Latest / Simply Bitcoin / Did America JUST Change The Bitcoin Nation State Race Forever?! | EP 1175

Transcript

Did America JUST Change The Bitcoin Nation State Race Forever?! | EP 1175 · Simply Bitcoin

• 0:00
  Yo, while America's long-awaited strategic Bitcoin reserve was a
• 0:04
  disappointment so far, their newest announcement could be an
• 0:08
  absolute game changer. The world's largest nation in
• 0:12
  terms of GDP and military might hasn't had a sovereign wealth
• 0:17
  fund until now. But I think the real question on
• 0:20
  everyone's mind is what's going to be going into the sovereign
• 0:24
  wealth fund? Will America copy the multiple
• 0:27
  sovereign wealth funds that around the world that already
• 0:30
  have exposure to Bitcoin? Well, we'll talk about it
• 0:33
  because it's very interesting. Who is who is in charge of the
• 0:37
  sovereign wealth fund? Who's behind it?
• 0:39
  And what's also really interesting as well is the
• 0:41
  Bitcoin Senator retweeted about it.
• 0:44
  So some little hints there. Anyways guys, before we dive
• 0:47
  into the topic, let's check out the clip.
• 0:50
  Next, this is an executive order discharges your Secretary of the
• 0:54
  Treasury, Scott Besson, and your Secretary of Commerce, Howard
• 0:57
  Lutnick to begin a process that will hopefully result in the
• 1:00
  creation of an American sovereign wealth fund.
• 1:04
  It's a very exciting event. We're going to have a sovereign
• 1:09
  wealth fund, which we've never had.
• 1:11
  We have a lot of things that create wealth and you've seen
• 1:14
  that over the last two weeks. I think we've created more
• 1:17
  wealth. Other people have created de
• 1:20
  wealth. The people, my predecessors,
• 1:22
  we're creating a lot of wealth. Scott, maybe you'd like to say
• 1:26
  something about it. And I'd ask also Howard to say
• 1:29
  something about it. Yes, Sir, There's a very
• 1:33
  exciting. We're going to stand this thing
• 1:36
  up within the next 12 months. We're going to monetize the
• 1:42
  asset side of the US balance sheet for the American people.
• 1:46
  We are going to put the assets to work and I think it's going
• 1:53
  to be very exciting. We're going to study best
• 1:54
  practices is done around the world.
• 1:56
  It'll be a combination of liquid assets, assets that we have in
• 2:01
  this country as we work work to bring them out for the American
• 2:06
  people. The extraordinary size and scale
• 2:11
  of the US government and the business it does with companies
• 2:16
  should create value for American citizens.
• 2:20
  If we are going to buy 2 billion COVID vaccines, maybe we should
• 2:24
  have some warrants and some equity in these companies and
• 2:28
  have that grow for the help of the American people.
• 2:31
  So I bring all these things together.
• 2:34
  I think we'll create Scott and I will create an amazing sovereign
• 2:37
  wealth fund for you, Sir. So other countries?
• 2:43
  So it's really interesting stuff.
• 2:45
  Now let's dive into some of the details and then of course we'll
• 2:49
  tie in the the Bitcoin component to it because I see some people
• 2:53
  like in the chat, I know you guys are tuning into simply
• 2:56
  Bitcoin. You're like, what does this have
• 2:57
  to do with Bitcoin? Well, I'll get to it, and I'll
• 2:59
  actually make a very strong case as to why there's probably a
• 3:02
  very high probability that Bitcoin is clued included in
• 3:07
  this sovereign wealth fund that the United States government is
• 3:10
  including. Now, who is next to Trump during
• 3:13
  that speech is Howard Lupnik. Now, Howard Lupnik, I think he
• 3:17
  was appointed head of commerce, and he actually manages the
• 3:22
  money for Tether in the United states #1 and #2 he was actually
• 3:26
  on Anthony Pompliano's podcast not too long ago.
• 3:31
  And Pomp essentially asked him point blank, like, like, like,
• 3:35
  what's the deal with Bitcoin? And all he could say was just
• 3:39
  very, very positive things. But before we dive into that
• 3:43
  clip, I do want to read some of this article.
• 3:45
  So it says Trump signs order establishing a sovereign wealth
• 3:48
  fund that he says could buy TikTok moving on sovereign
• 3:52
  wealth funds, betting on crypto. Who's buying Bitcoin and crypto
• 3:55
  stocks? It goes on to say the key
• 3:58
  takeaways. Sovereign wealth funds worldwide
• 4:00
  are ramping up investments in cryptocurrency and blockchain
• 4:03
  technology. Several funds hold indirect
• 4:06
  Bitcoin exposure through investments in companies like
• 4:09
  MicroStrategy. the US may follow suit as President Donald Trump
• 4:14
  has signed an executive order to establish a sovereign wealth
• 4:18
  fund. So here is the Bitcoin senator,
• 4:21
  Senator Cynthia Lummis, and she says this is a big deal, the B,
• 4:27
  and that big deal is the Bitcoin B.
• 4:29
  And it's a picture of course, of President Trump and the two
• 4:34
  members that were next to him during the press conference
• 4:37
  video that we played for you guys.
• 4:39
  And to his right hand side again is Howard Lupnik.
• 4:44
  He's the CEO and chairman of Counter Fitzgerald.
• 4:47
  They manage all of of Tether's money currently.
• 4:50
  So obviously Tether loves Bitcoin, a very positive
• 4:53
  Bitcoin. They have a positive
• 4:56
  relationship with a Bitcoin ecosystem.
• 4:58
  I was just in their conference in El Salvador.
• 5:00
  It was absolutely amazing, the Plan B forum, which they also do
• 5:05
  in Switzerland, in Lugano. So, yeah, I mean, you guys can
• 5:10
  connect the dots here, obviously.
• 5:12
  But what's really interesting about Mr. Mr. Lupnik is he
• 5:17
  actually went on Poms podcast not too long ago and I think
• 5:22
  Pomp asked him point blank about Bitcoin and he said some
• 5:26
  interesting things. So let's check that out.
• 5:31
  Before I let you go, how rich are you and how much of your net
• 5:35
  worth is in Bitcoin? Because if I don't ask you,
• 5:39
  everyone will be really mad at me.
• 5:45
  If you took my stake in my public companies, which is
• 5:49
  public, and you did the public math, you'd see a couple of
• 5:52
  billion dollars, OK, OK. And then at least a couple of
• 5:55
  billion dollars. And then you'd have, you know,
• 5:58
  what's Cantor worth? Yeah, I'm not saying OK, but
• 6:03
  things are good for me. How about that?
• 6:05
  Is that a nice way to say it? Since Cantor owns the stakes and
• 6:08
  the other companies, it's good for me.
• 6:10
  So. And I have.
• 6:12
  Like the percentage? You don't have to say the exact
• 6:14
  number, but like how do you think about either you or
• 6:16
  Cantor? I don't have a big enough
• 6:18
  percentage. I probably have, you know, if
• 6:23
  now I can't say because then people can figure out that none
• 6:25
  and how much I have, I would say I have hundreds of millions of
• 6:29
  dollars, OK, OK, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars
• 6:34
  exposure to Bitcoin and it will be billions.
• 6:39
  I was going to say so next year when you come back and we'll do
• 6:41
  this again and you'll be a Bitcoin billionaire and if you.
• 6:46
  Remember that model? I told you so.
• 6:48
  If every time Bitcoin dips, I'm going to be the part.
• 6:52
  Trust me, I know why you're doing the lending.
• 6:56
  Listen, listen, You don't have to explain that one around here.
• 7:00
  So yeah, I got the 50% Bitcoin, I got the Bitcoin lending.
• 7:03
  But basically what you're going to see is Cantor Fitzgerald is
• 7:06
  going to be the sponsor of Bitcoin into traditional
• 7:08
  finance. And so we will be the leader of
• 7:11
  it. And I'll pull out this podcast
• 7:13
  in years to come and say, see, I told you because no one's going
• 7:16
  to remember, of course, but all the banks after we do it and
• 7:21
  show people how to do it, right, they'll all copy.
• 7:24
  And so the asset of Bitcoin will just as it becomes more
• 7:28
  accepted, it will become more valuable.
• 7:32
  And the whole Bitcoin nation should just call it a commodity,
• 7:36
  never a currency. Just call it a commodity.
• 7:38
  Because if it's a currency, you're attacking the politicians
• 7:42
  of the country, right? You're you're trying to replace
• 7:45
  my currency with yours. But if you say, hey, hey, hey,
• 7:49
  I'm just oil, I'm just gold, I'm just a commodity.
• 7:53
  Leave me be, right then they'll leave you be.
• 7:58
  So I'll leave it at that, right. The the last part, of course,
• 8:02
  you know, I have some thoughts on.
• 8:03
  But the first part, you know, he's telling you, look, he owns
• 8:06
  hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
• 8:09
  Again, he manages the money for Tether in the United States.
• 8:13
  And he was literally in a press conference with President Trump
• 8:19
  to his right announcing a sovereign wealth fund.
• 8:22
  Now, it's not rocket science. And then not to mention, of
• 8:26
  course, Senator Lummus basically saying the quiet part out loud
• 8:31
  when she says this is a big deal with the giant B as the Bitcoin
• 8:37
  symbol. So he can't really say we're
• 8:40
  speculating at this point. It look, no one's better than
• 8:43
  their incentives fundamentally. And when you have, you know,
• 8:47
  this gentleman basically admitting he owns hundreds of
• 8:51
  billions of dollars in Bitcoin and he pomp is basically saying
• 8:54
  you're going to be a Bitcoin billionaire.
• 8:57
  It's not a stretch to say that, you know, there's going to be
• 9:00
  Bitcoin on this sovereign wealth fund for the United States.
• 9:04
  Now, what is like the implications of that from a
• 9:07
  price perspective? From a price perspective?
• 9:10
  Well, I mean, it's a basically a rubber stamp of approval by the
• 9:15
  US government basically saying, you know what, this Bitcoin
• 9:19
  thing is legit. It's so legit that we have
• 9:22
  exposure to this Bitcoin thing and you can't really say that
• 9:27
  the people who are running the sovereign wealth funds are
• 9:30
  enemies of Bitcoin and they're not benefiting from Bitcoin.
• 9:33
  And it's the thing that we've we've been saying for the last
• 9:35
  couple of days, we know the vice president has Bitcoin.
• 9:39
  We know the president has Bitcoin.
• 9:40
  According to a video from sailors 100K party with David
• 9:44
  Bailey, where David Bailey basically says, I know Trump
• 9:47
  owns a lot of Bitcoin. We know RFK Junior, he said at
• 9:51
  the Nashville Bitcoin conference, he said something
• 9:53
  along the lines of like, look, I the majority of my assets are in
• 9:57
  Bitcoin. So I mean Tulsi Gabbard, who you
• 10:00
  know, it, it, it looks like from the prediction markets is going
• 10:03
  to be approved. She spoke at a Bitcoin
• 10:05
  conference. I think it was 22 or 23.
• 10:07
  So I mean it, it's not rocket science and I think no one is
• 10:11
  better than their incentives. And if you are in a certain
• 10:15
  position, like, like it's human nature in order to want to pump
• 10:20
  your bags, right? But that doesn't that sounds bad
• 10:23
  when you say it that way. It's the awesome part about
• 10:25
  Bitcoin. It's aligned incentives.
• 10:27
  So you know, by Michael Saylor pumping his bags, by Larry Fink
• 10:30
  pumping his bags. Anyone else who owns Bitcoin,
• 10:33
  they get their bags pumped by, you know, these huge people,
• 10:37
  extremely influential. And that's why I say that's why
• 10:40
  Max Keiser came up with the term, you know, sailors, the
• 10:44
  Bitcoin employee of the year. Well, you know of the month.
• 10:46
  Well, you know what? I'm officially awarding the
• 10:51
  Bitcoin employee of the year to the the month, the month of
• 10:54
  February to Howard Lupnik because I think that more than
• 10:59
  likely he is going to include Bitcoin in the sovereign in the,
• 11:02
  in the US sovereign wealth fund. It's just he just, you hear them
• 11:06
  say it on Pom's podcast. He's like, I owe hundreds of
• 11:09
  millions of dollars of Bitcoin. I'm probably going to buy more.
• 11:11
  And there he is in the president's office talking about
• 11:13
  a sovereign wealth fund. And then all the other countries
• 11:15
  in the world in their sovereign wealth funds, they have exposure
• 11:18
  to Bitcoin. So where do you think this is
• 11:19
  going And what do you think happens when in the highlight or
• 11:24
  in the news segment it says US sovereign wealth funds own
• 11:28
  Bitcoin. What do you think is gonna
• 11:30
  happen to the price? Like all of this is not
• 11:32
  speculative. It's just common sense.
• 11:35
  Sometimes we we come up with theories that are very
• 11:38
  speculative. Like you can say like Nico, like
• 11:41
  that's crazy. Like some sometimes we do go out
• 11:44
  on a whim, but this time like this is just pure common sense.
• 11:50
  TLDR United States announces a sovereign wealth fund.
• 11:56
  More than likely Bitcoin will be included in that sovereign
• 12:00
  wealth fund if you connect the dots.
• 12:01
  Anyways, Opti, I mean, we go out on a stretch sometimes bro, but
• 12:06
  not this time like it is when the Bitcoin senator, Senator
• 12:10
  Cynthia Lummus is saying this is a big deal with the Bitcoin BI
• 12:13
  mean bro like like bro. And then and then of course, we
• 12:19
  have John from the Medellin conference and we're going to
• 12:21
  get his thoughts. But Opti, what do you think,
• 12:23
  brother? Well, first of all, just kind of
• 12:26
  touching on the sovereign wealth fund, just in itself an
• 12:29
  announcement of that in the USI think is a big deal.
• 12:31
  Obviously, the US doesn't have a sovereign wealth fund right now.
• 12:34
  And we've seen how impressive that's been for a lot of
• 12:37
  countries in the Middle East. You know, I think everyone knows
• 12:39
  about like Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund or the
• 12:42
  Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund.
• 12:44
  And so, you know, it on one hand, it does seem like we are,
• 12:49
  you know, financializing the US government.
• 12:51
  And for some people, that might be a scary word because it
• 12:55
  usually starts with an F and people get scared over there.
• 12:59
  And but personally, I think if you play that clip, the
• 13:03
  announcement with Trump, there was some interesting things in
• 13:06
  there. First one was Scott Besson
• 13:08
  essentially saying that we're going to use some of our liquid
• 13:10
  assets. It's going to be interesting to
• 13:11
  see what of the assets that are on the US balance sheets
• 13:15
  actually make it into that sovereign wealth fund.
• 13:17
  And at the very end of that clip, we didn't get to it today,
• 13:20
  but you guys can watch it. There was a point where Trump
• 13:23
  was kind of talking about what's going to go in.
• 13:25
  He kind of mentions his TikTok a little bit.
• 13:27
  And right when the clip would shut off, he says something
• 13:30
  like, there's a lot of other assets that we can let put into
• 13:33
  the sovereign wealth fund. And and that's where a lot of us
• 13:36
  Bitcoiners are thinking that that's most likely where
• 13:38
  Bitcoin's going to fall into. Obviously, as a Bitcoiner, we
• 13:42
  think that Bitcoin is the only sovereign wealth in the world,
• 13:45
  period. So obviously it would go into a
• 13:48
  sovereign wealth fund. Now for people that are thinking
• 13:50
  that we're kind of just speculating here, this is
• 13:52
  already happening. This isn't just, you know, some
• 13:55
  speculation by Bitcoiners that, oh, you know, a sovereign wealth
• 13:58
  fund's going to add Bitcoin. This is already happening for
• 14:01
  say, like in Norway, this has already happened.
• 14:03
  In Singapore this has happened, in the United Arab Emirates this
• 14:07
  has happened, Saudi Arabia this has happened, and even in
• 14:10
  Canada. So this is already a thing that
• 14:13
  has been happening and has been occurring in the last couple of
• 14:15
  years. So I don't think it's too big of
• 14:17
  a stretch to say that this sovereign wealth fund from the
• 14:20
  US, it's not a. Stretch, bro, It's not a
• 14:23
  stretch. It would be a stretch if we
• 14:25
  talked about this like a year ago or two years would be like
• 14:28
  Nico and Opti. They're just talking shit again.
• 14:31
  No, this is not. Look.
• 14:33
  Just like. OK, I have to.
• 14:35
  I'm sorry, guys, I'm I'm gonna have to repeat myself because,
• 14:38
  you know, I can't even believe this.
• 14:40
  OK, the Bitcoin center says this is a big deal with the giant
• 14:44
  Bitcoin B. This is the dude on his right.
• 14:47
  And we just played you a clip of him saying like, you know what?
• 14:50
  I'm extremely wealthy and I own an F ton of Bitcoin.
• 14:53
  Like, come on now. Like, it's not a stretch, Opti.
• 14:56
  It's not a stretch at all. Anyways, I do want to welcome on
• 14:59
  the show today. We got John in the house.
• 15:02
  John is the organizer of the Bitcoin Magazine conference.
• 15:06
  I've heard so many good things about the conference from
• 15:09
  friends that were there. So John, welcome to the show
• 15:13
  First off. And 2nd off, what do you think
• 15:16
  is this? I don't think look, there's
• 15:20
  speculation and then there's the category next to speculation,
• 15:24
  which is like basically like, look, all things are pointing,
• 15:28
  there's speculation, then there's common sense.
• 15:30
  This definitely falls like solidly in the common sense, you
• 15:36
  know, category if you just put all the pieces together.
• 15:40
  And I and I think and AUS senator agrees with that, that
• 15:45
  opinion as well. So John, what are your thoughts
• 15:48
  on this? How positive is this?
• 15:50
  I think from a number go up perspective, as soon as that
• 15:53
  hits headlines, we might get Samson's Omega candle which is
• 15:57
  100K in one day. So what's your perspective John?
• 16:01
  Welcome to the show. Yeah, no, appreciate you guys
• 16:03
  having me on Opti Nico, really appreciate it.
• 16:06
  And you know, very grateful to to be here and to be on with you
• 16:11
  guys and to be on this amazing show.
• 16:13
  So no, I I, you know, like this is a done deal.
• 16:16
  It's common sense. I mean, this is not speculating.
• 16:19
  I mean, it's 100% happening. I mean, Howard Lutnick, you
• 16:22
  know, came to, to Bitcoin in Nashville and essentially said
• 16:28
  the same thing. He said in this thing he's worth
• 16:30
  the, you know, a shit, shit ton of, he has a shit ton of
• 16:34
  Bitcoin. And of course, you know,
• 16:35
  they're, they're going to want to pump their own bags.
• 16:37
  So of course they're going to put Bitcoin into this sovereign
• 16:41
  wealth fund. I I don't think that's a stretch
• 16:43
  at all. Yeah, 100 percent, 100% agree
• 16:46
  with you. And it's it's it's not a stretch
• 16:49
  like is is is what I got to say. Also shout out to the 700 of you
• 16:53
  guys watching live on YouTube. Today's a good show and shout
• 16:56
  out to the rumble audience. We're about to break 400 live
• 16:59
  viewers on Rumble. Shout out to all you guys and
• 17:01
  almost 2000 live viewers on X. If you guys are enjoying simply
• 17:05
  Bitcoin live, make sure to smash that like button.
• 17:08
  We have a hell of a show for you guys lined up and I'm happy to
• 17:12
  be. Back.
• 17:13
  Bro because I've been gone for like 5 days I filmed a podcast
• 17:17
  on top of the volcano. It was absolutely ridiculous.
• 17:21
  You guys are gonna love it. The footage looked epic.
• 17:23
  House of the Plan B forum and El Salvador.
• 17:27
  I did 2 days of podcast. I did 5-2 days of five hour
• 17:31
  interviews each just back-to-back in Spanish.
• 17:36
  It was crazy, it was nuts, but it was it was an incredible
• 17:39
  conference. So shout out to the to the Plan
• 17:41
  B guys. Anyways, Opti, what are you
• 17:43
  going to say? Yeah, yeah.
• 17:44
  No, you said in the private chat here make a poll, but I'm going
• 17:47
  to do it in the chat. So one in the chat, if you think
• 17:50
  a sovereign wealth fund is going to add Bitcoin 2, if you don't,
• 17:53
  let's see what people are saying.
• 17:55
  I think that's more effective than a poll in Nico.
• 17:56
  So anyways, keep it going. Keep it going.
• 17:58
  Yeah, absolutely. So guys, before we jump into the
• 18:02
  show, of course you guys know the deal.
• 18:04
  Bitcoin is powered by our amazing partners and of course
• 18:07
  our lead. Our lead partner is Bitcoin
• 18:10
  Well. Bitcoin Well is by far the best
• 18:13
  place to build your automatic self custody Bitcoin stack.
• 18:16
  To get started, scan the QR code or go to bitcoinwell.com/simply.
• 18:21
  What makes Bitcoin Well different?
• 18:23
  Because I know what a lot of you guys are thinking like this is
• 18:25
  just another Bitcoin on Remico. What the heck?
• 18:27
  No, no, no, no, no, no. What makes Bitcoin Well
• 18:29
  different and why we highly recommend it is that it's self
• 18:33
  custody by default. It's a non custodial on ramp.
• 18:37
  What does that mean That means that when you buy Bitcoin on
• 18:39
  Bitcoin well as soon as the funds clear, it goes straight to
• 18:42
  yourself custody Bitcoin wallet address.
• 18:45
  It doesn't even give you the ability to leave you the Bitcoin
• 18:48
  on the exchange with perfectly aligns with the simply Bitcoin
• 18:50
  ethos, because self custody is the revolution.
• 18:53
  If you're a higher net worth individual, check out their
• 18:55
  Bitcoin will infinite product. It's a Bitcoin OTC desk, so if
• 19:01
  you're a higher net worth individual looking to buy
• 19:03
  $50,000 worth of Bitcoin or more and you're tired of dealing with
• 19:05
  Coinbase UI, you're tired of dealing with the support emails
• 19:09
  that take 2 1/2 weeks to get back to you, and you want a real
• 19:12
  human being. Every time you want to buy or
• 19:14
  sell or you have any questions about Bitcoin, you have to check
• 19:17
  out Bitcoin Well, Infinite. Go to bitcoinwell.com/OTC to get
• 19:22
  started. It's an absolutely amazing
• 19:24
  product and I highly recommend it.
• 19:26
  Also, if you're trying to get paid in Bitcoin, Bitcoin well,
• 19:30
  Infinite just announced that Americans can now get paid in
• 19:33
  Bitcoin sent directly to their personal Bitcoin wallet.
• 19:36
  Share your Bitcoin well direct deposit details with your
• 19:39
  employer, set your Bitcoin slash dollar split and receive SAT's
• 19:44
  instead of Fiat with every paycheck.
• 19:47
  That's right, you can get now paid in Bitcoin.
• 19:50
  Guys, get started. Go to bitcoinwell.com today and
• 19:55
  enable your independence, baby. All right everybody, let's get
• 19:57
  some numbers. We have tons to talk about.
• 19:59
  Let's check it out. I want to.
• 20:08
  Tell you guys about our sponsor Stamp Seed.
• 20:11
  Is your Bitcoin and cold storage really secure?
• 20:14
  Are your seed words really secure?
• 20:17
  Stamp Seeds Do it Yourself kit has everything you'll need to
• 20:21
  hammer your seed words into commercial grade titanium plates
• 20:26
  instead of writing them down on paper.
• 20:29
  Don't do that paper. Sucks you want to.
• 20:32
  Literally stamp your seed into this plate of titanium.
• 20:37
  Your words are actually stamped into the metal plate with this
• 20:41
  hammer, so once your words are in, they aren't going anywhere.
• 20:45
  No risk of the plate breaking apart and your pieces falling
• 20:49
  everywhere. Titanium stamp seeds will
• 20:51
  survive nearly triple the heat produced by a house fire.
• 20:55
  They are also crush proof, waterproof, non corrosive and
• 20:59
  most importantly because this is generational wealth time proof,
• 21:03
  all things that paper is not allowing you to huddle your
• 21:09
  Bitcoin for the long haul. I mean, here is the plate that
• 21:13
  they crushed, they put in water, they put a blowtorch to it and
• 21:17
  as you can see, the words have survived.
• 21:20
  Stamp your seed on stamp seed and you can use promo code
• 21:25
  simply to get 15% off anything on their store.
• 21:32
  All right, everybody scan the QR code on your screen right now
• 21:35
  and take you directly to Stampseed website.
• 21:37
  Use promo code simply get 15% off.
• 21:39
  Stamp your generational, stamp your seed words into titanium.
• 21:42
  Don't write down your seed words on paper.
• 21:44
  Don't do that. Don't don't put yourself in that
• 21:46
  position. stampseed.com promo code simply 15% off anything on
• 21:50
  the store at the time of recording the Bitcoin price is
• 21:52
  no. Before I get to that, we're at
• 21:54
  168 likes on YouTube. Make sure to smash that like
• 21:57
  button. Help us break 250 likes within
• 22:00
  the 1st 30 minutes of the show and shout out to this amazing
• 22:03
  audience today. We love you guys.
• 22:05
  At the time of recording, the Bitcoin price is $99,250.
• 22:09
  Block height 882,310 sats per dollar over 1000.
• 22:13
  We're at 1007 Market cap 1.97 trillion Bitcoin versus gold
• 22:18
  market cap 9.92% percentage issued 94.37% decline from all
• 22:24
  time high -9%. That's right, you have a 9%
• 22:27
  discount at the moment. Realize monetary inflation
• 22:30
  continuing to take Fiat currencies to absolute school.
• 22:33
  We're currently sitting pretty at 1.02%.
• 22:37
  Anyways guys, I want to talk about this.
• 22:39
  Bitcoin is going mainstream I think.
• 22:42
  I think you guys all feel it. We have the first pro Bitcoin
• 22:46
  president in the White House. We had Ross Ulbricht freed.
• 22:50
  We're talking about a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
• 22:53
  There's talks about it. We're talking about Bitcoin
• 22:56
  going to the US sovereign wealth fund.
• 22:58
  You have mainstream figures going to Bitcoin conferences.
• 23:02
  You have Russell Brand talking about it, right?
• 23:04
  I mean, like, come on now. You have Tim Poole with a huge
• 23:08
  mainstream audience talking about like, look, I own Bitcoin.
• 23:11
  I mean, this is going mainstream.
• 23:13
  I think. I think we all see it.
• 23:15
  I've been predicting it. I think 2025 as the bull market
• 23:18
  continues to accelerate from here, as much as it doesn't look
• 23:22
  like it, I think 2025 is going to end explosively.
• 23:26
  This is the year after the halving from a historical
• 23:29
  context, this is the year that Bitcoin always outperforms.
• 23:32
  I think this year is going to be no different getting into
• 23:36
  speculation territories, but that's my personal opinion.
• 23:39
  Stay humble stacks at this is an investment advice, but I think
• 23:42
  this is the year that Bitcoin goes mainstream because I think
• 23:45
  that if we see, you know, 200 or 300 or 400 K Bitcoin, you know,
• 23:51
  that's a lot of people that are gonna be looking at Bitcoin.
• 23:53
  They're gonna saying like, Oh my God, like maybe I should buy
• 23:56
  some just in case it catches on. And you now have government
• 23:59
  saying this. You know how central banks
• 24:02
  saying this right? So I think it's it's very I
• 24:04
  think it's a you can make a very solid case that Bitcoin is going
• 24:10
  mainstream. Now here is and and according to
• 24:13
  Opti, this guy is famous and and just Gillis is hilarious.
• 24:18
  He's a huge comedian. He's hilarious.
• 24:20
  He's a massive following Shane Gillis and here he is talking
• 24:25
  about made Bitcoin on his podcast.
• 24:27
  And again, you have to understand that most of society
• 24:30
  is currently going through this process in their minds, right?
• 24:33
  They're not Bitcoin Maxis. They don't care about
• 24:35
  sovereignty. They don't care about self
• 24:37
  custody. But we always make the case on
• 24:39
  simply all roads lead to Bitcoin.
• 24:42
  Why? Because it's the best money the
• 24:43
  world has ever seen. Like saying you don't use
• 24:46
  Bitcoin is like it's saying like you don't use Bitcoin as saying
• 24:50
  that you don't use the Internet in 1999 or 2000.
• 24:54
  I get it. The Internet sucked ass back
• 24:57
  then. It was not good.
• 24:58
  There was no YouTube. The UI wasn't that great.
• 25:01
  I understand it. You can make a very solid
• 25:04
  argument for that. I get it.
• 25:05
  But use using, not using Bitcoin in in 15 years or in 10 years is
• 25:12
  gonna be saying like I don't use the Internet in the year 2025.
• 25:17
  If you don't use the Internet in the year 2025, something is
• 25:21
  wrong with you or you live in the middle of the, you know,
• 25:24
  Amazon or something like that. And that's cool.
• 25:26
  You know, I would say, I would say the world needs to be
• 25:29
  unplugged a little bit more in terms of people being off their
• 25:33
  phones and, you know, like enjoying nature.
• 25:36
  I remember seeing this video of all these people partying in
• 25:38
  Ibiza and it was like partying Ibiza in the 2000 and everyone's
• 25:42
  just enjoying the moment and just having a good time and just
• 25:44
  vibing to the music. And then it was like partying in
• 25:47
  Ibiza in 2025 and everyone just has their phone and they're just
• 25:50
  recording a video of the DJ. So like, you know, you can make
• 25:54
  an argument that like, you know, people got to enjoy life a
• 25:57
  little bit more. But the case that I'm trying to
• 25:58
  make is that the Internet is completely intertwined with
• 26:03
  people's lives today. And I think that in, you know,
• 26:08
  by the end of the decade, definitely by the end of the
• 26:10
  next two decades, Bitcoin is going to be intertwined with
• 26:13
  people's lives. And it's going to be the money
• 26:15
  that people choose to use because it is better money.
• 26:19
  So anyways, here's Shane and Matt writes, and they're talking
• 26:23
  about Bitcoin. I don't know if we're going to
• 26:25
  be able to play the entire clip, but let's check it out.
• 26:27
  I did Marty Ben's podcast on Bitcoin nice yesterday's right,
• 26:32
  the same experience. I've never understood a thing
• 26:34
  about Bitcoin. I I'm a little bit I don't know
• 26:36
  what it is. It's a techno.
• 26:39
  It's like one of the greatest technologies man's ever done.
• 26:40
  I can do that. I can do that.
• 26:44
  So dude, he was explaining it yesterday.
• 26:45
  How do they mine it? What is being what is happening?
• 26:47
  So this I I this is my understanding of it.
• 26:49
  Somebody tell me this is my hard earned and I don't know if this
• 26:52
  is even correct. But so there's like a computer
• 26:56
  network that is somehow securing Bitcoin by solving this like
• 27:01
  mathematical equation, like founder set out to where like it
• 27:05
  increases in difficulty. So if like a lot of bitcoins are
• 27:08
  being mined, you're mining a Bitcoin, you're being rewarded
• 27:12
  for dedicating computing power that then like secures the
• 27:15
  network itself, which is just this like weird mathematical
• 27:19
  function that can be like solved.
• 27:21
  And then for solving it you get a little Bitcoin as a reward,
• 27:23
  but then it then it like the network knows the problems being
• 27:26
  solved. OK, so I'm going to just have
• 27:28
  that playing in the background while we talk about this.
• 27:31
  This is the conversation, right, that the majority of societies
• 27:37
  currently having, OK, they don't, they don't really know.
• 27:40
  Like, I mean, he's doing actually a really good job at
• 27:42
  explaining it in my opinion. But you know, this is what
• 27:47
  society is going through. This is what people have to
• 27:49
  understand. Like this is where we are in the
• 27:51
  movie. This is where we are in history.
• 27:53
  It's extremely exciting for Bitcoin holders.
• 27:57
  And I think this is where we are.
• 27:59
  And you could say, Nico, you're wrong.
• 28:00
  This is not where we are. I don't know what you're talking
• 28:03
  about. I think this is where we are.
• 28:04
  I think this is where we are like I, I'm I my humble opinion
• 28:07
  and and I remember who, I forget who was telling me this.
• 28:11
  Wow, was it? It was Samson and it was on top
• 28:15
  of the volcano, But he was telling me this.
• 28:16
  He's like Niko, if you just like point at someone on the sidewalk
• 28:20
  randomly, what's the probability that they're into Bitcoin?
• 28:24
  It's probably really low, but I think the probability of the
• 28:29
  people around you, more than likely they know what Bitcoin
• 28:32
  is, They've heard about it, right.
• 28:34
  But the probability they know about the benefits of Bitcoin
• 28:36
  and they know whatever. We're still super early, but I
• 28:39
  think we're on the verge of that S curve acceleration where it
• 28:42
  just starts to go like like a straight line up.
• 28:45
  I think we're on the verge of that just because of the US
• 28:49
  government stance on it. Like of course, Naimbuque, El
• 28:52
  Salvador, you know, the, the nation state adoption, the
• 28:57
  institutional adoption, Michael Saylor, Wall Street, all the
• 29:00
  banks looking at it, the repeal of SAB 121, like at the end of
• 29:07
  Operation Choke Point 2.0. I mean, like, I think we're on
• 29:10
  the verge of what we do. Bitcoin, the ethos of Bitcoin,
• 29:15
  Bitcoin being used as money going mainstream.
• 29:19
  I really believe that. I think we went through as a
• 29:22
  society like essentially the end of legacy media.
• 29:25
  And it was like A8 year process, right?
• 29:29
  And they censored us in the beginning and they said social
• 29:32
  media is misinformation and all that stuff.
• 29:34
  And then we reached this like critical mass.
• 29:36
  And it's just almost as if it happened overnight where the
• 29:40
  vast majority of people were now consumed their news and
• 29:44
  information using social media rather than the legacy media.
• 29:48
  And I think we're going through that process with Bitcoin.
• 29:51
  And I think one day we're going to reach a critical mass or
• 29:54
  people are saying like that. You look at the you look at your
• 29:57
  left, you look at your right, and the vast majority of people
• 30:00
  are using Bitcoin, they're not using Fiat currencies.
• 30:03
  I think we're going through that process and I think it's going
• 30:05
  to roll out a lot quicker than people anticipate.
• 30:09
  It's good to be back anyway, shout out to the 3200 of you
• 30:13
  guys watching live between YouTube and X and of course,
• 30:16
  shout out to the almost 500 of you guys watching live on
• 30:19
  Rumble. If you guys are enjoying the
• 30:21
  show so far, you guys are listening to simply Bitcoin
• 30:23
  live, make sure to smash that like button anyways, Opti,
• 30:27
  what's going on here, bro? I mean you're more in The Who
• 30:30
  you're more in the know. I mean we did change the name of
• 30:34
  that segment to the culture segment because Opti's in the
• 30:37
  house in the coho seat. What is the cultural
• 30:40
  significance of Shane Mcgillis? Is that a shame?
• 30:44
  Shane Gillis, you know, talking about that.
• 30:47
  Also shout out to Marty Bent for Orange Billingham Opti.
• 30:51
  What's your take? Well, first of all, I do want to
• 30:54
  comment on the fact that Nico literally lives in a cocoon.
• 30:56
  He like doesn't know anything culturally outside of Bitcoin
• 31:00
  when it comes to Bitcoin and politics and it goes all over
• 31:02
  it. When it comes to just like
• 31:03
  what's going on in the popular culture, it's usually me and
• 31:06
  Sophie that are like nerding out about that stuff.
• 31:09
  So I, I just wanted to put that out there.
• 31:10
  I think it's hilarious. It's actually kind of amazing.
• 31:14
  You don't know who Shane Gillis is, so Shane Gillis right now
• 31:16
  is. He's alive.
• 31:17
  I've seen his video. He's the one that copies Trump
• 31:20
  and like, mimics Trump. He's amazing that he's effing.
• 31:22
  He's effing hilarious. Yeah, Kill Tony episode was
• 31:25
  amazing. But for the people that don't
• 31:27
  know Shane Gillis, he's, you know, kind of one of these bro
• 31:30
  comedians right now. He's kind of, you know, the hot
• 31:32
  flavour right now. He's hilarious.
• 31:34
  He does. He does a lot of good work.
• 31:36
  I think he's great. He's kind of on the cutting edge
• 31:38
  right now of, you know, testing the waters and saying maybe a
• 31:43
  little more edgy comedy than has normally, or rather for the last
• 31:46
  couple of years been kind of the prevalent culture.
• 31:49
  So he's one of these like bro comedians right now and and he's
• 31:52
  just hilarious. And so personally, I did play a
• 31:55
  clip for you guys last week. I believe it is again, all these
• 31:58
  episodes are just blurring into one.
• 32:00
  And it was Vivek Ramaswamy on Aiden Ross.
• 32:03
  And again, Aiden Ross is the biggest stream in the world.
• 32:05
  And so you're seeing a trend going on right now where it's
• 32:08
  not just Bitcoin content creators that are talking about
• 32:11
  Bitcoin. You're seeing the Bitcoin
• 32:13
  conversation start to rear its head in mainstream content,
• 32:17
  whether it's on, you know, the corporate press, on the news
• 32:19
  channels, you see the Bitcoin tickers, whether it's being
• 32:22
  talked about out in movies or in popular culture.
• 32:25
  We're getting to this point now. And I think it has to do with
• 32:27
  Bitcoin being around 100K, you know, in the six figures.
• 32:31
  And as it starts running, I think this is going to
• 32:34
  accelerate where more people that aren't necessarily
• 32:36
  Bitcoiners are going to be talking about Bitcoin.
• 32:37
  And then also, let's not forget about the whole meme coin rage
• 32:41
  going on right now on like TikTok and Instagram.
• 32:44
  You know, there's a lot of reels about young kids going into meme
• 32:47
  coin. So it is becoming a a trend that
• 32:50
  we're seeing a new theme going on where Bitcoin isn't just
• 32:53
  being relegated to Bitcoin nerds or, you know, Internet nerd
• 32:56
  money. It's starting to become
• 32:58
  legitimize. And I think that has a lot to do
• 33:00
  with essentially, you know, Trump talking about AUS
• 33:03
  strategic Bitcoin reserve politics has landed on our door.
• 33:06
  The institutions are here, institutional capital finally
• 33:09
  being able to get into Bitcoin, Bitcoins at six figures.
• 33:12
  So there's a lot of factors going in right now that are
• 33:15
  making people kind of turn their heads and talk about Bitcoin.
• 33:17
  And I think as more of these conversations happen, you're
• 33:21
  going to see more people get interested in Bitcoin.
• 33:22
  But I do think that this little clip we saw is, is a perfect
• 33:26
  zeitgeist of, of the popular culture right now.
• 33:29
  No one understands what Bitcoin is.
• 33:31
  I'm convinced most people have heard about Bitcoin, but they
• 33:34
  they don't really care or don't understand what is going on.
• 33:38
  And so you're seeing that these conversations are happening, but
• 33:41
  they all kind of happen in a similar way where they're like,
• 33:44
  yeah, I, I don't even know what it is.
• 33:45
  Like, I, I have no idea what this is.
• 33:48
  And you're, you're, I'm going to see more of that.
• 33:52
  And I don't necessarily even think that that is a bad idea or
• 33:56
  a bad thing. I just think that a lot of
• 33:59
  people aren't going to really care about Bitcoin.
• 34:01
  Like we care. And I don't think they
• 34:02
  necessarily have to. I don't think they have to be
• 34:04
  obsessed with Bitcoin. Understand all the technicals.
• 34:07
  As Bitcoin starts to saturate popular culture, it's just going
• 34:10
  to be ubiquitous with the modern world.
• 34:12
  It's like, remember, iPhones only been out since what, like
• 34:15
  2010, 2012? We all live with iPhones, you
• 34:19
  know, like Uber, Airbnb, B DoorDash, all of this stuff.
• 34:23
  Even YouTube is not that old. Like we are still kind of in
• 34:27
  like the maturing age of social media and this Internet culture.
• 34:31
  And so in this beginning portion of understanding Bitcoin, it was
• 34:35
  like our duty to fully breakdown Bitcoin, totally understand
• 34:39
  Bitcoin, dismantle the FUD of around Bitcoin because we needed
• 34:42
  to kind of have that Peace of Mind that, oh, hey, you know, I
• 34:46
  put all my net worth in this Internet nerd coin.
• 34:48
  Am I going to lose it all? And now you're getting to a
• 34:50
  point where as it goes into popular culture, I don't think
• 34:53
  people need to understand all the technicals.
• 34:55
  All they're going to need to know is essentially that iPhone
• 34:57
  moment for Bitcoin is having a wallet that has all of the first
• 35:01
  principles of Bitcoin, you know, maybe super easily connected to
• 35:04
  a node, doesn't have to understand about any of the back
• 35:08
  end stuff, maybe has some privacy features in it.
• 35:10
  And I think this is how we accelerate Bitcoin is just
• 35:13
  people using it not having to understand any of the back end.
• 35:16
  They're just like, yeah, I put my money in Bitcoin.
• 35:18
  It goes up in value. You know, it makes my life
• 35:21
  easier. I finally have savings.
• 35:23
  This is how we take over the culture.
• 35:25
  But it starts with, you know, funny guys like Shane Gillis
• 35:28
  being like, yeah, I don't understand Bitcoin.
• 35:30
  And he's like, it's the most revolutionary technology in the
• 35:32
  world. And he's like, yeah, see, I can
• 35:33
  do that. I I understand that much.
• 35:35
  So it's just a very interesting times to, to say the least.
• 35:39
  But anyways, John, what's your thought?
• 35:41
  Well, actually, first question, do you know who Shane Gillis is?
• 35:43
  And then what's your thoughts on it going mainstream?
• 35:46
  Yeah, I've heard of Shane Gillis, but I actually am not
• 35:48
  super familiar with his, his comedy.
• 35:51
  So I, I, I probably will have to check it out.
• 35:53
  I think I've seen him once or twice, but but not not super
• 35:57
  familiar. So, but, but listen, I'm, I'm
• 36:00
  also a 50 year old Gen. Xer.
• 36:03
  So, you know, I'm not super. I'm probably more like Nico, you
• 36:07
  know, I'm probably more aligned with like the politics and, you
• 36:10
  know, the, the financial stuff of Bitcoin and less of the, the
• 36:14
  cultural stuff. So.
• 36:16
  So no, I'm not super familiar with him.
• 36:18
  Got it. OK.
• 36:19
  So next question though, on on top of that, the idea of Bitcoin
• 36:23
  going mainstream, do you, I mean, you were telling me before
• 36:25
  the show you've been in Bitcoin since 2016.
• 36:28
  Do you start? Are you starting to feel that
• 36:30
  trend? Like what what?
• 36:32
  What is your thinking around Bitcoin in the cultural
• 36:34
  zeitgeist at the moment? Yeah, no, like 100% I feel that.
• 36:38
  But I, I also saw someone commented this, which is kind of
• 36:41
  my, you know, right in line with my same thoughts here, kind of
• 36:44
  reading the comments on the side as they come up.
• 36:46
  But like, you know, ultimately, like, man, I'm a little scared
• 36:50
  about going too fast here. And it's like all of a sudden
• 36:53
  your average, you know, your plebs can't get involved anymore
• 36:57
  or they think they can't get involved anymore, right?
• 36:59
  Because they're going to have that unit bias and they're going
• 37:02
  to go like what's what's you know, .001 Bitcoin going to do
• 37:07
  for me, you know? So it's, you know, that's the
• 37:09
  scary part as we kind of get sucked up into this, you know,
• 37:13
  this the governments and corporations kind of getting
• 37:16
  more involved and sucking up all the Bitcoin from your average
• 37:19
  individual person who, you know, ultimately, like really we want,
• 37:23
  we want more individual like we want of course we all want
• 37:27
  number go up, but we also want people to be able to be
• 37:29
  sovereign individuals, right? Like that's almost as important
• 37:33
  as number go up. So we might be giving up some of
• 37:36
  that to get a bigger number go up, which everyone's going to be
• 37:39
  happy about. But at the same time, you know,
• 37:42
  like there's there's some downside to that.
• 37:44
  Like there's pros and cons to every single thing in life.
• 37:47
  There's there's very few things that are all pro or all cons.
• 37:50
  So mainstream adoption is great. We want it to happen, but we
• 37:54
  also want to be careful that, you know, everyone gets in.
• 37:57
  Everyone who wants to become a sovereign individual has a
• 37:59
  chance to do that. Totally.
• 38:02
  And I mean, even that idea of sovereign individual, like I
• 38:05
  don't think many people are even familiar with what that term
• 38:08
  means. Obviously in the Bitcoin space,
• 38:10
  it's one of the bigger memes in in our culture and we understand
• 38:14
  the importance of it. But for the average people, I
• 38:17
  don't think they really even understand what what what is
• 38:20
  actually going on in the stakes of everything going on in the
• 38:22
  world. And actually I do have one more
• 38:25
  question here for you. You were talking about the .1.
• 38:29
  You know, what can .1 Bitcoin do for me?
• 38:32
  You've been in Bitcoin for a while.
• 38:34
  Obviously, we've been around the block for a little bit.
• 38:36
  I think what now that's it's your 9th year, it's my eighth
• 38:38
  year. It's like, it's so crazy how
• 38:40
  fast time flies. But the idea of unit bias, I
• 38:44
  think we're seeing that kind of play out right now.
• 38:47
  And we're going to, I think as we kind of continue to etch up
• 38:51
  in the six figure range, I think it's going to be very important
• 38:54
  to kind of separate this unit bias.
• 38:56
  Now. I really like the framing of
• 38:58
  it's not 100K Bitcoin, it's, you know, point 1,000,000 Bitcoin
• 39:02
  and that unit unit buys kicks in.
• 39:04
  So what's your thoughts on unit buys playing out in the the
• 39:07
  masses minds right now? Yeah, No, I mean to be fair, I
• 39:11
  mean like my wife is like measuring her balance on cash
• 39:16
  app and SAT's now, right, Because that's a that's an
• 39:19
  option. You can designate Bitcoin or
• 39:21
  SAT's on there. And I think, you know, the more
• 39:23
  we designate and SAT's because that's realistically where we're
• 39:27
  going, the, the better the unit bias issue is going to be for
• 39:31
  your average individual, right? Because I mean, your average
• 39:34
  individual, you know, isn't going to be able to like lump
• 39:37
  sum 5 bitcoins now, right? Like, but those days are gone,
• 39:41
  right? In 2017, you could lump sum 5
• 39:43
  bitcoins. Like my very first purchase at
• 39:46
  $600.00 was I think 4 bitcoins or six bitcoins, I can't even
• 39:50
  remember. So I mean, like, and that wasn't
• 39:52
  very much money like 2500 bucks in 2016 was you know what, 4000
• 39:57
  bucks now approximately, right? So like, you know, ultimately
• 40:01
  like people aren't lump sumning into multiple coins at one time.
• 40:04
  So we have to start designating in SATS because it's scary to
• 40:07
  think like, oh, I'm going to dump, you know, 50 grand.
• 40:10
  Into this asset and I'm not even going to have one full unit of
• 40:13
  it. I mean, that's I, I think most
• 40:15
  people, most like especially older Americans and older people
• 40:19
  are going to have a hard time with that concept.
• 40:22
  So like like thinking of it in terms of stats is a lot easier
• 40:25
  for your average person. Yeah, totally.
• 40:28
  I mean, This is why I, I, I always kind of joke that for a
• 40:32
  single dollar. Actually I've been kind of
• 40:34
  getting, I've been kind of getting some heat for this
• 40:35
  because I kind of like the idea of changing sats to Bitcoin and
• 40:39
  just be like, yeah, you can get 1000 Bitcoin for a dollar.
• 40:43
  Like really flipping the unit bias on people's heads.
• 40:45
  Because. Like, I mean, but really, even
• 40:48
  if you get down into the mass, I forget what it is, but you know,
• 40:51
  every millionaire in the world can't even own one Bitcoin.
• 40:53
  And I saw I saw this other statistic the other day or
• 40:56
  another breakdown of the numbers and I'm blanking on what it is.
• 40:59
  But the amount of of Bitcoin that you actually need to
• 41:04
  acquire to essentially, you know, I guess distribute the
• 41:07
  wealth around the world. It's like it's a lot smaller
• 41:10
  than a lot of people think. And man, it really is crazy how
• 41:14
  little Bitcoin we might actually need in the future to actually
• 41:17
  live a good life considering where we all think this is
• 41:21
  going. You know, I, I was watching some
• 41:22
  content this morning and people are saying my bull case is 1.1
• 41:26
  million this cycle. And I'm like, look, I'm a, I'm a
• 41:29
  bull tart as much as anyone else, But that seems a bit, that
• 41:32
  seems like a bit of a stretch right now.
• 41:34
  So I don't know. It's really, it's really
• 41:36
  impressive, I think how fast Bitcoin is coming.
• 41:39
  And I mean, you've been in a little longer than me.
• 41:41
  So actually someone in the chat said something kind of
• 41:45
  interesting. Let me see if I can find this
• 41:47
  real quick. It said something on the line,
• 41:50
  and I've been in Bitcoin for where'd it go, man?
• 41:54
  I'm blinking. Someone was saying, like if you
• 41:57
  would have told me a couple of years ago how fast things are.
• 41:59
  Oh, he said something. I don't think there's anything
• 42:02
  that I don't think there's such thing as moving too fast in
• 42:04
  Bitcoin. If you have asked me, you know,
• 42:06
  a couple years ago, all the things are happening.
• 42:08
  Would that happen? I would have wouldn't have
• 42:10
  believed you. So what's your thoughts on this?
• 42:13
  Are you are you in that same, same rabbit hole or are you kind
• 42:16
  of more where I'm thinking where like I want to see a lower, a
• 42:21
  slower adoption of Bitcoin because a fast adoption just
• 42:24
  really means the system is messed up and a lot of people
• 42:27
  are in pain. You know, you need to adopt
• 42:28
  Bitcoin by necessity. So what's your thoughts on that
• 42:31
  real quick? Yeah.
• 42:32
  I mean, well, just try to put yourself in the mindset of like,
• 42:36
  like, I mean, I think we probably all think about these
• 42:38
  things, but what happens? What happens if Bitcoin goes
• 42:41
  like number goes up super fast or purchasing power goes up
• 42:44
  super fast relative to Bitcoin that, like you said, that kind
• 42:48
  of means things are super messed up for everyone else.
• 42:50
  So then that becomes like, how safe really are we from all
• 42:55
  these no coiners, right? If number goes up super fast or
• 42:59
  purchasing power goes up super fast, then we like we become
• 43:02
  like instantaneously like. So I mean, I think number go up
• 43:05
  slower is better or purchasing power go up slower is better
• 43:10
  than, you know, then I mean, of course, we all want to feel
• 43:12
  like, you know, the, the generational wealth from it, but
• 43:16
  also like we want to live in a world where everybody else isn't
• 43:19
  hurting around us. Like, you know, number go up or
• 43:22
  purchasing power go up super fast.
• 43:24
  Like that means everyone else is hurting super bad.
• 43:26
  And we're the people with all the wealth and then we become
• 43:29
  targets, you know, And so that that might not be so great.
• 43:32
  People need to think again of the not just the pros of that,
• 43:36
  but also the cons of that. So like, like, and to be fair, I
• 43:40
  agree with you. Like, I mean, or your, your your
• 43:43
  buddy who says 1.1. I mean, I think we could go
• 43:46
  super fast. I don't, you know, I don't think
• 43:48
  that's how that may not necessarily be what I want, but
• 43:51
  I think I think it's a possibility.
• 43:53
  Yeah, I, I forget who's been saying it, but there's a
• 43:56
  definitely growing trend right now of saying where we are right
• 43:59
  now might just be Bitcoin boring us to death with just like it's
• 44:03
  not going to have a parabolic run.
• 44:05
  I don't think that this is happening, but people are kind
• 44:07
  of speculating that maybe 2026 isn't going to be the bear
• 44:10
  market we think it is. And it's just going to be like a
• 44:12
  boring, you know what? Wait, this is the funny part.
• 44:15
  It's just going to be like a boring, you know, 2-3 X and then
• 44:18
  it's going to go sideways and then it's going to continue to
• 44:20
  pump, you know, 100%. And we might not be seeing these
• 44:24
  parabolic runs anymore. So hopefully we got one more in
• 44:27
  US. But I would like to see a little
• 44:29
  damp in bear market. I'm not, I'm not against that.
• 44:31
  That sounds kind of fun. Yeah, no, I just want to feel
• 44:34
  like we're in a like, I just want to feel like society is in
• 44:37
  a good place. I mean, ultimately, like, at the
• 44:39
  end of the day, right? Like we've talked a little bit
• 44:41
  about this before we went, went live, but like, at the end of
• 44:45
  the day, like, you know, I don't want to just be like super
• 44:48
  wealthy in a world where most people you know, are, you know,
• 44:52
  are, are struggling because you know, it's, it's, you know, you
• 44:56
  want to see abundance for as many people as possible.
• 44:59
  I'm a huge Jeff Booth fan. So, you know, I, I try to try to
• 45:03
  kind of envision things in a positive potentially way where
• 45:07
  things just become more abundant for us and in society benefits
• 45:12
  as a whole instead of just like, like it's great.
• 45:15
  Like, yes, we're like, we're we smart enough or were we, you
• 45:19
  know, innovative enough to kind of figure this out before a lot
• 45:21
  of people? Sure, of course.
• 45:22
  And, and so we're, is anyone else who's in Bitcoin right now
• 45:26
  as opposed to people who are no pointers right now.
• 45:28
  But like, at the end of the day, like we should also care about
• 45:31
  the rest of the world. Because if the rest of the
• 45:33
  world's blowing up around us, it doesn't do us any good to be,
• 45:36
  you know, in a place, in an elevated place above those
• 45:39
  people financially, you know? Totally couldn't agree more.
• 45:43
  Couldn't agree more. All right, guys.
• 45:44
  Well, apparently Nico's Internet is completely dead, so we're
• 45:48
  rolling with the punches and I will wrap up the show, but here
• 45:51
  we go. Let's get into the news, guys.
• 45:54
  I want to give a very special shout out to our sponsor Compass
• 45:58
  Mining. They make Bitcoin mining
• 46:00
  accessible to everyone from beginners to experienced
• 46:04
  investors. Their turnkey miners gets you
• 46:07
  online and hashing within 48 hours, making it easier than
• 46:11
  ever to start your mining journey.
• 46:14
  Plus, with their active marketplace, you can resell your
• 46:17
  miner at anytime, adding flexibility and value to your
• 46:21
  investment. Visit their website to access a
• 46:24
  wealth of resources. Learning everything you need to
• 46:27
  know about Bitcoin mining. Take your first step into the
• 46:31
  world of Bitcoin mining with confidence.
• 46:33
  Discover more at Compass Mining dot IO.
• 46:36
  Again, Compass Mining dot IO and see how Compass Mining can power
• 46:41
  your success. I want to give a shout out to
• 46:52
  our sponsor foundation. It's self custody done right.
• 46:55
  They've built a premium grade hardware wallet called Passport
• 46:59
  right here in the US, and it integrates seamlessly with their
• 47:02
  free A called Envoy. Passport is fully open source
• 47:07
  and verifiable. It's the most intuitive Bitcoin
• 47:09
  wallet design with a UX reminiscent of a classic feature
• 47:13
  phone, so you'll know how to navigate it and use it the
• 47:16
  moment you pick it up. It's also air gaps, meaning
• 47:19
  Bitcoin stays offline, never touching an Internet connection.
• 47:23
  It's Bitcoin only open source, verifiable air gap security
• 47:27
  model, gorgeous design. Craft premium grade materials.
• 47:30
  Get your Bitcoin off. Exchanges and into your own
• 47:33
  hands in just a few minutes. With passport at foundation dot
• 47:37
  XYZ slash simply get Peace of Mind.
• 47:43
  All right guys, make sure you scan the QR code and get
• 47:47
  yourself a passport by foundation.
• 47:50
  You should not have your Bitcoin on exchanges.
• 47:52
  Literally do not leave your Bitcoin on exchanges.
• 47:56
  If you don't take it into custody, it's I would say it's
• 47:58
  not your it's not your Bitcoin, not your keys, not your cheese.
• 48:01
  And if you pair this with the Envoy app, I, I think it's one
• 48:05
  of the best and easiest ways to securely store your Bitcoin.
• 48:09
  I like to say it is grandma friendly.
• 48:11
  OK, so you know, really quickly, I was really hoping Nico's
• 48:17
  Internet wouldn't shut up on, on me today because he was
• 48:19
  literally just in El Salvador. So I was saving this topic for
• 48:22
  Nico to come back, but maybe we'll chime in on it tomorrow.
• 48:25
  But what am I talking about? We covered this a couple of
• 48:28
  months ago when the news came out, but now we're getting a
• 48:32
  little more clarity on what's going on.
• 48:34
  And here we have a headline. It is El Salvador walks back its
• 48:38
  Bitcoin law, but it's still investing more in Bitcoin.
• 48:42
  So this dropped yesterday. To get interesting development,
• 48:45
  let's cover this article. So four years after becoming the
• 48:47
  first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, El Salvador is
• 48:51
  taking a step back. The Legislative Assembly has
• 48:53
  approved changes to the country's Bitcoin law,
• 48:55
  effectively removing Bitcoin status as a legal currency.
• 48:59
  On January 29th, the assembly controlled by President Naibu
• 49:03
  Kelly's New Ideas Party passed this legislation with A55 to two
• 49:07
  vote. Six articles of the Bitcoin law
• 49:09
  were modified and three others were repealed.
• 49:12
  Under the new rules, Bitcoin is no longer considered currency,
• 49:15
  though it remains a legal tender.
• 49:17
  Another change makes using Bitcoin entirely voluntary.
• 49:21
  Entirely voluntary. Previously, the law mandated
• 49:24
  that businesses accept Bitcoin for any goods or services they
• 49:26
  provided. Additionally, Bitcoin can no
• 49:29
  longer be used to pay taxes or settle government debts.
• 49:32
  The government is also stepping back from its involvement in
• 49:34
  Chibo wallet, the state back digital wallet.
• 49:37
  The changes are expected to take effect 90 days after this
• 49:40
  publication, so 89 days from today in the Official Gazette,
• 49:44
  which is likely to happen in the next few days.
• 49:46
  The reforms comes as part of a broader financial agreement
• 49:49
  between Buchelle and the IMF. And one of the conditions for a
• 49:53
  proposed $1.4 billion extended fund facility loan was that El
• 49:58
  Salvador mitigate potential risk of the Bitcoin project.
• 50:02
  So interesting, that's, that's basically basically, you know,
• 50:06
  the, the breakdown of it. On the one hand, it does seem
• 50:11
  kind of like an L like I'm not, I'm not going to lie, it is it
• 50:14
  was a little bit disappointing that the basically the legal
• 50:18
  tender status for Bitcoin in El Salvador has to kind of get
• 50:22
  pulled back. But the voluntary part of this
• 50:27
  does kind of make me feel that it's almost like a good thing
• 50:30
  because Bitcoin is voluntary, it's permissionless.
• 50:33
  This is the whole beauty of Bitcoin is that no one is
• 50:37
  forcing you to use Bitcoin. It is basically being used in a
• 50:40
  peer-to-peer manner on a voluntary basis.
• 50:43
  So there's some things here that I think kind of do a line better
• 50:47
  with Bitcoin ethos. And then the other parts are, I
• 50:51
  don't want to say this because I really like El Salvador, I
• 50:53
  really like Naibu Kele. But it does almost feel like in
• 50:56
  the more cynical Bitcoins have been saying this, it did almost
• 51:00
  feel like the whole Bitcoin law was a PR stunt at some point.
• 51:04
  I'm not, I don't want to say that, but I'm just relaying what
• 51:06
  people are saying. But as I said, when this news
• 51:08
  came out, it really, I think it's a lot bigger than just bit
• 51:13
  corners. Obviously bit corners all of us,
• 51:16
  we think we're, we're, you know, the sun in the solar system,
• 51:19
  everything revolves around us. But there's a lot of people in
• 51:21
  his country that aren't bit corners.
• 51:23
  And this billion dollar investment from the IMF, it's
• 51:26
  obviously going to be doing a lot of things for the
• 51:29
  infrastructure, though it is kind of feeling like a, you
• 51:34
  know, economic hitman book. If you guys understand what the
• 51:36
  IMF is and all that stuff, it does seem like maybe Naive bent
• 51:40
  the knee to the IMF. Obviously the IMF has a big
• 51:43
  issue with Bitcoin, the adoption of Bitcoin.
• 51:46
  They've been fighting Bitcoin at every turn.
• 51:48
  But the crazy part about this story is if you read the report,
• 51:54
  the P, the the press release about this, they basically said
• 51:57
  that they wanted to minimize their investment into Bitcoin
• 52:01
  now. But there was a little bit of
• 52:03
  uncertainty on Twitter around this because everyone knows that
• 52:07
  the El Salvador's reserves in Bitcoin are being tracked.
• 52:10
  It is all public. But there was a couple days
• 52:13
  where it looked like El Salvador had stopped buying Bitcoin
• 52:17
  around when this law was kind of being talked about.
• 52:20
  I think they stopped it for about four or five days, and
• 52:23
  then they came back and bought 5 Bitcoin in one bulk order.
• 52:27
  And then it seemed like they might have taken a few days off
• 52:30
  after that. And then yesterday.
• 52:32
  Was this yesterday? Yeah, yesterday they came back
• 52:35
  and just added 11 bitcoins to their reserve.
• 52:38
  And you see Naibu Calais, you know, with the eyes emojis.
• 52:42
  And here's the holdings for their official El Salvador
• 52:45
  reserves. So it looks like maybe they're
• 52:49
  pulling back on it actually being implemented.
• 52:52
  And, you know, some would argue by state boards here where you
• 52:54
  are forced to use Bitcoin now it's becoming voluntary.
• 52:58
  It still does look like Bitcoin is legal tender status there.
• 53:01
  It's just, you know, you can you can kind of break down the
• 53:04
  semantics of what that actually means.
• 53:07
  But it does seem like they are still obviously super invested
• 53:11
  in Bitcoin. Naiba Kelly, I think is a
• 53:13
  bitcoiner still. It's not like he's scrapping
• 53:15
  that just to bend the knee to the IMF.
• 53:17
  But it is very interesting that we did see this change for an
• 53:20
  IMF loan, though they are still doubling down on buying a lot of
• 53:24
  Bitcoin. So it's I think it's a very
• 53:27
  interesting story. Now, I wish Nico was here so we
• 53:29
  could talk about this. He was literally just down
• 53:32
  there. But hey, this is the the recent
• 53:35
  development going on in El Salvador.
• 53:37
  Very interesting to say the least, at least from our
• 53:40
  perspective as bitcoiners. Now, you know, I've been seeing
• 53:43
  even like Doctor Jack Cruz saying that El Salvador is no
• 53:46
  longer just Bitcoin country, though Stacy and and Max Keiser
• 53:50
  are, are arguing the opposite, that it's still Bitcoin country,
• 53:53
  it's still freedom country. So they're still, I think in the
• 53:56
  history books, we'll consider the first country to adopt
• 53:58
  Bitcoin as legal tender status. Obviously, there's some
• 54:01
  semantics and maybe some legal workarounds that we're seeing
• 54:04
  play out right now. So this is, you know, this is
• 54:08
  where we are on the one hand, as a kind of more of a a
• 54:11
  libertarian volunteerist here. I think Bitcoin should be
• 54:14
  voluntary to, you know, to be very blunt about it.
• 54:17
  So I'm not really too upset about this move, but it does
• 54:22
  seem like he is kind of walking back that Bitcoin status right
• 54:26
  now. But again, Bitcoiners aren't the
• 54:28
  only thing in the world. And I think that that billion
• 54:30
  dollar loan from the IMF, though, we don't really know
• 54:33
  what all of the strings attached to it will actually encounter
• 54:37
  what they actually mean. It does seem like obviously the
• 54:41
  IMF still has a huge chip on its shoulder in regards to Bitcoin,
• 54:45
  because we know if Bitcoin gets adopted in a lot of these, you
• 54:48
  know, southern country, the global S, then the IMF control
• 54:51
  on, on the world, on the world stage is going to minimize.
• 54:55
  And so it, it's obviously this is where I start to kind of go
• 54:59
  down. This is why we know Bitcoin is
• 55:01
  super important when a group like the IMF, literally the the
• 55:04
  stipulation is, hey, you got to pull back on your Bitcoin
• 55:07
  investment. That's the stuff that makes
• 55:09
  makes me see red flags and I'm like, OK, this just means that
• 55:12
  we are winning. El Salvador's obviously doing a
• 55:15
  lot better than it was four years ago when they announced
• 55:17
  this. So very interesting developments
• 55:19
  we have here. But John, you, you know, you're
• 55:22
  throwing the Bitcoin Medellin conference in Colombia.
• 55:25
  So and you were telling me before the show that you think,
• 55:28
  you know, the global S adopting Bitcoin is going to be a huge
• 55:30
  thing. So what's your thoughts on
• 55:32
  seeing El Salvador seemingly pull back into Bitcoin law?
• 55:35
  Yeah, I know. I mean, I, I think it sucks.
• 55:37
  I mean, like, let's be realistic.
• 55:39
  So because, you know, it's just such positive, you know, PR for
• 55:44
  the Bitcoin community that this is like Bitcoin country and now
• 55:47
  they're like going backwards. I think it's it's kind of
• 55:49
  depressing for Bitcoiners, you know, really on one hand and
• 55:53
  then on the other hand, you're like, OK, that's great.
• 55:55
  Because Bitcoin is, you know, like, again, going back, Bitcoin
• 55:58
  is like a sovereign individual thing.
• 56:00
  Like, do we really want companies and corporations and
• 56:03
  countries, you know, do we want them to really, do we have it or
• 56:06
  do we want it to be in the hands of the pleb?
• 56:07
  So, you know, I think it's like, you know, again, double edged
• 56:10
  sword here. You know, I mean, like, it sucks
• 56:12
  that, you know, that sucks that, you know, they that they dumped
• 56:16
  us, right, That El Salvador dumped Bitcoin.
• 56:19
  But you know, you can still go to El Salvador and there's
• 56:21
  plenty of people still accepting Bitcoin, grocery stores still
• 56:24
  accepting it. I saw a bunch of the people that
• 56:27
  were down there for Plan B and you know, so the, you know,
• 56:29
  people are still accepting it and it's, you know, I don't
• 56:32
  think that's going to go away. And I think there is a good
• 56:35
  chance that, you know, that it comes back.
• 56:37
  But I do think it sucks right now that they that they dumped
• 56:40
  us so. Yeah.
• 56:42
  I mean, I, I think that is kind of the common sentiment though
• 56:46
  it seems like they might have accelerated their buying of
• 56:49
  Bitcoin to their reserves. And I'm pretty sure that was one
• 56:52
  of the stipulations where they have to kind of pull back on it.
• 56:55
  So I mean, I don't, I don't like to predict or mind read here,
• 56:59
  but you know, the being a kind of more, more less cynical about
• 57:04
  it. Maybe this is a 5D chest move
• 57:06
  and we're just not Privy to all the details here, but it does
• 57:09
  seem like ever since this announcement happened where they
• 57:11
  were supposed to pull back on their Bitcoin buys, they're just
• 57:14
  doubling down and they're buying more Bitcoin than they ever were
• 57:17
  before. So on the one hand, it seems
• 57:19
  like they are accelerating their Bitcoin reserves and on the
• 57:21
  other hand, it's obviously not being enforced anymore as as a
• 57:26
  mandatory effect here or mandatory law in El Salvador.
• 57:31
  So I think there is a, it's not black and white, I would say.
• 57:34
  But yeah, I, I would agree with you, John, it does seem it does
• 57:37
  suck. Let you know, we'll leave it at
• 57:39
  that one. But let's get into Speaking of
• 57:41
  the global S. Our boy John just threw a
• 57:44
  conference, the first conference in Medellin, the Bitcoin
• 57:47
  Medellin conference. So we're going to talk about all
• 57:49
  that going on right now. Let's get into it.
• 57:53
  I want to give a shout out to our sponsor Hive Digital
• 57:56
  Technologies. As the first ever public miner,
• 57:59
  Hive's been battle tested through every possible market
• 58:03
  and as the first with an AI strategy, Hive continues to
• 58:08
  redefine the future of sustainable energy.
• 58:11
  Also got to casually drop this in here.
• 58:13
  Hive consistently tops the industry in Bitcoin mine per
• 58:18
  Exahash. They're lean and mean, they're
• 58:21
  green and clean, and they're changing the the game.
• 58:24
  Learn more by following them at Hive Digital Tech or check out
• 58:28
  their website, hivedigitaltech.com.
• 58:42
  All right guys, the last last plug for you guys.
• 58:45
  I know you're yelling at me, but make sure you guys get to
• 58:47
  Bitblock Boom April 3rd to April 6th in Dallas.
• 58:51
  This is our home conference. We love this conference.
• 58:54
  This is literally where simply Bitcoin was spawned from.
• 58:57
  This is how we created the show in the 1st place.
• 59:00
  A true Bitcoin conference. It's small so that you can
• 59:03
  interact with a lot of bit corners.
• 59:05
  It is really a, you know, a a pleb LED conference.
• 59:08
  It's all the cool people end up in Dallas for Bitblock Boom.
• 59:11
  It's a lot of people favorite conference and of course, you
• 59:14
  need to get to Dallas, you need to eat some really good BBQ
• 59:16
  guys. This is this is the best
• 59:18
  barbecue in the world. I am a little biased here.
• 59:20
  This is my home conference literally and figuratively.
• 59:23
  Anyways, let's get into talking about Bitcoin Medellin.
• 59:28
  So John, thank you so much for coming here.
• 59:31
  I'll pull up the website real quick and let's talk about it.
• 59:35
  So I know this is your first conference.
• 59:38
  So maybe let's just start with why did you do the Bitcoin
• 59:42
  Medellin conference for the first year and maybe you can let
• 59:45
  some people know just how stressful it is to throw on
• 59:47
  events in the 1st. Place yeah, no, for sure.
• 59:51
  So I just I've been running events since like 2000.
• 59:55
  I coached college basketball for 1520 years and then after
• 59:59
  coaching college basketball or in conjunction was running a
• 1:00:02
  bunch of youth basketball events all over the country and you
• 1:00:07
  know, went to started trying to drag my wife and turn her into a
• 1:00:12
  Bitcoin. Two brought her to Bitcoin
• 1:00:14
  Amsterdam and, and there was just so much talk about ordinals
• 1:00:19
  and, you know, a bunch of shit coins on Bitcoin.
• 1:00:22
  And and so again, like, you know, maybe, maybe I'm
• 1:00:28
  negatively talking about stuff that people like here, but you
• 1:00:31
  know, I'm kind of a money maximalist and I just felt like,
• 1:00:35
  you know, this, this sucks, like trying to orange peel my wife
• 1:00:38
  and they're spending all this time talking about ordinals like
• 1:00:41
  this is just ridiculous. And you know, Bitcoin magazine
• 1:00:44
  is awesome, but you know, they have some financial incentives
• 1:00:47
  that are in line to promote some of these things and, and BRC 20s
• 1:00:52
  and you know, ordinals and all this bullshit.
• 1:00:54
  And so I just said like, you know, we, we need to like, you
• 1:00:58
  know, I wanted to put on, I wanted to, again, I'm a huge fan
• 1:01:01
  of Jeff Booth. So I wanted to take some of what
• 1:01:03
  I did in, in, you know, the Fiat world and, and take some of my
• 1:01:08
  personal skills, since I'm not like a developer, I'm not a
• 1:01:11
  contradfi person. I want to take some of what my
• 1:01:14
  skills were event planning and put them into the new system,
• 1:01:18
  into the Bitcoin system. So we, we decided like, hey,
• 1:01:21
  like if we ran an event in the United States, like we're not
• 1:01:23
  going to be able to have that big of an impact on people.
• 1:01:26
  Like, you know, there's 30 people doing it here that are
• 1:01:29
  way more prominent than us. So let's go find some place that
• 1:01:32
  like could benefit from us running an event there.
• 1:01:36
  And so that's we, we loved Medelline.
• 1:01:38
  We've been there a lot, my wife and I, and it's a great place.
• 1:01:42
  A lot of digital nomads, a lot of entrepreneurs, lots of people
• 1:01:46
  from all over the world have been there.
• 1:01:48
  And there's a lot of Bitcoiners there.
• 1:01:49
  British Huddle is, is there a lot Oliver Velez, I saw some
• 1:01:53
  actually people talk about him in the chat.
• 1:01:54
  I actually thought his talk at Bitcoin Medelline was one of the
• 1:01:58
  best talks I've ever heard at a Bitcoin conference.
• 1:02:00
  And so, you know, so we just went out there and started
• 1:02:04
  planning this thing and, and, you know, we got it off the
• 1:02:08
  ground thankfully. And and like you said, it was
• 1:02:10
  really stressful. I mean, of course, you know, the
• 1:02:13
  three weeks, as I was telling you guys before the conference,
• 1:02:16
  I mean, we were, we were literally super far financially
• 1:02:19
  underwater and we just kept plugging away at it.
• 1:02:21
  And at the end a bunch, you know, as, as I've been told for
• 1:02:25
  these Bitcoin events, like people wait to the absolute last
• 1:02:27
  minute to buy tickets. I mean, we were selling, you
• 1:02:30
  know, people were walking up and buying tickets at the door,
• 1:02:32
  which I was pretty surprised about.
• 1:02:34
  So, so yeah, so it all went off great.
• 1:02:37
  A lot of, you know, BJ Dichter was there.
• 1:02:41
  He talked to us. He's was very involved in the
• 1:02:44
  Canadian truckers thing. And so he he told us he thought,
• 1:02:49
  you know, it went off like a second or third year event, very
• 1:02:51
  organized. We were pretty on time with
• 1:02:54
  everything. We did run a little bit behind
• 1:02:56
  the second day, like maybe an hour, but but yeah, I know
• 1:03:01
  everything went really well. It was all broadcast on YouTube
• 1:03:04
  and Twitter and you know, we had a bunch of pretty big name
• 1:03:08
  people there. So so I was very pleased with it
• 1:03:10
  and I think it's going to going to grow even more next year.
• 1:03:13
  I mean, Jeff has told us he thinks he might be able to twist
• 1:03:16
  some, some arms of people like Lynn Alden and James lavish and
• 1:03:20
  some of the people that I I personally really enjoy.
• 1:03:23
  So I, I ran it like, Hey, this is some, this is a conference I
• 1:03:26
  would personally love to go to. And that's, that's how I tried
• 1:03:30
  to structure it. We, there was no one, no one
• 1:03:32
  said shit about ordinals. We didn't talk about that at
• 1:03:35
  all. Thank God.
• 1:03:36
  That's basically gone away now. So, you know, really I, I
• 1:03:40
  actually really optimistic about that.
• 1:03:43
  Love it, love it. Well, First off, though, could
• 1:03:46
  you unpack? Because I mean, I know it, I
• 1:03:48
  think most of our audience knows or the majority of our audience
• 1:03:51
  probably understands what you mean by that Jeff Booth meme.
• 1:03:55
  But could you explain for maybe some new people that don't
• 1:03:57
  understand and what that actually means?
• 1:03:59
  So just unpack that Jeff Booth meme a little bit and then we'll
• 1:04:03
  we'll talk about the conference a little more.
• 1:04:05
  Yeah, sure. No, I just think like, you know,
• 1:04:08
  we, you know, like we're all out here farming for Fiat dollars,
• 1:04:13
  right? And like most of us like, and
• 1:04:15
  I'm assuming most of your audience too, like we're out
• 1:04:17
  here farming for Fiat dollars to buy more Bitcoin.
• 1:04:20
  So, you know, I just think like, you know, and so we want to do
• 1:04:24
  things that like promote the new system because obviously if
• 1:04:28
  you're, you're, you're operating in this new system partially,
• 1:04:31
  but then like you're still operating in the Fiat system.
• 1:04:33
  Like it's, it's just so much easier.
• 1:04:35
  You can see where things are going a lot easier from inside
• 1:04:38
  the new system than like fighting against it in the old
• 1:04:41
  system. So to me, it was just really
• 1:04:45
  important to again try to take my skills that I developed
• 1:04:49
  throughout, you know, the last 20 years and put them into, into
• 1:04:53
  something that was in the Bitcoin space and, and this is
• 1:04:56
  this is what came out of it, so. Love it, love it.
• 1:05:00
  OK, so let's just talk about I mean, look, proof of work first
• 1:05:03
  conference for people that don't know how to throw or put on
• 1:05:07
  events. They're always stressful.
• 1:05:08
  We've been involved in a lot. So the fact that you, you know,
• 1:05:11
  you did it and actually I, I do want to do a shout out, shout
• 1:05:14
  out to our boy Sal. He listens to us all the time.
• 1:05:17
  He's helping you do some marketing for Bitcoin.
• 1:05:20
  Medellin, I'm actually going to go, you know, train with him
• 1:05:22
  later today. He's he's one of our our good
• 1:05:25
  friends here at simply Bitcoin. And so I want to give him a
• 1:05:27
  special shout out. I know he's working with, and he
• 1:05:29
  was telling me about this conference and he's like, have
• 1:05:32
  you heard of it? And I was like, no, I, I, I
• 1:05:34
  didn't even know. There's so many conferences
• 1:05:36
  first and foremost that I, I didn't hear about it.
• 1:05:38
  And he's like, yeah, it's the first year.
• 1:05:40
  It seems like it's going to go off without a hitch.
• 1:05:42
  And you know, it did. And that proof of work of doing
• 1:05:45
  your first conference and the fact that you threw it and what
• 1:05:48
  Oliver was saying that it looked like it was a second or third
• 1:05:50
  year conference, probably because of your other talents
• 1:05:54
  outside of Bitcoin. So kudos to you.
• 1:05:56
  But let's talk about this year a little bit.
• 1:05:58
  Bitcoin meta, you know where it was and and how it went down.
• 1:06:02
  And then we'll talk about it for next year.
• 1:06:04
  We'll we'll start to plant the seeds for the next conference.
• 1:06:07
  I'm guessing there's going to be an excellent.
• 1:06:09
  Yeah, no, that's the plan. I mean, I think we can only just
• 1:06:12
  continue to grow this thing and Meta Gene and you know, like we
• 1:06:15
  had one of the things that we tried to do this year was make
• 1:06:18
  it a little cheaper for people who are South American natives
• 1:06:24
  and or residents. And so next year we're going to
• 1:06:27
  try to try to do even more in terms of in terms of making it
• 1:06:32
  affordable. I think next year what we're
• 1:06:33
  going to try to do is for Colombians living in Colombia,
• 1:06:37
  we're going to make it $25 for a ticket next year, 25 US.
• 1:06:41
  So just just to make it so that they, we, we just want them to
• 1:06:45
  come. Like, I mean, I think education
• 1:06:47
  is so important and, you know, so we're going to do everything
• 1:06:51
  we can to help help them out. And, you know, now that we've
• 1:06:54
  got this thing up and running, I mean, I think there's a lot of
• 1:06:56
  people who, you know, just were like, Hey, we've never heard of
• 1:06:59
  these people before. Like I'm not going to fly all
• 1:07:01
  the way down to Columbia and, you know, take a chance to see
• 1:07:04
  if this thing really happens or not.
• 1:07:06
  But now the like you said, now that we have proof of work, I
• 1:07:08
  think there's a, you know, this thing is just going to be going
• 1:07:11
  to explode. Yeah, no, awesome.
• 1:07:14
  And also I see a lot of friends on this list now I'm kind of I'm
• 1:07:18
  kind of getting the FOMO here. I'm like, man, I should have, I
• 1:07:20
  should have gone down there. I have a bunch of buddies on
• 1:07:22
  this list that speakers that sounds awesome.
• 1:07:27
  No, it was really incredible. I mean the speakers were
• 1:07:29
  incredible. I mean, a lot of big name people
• 1:07:31
  took a chance on us, which was great.
• 1:07:34
  And you know, like just just to give you my background, like in
• 1:07:37
  terms of like running events, like so when we run these
• 1:07:41
  basketball events, like the first thing is to go like get
• 1:07:43
  like whatever the best facility you can get in like the first
• 1:07:46
  class facility that's beautiful and whatever.
• 1:07:49
  And then the second biggest thing is like go get some big
• 1:07:51
  name teams that other people want to play against or know
• 1:07:54
  that will draw college coaches. Therefore they'll that'll help.
• 1:07:58
  There'll be more college coaches at the event to recruit their
• 1:08:00
  players. So for this we kind of did the
• 1:08:02
  same format. Like I went and found the like
• 1:08:04
  nicest Conference Center in Medelline and, and then went
• 1:08:09
  and, you know, talked to Jeff Booth and basically said like,
• 1:08:12
  hey, like what what it, what will it take?
• 1:08:14
  Like whatever it takes, we're going to do it.
• 1:08:16
  And so once we got him on board, he was like, like some of your
• 1:08:19
  friends that were speakers, we just went to them and said like,
• 1:08:21
  Hey, we got Jeff on board. Like it's he's 100% doing this.
• 1:08:25
  And like, you know, essentially then that's how we started
• 1:08:28
  getting a bunch of other really good speakers to come do it.
• 1:08:30
  So, you know, thankfully they, they took a chance on us and and
• 1:08:35
  here we are. Love it, love it.
• 1:08:37
  OK, now for for the elephant in the room.
• 1:08:40
  And the seeming theme in the chat right now is the safety
• 1:08:45
  concerns about being in Columbia.
• 1:08:46
  We were talking about this earlier and you're like, no, it
• 1:08:49
  was great. We had no, no hiccups.
• 1:08:51
  So for people maybe on the fence of going down to Columbia and
• 1:08:56
  going to a Bitcoin conference, what would be your elevator
• 1:09:00
  pitch on that? Yeah, I mean, like, I mean,
• 1:09:03
  listen, I I spent a lot of time in New York City and I live here
• 1:09:08
  in Jacksonville, FL, which is pretty good.
• 1:09:11
  Like, you know, when you're in these cities, you don't drive in
• 1:09:13
  the hood and get out of your car and walk around at night.
• 1:09:15
  Like, I mean, like you're doing the same thing in Medellin.
• 1:09:18
  Like the conference is in the daytime.
• 1:09:20
  You know, it's it's, you know, you're coming to a major
• 1:09:23
  Conference Center in a major city.
• 1:09:24
  Like, you know, there's security there, you know.
• 1:09:27
  Yeah. I mean, someone said US is more
• 1:09:29
  dangerous, like it probably is. I mean, like, like this isn't a,
• 1:09:33
  you know, we're not talking about, you know, Pablo Escobar's
• 1:09:36
  Columbia, you know, I mean, this is like 2016.
• 1:09:39
  Like just mind your own business and like, you know, like don't
• 1:09:42
  come down there. Like, I mean, I, you know, like,
• 1:09:45
  look, I mean, I didn't wear my necklace down there, you know,
• 1:09:47
  like I don't, I didn't run around with a bunch of Bitcoin
• 1:09:50
  stuff on, you know, like just use common sense.
• 1:09:53
  Like I think people, people, you know, forget to use common sense
• 1:09:56
  a lot. Like don't come down there and
• 1:09:58
  like, you know, they have your hardware wallet, you know, on a,
• 1:10:01
  on a necklace around your neck. Like, I mean, don't be an idiot
• 1:10:03
  and you'll be fine. Love it love it.
• 1:10:08
  OK, there is one one other thing before you know we can plug next
• 1:10:12
  year's and and what you have in the works.
• 1:10:14
  But I know before the show and we didn't really touch on this
• 1:10:18
  is this idea of just how important you think Bitcoin will
• 1:10:22
  be for the global South and considering we did touch on El
• 1:10:25
  Salvador today, I think we should you know get get a little
• 1:10:28
  get a little rant out of you on that one.
• 1:10:30
  How important do you think the bit that Bitcoin will be for the
• 1:10:33
  Global South and basically why you're doing the conference down
• 1:10:35
  there and and what your efforts are to ensure that more people
• 1:10:39
  get on the Bitcoin standard? Yeah, for sure.
• 1:10:42
  No, I I appreciate the opportunity.
• 1:10:44
  You say it like what if your what are your viewers here in
• 1:10:46
  the chat called me a socialist. So that's, yeah, that's pretty
• 1:10:50
  funny 'cause listen, I like, like, look, I mean, I want other
• 1:10:54
  people to be OK, but if they're too stupid to be OK, I can't fix
• 1:10:57
  that either. But like, we have to give people
• 1:10:59
  an opportunity and educate them and then they have to personally
• 1:11:03
  take action themselves. Like I can't take action for
• 1:11:06
  other people. If I was a socialist, I'd be
• 1:11:08
  like, Hey, listen, let's let me share all my Bitcoin with
• 1:11:11
  people. Like, I mean, like, sorry, guys,
• 1:11:13
  not sharing with you, like you have to make your own decision.
• 1:11:16
  But knowing what I know, I feel in a moral obligation to try to
• 1:11:21
  educate other people and get people on board so that they
• 1:11:25
  don't have to get hurt in the process of all their, you know,
• 1:11:28
  of all the Fiat dilution that there is out there.
• 1:11:31
  And, and you know, like I, I just, I just want to live my
• 1:11:34
  life and try to be a good person.
• 1:11:35
  I think, like, to me that's like the most important thing is
• 1:11:38
  like, try to be a good person, try to help other people, but if
• 1:11:42
  they don't get it and they're too stupid to get on board, like
• 1:11:45
  I can't do anything about that. But you know, what I can do is
• 1:11:48
  do my part in trying to relay this message to more people.
• 1:11:53
  And I think like, I don't need to relay it to more people in
• 1:11:56
  America. There's plenty of people doing
• 1:11:58
  that already as an American. But like, I can go other places
• 1:12:01
  where I think they might need it and try to spread the message.
• 1:12:04
  Even if I'm not a native Colombian or even if I'm just
• 1:12:08
  some gringo from up here in the US, like who cares?
• 1:12:11
  I can still go try to help other people and I think life is all
• 1:12:14
  about like I get the most satisfaction in life when I'm
• 1:12:16
  helping other people. So, you know, I just try to do
• 1:12:19
  what makes me feel good. And if that makes me a
• 1:12:21
  socialist, I guess, but I really don't.
• 1:12:23
  I I think I'm a pretty big gapple in the list as an
• 1:12:26
  entrepreneur. So I'm not like, you know, like,
• 1:12:29
  OK, dude. Well, John, I, I, I usually do
• 1:12:32
  the, the the warning before the show that our chat is considered
• 1:12:36
  the troll box, but I completely, I completely blanked on it
• 1:12:39
  today. So, you know, I guess a little
• 1:12:41
  late to to warn you about the troll box.
• 1:12:44
  But yeah, that ends our. Duty it's cool, it's all good
• 1:12:47
  No, it's awesome fun and like listen, I love like I love when
• 1:12:51
  I get to be an anonymous person. We can take shots at other
• 1:12:53
  people for like stupid shit they say or whatever, but you know, I
• 1:12:57
  just I definitely want to clear that up.
• 1:12:59
  I trust me. I'm not a Christmas.
• 1:13:01
  I, I know I care about other people and like, you know, like
• 1:13:04
  at the end of the day, I want to help as many people as I can and
• 1:13:07
  you know, but I, I also can't control people like in their
• 1:13:10
  decisions, so. Yeah, no, totally, totally.
• 1:13:14
  You know, we were, we were joking last week that man, you
• 1:13:17
  know, if we weren't the Bitcoin as we were, it would be nice to
• 1:13:19
  force people to adopt Bitcoin. But we're we were volunteerists
• 1:13:23
  here, like, hey, this is a voluntary protocol.
• 1:13:25
  And obviously, I think I, to your credit and what you're
• 1:13:29
  saying, I really do believe it's our duty to continue to educate
• 1:13:32
  as many people as possible considering what we think might
• 1:13:35
  be on the horizon, especially if the Fiat system is looking like
• 1:13:39
  it's, you know, wobbling, it's cracking.
• 1:13:42
  I think it's every bitcoiners duty to continue to try to
• 1:13:44
  spread the Bitcoin message. And obviously everyone will play
• 1:13:48
  their part. It's not, it's doesn't
• 1:13:49
  necessarily have to be your duty, particularly like you guys
• 1:13:52
  watching this. But I think as as a bitcoiner,
• 1:13:56
  we should be trying. And I, and I hate to use should
• 1:13:58
  have, could have, would have done all this.
• 1:13:59
  But I think it's important for us to continue to try to educate
• 1:14:02
  our friends and family and do our part to make sure that more
• 1:14:05
  people do get on the Bitcoin safety bolt or the, you know,
• 1:14:08
  the exit route or whatever you want to talk about it like
• 1:14:11
  Bitcoin is the solution to the modern world's problems.
• 1:14:14
  People are getting poorer, people are having hard times in
• 1:14:17
  the traditional financial system and continuing to educate people
• 1:14:21
  and showing them that there is an alternative.
• 1:14:24
  I think it's one of the most important things to be doing.
• 1:14:26
  Hence why we do this show is obviously it's become our our
• 1:14:30
  business, but we also truly believe in the message of
• 1:14:32
  spreading Bitcoin to as many people as possible.
• 1:14:35
  And it's not just about institutional capital getting
• 1:14:37
  into Bitcoin or nation state adoptions of Bitcoin or, you
• 1:14:40
  know, like governments, etcetera.
• 1:14:43
  It's about retail. It's about individuals learning
• 1:14:46
  that there is a better system, there is a better way to store
• 1:14:49
  your value. And that is, of course, Bitcoin.
• 1:14:52
  As the meme goes, fix the money, fix the world.
• 1:14:54
  So John, kudos to you. Now, before we wrap up the show,
• 1:14:58
  let's talk about what your plans are for I'm guessing next year
• 1:15:02
  or you know, what do you have in the road map for people?
• 1:15:05
  I see. I think these are tickets still
• 1:15:07
  for this last one, so last. Year, Yeah, OK, Still working on
• 1:15:11
  getting the dates announced for 2026.
• 1:15:14
  We're hoping the same, you know, essentially the same weekend or
• 1:15:17
  right around the same time frame.
• 1:15:19
  I mean, of course, you know, we, you know, like it wouldn't be
• 1:15:22
  good for us to compete with Plan B in El Salvador or, or, you
• 1:15:27
  know, I don't know what adopting in El Salvador.
• 1:15:29
  So we, you know, we want to kind of just make sure we stay on a
• 1:15:32
  weekend that's different from other people.
• 1:15:34
  And you know, in terms of, you know, what else is in the works,
• 1:15:37
  you know, now that we kind of have proof of work here, been
• 1:15:41
  asked by I've actually been asked by Maya and in Suriname to
• 1:15:45
  come help them with theirs a little bit.
• 1:15:47
  And I'm going to meet them tomorrow actually about helping
• 1:15:51
  them on their second one. And and then also potentially
• 1:15:57
  working on one that may happen in Costa Rica with another group
• 1:16:01
  as well. So, you know, I think, you know,
• 1:16:04
  of course those won't be mine. I'll be helping other people,
• 1:16:07
  but you know, more than more than happy to to help people
• 1:16:10
  plan their conferences and like promote it and get things right
• 1:16:13
  here. So, you know, I think the more
• 1:16:15
  we can get these things up and going and people can educate the
• 1:16:18
  people in their communities because like, let's be
• 1:16:21
  realistic. Like Suriname, like, you know,
• 1:16:23
  Maya is doing an unbelievably good job there.
• 1:16:25
  But like there's probably a lot of people beside, you know, who,
• 1:16:28
  you know, who can can benefit from this.
• 1:16:31
  And you know, it's not like a lot of people in Suriname
• 1:16:34
  probably have the resources that they're not traveling to the US
• 1:16:37
  to conferences. So we have to go to where the
• 1:16:39
  people are, are, you know. Yeah, 100% and I'm, I'm so glad
• 1:16:44
  you put it that way cuz you know, our, our, our friends over
• 1:16:48
  on the rumble every single day, they're literally in the chat
• 1:16:50
  right now kind of trolling us is like, This is why we feel
• 1:16:54
  YouTube is a, a necessary evil at this point is like, you know,
• 1:16:58
  we love YouTube. We're, we're huge fans of
• 1:17:00
  YouTube. We, we still use YouTube in our
• 1:17:02
  personal lives, but that's the main, the main idea.
• 1:17:05
  Go where people are so that they can get the Bitcoin message.
• 1:17:08
  And you know, that's what that's and we're here so that we can
• 1:17:11
  get more people to understand Bitcoin and that is the goal.
• 1:17:14
  So the whole goal is try to get as many people to question the
• 1:17:18
  Fiat system, understand what Bitcoin is, understand there's a
• 1:17:21
  better way. And so kudos to you, John, for
• 1:17:24
  basically doing the same thing and living the Jeff Booth
• 1:17:27
  message where, hey, unplug from the Fiat system, put all your
• 1:17:30
  energy into the Bitcoin system. And it kind of reminds me of
• 1:17:34
  what's that one saying? Like the more you fight
• 1:17:37
  bullshit, like it takes twice as much energy to combat the
• 1:17:40
  bullshit than it is to create the bullshit.
• 1:17:42
  And so that's part of the, the idea.
• 1:17:44
  Unplug from the Fiat system and put as much of your mental
• 1:17:47
  energies and, and your, your time and your even your capital
• 1:17:51
  into Bitcoin and continue to further the Bitcoin network and
• 1:17:55
  the Bitcoin worldview. And so kudos to you.
• 1:17:57
  Now, last question before we wrap it up, John, I do this
• 1:18:00
  usually for our guests. It is just like the final tee
• 1:18:04
  off. What is the final message you
• 1:18:06
  want to leave with the audience? It could be about Bitcoin, it
• 1:18:08
  could be about the conference. Whatever the final message you
• 1:18:11
  want to get out to the audience, now is the time.
• 1:18:14
  So, John, the stage is yours. Yeah, I know.
• 1:18:18
  The biggest thing I would say is.
• 1:18:19
  You know, just just keep going. Like, you know, even even though
• 1:18:23
  I think you get to a point like I, I think I heard American
• 1:18:25
  Huddle say this and get to a point where it's really hard to
• 1:18:28
  move the needle on your own. Stack it like after a cycle or
• 1:18:31
  two, just keep going. Just keep stacking.
• 1:18:34
  So that's the biggest message I would say to to the people who
• 1:18:37
  are already in here, the club's already in here.
• 1:18:39
  Just keep stacking. Ted, really appreciate you
• 1:18:42
  coming, ma'am. Awesome, awesome, John.
• 1:18:46
  Well, really. Appreciate it for the.
• 1:18:48
  Audio listeners out there, if you are interested in going down
• 1:18:52
  to Medellin next year, go to bitcoinmedellin.com or John,
• 1:18:57
  what's your Twitter account? And we can plug that right now
• 1:19:00
  for everyone. And then let's wrap up today's
• 1:19:02
  show. Yeah, the Twitter account is
• 1:19:04
  BTC. Medellin conf so little bit of
• 1:19:10
  abbreviations in there, but essentially like Bitcoin
• 1:19:12
  Medellin conference. So if you look us up, pretty
• 1:19:15
  easy to find on Twitter. Love it man.
• 1:19:17
  Well, it's super excited to. See where the Medellin
• 1:19:20
  conference grows to. And again, one other special
• 1:19:23
  shout out to our boys Sal. I know he's going to be
• 1:19:26
  listening to this in the podcast audio version.
• 1:19:30
  So we love you, Sal, and you know, he was a part of you this
• 1:19:33
  year, your team this year. And I know he's super excited
• 1:19:35
  about to grow this conference with you.
• 1:19:38
  So yeah, no, it was great to have him involved.
• 1:19:40
  I mean, obviously he's kind of a.
• 1:19:42
  Behind the scenes guy, but I think he's pretty well known and
• 1:19:45
  we, we, we love having him on board.
• 1:19:47
  Awesome man. Well, John, really appreciate
• 1:19:50
  you coming on today. I'm going to pull you behind the
• 1:19:53
  scenes for a moment. Stick around for a couple
• 1:19:55
  seconds while I wrap up today's show.
• 1:19:58
  Great. All righty then guys.
• 1:19:59
  Well, we did. It even with the technical
• 1:20:02
  issues, I would do guys, I don't know what's going on here.
• 1:20:06
  It's our software is acting up. Everything's acting up on us.
• 1:20:10
  But the show goes on nonetheless.
• 1:20:13
  As you guys know, we will be here rain or shine Monday
• 1:20:17
  through Friday at roughly 12/15 PMI know you could yell at me
• 1:20:22
  all you want hold your tomatoes. You already know we're always
• 1:20:25
  like 5 minutes late. That's just part of the plan
• 1:20:27
  here. So love you guys, really
• 1:20:29
  appreciate you guys. Get outside, touch some grass,
• 1:20:31
  eat some good food, stack some sats because it looks like once
• 1:20:35
  we break out of that 100K range, I think the game might be on.
• 1:20:39
  So man, we really appreciate all you guys and for all the new
• 1:20:41
  viewers, if you appreciate what we're doing here, you think
• 1:20:44
  we're providing you value, of course, smash the like button,
• 1:20:47
  comment on the show and most importantly, hit the subscriber
• 1:20:51
  button. We will be back tomorrow.
• 1:20:53
  On that note, guys, it's your boy Opti and I'll see you
• 1:20:55
  tomorrow. Peace out.
• 1:20:57
  Today's episode was brought to you by Bitcoin.
• 1:20:59
  Well.com, a Bitcoin only platform on a mission to enable
• 1:21:03
  financial independence.