Had to chop the title so it really sucks but I can't do better right now!
With everyone focused on the debt of the US, the freezing Europeans, yeah lol, there is some really bad news on the horizon and for all sides in this game. If a slowdown in the Western world could be explained by jumping energy prices last year, prices that have since gone down to 2013 levels when it comes to pipe gas, in China manufacturing is dropping right after the reopening, at a continuous pace and despite the downturn in both raw materials and energy prices, copper, coal, iron, steel, wheat, everything is sliding with the PMI alongside.
So, to not be biased and using only the English version of the mouthpiece of the Chinese government:
China’s factory activity growth falters in March due to weaker demand, slowing productionChina’s factory activity dipped in April on weak demand as bumpy post-Covid economic recovery continueChina’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 48.8 in May from 49.2 in AprilAnd things get worse, remember this is Chinese information, so take it with a grain of salt since it might be far worse:
Youth unemployment has become one of Beijing’s biggest economic headaches amid its recovery efforts, and in April, 20.4 per cent of China’s 16-24 age group were unemployed, up from 19.6 per cent in March.
So no manufacturing so now jobs for the not qualified, no jobs for the young ones that have finished college, which is a different area, and this can lead only to one direction.
If the economic slowdown is present everywhere, China and the Western World, manufacturing is affected on all continents there is only one culprit in sight, and that is demand destruction, and with this, there is a chance we might end in a deflation period if things don't change.
There is simply no demand, and with no demand, there are two choices, prices going down, which means obvious deflation, or bankruptcies which I doubt anyone is that stupid to do before trying the first solution, but the first choice is pretty hard to do when you just had an influx of free money and the rate rises have not yet started to be serious enough.
There is an interesting piece on this from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2023/05/13/more-proof-deflation-is-the-future/of course, it's just an opinion and I will from the start warn you it's a bit speculative even with the data presented but it ends with the same warning as many others on the incoming deflation, although their take on what to do and what next is really not my cup of tea.
Now, slowly turning from this to Bitcoin.
Bitcoin was mainly designed as a p2p way of exchanging and transmitting value, due to its limited supply it turned into a way of safekeeping your wealth and further down the line evolved into an investment!
Now, assuming all the required stars align and we really head into a deflationary period for fiat currencies, how will the price of Bitcoin react, since this is the only thing that can be affected by the economy, the rest, the p2p payments, the cold storage, the be your own bank will for sure not be affected, but lately those are of less interest and the focus is on the price most of the time.
For sure, Bitcoin has the required advantage to erase all fears, that is adoption, unlike other commodities it can still attract users, and since I don't really believe those hundreds of millions of users quoted by most sources right now I can safely bet in my mind an x10 adoption rate would be doable at any time from the current moment. But, the question is, will it happen in this short span with enough traction?
So, to make this long story short, two simple opinions:
- do you believe we're heading to deflation?
- how do you think the price of
BTC will be influenced if we do so?
One man's misfortune is another's profit. In this case at least, if things do go for the shitter in the PRC, this may drive investors to find other countries to put their money on since production's not going well for the Superpower of Asia. (which I think is still an aftermath of the shitty stuff they did to their workers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, not paying them, sometimes even locking their workers inside the factory so they can't go home, all that nasty stuff) Add to this the fact that they are having population problems because of the one-child policy finally biting them back in the asses, and the housing crisis as most housing developers default on their loans, China is definitely not having their greatest year, they may still put a facade that they're doing relatively fine, but the people know the truth.
As for bitcoin, I don't think there will be huge correlation in price between the two, bitcoin may increase in value but it's certainly going to be for other reasons. Same as with deflation, the USD will remain in this sorry state if nothing was done about the National Debt. So while this misfortune that befell China may urge investors and other business entities to switch over to countries, they still couldn't choose US because well, that country's suffering too.