WEBVTT - Bitcoin in El Salvador for One Year - How's it Going? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.480 Hello, and welcome back. You are listening to another episode 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:04.400 of the Mark Mos Show, where we talk about the 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.520 decentralized revolution each and every week, and of course talking 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.960 about through the lens of politics, finance, and technology. The 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:15.160 technology being the decentralized technology of bitcoin and we see 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.720 how that changes the world. Now, I try to bring 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.960 to you some education so you can kind of understand 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.520 things a little bit differently than what they're being presented. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.599 Some of the latest breaking news, y're up to date, 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.720 and that is exactly what I want to dig into 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.520 today each and every week. I mean, things are just 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:32.920 happening so fast, so you've gotta stay on top of this. 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:38.519 And this week we saw an anniversary, a big anniversary, 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.400 one that I was super excited to see. I'm talking 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:47.400 about the one year anniversary of El Salvador adopting bitcoin 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.240 as a reserve currency. Now a lot of people listen 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.680 to this might go, yeah, but mark bitcoins down. You know, 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.400 from it's all time high. It's a horrible store of 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.240 value or medium exchange. And look how farst down on etcetera. 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.520 You are looking at bitcoin purely for its US d 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:10.680 U S dollar valuation um as opposed to an alternative 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:15.520 payment system that it really is. You're also trying to 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:18.399 look at a new technology by looking at the wrong things. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:20.760 As I've said many many times, the way that you 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.200 look at a new technology is not the US dollar valuation. 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:26.399 You look at it through the growth of the network 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.280 and the development that's happening on the network. So like 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:34.039 with Uber, for example, people invested into it um You 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.440 know in Silicon Valley a decade ago, it was not 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.479 publicly traded. Nobody knew what the price of um Uber 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:41.679 was for the first decade. And imagine if you did. 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:43.560 Every time they got a new city or got a 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.520 protest from a city, the price would go up and down. Instead, 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.040 you looked at the growth. Are they adding more drivers, 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.160 are they getting more riders, are they getting more app downloads? 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.240 And look at the development on the on the network, 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.000 like now they have Uber Eat they deliver food and 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.040 things like that. And so you want to look at 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.880 it not just the newest dollar terms. And so looking 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.600 at bitcoin being adoption by a nation state is a 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:09.360 big development on the network. Maybe the US dollar value 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:12.640 doesn't represent that today, but we stuff to look at that. 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:13.720 And I want to show you a couple of things 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:19.520 that showed just that. Now, as somebody who's looking to 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.480 get ahead in life, somebody who wants to invest, who 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.840 wants who wants to uh work in the right direction. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.560 What I'm always looking for is I'm looking for mismatches, 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:36.639 a mismatch in the difference between perception and reality. Now, 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:42.480 those mismatches are our opportunity. Right, So the you know, 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:47.440 the markets are pretty efficient. So you know, we talked 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.240 about the stock markets. You know, are they pricing in 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.680 um you know more rate increases? Are they pricing in 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.000 these bad things? Because the markets are always trying to 0:02:56.000 --> 0:03:00.359 figure this out. What we're looking for the opportunity is, 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.079 why would the market think this thing is actually worth 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.040 way different, way less, or way more than I think 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.920 it is. So UM Tesla stock, for example, there's no 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.399 reason why Tesla stocks should be worth this much. They're 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:15.440 worth more than every other car company in the world. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.919 Look at the problem. Has the markets value in this 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.920 but I think the markets really less. That's my opportunity 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:22.840 to short it. For an example, I'm not saying that's 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.240 the case UM, or we'd look at something opposite. UM. 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.800 Look at you know, real estate markets getting hammered, the 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.440 home building stocks are getting completely hammered as well. But 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.119 I think these homeowner stocks are actually worth way more. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.200 I think the markets discounting them and they shouldn't be, 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.040 So I'm gonna buy homebuilder stocks. So always looking for 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.520 that mismatch. And I think there's a mismatch with bitcoin 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:47.680 as well. I Um, I put out a tweet and 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.600 what did I say here? I said, Oh, I said 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.920 to a Wall Street trader, bitcoin is just another trading toy, 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.440 but two millions of people living under authoritarian regimes and 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.800 double digit inflation, it's a life draft. Sooner than later 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.760 this will flip. So what I'm saying is is that 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:11.320 there's a mismatch. Wall Street thinks it's just another risk asset. 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.400 They trade it just like any other tech stock. But 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.719 that's not what it is. So there's a mismatch there. 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.680 It's actually something different. So to millions of people living 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:22.680 under authority aran regimes in North Korea where are not 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.599 even allowed to have money, it's a life draft. And 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.839 I think that's gonna play out. Now. Back to El Salvador, 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.240 so um the one year anniversary, and it hasn't been 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.040 a smooth route there. The first one. There's a saying 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.920 that as the pioneers always get some arrows in the back. 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.320 So the first mover has to deal with all the problems. 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:43.720 They have to deal with, every bump in the road, 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:44.880 they have to deal with all the hate. They got 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:46.720 to deal with the arrows in the back. And that's 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:48.800 kind of what else Salvador has had to deal with, 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.240 they say. Despite many real stumbles and skeptical mainstream coverage 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:58.840 of President Boukeley's bitcoin initiative, both tourism numbers and remittance 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:04.599 usage are already showing meaningful payoffs. So let's break that 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.640 down a minute. Well, I'm gonna break that down a second. 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.159 So what's interesting though, is um this month, and it 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:15.039 was actually September fifteenth, it marked El Salvador's Independence Day. 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:16.680 Just like in the United States we have fourth of July, 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.000 they have their own independence day on this date. In 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:23.960 eighteen twenty one, the UH the Provincial Council of Guatemala 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:29.239 proclaimed the independence of the entire region Central America from 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:33.080 the Spanish Empire in a document known as the Act 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:39.279 of Independence of Central America. Now what's interesting is we 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:44.080 basically saw the same thing happen where this month also 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:49.360 marks the one year anniversary of a more recent independent struggle, 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:53.520 and that is El Salvador's effort to decouple its economy 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:58.400 from the US dollar by using a different currency, by 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.919 recognizing bitcoin as legal tender. Now uh, it says, in 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:07.560 part thanks to a very instability bread by American interventions 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.920 in the nineteen eighties. So this would be Oliver North 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.440 and the Sandinistas and the Iran contra. If you don't 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:16.240 know what that is, you might want to go check 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.160 out as a pretty interesting story. And what we saw 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.160 is that this led to massive in stability. I'm not 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.160 gonna dig into that, but basically, um, they they abandoned 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.760 their own currency, their own paceo, and they started to 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.240 move on to the dollars. Happened in finalized in the 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.039 year two thousand and So Al Savadors are kind of 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:41.120 been running on the dollar, which is a fairly stable currency. Um, 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.520 but they weren't the masters of their own fate. If 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.320 the US Federal Reserve decided to print more money, then 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.480 that would mean mean massive inflation for Al Savador. They 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:55.760 couldn't control that. Now, it says a sal Savadorian president Bukeley. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.240 Um looks like he saw the right on the wall. 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.479 When he first in between his Bitcoin law, dollar inflation 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.599 in the the US was barely tacking up the feeder reservice, 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.400 saying we can't get it, we can't get enough inflation. Um. 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:10.320 And then they finally start getting limit inflations that oh, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.760 it's temporary, it's temporary, it's it's transitory. Remember that. But 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.840 a year later, now that inflation is looking like a 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:23.960 more um, intracticable outcome of America's response right to the pandemic. 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.080 So now at the time it was like it's it's 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.840 it's not happening, it's not happening. And now it's gotten really, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.120 really bad now, Like I said, it hasn't been without 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.440 a few bumps and bruises. Like I said, the pioneers 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:37.000 got to take the arrows in the back, and so 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:39.640 El Salvador has certainly done that. Um. There was you know, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:43.000 technological glitches with rolling out their A T M s, 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.920 with rolling out their UM their wallets. Right, there's all 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.400 types of problems with that, as you might expect. Um. 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.360 I think people were a little bit too harsh on that. Um. 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.760 The United States arguably the leader of the world and 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.680 in tech. I mean, look what happened when Obama tried 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.480 to roll at the Obamacare website. They spent billions on 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.600 the on the on the website that all it does 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.320 is just match you up with an insurance provider, and 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.600 they couldn't even roll that out. The i r S 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:12.960 in the United States, the i r S has been 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:18.000 trying to revamp their software for decades. They consistently every 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.760 single year mess up everybody's tax turns, mail out the 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.000 wrong ones, etcetera. They've been trying to overhaul. They can't 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.360 even get that done. So, I mean, come on, cut 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:27.280 out of it or a little bit of slack. They 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.120 create a whole new financial system. They had a little 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.560 bit of a little technical glitches. That's okay. But what 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.440 we're starting to see is the silver lining. We're starting 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:39.679 to see actually some of the good stuff that it's done. 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:41.320 And I think other nations are going to stand up 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.360 and take notice of this. I want to talk about that. 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.320 I want to talk about also some places in the 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.800 United States and other countries that have already started to 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.280 take the same things. So don't go away. I gotta 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.319 I gotta come back in a second and tell you 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.440 that you're listening to the Marketma show. Of course, talking 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.199 about the decentralized revolution, the way the world is changing 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.120 through the lens of politics, finance, and technology, the technology 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.960 being bitcoin that we are talking about in El Salvador, 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:09.280 but it's also happening in the United States and other nations. Again, 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.160 the dollar prices a distraction. Look at this. I'll be 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.680 back to explain that and more in a minute. Don't 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.439 go away, I'll be right back. All right, welcome back. 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.160 You are listening to the Mark Mashue if you're just 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.240 tuning in. We talked about each and every week, the 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.839 decentralized revolution, the way the world changes from centralization to 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:29.000 decentralization through the lens of politics, finance, and technology, and 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:30.880 I guess we're talking about all three. As we was 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:32.960 trying to do, I try to find the convergence of 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:35.840 those three. And so we're talking about the politics of 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:40.480 a nation like El Savador getting off of their colonial money, 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.520 off of their US dollar and setting up their own 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:45.839 financial system. That's political, it's also financial. They're changing in 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.280 their financial system, and of course it's technology. It's off 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.040 of bitcoin, which is a technological revolution. Now, again, as 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.120 I've said, there's been plenty of naysayers and granted, there's 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.640 been plenty of ammunition for these nasairs because there's been 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:01.840 lots of bumps in the road, as you would expect. 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:04.679 As I said before the break, I mean, the Obamacare 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:06.600 Initiative tried to roll out a new website to help 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:08.320 you find an entrance provider. They couldn't even get that 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.480 done with billions of dollars. And the US is arguably 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.000 the leader in the world, especially when it comes to technology, 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.160 and so they did a whole new financial system. They 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:18.200 had a couple of bumps in the road. Uh great, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.599 uh ammo for the haters. But there's things that we 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.319 want to look at. So what do we want to 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.360 look at? What are the good things? Well, we want 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.280 to look at a couple of things. One, bitcoin's ability 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:33.480 to send remittances from abroad. So what do I mean 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.560 by that? So, uh, if you're in the United States, 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:38.360 you don't get this unless you've traveled the world alive. 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.760 Most of the world has to send their family, their 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.880 loved ones somewhere else like America to earn money that 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.240 hopefully gets sent back to them. El Salvador is no 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.920 different than most other countries. About thirty percent of their 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.720 gross domestic product about thirty percent of all the money 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.920 that El Salvador received eaves comes from remittances, comes from 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.000 other people in other parts of the world, mostly the 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.319 United States, sending money back home. Now, how do they 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.480 do that, Well, you can do it through Western Union. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.520 You can go to the bank, wait in line, pull 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.000 out cash. Driving your car, go to the bank, wait 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.200 in line, given um. Or go to the grocery store, 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.040 wait in line, give them the cash. Fill out the 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:25.000 form for Western Union UM lose you of your money. Then, 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:27.680 as bad as that is, that might take an hour 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:29.680 out of my time, it's even worse than El Salvador, 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.720 because now they live in some rural town. They gotta 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.000 get on a bus. They gotta drive on a bus 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.800 hours potentially to get to the city where they can 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.040 now claim that money. Now they got to write hours 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.840 back on a bus with cash and hopefully don't get robbed, 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.240 and they've had to lose you know, depends on the 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.800 dollar amount, but or more in fees. So they had 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.120 to waste an entire day, they have the risk of 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.120 getting robbed, and they've had to give up the money. 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.439 But with bitcoin, literally I don't have to go to 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:01.280 the bank, I don't have to go to go to 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:02.559 the store, I have to go to Western Union and 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:07.280 I can click a button and they can instantly have money, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.040 and they can have it in their bedroom, in their 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:12.280 underwear in bed without having to get on a bus 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.679 and do any of that. Pretty good, right, And it 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.400 can be done for free, pretty much free, instead of 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:21.520 having to give up and so that has been a 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:22.960 big thing. As a matter of fact, it says in 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.920 May of this year UM almost two percent of remittances 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.840 to El Salvador, almost a hundred million dollars were sent 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.880 via bitcoin in the eight months following the Bitcoin long 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.360 So in the first eight months, almost almost a hundred 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:41.760 million dollars about two percent of remittances were sent via bitcoin. 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.520 Now I get it, Well, a hundred million does sound 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:46.439 like a lot of money. Two percent of the remittances 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.120 doesn't sound like a lot. I get it. It's small. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.760 But you have to understand the way technology and adoption 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.760 curves work. There's something called an S curve. So anytime 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.800 there's a new technology, it takes time to be adopted. Um, 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.840 it took the telephone over eighty years to reach eight 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.480 percent adoption. Now, why would it take so long to 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:07.920 get a telephone. Telephones are easy. There's no risk in 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:13.920 using the telephone, microwaves, washing machines, TVs, color TVs, the Internet. 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:19.440 The Internet took decades to get to adoption, so to 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.240 get two adoption within the first eight months is pretty 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:27.400 dang fast. It's pretty dang fast. So it's happening now. 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.079 Like I said, if you understand adoption curves and human behavior, 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.080 you'll understand how important that is. Now, what about the 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.520 dollar impact. Well, I already explained to you the time, commitment, 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.840 to risk commitments, all that. But Salvadorians at home and 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:47.160 abroad reportedly spend about four hundred million per year just 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.559 on the fees for the remittances. So if you want 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:54.400 to send money back home, about four hundred million goes 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.600 to Western Union. Doesn't help out Salvador. Doesn't help the 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.280 people that need the money. They goes to Western Union. Now, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.640 according to the World Bank, remittance fees to El Salvador 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:11.520 averaged about three percent in which is low in global terms. 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.640 I think that's um, I think that's very low. I 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.080 think that's a little bit lower than reality. Um. You 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:19.120 have to understand that most of these have like fixed fees. 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.920 So if you send ten bucks or twenty bucks, it's 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.440 a very high percentage. If you send a million bucks, 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.640 it's a very low percentage, so that that gets skewed. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.240 But the average person is getting remittance fees down there 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.240 are typically getting little bits of money, a hundred bucks 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.920 at a time something like that. All right, But um 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.880 so if there's four hundred million being spent on remittances 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:42.520 on fees, even a small reduction in that is wanted, right, 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.680 And like I said, the bitcoin fees are basically free. 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.160 You can basically send bitcoin instant and near free using 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:54.240 the Lightning network. Now if you combine, uh, if you 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.480 even just half the price, let's say that you could 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:58.680 just cut the fees in half, which you can cut 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.480 them way more in half than that. Let's say you 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.320 just cut them in half. Um, you can see that 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.720 the Salvadoran saved a bit under four million dollars and 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:10.040 remittance fees by transitioning to bitcoin just in the first 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.960 eight months. So those people that got that money was 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.880 only two percent, wasn't a lot of them. Um, they 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.560 saved four million dollars. Now, if you've ever been to 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.320 El Salvador, it's one of the it's a very poor nation. 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.720 It's uh, well below the tile. I looked at it before. 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.000 I think it was like a hundred and fifty global 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.040 GDP is very very low. I've been there many times. 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.320 Uh you've you know, you still still see people getting 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.960 around on like oxen and carts down there. Um. I 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:39.920 love El Salvador, by the way. I've been there many times. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:41.960 I've been there surfing, I've been down there working with 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.240 the people in regards to the bitcoin situation. Beautiful place. 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.440 I recommend you go there. It's just very poor. Um. 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:50.480 So for them to be able to save four million 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.960 dollars and all the time it took, um did not 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:54.760 have to ride the bus go to town all that, 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:58.760 that is a really big deal. So what I think 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:02.400 is that we'll see other nations start to recognize this. 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.280 Wait a minute, they just saved all this money on 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.080 Remen's fees. Now that money comes back to our country 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.400 and can be spent inside our borders. That sounds pretty good. 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.760 I think we'll want that, And so that is spreading. 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.960 As a matter of fact, now we're seeing um, other 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.720 cities inside the United States and in and and the 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.200 world now starting to adopt this. Now a lot of 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:27.160 people would go to bitcoin or cryptocurrency and say it's 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.360 never gonna be a money. Uh, it won't be a 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:31.480 money unless you can pay your taxes in it. We've 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.360 heard that one a lot um. Well, now you can. 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:39.840 Colorado residents can now use crypto to pay taxes. As 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.360 a matter of fact, coloradident residents can now pay state 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:46.160 taxes with cryptocurrencies according to the state's payment portal. Now, 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:47.760 they have been talking about this for a while, the 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:52.440 outline in February, and now it is live and in place, 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.360 which is a pretty big deal. So and other states 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.040 have done it. Florida and Ohio are testing this out. 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:03.560 And in South America, Argentina and Buenos Ares said that 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:08.000 they're going to allow crypto payment for taxes. So it's coming. 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:12.680 There's a mismatch in the market. The US dollar prices down, 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.399 but nations states are adopting it. States in the United 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.400 States are adopting it, and that mismatch will catch up 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.320 in a due time. Now you're listening to the marketma show, 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.520 we're talking about the decentralized revolution. This is coming. Whether 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:27.840 you like it or not, you better get ready for it. 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:29.479 I'm giving you the play by play as we look 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.360 at it through the lens of politics, finance, and technology. 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:38.600 Each and every week it's big the mismatches here. Eventually 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.000 this will catch up like that tweet that I read you, 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.360 which is right now. It's being traded like a Wall 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:45.720 Street trading toy, but two millions of people living under 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.560 authority turn regimes. It is a life draft. Anyway, you're 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.040 listening to the Market Moa show. I got a whole 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:54.399 lot more to cover when I get back, specifically about 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:56.800 the inflation and some things that were said this week 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.840 that makes us all extremists. I'll be back with more 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.080 in a minute. Don't go away, all right, welcome back. 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.200 You are listening to the Markma Show. We are talking 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.960 about the decentralized revolution, the way the world is changing 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.240 right before our eyes. And of course we look at 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.480 the signposts as I like to call them, and we 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.920 look at it through lends of politics, finance, and technology. 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.160 And I'm always looking for the intersection of those three 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.880 things that show us how the world is changing. Now 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.680 we talked, I talk a lot about all the time 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.720 how the world has changed. One system that we have 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.639 is dying, the centralized system, the centralized system of control 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.959 through politics, and centralized control system through money, the financial system. 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.920 It's all dying and we can see us dying all 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:45.400 around us. And we can really see it through inflation. Now, 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:49.200 even the Central Bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve, 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.760 was saying, we can't get inflation. We can't get inflation. 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:54.840 H Jerome Palace said, we're gonna let it run hot. 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.439 We're gonna let it. We're gonna overshoot our target and 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.560 then we'll um average it out. We'll just we'll just 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.440 average it out right um. And now then it went 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.280 to what we're getting inflation. But it's scary. We don't worry. 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.959 It's it's transitor. It's gonna go away to whole Shoot, 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.119 it's it's really bad, and we're in a bad situation. 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:14.479 Of course, here we are a year later, and it 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:18.840 is really really bad. Um. And it's showing that the 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.320 system that we have, the financial system that we have today, 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:23.600 run by the political system that we have today, is 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.360 on its way out. They are at the proverbial rock 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.600 in a hard place. There is nowhere left for them 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.159 to go. If they don't continue to inflate the monetary system, 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:36.040 the whole system falls apart. But if they do contend 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.320 to inflate the monetary system, then inflation continues to rage on. 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:43.199 They're stuck in what is called this proverbial rock on 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.200 a hard place. Now, this week, the President of the 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.119 United States, Joe Biden, was sat down with sixty Minutes 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:54.199 to talk about this very situation. And I want to 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.200 play a clip of what he says. Mr President. Actually, no, 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.120 last Tuesday, the annual inflation and rate came in at 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:06.400 eight point three. The stock market nose dive. People are 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.840 shocked by their grocery bills. What can you do better 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.919 and faster? Well, first of all, let's put this in perspective. 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:21.359 Inflation rate month month was just just an inch. So um, 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:23.600 I mean to have somebody and mainstream media have to 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.680 question President Biden about this. Kind of shows how much 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.320 as his impacting people. He said that people are shocked, 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:34.199 they're having trouble paying their bills. What what can you 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:36.800 say about that? And President Biden wants to take this 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:38.960 and put into perspective, which I always like to do. 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.240 You always understand, whenever I talk about one thing, I 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.680 always want to show you the perspective of it. So 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.560 he says, let's let's understand this from the right perspective. 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.840 First of all, First of all, inflation is only up 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:54.520 an inch. Now, an inch is not a measurement for inflation, 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:56.880 so we don't really know what that means. Of course, 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.160 I'm guessing President Biden doesn't know what that means either, 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:02.600 but only up an inch, he says, that's the perspective. 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:03.920 But let's hear the rest of what he has to 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.439 say here, let's go in hardly at all. You're not 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:08.959 arguing that eight point three is good news. No, I'm 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:10.760 not saying this good news. But it was eight point 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.040 two or eight point two before. I mean, it's not 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.520 you so uh. He's not trying to say eight point 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:18.600