t and won’t do it for you. It has happened recently with Solana. The masses tell you one thing when in reality it is the other. This results in the majority of the market being offside on something that clearly has a lot going for it. Stay curious and try shit. Don’t Chase Yield - If you are new to this market, DO NOT try and chase yield. You do not need to earn 20% on a position less than $200,000 (minimum). There are going to be plenty of times when you are drawn in by a very tasty yield on stable assets. There are also going to be plenty of times when you are drawn in by ridiculous APRs. You’re probably going to provide liquidity on a DEX and get rekt there too. The long and short of it is this. You do not need to concern yourself with earning yield when you don’t have a worthwhile portfolio size. Why earn 20% on stable(ish) assets when you could have liquid capital and earn much more than that, oftentimes in one day (if you choose correctly)? The additional complexity, counterparty risk and smart contract risk are categorically not worth it at this stage. If you play the farm and dump game with new ponzis that come online, please do not even entertain for one second that you should purchase the token that everyone is farming. There are bigger fish with more capital and experience that know how to play these games to a tee. You will be bait. I’d even go as far as saying if this is your first or second time around just buy tokens and don’t do anything else with them (other than sell of course). Maybe there are a few exceptions: Holding an LST like stETH, rETH, swETH or pxETH over ETH if you have a long-term view (again, not really for everyone). Staking a token to match inflation i.e. SOL (in this case use the most lindy SOL LST stSOL or mSOL). If TIME makes a comeback and we go full ponzi season and run it back turbo Don’t chase yield, it doesn’t make sense until you make it. Let Others Drink the Kool-Aid - I was definitely caught sipping from the communal ponzi Kool-Aid fountain a few times last cycle. It’s quite funny because you know deep down that there is something cult-like about certain founders, communities and tokens but at the time everyone is printing money so nobody cares. It always ends up in tears, literally every time. That being said, when you see a ponzi cult that has a founder that people would jump off a bridge for, just buy it. These folks never tend to realise they’ve been dumped or that they in fact were in a cult until it’s too late. The beauty of this (for you; an awakened market participant) is that people tend to wrap their whole online personality up in, said cult and when you are selling they are writing 40 Tweet threads about why the recent fud is unjustified. Let them be the exit liquidity they desire to be. TLDR; Scams pump the hardest, Let others drink the Kool-Aid. Position Sizing - I was too small on the way up and too large on the way down at times. This ain’t good. Larger more concentrated bets on less volatile yet sure-fire wins whilst rotating proportions into higher-beta assets to make more of the underlying position is my typical play. Be wary of liquidity, particularly for on-chain assets. You may get away with poorly timed entries in a bull market but if liquidity thins out you get screwed entering a position and also screwed exiting a position. If they have a buy-and-sell tax which is more popular now, then you get screwed again. I don’t really have much more to say on this one other than pick your poison (which I already have) and don’t fuck up the remainder of your portfolio oversizing into lower conviction plays, undoing the great entry on the large position. If you can’t outperform BTC, ETH and maybe even SOL this cycle. Just buy those and forget about it until McDonald’s puts the minimum wage up to $50 an hour because all their workers got paper rich and left, again. I can’t reiterate the above enough, if you aren’t serious about this and you don’t have the time don’t bother. Just keep it simple. Shitcoins are Generally Good - First, we should define a shitcoin. In my opinion, anything that is purely created for speculation. The irony is that 99.99% of the market are shitcoins but some projects are more honest about it than others. You are gonna lose a fuck tonne of money playing the shitcoin markets. You also stand the chance of making large amounts of capital very quickly, which if you are smart, you can then play the games mentioned above. I can’t stress the fact that you can go completely flat-ass broke trading shitcoins not knowing what you are doing. These trenches are well-trodden by professionals who have more capital, more experience and more information than you. They haven’t stopped all bear market, they are fucking born ready for the next PEPE or SHIB. What is your edge? The chances of you buying a shitcoin out of pure luck that goes on to make you serious money is slim to fuck-all. There are thousands of complete rugs launched Every. Single. Day. Learn the trade if you must, sniff out the good accounts to follow and get ready to have sleepless nights and to start spamming the group family message with /wen_marketing, because this shit will take over your life. If this isn’t for you stick to the point above BTC, ETH and SOL. If you are a born fucking nugget degenerate then see “Position Sizing”. If you don’t get it, buy it - I am becoming a lot better at this next point but still struggle. A lot of the time because I struggle to think like an absolute fucking moron. But, you must be the idiot. Eat, sleep and think like an idiot, if you are to catch the almighty pump led by redacted coins. I know I would have missed the Stepn seed round. Move to earn, like what?! GTFO. I knew better, I was investing in the future of financial technologies. All the while it went 1000x and I had 0 position. Come to think of it move to earn was such an easy sell for the rest of the world outside of the echo chamber of CT. I just didn’t get it at the time and I paid the price. Never again. If you have a visceral reaction to something good or bad, investigate it more, there is probably something there. After all we are emotional beings and charts are just human emotions expressed in candle sticks… I think RT taught me that one. Write, write, write - This is simple. Writing is the fastest way to growthhack your understanding of anything. You have to check your own understanding of things before you publish them or you look like a tit. Just write and do it even if you aren’t going to publish, it helps clear your mind and structure your thoughts. Stay Healthy - I got fat as fuck during the bull market. More money, more time spent sitting at the desk. DO NOT DO IT. You need to train as you would for anything. Staying fit and healthy is a way to perform better. You Can’t Own Everything - There will be unlimited shiny objects during a bull market. You can own them all but you will not perform well. Do your research, get the best entry you can get and let the thesis play out. If you are wrong, you will know a lot sooner in a bull market. Over-diversification is terrible if you are looking to grow the portfolio quickly and well. You can’t physically manage all those positions as much as you would like to think so. There is also no way you know all the bull and bear cases for each token you hold too. If you do, then come work for us at blocmates because that is impressive. The crypto markets are so reflexive that it makes no sense to be over-allocated across too many assets. Winners can often move alone but the full market pulls back together. Get conviction and stop being a little bitch. Break your bags - This stems from the point above. You best know the bear argument for your position because if it begins to come true then you need to exit and move on. If there is no bear argument for your position then congrats you have joined a cult. Supply Dynamics are Everything - Tokenization is such a difficult dynamic to wrap your head around if you are just starting out. But, know this... You best be aware of large token unlocks, who is getting unlocked, the inflation schedule for the tokens you hold and what the supply of your token will be 12 months from now. If you do not know this, then you should not own a token. If you think you can simply beat the market because some 1920’s data said that HODL outperforms, then you are my exit liquidity, thank you. Token supply increases in crypto are absolutely brutal. Large unlocks and cliffs can increase a token supply by 2x overnight. Many tokens from the last cycle will not reach their previous ATH because of the drastic increase in supply. They might hit their market cap ATH but the price could still be lightyears away. Choose wisely. The flip side of this is that a lot of OG tokens from the early DeFi summer days are nearing complete unlocks so no additional supply is left to come onto the market. This is as close to fair pricing as you are going to get. I am not revealing what these are you will have to subscribe to The Meal Deal once it goes live. “Just One More 2x” - If you are in the fortunate position where you say to yourself “Just one more 2x” or if you begin to look at your dream home, just sell everything right that moment. A portfolio ATH is always a good time to take some of the more fruity positions off. If you are thinking it, others are too, you are not special and you are not a market outlier. Do yourself a favour, and secure the bag. Don’t Paperhand Bear Market Entries - If you have just been through the past two years and hated every minute of it but you stuck to the plan and bought as much of a specific asset as possible, the worst thing you can do is sell it early trying to chase other people’s winners. Put it in cold storage out of the way so you aren’t tempted to even “take a bit off and buy back lower”. If you are talented then yeah go for it, most aren’t. Other tips not worth writing a lot about: - Use a DEX and birdge aggregator to make sure you are getting the best price - Always use a Ledger - Check DeFi llama directory to find the correct URL of a site. If that faults go to their Twitter and verify. - Get authenticator 2FA. Get off of your phone number for security backup. - Find your crew, you can’t be everywhere. - Make your own decisions If you enjoyed this then please consider subscribing to The blocmates Newsletter which covers a lot of our thoughts on the market, every Friday! Link - https://t.co/B3KNx1TkNz We also talk to a lot of projects, founders, builders, traders and investors about this kind of thing on our podcast which is also linked below 📺 - https://t.co/QOqnROq9d9