Happy Thursday!

It’s Thirsty Thursday! And we wish we had some themed, seasonal cocktail 🎃 🍹recipes to share with you. I mean, we have some ideas...

Okay, so it’s called “Witch’s Brew” and it’s got creme de menthe, hard apple-cider, and um, like, a plastic spider garnish. 🕷 No good?

Ok clearly, this isn’t where you come for drinks. It’s where you come to hear what’s going on in the world of crypto.

Anyway, I’m sure your throat is parched so pour yourself a strong cup of coffee and put a plastic spider in it, cause we’ve got some news.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Elon Musk’s Twitter deal to close tomorrow! 🚨

Ladies and gentlemen, after a multi-season long will-they-won’t-they, Elon Musk’s long awaited Twitter deal is expected to close by end of day tomorrow.

There had been speculation that the deal would be halted by a National Security review but that claim was refuted by the White House yesterday. With the deal all but done, Elon posted a video to Twitter captioned “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”

In the video, he’s seen carrying a sink into Twitter HQ. Actually.

This level of unsubtle prop comedy leaves many wondering what spectacle may come next. With Elon’s threat to can 75% of Twitter’s workforce, soup kitchens nationwide are locking their doors. Though experts believe there may be other places to get cans.

☕️ Bitcoin rallies, but is Crypto Winter over? ❄️

Bitcoin and Ethereum found themselves reaching 30-day highs this week.

So the same question is on everyone’s mind: Has the crypto groundhog seen his shadow or is this crypto winter thawing early?

Experts have expressed some disagreement here but the widespread belief still remains that crypto winter is far from over. Some have predicted new all-time highs in 2023 but others believe the next bull run may not be until 2024.

Until then, we’ll weather the current crypto winter by holding our positions, carving a hole in the ice to hopelessly drop fishing lines into, and finally learning what snowshoeing is all about.

☕️ Nokia predicts the end of the mobile phone! 📱🚫

Nokia, yes the ones with the famously indestructible phones, believe the end of the mobile phone may be on the horizon.

So what could replace the device with which you do literally everything - including read this newsletter? Nokia believes the metaverse will begin to take over the mobile experience in the latter half of this decade.

Whether or not that’s true, one thing does seem certain: long after humanity has died out, cockroaches will live in cities made of Nalgene water bottles and Nokia brick phones.

Spilling the Beans

It’s time to talk about El Salvador…

Bitcoin has no shortage of diehard fans, but even among the diehards, no one is as hardcore as El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.

Beginning in September of 2021, El Salvador began a multi-faceted approach to Bitcoin. It’s approach included the following:

• Bitcoin was adopted as legal currency in El Salvador

• El Salvador would purchase Bitcoin as a speculative asset

• El Salvador launched a virtual wallet with no transaction fees

• Bitcoin sales in El Salvador are no longer subject to capital gains tax

So over a year later, has this approach been successful? It’s a mixed bag, we’ll start with the bad:

• As a legal tender, Bitcoin was adopted to be an anti-inflationary tool for El Salvador, in the last year it has been anything but, so we’ll count this as a miss. ❌

• As a speculative asset, Bitcoin has dropped by over 50% since El Salvador began purchasing and storing it, so probably a miss on that one too. ❌

But on the other points, there is some success to be pointed out:

• After creating a virtual wallet, the country has seen over 60% of citizens adopt the tool. As of this writing, more Salvadorans use the virtual wallet than a traditional bank account. ✅

• Tourism is up over 30% since Bitcoin adoption, largely from the US. ✅

On the capital gains tax front, it’s hard to demonstrate much success at all. Most Salvadorans don't trade Bitcoin to the extent where this tax break matters.

Ultimately, there’s a pretty solid argument to be made that this Bitcoin policy has had almost no effect on the economy at all. But it has been quite the PR stunt.

President Bukele, who has a background in PR, suddenly has Bitcoin lovers everywhere rooting for his success, and that’s maybe not a great thing!

Bitcoin is an incredible tool of financial freedom, and on that note, President Bukele likely has little interest in freedom.

President Bukele who describes himself as, “the world’s coolest dictator” may be a deeply popular leader in his home country. But on the world stage, he’s very much an anti-hero, and not the cool, complicated kind.

All this to say, El Salvador is not the ideal case study for Bitcoin adoption, despite the love crypto fans have shown it.

Meme of the Day

The Nokiapocalypse is prophesized.

The Last Sip

Listen, we’re not just gonna start talking about fake Halloween cocktails just to leave you without a single real one, we’re not that kind of newsletter.

It’s easy to get carried away with a complicated drink this time of year, but we’d recommend you stay on the simple side with a spiked apple cider. It puts you in a fall mood while still getting the requisite halloween vibes you need for a sufficiently spooky time.

For a single serving all you need is:

• 4 oz apple cider

• 1 1/2 oz spiced rum

• 1 1/2 oz pomegranate juice

• 3/4 oz grenadine

Throw that in a shaker with ice and you’ve got yourself a poisoned apple cider. Check out the full recipe here. Oh, and don’t forget the plastic spider as a garnish.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.