The “Vibecession” Is Over?? (Here’s What That Means)

TL;DR

• A Vibecession is basically a period of time where the economy is doing fine, but the market's general outlook is bleak.

• The number of brick-and-mortar stores that accept Bitcoin has tripled in the past year.

• Beyond the west, specifically in Latin America where the majority of this adoption is taking place, we're seeing one of Bitcoin's core features thrive: Protection against poor monetary policy and crippling long term inflation.

Full Story

When we grow up, we want to be Kyla Scanlon. Why?

Cause every day, we try to take complex technical/economic concepts, and use simple, often silly terminology to make sense of it (to ourselves, and our readers).

And Kyla is the G.O.A.T. when it comes to that process.

Her self-coined term "Vibecession" was even added to the dictionary. Not urban dictionary - the dictionary.

A Vibecession is basically a period of time where the economy is doing fine, but the market's general outlook is bleak.

Or as Kyla puts it:

"Economically speaking, things are okay-ish but in reality...the vibes are off."

When we first heard it, we immediately went "oh, that was all of 2023."

Cause while it felt like we were amidst a grueling bear market...

• Bitcoin more than doubled.

• The stock market climbed to an all-time high in Q4.

• And we experienced one of the largest bank failures in US history, without plunging into recession.

Today, we have a new piece of data to add to that list, that we're filing under:

"Less impressive on the grand scale of things, but a great indicator for crypto adoption, and another sign that we were definitely in a vibecession in 2023."

Which is: the number of brick-and-mortar stores that accept Bitcoin has tripled in the past year.

Looking at this through a western framework, you might think:

"Ok. So, Bitcoin millionaires now have somewhere to spend their new found fortunes? That's nice I guess..."

But beyond the west, specifically in Latin America where the majority of this adoption is taking place, we're seeing one of Bitcoin's core features thrive:

Protection against poor monetary policy and crippling long term inflation.

What's the opposite of a vibecession? A period of 'vibenomic growth'?

Whatever it is, we're feeling it.