The recent correction in Bitcoin has created a familiar debate. Is it a worthless speculative asset or a true monetary alternative? At $67,000, the price may be volatile, but it is hardly worthless. 

Bitcoin may be both a warning and an opportunity. It remains a strong hedge against the destruction of fiat money and financial repression for many citizens in the world, but it is also a volatile asset that can damage investors who believe its price can only rise. 

For many investors, the recent correction in bitcoin is a concern. However, this is only if we look at bitcoin in US dollars, euros or world reserve currencies.

For citizens all over the world, from Cuba to Iran, suffering the elevated inflation and currency demolition created by their governments, bitcoin is certainly a haven.

The huge growth in bitcoin’s price over the past few years shows that many investors have lost faith in fiat currencies and the solvency of states that are getting more in debt. 

Every time there is tension in the Middle East, we read that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz. It is important to remind readers that Iran has never actually shut down the strait. It has threatened to do so many times but has never followed through. Moreover, a closure of the Strait of Hormuz would primarily hurt China, as about 76% of traffic through it goes to the Asian giant, with less than 4% going to the United States and around 7% to the European Union.

China is one of the few key partners of the Iranian regime, purchasing close to 90% of Iran’s exports. A shutdown would therefore damage China the most, which is precisely why it is unlikely to happen. Oil exports via the Strait of Hormuz by country also show that one of the largest negative impacts would be on Iran itself, which ships around 2.3 million barrels per day of crude and products through this route.

Cuba’s economy is not sinking because of a supposed “blockade,” but because of a communist regime that combines political terror, economic ruin, and systematic propaganda to hide its own failure.

The murderous dictatorship has imposed a parasitic model that uses poverty to play the victim while enriching the regime’s leaders.

Cuba did not run out of oil due to any blockade. Cuba produces 45,000 barrels of oil per day and receives more than 50,000 barrels daily free from Mexico and Venezuela. This is far more than domestic demand. So why has Cuba run out of fuel?

The dictatorship resells that crude oil and pockets the dollars, hoarding more than $18 billion stolen from Cubans in foreign accounts, as reported by the Miami Herald.

The only blockade Cuba faces is the one the dictatorship imposes on its own people. 

The market consensus reaction to the Supreme Court ruling on the Liberation Day tariffs exaggerates the negatives and ignores the options of the Trump administration.

Markets are overreacting to headlines about a $175–200 billion tariff refund financial hole. However, the Supreme Court ruling opens a long, narrow, and manageable process, not an imminent fiscal crisis.

In the days after the Supreme Court struck down the Trump Liberation Day tariffs, many sell-side analysts turned a complex legal ruling into a simple story, stating that Washington would soon have to repay up to $200 billion. Risk premiums in Treasuries ticked higher, gold and silver soared and some commentators warned about a looming refund shock for the U.S. budget that would make government debt soar.