TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast - #314: Group hang with CK, Pete Rizzo and Dylan LeClair
Episode Date: March 15, 2022Join Marty as he sits down with CK, Pete Rizzo and Dylan LeClair from Bitcoin Magazine to talk about Bitcoin 2022 and building BTC Media into what it is today. Follow CK on Twitter Follow Pete Rizzo... on Twitter Follow Dylan LeClair on Twitter Read more from all the guys at Bitcoin Magazine. Shoutout to our sponsors: Unchained Capital Braiins HodlHodl Bitcoin 2022 - use the code TFTC for 10% off Fountain Podcasts
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you've had a dynamic where money's become freer than free
if you talk about a fed just gone nuts all all the central banks going nuts so it's all acting
like safe haven i believe that in a world where central bankers are tripping over themselves to
devalue their currency, Bitcoin wins.
In the world of fiat currencies, Bitcoin is the victor.
I mean, that's part of the bull case for Bitcoin.
If you're not paying attention, you probably should be.
The cold winds of fall are blowing.
There's a bear market on our way, Pete Rizzo.
Is this true?
Well, I actually was talking with Dylan Leclerc here,
and he was saying that the bull market is, quote, confirmed.
He was on Dan Eld's timeline,
the most popular space for Bitcoin news.
did I say that
I don't know
did you
what did you say
I think he said
orange coin good
yeah orange coin is good
it is
confirmed
that is confirmed
you were getting
very bearish yesterday
it feels purely sentimental
is this
would you like me
I'm putting you on the spot
explain why you're bearish
is this how the podcast starts
there's just no introduction
no
who am I
you're introduced in the tweet
yeah what do you want
you've been on this podcast
before Pete
people know who you are
Rizzo, I work for Bitcoin Magazine, editor over at Kraken as well.
Currently, yeah, promoting the idea that we're headed back towards leaner times for the Bitcoin space.
Why do you think so?
You know, a time to reap, a time to sow, you know.
I actually have a real metric for this.
So it's the signal to noise, right?
In the bull market, everyone reacts to everything as if it's signal.
And in the bear market, what you start noticing is that no amount of stimulus could possibly motivate us, right?
So, you know, the good news today is, you know, you sort of see people being very passive to it.
So it's starting to feel like everything is noise, right?
And so in the bear market, everything will be noise.
And in the bull market, everything's signal.
And of course, neither of those things are true, right?
So they're both just the market's perception.
And I think the market perception is trending towards viewing all sort of good news about Bitcoin as noisy, right?
Yeah.
i think back to 2015 that summer it got pretty quiet uh on the internet on the internet in
regards to bitcoin on twitter specifically yeah all we had was bitcoin uncensored and
you know yelling at each other that's it well wasn't even yelling at each other like people
were like actually sad they're like oh it's dying people thought it was dying the whole space in
yeah summer 2015 and look where we are on the eve of the largest bitcoin conference
ever to be held
the largest conference ever
that's what we call
a professional segue
towards the topic
for marketing purposes
are you running
this podcast now
oh
Peter
take a back seat
god you asshole
hey
I was invited here
I want to stick on that though
you missed Bitcoin Uncensored
I'm picking on Pete
to start the podcast
because
this is a strategic
we'll allow it
we enjoy watching Pete
get picked on
well you guys have
an interesting dynamic uh pete was he was describing to me last night the three of you
particularly what is your dynamic like what's it like inside inside the halls of bitcoin magazine
i thought we were picking on pete well first you have to imagine bitcoin magazine it's just this
really lofty establishment right there's marble everywhere so when you walk in it's just you know
it's complete marble and there's just many many employees right so just your desks upon desks
uh money fine gold embroidery as you walk down the halls and we all have really large offices
like much larger than this like yeah and with a lot more leather yeah a lot more leather uh dylan
of course has the largest office where he commands uh the deep dive which is our subscription investor
newsletter as of course dylan has his finger on the pulse of bitcoin right like whatever is
happening on chain he knows exactly exactly right so like there's all this data coming out on the
chain and dylan is just like parsing that in real time i walk in a block block he's just it's like
he's in the matrix right he's just he's in surrounded by numbers and you know he's he's
really he's feeling that data here he gets the pulse of it orange coin good and then he translates
that to us right so we can kind of go in uh it's like that movie minority report not to make like
a really like terribly specific reference but yeah it's like that he's in a pool of water and
then he tells us to be bullish or bearish right yeah the ball comes out yeah oh yeah and then the
ck i wouldn't pretend to speak for you of course because you were you know you're sort of the
the highest
like you have to go up
many floors
to like
to get to CK
yeah I'm NSF
so
complete
complete shithole
yeah
but
moving up
moving to Nashville soon
so soon I'll be in the
grandeur of the marble
right
are you excited to be
in the thick of things
in Nashville
BTC Media
yeah no absolutely
I've been
I've been posturing
very
very loudly
about
the rise of Nashville
as a Bitcoin city
so
it is awaiting my arrival
I'm very excited
and we're going to make it big.
Yeah, you're going to make it big.
The Bitcoin capital of the world,
Austin, Texas.
We look at Nashville,
we say, hey, that's cute.
Yeah, no, we're scouting right now.
This is what's happening
is we're looking around,
figuring out enemy territory.
No, no, no, no.
We're all in this together.
Yeah.
Jurisdictional competition
is alive and well.
Yes, it is.
It's part of the thesis.
Yeah, it is.
It is.
We want competition.
Austin, Nashville.
We're all in this together.
That's a red flag.
no I mean like
we're on the
information war
side of things
are we
no I mean I just
hearing that term
over the last two years
yeah yeah
we're all in this together
we are brothers
in the information
information war
what's bitcoin
magazine's
information war
strategy
I mean we're
propagandists
oh you all are right
you have to
acknowledge that
I think the
official position
is we're bitcoin's
marketing department
oh god no
god no
no
just uh
leaning in on the plebs i think you know there's i think bitcoiners are the smartest people
in the space by far uh so just trying to uh to create a great platform for uh for bitcoin plebs
to kind of you know shed their alpha help the world out well let's talk about the history of
bitcoin magazine recent years because you are an integral part of what many would say is reviving
Bitcoin Magazine around the halving, right?
So what...
CK and I recorded an episode
that did not air.
So we've already talked about this.
A lot has happened since now and then.
But I think we need to rehash what was happening
around the last halving.
Where was Bitcoin Magazine?
What was your mentality to try and turn things around?
Yeah, so I know a lot of people who are listening to this
were around back in the day.
and Bitcoin 2020 was a thing
that got wrecked by the pandemic.
You know, this company,
we go big on our conferences.
We go all in.
You know, David Bailey does not like to
play it safe when it comes to throwing a big party.
So that was the case then.
And that was the case now.
And 2020, things did not turn out very well
for conferences in March.
So we had to postpone the conference.
that put the team in a pretty tight position and uh the team got a lot smaller and there's
actually a period of time where there's like five or six people who are just pretty much
working for no pay just like we got to keep the lights on make sure that bitcoin magazine looks
alive and uh and get through it and uh a lot of people watch that having live stream which
you did a live rhr on but uh the majority of that that like whole production happened when
you know people weren't even getting paid so uh from there you know the that production was a
success uh we were able to kind of like figure out the the the numbers kind of uh on the back end
and uh you know hired back kind of like a a core group of people and you know just hustled right so
uh it just kept it growing and then from there you know we really you know we had already pivoted
to bitcoin only but we hadn't pivoted to like only hiring like savage bitcoiners we hadn't like
fully committed all the way we hadn't gone uh bitcoin as our treasury asset completely like
we hadn't kind of fully committed but we kind of came out of that experience and we just
we just went so hard like on you know being as hardcore bitcoiners we possibly could be
uh and it it just worked man like we started recruiting great talent um brought on rizzo
brought on matt to matt odell to advise you know discovered great talent like dylan and
you know created a like a community of bitcoiners that like rallied around the brand so uh it's been
a journey it's been a lot of fun and you know excited to talk about the details yeah i mean
like what is in your guys view like how do you what do you how do you view the mission of bitcoin
magazine because when i think of tftc i'm like all right i started the newsletter particularly
in like 2017 or a bunch of friends hit me up they're like is this true is this true i was like
there's for me i was like all right i'm gonna start the bent because i'm gonna teach my friends
and family about bitcoin and try to do it in a way that is approachable that's why the tone of
the bent is is is what it is and i just thought there wasn't enough like quality information out
there about bitcoin and like give it an actual like bitcoiners perspective on the world it's
actually funny i remember getting your uh you applied over at coindesk i remember back back
in the day yeah no we emailed back and forth that was like right before i started the bet
right yeah and i was like this guy's got such a strong voice i think i comment i think i commented
on your your stuff i was like you know strong voice but you know let that freak flag fly you
know yeah i go out there we can go back to my gmail account and we can find out to see what
that looks like here let me pull it up actually i will find it right now it's gonna be like thanks
for your submission but it's like we get hundreds of emails a day what uh for those of the for those
of you who don't know before uh rizzo is at kraken and bitcoin magazine he was over at coindesk so
the man has built media companies in this space i'm not sure no this isn't maybe it wasn't this
email address maybe i was yeah it wasn't this email address is my other email address um
yeah but like so i guess what is the state of media in the bitcoin world your mind like do you
like that we have like independent budding like i think personalities of dylan i think the state
media is good um i don't know if rizzo agrees with that but you know i think that publications
like bitcoin magazine are killing you i think that there's a really healthy um grassroots
you know podcaster content creator um kind of community and and you know growing effort and
if you just i remember in 2017 i entered the space and the only things that were bitcoin only that i
could find were Tone Vase's Crypto Scam and Bitcoin and Markets by Ansel Lindner. So I mean,
we've come a long way. I remember when you started your show, that was like 2018. And I was like,
wow, OK, this is a next level podcast. So I think that it's healthy. We're doing a great job of
creating tons and tons of content. And to address your original question, which is like, what's
bitcoin magazine's goal and i would say btc inc's goal even more is just accelerating hyper
bitcoinization you know we have this bitcoin centered uh mindset and you know all of that
is that you know bitcoin is going to be the most important technology period and we just want to be
the leaders in that not to bring it too far back but i think bitcoin magazine right now also exists
in terms of providing signal to people that there is a bitcoin only option right there are people
out there who only in bitcoin they're the the cryptocurrency media space has been largely
defined by companies that are multi-cryptocurrency right i think bitcoin magazine and even bitcoin
magazine was itself at one point a multi-cryptocurrency publication if italic started
even at well bitcoin was only around back then there wasn't anything else it was actually the
intermediate years right like the 2014 to 2017 where they were you know uh where it wasn't clear
you know i guess to the to the founders of bitcoin magazine at the time right the business decision
was to be multi-cryptocurrency right now i think you know the strongest thing that bitcoin magazine
does is it sends that signal that one bitcoin only is a legitimate intellectual position to
the people that are passionate about that and we're the outlet to communicate that
but you know we have to remember that we're fighting within that context like i was in dc
a few weeks ago there are some staffers there you know they just think it's a thousand and one
cryptocurrencies you know just changing that messaging to being bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
is huge
yeah
it's a massive lift
it is
it is
it's hard to stay focused too
I mean
for
I mean
I haven't found it that hard
to stay focused
but like
for some reason or another
whether
it's a fund
somebody building a product
somebody building a media company
it seems like
the siren calls
of everything outside of Bitcoin
is so alluring
to many
in the space
and there's a lot of money
being made out there as well
I think so
a lot of fast money
I think that's the key is
do you have the long term
to kind of like
give up the fast money
for
the
the Bitcoin vision
like
at hyper Bitcoinization
your position
and your reputation
or
you know
do you take the
the easy fast money
yeah
no that's
I mean
that's what's giving me
the most
fulfillment I guess
out of
this is a little weird
operation I've got
going is being able
to look back
and being like
yeah I called
bullshit on this
and people made
a lot of fast
money on it
but then it
imploded
one of the best
threads on Twitter
is your
mapping of
ETH 2.0
it's like
literally like
multiple years
long
hey
they successfully
launched a test
net today
did they
yeah
apparently
did you update
your Twitter thread
no not yet
I should though
I do try to
conclude when they
actually do something
correct
I found her email
November 16th
Thank you for your submission.
We get a lot of emails every day.
No, our last, we had like a long back and forth.
I'm not going to bore the freaks with it,
but basically what happened was,
I'm pretty sure I just started the podcast
and you got back to me like a month after my last email.
And then you gave me,
you sent me a bunch of testing materials.
It's a three-day turnaround.
Here's the Coindesk writing test.
Here's the, for business,
here's the Coindesk writing test for markets.
here's the Coindesk research test
and the knowledge test
and I responded
hey man
thanks for getting back to me
while I really respect Coindesk
I'm going to pass on the test
just don't want to do
I was just too lazy
I was just like
I see you eliminated
you eliminated yourself
through not
just not wanting to test
yeah
and then you found yourself here
you know
never going to be asked
to test yourself again
no
well that gets to another
like so
are there tests for this
like maybe
am I a journalist
am I a journalist
are you
I mean I
I write a daily newsletter
is that a journal
like what is a journalist
my friend called me
a journalist
or like
we were at a bar
and they're like
oh like what do you do
and he's like
he's a journalist
and I was like
I'm not a journalist
well that's the thing
like I think I saw the test
I'm like I'm not doing this
are you a person
who seeks truth
and seeks to promote
you know
justice
I like to think so
I don't know
justice is the right word
maybe
societal justice
to speak to the powerful
is there a journalist alive
it's a hard environment
for journalism right one of the things that's really complicated is information velocity
right it's hard to i think journalism itself is still adapting to this question of like what is
journalism in an age where the speed of information is you know what it is right exactly yeah well i
mean like journalism was i think something that needed the slow pace of like earlier
like distribution information distribution right you needed to be able to sit down and like
really only be able to create one daily paper right there was this scarcity there that now is
no longer there maybe to draw it back to bitcoin right you had the block that needed to be filled
every day with the information there was a check and balance there and i think a lot of that has
eroded right and now i think a lot of it is journalism based on personal reputation
right so it used to be the reputation of the media outlet and now it's personal
reputation right so what is your relationship with the audience so does the audience trust you
and are you somebody who's open and honest but that really has radically changed journalism
which you know previously was very focused on building institutions and things like that
yeah it's created a it's weird so i studied economics i worked in finance
studied there went to like a tech boot camp after i left finance and
i was into bitcoin the whole time and i was actually the reason i started writing part of
The reason I started writing was I was looking to transition from finance to tech and I wanted to be a product manager in just being a project manager for tech apps.
I worked at a software development company that helped staff software development teams with offshore talent from Ecuador and Colombia.
And so I had experience interacting with developers and lining them up with projects.
and so I thought yeah like I can get in to product management I know design front-end development I
think I have like a business savvy mind I can I've led teams before on the lacrosse field but
the number one feedback I was getting is like if you want to be a product manager you have to
prove to us that you can write about the product that you're going to manage and so I was like
all right part of the reason I started to bet was like okay Bitcoin is a product that people want
know like i'm gonna prove that i can write about it so like i got into writing and then that way
and now i've been writing almost every weekday since like june 8th 2017 and it's weird like i'm
keeping people up to date once we go but am i a journalist i don't feel myself as a journalist like
i just view myself as some dude sharing his thoughts like i think everybody has to kind
of come to that question right i don't know i think right now the what i would say with
with Bitcoin Magazine
is I think we've balanced that
where it's like
we are a vehicle for people
to build independent brands
who are speaking
and doing creative work
on Bitcoin, right?
So it's like,
I think we've split that balance
pretty well.
It's like we're not trying to
control or shape things, right?
Everybody within Bitcoin Magazine
adds their own flavor,
adds their own specific line of it.
So that keeps the audience
and the relationship strong, right?
Dylan's got to go out there.
He's got to publish
his investor newsletter every day
and he's going to go
and defend that position
and you know
people now trust Dylan
right
after a year of his work
you know
so I think that's
that's an important part
right
like media as a whole
is just trying to find its way
and I think
you know
Bitcoin Magazine right now
is a strong brand
but it's a strong brand
because it's adapted
to kind of the changing environment
yeah
the changing environment
has pissed off a lot of
people who went through
what they thought to be
a traditional
avenue to become
like a legitimate journalist
and
well i think that's one of you know i guess my advantages is that i have literally no real media
experience and you know i rizzo has a lot of media experience we have folks on the team who have a
lot of media experience but you know our approach has nothing to do with like the right way of doing
things it's just how do you get things done with the resources that we have and thankfully one of
those resources is like the Bitcoin community, which is this like insane hive mind. So the fact
that, you know, we're tapping that no one else's is. I would say Bitcoin magazine has also been a
great vehicle for multiple opinions. Like you've got a range and variety of perspectives on Bitcoin
magazine. You could say that they're all, you know, somewhat, you know, Bitcoin focused, but
there's, you know, there's a huge spectrum there, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think just in the last week
alone i mean the in the mining industry you have people are like oh it's gonna be like green energy
driver is bitcoin mining then you have others are like the green energy revolutions making us worse
off like bitcoin mining is going to help us become energy secure not just renewable energy secure
that is one narrative that i think could bite us in the ass in the future if bitcoin is like oh
it's going to incentivize renewable energy production which maybe it does and a lot of
people are like insinuating that x percentage of hash rate will derive from wind solar hydro
in the future if that does not come to fruition it's just like oh you said it was going to be
this like bitcoin and i think rizzo can talk about this but bitcoin has a long history or
Bitcoiners have a long history of like, kind of like misleading promises. So, you know, it's,
am I on the hook for that? I'm not saying you're on the hook. No, but you, uh, you know, of those
promises, even though, you know, you documented, uh, kind of Satoshi's quote unquote misleading
promises, even in the early days. Well, I mean, look, I think like we're, we are, as humans are
understanding Bitcoin. That's the lens I take to it, right? Bitcoin is this invention. We have to
try to understand it uh i think bitcoiners you know have had you can look back at certain here
periods of bitcoin you can say that we commonly believe things then that we just no longer believe
now so my my stance to like the current market cycle which i think is kind of like ending right
i think we're passing into like a period where activity is maybe going to be a little lower
i think we're going to look back at this period and we're going to reflect and we're going to
see that like you know all right you know when you go to the party and it's like the bottom of
keg is like all is all froth foamy yeah you know it's pretty been pretty foamy of late let's just
be honest with ourselves right uh and i think you know some of that is just going to be stuff that
gets filtered out right like the strongest ideas survive and we'll move on um i think in terms of
the mining market i think you know you've done a great job raising concerns right and i think
there is a lot of questions about what's going on um a lot of mining has been moved out of china
it's moved across the world now in the united states that's great but we don't know what the
end result of that is going to be you know we can try to de-risk it as much we can but it you have
to acknowledge that it brings risk right yeah i mean we just saw what kazakhstan confiscated 200
million dollars worth of equipment this week right and kazakhstan was supposed to be one of the big
saviors you know post china right so uh we are dealing with proof of work mining you know you
want the advantages of anybody in the world who can access energy being able to generate bitcoin
but the trade-off with that is that you know you have a physical infrastructure your physical
infrastructure is
liable to be
attacked,
subverted,
or brought under
the regime of
the government.
I've been
particularly like,
you know,
I don't understand
why there aren't
more businesses
going to
Anaheim.
I've been pretty
open about that,
especially on the
mining side.
I don't know why
they haven't.
Well, the heat
is one factor.
It is.
They got
volcanoes, though.
Yeah.
They're air-cooling
those units.
I guess,
how do you
particularly deal
that i'd be curious because you know you've you seem like you're pro-america i don't know if
that's a yeah i mean and you we've now brought all this mining infrastructure under the american
regime yeah i mean i think so whenever whether it be like cathedral or personally i have personal
mining operations what i look for is a particular political climate in the state like it or not
people don't like when i get political but i look for red states that are very respective respectful
of private property rights and have shown a penchant to stand up against the federal government
uh i look for temper temper more temperate environments i think texas is a huge meme
right now but i think a lot of people frankly are larping and are going to run into a lot of
problems pertaining to heat specifically a lot of dust around here yeah a lot of dust uh and then
yeah i like off-grid obviously i talk about that so i think being able to hide your operations or
or not hide but make it more difficult to identify using grid fingerprints you don't think
bitcoin is apolitical what do you mean by that well you said you were looking for red states
So how's your operation?
I mean, the protocol is certainly apolitical.
The protocol has no idea if a Republican or a Democrat is using it.
Right.
The implementation of the infrastructure.
Maybe politics doesn't respect property rights equally, and that's the deal.
I think that's certainly the case.
I mean, we've seen in the last two years, Florida, Texas, they certainly respect bodily autonomy, which is private property.
Bringing it back to the conference.
One of the best effing decisions that we made as a business was January of 2021, we decided to move the Bitcoin conference from Los Angeles to Miami-Dade, Florida.
And that was one of the best decisions we ever made by far.
Not even like one of the very best decisions we've made.
When you bring it to Austin, that's the question.
No comment.
Bitcoin 2022.2.
You know how all those cities were like lobbying Amazon to come to their city?
So Austin, we're accepting applications.
Any other prospective city that would like the Bitcoin conference next year?
Hit us up.
Contact at btcmedia.org.
I mean, the traffic in Miami.
So I recommend if you're going to Bitcoin 22, stay on Miami Beach.
There's a good chance if you get a nice hotel, you can walk to the beach and the conference.
you don't even have to worry about the traffic.
I don't want to like shit on the traffic.
We're trying to sell tickets here.
Use the code TFTC at b.tc slash conference.
You're going to get 10% off.
Yeah.
Bang.
Yeah, but is Bitcoin apolitical?
I want to get back to that.
What are your thoughts, Peter?
Well, certainly the protocol is apolitical,
but I think you can also be strategically apolitical
with Bitcoin.
And that's, I think, where we would probably disagree.
I think that your focus on Texas over Ohio
or like Pennsylvania,
states that could potentially swing elections,
it's interesting.
You're choosing to have a line with a certain political party
that might not always advance Bitcoin.
I mean, Ohio and Pennsylvania, I mean, they're...
Purple states.
If it was me and I was investing in Bitcoin mining,
I've been saying this up and down.
It's that if you can prove that you can swing 1% of the vote,
a purple state,
you will never...
Any politician that is up-ballot from that
will never be against you.
And I don't think we're thinking about this
very strategically
especially if we're
thinking about
making this
you know
Bitcoin mining
partisan
yeah Pete
I mean
even though
I have my
operations in
states that are
redder
it doesn't mean
I'm not talking
to the purple
states
I do a lot
of talking
behind the
scenes
with people
in purple
states
and blue
states for that
matter
it's people
in all states
there's people
Dylan what do
you think
Bitcoin apolitical
I don't know
if I have too
much to add
here
I mean I
kind of agree
with the
protocol being
apolitical
um i live in probably the bluest of blue states myself uh yeah it was next door to bernie sanders
actually yeah um and so i mean i'm personally kind of fed up with uh a lot of the stuff that
that goes on yeah me as well yeah um and so probably personally looking to make an escape
to to somewhere of a red state but i mean i i didn't vote in the in the past election i don't
really plan on on voting at all i i mean i said this on twitter i say this publicly i vote with
my wallet um and so you know i don't really the bipartisan game i mean i obviously align probably
more with the red states but yeah me as well and in terms of its implementation again the protocol
itself doesn't know who's using it so can't censor based on political beliefs but i think the
implementation of Bitcoin
as a sound money
in the digital age
is certainly
a bit conservative.
Well, I think it'll be interesting
in the conference
we'll have politicians
from both sides of the spectrum,
right?
There's Warren Davidson
confirmed.
Who else is on the list?
So,
I think as of right now,
there's a few more
on the blue side
that are going to be confirmed.
But one is Andrew Yang.
So, I know he is,
there's a love-hate
relationship with him.
But,
I think he's,
he said some interesting things.
And,
it's just the people that believe
UBI it's like
Bitcoin accelerationist
I mean Fiat is dead so
I mean they're doing UBI already
just only to corporations
so they might as well
you know finish it off and give it to the plebs
too yeah no but that's like one thing I
truly
there's this whole like Bitcoin for progressives
movement I don't think
the people who believe that understand that Bitcoin
is
like it or not forcing a certain
I think this is turning into the Rizzo show
but I feel like he would strongly
disagree on that one
no you're not you're not allowed to opt out
what do you think
what do you mean what do I think about what
you disagree why where do you disagree
the idea that Bitcoin
aligns with conservative principles over liberal
principles I don't I just don't understand where
you would take that away like what's your evidence for that
I mean
that it respects property rights
yeah no I mean there's the classical
liberalism in terms of like
redistributing well so now you're talking about the implementation of the thing versus the thing
itself right so yeah i guess i think the current democratic party certainly has its problems
right but you could say you could have said that about the republican party 10 12 years ago you
know i could say yeah today it was you know forcing unpopular wars on the people and you know
it's funny how it's all shifted i agree whoever is in power is just fucking terrible i think you
you have to I think you have to separate like the the Republican Party and the Democratic Party
that exists today and have existed in different forms in the past from like pure political
philosophy which for sure you could argue that the current uh Republican Party is maybe more
amenable to to Bitcoin today and supporting it I think that would be an argument that I would
probably say is likely but I think to say that there is one group that is necessarily predisposed
to that um you know i just don't think it's very i just don't know i don't see the what who benefits
from us adopting that frame uh well the the and then that gets into the whole question is like
the frame we adopt even manner is it inevitable is it inevitable so i want to try my hand at this
honestly i i really like the bitcoin for progressive movement not just not because
i necessarily agree with all their ideas but more because like i really see bitcoin adoption
as like this really incremental step for for people as a whole right and people need to see
these different kind of framings to start dipping their toes in so i don't care about being that
right and like rizzo can tell you historically how hardcore bitcoiners were really wrong so like
I don't care about being that right.
I just care about getting people in.
So the Bitcoin American Dream,
I was one of the co-authors of the section.
It's on this bookshelf.
On the shelf.
Nice.
Of the section,
Bitcoin is social justice.
You think about these groups that have been-
I agree with this.
You agree with it.
Right.
Okay.
Well then,
why would you say that there is no progressive case for Bitcoin?
I mean,
there isn't.
And Marty,
I think I should reframe
because I care about obviously being right,
but like,
I'm not holier than thou
about what I think is right
I'm open to
allowing
just like
people to grind
and figure it out
call me holier than thou
I'm just talking about me
I'm just talking about me
but yeah
go fuck with me
back to you
no no but
for me it's like
entitlement stuff
like
you can't
redistribute
bitcoin automatically
it's inherently
like a push system
so you can't
force bitcoiners
to like
But Bitcoin will make a more equitable world.
I completely agree.
Which ultimately, I would argue, is the classical case for progressivism.
Agreed. Classical liberalism was probably progressive.
Most people have property rights.
We've just been so confused as a society.
I think it's like, look, for people like myself,
who traditionally lean left,
I think some of these issues have been really interesting.
I've been classically very supportive of the green energy movement.
which and i think the relevant criticisms have been brought up by the bitcoin community of late
i would also say that i agree with i think that um i didn't understand how the energy grid operated
i didn't understand that the solutions that like we were pushing for on the left side that they
didn't actually solve the root cause of the issue which is that we still need to generate electricity
through some type of energy and that you know green energy doesn't solve that um and i think
think those are all good criticisms right and i think that's helping push the conversation forward
so i don't you know again i try not to buy into this like us them dynamic like i'm someone who
can be like i think all people you have to believe on some level that all people can be given
information and can make a rational decision that something is is correct or incorrect yeah
it gets back to what we were talking about in the beginning how do we get people that's good
information so that they can make better decisions right right well i think that like that like the
fact that bitcoin is moving forward the conversation about green energy it's bringing more nuance to
that conversation and it's presenting solutions to i think things that on the progressive side
like people have wanted to see right like people on the progressive side who have sat for like 12
it's been 15 years since obama's push for green energy right and what have the results been and
the answer is next to nothing and i think there are a lot of people on the left who are sort of
like well why is that the case and i don't see why bitcoin can't plug into that from that
perspective so again i just think that like this idea of you know if you start thinking that other
some other group can't believe these things or that they just don't have the incentive i just i
don't buy that yeah i would agree with that yeah my thing all goes back to like redistribution of
wealth i mean the marxists can have fun staying poor yeah exactly like or they can just make
their own tokens on cryptocurrencies
and get fabulously wealthy.
In the short term.
That's definitely short term.
I mean, he's calling
ETH heads Marxist.
I'm not.
He does.
They are Marxist.
There's definitely a lot of
let's just call it more current
democratic
ideas within the Ethereum community.
That's for sure.
I mean they just
cancelled somebody
for admitting that
he was Catholic
I mean they
actually
they actually did
they did confiscate
and redistribute wealth
like at the
protocol level
immediately
so it's hard to
kind of
see them as being
outside of that
yeah
I think that'll be
interesting
I would say that
that whole movement
is just very
skeuomorphic of the
existing
clusterfuck
so
I think they're very
skeuomorphic
move on
yeah they saw this
Bitcoin thing
they're like alright
right, let's take blockchain and make it look like
what we have already, you know, and they
have like a freaking shitty digital calculator
pretty much. Hey, consensus just raised
half a billion dollars. It did, and they invested
it all in ETH, which was part of their plan
to promote ultrasound money.
Yes. Ultrasound money.
Ultrasound money. Sounds.
I mean, I think
that's a big reason why ETH plays so well
with the current paradigm, because I truly
think that, like, Bitcoin is a
mental operating shift, and
like, a lot of the cryptocurrency
currency space fits in with the current like mental model for how the world works aka like
you know it's a complete clusterfuck and like bitcoin is just not intuitive to that it's just
not and it just takes time to bridge people over and that's why i'm pretty empathetic to
folks that need to bridge over you know i'm not mad at the progressive bitcoin empathetic to them
this is why i would say the argument is you need to get as much people as many people to see your
worldview as possible yeah and like whatever means necessary to communicate that as long as it's
truthful right so you asked the question of what's a journalist well i think a journalist
is ultimately someone who speaks and is honest about things and that is you know going to talk
about things that maybe they don't want to talk about right yeah talking about issues right you've
raised issues right you're talking about the issues that might happen if the mining system
gets captured i think there's a lot of value in that right you might be a journalist in that
moment it's the same way that i make the argument about bitcoiner when when you go to starbucks in
the morning and you buy your coffee with fiat are you a bitcoiner in that moment and i think the
answer is no you're not yeah you're not in that moment making the best decision for the bitcoin
network what if i'm using my cash card to get sats back you might be a bitcoin or nonsense
you're supporting a bitcoin business i'm a piece of shit well this is what i'm saying it's like i
think i think the i think one of the issues i have with the current like bitcoin or movement is it's
like it requires this like absolute buy-in and there's just like no understanding that like
decision making doesn't function on that level you're not a bitcoiner in this moment like right
now we're not we're not providing any value to the big one protocol currently shut the fuck up
i'll see myself out thank you no no i can agree with that i think there's a lot of larping
particularly in the west i was just saying like sitting in this room like this podcast is pure
signal no before you said before maybe we are maybe somebody maybe we have right now
just buy it yeah just smash buy uh do it if you're watching right now i'm helping i'm helping
Logan to help us set up all these lights
and these cameras. He's getting paid hourly in Bitcoin
for this. Right, but what I'm saying is I guess
there's a relationship, right? You're not always
a Bitcoiner. The same way you're not always
a journalist. These are like states
you can be in the moment. You can choose
to be these things. Dylan's right now
is being a DJ. I'm a Bitcoiner.
Did you just buy? What did you just buy?
About a hundred bucks. Do you have a face ID on there?
Yeah, I'm not a Bitcoiner.
In that moment, you are
not a Bitcoiner. When you use face ID,
yeah
we're gonna get
into the purity test
did you buy that
or no
I'll buy I guess
where's my phone
I'll do the smash buy
we'll do a collective
smash buy
this feels right
okay
the king of smash
my mother
tried to call me
yeah
so like in this moment
we might be
bitcoiners
maybe
we're doing something
that actively supports
bitcoin
I'm reinstalling
cash apps
Rezo hasn't bought
bitcoin so long
that he has to
reinstall his app
that's true
2023 baby
oh my god
it's like that bottom
you guys get paid
in Bitcoin
at Bitcoin Magazine
if you want to
correct
yeah you get
whatever percentage
of your salary
in Bitcoin
and we get bonuses
in Bitcoin
no 401k
but we get
Bitcoin bonuses
so I'll take it
Bitcoin has
401k
well I think
we're not talking
about like how
I think this conference
is going to change
the perception
of people about Bitcoin
right
we're going to think
for the first time
have like a real
mainstream presence
at a Bitcoin conference
what do you mean
by that
we're going to have
sound money fest
on the Saturday
after the conference
this guy just bought
some sad snags
Joe Rogers says
wow Pete Rizzo
cringe
barren bad takes
well hey Joe
I shot guns
for the first time
yesterday Joe
so
be empathetic to Rizzo
okay
he's slowly figuring it out
yeah
oh god
the Bitcoin magazine
retweet the tweet
because
we've got a lot of
bot responses
how much did you
oh man
how much did you
100 bucks
I bought 200
150,000 sats.
That's the wrong way to go.
There you go.
Dylan's not a real Bitcoiner.
There you go.
All right, I'm going to buy 120.
I'll just, I don't know, I'll do 200.
Damn, dude, high roller.
Abandon her tonight.
No, no, that's paid.
It has been,
so Bitcoin has been seeping into the mainstream conversation.
Shout out to Mackenzie at CNBC.
She's killing it.
She's been doing a good job.
Yo, I hooked Mackenzie up at last year's event
and helped her get some VIP access.
so I like to think that
you know
I built up her Bitcoin career
you're welcome Mackenzie
you built up her Bitcoin career
why don't you say like
I made her like
amenable to
like Bitcoin
no you know
I just you know
got her into the parties
she got to network
and then bam
there you go
she's doing a great job
covering the mining space
my first Bitcoin purchase
since
El Salvador day
just completed
wow
dude you've been
fucking bearish for a while
the bear bought it
we're going to
200k by conference day
Yeah, we're three weeks away.
Here we go, baby.
Well, back to that.
So there's going to be mainstream musicians.
You've got Run the Jewels.
Steve Aoki.
Steve Aoki.
You've got...
Logic.
Yeah.
Deadmau5.
Deadmau5 is a huge get.
They all got paid in Bitcoin.
Unannounced, can we talk about the comedy stuff that we're adding?
Yeah, let's do it.
Why not?
We've got Marc Maron, Hannibal Buress.
Oh.
We're going to have...
Is this day four?
Yeah, this is on Town Money Fest.
Okay.
So there's going to be mainstream politicians on the stage.
I think, you know, there's also this value of talking about your political theme.
one of the things
Bitcoin Magazine
I think has done really well
is scaling Bitcoin
as counterculture
people who are apolitical
people who want to be
outside the system
and I think
there's a weird
balancing act
that's going to come up here
yeah
between the drive
for some people
to be political influencers
and you know
for some of us
who just want to
you know
promote counterculture
yeah
and abolish the federal government
yeah
that's what I would love to do
what happened to you
as a child
yeah
don't
speak more
how did you get to where you are
What is it like you being the age that you are,
which we will not say publicly.
What did the government do to you?
I was,
I was red pilled hard in 2020,
like so hard.
Well,
red pilled,
orange pilled kind of in succession.
Um,
I don't know.
I just,
I mean,
and Vermont also on the,
on the political spectrum is just so far,
so far left,
like university of Vermont in particular,
it's like probably like 20% of student body is like openly like communist
communist without even knowing what that means their lacrosse team looks communist as people
with like long dirty hair yeah i mean our lac seems pretty good i think you guys are pretty
good yeah the bobcats right catamounts catamounts yeah so i mean i did a year there um and i like
school uh i mean i in like in terms of what happened to me as a child uh for my uh i mean
I don't know. I just like kind of just have a disdain for, for other people having a control
over, over my life without really having a say in it. Um, I think, I think bipartisan politics
is kind of the illusion of choice. Uh, and it's frustrating, especially like with Gen Z and social
media in general, um, like in high school and college, like politics was such a big, like
talking point. And like people literally were like alienated for like liking Trump or being
like republican or red or whatever um and so like i you know was impartial but like
you know just just the like total alienation of anyone that had a dissenting opinion or
thought it was just stupid in my opinion like i like i literally lost friends for being like
no like i don't i'm not voting for either of these puppets and they're like what do you mean
this is the most important election of our of our life it's like all right like i don't so
was mccain to get uh versus obama when i was uh it's always the most important election of your
right yeah that's part of the buy-in of the system right it like requires you to like it requires the
stakes to be like me i right yeah that's like the but that's why i'm worried about bitcoin being
caught up in that right i don't i don't think we should want that i don't want that either i like
to think of myself as counterculture right i'm bipartisan what i was trying to say earlier is
I was like, I think there is like sound money
and its implications do not jive with what many on the...
It doesn't jive with the fiat world.
No.
The entire fiat establishment does not jive with what Bitcoin is.
So it's just a new system.
I think Bitcoin operates in contrast to a lot of things.
I feel like you could say that about most things.
Well, we don't even know what it's going to turn into, which is...
What, Bitcoin?
Yeah.
What do you mean by that?
Like how it's applied.
I agree.
The creative humans who are going to figure out
how to use the protocol to do things
we can't even imagine right now.
Absolutely.
What's an example of something like...
I mean, the ways in which you can
hook into the internet protocol stack
and then do unique things with that.
I don't even think we brush the surface
of how that's going to change.
What's one of your borrowed ideas?
I think it might happen.
I don't know
when people say like
oh we don't even know
I'm like well
there's a
field of possibility
Marty are you talking
about Web 3?
yeah
well Web 3
I think Web 3
will be done properly
on Bitcoin
or using Bitcoin
I don't think it's
on Bitcoin
I think Bitcoin's
just a piece of
Web 3
this going out to
podcasting 2.0
is Web 3
in my opinion
just combining
RSS feeds
and lightning
addresses
in and of itself.
Bitcoin is the incentive
for the personal
server revolution
and the self-hosted web
is the future.
Yeah.
That's how I frame it.
I'm trying to answer
Pete's question.
This is like a hard
question to answer.
What is something you think
is unfathomable
to be built?
It's like, I don't know.
Can I even think of it?
Well, I think right now
your comment is interesting
because I feel like
Bitcoin has kind of
been in a large period
where we've sort of
narrowed down the use cases
of Bitcoin
to you hodl bitcoin you're like hodl it for your future and you just stack right that's kind of the
mentality and you just said was oh there's like all these possibilities with bitcoin we don't
even know what people are going to do what was what was the original intention of the butt box
you remember good question yeah uh so it was that you could experiment and and run bitcoin code right
like yourself no well but what was i think bellagio had the right idea but he was too early
the machine payable web right right the machine payable web that's right i forgot about that meme
right didn't catch on did not catch on but i think he was right it just was a bit too early i think
now with like the lightning network you potentially enable the machine payable web an example of that
is i remember somebody making a prototype a working prototype an application that allowed
them to pay for a tesla charging system connecting with tesla's api over the lightning network in
real time like sats for electricity second by second as soon as you unplug stop paying
that's machine payable web that's your car with the lightning network wallet injected into it
communicating with an electricity provider providing outlet and saying all right yeah
I mean, I think the progressives would be super into that.
Yeah, I do too.
I'll throw out a big idea.
Like, honestly, a lot of people don't think of like Bitcoin being able to fix our fresh
water problem.
And what is our fresh water problem?
And where we locate civilization.
Well, I mean, we're really limited in where we can locate civilization.
I mean, when it comes down to water problems, why aren't we rain collecting more?
That's my number one question.
But again, like I'm trying to say is like, what if Bitcoin...
All that rain just going away.
It's going to the plants.
Right?
you can't have the plants
having all that water
am I an idiot
for thinking that
it's us versus the plants
I agree
is it us versus the plants
is that
you gotta draw that line
they've been
sucking up our water
for too long
wait no
is that the case
against rain collection
I don't know
I'm just like
I don't know
this is literally
the first time
I've ever heard anyone
talk about rain collection
I was just like
everybody's like
we have water problems
like it rains
like why don't we just
make rain collection
what will the plants
what will the plants consume
I guess that's like
what if you want to live
somewhere where it doesn't rain
but there's salt water
what if you collect
so much rain
that the plants die
and then we don't have
any oxygen anymore
because
well you can ask
this is another thing
the progressives
would care about
what if you catch
well they should care about it
in regards to solar energy
what if you catch
so much solar
that it doesn't reach
the ground
those plants under them
can't grow
that's true
you know
great
yeah there's
you know there's
problems on all extremes
yeah
I'm gonna drop a thread
how to fix
the water solution problem
just start collecting it
I mean I'm
I was just trying to
make a comment about
how I think
bitcoin is going to expand our energy capacity to levels that we have never seen before and then
all of a sudden you can desalinize you can do so many different things that were you know foreseen
as impossible but all of a sudden because bitcoin has its incentives changes the dynamics of our
grid it completely revolutionizes how we organize you know what we can do on an individual basis
etc etc like i i really like i think thinking big about bitcoin something that bitcoiners need to
do a lot more like stop worrying about alt coins stop worrying about this little petty bullshit
start thinking like what is this thing going to do to the planet try to trans uh transposition
like the incentives and and how that plays out like try to think about what adoption looks like
i feel like these are the kind of conversations that we should be focusing on yes so maybe this
is a good uh riffing off something you just said that could be a good answer to the question
that you posed earlier which i don't think is obvious to most people is that you said our grid
our grid and that's like the way people think about this like grids are extremely centralized
in the u.s and all across the world texas may be a an exception to that rule uh
though i think texas is making a big mistake over producing too much unreliable but besides the fact
grids are extremely centralized right now and i don't think people like what
it's becoming glaringly obvious to somebody who's been like in the off-grid mining world
for a few years now and seeing where it's going i think what we're going to see is a
a number of grids like an explosion in the amount of grids with bitcoin the bitcoin network right
now is enabling micro grids to be built out in parallel to the mega grids that that we depend
not these days and i think there will be crazy benefits to to that people don't even realize
it yet like just building yeah i was telling ck earlier i think one of the things that was
are you talking about earlier conversations in bitcoin like i don't think anybody early on really
envisioned the idea that like mining's impact i think we're just starting to get to the point
where it's like a bitcoin is a expanding system we're starting it's starting to become so large
that we're starting to see these energy benefits but like i don't remember anybody talking about
this even four or five years ago no no i mean how finney can talk about it though yeah tweet number
tweet number two is about the co2 uh yeah thinking about how to de-risk the proof of work co2 impact
yeah his less popular tweet to running bitcoin and working on bitcoin how to make bitcoin more
private yeah those are the first three i think yeah yeah legend fucking legend he'll be back
yeah he's up there
just hanging out
nitro
nitro
nitroglycerin
cryogenically
frozen
is that the word
nitroglycerin is
it's like an
I'm sorry I don't know
about cryogenic freezing
or lightness
cryogenic
isn't that how
they store them
isn't nitroglycerin
like an explosive
I think that's what
Mr. Freeze
was like frozen
at the end of
Batman and Robin
that was before your time
you do not remember
Mr. Freeze
with Poison Ivy
Arnold Schwarzenegger
wasn't popular at all
during your life huh
no
I've never even watched
Terminator
dude
T2 is great
T2 is a classic
I've watched Arnold's
like workout videos
on YouTube though
okay well let's
try to get you
as long as you got
some exposure
what's Arnold's position
on Bitcoin
he'd be a strong
he'd be a strong supporter
he leans right
but he's
he was California governor
he wasn't a big fan
of bodily autonomy
over the last two years.
Yeah, it's kind of pathetic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
He's probably too old
to worry about it.
The olds are like,
yeah, I'm too old.
The olds.
The olds.
Well, I mean, look,
Bitcoin solves a problem
for that generation, right?
They're worried about
wealth and inheritance.
I just think that, you know,
some of the subject
of this conversation is,
you know,
rich olds.
You can either think strategically.
Rich olds.
Or you can think myopically
and try to keep narrowing
the us versus them dynamic.
Okay.
you're locked in
Pete
alright
no I agree
you know
I don't know
I agree to sir
it can be a little
when's the last time
you were in a blue state
man you going on vacation
over there
I mean
you don't
you don't want to go
to a blue state
I'm trying to leave
blue states here
let's be honest
I mean Pennsylvania
isn't really a blue state
outside of Philadelphia
so it's like hard
it's purple
yeah
swings one way or the other
yeah
while the autonomy
is underrated
and I don't know
if Bitcoin fixes this
but you know
we're living in a world
now that
we need people
who respect
Bali autonomy
to buy the Bitcoin
I definitely agree
I think that that
needs to happen
it is happening
to some extent
and we get those
to Pete's point
those who
don't respect it
maybe they should
get Bitcoin too
maybe it'll help them
respect it
because
I think
Bitcoin is a
tremendous teacher
right
and I think we should
encourage people
to interface with
Bitcoin as much as
I do as well
I would never
encourage somebody
not to
get into Bitcoin
really
what about
Klaus Schwab
get in
get in Klaus
get in Klaus
Bitcoin for central
bankers
that's what we need
to make like a
we need to make like
a fake report
and just send it to them
and just really
it's just all about
how like their jobs
like you don't need
to work anymore
because you can take
all these vacations
but it should look
like a professional
like IMF report
like you know
have like a cover
with like
lots of people
no more needing
to go in front of
Congress and sweat
yeah instead of
money that is like
you know
randomly auctioned
at the whims of
these like random
individuals who
no one elects
you know it's just
it's a protocol
you have a reliable
you know you asked
why I was bearish
earlier I think
one of my things
is that you know
Bitcoin does allow
coordination around
money right and
and that coordination
is there's going to
be lean time
I mean there's
going to be hot
times so you
You've got to take the good with the bad.
Why does coordination dictate that there's
going to be lean and hot times?
I don't think it's the coordination aspect. It's the having
aspect. Because the monetary
policy is predictable. Therefore, you
can coordinate around the monetary policy.
But you can't predict the demand, right?
That's the other...
At this stage in Bitcoin, it seems
certain that you can predict the demand.
No, you can't.
No, you cannot.
You can't predict that Russia's
going to invade Ukraine
I can't predict that Putin will not buy Bitcoin, but I can certainly bet on the fact that it's overwhelmingly likely that no nation state within the current geopolitical conflict will allocate any meaningful resources to Bitcoin.
Let's take the mic away from the bear.
I mean, I think if you're going to be bearish at all, it's not because of Bitcoin's programmed monetary policy, but rather the unpredictable monetary policy of fiat over the short to intermediate term.
I just think human beings, they're able to act dynamically and they're able to take advantage of information towards their own benefit.
So if you know that Bitcoin is going to be entering a period where we're far away from the halving, a bunch of moon boys are hopped up and they're no longer excited about things.
And I know that in the future, they're going to get bored and sell.
I love your perspective.
And Tina has a great take on folks who think that the way that you think and that you're going to have less Bitcoin.
you're going to have
you're going to have
a lot less Bitcoin
I mean I
I personally think that
like yes
Bitcoin is going to
act this way
until it won't
you know
the game kind of
changes
as soon as you know
that you think
you know the game
so
you're viewing it
as just like
the pure
that description
makes it sound like
a pure
like get rich scheme
where
I don't think so
I think you can
coordinate around
Bitcoin for your
economic benefit
in this current
period of Bitcoin
like
what about
its inherent utility
that many places
around the world
is the only avenue
to access that utility.
Yeah, those people
don't have the ability
to take advantage of that
as we do.
You do that all the time.
Anytime you're not
spending Bitcoin,
you're taking advantage
of your ability
to arbitrage
your life
between the two systems.
You're saying that
that's just a weird
perception to have
that you don't.
I actually agree with you
with that statement.
What do you mean?
Every Bitcoiner
currently lives their lives arbitraging
the two systems for their benefit.
That is the current system we live in.
We are not pure Bitcoiners. We are currently
economically advantageous actors.
So, wait, really quick. You're saying we all need
to get on zero? Is that what you're saying?
Your definition of a Bitcoiner is someone
who's fully in the Bitcoin overlay.
I don't have a definition of a Bitcoiner. I don't think Bitcoiners exist.
I think your actions
either align with Bitcoin or they do not.
And I think part of being a Bitcoiner is accepting
the fact that a lot of your actions don't align with Bitcoin.
Wait, you just said Bitcoiners don't exist.
Right.
So how could part of being a Bitcoiner.
People who are interested in Bitcoin.
We got them.
People who are interested in Bitcoin.
We got them.
People who claim to be Bitcoiners.
You guys win.
You guys won.
It's going to 200.
No, it is weird though.
It's my conference day.
It is weird that we live in this temporal anomaly where the concept of a Bitcoiner,
we'll look back in history and be like, what?
Everybody's just using Bitcoin.
It's just weird.
everybody will touch
Bitcoin somewhere.
My point is the argument
that you think I'm making
is just the present state.
Yes.
You're just describing
what the actions of people are.
But you're sort of saying
that like I have some
different perspective
on what's going on
than you do.
No, I just...
Like I'm saying
that people right now
act advantageously to Bitcoin.
They save in sats
and they spend fiat.
Thus they arbitrage
the two systems
for their benefit.
Yeah.
Right.
So you're saying
that won't increase?
I'm saying that is
likely going to continue
up until the point
where it is not
impossible to occur.
Like,
as long as you can
take advantage of that system,
why not?
I'm just going to keep
passing it back to Dylan
because, like,
Dylan does talk about this a lot.
He did a podcast with Stefan
about how to take advantage
of this arbitrage opportunity,
you know,
why that is appealing.
I mean,
do you want to kind of, like,
maybe give a little bit
more light onto,
like how people do that.
And I agree with what you're saying.
Like for me, like I save in Bitcoin,
I spend in fiat, like that is an arbitrage.
But obviously if you're too poor to save in Bitcoin
or you don't have access to a working fiat system,
maybe you don't have that luxury.
You actually just have to constantly
be in the Bitcoin overlay.
But I mean.
Am I addressing why Pete said he's a bear
and he's not buying until 2023 or?
I'm out baby, 2023, back that bottom.
well I mean like
yeah
talked about like
if you're talking about like
fiat and bitcoin
existing in parallel
and like
the arbitrage that exists
especially with like
capital market interest rates
and like
you know
the speculative attack
leveraging
fiat liabilities
to stack
you know
bitcoin on your
vast side of your balance sheet
like that's happening at scale
it's gonna
continue to happen at scale
is your home loan in bitcoin
like you're
somehow taking out
like a home loan in bitcoin
that I'm not aware of
I don't know
I don't know
So then you have financial instruments that are
denominated in fiat that you currently
use. I don't have a mortgage.
Oh, okay. I do.
Shitcoiner.
Yeah.
But I guess the point
I'm trying to make, maybe you would agree with me, Dylan,
is you can't time
one side of the arbitrage. What do you mean?
The chart's literally like
a static wave pattern. I'm talking about the other
side of it.
What's the other side?
The US dollar and people's faith in that.
Right. Yeah, I agree. But it seems like people really like the U.S. dollar just overall.
Right now? You don't think that's changing?
I don't know. I was in Lebanon at the end of last year. They seem like they're pretty
excited about the idea to be in the U.S. dollar. They don't want other alternatives to that.
At the end of last year?
Yes. I was in December. I went down to Lebanon. I was writing a profile for About Safety and
for the Bitcoin Magazine.
And how much has changed since you were in Lebanon?
I don't know.
That's a good question.
Well, they're using Tether.
But, like, this is part of the process, right?
And I don't know if everyone agrees with this thesis,
but the way I see it is that step one is hyper-dollarization,
and that is expedited via Tether and other sort of, like,
evolutions to the dollar stack.
And then step two is hyper-Bitcoinization.
I personally, I'm, like, have the unpopular opinion that CBDCs
are something that will never ship.
like I think it's just a complete
LARP. The countries can't even ship
a healthcare website let alone like a whole
CBDC. I mean in the dollar
it's about monitoring
Is that like a 2009 Obama
era criticism?
That's a deep one
you really went back in history for that one
No that doesn't get implemented until like
2014
2012. There's a working healthcare.gov website
for sure. Y'all if you
if you get any
unemployment check
if you get any unemployment check your social security number is within the email within the
the username that they uh they assign you so the last four digits of your social aka you know what
they used to verify you across the web and across financial institutions they just plop that right
into your username so uh yeah they're they're really competent another reason and you know
don't don't shoot me here i think that altcoins are great because they're a fucking hydra to ddos
regulators the regulate you know when what how many 2017 era shit coins actually got prosecuted
illegal securities actually got prosecuted very few of them like maybe they're trying to go around
and actually go to the exchanges that listed them all legally or illegally but who'd they get they
got kick kin they got bit torrent kind of i'm sorry not bit torrent uh what's it called uh
it connect kind of they kind of got big connect i want to big connect was like wholly separate
did they even use
like
was it even ever
a blockchain
I don't know
it was a Ponzi scheme
who cares
I'm just saying
like they can't deal
with this shit
when are they gonna
get to the NFTs
I mean summer
like in 27
2029
summer of 2018
Bitcoin sign guy
came on this podcast
and he described
yeah
yeah
posed the question
what do you think
of shit coins
he's like yeah
they provide cover
as we
go build out
this network
I agree with that
it's a straight DDoS
and I agree with
stable coins too
I've had Matt Alborg
on the show
many times throughout the years
and it became quite obvious
via his research
at usefultoolups.org
that people in emerging economies
want stable coins.
Yeah.
Overwhelmingly, yeah.
Yeah, the question is though,
I think we're in the endgame.
Yeah, the confidence.
I love the dynamic.
These two on Slack are hilarious
if you all aren't on
Bitcoin Magazine Slack.
That was literally
a knee slapper for you.
Come on.
we're in the end game
like what is it
like what's so special
about this time in history
there was
what do you mean
what's so special
there's like one of the
most special times in history
like there was the
nuclear
there was the Nazis
in like the 1940s
like what's
well we're in the
end game of
global fiat currency
okay
I mean
okay
fed funds at zero
inflation at 40
soon to be 50
or highs
they've already done
10 years of
quantitative easing
they
can't materially
raise interest rates the credit markets are actually in the midst of breaking and they
haven't even tightened at all that well that's like the mechanical technical aspect of it
socially though there's a social aspect to it i think people are losing confidence
quickly well russia was a big lesson like russia canada uh in succession that like that showed the
West and anyone in the East
to believe that the
American property rights system
actually mattered anymore.
It doesn't. And, you know,
even if you're investing internationally in Russia,
guess what? If you're caught up in the crossfire
then your property rights don't matter either.
Let's just address the elephant in the room. Let's just say
that Dylan's correct about this being the endgame.
The Bitcoin network is not currently equipped
to handle that. This is the elephant in the room right here.
That is actually the elephant in the room.
The Bitcoin network itself could not handle
that demand.
so you don't actually want that outcome
even if you're predisposed to
thinking what you think then you would
admit that the current network is very
limited into its ability to actually handle
global commerce at the scale that it would require
8 more years
I mean maybe then
well
I think I would be
yes I agree
the network certainly needs
a bit more
reinforcing to get to that point
and if you used it for daily commerce
maybe it would
be more
potentially
but
again I think
that's wholly
separate from
what we're talking
about which is
I just think
so I mean
a lot of my
a lot of me and
Dylan's conversation
are like I
fundamentally just
don't believe in
doomsdayism
I think it's
it's almost
never correct
like I'm not
a doomer
like I mean
it's like we
are potentially
facing one of the
biggest recessions
ever
in 2022
well I'm
trying to
just look at
what's going on
Saudi Arabia met with China today to talk about
doing
oil trades in yuan over the dollar.
You have a commodities
crisis that's only going to get worse. You have a
supply chain crisis that's only getting worse.
But don't you
find it very pessimistic that you just don't
think people will solve these problems in the short term?
There's just a weird outlook to have that you
just think that these problems can't possibly
be solved by the free market. Let's just take your perspective
that the markets solve problems. Then why are
those problems not big enough to meet a market demand
and be solved in the short term?
But again, these problems,
again, it's not whether or not they can be solved.
I do think they can be solved.
I don't think they can be solved in the short term.
They're like massive problems right now.
Like you can't materialize wheat
in a moment's notice.
You can eat something else.
I mean, Rizzo.
You could if you wanted to, but like.
The market will solve this,
but a lot of the reasons why these things are happening
are like non-market reasons, right?
So it takes time. And personally for me, like this conversation, it's like Bitcoin has been progressing in a really, in my opinion, like impressive way. Like it has progressed in an impressive amount in 12 years.
And when you look at a lot of other technology adoption, especially technology that Bitcoin's built on top of, like the mobile network infrastructure and all the other networks that Bitcoin relies on, this stuff escalates really quickly.
Sure, but at the same time, there's also still physical commerce.
You can still walk into a store and buy a shirt.
Sure.
There's not this idea that this change between these systems is going to happen radically.
You can walk into a store and steal a shirt right now in San Francisco and not have to pay shit.
But I mean, again, like that's kind of like the interesting thing is like Bitcoin is this alternative system that is working.
Yes, it's small, but it's working.
And then on the flip side, the existing system that people rely on is falling apart.
So there's kind of like this really nice and gradual shift.
And yeah, it can be traumatic for some folks.
Like let's say in Ukraine you have a traumatic, but.
I'll find my criticism of this.
If you believe that Bitcoin is a pure free market system
and ultimately all of commerce gets rebuilt on that system,
why is it that you don't think that a system that is not free market
can compete with that in the short term?
And they could even do like extreme things like just reset
like basically all economic activity in there.
I mean, the existing system is definitely free market.
It's just also manipulatable.
Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
I would say like we're on a dollar standard
and that was a free market emergence over time.
Go for it.
do you guys believe there's an order of operations to all this yes so what does that mean
things have to happen if we want your so i've come to the belief that there is an order of
operations to this and again falling down the mining rabbit hole i think bitcoiners have been
looking at it all wrong in terms of like adoption like merchant adoption big big meme 2013 2014
obviously that's what spun off Bitcoin
cash you're talking about it now
people adopting using spending Bitcoin
but again below that is
mining hash rate
very tightly connected to
energy like you get
I think it starts with energy I think the first
merchants important
merchants that will lead to
mass adoption are
energy producers like not
your bodega yes
it would be cool if your bodega didn't accept Bitcoin
talking about when we're talking about like bitcoin's competitive competitiveness and the
macroeconomic involvement is there's always this evocation of this future where like people will
just the system will fail on some level and they'll like you know people will have to flood
into the bitcoin system there's some part of the analogy that's always used where this is the this
is the construct and i'm just saying like i just i don't accept that construct it's it's failing
but it's not evenly distributed right i agree like it failed in russia it failed in in ottawa
Like it's, it's like kind of like falling apart and the cracks are showing the, the
water is seeping out.
And for, again, those who have the asymmetric, like the information, information, asymmetric,
asymmetrical advantage, you know, they're taking advantage of it.
A lot of people are losers in this process.
Obviously it's painful, but like, I don't know.
I always zoom out, man.
Like, it's not like I'm, I don't think that you're wrong.
I just like, I mean, the Soviet union lasted for how long?
Close to a hundred years.
then you get into the whole information like yes there is asymmetrical information distribution
right now however the capacity for information spread via the digital world accelerates the pace
of things like the Soviet Union lasting as long as it did maybe you can make the argument it was due
to the facilities to or the ability to facilitate information transfer was much slower
The logic of violence is changing.
Shout out to the sovereign individual.
But I agree.
People had to sneak books into the Soviet Union
to actually get subversive ideas in,
where today somebody can link in a Tor VPN and access it.
Yeah, I feel like there's the thing where, you know,
your proximity to information also biases your thought on that information.
So right now as Bitcoiners,
we're like sort of very biased towards this macroeconomic data.
But I find a lot of it fascinating.
I read the deep dive.
I think a lot of the stuff that you lay out is very interesting.
I think that we ascribe a lot of meaning to this data.
And the issue is not with the data, it's not with the theory,
because I think the theory can be correct.
I think that there can be long-term problems with the fiat system.
I think that that doesn't really necessarily always equate it to immediate
or even short-term issues.
You just might see that not materialize.
And then you have to change your whole thesis.
I mean, we've seen it time and time again in the Bitcoin stock to float.
Well, look, that was something that
six months ago, everybody
accepted that.
I'm so happy I never pushed Dr. Flow.
And now it's like that guy
is the biggest pariah. He'll never be allowed back
anywhere.
What is the legacy of Plan B
and Stop the Flow model? It's not good.
It's not going to be good.
Fantastic propaganda.
Oh my God. There's great hope at the 3K bottom.
Yeah.
And I have big
trust in the Bitcoin process. I have the biggest trust in the Bitcoin process. Like everyone's
hating about Plan B. Like y'all, Plan B orange-pilled so many fucking people. Plan B created a framework
for people to understand-
Did he or did he? Or did he give them unrealistic
expletations that were not delivered on?
Whatever. This is hyper-Bitcoinization.
Now people have bad taste in that.
Yeah, maybe, but this is the process. It's
just the process. And like people need framing. People need, like, people need to be moved
into the direction of the Bitcoin-
we're constantly crowing about the system failing and then over years the system doesn't fail like
at some point you need the system to actually fail to be correct no i mean the system has failed
it already failed most people just haven't recognized it that's the uh
objectively like yep i mean my life seems all right i'm walking around i'm like i ate at a
a restaurant this morning.
I went to a coffee shop.
Check your financial privilege.
Yeah, wait, talk about Lebanon
and how life was seemingly fine
and falling apart simultaneously.
Yeah, one of the weird things about it,
so I went to Lebanon,
they're experiencing hyperinflation, right?
Like their dollar is actively being devalued
against pretty much everything.
And the thing about hyperinflation
that I experienced was that
it seems very normal.
It's like all the same stuff is there.
Everybody has the same relationship to each other.
You go into a restaurant,
people are eating at restaurants.
it's not a humanitarian crisis
there's not people in the streets who are dying
all of a sudden under hyperinflation
it's very different
it's a frog boiling in water though
life is getting progressively worse
supply chains are breaking down
and it will continue to get worse
and it will become a humanitarian crisis
but at least in the short term
you're able to live under extreme hyperinflation
without really any disruption
in your daily life
human beings can deal with extreme situations
like the COVID lockdowns
Or an example of that.
I think this is a question of time horizon, right?
Like, yes, day-to-day life,
you may be able to go to a restaurant,
you may be able to have some laughs,
have some beers with your friends,
but over time,
I think the system has failed people,
families, individuals
who probably could have had a better life.
And they need an alternative,
but they think the alternative is,
almost unanimously,
they think the alternative is to go to the U.S. dollar.
And I think what is very interesting is that even the Bitcoiners there, because they're effectively debanked, they are buyers of the crypto economy first.
They have to buy Tether.
Even the people who want to stack sats and buy Bitcoin there, they have to purchase US dollar stablecoins and then convert them to Bitcoin on exchange because they're debanked.
So if that's the situation today, the situation of hyperinflation is that people who are debanked have to buy Tether in order to have financial access to Bitcoin.
and those people still prefer the dollar,
then I would say that Bitcoin is in a somewhat weaker position
than it could be within that environment.
Okay, I mean, I hate that fucking argument
because you have to look at it at the spectrum.
So here is this massive spectrum of liquidity.
Bitcoin is number 20 amongst all fiat currencies.
Let's have this conversation when Bitcoin's number eight.
It's actually the sixth largest.
But as long as the volatility continues to range with Bitcoin,
as long as it is very volatile,
people who are looking to for alternatives to volatility are always going to want something
that is not volatile you always going to want the thing that the world is priced in but guess what
soon that's going to be fucking sad because it's actually stable and i mean again like you have to
like take these things into the context whereas like we live in a dollar world obviously fucking
permissionless dollars are going to be preferable people do not they're like literally their mental
operating system is the dollar it's actually ridiculous to expect them to not like default
to their mental operating system which is why i'm so empathetic to people who are on their journey
to getting onto the bitcoin standard because like that's a freaking journey you have to question so
many aspects of your how your mind operates your incentives how you were taught you you got to
fucking burn it down you got first you got to find a window to like to bridge it and then you got to
walk that bridge
and then you got to
burn the bridge
on the other side
like those are
significant steps
before you're on
the Bitcoin operating system
you might also
you might say that
it's very early in Bitcoin
we're fucking early
I mean
population divided
by 21 million
we're fucking early
but simultaneously
the system is on
a verge of collapse
and will benefit
tremendously
well let's see again
I think that's
I think that
hey they're not
using their fiat
well no
it's like
it's not a fair
dig at Bitcoin
right
like they're
separate and mutually exclusive from each other
to a certain extent
the failure of the fiat
system and bitcoin maybe bitcoin
success depends on that a little bit but
bitcoin is not contributing
to the failure
of the fiat system
I don't think that was my assertion
I think all I was trying to say is that I think that
we're able to
I'm just playing around with the kind of framing here
I'm really glad that Rizzo's not drinking
I don't know what I would be saying if I was drunk
grab a beer sir
probably just be very
what do you think the perfect framing
or not perfect framing
I don't think there is a perfect framing per se
I think that you can challenge framing and you can ask about framing
this is again I think people traffic in absolutes
they want to be a bitcoiner all the time
they want to like you know be a republican
all the time people like these like mental
constructs that they just find very comforting
they want to think that the world
is going to collapse
Dylan what do you think
I think the world is going to collapse
yeah but look i mean like major religions have been saying that for years i mean this is a part
of their operating system as well like right like the i i'm i'm catholic you know i'm supposed to
believe that at any moment the world could end and the divine the rapture is a rapture you know
everyone will be judged but that's that's not how everyone is judged at every every moment of every
day right but i'm just saying like that's a good example of like what's incorrect about
their thesis than, you know,
and do we take them as,
so you're like,
obviously because there has been
no fall of civilization
over 2,000 years,
we take Christianity's message of,
you know, there being a rapture
less seriously.
So we're promising
a financial rapture.
I mean, civilization has fallen.
It's degenerate.
I don't think Bitcoin
needs a financial rapture.
I think we need to get,
we need to spell that.
I think it's outrageous.
I don't think it does either.
That's what I was trying to get to.
I don't think Bitcoin needs it.
Obviously it doesn't.
we're using it right now so without that like the communism and capitalism remained alongside
together for a while yes to this day yeah still to this day i don't know i mean i feel like central
banking is a mark is a marxist i mean yeah sure we're still we're still grappling with the fact
that we have centralizing institutions but like economic uh calculations via central coordination
like there was a battle the battle was concluded obviously you know our says i mean right now our
position with china is the weakest that it's been in decades and i mean you could say that china is
also shooting themselves in the foot by you know by moving away from the free market uh philosophies
that made them relevant again all i'm trying to say is that like there was this battle these two
these two uh side-by-side systems did exist simultaneously and it fell apart because one
system was much better at
allocating capital and I just think
that like they do currently coexist
I think that there's
like this reemergence through the corruption
of centralized institutions
that has you know creating a
in one one quarter of the world's population
lives in a communist country
like you know one seventh okay a totalitarian
country I don't know if they're actually
communist well that's actually
I guess that's a yeah with China
it's like the weird
particularly in Bitcoin for me
somebody who grew up
like hearing
China's
communist
communist
communist
it's very
interesting that
in my opinion
the most capitalistic
part
of Bitcoin today
has been the Chinese
mining community
like by
by far
like
it's like
how are they
the most capitalistic
well those
those guys were people
who grew up with
Western values
right and they broke
from their culture
and they ultimately
paid a very heavy price
because they all got
kicked out of the country
a lot of them
so I think like
I think the Chinese
old Chinese miners
a lot of them left their country
and are doing very good
here in the United States
sure
I agree
yeah
but I think those guys
are hardcore
and like that's the kind of
you know
to ask
Bitcoin asked them
to endure that hardship
and they did
yeah
like this
like this machine
like
the Camry
the Camry of Bitcoin miners
yeah
it wasn't that long ago
that like
these were some of the
most maligned people
by the Bitcoiners
in the west
yeah
Chinese miners
yeah
I mean I again
I honestly think
that Bitcoiners
don't know what is good
for Bitcoin
hey I've been
I like to think
I've been
very
well everything is good
for Bitcoin
yeah
no but like
when it comes to like
Bitcoiners don't admit that
they think a lot of things
are bad for Bitcoin
I need to say something
that Dylan would like
I think
when it comes to like
giving the Chinese
mining industry
like props
where props are due
I like to think that
I mean they built that
without any venture capital
they built it all themselves
they out-competed
literally all
the rest of the world
mining companies
yeah
so I think
like one of my favorite
dichotomy stories
is that you know
Silicon Valley goes
and invests all these
millions in 21.co
you know
Silicon Valley
like has Intel
building mining chips
for them in 2014
they have this huge
like advantage
right
they have the best
American manufacturer
who's just today
entering the market
making their chips
this is 2014
and then they go
and they totally
like totally lose
that opportunity
to a bunch of
Chinese kids
who like grew up
in like rural nowhere
who like you know
build mining
build mining facilities
with three fucking walls
yeah
you know
like don't have
don't have a ceiling
there you got 15 people
like sleeping around the mine
and they rose to like
actually like
they ran the game
yeah
they had 60%
of their network
hash rate until last year
yeah
so I think those guys
like talking about
getting a raw deal
I think
they really went all out
for the coin
but at the same time
they knew they went all out
and they felt like
the coin owed them something
to some degree
and I'm not trying to like
I'm not trying to throw that
on all miners
but
there is definitely a cohort
within the Bcash realm
I think
I think
the most underrated
of the Chinese Zed
is Wang Chun
who's
like
within the pantheon
of Bitcoiners
like I would say
like top 10
top 15
yeah top 10
he might be the
he might be the number one
Coinbase
message troll
of all time
oh yeah
that stuff
which has been fantastic
and then also
his undermining of
Gion
and the activation of
Segwit on Litecoin, which was all
Wayne Chung. I think Wayne Chung,
but he's somebody nobody knows about, right?
He's happy about that.
His boss freaking
won Bitcoin donation to Luke Dash Jr.
It was pretty badass.
What was it?
$9,999
change transaction.
He gave him one Bitcoin, zero
fees, mined it with his own pool,
gave himself back
$9,900 Bitcoin.
at statoshi
on twitter
if you're looking
to help somebody
that is
the western perspective
does
definitely perturb
our view
of what bitcoin is
what it has been
how we think of ourselves
in the context of it
like I think
like the stablecoin thing
that was a very hard thing
and still is
for a lot of people
who consider themselves
like hardcore bitcoiners
systemic it's like you have to recognize that oh right now it's serving a needed onboarding
function both for bitcoiners and developing a world and also for people who are not just straight
access to dollars yeah it's needed yeah well that's the other question like is it actually
access to dollars or just some synthetic that doesn't matter i mean are your dollars real
are dollars in your bank real like the whole the whole system's how do you not square like you have
this like perfect model of like the credit system but then like you know nobody really cares if any
this stuff is real
like literally
the stable coins
like nobody cares
that they're really backed
so the market still operates
like you know
that's the whole
the whole system
is the same shit
this is why
this is why Bitcoin
will ultimately
allocate capital better
that's the end of the game
is Bitcoin
will allocate capital
much fucking better
than the fiat system
and therefore
that's why everyone
will migrate it
to it because
they will have fun
staying poor otherwise
it's kind of funny
I mean like someone
I think a hedge fund
just took on like
a four billion dollar
short of Tether
they like borrowed
oh yeah
that was super weird
they like got
USDC
was it Ackland
I don't know
I don't think so
I forget who it was
I saw that the other day
but like yeah
let me finish
they just borrowed
they borrowed
four billion dollars
of Tether
somehow
sold it
and bought USDC
or
another
how did they benefit
from that trade though
if Tether
if Tether collapses
then they cover their shorts
and profit the difference
yeah the peg breaks
but
the whole Tether
like
reserves
like
I think people severely discount
the fact that Bitfinex
tether company was holding
Bitcoin
in the reserves right
they started
holding Bitcoin in the reserves like at a way
lower price
well this is why like on
the paper all the gox people could be
yeah but
that's a whole nother cluster
wait no
oh yeah well in the US dollar set
in the u.s dollar sense yeah yeah like i think i'm contrarian in the world right now uh i think
tether is probably like over reserved so i just feel like this is one of the biggest differences
between the bitcoin system and the beyond system and cryptocurrency system that we don't talk about
whereas like bitcoin is very logical like it needs to add up and it has this mathematical certainty
and then the rest of the system is just like there's just it can just operate on anything
like literally it doesn't have to make any sense and like how is that not a strategic advantage
for that system
but I can just literally
wipe this like
because it works
until it doesn't right
there's but see
there are trade-offs
Pete
and it exists within
a world
where Bitcoin also exists
and then you have to
weigh the
cap and out
the
the advantages
and disadvantages
within capital allocation
like there's no
so like there's no
current equation
that sums up
why life in the universe
exists
like you can't math
that out
so therefore the universe
exists in a way
that is like
mathematically improbable
like we don't know
how to define that
so then why does that
why should that
apply to
it's a good catholic
I want to thank you
god
it's been a lot of
religious big ups
in this conversation
oh man
I mean hey
there's a lot of
like kind of
religious
kind of trends
that emerge within
bitcoin
I said the universe
and the fiat system
are both infinitely
expanding
it's just a question
of how fast
they're expanding
when they dissipate
yeah
like is the fiat system
just the universe
on another scale
yes i win it's not it's not no everything is math yeah it's all fractals except the universe
the universe is fractals rosa maybe bitcoin was the one equation for the universe
wow you're all that's bullish i knew that tweet it tweet it tweet it maybe it was einstein's
equation for the world let's get cosmic yeah i just felt like we had to push that there because
that was expected of us.
I'd probably get like
10,000 likes on Twitter.
Can I just say that
this might be the only
podcast where no one
addressed the freaks
on TFTC.
So.
Make up to the freaks.
Kind of a disappointment.
Wait what do you mean?
I already did.
I said what's up freaks.
Oh.
Well none of us did.
What up freaks.
Hey.
Sorry for the bearish
stuff I guess.
I thought we were
going to talk about
Bitcoin magazine and
then it's just the
Rizzo bear diaries.
I plugged it.
I plugged it.
I was trying to plug it.
I was talking about the comedians that we're having
and the celebrities. That's the conference.
Derek Zoolander was like
the beautiful celebrity.
Fuck the celebrities.
The best things about the conference
is the fact that there's going to be 30,000
fucking Bitcoiners coming together in one place.
The fact that
these celebrities are there, that's because they're
serving us so they can get down
on their knees and continue to
They're serving us.
They're serving the Bitcoiners.
We are really important and they want to
entertain our demographics
so I was talking with
Pierre yesterday about this
I was like I think
what we could do is like
do you think it's still
too late for us to get
the Guinness Book of
World Records
we can do the world's
largest smash buy
we can just have
20,000 people
smash buy
I think Cash App
would love that
we tried that at
Bitcoin 2019
and the price
immediately went
but like you know
you get 20,000 people
just smash buy
you bring Sailor
on the stage
and he smash buys
on Cash App
he just smash buys
10,000 Bitcoin
the crowd would
like be really into it
I think we should put it into the programming.
Let's hit up P.
Hey, we started the Smash Buy in 2019.
It has to be a...
In the programming, we're going to credit Marty and Matt
and just say like...
Guinness World Records.
Smash Buy in honor of TFTC 2019.
What a funny entry where it's like,
largest cryptocurrency smash buy.
Honestly, that's how we get hyper-Bitcoinization
is we orange pill people via that record.
Right.
We don't have any records in there, I don't think.
Is there a Bitcoin record in there?
You don't want to get a book of records.
I mean, it's a long blockchain
of human achievement.
It's the longest running blockchain of human achievement.
I don't know about that.
Remember buying the Guinness Book
of World Records as a kid?
Yeah, I mean, kids love that stuff.
You got to get them while they're young.
Speaking of getting them while they're young,
I want to bring it up.
When we were at Cooper's last night,
gentleman we were with
noticed the kid
had to be like
13 years old
and he was like
buying NFTs
and just like
asked some questions
and I wanted to bring this up
because I was like
alright what do the youth
think of this
like are they even
thinking of Bitcoin
and I was asking this guy
he was like
why are you buying
these NFTs
he was like
oh because celebrities
are talking about them
he was like
do you like it
like why do you get
into NFTs
he was like
oh I want to get
into investing
this kid's like 13
and he was like
do you own it
what cryptocurrencies
he's like yeah just nfts and eth he's like don't have any bitcoin it's like no so that made me
wonder how is gen z viewing the stuff i mean i think you know the answer and i think it's very
unfavorable yeah yeah but doesn't matter i think well we have a a gen z right here yeah yeah i mean
we have no capital so i mean like i mean this kid was slanging at nfts last night yeah his parents
capital i mean i've i've orange pilled quite quite a lot uh of my fellow zoomers but you know
more broadly it's definitely more of a crypto focus yeah for better or worse y'all like i don't
think bitcoiners need to be concerned about the the crypto focus like this is the crypto focus
is like an incremental step to bitcoining it's just i'm not concerned about i'm just like
interested
as kids
yeah
stupid kids
gonna listen to celebrities
get burnt
gonna grow up
buy bitcoin
or work
part of the process
or have fun
they will work
for bitcoin
sure
just like the celebrities
are gonna serve us
at the conference
what do we solve
during this conversation
are we solving anything
we learned that
bitcoin has solved
the universal equation
the world is ending
buy bitcoin
yeah
or the only way
to save the planet
is by buying Bitcoin
which I endorse
that message
it's one or the other
it's both
it's both
no
what are you going to
anchor yourself to
is like blocks are produced
if you want to send
a transactional
likely get included
in a block
but you can't think
about the price
can't try to time
the fiat world either
like I remember
2013
2014
when I first got
into Bitcoin
I was making my wife
cry at brunches
she was my girlfriend
then we were long distance
she'd come to Chicago
and I'd
just like
lock myself in a room
that week
like learning about Bitcoin
she shows up
and I
nobody to
vent about my Bitcoin views on
and then we go to brunch
and she'd be crying by the end
because I'd be like
it's all gonna fall
it's like around your age
like
oh man
it's like
it's all gonna break down
the map
doesn't add up
it's
it's literally a pond
dude
it's like
people are gonna be starving
so like
thinking like
I've been there
yeah
see the thing is
is that none of that
none of that's gonna happen
because
Bitcoin exists
so
we'll be alright
we'll be alright fam
this is a comment
more towards like
alright you can think
like the world's ending
but it's not
I just think the world
has a long history
of not ending
that we need to acknowledge
yeah
this conversation
we are here
I second that
the world's not gonna end
and
yeah
we're gonna keep innovating
with Bitcoin
so that's why we
there's hope
yes there is
who's that looking
it's Jimmy Song
Jimmy
me yeah he wants your attention okay yeah y'all as someone who's gonna completely dethrone austin
it's pretty impressive pretty fucking impressive how many uh how many bitcoiners we've been just
rubbing shoulders with by being here so the bitcoin comments pretty chill place yes sir
pretty chill place so marty i think we have to have a bet oh god i i think if an austinian moves
to nashville then i need to get some stats and then if the nashvillian moves to austin then uh
then I can pay you out some sats.
No, I'm not making that bet.
No confidence.
Because all it takes is one.
No confidence.
We need like a list of people.
I mean, verified Bitcoiner.
Huh.
What is a Bitcoiner?
Don't talk to Pete Rizzo.
That was some Pete Rizzo bullshit.
There are Bitcoiners.
I'm 100% correct about that.
There are Bitcoiners.
You can identify as a Bitcoin all the time.
There are no Bitcoiners.
You can identify as a Bitcoiner.
I don't think anybody's moving to Nashville.
I don't like that bet
no confidence
it's just not exciting enough
I need to be thrilled
if I'm going to bet
Matt always has the worst bets too
you know
we can bet on them shaving their mustaches
who does it first
that's a good one
who's going to shave their mustache first
Dylan what was it like being a openly
mustached Bitcoiner
it was great
got a lot of
got a lot of compliments
not really
it was a pretty bad mustache
yeah it was
yeah it was
my first committed
committed stache
but
mom wasn't a fan
my wife makes me
like I'll do the same
where I'll grow my beard
and then I'll shave it all
but my stache
and I'll walk out
and she's like
honestly you could
you could rock it
you could rock the fireman
policeman look
we're getting deep into the fantasies here
I gotta take a piss
should we keep it going
and I'll come back
bitcoin 2022 in 22 days
go to b.tc
slash conference
it's airing right now
so 23 days
I just got an email
No, there's going to be like a live broadcast.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Do you want to be on the news desk?
Yeah, was I not supposed to mention that?
No, that's great.
Yeah, I'll do it.
I'm going to sit there for two hours and just talk about what's going on.
No, y'all, if you're not going to be there, watch the live stream.
But if you can be there, you need to.
Bitcoin 22 is an investment in yourself, truly.
I mean, it is fun getting together with Bitcoiners.
and you can arbitrage dollars
by spending them
on the conference
that's true
or you can give us
Bitcoin and get
a 30% discount
and you can be part of
the Guinness
Book of World
record breaking
record smash
I wonder how hard
they must have somebody
on standby right
like in case
something happens
we should coordinate that
urgently
some sort of record
right like
how do you know
we'll put you on the task
you could probably
look at book order
a cash app
probably has that data
yeah
they would like to be in there
it's a good
sponsor perk
you got you in the Guinness Book of Records
thank you Cash App
also sponsor the pod
not right now
but we'll get it back
well
you shouldn't have smashed by
god damn
yeah
Cash App's a very
very
fun partner of TFTC
the
Bitcoin 2022 man
I can send you some of the Bitcoin that I
that I purchased
making a transaction that thereby increases the health of the network
yeah
well again
we did the smash buy
2019
obviously it wasn't
as many people there
but
we went into
a two year bear market
after that
well that's not good
we were in the midst
of a bear market
no we were
we were going up
to $14,000
back
yeah
I mean that was
that was pretty much
all plus
plus token
was it plus token
I think like
they started dumping
so
yeah
we smashed buy
and then we went
we didn't hit the bottom
until March 12th
honestly
Bitcoin 2019
was really special
like we're
we're all hanging out there
watching talks
and then every single time
a talk was over
the price would come back up
and it'd be like
a thousand dollars more
I found out I was having
a
my wife was pregnant
with my son
at Bitcoin 2019
went on to go do a
do a panel discussion
with Dhruv
Unsolved
from Unchained
and Zach Prince
from BlockFi
and right before
I walk on stage
my wife's like
I'm pregnant
I was like what the fuck I'm about to go on stage
for the first time in front of a couple
thousand people that's awesome
thanks I was like up there
like trying to talk about multistick I was like oh fuck
I'm gonna get dead
well cheers to you man that's amazing
thank you
yeah I mean it was an amazing event
and honestly like looking back
it's just incredible to see
going from like you know
1800 people to like
now we're talking about 20,000 people
plus
uh and i mean as much as like i would want to take credit for like making a big event in a great
event like it's really like the bitcoiners that need to take credit because like back then the
bitcoin industry could only support 1800 people at a conference and now you know we're talking
about the bitcoin industry can support 30 000 people at the conference and i mean like we
couldn't do like that's not us like that's the bitcoin industry so i think it's like it's really
we exist to serve
people who are
interested in Bitcoin
and who may identify
as Bitcoin
speaking about serving
you aren't serving
seed oils at this
conference are you
I mean sure why not
not that I plan on
but I mean there's
going to be a lot of
food trucks there
can't make any promises
here comes Rizzo
in the case of why
seed oils are good
I don't know anything
about seed oils
I just respect
canola oil is good
for you
why do I want to
even take the time
to interface with
that argument
for your health
why did that even
come up Marty
are you concerned
about seed oils
seed oils is my
favorite meme right
like meat
I like vegetables
I like things that
don't fall into those
categories I'll eat
whatever
okay
I mean I'm drinking
beer right now
is there any seed oils
in China
there's wheat
there's wheat
I put the seed
anti-seed oil stuff
like up there with
the tungsten cubes
there's
no they're completely
different
they're the same
tungsten
tungsten is a
shit coin
keep sacking
stats freaks
all right
we'll see you guys
at Bitcoin 2022
I'm about to piss myself
read Bitcoin magazine
we definitely don't want
to end the episode
with that
that would be
really bleak
it's going to be worth it
right guys
what
this life
Bitcoin the conference
I'm kidding
absolutely
Jesus Christ
I mean we've all been there
we know how it's going to be
we haven't even really
got into the
you know
air market yet
you can't be saying
shut up
no I mean
you can't be questioning
the worth of it
there's absolutely
no question in my mind
that if you don't
invest in yourself
and buy a conference ticket
you know
at least you can buy
bitcoin but
you're gonna be regretful
where can we buy
conference tickets
b.tc forward slash conference
and what code
should they be
what would you say
to people who would
rather take that money
and stack sats
it's fine
watch it on live stream
so you're not gonna make it
Marty's literally about
to piss himself right now
let's make this take longer
I'm actually good at holding my pee.
I can hold my pee.
You're not going to make an argument
that they should buy conference tickets over Bitcoin.
Well, they just hate themselves.
It's fine.
Hey, I bought chairs for this studio.
I'm sitting in a chair.
You can't replace the experience of the conference,
even with sets.
Sure.
I honestly think going to the conference
is going to help you make more sets
and hang out with more Bitcoiners.
So I encourage it.
Well, I mean, a story that I heard recently,
last year Natalie Brunel was there
handing out t-shirts
for coin stories
like literally showed up
bought a ticket
as an attendee
like doing her own merch
and now she's going to be
on the main stage
at the Bitcoiner
she got involved
she got on
Peter McCormick's podcast
did a podcast
with McCormick
and
the rest is history
dreams are made
at Bitcoin
in 2022
well that dream
was made at Bitcoin
2021
new dreams
at the Bitcoin conference
it doesn't matter
what year
that's for sure
alright
b.tc slash conference
come join some fellow Bitcoiners
we're going to smash by
into the Guinness Book of World Records
it's going to be
it's going to be incredible
gentlemen let's go have a night
alright cheers Marty thanks
peace and love
