WEBVTT - Should You Invest with Celsius? With Alex Mashinsky 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.200 All right, welcome to another episode of the Market Disruptors podcast. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.920 I am continuing to see the series here on Decentralized Finance. 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:09.600 You guys really want to know more about Celsius, and 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:12.760 so I am sitting down with Alec Maschinski from Celsius 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:15.440 right now. We are at the Bitcoin two thousand nineteen 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.759 conference in San Francisco. Um, super honor that you would 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:20.320 take the time to sit down with me, so welcome 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.320 to the podcast. Sure, much rather be riding those bikes 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:27.000 in Baham and then but you know, next sense of you, 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:29.280 we're doing it down to the peak. You know we'll 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.240 do that. Well. So for those of you guys we 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.400 were talking before the show and and he's a dirt 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:35.560 by guy on the dirt By guy, and we're both 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:39.240 really like off roading and adventure bikes and so, um, 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:41.879 that's really cool. It's kind of a really niche, you know, 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.560 it's kind of and so to find someone else that 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:47.000 shares that passion is pretty cool. So I'd love to 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:48.840 take you down on a trip and we can talk 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.120 more about it. Um, And so we could. We could 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:53.280 go on and on for days about that, but let's 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:55.360 let's get right into it. So UM, I started talking 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:59.200 about decentralized finance, which is which is an amazing space. UM, 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.160 you know, de centralized and finance bringing kind of freedom 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:06.840 and quality back. Um, the way that cryptocurrencies work. Um, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.679 we have the ability to holdle because it's it's a 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:13.800 new technology that's gaining you know, it's growing super fast. Obviously, 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.160 bitcoins kind of mooning again right now, and I know, 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.120 you know a lot of people don't want to sell 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.280 and that's a problem, um, and you have come up 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:23.280 with a way to kind of help people do that. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:26.120 Before we dig into that, maybe why don't you just 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:27.680 go back a little bit I should have done this 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.959 is tell us a little bit about what you're doing 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:32.560 in the space and kind of how you got here 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.520 before we jump into Yeah. So so first, you know, 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.280 I think the context is very important because people it's 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.559 more for people to understand, yeah, what I've done before 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.160 and why it's relevant. So. So, I'm an immigrant that 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.520 came to this country thirty years ago, and uh, I 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:51.600 grew up in I was born in in communism in 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.840 Russia and grew up in socialism in Israel and came 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.920 to America and this was like just a dream come true, right, Like, 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.640 you can talk about all the idea as you want 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.320 in other countries and no one is really going to 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.200 help you make them happen. And here you show up 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.400 and you're like, I have this idea. You know, we're 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:09.800 gonna put voice on the internet, you know, and and 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.800 and people backed me in our it's two fifty million dollars, 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.800 took the company public. You know. Now Voice of IP 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.120 is used by the majority of the people on the planet. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.640 Right road the original protocols, the patents build the first gateways. 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.079 So that was just an amazing experience. I did that 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.560 in my twenties, right, and and uh so very rarely 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.520 you can do that kind of revolution twice, right, like 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:39.960 going from yeah, going from um something that the phone 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.040 companies who were the toll collectors, which used to charge 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.000 us three dollars a minute, to something that is free, right, 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.760 I mean that really changed the lives of people. They 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:50.840 can talk to their friends, they can reach out to 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.960 their family anytime they want. So now we're kind of 0:02:55.000 --> 0:03:01.440 moving from Voice of P two money over and so 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.240 had October. I mean I filed the patents on my 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:09.480 birthday October. So I think you had an interesting background 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.280 because one, you're not from original from the United States, 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.880 and so you understand the issues that most people face. Right. 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.960 So because of that, you probably saw your family having 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.680 to do a lot of long distance calling, and long 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.400 distance calling is very expensive at that time. It's also 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.800 recognizing that like back then, it was very difficult to 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:30.960 figure out which network is going to win the phone 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.280 company's bet on a T M. Ethernet was a big thing. 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.840 Frame really was a big thing. So betting on T 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.760 C P I P was actually like looked like crazy idea. Yeah, 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.920 that was not the norm. Like now we all say Internet, Internet, 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.760 but the Internet was an application on the phone network 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.960 when you dial up with your motive. I remember the motive. 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.080 So to think that that would be somehow replaced with 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.960 something that's available seven and it's lost enough to do 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.120 conferdence calls, like my kids have eight of their friends 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:07.000 in real time right all over the world talking at 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.080 the same time. So that was just a bridge too far. 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.360 And and and that is exactly the analogy for crypto 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.640 today because when you look at these powerful banks and 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.880 you're seeing it how how little they give us right 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.479 for the hard earned money that we earned. For me, 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.720 it's just something that is not just irritating. I have 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:27.599 to do something about it. I can't just sit back 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:29.919 and like in my presentation there, I said, you know, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.240 I asked the crowd, I said, what are you doing 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:38.039 about it? You know? You know so so so I 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.080 think it's important that people understand that that all of 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:43.359 us make that decision every day, all of us choose 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.080 to deposit money in the bank or put it somewhere 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.400 else where it will actually do good, where it will 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.120 act in our best interests. Yeah, I want to dig 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:52.919 into that before I do. I love this because you 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.000 have such an interesting background. I'm just curious. So having 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.640 started in, like you said, and at the time the 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.120 protocol wasn't clear, you were kind of taking a gambler. 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.359 I wrote a new protocol or you wrote a new protocol. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.599 And at the time there was a lot of people 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.960 that thought it was never gonna work, and the internet 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.480 was the last thing and it was stupid. I started 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.880 internet business in two thousand one, an e commerce business. Earlier, 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.960 people told me no one will ever find anything. Brands 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.640 refused to sell me products, don't will ever bu anything online. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.760 It's ridiculous. I can only imagine an any four. But 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.040 so I'm curious, and I'm sure you're hearing kind of 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.120 the same things today. Right, A lot of the tractors say, 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:32.720 it's a scam, it's never gonna work. How do you, um, 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.919 how do you see that future? How did you know 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.480 it was gonna work? How did you manage to stay 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.880 strong and believe in yourself when everybody was telling you wrong? So, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.200 first look, I was a skeptic in the beginning of myself, right, 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.320 I mean it's not like when I read Satotia's paper. 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.920 But even with the internet, right, I mean, with the Internet, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.440 you found a way to believe in yourself when other 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.640 people were telling you wrong. Well, when your twenties, you 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:58.719 don't know any better. You know, like you think you're 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:00.880 the smartest guy, and you think you have all the answers. 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.080 And I was lucky to be right right, But but 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.479 you know I was plenty time wrong in other ventures. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.800 It's not like, you know, like we we headed out 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.560 of the park every time. But but they issues more 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.200 about the focus was on disruption, the focus was on 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.880 empowerment of the people. The focus wasn't doing good. I 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.760 didn't do it for the money. I didn't like say, oh, 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.400 where can I make the most money. Let's do voice 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.839 of r IP. The idea was, here is a group, 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.920 new set of rails, right that that bypasses the phone company, 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:34.520 and soon enough it's going to be powerful enough to 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.880 take all of that business away from the phone companies. 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.080 And today it loses money on international voice because like 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.880 basically all their customers left them and they're all using 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.359 Skype and What's Up and Viber and all kinds of 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.599 other apps. Right, So the banks are exactly the same thing. 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.000 But people don't understand. They look at me and say, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.040 but the banks are so powerful, and like, the banks 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.680 are not powerful at all. The only reason their powerful 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.320 is because you give them your money for free every day. Again, 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.440 so let's talk about that. So you you have founded 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.200 a huge problem with international calling, and you fix that, 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.560 and today you see another huge problem. And then in 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.320 between I did a few other than seven startups in between, right, 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.920 raised a billion dollars and three billion in exits. I 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:17.680 I should be retired right now. I just don't have 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.280 enough switch. Because you have so much energy I can. 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.280 I do not have enough switch. I'm like this seven 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.960 days a week because you see problems and you want 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.160 to solve them. And and that's and and I think 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.360 when you're doing that, you have energy, right, So that's good. 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:31.880 But so now there's another big problem that we have today. 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.800 Fixed that cars. So yeah, yeah, there's a whole cars 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:36.880 out here we are looking at. So. Um, we have 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.840 a problem with the financial system today, which we're not 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:40.320 going to get into all of that. I talked about 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.679 it all the time. But one of the big problems 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.520 is in the way the finance works and um, which 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.840 no one understands really and most people, unfortunately, they don't 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.040 teach us in school. They don't just us in high school. 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.320 You could graduate in PhD. In economics and you still 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.200 would not know how to make money. Right. So if 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.960 you think of how many people actually know how how 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.800 out to really earn millions of billions of dollars, it's 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.200 very very few. I mean, that's why we celebrate war 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.840 in Buffett and the guys that Ryan Goldman Sacks and 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.840 people like that, because they can extract billions of dollars 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.320 of profit out of something that for us we barely 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.200 make a salary, right like, and we were like struggling 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.440 to finish our month, and these guys make billions and 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.640 profits every year. So so that talent, the talent of 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:25.600 earning that return is a very rare talent. And and 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.680 again Stelf celebrating the scientists and the and our real heroes. 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.480 We celebrated people who are making money, who who basically 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:36.840 aggregate wealth. Right, So so it's just all upside down. 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.600 So I try to create a new system in which 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:41.719 you don't have to know anything, right, I mean, the 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:45.080 whole idea about Salesa's network is like Costco. You you 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.760 become a member of COSTCOO, you take a giant card, 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.440 you walk in and everything in the warehouse is at 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.599 the lowest price, the best quality. You just filled the 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.480 card as fast as possible, and you check out. So 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.800 that's that's experience, the financial experience people should have with 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.719 the curated service that acts in your best interest. Right, 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.319 that's what we don't have. We don't have any institution 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.960 acting in augustins is not the brokers, not the insurance guys, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.280 not the banks, no one. So like a fidelity or 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.079 like no one, none of them is acting in your 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.560 best interests. I'll give you a simple example. Right, you 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:22.120 think that fidelity charges you, that's a steel, right, it's nothing. 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:24.559 Let me give you an example. You bought let's say 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.520 Tesla stock, right, and you're deposited with Fidelity, and they 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:31.120 charge you four the trade. They make thirty percent a year, 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.120 lending your stock to short sellers thirty percent years. So 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.600 if you give them ten thousand dollars, they made three 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.480 thousand dollars a year for you just sitting there holding 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.959 your stock in the Fidelity account. So the same way 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.959 people make money on your Bitcoin or your Ether or 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.480 your Dash. Right, the simplest example is Dash because Dash 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.559 actually earns the yield without doing anything. But if you exactly, 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:56.959 but most people don't have eighty thousand dollars of Dash, 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.600 so they bought ten thousand or five thousand, They hold 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.240 it on finance or somewhere else. Bidence stakes it bidens 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.719 are in seven percent. They just don't give it to you. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:10.400 So all Celsius did and said, give us your Dash. 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.959 We will immediately every week we will send you more 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.440 Dash to your account, will stake it for you, no fees, 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.040 no charges, just we're gonna do it for you. And 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.440 people go like, there must be some hind in the agenda, 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:24.200 why are you doing it? That's that's because there's no 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.000 education in the way that works. And so you talk 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:28.880 about there's no way for the average person to know 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.120 what these rich rich they make their money, but there is, 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.120 and so there's clues, right, Warren Buffett tells us, Um, 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.160 if you don't learn to make money while you sleep, 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.000 you'll work till the day that you die. Yes, And 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.240 so it's important for us. And working is a good thing. 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:43.760 Working is a good thing. But don't forced to work, 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.000 especially doing something you hate, exactly. And so we want, 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:48.880 we want our money to be worked. We work hard 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:50.600 for our money. Our money should be with loving hard, yes, 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:52.720 and warn Buffet says, we need to put to work, 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.200 And that's essentially what you're talking about, right, putting our 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:59.720 money to work. And most people, unfortunately again half of 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.240 them Americans don't have four hundred dollars in case of emergency. 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.040 I mean that of Americans the bottom of the same 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.800 wealth as the top one percent. Right, So I'm I'm 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:12.080 part of that one percent. I'm not sitting here telling 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.199 you all I'm poor. I'm fighting for the poor. No, 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.120 I'm rich, but I'm fighting fighting for you giving the 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.240 poor tools Exactly, I'm not giving you the fish. I'm 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.680 teaching you how to fish. So, um, what you're doing 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.920 is you're allowing someone to use their cryptocurrency and uh 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.680 and and use the value that's there without having to 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.720 sell it, without them even knowing how to do it, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.439 without even knowing how. And maybe maybe we could say 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.400 it's giving them passive income, right because they're passively income. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.400 There's other ways to make passive and I couldn a dividend, 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.240 pain stock or something like that. Bonds obviously have yield 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.760 and things like that, um, and in those types of situations, um, 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:51.600 And when I do a bond, right, they have like 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.719 triple A rated bonds or junk bonds, and they pay 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.360 different yields. Would loan in my crypto will be similar 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.640 to that like a bond, So a bond and the 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.679 yields the abounds have been going down drastically, right, So, 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.560 so what people have to understand is that like, for example, 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:09.040 when I came to this country thirty years ago, I 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.320 could take my dollars, depart them in city bank and 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.400 earned seven percent without doing anything. Try to earn seven 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.760 percent on your money today, right with low risks. So 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:21.199 the banks I believe on average pay about yes yes 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:26.120 so so so like JP Morgan, for example, has fourteen 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.840 trillion in assets. Half of its seven trillion. They don't 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.040 pay any interest whatsoever. And that's about a hundred million 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.160 Americans giving them the money and getting nothing because they're 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.280 too lazy to move the money from the checking account 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.440 of the savings account. Because they're saying, I have a 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:45.640 thousand dollars, I'm gonna exactly times a hundred million, seven 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:49.120 trillion dollars in deposits. Right, So, so JP Morgan makes 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:52.840 thirty billion a year in profit just from that, right 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.720 they make all the banks together made thirty four billion 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.240 in fees from overdraft fees. Yeah, I mean this, that's 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.880 taking money from the people that cannot finish the month, 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.920 taking thirty dollars and then the person has to go 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.040 and get a day loan because they can't pay their 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:12.240 just it's all upside down. Why because they prey on 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.280 the poor. There's just no other way to say it. Right, 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:19.800 So again, why isn't there anyone acting in your best interests? 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.600 Cost cocts in your best interests. Amazon acts in your 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.720 best interest? Right? I can say that with the stray face. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.360 I know business wakes up every day and he's trying 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.560 to do everything for his customers. Why isn't anyone doing 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.240 it in their financial services? Well, because they're they're not there. 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.760 Their interests are not aligned with our interests. And the 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.560 number of banks that exists of shrunk down to four 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.920 or five, right, So so there's no reason there's no competition. Right, 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.240 it's impossible since dog Frank, it's impossible to open a 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.480 new breath bank. You if you get a license, you 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.280 have to comply in to eighty thou pages of regulation. 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.839 So the rules that we're supposed to protect us are 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:59.400 actually preventing competition from coming in. And then when these 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:01.360 banks take too much risk, we have to bail them 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.880 out with taxpayers. So all we're trying to do. And again, 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:09.480 our job is not Celsius is not here to play 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.600 with your coins or create manipulation or anything like that. 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.840 Our mission, we have only one mission to earn return 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.000 on your assets. Your asset. You can go all the 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:24.040 way crazy and take really risky assets, right, we have 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.400 risky coins in our wallet, or you can go super 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.040 safe and take stable coins. We're not we're not telling 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.400 you which one. You have to do your homework and 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:35.200 you have to decide, and I recommend to people. Pople 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.680 say what what should I do? And I'm like half 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.400 of you asked that you're being stable coins? Right, we 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.080 pay eight point one percent on stable coins right now, 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.400 Like you take your dollars, you convert them into stable coins. 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:48.800 People don't know what that means. Let me speak in English. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.160 You take your dollars, you buy t U s D 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.120 or g U s D or U s DC. Right, 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.880 these are issued by by True us D or by 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.480 Gemini or ber Circle. These are reputable company is their 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:04.680 trust companies, the fiduciaries. So you know the dollar is 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.000 actually sitting in that bank account and your token represents 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.320 a dollar. And now you can deposit the token, earn 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.160 eight point one percent at any time, twenty four hours 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.120 a day. You can enjoy it and get your dollars back. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.480 For people to earn eight pril one percent, that's a 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.360 life changing event, right it can. We have a guy 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.840 here who's paying his mortgage and his kids college just 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.520 from the interest is earning from Celsius. Right so so, 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.560 and that's what we're saying to people, Look, just create 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.400 a nest egg that like you said, instead of you're 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.160 working for the money, the markets is wanting working for you, 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:43.400 then take another put in bitcoin, then take another put 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.280 in five other coins. Right now you have a diversified portfolio. 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.800 It's still yielding seven or eight percent, but you have 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:52.280 the upside of bitcoin. You may have the downside too, 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.240 but at least you have some exposure. But you're yielding 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.280 while you're earning. Right, So the people are deposited with 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.520 us during this downturn in the market, they were paid 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.760 in bitcoin. That bitcoin is now worth three times as much. 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.360 They didn't earn seven percent. They ear Oh so you 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.680 pay that we pay bitcoin? Yes, oh wow. So that's 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.160 a big difference exact crisis going out. So unless you 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.240 only when you feel that when you open your wallet 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.080 and you go, wait a second, I actually made five 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:24.280 thousand dollars only put five thousand. If I put ten 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.840 bitcoin in, I would get We only pay in bitcoin. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:29.560 We're not allowed to pay in dollars because we're not 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.880 a bank. We're not allowed to take dollars. We're not 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.480 allowed to pay in dollars. So you have you so 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.880 going back to this. So again, so there's there's options 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.080 for people if they want to make interest on their money, 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.000 like did it in paying stocks or bonds or whatever, 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:43.680 which are all pegged in dollars, which are all pegged 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:47.120 in dollars, and there's an unseen force that is actually 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.120 squeezing your money right inflation. It's three percently your money 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.840 every year, so three and all or more exactly, they 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.120 tell you, They tell you, we know it's a lot exactly. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.400 So so if you're only earning two percent, right average 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:04.000 bond right now, pay two right government, But so you're 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.640 actually losing one and a half to two percent a year. 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.800 You think you're earning, but you're actually losing money. So 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.679 you have to earn enough to at least exactly exactly. 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.240 So for you to earn eight percent like we're paying 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.600 unstable coins, you have to take a lot of risk, right, 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:20.879 And that's what we're telling people. Look look at the 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:22.920 risk you have to take to earn that in the 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.320 stock market or somewhere else. And look at the risk 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.199 we have. We have all of our loans asset backed. 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.200 We only I want to get into the risk. That's 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:32.760 definitely what we want to dip into. But I want 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:34.120 to just talk about this for a second. So that's 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.240 on on USD. The real where the real huge benefit 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.040 is in is in the bitcoin right, or other cryptocurrencies, 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.400 because I mean bitcoin's up over two like this year. 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:49.760 We're also down before before. But it depends on what 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.240 time period you look at it. But for the most part, 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.719 most people in bitcoin believe it's going to continue going up. 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:56.960 I mean, I think over the next several years get 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.720 into twenty fifty thousand is realistic. At least I'm hopeful 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:02.360 that it is. And so I don't want to sell, 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.240 and most people don't want to sell. However, that money 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.320 is locked up, and if I could earn at least 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.359 earn interest on top of what I'm earning, that's a 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.320 huge opportunity. Um. And so that's part of it. But 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.320 you also offer another type of product where I can 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.679 borrow against that as well, right, And so then I 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.200 could take that bitcoin. I have ten thousand in bitcoin, 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:24.360 and I could borrow five thousand out and I could 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:26.600 do what I want with that five thousand, including leveraging 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:31.720 back in or buying a piece of real estate or whatever. Right, Um, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:33.840 what do you think are the different types of people 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.879 that are interested in that? So the richest people I know, 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.480 and I'm I'm you know, smoozing around within the Hampton's 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.680 or in on Wall Street with with these people, right, 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.560 I can tell you, including our president, right, they make 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.720 all their money because they don't pay any taxes legally. Right. 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:56.119 So Donald Trump famously says, I'm I followed all the rules. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:01.040 I borrowed dollars against my real estate rights. The interest 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.240 is tax deductible. In the meantime, I don't have any 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.360 tax bill because I didn't sell anything. Same thing with bitcoin. 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.680 If you have bitcoin and it appreciates, right, Let's say 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:11.600 you wanted a two thousand, and now it's a ten 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.080 thousand if you sell it, so you could you have 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:17.000 to pay your mortgage, you have to pay your kids college, 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:19.119 you have to pay almost half of that to the 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.399 government if you live in California and New York anywhere 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.479 else exactly. So you can avoid that, you can just 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.840 borrow against the asset and then you don't have to 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.520 pay any taxes. You're deferring the taxes for later on, 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.280 just like Donald Trump does with his real estate. Which 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:37.440 is interesting, and it's a percent legal. So we're telling people, Look, 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.720 all these tricks that the rich people do are available 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.840 to all of us. And another trick that the rich 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.240 due that I've talked about is then taking those dollars 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:47.880 and putting them into another job. So now one dollar 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:52.360 can be doing two jobs and leverage, leverage and attacks deductible. 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:53.840 So I could, but you have to be smart about 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.879 your advanced strategy, right and and and most people probably 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:00.240