WEBVTT - The Mark Moss Show Oct 08, 2021 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.040 All right, you are back with the Mark Moss Show, 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.720 where each week I bring to you the latest information 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.680 on bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and the decentralized revolution. As I've been 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:11.600 talking about, it's probably the biggest opportunity that you'll ever 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.720 see in your lifetime. It's literally changing the way humanity works. 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.079 It is that big. Now I am joined with my 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.159 good friend Alex Gladstein with the Human Rights Foundation and 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.320 the reason why I wanted to have him in today 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:27.400 because to establish the foundation of what I think really 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.760 the importance of bitcoin is. And I know that a 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.000 lot of people are chasing cryptocurrencies and bitcoin to try 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.240 to get rich, and they're trying to increase their U 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.560 S dollars supply the value of those U S dollars 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.200 or whatever they're trying to do there. And of course 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:42.159 we all want to make money, and that's great, we 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.839 want that opportunity, but really it's so much more. Bitcoin 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.159 is fixing the world. We say, fixed the money, fix 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.360 the world, and Alex is really at the forefront of that. 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:52.440 And so Alex, thanks so much for taking the time 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.240 to sit down with me today. Um, good to have you. 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.240 Thanks for having me on Mark. Yeah, so, um, you 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:03.040 wrote a paper recently, um, talking about how you know, 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.560 the Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency revolution, And there was a 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:11.000 piece in there specifically that I looked at, and um, 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:15.959 you quoted a piece from Greg Barker that he had written, Um, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.800 And it was a criticism of bitcoin, saying, rather than 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:24.480 producing a more open, more liberating, more financially free society, 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.399 the crypto movement has empowered not just another cabal of 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:32.399 crypt financiers, but a hidden cartel of criminals Wall Street rejects, 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:37.640 and what Senator Senator Elizabeth Warren has described as shadowy supercoders. 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.679 And so I guess that's the criticism about bitcoin. And 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.160 I think maybe that quote there kind of summarizes what 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:50.520 your response was in that paper. UM, So give us 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.520 your response to that. I mean, that's a kind of 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:57.880 a damning criticism bitcoin, right. Look, I used Greg's piece 0:01:57.960 --> 0:01:59.800 and I quoted from it in my writing because I 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:01.920 thought out it was a good summary of existing criticism 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.200 of of bitcoin and and the end of cryptocurrencies or 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:10.480 let's let's call it crypto as as the cool kids say. UM. 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.360 And my point is that his criticism is accurate of 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:19.320 crypto or of cryptocurrencies It's true. They all are insider 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.240 projects where people decided to make money, you know, with 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.000 the click of a button, and they got their friends rich, 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:30.960 and they still control everything, and the state has influence 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:34.079 and can shut people down. And it's really just like, 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.880 you know, an unregulated extension of Wall Street or Las 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:44.280 Vegas um and it's it's not revolutionary in my view. 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:48.040 What's revolutionaries bitcoin? And I think that's what I want 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:49.920 to get across in this interview to folks is from 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.560 a human rights perspective, not not from a financial perspective 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.320 where obviously you made a lot more money in dogecoin 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.160 in the last twelve months than a bitcoin um, but 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.880 over time, and the fact that bitcoin is changing the world, 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.639 whereas crypto is like an extension of the existing system. 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:12.480 And the difference is that in bitcoin it is powered 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.200 by users and there is no central point of failure, 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:20.440 and there was no one who can control the monetary policy, 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.880 who can decide to print more bitcoin, who can arbitrarily 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:28.160 change the bitcoin software without your consent, or who can 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.639 even process transactions without your consent. Um. In bitcoin, if 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.160 you run a personal server and you're you're running a 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.640 note and you're part of the network as as a 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.000 full bitcoin citizen, let's say, as many many thousands of 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:45.680 people across the world are you decide what transactions are valid. Uh, 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.280 you know, you have control over the miners, and you 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.600 decide what software updates to accept, so you have control 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.440 over the developers. And in this way, bitcoin is truly 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.280 like money of the people. And I view, like the 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.720 other cryptocurrency projects regard this of their utility as more 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.560 like fintech or you know, perhaps more unregulated stocks or 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.760 tech startups, like they may deliver enormous value, but that 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.520 they don't kind of reshape the paradigm. And I think 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.640 that's that's quite important for people to understand because because 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:21.600 bitcoin is unregulatable and decentralized, it can help people in 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.240 the toughest of environments. It can help people inside China 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:30.159 and inside dictatorships, whereas crypto can get censored and blacklisted 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.640 and pressured. And in the end, at the in the end, 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.400 over the coming century, as we battle like digital authoritarianism 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.479 and as we battle big brother um, bitcoin is a 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:46.000 tool to fight back where I just don't think crypto is. Yeah, yeah, 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.440 that's a good point. You're they're listening to the Mark 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.760 Maas show on the Heart Radio Network. I'm with Alex 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.080 Gladstein from the Human Rights Foundation. You can find them 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.040 on Twitter at at Gladstein, so send him a tweet 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.640 follow them. But we're talking about using it as a 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.960 as a human rights tool. I know, you know, pretty 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.000 much everyone listening probably right now, is in the United States, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.560 and they don't feel that right, they don't feel that 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.400 authorityis um you just mentioned China, right, and so oh, 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.880 it's it's over there in China, um, or it's it's 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.360 happening in in the Lebanon or whatever. But maybe it's 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.200 not in the United States. But but one, if it's happening, 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.600 then there could potentially come here. But two, we saw 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:23.080 and you probably know better than me, a month or 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.960 a month ago, two months ago. We're even PayPal teamed 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.440 up with UM the Anti Defamation League to like make 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.440 a list of people that should be blacklisted from being 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.320 able to send payments to each other, right, literally censoring 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.560 the ability to send money to who I want, and 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:40.839 then and then and then sharing that list with even 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:45.040 more financial institutions. Yeah, so let's take a philosophical view 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.320 and then a global view. So philosophically, when we talk 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.440 about money, what is money? Um, we're in an in 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.840 a transition where the money that you use on a 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:57.359 daily basis is going from a bearer asset that protects 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.400 your privacy to want of surveillance and control. So like 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.320 the money that you used maybe ten twenty years ago, 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.720 it was paper money cash. When you make a cash transaction, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.080 the merchant doesn't know anything about you. They just know 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.400 that you've paid. When you pay with your credit card 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.600 or your swipe or your phone or your mobile money 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:17.200 or whatever. You know, the merchant and an enormous number 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.200 of third parties, and ultimately the government knows a ton 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:22.320 about you. They know exactly what you bought, They know 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.160 what you bought last time. They can build algorithms to 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.440 figure out what you're gonna buy next. And this can 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.000 be used for censorship and surveillance and social engineering, and 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:32.120 it is it is being used for that, not just 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:34.160 in China but all over the world, including right here 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.799 in the United States. I mean when you go into markets, 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.720 I mean they're like bluetooth like surveillance mechanisms that pick 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.080 up on your shopping habits, and you know, they can 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.360 read this off your phone and your transaction history, and 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:48.880 this is a direction we're heading in and we need 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.560 a different way, um to preserve our digital freedoms in 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.120 the future because the government is not going to give 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.960 them to us. Um if you think that the government 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.200 is going to phase out paper cash, which Hill Dren 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.440 today won't use regardless, like we know that children today 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.000 when they're twenty years old, won't use paper money. Everything's 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.279 gonna be digital. So the question is how are we 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.560 going to keep the freedoms and privacy that cash afforded 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.040 us in the digital space. There's two camps. One says 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.640 the government's going to give it to us. Okay, I mean, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:19.960 did you see the Snowden revelations, Like I don't know, 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:21.480 like what planet you're living on, but there's a lot 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:23.760 of people who believe that, like we can like petition 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:25.360 in the US government and we can get them to 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.880 give us digital cash and we'll give you free I'm 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:29.880 just jaded on that one as a human rights activists, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:31.720 like I just don't think that's gonna happen. And maybe 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.080 maybe in the tiniest of scenarios in the U s 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.920 Or Switzerland or Japan, but definitely not in China or 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.640 saut of your a BI or Cuba, like you know, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.000 a four point three billion people live under dictatorships in 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.440 the throwd chain regimes. They're never gonna get you know, 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.840 fiat government money that protects freedoms in the future. And 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:48.840 this is why bitcoin is so important. Is it gives 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.840 us this like Plan B that anybody can access without 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:56.560 any particular nationality or wealth level, or gender or belief system. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:01.360 Like anyone can access this open, nondiscriminatory network and both 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.480 use it as digital cash and make payments seamlessly instantly 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.600 around the world to the Lightning network, which is remarkable, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.480 but also invest their time and energy and digital gold 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.040 in a in an asset that cannot be debased by 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.720 government and and bitcoin is the only digital asset that 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:19.560 cannot be arbitrarely debased. Every single other cryptocurrency and every 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.960 single other central bank digital currency or just a general 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.000 digital currency like your deposit at the bank can be confiscated, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.640 can be debased by monetary policy. And that what that's 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.120 what makes bitcoin so special. Yeah, and you mentioned, um, 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.240 you know how cash we have. Cash gives us that 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.640 that that privacy that not a minute amity there um. 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.360 And in nineteen seventy when they put the Bank Secrecy 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.400 Act in they said all transactions under over ten thousand 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.800 dollars had to be reported. But at the time ten 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.560 thousand dollars in nineteen seventy is worth about seventy thousand 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:55.719 dollars today, but they've kept that number ten thousand. But 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.120 now today they are saying now for this new infrastructure bill, 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:02.400 they want to monitor every single bank account with more 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:08.359 than six dollars, every single transaction, including including Venmo, Crypto, PayPal, etcetera. 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.120 I want to talk more about human rights stuff around 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.720 the world and even real world use cases of how 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.080 um that's being fixed when we get back in a second. 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.280 But everyone, you're listening to the Mark Moss Show with 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.959 Alex Gladstein talking about bitcoin and human rights and we'll 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.920 be right back. All right, you are back with the 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:30.439 Mark Moss Show talking about bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, the decentralized revolutions, 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.920 and I'm with Alex Gladstein from the Human Rights Foundation. 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.680 You can find them on Twitter at Gladstein is definitely 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:38.480 worth a follow, so go check them out there. And 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.160 we were in the middle of talking about how bitcoin 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:43.760 has a real world use case, how it's solving human 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.520 rights issues. We talked about, you know, having the freedom 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.480 and the privacy of using digital cash. UM. But Alex 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.640 I really wanted to jump into maybe some um, maybe 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.800 more practical applications. I know you've published many times on 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.880 Twitter UM where people say that bitcoin has no use. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.040 Case these people that say this, I feel like, how 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.040 much privilege you have been in the United States. You 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.480 must have never traveled anywhere else in the world. UM, 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.840 But maybe you could give us some practical applications of 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.120 things that are going on in the world where it's 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.400 really making a big impact. Yeah. I wrote a piece 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.880 called check your Financial Privilege for the Coin magazine about 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.800 six months ago, and you know that's something up in 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.520 a nutshell like Bitcoin critics today who say that it's 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:28.120 useless are hugely financial privileged. They were born into a 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.920 system where the unit of account is the dollar, where 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.480 they don't have to deal with significant inflation at least 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.000 yet UM, where they can easily use stuff like Vemo 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.920 and PayPal to connect with their family and friends. It's 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.600 easy for them to travel abroad, like their money basically works. 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.400 They can invest long term very easily in a four 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.280 oh one K or maybe even into real estate. UM. 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.400 Easy for them to get stocks, etcetera, etcetera, even bonds. Um, 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.080 they can build like a diversified portfolio for their future. 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.520 The vast majority of humans on this planet cannot do that. UM. 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.320 One point three bill million people on our planet live 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.600 under double or triple or quadruple digit inflation. So that 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:08.040 means the money that they earn every week, every two weeks, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:12.160 every month, UM, is literally disappearing before their eyes. Uh. 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:14.160 Most of these people do not have access to the 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.120 SMP five hundred. They do not enough capital to buy 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.240 a home like so real quick, real real quick. On that, 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:22.760 I mean, give us some example. So like Lebanon, I 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.920 think saw like almost eighty or nine percent inflation in 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.240 the last year, So that means like literally like they 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.920 lost the majority of the purchasing power like that quickly. Yeah. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:33.800 So I'll give you a couple of examples from each 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.160 part of the world of that one point three billion 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.400 people who live under severe extreme inflation. And by the way, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.040 that number is more than the number of people who 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:42.880 don't have access to a toilet or clean water. Like 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.200 this is one of the biggest humanitarian issues in the world. UM. 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.920 You mentioned Lebanon. Yeah, Lebanon and Syria, both home to 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:54.800 millions of people, are seeing a historic currency collapse. Lebanon 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:56.800 in particular, now I believe has the highest rate of 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:02.000 inflation in the world, surpassing Venezuela, which had its own 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.640 absolutely catastrophic hyper inflation over the last decade, where you know, 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.760 a cup of coffee in Caracas, you know, would cost 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.400 you know, a few hundred bolivars, and then the next 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:13.200 year would cost a few thousand, and the next year 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.480 would cost a few million. Like that actually happened. Um, 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.120 you have fifty percent inflation in Argentina, you have uh, 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:24.720 it's a country people. You have um fifteen percent inflation 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:28.079 in Nigeria and higher food higher food inflation country of 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.880 two hundred million people. You have fifteen percent inflation. In Turkey, 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.640 the country another country close to a hundred million people. 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.080 You have a country of a hundred twenty million people 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.199 in Ethiopia where you have inflation. So these are vast, 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.240 very large, very important countries where I want to I 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.920 wanted this. I want to sorry. Because in the United States, 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:51.280 the Federal Reserve printed about twenty of the dollars supply 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:53.720 in the last year and of course, we saw prices 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.360 go up by about so in the US, the median 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.160 home price went up by two percent. Use cars are 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:03.160 up thirty percent. Uh, gasoline is up forty seven per 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.480 cent um. And so it's not just those far away countries, 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.400 it's in the United States as well. So go ahead, sorry, yeah, so, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.880 but thinking about it this way, yes, you're correct, there 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.959 is currency debasement and inflation the United States. It's not 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:18.280 usually quite as noticeable for a variety of reasons that 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.640 I won't get into here. But what you just need 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:22.400 to know is that the dollar is like the foundation 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.400 for the world's currencies, and any anything, any bad effects 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.920 you see in the dollar get amplified elsewhere. So you know, 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.440 price inflation United States, if we're seeing it, oh my god, 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:35.439 that means things are like catastrophic for people in the 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.200 countries I just mentioned, right, so all around the world. 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.760 Burma in Southeast Asia just saw a massive loss of 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.760 purchasing power in in the citizens over the last few months. Um, 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.960 they lost sixty their purchasing power. Cuba, an island country 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:51.720 just off the coast of Florida, very close to us, 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:53.440 very close to maybe a lot of the hearts of 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.400 our listeners. Um, the Cuban people have lost two thirds 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:58.960 of their purchasing power in the last year as the 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:03.679 government has basically failed to to run properly and is 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:08.480 running a scheme where they're paying the pensioners. That a 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.240 communist nation, right, so most public most workers are public 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.240 sector workers and pensioners they're paying out pay soose which 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.280 are collapsing. And then they have all these stores where 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.400 you can buy what you need, and they're forcing you 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.840 to use hard foreign currency to buy stuff in those stores. 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.000 So it's like they're turning this crap money into better 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:27.680 money at the expense of the people. And this is 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.520 a game that a lot of governments play around the world, right, So, 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.600 whether it's in Cuba, whether it's in Palestine, whether it's 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:37.040 in Nigeria, Ethiopia. Yes, I've been like studying and interviewing 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.440 people in these countries and just trying to learn about 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.040 like how the government exploits money, how it uses it 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.080 as a weapon against the people, and how people are 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:48.280 turning to bitcoin to fight back. Yeah. So, um, you 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.840 know the government in that scheme, I mean, that's crazy. 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.520 So they're literally paying them in a currency that's losing value. 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.920 But making them pay them back in a currency that's 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.120 that's stronger UM and UH. And it's all over the world. 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.080 In in the previ A segment when I had Alex 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.680 Fetzki and Jessica and we were talking about UM the 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:08.120 China band bitcoin again again and I think the ninth 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.280 time or whatever, and UM they said it um it 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:17.200 uh put at risk the financial and social system and 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.840 so kind of what they're saying is that um, they 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.280 need to manipulate their currency UM. But by allowing people 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.920 and exit UM, that disrupts the system. So it's all 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:29.440 over the place. That's a big problem. Yeah. I mean, 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.200 there's millions of bitcoin users in China, There's more than 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:36.200 ten million in India. There's millions in Turkey, there's millions 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.960 in Nigeria, there's millions in Argentina. I mean, anyone on 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.040 Wall Street or in the New York Times who says 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.280 that it's some sort of costplay or some sort of 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.520 you know, online libertarian nonsense is just ignorant. I mean, 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:48.720 and I partly I almost feel bad for them and 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.360 how wrong they are. Like the literally the most prestigious 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.920 newspapers and talk show hosts in our country are completely 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.720 clueless about one of the most important revolution revolutions in history. 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:01.800 I mean, we're separating money from state. I mean, this 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.400 is on par with the printing press and democracy in 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.600 ancient Greece. I mean, we're living through a similarly important 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.200 time right now, and they're just completely out to lunch. 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.400 And the cool part is, Um, regardless of what they say, 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:17.280 these professional bitcoin critics, regardless of how they've tried to 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.000 gaslight you, the American people over the last ten years, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:24.400 saying Bitcoin is too dangerous, it's too risky, Um, regardless 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.560 of what they say, Bitcoin is right now as we speak, 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.760 empowering tens of millions of people around the world who 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.720 don't have a better money and it's doing more for 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.240 people for empowerment and for justice and for freedom than 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.360 any of those critics will ever do in their entire lifetime. 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.120 It's doing in the next sixty minutes. So I mean 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.880 Bitcoin is saying basically screw you all, um. And the 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.280 crazy part is that this is a gas lighting operation. 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:52.920 Like over the last decade, Americans and Brits and Chileans 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.480 and Chinese, we've been told by our governments that bitcoin 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.040 is First of all, they said it was a joke. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.000 Then they said it was risky now, and then they 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.680 said it was dangerous. Okay, guess what's been dangerous not 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.640 buying bitcoin? Okay, what I mean Now, let's just look 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.040 at the dollar. Okay, the dollar has had a hyper 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.600 inflationary collapse against bitcoin over the last ten years. Okay, 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.560 So they've forced you to stay away from that. They've 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.640 convinced you that it's a bad idea, and you've ended 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.600 up losing purchasing power, you know, unless unless you've been 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.520 lucky enough to really like do well with you know, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.560 equities and real estate. But like most people don't write. 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.480 Most people just are just getting by and the money 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.119 they're using to just get by has been depreciating and 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.480 purchasing power and they have more debt than ever. So 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.000 I mean, they think it just depends on your perspective. 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.159 But what's been crazy to me is to watch like 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:45.919 the academic political media elite continue to say this thing 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.680 is dangerous when it is saving so many people around 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.200 the world. Yeah, I love what you said. They're they're 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:54.640 gas lighting or really there these professional critics, as you say, 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.800 they're telling you stuff that's holding you back, which is 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.880 why I want to bring this information to you. You're 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.400 listening to the Mark mo Show from with Alex Claudstein 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.440 and will be right back. All right, Welcome back here 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:06.560 with the Mark mos Show on the Heart Radio Network. 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.120 Each week I'm bringing you the information you need to 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:14.080 navigate the Bitcoin, cryptocurrency decentralized revolution. And make no mistake, 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:17.120 it is a revolution that will fix the world, fix 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.280 the money, fix the world. I'm with Alex Gladstein from 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.600 the Human Rights Foundation. UM. He is a big proponent 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:24.200 of bitcoin around the world. You can follow him on 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.480 Twitter at Gladstein and you definitely should give him a follow. 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:29.639 But we were right in the middle of this uh 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.200 of of one of his rans had to cut him off, 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.199 and you want you jump back in, Yeah, no, I 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.320 just look again, like professional economists and policymakers in the 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:43.520 United States are bending over backwards to convince themselves that 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.320 currency debasement and basically printing more money to solve our 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:51.320 nations problems is going to be good. Um. And and 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:53.520 at the same time they're attacking bitcoin, which is like 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.160 the plan being that citizens can used to defend themselves. Right. 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:58.719 So what you gotta know is that these people are 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.040 self interested in the listing system. You should protect yourself 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.439 with bitcoin. You should first learn about it, arm yourself 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.880 with education and knowledge and learn about bitcoin. And then 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.760 over time, yeah, obviously try to start earning it, you know, 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:14.880 converting some of your fiat money into it, etcetera, etcetera. 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:17.640 That fiat money is going to lose value over time, 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:19.520 is going to lose a tremendous amount of value over 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.440 the next decade. If you're listening from Ethiopia or Studan, 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.399 it's gonna lose money a lot faster and value a 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.120 lot faster. But still, I mean even the United States 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.080 or EU, that money is going to lose a lot 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.840 of value. Um, people are gonna seek to move elsewhere. 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.080 And the interesting thing is we have this big debate 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.880 now about minting the coin. Like the United States has 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:41.040 a budget issue, We're gonna run out of money. And 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.119 some people say, oh that, you know, the Treasury should 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:47.560 just meant a trillion dollar uh, you know, platinum coin 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:49.119 and sell it to the Fed, right as like a 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.520 way to fix it. Well, what's cooler? What's cooler than 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.040 a trillion dollar platinum coin? Trillion dollar freedom money? Which 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.040 is which is you know bitcoin is is you know 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.280 around nine hundred billion dollars and or you know, had 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:04.120 had previously topped trillion dollars earlier this year, and we'll 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.520 top it again soon. So this freedom money, this trillion 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:12.280 dollar freedom money, is open to everybody on earth. You know. 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.440 If here's the interesting part. If if the US government 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.399 tries to save corporations and the and the financial sector 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:20.960 and the stocks to all of our senators and congressman 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:24.440 owned by minting the coin, okay, um, that doesn't help 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.400 everybody on earth, right, that only helps some people. Bitcoin 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.240 is like this level open playing field, that's that's literally 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.600 open for business for anyone with an Internet connection anywhere 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.119 in the world. Um. And you know that's why you 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:38.880 might say the capital of bitcoin is not New York 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.760