I've been studying the Albanian pyramid scheme crisis of the mid-90s, and there's a parallel to Bitcoin that I think this community needs to discuss.

In 1996, Albania experienced the greatest volume of securities purchases in its history - right before everything collapsed. The pyramid schemes had been growing since 1991, but 1996 was when retail went absolutely insane. By November, the schemes' liabilities hit $1.2 billion - nearly half of Albania's entire GDP.

Here's the kicker: the politicians and bureaucrats were also invested. To keep the party going, they debased the Albanian lek, juicing the economy while the insiders and early investors cashed out into foreign assets.

When the schemes collapsed in early 1997, it wasn't just financial ruin - it was civil war. 2,000+ people died.

From the left side of the curve, there is no difference between a bell curve and an 's' curve. Telling the difference between a ponzi and a paradigm shift is nearly impossible without deep fundamental analysis.

Let me be crystal clear: Bitcoin is not a pyramid scheme. It's a paradigm shift. 1 Bitcoin = 1 Bitcoin, the denominator cannot be debased, unlike the unregulated securities in Albania that could be issued ad infinitum.

Right now, a lot of people think Bitcoin is pumping because of Trump. This is the current coping mechanism - "it's just politics, it'll crash when he's gone."

But what happens when Trump's sun starts setting and Bitcoin keeps rising anyway? When people realize Bitcoin is much, much bigger than any single kleptocrat? That it's not susceptible to the whims of politicians?

That coping mechanism is going to shatter like glass.

This moment could come during the run-up to the 2026 midterms, as more and more retail banks start selling Bitcoin, generating new capital flows equivalent to the ETFs, where curious retail savers are offered a familiar UI by a trusted institution to invest in a few clicks without lockup, much like they move their money between their accounts in the same app. Everyone's expecting the typical "end of cycle" drop. But what if Bitcoin just keeps chugging along? What if it becomes undeniably clear that this isn't about political cycles anymore?

That's when we might see 1996 Albania-style retail capitulation - but in reverse. Instead of rushing into a collapsing ponzi, we could see the final wave of retail FOMO into the hardest money humanity has ever created.

In 1996, the volume of capital invested into the ponzi schemes exceeded the capital flows of the 5 preceding years combined. When retail capitulates it does it in a big way. People saving for a home jump in to maximise their purchasing power. People who just inherited money and don't have a home for it, who would have put it in index funds or bonds or interest paying savings accounts start allocating some of it to Bitcoin in their regular mobile banking app. Businesses with excess cash reserves start overcoming their anxieties when they realise their peer groups are getting in. Some start aping in, intoxicated by the taste.

Unlike Albania's pyramid schemes, Bitcoin has:

The Albanian schemes promised returns paid by new investors. Bitcoin doesn't promise returns - it IS the return. It's the exit from a system where your savings can be debased at will.

1996 Albania shows what retail capitulation looks like - the biggest inflows right before collapse (or in our case, right before hyperbitcoinisation). The difference is Bitcoin isn't a house of cards built on new investor money. It's a new monetary paradigm with fixed supply and no central authority to corrupt it.

When the Trump cope breaks and people realize Bitcoin transcends any single political figure, 2026 might be our 1996 moment.

Stack accordingly.