--- title: "Swan Signal Monthly: March 2021 Newsletter" description: "Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $62,000 this past month, pulled back to $48,000 and is now right back up to $52,000. Historically, in bull markets, this means Bitcoin is about ready to start another leg up." url: https://www.swanbitcoin.com/industry/swan-signal-monthly-march-2021-newsletter/ --- # Swan Signal Monthly: March 2021 Newsletter Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $62,000 this past month, pulled back to $48,000 and is now right back up to $52,000. Historically, in bull markets, this means Bitcoin is about ready to start another leg up. --- March 21, 2021 · Updated June 6, 2024 Welcome to the 10th edition of the Swan Signal monthly newsletter. Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $62,000 this past month, pulled back to $48,000, and is now back up to $59,000. Histor­i­cally, in bull markets, this means Bitcoin is about ready to start another leg up. In the meantime, we hope you find our monthly Bitcoin newsletter valuable!  In this month’s letter: 1. *Liftoff: a short essay on an impor­tant topic* 2. *A curated list of recent Bitcoin content from Swan and around the web* 3. *Behind-the-scenes updates from the Swan team*  ## Liftoff: 5 Misconceptions About Bitcoin’s Energy Use You’ve probably seen headlines such as ***“Bitcoin boils the oceans”*** or compar­isons like ***“Bitcoin uses as much energy as Greece.”***  Time to explore the top 5 miscon­cep­tions about Bitcoin’s energy use… **Claim One:** Bitcoin doesn’t do anything useful; therefore its energy use is not worth it.  Most people critiquing Bitcoin for energy consump­tion assume Bitcoin doesn’t provide any value.  For example, clothes dryers consume way more energy than Bitcoin, but no one complains because we agree they add value.  There is a reason a decen­tral­ized protocol with no marketing budget went from zero to a $1T market cap in 12 years. The roughly 100M Bitcoin users value it. Now the critics might say, ***“Well, the only use case for Bitcoin is specu­la­tion, which is bad.”*** In a recent Video, Alex Gladstein explains how [Bitcoin is protecting human rights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYYh4aPXAM), and Yan Pritzker lists a wide range of *“*[*non-specu­la­tive uses for Bitcoin*](https://twitter.com/skwp/status/1335627973915971592)*.”*  **Claim Two:** Each Bitcoin transaction is responsible for [insert large number] CO2 emissions. This argument simply divides the total energy consump­tion of Bitcoin by the 300,000 trans­ac­tions per day settled by the network. This approach results in a very high ***“energy cost per trans­ac­tion.”***  Let’s break this down… Bitcoin has a high fixed energy cost to maintain security, each marginal trans­ac­tion is very efficient. This is similar to building software which requires large upfront capital invest­ment (high fixed cost). However, once the software is finished, you can push it out to nearly infinite users at a low cost.  The economic density per trans­ac­tion is increasing. Said another way, a Bitcoin *“trans­ac­tion”* is not the same as one *“payment.”* For example, a single Bitcoin trans­ac­tion could support one million end-user payments over layer 2 networks like Lightning. Both [Nic Carter](https://www.coindesk.com/frustrating-maddening-all-consuming-bitcoin-energy-debate) and [Lyn Alden](https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact/status/1374774380748750849) explain this in detail. **Claim Three**: Bitcoin’s Proof of Work is *“inefficient” .* Bitcoin’s Proof of Work function appears ineffi­cient at first glance.  However, there are no alter­na­tives if we want a secure, decen­tral­ized, sound monetary system.  Critics will also attack Bitcoin’s energy consump­tion without comparing the relative energy costs of other known finan­cial systems such as our current fiat monetary system, the petrodollar.  The short answer is a monetary system built on Bitcoin consumes orders of magni­tude fewer resources than our existing finan­cial system. Dan Held explores this in *“*[*PoW is Efficient*](https://danhedl.medium.com/pow-is-efficient-aa3d442754d3)*.”* **Claim Four:** Bitcoin hogs local power resources, driving prices up. This is simply not true. Bitcoin miners are only profitable when they find the lowest-cost energy on the planet. [The cheapest energy is *“nonrival energy,”*](https://medium.com/@nic__carter/noahbjectivity-on-bitcoin-mining-2052226310cb) meaning it doesn’t compete with consumers.  Instead, most Bitcoin miners consumed stranded, curtailed, or other­wise wasted energy. For example, China overbuilt hydro­elec­tric power sources. During the rainy season, they produce way more energy than can be consumed, so instead of wasting it, they happily sell it to Bitcoin miners.  Inter­est­ingly, Bitcoin can run exclu­sively on *“nonrival energy”* since Bitcoin consumes less energy than the total nonrival energy produced today.  **Claim Five:** Bitcoin consumes dirty energy. Critics who make this claim fail to examine the energy mix that Bitcoin consumes. Let’s look at the data.  According to the Inter­na­tional Energy Agency (IEW), [nearly 28% of global energy produc­tion came from renewals in 2020](https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2020/renewables).  On the other hand, Coinshares estimates that [73% of Bitcoin’s energy consump­tion comes from renew­able sources](https://coinshares.com/research/bitcoin-mining-network-december-2019). By compar­ison, Bitcoin is leading the charge in renew­ables. In summary, Bitcoin is not boiling the oceans; it’s very good for the world.  ![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/56652/1690025854-bitcoin-earth-hands.png?auto=format) We’ve pulled together some great Bitcoin content for you… ## Bitcoin Content Showcase [**Archi­tecting the internet with Bitcoin’s Sphinx Chat**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/239-sphinx-chat-encrypted-chat-over-ln-banking-unbanked/id1292381204?i=1000513470484) **on Tales From the Crypt Podcast**  Walk away with an under­standing of the big vision for Bitcoin’s Light­ning Network. In short, the future is already here. Content moneti­za­tion without ads, encrypted chat over Light­ning, Banking the unbanked, and much more.  [**Aker Share­holder Letter announcing new Bitcoin venture (Seetee**](https://www.seetee.io/static/shareholder_letter-6ae7e85717c28831bf1c0eca1d632722.pdf))  The second richest man in Norway launched a new Bitcoin subsidiary. Notably, they praise Bitcoin mining as an impor­tant industry that’s net positive for the world.  [**Bitcoin’s Layer 2 Solutions with Ryan Gentry on The Investors Podcast**](https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/btc019-bitcoins-layer-2-lightning-network-w-ryan-gentry/)  Learn how Bitcoin is extending its capabil­i­ties with layer 2 solutions such as Light­ning Network. This one might blow your mind. The future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed.  **Bitcoin Tidbit: What is a hashrate?** ***“Hashrate”*** *refers to the total combined compu­ta­tional power that is being used to mine and process trans­ac­tions on the Bitcoin network.* *The more* ***‘hashrate’*** *a miner has the higher the chance they will* ***“mine a block”*** *which rewards them with freshly minted BTC. Currently the* ***“block subsidy” is 6.25 BTC per block.*** ### Highlights from Swan’s Content Swan is dedicated to producing great content to educate and raise aware­ness about Bitcoin. Our blog, [Swan Signal](https://www.swanbitcoin.com/signal/), features thoughts and opinions on Bitcoin from the Swan team and industry experts.  Our weekly live broad­cast, [Swan Signal Live](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl4takhOQtiyprismCPsa2Q), pairs notable guests for compelling discus­sions about Bitcoin and economics. The live broad­cast is then published as audio on the [Swan Signal Podcast](https://swansignal.simplecast.com/) feed. Subscribe to receive new episodes.  [**Bitcoin: Fee-Based Security Modeling**](https://www.swanbitcoin.com/bitcoin-fee-based-security-modeling-lyn-alden/) **by Lyn Alden**  Lyn explores Bitcoin’s security model and how it will evolve as we transi­tion from a ***“subsidy-based security model” to a “fee-based security model.”*** [**Swan Signal Live 53: Gigi and John Vallis**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-jaIlpw5Ks)  Philo­soph­ical discus­sion of Bitcoin’s relation­ship with time, the bridge between the physical and the digital, and orange pilling the smartest people on the planet. [**Swan Signal Live 54: Vijay Boyapati and Lyn Alden**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcGFctqEBq8)   Bitcoin market cycles, macroeconomic outlook, NFTs, and game theory. The first time this incred­ible duo has recorded a conver­sa­tion together. ## Behind the Scenes at Swan - Swan just celebrated its first birthday! We’ve grown to tens of thousands of members, thousands of bitcoins trans­ferred to long-term hodlers, and we are eternally grateful to Bitcoin and all our members. - We are accepting inter­na­tional clients at swanbitcoin.com/international for instant buys with wire transfers.  - [Swan Private](https://www.swanbitcoin.com/private/): Our concierge service that guides corpo­ra­tions and high net worth individ­uals toward building gener­a­tional wealth with Bitcoin is live. Our clients are onboarded in days instead of weeks/months, which is common at Coinbase/Gemini.  - Swan in the media: Brady was inter­viewed on [Keiser Report](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd3r8xN2QJY), Gigi was inter­viewed on [What Bitcoin Did](https://www.whatbitcoindid.com/podcast/bitcoin-philosophy-with-gigi) - Clubhouse: The Swan team has been hosting Bitcoin rooms on [Clubhouse](https://trk.swanbitcoin.com/ls/click?upn=QKKgTWB5agWu-2B4U54y4w1Jmg7LDSv0aW1oyxPNOceazioJpyahjq23XOpxcLDABZkVg4WXkF-2BqnvGMUgaGUq0NrMosi15sFU9tLTJh70CsjWdW64gOkd39QHLGZ7LWngYSonUWxXke8rC1S9BWXGcKqCimqBI4xpJQl2bsNArpY-3Dp15A_hFDJzuIapHE6MvPLNgJhayEA-2BMV-2BLfevyCGpUe9-2FsiRg05ojkfwVN32SNdr9B3DG-2FRNspInb6FdVbZ4IdFJZ9yg3iA6FYtP7xa-2FU8Ct-2FX1JUzmzt0N2J63j0pvQjCZwb84f4pvWhnmY5YDBcBD1Wp3q9yfs1V2tmEK1gos5LSNuS-2BNLrbalzNllXj7oITRhxWiEs59RU-2BhjI15loehiZd4TRixRi-2BRP6FpL4kCPfRfKomSkEZI4yWnVaefEB3l14qaVS6pqaoPtzMAIHst1uZ0rIkCuqeBww5V7FkvDom7qdNv4joE5-2FfdbPd7tBOngk8UFdI5tdd692Nh5GfXkIqf2G1V-2Bb4fKe8o-2BjVFpBq2Qctvf6VnrcPQzZmNTKRtN913EoduEe9A0P2Zh3-2FGVxR1urJLS5DZSr-2BW1xSHRyNaA-3D); join our club Café Bitcoin to be notified of future events.  - Facebook: we run a Facebook group called Café Bitcoin to help educate people about Bitcoin. [Join the group and invite your friends](https://www.facebook.com/groups/cafebitcoin21)! - Swan Force has grown to over 5,000 members! Join Swan Force to [get paid to recruit Bitcoiners](https://www.swanbitcoin.com/enlist/). When you recruit someone to Swan, you’ll earn 25% of all Swan fees for 3 years.  ### Thank You! While central banks worldwide are forced to debase their curren­cies, people realize that they need a new strategy to protect their wealth.  The smartest people on the planet are flocking to Bitcoin. And it’s not just individ­uals. We’re seeing insti­tu­tional investors like Paul Tudor Jones, PayPal enabling people to spend Bitcoin at their 29m merchants, Fidelity applying for a Bitcoin ETF, and corpo­ra­tions like Tesla buying $1.5B Bitcoin and accepting Bitcoin as payment.  Bitcoin is up 800% in the last year alone, with no signs of stopping. Of course, there will be more volatility ahead, but the long-term trend is clear. Bitcoin is here to stay.  **As always, Swan is here to ensure investing in Bitcoin is easy, fast, and safe.** [**Click here to get started**](https://www.swanbitcoin.com/) **today.** Thanks, The Swan Team P.S. As part of our commit­ment to educa­tion, we’re offering you and your friends a [free copy of Inventing Bitcoin](http://swanbitcoin.com/freebook/) by Yan Pritzker. Share this link around!