1 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: I've often said that good ideas when because they're good ideas, 2 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: when you're able to lay out the information in a 3 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: way that's easy to understand, easy to digest, then people 4 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: can change their mind. It's not about shutting people down. 5 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: It's about having open and intelligent conversation. And that's exactly 6 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: what we're going to dig into today. I am joined 7 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: by my friend VJ and he is going to explain 8 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: some concept to us in a very easy two way 9 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: understand UM. He has recently written a new book called 10 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 1: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin, and he is going to 11 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: talk about some of the biggest objections that people have 12 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: to Bitcoin in a very simple, easy to understand way 13 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: that I think is going to make a lot of sense. 14 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: Some of the biggest objections you might have heard are 15 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: actually very simple when you can understand them at a 16 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: different level. UM, So much to get into here. It's 17 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: a great conversation, one that I really enjoyed, so it's 18 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: going to just jump right into it. Hey, everyone, welcome 19 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: to another episode of The Market Disruptor Show. And today 20 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: I am joined by VJ. Boya Patti and he is 21 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: a former Google software engineer UM and more lately known 22 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: for talking about bitcoin and the book called The Bullish 23 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: Case for Bitcoin. It's actually been out for quite a while, 24 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: something that I've read. I know a lot of people have, UM, 25 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: and I'm super excited to talk to you today. Thanks 26 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: for joining. Thanks Mark, it's great to chat with you today. Yeah. So, UM, 27 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: I think the first time we met in person was 28 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:34,680 Speaker 1: at Safety's dinner, and I think we got to sit 29 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:36,680 Speaker 1: across from each other at Big Block Boom a couple 30 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: of years ago, and that was that was pretty fun. 31 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: I remember you asked me specifically what my journey was, 32 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,839 Speaker 1: um into bitcoin, and so, um, why don't you tell 33 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: us what your journey was in from being a Google 34 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: software engineer, how you got in and then what led 35 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: to kind of writing this book, The Bullish Case for Bitcoin. Yeah, 36 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: I'll try and keep it a little bit compressed, but 37 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: I'll stop from the beginning. I'm gonna stray. And I 38 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: was born and raised in Australia. I came to the 39 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: US to do a PhD in computer science, but I 40 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: ended up taking a job and ended up at a 41 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: small startup which you know people probably know now called Google, 42 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: but it was much smaller when I joined. I worked 43 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: at Google until the end of two thousand and seven, 44 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: and I left because I wanted to campaign in the 45 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: presidential election, the two eight presidential election for Ron Paul, 46 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: and that was a great experience. I raised a lot 47 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: of money, I brought hundreds of people to New Hampshire 48 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: to UH to campaign and canvas for Ron. But I 49 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: actually became really disillusioned with the political process when I 50 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 1: went through this, and I started to learn that there 51 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: are much more powerful forces at work, and a grassroots 52 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: campaigning really does not compare to those forces. So, for instance, 53 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: Fox News decided they wouldn't let Ron in the debate, 54 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: and that really had a huge impact on his ability 55 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: to to do well in New Hampshire, and so I 56 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: was I was pretty cynical about the political process after 57 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: that for a few years, and a little bit depressed 58 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: about whether you know, the values that I hold, which 59 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,079 Speaker 1: I think are American values human freedom, the ability to 60 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: pursue your happiness without other people interfering. I was a 61 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: little bit depressed that it would be hard to to 62 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: advance those ideas through the political process. UH. But then 63 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,799 Speaker 1: I came across bitcoin in two thousand and eleven, and 64 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: it was really exciting because it's this new technology which 65 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: I think really promotes human freedom and promotes people's ability 66 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: to to keep the fruits of their labor without debasement 67 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: or confiscation. And I sort of recognize that we can 68 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: change the world through technology, we can change the political landscape. Uh. 69 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: And I've just been so fascinated with bitcoin for the 70 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: last decade. And I had a background in Austrian economics 71 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: and I recognized when I came to bitcoin, this is 72 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: a monetary phenomena. And I've just been obsessed with this 73 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: question of how does this new monetary good which was created, 74 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: created out of thin air, How does it have any 75 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: economic value? Why does it have a price? Why why 76 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: do people value this thing? And so I've been obsessing 77 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: over this question for a decade, and you know, I've 78 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: come across so many misconceptions about bitcoin. In two thousand 79 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: and seventeen, I decided I want to write an article 80 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: to explain why I think bitcoin has an economic value 81 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: and provide an economic framework to think about bitcoin. And 82 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: you know, when I wrote the article, I was hoping 83 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: that it would be read by a few friends and 84 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: maybe a couple of people on Wall Street, but it 85 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: ended up getting read by about a million people around 86 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: the world. It was translated into twenty different languages. I 87 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: didn't pay for that. People just volunteered, which was so 88 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: humbling that people are were as excited about the article 89 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,479 Speaker 1: and that you know that they wanted to talk about 90 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: bitcoin and use this as a resource to share with 91 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: their friends. Uh. So I wrote the article. It was 92 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: received much uh more than I expected it would be. 93 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: Um and then people start asking me turning into a book, 94 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: and I thought it was, you know, the right length. 95 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: It was, you know, a long form article, but it 96 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: wasn't as long as a book. Hey guys, let me 97 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: just interrupt this interview real quick, just to plug the 98 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: show sponsor, and that is block Fi. Now. Block five 99 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: is doing amazing things in the bitcoin finance space. As 100 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: a matter of fact, they've cracked some really big news 101 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:36,559 Speaker 1: by bringing on the x cftc UM chair Chris gian 102 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: Carlo Um and they are one of the most transparent, 103 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 1: most heavily regulated UM companies inside the United States, which 104 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: gives me a lot of trust into what their services are. Now, 105 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: I've recently did a video talking about how to retire 106 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: off bitcoin, and you can do that by leveraging debt 107 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 1: and interest against bitcoin and block five is the number 108 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: one company in the United States or maybe in the 109 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: world to go to and use UM. They are leading 110 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: the charge their paying interest on your bitcoin if you 111 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: park it with him, or you can borrow against it. Now, 112 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,039 Speaker 1: as I broke down in that video, you can borrow 113 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: against your bitcoin, and when you take debt against it, 114 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: it's not taxable. It's not a taxable event. You can 115 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: use that debt for anything that you want, including to 116 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: live off of, to leverage up and buy more, or 117 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: roll it into another asset. UM you can do something 118 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 1: like I've done recently, like sell some real estate put 119 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: that money into bitcoin. Now as that bitcoin price has risen, 120 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:27,840 Speaker 1: I'm able to borrow against it and go back and 121 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,280 Speaker 1: buy the same real estate or something similar. And I 122 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: still own the bitcoin, and I also own the new 123 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: asset as well. Lots of ways you can do this. 124 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: UM and block five is the company that I recommend. 125 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: Down in the description, I have a link that you 126 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: can click on. If you choose to use that link, 127 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: you can earn up the two d fifty dollars in 128 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: bitcoin just for using that link. So check out block 129 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: by now uh and so I sort of didn't do 130 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: anything about that until when you know, the pandemic happened 131 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: and the government responses around the world was so crazy. 132 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: In my opinion, the amount of money that was created 133 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,919 Speaker 1: as just staggering trillions and trillions of dollars, and so 134 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: they gave a new context in which I thought it 135 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: was worth revisiting the article, and I thought there are 136 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: actually some things in the article I didn't cover that 137 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: are really important I wanted to put into a book, 138 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: and so I spent some of the later part of 139 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: the early part of one writing the book and I 140 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: just launched it. And I'm really excited that people can 141 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: can can get that book now. Well, I launched it 142 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: as a Kickstarter and and the kickstarter campaign has ended, 143 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: but it should be in stores in about a month. 144 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: So you took the article that got the million news 145 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: and was translated all the languages, and then you've taken 146 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: that and expanded on that and then turned it into 147 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: a book, so you goil deeper into the different subjects 148 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: and stuff. Exactly right. I updated it because some of 149 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: the things were tied to that time period in two 150 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: thousand and seventeen when I wrote it, and I thought 151 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: there was definitely enough changes in the market that it 152 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: needed to be updated, and I significantly expanded it as well. 153 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: So there were pup of things that I thought were 154 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: incredibly important that I needed to to to discuss that 155 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: I didn't in the article. So what was the historical 156 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: context in which bitcoin came about? Uh, there would be. 157 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: There's been people working in the cipher punk community for 158 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: at least a decade before bitcoin came about, trying to 159 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: create digital money but actually having not succeeded, many of 160 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: them were skeptical something like this was possible. But so 161 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: I wanted to provide that historical context. I also really 162 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: wanted to tackle the question of what is bitcoin. There 163 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: was a huge debate in the bitcoin community in two 164 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: thousand and seventeen about you know, it's bitcoin a payment system. 165 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: Is it kind of like PayPal, ex a bit decentralized 166 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: or is it kind of like goal? Is it more 167 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: like a digital you know gold where you keep your 168 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,520 Speaker 1: savings in that um And that that question was so 169 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: important it resulted in a split of the bitcoin network 170 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: really very hostile, and there's a lot of contention and 171 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,719 Speaker 1: people really upset with each other. And I have a 172 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: view on what bitcoin is, and I really wanted to 173 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: explain why I think bitcoin is the way it is, 174 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: why it can only be the way it is, uh, 175 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: and how that development played out. So there's a number 176 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:11,559 Speaker 1: of things like that that weren't in the article that 177 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 1: I thought were really important that I should cover up. Yeah, 178 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: they sound like important things. Um, I wanted to dig 179 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,439 Speaker 1: into some of that, But I would like to hear 180 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 1: just about the kickstarter piece itself, because that's kind of 181 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,200 Speaker 1: an interesting thing. Um. Maybe there's people listening that have 182 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: thought about writing a book and I'm one of them. 183 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: I and honestly, I hadn't thought about doing a book 184 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: to a kickstarter. Um, I've talked to a couple of 185 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: different publishers. I've talked to some people that assist you 186 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: with self publishing things like that. Tell me how that 187 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: process went with the kickstarter and how it ended up. Yeah. 188 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: So I've never written a book before. And the first 189 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: thing I did was I contacted a number of people 190 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: in the bitcoin space who had written books and who 191 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: I respect a lot of people like Sayer Dean and 192 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: Yeah Pritzka and Nick Bartia who had written great books 193 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:56,960 Speaker 1: in my opinion, have them all on my shelf. And 194 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: I said, should I what should I do here? Should 195 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: I just go find a public a share or should 196 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: I self published? And uniformly, every single one of them 197 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: said self published. Do not use a publisher, And they 198 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: gave you know a few reasons. One is you don't 199 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: control the rights, and that dramatically reduces your flexibility of 200 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: creating derivative works, whether you can do translations. There are 201 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,320 Speaker 1: all sorts of issues around that where, uh, it makes 202 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: it harder for you to control your work, and publishers 203 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: tend to be very very slow in reacting to requests. 204 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,439 Speaker 1: So you know, I want to release an excerpt from 205 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: my book, a chapter to promote, to promote the book, 206 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: it can take months to get approval for that kind 207 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 1: of thing. So that was one reason. The other reason 208 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: is you don't actually don't get paid very much if 209 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: you if you use a publisher, they do, they do 210 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: pay you upfront, but if you sell a book for 211 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: twenty dollars, you're likely to get a dollar or a 212 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: dollar fifty per book, which is not a very good 213 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,200 Speaker 1: renumeration because that the effort that goes into a book 214 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 1: is pretty significant. You know, there's months of work where 215 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: you're writing and you're sitting down a loan and having 216 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: writer's block and actually do this. Um so, so you know, 217 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: then I thought, okay, I'm going to self publish. And 218 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: I looked at doing that, and if you self published, 219 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 1: you've got to do things yourself. You gotta do the 220 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: type setting yourself, the editing, you've got to hire an editing. 221 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: There are all these costs. Uh. But the benefit is 222 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: if you sell through retailers when you're self published, instead 223 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: of a dollar or a dollar fifty, you're probably gonna 224 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,199 Speaker 1: get maybe five or six dollars per per copy per book, 225 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: which is great. But then I thought about Kickstarter. I'm like, well, 226 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: maybe I can launch my book on Kickstarter. And the 227 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 1: great thing about Kickstarter is it's this website that helps 228 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: people launch projects that may not be fully finished and 229 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,679 Speaker 1: helps them fund those projects to get them out there. 230 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: As typically used for gadgets and electronics and even board 231 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,200 Speaker 1: games where people are dreaming up something they want to 232 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:51,679 Speaker 1: create and they explain to people what their vision is 233 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,520 Speaker 1: and people get excited and they fund it, but people 234 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: also use it for books, and so I thought, okay, 235 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: why don't I do this? If I if I do 236 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: a Kickstarter and people taught me on this. Instead of 237 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: you know, getting a dollar fifty or five dollars, if 238 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: I self published, I'm selling directly, I'm going to get 239 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: out of twenty dollars, I'm probably gonna get about eighteen dollars, 240 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: So it renumerates me a lot more. And the benefit 241 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: is I really want to get these ideas to as 242 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: many people as possible, So I would love to have 243 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: the funding to get pay for translations myself, to own 244 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:25,560 Speaker 1: the copyright for those translations, to get this to spread 245 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: around the world, because in my view, when people are 246 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: presented with the reasons why bitcoin is valuable and why 247 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: it's important to the world, and why it's a good 248 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: idea to keep savings in bitcoin, they really get it. 249 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,560 Speaker 1: They just need to have the ideas presented in a 250 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 1: sort of logical clear way and have some of the 251 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: risks explained to them in an open, honest way. Once 252 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: you do that, I find I haven't had an experience 253 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: where people like, well, I still don't believe in it. 254 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: Most people I found get it. Uh So I'm excited 255 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:59,559 Speaker 1: to have the control over my work and to get 256 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: it out and to be compensated enough that I can 257 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: fund myself, translations and marketing and all of that stuff. 258 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: So I think Kickstarter is a great way to do this. 259 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: I encourage anyone who's thinking about writting a book to 260 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: to use Kickstarter. Safer Dean his new book, He's also 261 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,319 Speaker 1: launched on Kickstarter, And I think this is going to 262 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 1: be a trend. Actually, I think a lot of people 263 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 1: in this space are going to recognize this is a 264 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: good way to launch your book. Uh and it's a 265 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: good way to get compensated and keep control over over 266 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,559 Speaker 1: your own work. So it was a success. Then you 267 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: were able to raise enough money up front on pre 268 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,560 Speaker 1: ordered the book to give you the money you need 269 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: to get it written, translated, etcetera. Yeah, so it's sold 270 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 1: about a hundred fifty dollars worth of books, and that's 271 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 1: enough for me to start working on other stuff. And 272 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:51,240 Speaker 1: that's that that that demand is coming from kind of 273 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 1: the early demanding people who are most excited about it. 274 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: And then eventually it's going to get into Amazon and 275 00:13:57,440 --> 00:13:59,679 Speaker 1: Bonds and Noble and that sort of thing. But it's 276 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: kind of tapping into that early excitement and demand for 277 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: the book, uh and and and monetizing that a little 278 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: bit more than you would through Amazon. Yeah, that's awesome. 279 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing that and maybe that I said, there's 280 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: probably a lot of people are interested, and I definitely was. Um, 281 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 1: so I want to dive into some of these subjects here. 282 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: So um you talked about Um one of the big 283 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: things was like this economic value and framework of bitcoin 284 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: and so, um, you know, why is their value there 285 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: in the first place. And of course that's one of 286 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: the big complaints or or arguments that we might hear, 287 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 1: which I'm sure what's why you tackled that. Um, there's 288 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: nothing back in it. It's just like fiat or whatever 289 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: it may be, right, So we hear that all the time. Um, 290 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: some people think that, you know, I think Peter Shift 291 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: tweeted today that you know, only it has to be 292 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: commodity money, only commodities or money. Um, So walk us 293 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: through kind of this economic value framework that you said 294 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: you kind of have if you will. Yeah, of course. 295 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: So money is really it's a really difficult object to understand. 296 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: Most people don't understand why money has any value, uh, 297 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 1: and they haven't really thought deeply about it. So that 298 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: that that's fine. But the thing that's really hard about 299 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: money is that with other sort of assets, financial assets, Uh, 300 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: they're they're almost always valued on their cash flow. And 301 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: that's that's fairly easy to understand. So stocks or bonds 302 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: or real estate. Stocks have dividends, bonds have interest, and 303 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: real estate has rental cash flow. And you could look 304 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: at a house and say, well, why is this house 305 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: worth a million dollars? Well, it produces seventy thousand dollars 306 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,520 Speaker 1: of rent per year, so that justifies it a little bit. 307 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: Whereas money doesn't. Money doesn't produce cashflow. Gold doesn't produce 308 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: cash flow. Uh, bitcoin doesn't produce a cash flow. So 309 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: why why does something like gold have value? Well, the 310 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: reason is money serves this other purpose in society and 311 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: historically has always these purposes medium of exchange and store 312 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: a value and unit of account. And through history humans 313 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:03,560 Speaker 1: have value use certain goods ah for their attributes that 314 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: make them good at these functions of money. And we 315 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: really need money in a society because money is this 316 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: incredibly important economic good that facilitates social coordination. If we 317 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 1: don't if we don't have money, then we don't have 318 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: a division of labor. And if we don't have a 319 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: division of labor, we have a primitive society. We don't 320 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: have civilization. We have a barter based society where people 321 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: are trading you know, sheep for bread or whatever, and 322 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,920 Speaker 1: that really limits the scope in which trade can occur. 323 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: So money is this fundamental innovation that society needs for civilization. 324 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: So what are the attributes that make for a good money? Uh? 325 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: These these attributes have been known for a long time, 326 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: all the way back to Aristotle who wrote about these 327 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: things like divisibility. You want to be able to divide 328 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:52,000 Speaker 1: the money that you have into small pieces to use 329 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: in trade. Uh. Verifiability it should be easy to recognize 330 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: that this is money, and it's not easy to fake it. Um. 331 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: Fung Ability is another one. You want something which is 332 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: essentially equivalent to any other piece or quantity of that thing. 333 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: So gold is better as money than diamonds because diamonds 334 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:15,119 Speaker 1: are irregular in shape and quality, so they're not as 335 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 1: good for trading. Uh. And probably the most important one 336 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 1: of all the attributes to make for good money is scarcity. 337 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:26,480 Speaker 1: You want to have you want to keep your savings 338 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: in something that is very difficult to produce. If it's 339 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 1: easy to produce, then your savings are going to be 340 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: sort of diminished, very quickly over time. So gold is 341 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:41,119 Speaker 1: much better as money than sand because if sand were money, 342 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:42,920 Speaker 1: you could take a bucket to the beach and you'd 343 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 1: be rich. Right, So other people are not going to 344 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: want to keep their savings in it. But gold is 345 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 1: very difficult to produce. Uh So, if you look at 346 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: those attributes that make for good monetary good, gold does 347 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: really well over those attributes, and if you rank them, 348 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: Bitcoin does even better. Uh And one of the attributes 349 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:08,360 Speaker 1: I failed to mention was portability. Bitcoin is so much 350 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: more portable than gold. I can transmit bitcoin that I 351 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,119 Speaker 1: have to someone on the other end of the world 352 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: almost instantly at very low cost. But if you're going 353 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:19,679 Speaker 1: to do that with gold, that would be very expensive. 354 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: It would be risky. Um. So, if we rank monetary 355 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: goods along these attributes that we know people demand for money, 356 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:33,120 Speaker 1: Bitcoin comes out really really well. It's superior to gold 357 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,840 Speaker 1: along almost every attribute except for established history. Gold has 358 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 1: this very long established history, and I think Bitcoin is 359 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: actually superior to feat moneys along every single one of 360 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: these attributes. And in my article, I have a table 361 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:49,679 Speaker 1: where I list all of the attributes and I ranked 362 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: them as if they're you know, taking a test in college, A, B, C, D, 363 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: E F and I rank all of them. Uh, and 364 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: you can go check out my article and see this ranking. 365 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: Coin I think is superior to feat over all of 366 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: the attributes and it's um that's the reason that bitcoin 367 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: outcompetes these other monetary goods over time, because people slowly 368 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: recognize that bitcoin has attributes that they want in money 369 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,159 Speaker 1: and that they need in money, and so they choose 370 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,920 Speaker 1: to keep their savings in bitcoin rather than these forms 371 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: of money. And I think the thing is understanding. Knowledge 372 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: can be sorry, information can be transmitted very quickly around 373 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,359 Speaker 1: the world, but understanding takes time. And so I've view 374 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: this as like a process of the understanding of bitcoin 375 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:44,120 Speaker 1: superior superiority spreading around the world, um but inevitably growing, 376 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: which is why Bitcoin's adoption is also growing, because people 377 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: are coming to this understanding and realizing, Hey, it makes 378 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: sense for me to keep some of my savings in bitcoin. Yeah. 379 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: When you talk about the scarcity aspect um and how 380 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: gold has been really good at app you know, one 381 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 1: thing that I've always thought is I was a gold bug. 382 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:05,639 Speaker 1: After two thousand and eight, after that market crashed, I 383 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:09,840 Speaker 1: then found I became actually a sound money advocate, but um, 384 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: you know, with gold, it was always kind of like, uh, 385 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 1: money has to have a true cost of capital, so 386 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: like you can't just create it from thin air. It 387 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,639 Speaker 1: must represent some form of energy um. And so with gold, 388 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: for example, I have to buy the land and by 389 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,440 Speaker 1: the equipment and expend all the energy to get that gold. 390 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: So there's like a true cost of that capital um 391 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,680 Speaker 1: and so um it's backed by energy, right and so 392 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: um you can like look at bitcoin kind of the 393 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:35,479 Speaker 1: same way in a sense where it's also backed by 394 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: capital because of the equipment and the energy that's used. 395 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: So sometimes I thought, well, it's back the same as 396 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 1: gold is backed right there, both backed by energy. Is 397 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: that a good way to look at it? I think 398 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: absolutely correcting. That's that's the way bitcoins it produces in 399 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: this process of mining where the mine is a running 400 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:57,360 Speaker 1: software which has to expand real energy um to produce 401 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,080 Speaker 1: a new bitcoin. So and you can actually look that 402 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 1: the real cost, it's it's perfectly measurable. Unlike gold is 403 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,960 Speaker 1: not always clear how much energy went into the production 404 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,119 Speaker 1: of goal, is very clear how much energy is expended 405 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,119 Speaker 1: to to go into a bitcoin, So there is a 406 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: cost of capital. And so that means that when people 407 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: have a bitcoin, they know that a real amount of 408 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: energy was put into its production and then it was 409 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 1: it's an incredibly large amount of energy. And that energy 410 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 1: is what actually secures the bitcoin network, which makes it 411 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,879 Speaker 1: hard for people to fake transactions and to to create 412 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,639 Speaker 1: fake bitcoins, because to create a new bitcoin or to 413 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,440 Speaker 1: to do a transaction, a huge amount of energy has 414 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:40,679 Speaker 1: to to go into that. Uh, and that's what protects 415 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: the integrity of bitcoins network. Yeah, yeah, that's good. It's 416 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: and and then I guess the last piece would just 417 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: be back to the commodity money. Right, So then of 418 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,199 Speaker 1: course back to shift not not not to bring him up, 419 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,719 Speaker 1: but you know what gold has intrinsic value. I can 420 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: use it as cuff links, right. Um, I like to 421 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: say that there's no such thing as intrinsic value, and 422 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:05,479 Speaker 1: all value is is, you know, based off of what 423 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,159 Speaker 1: we decide it's worth. Um, what would you say in 424 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,639 Speaker 1: regards to that? Right? So gold is something physical that 425 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: there's actually a physical value there. Yes, So people get 426 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 1: sort of caught up in the physicality of gold and 427 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 1: the circled tone of intrinsic value to justify golts price. 428 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: I think that's actually quite a big mistake, because if 429 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: you look at any form of money, it's price level 430 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,400 Speaker 1: is determined by two factors. One is its utility, it's 431 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:33,120 Speaker 1: kind of industrial use or whatever, or it's used for jewelry. 432 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 1: And the other part is the monetary premium. That is, 433 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: people aren't using it for its industrial use. They're using 434 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: it for its monetary role. They're using it as a 435 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 1: store of value or a medium exchange. And a lot 436 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: of the gold in the world, actually the majority of 437 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: gold in the world, doesn't do anything. All that does 438 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 1: is sit in vaults in banks and central banks around 439 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:59,200 Speaker 1: the world, and and that demand is the monetary premium. 440 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: And in my in my article, i explained that different 441 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: monetary goods have different monetary premiums. If you look at silver, uh, 442 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: it has a fairly small monetary premium. Most of the 443 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 1: price level of silver comes from its industrial use. Um. 444 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:20,360 Speaker 1: Some people hold silver in volts, but not many. Gold 445 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: is mostly monetary premium. Uh. There are some industrial uses, 446 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: but they're actually quite small compared to the amount of 447 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:29,680 Speaker 1: demand that comes from just having your gold sit there 448 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,360 Speaker 1: and do absolutely nothing. Bitcoin is pure monetary premium. It's 449 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 1: a pure form of money. Now, the mistake is that 450 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:40,439 Speaker 1: people say that that tiny amount of industrial demand for 451 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: gold is the reason it has any value. No, it's 452 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,880 Speaker 1: completely wrong. The majority of gold's demand comes from its 453 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 1: monetary uses. And actually, if gold were to stop having 454 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 1: any industrial uses and people decided, well, this isn't really 455 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 1: nice for jewelry anymore. There's something better that we can 456 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 1: create more cheaply. Uh, old would still have a high 457 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,600 Speaker 1: price uh or another way of saying it, if you 458 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: took away gold monetary demand, its price level wouldn't be 459 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: an ounce It would probably be a hundred dollars announced. 460 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: So most of that value comes from the monetary side, 461 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,400 Speaker 1: and Peter Shift kind of misses that, and he focused 462 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,119 Speaker 1: on this tiny fraction of demand for gold, and he 463 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:25,199 Speaker 1: thinks that's the explanation for the price level of gold. No, 464 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: money is valued for its monetary uses, and bitcoin, being 465 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,199 Speaker 1: a pure form of money, has all of its value 466 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: determined by that. And the last point I want to 467 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: make about this is it's actually a big disadvantage for 468 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,679 Speaker 1: a monetary good to have industrial demand. The more industrial 469 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: demand it has as a fraction of its price level, 470 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,440 Speaker 1: the worst it is as money, because you don't want 471 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,720 Speaker 1: the price level of your money to fluctuate all over 472 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 1: the place if the industrial demand moves around, like one 473 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: year there might be less demand, one year there might 474 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: be more demand. You don't want moneys to behave that way. 475 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: You want most of the value to be in that 476 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: monetary premium. Yeah. I think also on top of that, um, 477 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,040 Speaker 1: we don't necessarily want those um, those materials to go 478 00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: up in price either because they need to be used. 479 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: And so if I'm putting all my money into real 480 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: estate because dollars is no good, well then it's pushing 481 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: the price of real estate up. But now nobody can 482 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: afford a home where I'm putting it all into goal 483 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: but now pushing the price of gold up, and now 484 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: we can't use it for conducting, which is what it 485 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: should be used for for example. So there's actually maybe 486 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: a case for why non commodity money is actually superior 487 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: or better for better for society anyway. Yeah, absolutely right, 488 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 1: that's a good point, the point that I hadn't mentioned it. 489 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: It works in both directions. Yeah, hey, sorry to interrupt 490 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: this video just one more time. I'm not running Google ads, 491 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,640 Speaker 1: so it's actually way less interruption than I normally would 492 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:47,880 Speaker 1: have on a video UM and that's because it's sponsored 493 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: by block five UM. They are opening up the world 494 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,400 Speaker 1: of bitcoin and financial products offering to pay you interest 495 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,359 Speaker 1: on your bitcoin um better than own in a rental 496 00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: property that you have to manage and control and have 497 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,119 Speaker 1: the risks. You can or certain interest on it, or 498 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 1: you can leverage against it. Now, I plan to hold 499 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: my bitcoin forever and literally never sell my bitcoin. So 500 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 1: how do you do that? Well, if I need money, 501 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,680 Speaker 1: I don't want to sell that bitcoin. I'm gonna pay 502 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: tax on it, all right, I'm gonna end up with 503 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: less and I don't have the bitcoin anymore. So a 504 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,880 Speaker 1: better way to do it is to borrow against the bitcoin. 505 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: So I've put all my money into bitcoin. If I 506 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:22,880 Speaker 1: want to buy a car, or I want to buy 507 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,960 Speaker 1: a house, I can borrow against it at very very 508 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,720 Speaker 1: low competitive rates. Get my house, get my car, whatever 509 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,440 Speaker 1: that may be, and get to keep the bitcoin. I've 510 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: done a whole video on this. You can find it. 511 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: I'll link it down in the description below. How to 512 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,280 Speaker 1: retire off a bitcoin without paying taxes and you can 513 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: do that with block fight services. I'll link to the 514 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:42,480 Speaker 1: video down below. I'm also going to put a link 515 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: to block Fight. If you choose to click on that 516 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: link to check them out, you can earn up to 517 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: two fifty dollars in free bitcoin just for using that link. 518 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: And that's it. Let's go ahead and get back to 519 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: the interview. Yeah, um, if we if we jump to 520 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,640 Speaker 1: a different topic of something else that you had said 521 00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: that I think it is also pretty important, is that, um, 522 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,800 Speaker 1: bitcoin is old technology. I hear that one all the time, right, 523 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,160 Speaker 1: it's the old technology. It's slow, it's dumb. Um, it's 524 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: the MySpace, the Google, you know, the Facebook's coming, blah 525 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: blah blah. But to your kind of point you made earlier, Um, 526 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: it had been tried for decades without succeeding. So this 527 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,440 Speaker 1: was not the first iteration. It has many generations. Maybe 528 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: to walk us through kind of that, being a being 529 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,479 Speaker 1: a Google software engineer, maybe you can explain to us 530 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,160 Speaker 1: how technology kind of evolves and why maybe being a slow, 531 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 1: dumb bas layer is actually the best option. Yeah. So 532 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,639 Speaker 1: bitcoin is this fundamental innovation in computer science. It's solved 533 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: problem in computer science that a lot of people didn't 534 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,439 Speaker 1: think was solvable, which is it's called the Byzantine general's problem, 535 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,199 Speaker 1: and so Toshi Nakamoto, when he published his paper in 536 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: two thousand eight, presented the first solution. And so he 537 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: made something possible that had never been possible in the 538 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: history of the world, which is to be able to 539 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,919 Speaker 1: transmit value from one end of the globe to the 540 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,159 Speaker 1: other end of the globe near instantly without having to 541 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: have someone in between, a trusted intermediary like a government 542 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: or a bank. And that's a that's a profound innovation 543 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: when when you the other part of your question as well, 544 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: other people can create these new cryptocurrencies. The thing is, 545 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: these new cryptocurrencies aren't that they add technological bells and whistles, 546 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: but they're not a fundamental innovation on top of Bitcoin. 547 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,879 Speaker 1: Uh So, so the thing is here, Bitcoin is a 548 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,919 Speaker 1: monetary good and it's valued as a monetary good. For 549 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 1: these new ones to to outcompete Bitcoin, they have to 550 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: improve on the monetary attributes that Bitcoin has, and none 551 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 1: of them, as far as I can see, have any 552 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: superior monetary attributes to Bitcoin. For instance, scarcity, and whenever 553 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: you have something, any product or service or good that 554 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: has a network effect, it's really really hard to unseat 555 00:28:54,760 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: that unless you are orders of magnitude better. UM. So, uh, 556 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:03,479 Speaker 1: you know, the example of Facebook and MySpace is an 557 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,800 Speaker 1: interesting one. I think the only case in which, you know, 558 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: something with the network effect can be outcompeted is in 559 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: the very very early stages. Uh. You know, when my 560 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: Space was still very young, when Facebook started competing with it. Uh. 561 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:22,280 Speaker 1: And Facebook was superior and managed to outcompete MySpace over 562 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: the network effect. But it was early enough that that 563 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 1: was possible. And I would say, actually, you know, Bitcoin 564 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: could have been out competed if something much better had 565 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: come along in two thousand twelve or thirteen when it 566 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: was still early. The Bitcoin is so massive now has 567 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: such a strong network effect. Um. And this encompasses many 568 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:45,240 Speaker 1: things that encompasses that. The brand, It's the strongest brand 569 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: by far. No old coin is ever mentioned except in 570 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: the context of bitcoin. The financial infrastructure, all of the 571 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 1: companies that provide on ramps and off ramps to Bitcoin 572 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: and and leverage on bitcoin. There Most of these other 573 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: old coins don't have anything like that that. The community 574 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:05,520 Speaker 1: of developers that the best cryptographers and computer scientists in 575 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 1: the world a committed to working on bitcoin. So there 576 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,160 Speaker 1: are a number of factors like that that add to 577 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: bitcoins network effect, and it's at such a large scale 578 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 1: now that I don't think it's possible for it to 579 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: be out competed. Uh. And it's not about technology. It's 580 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: not about adding like some cool new thing that sounds 581 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: good on your altcoin. It's about did you provide a 582 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 1: better monetary attribute? Uh that's better than the ones that 583 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: bitcoin has, And I just looking at the attributes, I 584 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:36,520 Speaker 1: don't see how that's possible. Uh, there is, I should 585 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: say there is one weakness. I think bitcoin does have. 586 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: One weakness that I think will improve over time. Is 587 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: it's fungibility. That is uh kind of the privacy aspect 588 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: of bitcoin, like, is one bitcoin equivalent to any other bitcoin? 589 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,040 Speaker 1: And at the network layer that is true. Uh, any 590 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: bitcoin can be transmitted on the network like any other. 591 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: But because bitcoins blockchain is open and transparent, it is 592 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: possible to trace bitcoins. And the disadvantage there is that 593 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: a government could come along and say, well, this bitcoin 594 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: is tainted. We don't want any business to actually accept 595 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 1: this bitcoin. They'll go to exchanges and say here's the 596 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 1: list of tainted bitcoins, and that kind of reduces Bitcoin's 597 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: funge ability a little bit. Uh. Cash. You know, cash 598 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: U S dollars doesn't have this problem because it's completely 599 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: anonymous and you can't tell where it came from. So 600 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: this is one area which Bitcoin has a weakness. But 601 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: I am actually very optimistic that this is going to 602 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 1: improve over time through technological developments. Uh. And for instance, 603 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: there's been a protocol upgrade to Bitcoin recently that's been 604 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,239 Speaker 1: approved by the network called tap Route, which is going 605 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: to improve the privacy of bitcoin. So you know, if 606 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: a new old coin comes along and it's competing with Bitcoin, 607 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,440 Speaker 1: we shouldn't look at the technology. We should look at 608 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 1: the monetary attributes. And Bitcoin only has, in my opinion, 609 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,160 Speaker 1: one weakness, and I think that is an area it's 610 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: improving quickly over the time. Yeah, that's a that's a 611 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: good point to bring up on that weakness. It's something 612 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: that I've actually had to I've come under kind of 613 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: quite a bit of fire on recently. As a matter 614 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: of fact, I got invited and I accepted opportunity to 615 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 1: go onto the Monaro talk show to discuss this exact 616 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,760 Speaker 1: topic with Monaro people. UM. I was more than happy 617 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: to do that. Um. You know, in regards to that 618 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,760 Speaker 1: privacy problem, I mean we do have layer two technologies 619 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 1: like lightning, which allow you to transact the bitcoin much 620 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: more private. We also have coin joint applications where we 621 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: can kind of obfuscate if not you know, kind of 622 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 1: a race that history as well. So I think in 623 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: that regard you have that you know their argument as well. 624 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 1: You know, Monaro never had it in the first place. Um, 625 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 1: but it seems like if a merchant, so as you said, 626 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: like it's not done on the network level, the network 627 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: doesn't know the difference. It would be a merchant that 628 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: would be squeezed by the you know whatever regulators to 629 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: not accept that bitcoin. And so if they, if they 630 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: could accept the Monaro or whatever privacy coin you want 631 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,000 Speaker 1: to use that has no history, then why wouldn't they 632 00:32:58,000 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: just set to accept the bitcoin? Then it doesn't have 633 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 1: a street. I mean that's kind of that's the question, 634 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: and I kind of keep going back to you. Yeah, yeah, 635 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: And I think that's a great point. I think it's 636 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:11,040 Speaker 1: also it's not is it not a question without trade offs? 637 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:13,600 Speaker 1: And and people who say narrow or ze cash have 638 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,240 Speaker 1: more privacy need to accept that there are trade offs. 639 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: And this is actually a really difficult question. And the 640 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 1: trade off is if you have perfect privacy, you lose 641 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: some ability to have auditability in the supply. And z 642 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: cash actually they found a bug in the way they 643 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: have these shielded transactions. They found a bug where they 644 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: weren't properly accounting for supply, and there was more supply 645 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 1: than they thought. One of the great things about bitcoins 646 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: blockchain being completely open is that we can order to 647 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: know how much supply has been created and and and 648 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: verify that it's you know, according to schedule. We know 649 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,680 Speaker 1: that no more than twenty one million bitcoins will ever 650 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: be produced. So this is a technically difficult problem, and 651 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 1: there are trade offs, and we shouldn't sort of h 652 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 1: be too blase about those tradeoffs. I think some people 653 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: when they talk about this, they're like, oh, yeah, this 654 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 1: is easy just to use a different privacy coin, but 655 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 1: you have to recognize that there are weaknesses that come 656 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:11,759 Speaker 1: from making that trade off as well. Yeah. So, UM 657 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,279 Speaker 1: as a software engineer, and I look at the way 658 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: that bitcoin is done, and so we have that base layer, 659 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,000 Speaker 1: but it seems like we're seeing pretty rapidly now new 660 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,440 Speaker 1: technology is being built on layer two. UM, and then 661 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,040 Speaker 1: now there's layer three that we have being started as well, 662 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:28,960 Speaker 1: and so it seems like we kind of have this 663 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,239 Speaker 1: this base layer that gives you that hard censorship resistant, 664 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: decentralized open, but then all the new technologies can be 665 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,560 Speaker 1: built on top which didn't have those trade offs that 666 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,760 Speaker 1: allow for those trade offs. Um, and it almost seems 667 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:42,640 Speaker 1: like all the other all coins that are out there 668 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: that have all these bells and whistles will all probably 669 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,799 Speaker 1: eventually come back and beyond the main chain. As a 670 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,279 Speaker 1: software engineer, what do you think about that? Yeah, that's 671 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,520 Speaker 1: a great point, and you you mentioned something earlier than 672 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 1: I forgot to mention. I think is really important that 673 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:00,040 Speaker 1: Lightning is a privacy improving technology. It's a set and 674 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,840 Speaker 1: layer on top of bitcoin where people can trade bitcoins 675 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: back and forth very quickly and very cheaply. That the 676 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,359 Speaker 1: base layer of bitcoin is more costly and isn't really 677 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,360 Speaker 1: meant for transactional use. I mean, people got confused in 678 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,800 Speaker 1: the early days because there were there wasn't much usage, 679 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,439 Speaker 1: and they thought, oh, bitcoins are payment system, a cheap 680 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,479 Speaker 1: payment system, But actually it's the settlement layer. It's really 681 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:26,080 Speaker 1: meant for a settlement, large settlement between large financial institutions 682 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: or large holders of bitcoin who want to send, you know, 683 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: a million dollars or something like that, that the smaller 684 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: transaction should happen on higher layers. And this was actually 685 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,040 Speaker 1: anticipated from the very beginning. How Finny who was one 686 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 1: of the people who helped develop bitcoin in the very 687 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,880 Speaker 1: earliest days, he recognized that all financial systems are built 688 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: in layers, and and that's exactly exactly how Bitcoin is 689 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: being built. And I like what you said about how 690 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:55,239 Speaker 1: this is going to suck in these extra layers are 691 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: going to suck in the features from these other old coins. 692 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,960 Speaker 1: It's kind of like, you know, to give an analogy, 693 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:02,759 Speaker 1: it's kind of like how cell phones sucked in all 694 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:04,759 Speaker 1: of these other features from all of these sort of 695 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,280 Speaker 1: peripheral products. Like think about the camera. In the early 696 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,800 Speaker 1: two thousand's, people had separate digital cameras that they take pictures. 697 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:14,919 Speaker 1: No one has that anymore. People used to buy gpss. 698 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,560 Speaker 1: You remember the tom toms that you'd attached to people 699 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: that don't have that. All of these other things were 700 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: sucked into the smartphone. And I think that's a really 701 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,879 Speaker 1: great way I hadn't thought about. A really great way 702 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,879 Speaker 1: of thinking about it is that these extra layers are 703 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,440 Speaker 1: going to pull in the feature set because it can 704 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:35,440 Speaker 1: be done much more cheaply and and economically at the 705 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,439 Speaker 1: high layers. And so that that parrative advantage that people 706 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 1: claim all coins have is all going to be brought 707 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,440 Speaker 1: into Bitcoin. Yeah, and we even have now smart contracts 708 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:47,480 Speaker 1: being done on bitcoin. So why would you want to 709 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,920 Speaker 1: do a smart contract on a chain that's unsecure right 710 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:52,839 Speaker 1: or centralized on Amazon servers for example, when you could 711 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: run smart contracts on bitcoin. Um, So it seems like 712 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,880 Speaker 1: that's the way that that it's going. And if you 713 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,279 Speaker 1: can do smart contracts and faster and cheaper and more 714 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:03,640 Speaker 1: private than those eight thousand other coins don't seem to 715 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:06,320 Speaker 1: have a whole lot of advantages that are kind of 716 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: left over. The other thing is understanding how like progress 717 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 1: is made. Um. I've been reading high x book The 718 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,279 Speaker 1: Constitution of Liberty, and he's talking about this concept of 719 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:20,680 Speaker 1: progress and the more people that you can get in 720 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,480 Speaker 1: and the more iterations and attempts you can have, the 721 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 1: faster that can happen, the more progress that can happen. 722 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,279 Speaker 1: And so then like on a very slow, dumb basse 723 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,840 Speaker 1: layer if you want to call bitcoin that, it allows 724 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,520 Speaker 1: almost unlimited options on top of that, which means innovation 725 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,359 Speaker 1: could happen really fast. When you take a smarter we'll 726 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:42,120 Speaker 1: call it that whatever, a more featured blockchain, um, it 727 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: limits the ability of things that you can build on 728 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:49,040 Speaker 1: top of it. Yeah, I think there are um there. 729 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: This is a game where there are tradeoffs where Ethereum 730 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,600 Speaker 1: tried to pack all of this functionality into the base layer, 731 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,040 Speaker 1: and the tradeoff is that it becomes so complex that 732 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: it it really hinders the decentral realization. That's that's the 733 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:03,440 Speaker 1: big trade off. Like if you want to run your 734 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:07,800 Speaker 1: own ethereum, notice pretty costly, and it's it's slow, and 735 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,960 Speaker 1: it's hard. It is actually pretty hard to people have 736 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,640 Speaker 1: tried this and have written their experience about how how 737 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:17,120 Speaker 1: difficult this is. And also like you really want that 738 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:20,560 Speaker 1: base layer, the settlement layer, to be simple and accountable 739 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,320 Speaker 1: and really really secure because that's where the majority of 740 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:27,239 Speaker 1: value transfer is going to happen. And I think it's 741 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:31,560 Speaker 1: something that most other old coins haven't appreciated and and 742 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:33,279 Speaker 1: when they were put to the test, if they were 743 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,880 Speaker 1: put to the test, they failed. So Ethereum is an 744 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:39,480 Speaker 1: example where uh, you want to trust the base lay. 745 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:41,440 Speaker 1: You don't want people to be able to, you know, 746 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:43,200 Speaker 1: governments to be able to come along and say, no, 747 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:45,680 Speaker 1: we don't like this transaction, we're gonna roll it back. 748 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,439 Speaker 1: And it actually happened on Atherorum in the early days, 749 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:52,080 Speaker 1: when the theory faced its most important test, it failed, 750 00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,360 Speaker 1: which is this this Dow hack where people invested a 751 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 1: bunch of money in this smart contract and it kind 752 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,840 Speaker 1: of failed. It was it wasn't programmed properly. Metallic Budaum 753 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 1: came along and got the minus to roll it back. 754 00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:07,920 Speaker 1: So if you're on the ethereum and you have value 755 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: you want to transact a large amount, you can't necessarily 756 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:16,960 Speaker 1: trust that that's gonna uh, that transaction can't be rolled back, 757 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,320 Speaker 1: whereas Bitcoin you have a very high degree of trust 758 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,799 Speaker 1: that you can't roll back those transactions. And even if 759 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,239 Speaker 1: a nation state came along and said, look, we don't 760 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,400 Speaker 1: want bitcoin to have this transaction, we're gonna precious some 761 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:33,840 Speaker 1: developers and miners, it's very hard because of bitcoin's decentralization 762 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,400 Speaker 1: to do anything like that. Yeah, and then more recently, 763 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,000 Speaker 1: one of the big things that bitcoin add back to 764 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:44,399 Speaker 1: your monetary principles is scarcity. And so Bitcoin, I'm sorry, 765 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:48,000 Speaker 1: ethereum has an unlimited supply cap and was it two 766 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:50,600 Speaker 1: months ago or so? Vitalic and and and boys got 767 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,000 Speaker 1: together and they decided to give it a fixed monetary supply. 768 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,279 Speaker 1: But the fact that a group of people can get 769 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:57,600 Speaker 1: together and change the monetary supply of the network is 770 00:39:57,640 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: exactly the problem we're trying to get away from. Its 771 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,480 Speaker 1: sounds like the money system, absolutely right. It's not the 772 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:07,800 Speaker 1: supply schedule that matters. It's the credibility of the supply schedule. 773 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:12,720 Speaker 1: Do you actually believe that um ethereum has a limited 774 00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:15,319 Speaker 1: supply or could it? Could it be changed? So so 775 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 1: gold has an inflation that goes forever. Two is added 776 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,360 Speaker 1: to the supply of gold. But the thing about gold 777 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:25,520 Speaker 1: supply schedule was we really trust it, We really believe 778 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,480 Speaker 1: that it isn't going to explode. Bitcoin has an even 779 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,320 Speaker 1: better supply schedule. It's ultimate scarcity. No more than twenty 780 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,640 Speaker 1: one million bitcoins will ever be produced. And the good 781 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:38,880 Speaker 1: thing about bitcoin, as opposed to its competitors, uh, is 782 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,160 Speaker 1: that we trust that supply schedule. We know, because it's decentralized, 783 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:44,680 Speaker 1: no one can come along and change it. And that's 784 00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,520 Speaker 1: incredibly important, And that's one of the biggest I think 785 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:51,799 Speaker 1: comparative advantages of bitcoin over all of its competitors that 786 00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 1: none of its competitors have. Yeah, yeah, I look, I 787 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:57,560 Speaker 1: look at it. I worked on this new thesis I've 788 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,239 Speaker 1: been presenting on these just three revolutionaries, say, those that 789 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,440 Speaker 1: are converging and so, um, there's like a political social 790 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:07,120 Speaker 1: cultural converging with the technological and converging with the financial, 791 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: and like um, problems or solutions come to problems. So 792 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:13,279 Speaker 1: if you look at like the problems we have and 793 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 1: like political social cultural, like we have obviously unlimited money printing, Um, 794 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,719 Speaker 1: we have censorship. But one of the big problems we 795 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 1: have is like we're ruled. We should be ruled by law, 796 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,759 Speaker 1: but now we're ruled by men. So the Constitution was 797 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:27,920 Speaker 1: supposed to limit the power, and everybody knew what those 798 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,080 Speaker 1: rules were in advance and we could all plan our lives. 799 00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:32,280 Speaker 1: But today we have men that just change the rules 800 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,320 Speaker 1: on us all the time. No, you can't eat inside anymore. Okay, 801 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,239 Speaker 1: now you can't eat outside. Okay. Now if people a 802 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,799 Speaker 1: plexiglass up at okay, now it's it's like that we 803 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,000 Speaker 1: we can't we can't do that. And so if you 804 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,239 Speaker 1: understand what the problems are. Then the solutions would be 805 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:51,359 Speaker 1: censorship resistant, immutable law right, UM, no, not governance. UM. 806 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:53,960 Speaker 1: Since there's all these things, and then when you when 807 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:57,000 Speaker 1: you understand the problems and solutions, I mean it very 808 00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:03,040 Speaker 1: quickly narrows it down to like only one option or that. So, UM, 809 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:05,759 Speaker 1: I love the way that you put all this together. UM. 810 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:07,680 Speaker 1: As you said, there's a lot of other good books. 811 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: You mentioned Layered Money, and of course next book on 812 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:13,120 Speaker 1: that is great. There's so much good information, um you 813 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,680 Speaker 1: said earlier. UM, you know you kind of put this 814 00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: together to relay information in a good, smooth way, and 815 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,239 Speaker 1: I think that's so important today. UM. And so I'm 816 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: encouraged by it, and and hopefully other people are. UM. 817 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,879 Speaker 1: I think that the ideas, good ideas win because they're 818 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,279 Speaker 1: good ideas and if you can and if you can 819 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:38,279 Speaker 1: share that information in the right way, then it wins. UM. 820 00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,640 Speaker 1: Right now, we kind of have this problem. Uh. We 821 00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,440 Speaker 1: don't need to dive into much, but you know, toxic uh, 822 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:46,120 Speaker 1: toxic stuff in the in the space where it's kind 823 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:48,080 Speaker 1: of like this cancel culture where it's like have fun 824 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,839 Speaker 1: stained poor kind of a thing, and it's like there 825 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,480 Speaker 1: could be a really good response that was given intelligently 826 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:56,160 Speaker 1: that could actually change that person's mind as opposed to 827 00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: kind of pushing them back and maybe digging their their 828 00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:02,600 Speaker 1: hills and even more. Yeah, I mean I agree with 829 00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,800 Speaker 1: what you say about truth prevailing. There's actually a Latin 830 00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:08,640 Speaker 1: phrase and trying to remember it's something like magnet es 831 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:13,320 Speaker 1: veritas it preval a bit, which means truth is the 832 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:16,960 Speaker 1: truth is great and it will prevail. And I agree 833 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:20,960 Speaker 1: with that because if you present people with the truth 834 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:23,640 Speaker 1: and you give them the reasons so that they can 835 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:28,759 Speaker 1: reason about its, reason about it themselves, it's almost inevitable. 836 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: Because when you when you talk to someone or when 837 00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:35,520 Speaker 1: you present a book to them, for instance, and they're 838 00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:39,520 Speaker 1: reading your book, you're rewiring their brain. They're they're processing 839 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:42,359 Speaker 1: the information that you present and if it makes sense 840 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,680 Speaker 1: and you provide the correct reasons, you are rewiring their 841 00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:49,480 Speaker 1: brain to recognize something as truth. Which is why I 842 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:52,040 Speaker 1: think we have an advantage when we present true ideas, 843 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 1: when we present them compelling lee and simply uh people, 844 00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:59,440 Speaker 1: people want to accept them and they see their importance. 845 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:03,520 Speaker 1: And that's in my experience uh talking about bitcoin with people, 846 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,040 Speaker 1: that when when these ideas are presented simply, people get 847 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:11,080 Speaker 1: really excited about them. Yeah awesome. Well we're gonna gohead 848 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:12,399 Speaker 1: and wrap it up with that. I know you gotta 849 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:15,200 Speaker 1: get going and I appreciate you sharing that. UM. We'll 850 00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:17,960 Speaker 1: make sure UM to link to I guess I don't 851 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:19,680 Speaker 1: know what we're linking to. Your books not available yet? 852 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,080 Speaker 1: But where should people follow? Twitter? I guess is probably 853 00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:24,640 Speaker 1: the best. Yeah, you get you follow follow me at Twitter. 854 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:26,560 Speaker 1: That's the best place. So I'll keep updating people on 855 00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:28,839 Speaker 1: Twitter about when the book will be in stores. I'm 856 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,439 Speaker 1: hoping it's within a month. My kickstarted campaign has ended, 857 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 1: and I want to get the books out to the 858 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:36,440 Speaker 1: people who supported me, and then I want to get 859 00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,560 Speaker 1: them out in stores so the wider population can get them. 860 00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:43,480 Speaker 1: But yet Twitter, I'm real underscore of VJ at Twitter. 861 00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:46,040 Speaker 1: Yeah awesome. All right, Well with that, we'll go ahead 862 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:48,640 Speaker 1: and sign out. Thanks so much for joining. Thanks man, 863 00:44:49,040 --> 00:54:06,360 Speaker 1: all right four assssssssssss