not a repeating reader on this topic here, but I am more interested in the character in the dark glasses than the Economist Magazine-style snippets on current measures of market participation and mining. How is it that this dark-glasses guy chooses a portrait like "here I am in the furthest reaches of wilderness with a private (modest) aircraft and good quality outdoor clothes" ? who is this Anglo-guy who travels over continents and knows the price of things that originate in such secretive ways ? It is either remarkably impressive, or just over-the-top self-absorbed, or both.. which seems reflective of the "me against the world" individualists who are attracted to high-value, high-risk, scarce things that can be traded anywhere there are finance people, on Earth. Like a top-tier hunting bird, literally.. not all animals are like that. Not all communities can sustain these people. It takes multiple economies to get one "dshr" ?

It is pretty easy to disregard or actually hate on owners of mega-yachts. (have you actually seen one of those ships?) It is less obvious how to react to the Eagle guy in glasses. Its like comic-level almost, the personae presented. Anyway, thats my reaction..

I am somewhat surprised by how poorly the production cost tracks bitcoin's price on the upswing. Obviously there's friction and delay in spinning up new mining rigs, but I guess I would've expected that delay to be less severe - even if you were spinning up less efficient chips, it'd still be profitable if the hash rate and price were far apart.

Maybe this was exacerbated by the covid chip shortage, and we might expect closer tracking in the future?