In this episode, Sunny Ray sits down with Bitcoin content creator and self-described Bitcoin maximalist Raj to unpack what happens as the world approaches the 20 millionth mined Bitcoin, leaving only 1 million left to be issued over the next century. The conversation moves from short term market pain, with Raj pointing to long term holders, many of them millennials facing major life expenses, selling into the recent pullback, to the recurring media narrative that Bitcoin is dead, which Raj tracks through a website cataloguing decades of premature obituaries. He breaks down how Bitcoin mining works using a lottery ticket and gold mining analogy, then dives deep into Michael Saylor's Strategy and its STRC product, arguing it represents a genuinely new form of digital credit competing directly with traditional banks. Raj also addresses criticism around Strategy's Bitcoin buying and the risks of borrowing against Bitcoin, walking through a real liquidation scenario. Throughout, he makes the case that scarcity, self custody, and growing institutional demand are setting up Bitcoin for its next major move.
A Bitcoin maximalist explains why the last 1 million coins, Strategy's STRC, and mining economics could change everything.
The 20 millionth Bitcoin is about to be mined. How does that make you feel?
It's crazy. There's only 1 million new coins left to be mined over the next 110 to 115 years. So many people out there don't even know what Bitcoin is yet, and they're going to end up competing for that last million or having to convince people to sell what they already hold. Most people don't want to sell at these prices, so demand is going to keep pushing higher.
Bitcoin pulled back a bit and you called it a 40 percent discount. What's getting you excited right now?
I was watching this guy Checkmate on YouTube, and a lot of long term holders are selling right now, which is probably what's driving this. Many Bitcoin holders are millennials in the most expensive phase of life, funding houses, kids, cars, so they're selling. It's a natural progression, price goes up and down, and cheap sats are always a good opportunity.
When people claim Bitcoin is dead again, what's your gut reaction?
I actually made a video about it yesterday called Did Bitcoin Just Die Again. There's a website that catalogues every article claiming Bitcoin is dead, going back to when it was 11 cents. There's a huge concentration of these articles whenever price is falling and almost none while it's rising, because people want to feel like they were right.
How do you describe Bitcoin mining to someone getting into Bitcoin for the first time?
It's almost like a lottery ticket that secures the network. You're trying to find a specific SHA-256 input that generates the right output based on the network's requirements, basically guess and check, and it gets harder over time. The way I see it, mining is security for the network, and the people running the ASICs are basically contractors.
How do you respond when people say Bitcoin isn't real money because, unlike gold, it isn't physical?
When I look at the properties of money, being physical isn't one of them, being limited and scarce is. The money in your bank account isn't physical either, but it still carries value. I lean on analogies, comparing the mining puzzle to a rock you have to break, because it helps make the concept click for people.
What's your take on Strategy buying huge amounts of Bitcoin through STRC even in a bear market?
Strategy bought around 1,500 Bitcoin just yesterday using STRC, which is basically a bet that Bitcoin will keep surviving and that Strategy can keep stripping volatility off it to pay fixed income. STRC is trading at par even though Bitcoin is down almost 50 percent from the top, because Strategy can adjust interest rates to keep pulling in capital and buying more Bitcoin.
As a Bitcoin maximalist, do you have any issue with Michael Saylor and Strategy scooping up so much supply?
Why would I as a maximalist want someone else not to buy Bitcoin? We always want more people buying it. The average person doesn't care right now because they haven't put in the time to understand it, but Strategy has. I'm not against a company buying as much Bitcoin as it can and creating a real use case with digital, property backed credit.
What about the risk of taking loans against your Bitcoin?
There are real risks, the lender could go bankrupt or a government could confiscate the collateral since you don't have self custody of it. Using an example, if you put up one Bitcoin worth 68,000 dollars as collateral for a 30,000 dollar loan, the price would have to fall to around 37,500 dollars before you'd get liquidated, so you want to be ready to add more collateral if needed.
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