TL; DR
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A vibration is essentially a period when the economy is doing well, but the overall outlook for the market is bleak.
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The number of physical stores that accept Bitcoin has tripled in the past year.
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Outside the West, particularly in Latin America, where most of this adoption is taking place, we are seeing one of Bitcoin’s core features flourish: protection against bad monetary policy and crippling inflation over the long term.
Full story
When we grow up, that’s what we want to be Kyla Scanlon. Why?
Because every day we try to take complex techno-economic concepts and use simple, often silly terminology to make sense of them (for ourselves and for our readers).
And Kyla is the GOAT when it comes to that process.
Her self-coined term “Vibecession” was even added to the dictionary. Non-urban dictionary – the dictionary.
A vibration is essentially a period when the economy is doing well, but the overall outlook for the market is bleak.
Or as Kyla says:
“Economically, things are okay, but in reality… the atmosphere is not good.”
When we first heard it, we immediately thought, “Oh, that was very 2023.”
Because even though it felt like we were in the middle of a grueling bear market…
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Bitcoin has more than doubled.
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The stock market climbed to a record high in the fourth quarter.
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And we lived through one of the largest bank failures in American history without going into a recession.
Today we have a new piece of data to add to that list, which we’re filing under:
“Less impressive on a large scale, but a good indicator of crypto adoption, and another sign that we were definitely in a vibecession in 2023.”
That is: the number of physical stores that accept Bitcoin has tripled in the past year.
If you look at this from a Western framework, you might think:
“Okay. So Bitcoin millionaires now have a place to spend their new-found fortunes? That’s nice, I guess…”
But outside the West, particularly in Latin America, where most of this adoption is taking place, we are seeing one of Bitcoin’s core functions flourish:
Protection against bad monetary policy and crippling long-term inflation.
What is the opposite of a vibrational cessation? A period of ‘vibenomic growth’?
Whatever it is, we feel it.