039. F.N.H.H. BitClout Miami forever on the blockchain.
Bits on the menu tonight:
BuzzClout: Exclusive look at today’s movers and shakers presented by @bitcloutsignal
24 Hours in Miami: @nvo extended cut 🌴☀️🍾
Ubiquitous UX Drops: Deflation day draws nigh 💣
Feel Good Friday: @CharityClout delivers 🍽️
Friday Night Happy Hour: @Mixtape on the tape deck 🎶
Diamondhands’ drops 💎
#1 BuzzClout
First things first. In partnership with @bitcloutsignal, here’s an exclusive look at today’s movers and shakers:
#2 24 Hours in Miami: @nvo extended cut 🌴☀️🍾
As our car snaked its way through the back alleys of Little Haiti and Little River in Miami, our Uber driver turned to me and whispered to me earnestly:
“I have to ask, sir, do you know where you’re going?”
A few thoughts flashed through my mind. Did @dripcult navigate us to the wrong address? Did we just seem like a gaggle of obnoxious tourists who had no idea what they were doing? Were 60 days of Bitclout and weeks of excitement for our first in-person meet-up in Miami going to give way to the realization that yes, we had in fact all been scammed after all?
As it turns out, Naomi’s Garden Restaurant & Lounge isn’t in the most … posh part of Miami, per se. As we exited the car, our Uber driver made one last pleading attempt at eye contact with @nicolek (new @BitsTODAY hype woman and almost @dripcult wife, they get married next week 💍 ) as if to say:
“Blink thrice if you’ve been abducted by these clowns.”
But hey, what has the Bitclout experience been if not a challenge to our comfort zones, a step far outside the familiar? We took that step out of the air-conditioned car and into our first Bitclout meet-up, namely @cloutcon, hosted by @Bitclout500 & @Cloutted, who did a FANTASTIC job organizing.
As expected, there was nothing to fear, beyond a bit of sewage back-up in one of the bathrooms. The event was amazing, an absolute whirlwind of meeting phenomenal creators and putting faces to all the investors, DMs, back-channel discords, and perhaps even a rug-puller or two from the past months. Maybe even some amends were made? ;)
A few personal highlights from the event? @ChetBLong’s dedication to the livestream comes to mind. As does watching @AylaCroft, a phenomenal photographer with experience working for the likes of Maxim, snap amazing shots of Bitclout creators in the wild. @SirRhett also sounds exactly as @HYPED in person as he does on calls, which is … hype. And all the while, the @Clout_Cast team was fixing their website live in the middle of the event. 👨💻 Honorable mention goes out to @artz’s 🦍🦍🦍 themed-shirt.
Perhaps best of all, there was little evidence of ego on display — no VIP section with a velvet rope, nor any creators too big to shun conversations. The 🍺s were flowing, and we had the pleasure of enjoying a rousing speech by some absolute Bitclout #goats, who reminded us all that yes, we’re in the right room, we’re on the right path, and we’re very, very early.
After @cloutcon, creators dispersed to various dinners (shoutout @artz for tackling the formidable tomahawk 🥩🥩), investor meetings, and of course, fiestas. @MarioNawfal gets a shout-out for graciously hosting many creators at Pilos Tequila Garden where we understand things got pretty loose. @BitsTODAY made it out there but fell victim to the siren-song of some of the best tacos in town 🌮(and a sleepy @ASG who wanted to get his beauty rest.)
@nvo may have had to fly home already, but we trust you’ll keep boots on the ground and drinks in-hand for us. We have no doubt the rest of the weekend will feature some goooood general absurdity. Looks like @ClayPerryMusic is leading the charge in that department with a little help from @wendyleigh from across the globe:
To answer our Uber driver’s original question, no, maybe we don’t know exactly where we’re going with Bitclout. But we’re having way too much fun to get out of the proverbial car (or rocketship) now. And while we’ll indubitably hit some snags, we’re confident that the community we’re building will power us through. LFG 🚀😎🌙
#3 Ubiquitous UX Drops: Deflation day draws nigh 💣
In case you’ve somehow missed the big ominous clock ticking down in the banner all over your Bitclout.com feed… well, then here’s an update:
The rest of @diamondhands thread explains what those of us who have been covering UX drops have known for a week plus, namely that the existing windows to purchase Bitclout, originally via Bitcoin and recently via Wyre and fiat, will be ‘blown up’ soon.
What’s the significance of this? With the amount of Bitclout being fixed around 11M, if demand for the currency remains high, this supply constraint could send the price through the roof. The only way for new $CLOUT to enter the money supply post deflation bomb will be mining, and the amount of new $CLOUT available to be mined will be ~500k, if not lower (see more here).
Yes, the price of $CLOUT going up would be pretty sweet for many of us. But let’s consider, what are the downsides of the deflation bomb going off? For one, there’s a lot of valid concern around how this locking supply will also lock-in concentrated ownership of $CLOUT. Of the ~11M $CLOUT that will exist, 6M were genesis block, and another 2M were part of an initial ‘fund’ that remains rather nebulous, as @tijn breaks down:
That’s north of 70% of total supply that’s a) not in very many hands and b) might not change hands all that frequently. Unlike Bitcoin, which is becoming a store of value, much of the utility we see in Bitclout would be in its changing hands frequently.
While we wait for the bomb to detonate, it has been fun to watch $CLOUT buying pick-up. Whether reflected by an uptick in the price on Bitclout.com (of which we are more skeptical), in colossal BTC <> $CLOUT buys, or in the OTC prices picking up from $100 to $130-$140, it looks like folks are rushing to stuff their coffers with $CLOUT before it’s gone.
Will people start husbanding their 💎s more closely now? Will people sell creator coins to generate liquidity? We’ll have to see. What we do know is that while Miami has done some damage on our IRL wallets, we’re still swiping the credis on Wyre this weekend 💳💳💳.
In other non-deflationary news, @Cloutted officially launched #hashtags that work in concert with the new feed on Cloutted.com while the Miami proceedings were unfolding.
For now, only whitelisted users have access. We got an inside look at the feed however, and can confirm, this is going to change the game for creators looking to organize their content consumption around specific interests, topics, or communities. Beyond hashtags, there’s also a robust, integrated search function, as well as the ability to create your own lists of creators to generate a segmented feed.
Sticking with the hashtag and search concept for a minute, @nvo spent 5 minutes on the site and was immediately able to get a much wider, more diverse perspective on the #Miami content than he’d simply from his feed. Suffice to say this thing has a lot of potential.
Finally, there were also big waves made in @cloutfeed’s neck of the woods — we’ll cover those in depth on Sunday 💪
#4 Feel Good Friday: @CharityClout delivers 🍽️
Not in Miami? Need another Friday pick-me up? Even if you’re already feeling good and riding the Bitclout wave, we’d like to shed light on something that made us feel even better about where Bitclout’s heading today. Beyond being our ticket to potential riches, @CharityClout has demonstrated that Bitclout can also be a frictionless vehicle for giving back and doing good.
The team at @CharityClout commits to using all $CLOUT raised via their FR to give back to worthwhile causes. Today, we were blessed by a must-watch video of the team @CharityClout executing on their mission. Based out of Jordan, the team’s first project saw them deliver packs of food to 50 families in a Syrian refugee camp, with each pack able to feed the for a month. 👇👇👇
Beyond the massive impact we can imagine these donations have for the refugees who received them, we appreciate initiatives like this for the perspective it provides us, too. We all share in having struggles and challenges, but those of us who have enough to eat, a roof over our heads, and an internet connection and a few virtual 💎s, have much to be thankful for 🙏.
We raise our glasses to you, @CharityClout!
Thanks all for spending some time in the @BitsTODAY F.N.H.H. Inspired by Miami, might we be planning to do these in person in the future? Time will tell 👀
Until then, read this edition on Medium for one more bonus section, too. Curse you Substack length limits…
Love you say it back,
@BitsTODAY