Yeah, well, Mark Zuckerberg turned the $1.5 trillion giant
Meta into the next MicroStrategy, while Meta
shareholders are now demanding that Facebook considers Bitcoin
on the balance sheet. But let's not forget 4 out of
the seven largest companies have been forced to consider Bitcoin
as a treasury reserve asset in the past 30 days alone.
No one could ignore Microstrategy's performance of
2024. Amazon is being asked by
shareholders to look into Bitcoin.
Tesla owns Bitcoin. A lot of people forget that
Microsoft was forced to sit through a 3 minute presentation
by the Chad Saylor himself, Michael Saylor, on the benefits
of adopting Bitcoin. And now we have a $1.5 trillion
company, Meta being forced to investigate Bitcoin as well.
Why are all these multi trillion dollar giants adopting Bitcoin?
Well, I mentioned it earlier. Does it have to do with the fact
that micro that MicroStrategy now has the 7th largest treasure
in the world? As you can see, we have a lot to
cover today guys. And we haven't even mentioned
Zuckerberg having a goat named Bitcoin and Facebook's 2019
attempt at creating their own cryptocurrency.
Of course you guys remember the Libra thing.
Anyways guys, it's going to be a packed show tons of used to
uncover. I just learned about
Zuckerberg's goat Bitcoin this morning.
Also, Nico, let's let's be clear here.
Let's be clear here. Technically he owns Bitcoin if
it's GOAT. If it's game Bitcoin, well also
also I I've been saying this for a while, it's two goats.
One is named Max and one is named goat or Bitcoin.
Sorry. So literally his two goats
combined is Bitcoin maxi. Like, I don't know.
I don't know. So we're tea leaf reading here.
But anyway, let's get into the story, Nico.
Yeah. All right.
We have lots to, we have lots to unpack, ladies and gentlemen.
So first let's let's go through it.
What are we talking about? Well, again, it seems like no
one could ignore Bitcoins incentives.
This is what we've been talking about for a very, very long time
now, guys. Look, these are public
companies. Public companies are beholden to
their shareholders. Shareholders are looking at what
MicroStrategy did in 2024, one of the best performing stocks,
and they're looking and they're saying like what the F?
Like I understand MicroStrategy, you know, we're Microsoft, like
we have more revenue, we're NVIDIA, we manufacture, you
know, these GPU's that AI uses and gamers use.
Like why is MicroStrategy stock outperforming us?
It doesn't make sense. And that works, you know,
initially, but over time that excuse doesn't work anymore.
So if micro strategy continues to do what we suspect it's going
to do because it's holding a ridiculous amount of Bitcoin,
it's stock should be continuing to head in an upwards
trajectory, right? So eventually something has to
give eventually, you know, the pressure is there eventually
it's an undeniable fact that having Bitcoin on your treasury
is advantageous to not having Bitcoin on your treasury.
So what are we talking about? Here's the headline.
Think tank urges Meta to embrace Bitcoin as a as a treasury
asset. And remember, same thing
happened with Microsoft, same thing happened with Amazon and
now again, another big tech company Meta.
And of course, little known fact that we we all know that Tesla
owns Bitcoin, but also SpaceX owns Bitcoin as well.
So as much as you know, we're not big fans of Elon.
I'm talking about Opti. You know he does.
They do have exposure to Bitcoin.
Anyways. A key think tank wants Meta to
invest part of its $72 billion reserves in Bitcoin.
Bitcoins 124% surge in 2024 is seen as proof it outperforms
traditional assets. Microsoft and Amazon previously
rejected similar proposals due to volatility concerns.
Microstrategy's success with Bitcoin is being used as an
example for Meta. So it's one of the things I was
talking about earlier. So here are the facts.
A conservative think tank is calling on Meta to jump on the
Bitcoin bandwagon. The National Center for Public
Policy Research is urging the company to put part of its $72
billion cash reserves into Bitcoin, arguing it could hedge
against inflation and boost shareholder value.
I mean, think about holding $72 billion in cash and that cash is
just melting away. Like, it would be brutal.
It would be, it would be, it would be bad.
The NCPPR says Bitcoins 124% rise in 2024 makes it a better
option than traditional investments like bonds.
Quote Meta. Shareholders deserve a smarter
asset allocation, the group said in its pitch.
Pitch. Microsoft and Amazon already
said no. The think tank has tried this
before. Last month, it asked Microsoft
to consider Bitcoin, but the company's board shut it down.
Sightings, Bitcoin's price swings.
But we got that sweet video from Sailor.
He absolutely crushed it in three minute, in 3 minutes and
basically said if you don't get adopt it, if you don't adopt
Bitcoin, you're going to get left behind.
I think he's actually, he's going to be absolutely prophetic
in that statement a decade from now.
Anyways, it goes on to say Amazon got a similar proposal
asking the company to put 5% of its balance sheet into Bitcoin.
So far the idea hasn't gained much traction and it's unclear
if it ever if it will even make it to Amazon shareholder meeting
in May. What about meta?
Meta hasn't made big moves in crypto since it's dropped its DM
stablecoin project a while back. While the NCP PPR wants Meta to
take a chance on Bitcoin, it's not clear if the company will be
interested given it's cautious history.
The think tank points to MicroStrategy as a model.
The company has heavily invested in Bitcoin and it's stock has
outperformed giants like Microsoft and Amazon.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor calls this the Bitcoin
renaissance and has been pushing other companies to get on board.
The bigger picture, whether Meta takes the leap or not, Bitcoins
role in corporate finance is clearly growing.
The fact that these conversations are even happening
shows how far Bitcoin has become and how much further it might
go. I think another thing that will
play a huge role and potentially some of these companies adopting
Bitcoin is the recent election of Donald Trump.
You've seen this complete 180 from the likes of Jeff Bezos.
We're going to play you guys a clip of Mark Zuckerberg on the
Joe Rogan podcast. And it's like all of a sudden
he's like pro freedom and like anti censorship.
Like what's going on there? I don't think it has anything to
do with Zuckerberg fundamentally changing his like his opinion or
his heart. I think it has to do with the
fact that the orange man got elected and now it's
inconvenient to be against censorship.
It's inconvenient to be against freedom.
So, you know, again, like sometimes times things just
happen out of convenience. And you know, if the United
States is bullish on this strategic Bitcoin reserve and
they release an executive order on this strategic Bitcoin
reserve, I mean, there you go. It's pretty convenient for these
big companies to be like, you know what, maybe 5% of our Fiat
treasury isn't such a bad idea, right?
Anyways, here's the clip and then I'll bring opt in.
It's all in the public domain. I mean, basically, these people
from the Biden administration would call up our team and like
scream at them and curse. And it's like these documents
are, it's all kind of out there. Did you record any of those
phone calls? I don't know.
I don't think, I don't think we, but, but I think I want to
listen. I mean, there are emails, the
emails are published. It's all, it's all kind of out
there. And and they're like, and
basically it just got to this point where we were like, no,
we're not going to, we're not going to take down things that
are true. That's ridiculous.
They want us to take down this meme of Leonardo DiCaprio
looking at ATV talking about how 10 years from now or something,
you know, you're going to see an ad that says, OK, if you took a
COVID vaccine, you're eligible, you know, like for, for this
kind of payment, like sort of like class action lawsuit type
meme. And they're like, no, you have
to take that down. We said, no, we're not going to
take take down humor and satire. We're not going to take down
things that are that are true. And then at some point, I guess,
I don't know, flipped a bit. I mean, Biden when he was he
gave some statement at some point, I don't know if it's a
press conference or to some journalists where he basically
was like, these guys are killing people.
And, and, and I don't know, then like all these different
agencies and branches of government basically just like
started investigating coming after our company.
It was. It was brutal.
I mean, bro, brah, brah, you know, it sounds very similar to
what they did to Bitcoin in the Bitcoin industry, right?
This like government is getting in and you know, again, like we,
you guys know how we feel about the whole censorship thing,
about the whole freedom of speech thing.
We feel very passionate about it.
Freedom of speech is the front line for for Bitcoin.
But I would say that I would say that they use the same tactics
to go after the Bitcoin industry.
Like the government reached out to specific actors, specific
banks, and basically told them like, hey, you got to debank the
industry. Crypto isn't good.
And in a way, you can make an argument they arrested some of
the actors that worked in the industry.
It seems like this whole thing about stamping free speech and
stamping alternatives like that was like a a common theme here.
So I guess maybe I'm connecting the dots that aren't there.
But if this trend continues, again, if the US government is
very friendly towards Bitcoin, it kind of creates this
incentive for these companies to look at Bitcoin and say, you
know what, we now know that it's not going to get attacked on a
regulatory, from a regulatory perspective, you know, maybe
it's a good idea to buy some just in case it catches on.
And I'm telling you, it's inevitable that these are
companies, these companies adopt Bitcoin or buy Bitcoin.
It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.
And I don't know, the whole El Salvador thing happened a lot
faster than I anticipated, Opti. So all bets are up here.
Remember when we were like, we were reporting this in 2024, in
the beginning of 2024, bro. And I never forget, like me and
you were talking, we're like, dude, this thing is going to get
political. This is going to enter the the
political discussion by 2028. This is an inevitability.
Like it's just going to happen next cycle.
And then everything happens so fast, Opti And I thought we were
going to go to prison because we weren't going company.
Then we thought we were going to have to move to El Salvador, and
then, you know, boom, it entered into the mainstream discourse
and then boom, Orange man wins the election and now potentially
a strategic Bitcoin reserve. So what I'm trying to make the
argument for is that a lot of things happened very, very
quickly in 2024, and very similar things had happened in
2025 in a very short period of time.
Opti, what's your take? Yeah, well, you know, besides
the fact that Zuck had a great glow up and he does look like
more human here. I'm not really buying this
rebrand at all. I I do like that this
conversation is happening. We've seen a lot of people go up
on Joe Rogan. Actually, there was a funny meme
of essentially that like going on Joe Rogan is, is the new form
of absolution where the people come up, you know, they talk
about their mistakes, they talk about their, their bad history.
And since they're talking with Joe, the, the new Pope of
podcast is they're, you know, they're free of their previous
sins. Now, maybe this is kind of
what's happening. Look, I do hold some space for
redemption. I, I do believe in redemption
and I do believe in people kind of having, for lack of better
terms, epiphany and changing their views, their world views,
because Bitcoin's done that for me.
And now I'm not saying necessarily that this is what
Zuckerberg is doing. I, I, again, like I said, I'm
not completely sold on Mark Zuckerberg's rebrand here.
I think he is literally doing that a rebrand because he sees
the writing on the wall. Remember, you know, Facebook is
a bigger social media platform than Twitter.
So he sees where the wind is going, you know, sees the tide
turning. And so he's trying to get ahead
of this. Now, like a lot of people, maybe
just it's very cynical is on Twitter saying that like, if,
if, if Trump didn't win, I don't think that any of these tech
oligarchs from social media or Silicon Valley, specifically
Zuck himself would even come out and mention this stuff.
Obviously, it would be a totally different administration.
It wouldn't be the the favorable soil to come out and talk about
this this. So it does seem a little
coincidental, you know, for lack of better terms here.
It seems like maybe for me, maybe I'm being cynical and and
a bit pessimistic here seems a little too little too late at
this point considering all of the damage that's been done
since, you know, the infamous year of 2020.
And it is very interesting that this is happening now.
That's just like my Zuck rebrand take here.
You know, I'm not really buying it.
And we're seeing that a lot of tech people from Silicon Valley,
little tech, et cetera, are kind of coming out and doing a very
similar dance. We're like, oh, I've had this
great epiphany. Now I've realized the error of
my ways. And it just seems like, you
know, a little too coincidental for me.
So I'm personally not necessarily buying Zuck's full
rebrand. Like he's based, you know,
obviously he's doing jiu jitsu, he's taking TRT.
And I did kind of troll, like maybe maybe mandated TRT is the
way that we really make America great again.
But it is, it is funny seeing Bezos kind of run out and
something similar. He gets jacked, you know, his,
his, his personal views, his world views change a little bit.
So again, I am leaving some redemption out here for, for
people like Zuck, even though I would say that he did a lot of
damage in the last four years. And now again, maybe he is
having epiphany and maybe I'm being cynical here now moving
forward from the Zuck rebrand. Obviously when you look at the
data, considering what we saw in 2024, considering what we saw
Micro strategy do, what we saw Metaplanet do, they are the best
performing stocks basically in the stock market.
All they really did was add Bitcoin to their balance sheet.
Now I love seeing the fact that Meta shareholders are basically
kind of forcing Meta to even have these conversations.
We saw this happen with Micro Microsoft and obviously we all
know what happened with the Microsoft vote.
They they voted it down. I think it, I forget what it
was, but it was like something ridiculous like .01% of the
voters or something, some tiny, you know, a very, very minuscule
amount of the shareholders voted in favor of a Bitcoin strategy.
And now we're seeing that this is being forced on Meta.
And so obviously on the Bitcoin front, it would be huge news if
Meta adopted a Bitcoin strategy, considering their long history
of trying to do the Libra token, you know, create their own
digital currency, etcetera. So I think that would be huge
news and not not necessarily just for us in, you know, number
go up sense, but for legitimizing Bitcoin to the
masses. And of course, a lot of
Bitcoiners are cynical on that front, like, oh, we don't need
these people. Bitcoin's going to do it saying
I, I totally agree. But if people, average people
start to hear that, oh wait, Meadows adding Bitcoin to their
balance sheet, maybe I should do this.
They have been a tech forward company and maybe this is where
the future is going. So if they do actually propose
this, I think that would be huge and it would really go into the
narrative we've been talking about for 2025 that we think is
going to happen, which is we are going to see these huge tech
companies, whether it's Apple, Facebook, Amazon, etcetera,
start to start to dabble into Bitcoin.
So even if it's an insignificant portion of the reserves going
into Bitcoin, that would be a huge news story.
And so it is very interesting when you kind of connect all
these dots, like, you know, Zuck's going more based, he's
listening to the people, you know, he's doing jiu jitsu, he's
got a fresh haircut, he's wearing a chain.
His goats are named Bitcoin and Max, like Bitcoin Maxi.
I would speculate that he owns some Bitcoin now.
It would be huge if he did add Bitcoin to the balance sheet,
considering that they have dabbled in and you know, quote
UN quote digital currencies in the past.
So it is something to keep an eye on.
We'll see if they actually do do a vote on this, and it would be
huge if they do pass it. Optia, do we become meta fans?
No, I I still don't have a Facebook are.
We like. I did my Facebook years ago.
I don't have it. I don't want to get on there.
But you know, they're the digital trenches.
Maybe some of us should go back to Facebook.
Maybe it's a safer? Place for us Bitcoin is what
what would happen. You know I'm a super fan of of
of course, YouTube and you know obviously, but rumble as well
you know did did you have to look over your shoulder?
No, I, I heard, I heard, I heard, I heard my name and I'm
like who said that? But it wasn't directed towards
me. But the point I'm trying to make
is like the Rumble news is, is, is massive.
Like that partnership with Tether is huge.
Like the the CEO of Rumble was talking about like potentially,
you know, integrating Bitcoin payments into the platform like
that, that's massive, that's huge.
So again, like, I think this trend is going to continue.
And if you don't believe me because it's never happened
before, and I get it because when something's never happened
before, it's like very difficult to like, you know, compare in
your head what you can compare it to.
But remember what happened with El Salvador when they made
Bitcoin legal tender? Remember what happened with
Michael Saylor at the Bitcoin conference at Bitcoin 2021?
Remember what happened with the Treasury adoption?
What remember what happened with the nation state adoption?
Remember what happened with all these things?
Like it just happened so quickly.
It just happened all of a sudden out of nowhere.
Like we went from Oh my God, we have to move to El Salvador to
Trump literally dropping Bitcoin by name at Bitcoin at, at at the
Libertarian conference. I'm going to free Ross like with
his hands, you know, like it happened super, super quick,
right? So that's all I'm saying is like
in this industry and because of this asset, because it's the
best asset in the world, things happen very, very quickly.
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So again, terrible, terrible news coming out of Los Angeles.
You know, again, very highly urban area, lots of people, you
know, lots of people there. You know, I actually have a
friend who, you know, he lost his house during the fire and
it's absolutely tragic. But the reason I'm bringing all
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this for this to happen, right? So things happen, you know,
catastrophes happen and it's very sad.
It's very terrible. And again, Bitcoin is self
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All right. At the time of recording, the
Bitcoin price is $91,830. Block height 879,098 sats per
dollar. 1089 market cap 1.82 trillion Bitcoin versus gold
market cap 9.82% Percentage issued 94.33% Decline from all
time high -15.3% Realized monetary inflation 1.08%.
I mean that decline from all time high.
Ouch bro Ouch. That's what I got to say about
that. Anyways, here is here is Natalie
Burnell talking to Mads Michael Saylor.
They did a great podcast recently.
They're at Sailor's House and here's Sailor essentially
explaining to Natalie how Bitcoin is demonetizing real
estate. Now, the reason I believe is a a
big topic, especially if you are part of the younger generation,
you know, whether you're a millennial or a zoomer, right?
You know, the, the housing situation is quite interesting,
right? It's very, very expensive.
Most people are renting, but you know, it's, it's like, it's
like, will I ever own anything? Right?
Like that's kind of like the situation.
Then you have to ask yourself, why did that happen?
Well, that's one of the things that Fiat broke.
Anyways. Here is Michael Seeler talking
about the topic and then me and Opti will talk about it.
I know wealthy people. They own 16 estates on the
Eastern Shore and they live in two of them.
Like why do they buy them? They land banking.
What does that mean? Well, the guy makes a lot of
money every year and he and he doesn't want to put it in a
savings account. So he goes and he just buys a
cool piece of property and he buys another one.
Well, OK, it sounds good, but here's the problem.
The guy buys up the beautiful pieces of property and you so
you can't afford it. And if the guy, if the rich guy
wasn't buying up all the beautiful houses, they would
cost half as much and you could live in a beautiful house.
So here's what happens. Some rich dude has 27 houses
that are empty. You don't have a beautiful
house. You have a family, your kids,
your dog could use the beautiful house.
The rich dude doesn't even want the house.
He just wants a long term capital preservation strategy,
right? And so that's a prefer, a
perverse incentive and a distorted economy that's broken,
that's broken money. That's because the rich dude is
using an estate on the Eastern Shore of Maryland as a Piggy
Bank, Huh. But the estate doesn't get
renovated. The house is falling down.
There's a beautiful pool on the water, and you could have a
great family picnic there every Sunday.
But it's not going to happen because the rich dude has 16
other houses. He just bought that house
because he thought it was so I mean like Opti, like I think
this is something that our entire generation has lived
through. We've experienced it and you
know, it's it's quite unfortunate man, Like how
essentially because you're essentially too forced to become
a part time investor just to maintain your purchasing power
in the Fiat system. It's like over financialized
real estate, right? Like I think Sailor hit the nail
on the head there. He's like explaining, he's like,
This is why you can't afford anything Because like, if you
have wealth, you're looking at real estate as a way to maintain
your purchasing power. Where in reality, if the money
was was working, if the money was fixed, you wouldn't look at
real estate as an investment. In fact, real estate would be a
bad investment because you have to pay property taxes.
You have to maintain the property, right?
Like there's a sunk cost there, right?
Withholding Bitcoin in cold storage and doing it for a long
period of time, you don't have to pay maintenance your cold
storage Bitcoin. You don't have to pay, at least
not yet, property tax on your cold storage.
I'm sure they'll try to pass some type of law in the future
regarding that, but at least not yet.
That's not the case. So, you know, it's clearly a
better investment. I think the last five years has
shown that. Opti, what's your take?
Yeah, well, I really like how Saylor talks about this.
Obviously, I'm sure his friends are a lot richer than our
friends out here. So, you know, our friends aren't
buying multiple really nice houses in real estate to
preserve their capital. But it is a a current theme
going on for a lot of people. And I think many people
understand this. And obviously on the flip side,
many people don't understand this.
And so it's good that we continue to stress this point,
as a lot of Bitcoiners say all the time on and on Twitter or
even on the show in general, everything is trending to zero
against Bitcoin. And right now, if if you
understand how the Fiat system works, if you understand how to
preserve your capital, then obviously you save your wealth
in the majority of assets. This is why the rich keep
getting rich is because all of their wealth are in assets.
And as they print more money, that means their net worth is
going up. And so we're seeing right now
there is this very real trend right now that a lot of houses,
a lot of real estate are being bought up simply to preserve
capital. I know there's, there's been
memes going around on Twitter about some of the, you know,
the, the most expensive places, like even in Manhattan,
etcetera. And they're just, they're just
sitting there and no one's living in them because people
are using them to preserve the capital.
Well, now we have something better, at least I would argue
it's better. Obviously I don't have, you
know, 3, multiple different houses and, and different
jurisdictions on the beach, etcetera, in the mountains and
all that good stuff. But you're seeing that this is
the game that's being played. And if you don't have the
capital to preserve your capital in houses, etcetera, or yachts
or nice cars or whatever status symbol you want to use, you are
being left out of the game. And this is obviously having a
detrimental effect on the middle class.
Most people are striving to get a house.
I've I've kind of relegated myself to the idea that I might
not ever own a house. And you know, I'm going to own
nothing and be happy apparently. But This is why I think Bitcoin
is going to help all of us, especially the middle class.
And shout out to brand. We had him on the other day and
he was talking about Bitcoin for millennials.
And I really find hilarious that a lot of millennials people our
age are very against Bitcoin. You know, obviously they they
bit into the propaganda against Bitcoin or the FUD.
And it's really our last hope. Like this is the only hope we
have to actually acquire the for us in America, you know, the
American dream, the white pig at home, you know, build a family,
etcetera. And so many people right now are
hurting and it, it really is crazy to see what the effects of
Fiat money are on your psychology.
And if you never have the hope of owning a house, if you can't
pay for building a family, this stuff has a psychological effect
on humanity. And we're seeing these effects
play out in real time. And a lot of people are
nihilistic and pessimistic and not hopeful about the future.
And all of us Bitcoiners are like, well, there is a fix here.
The real estate is going to get demonetized.
And maybe it's not in the next year or five years, maybe it's
the next decade or two. But it is happening in real
time. And we're seeing it happen in
real time. And if you price your life in
Bitcoin, houses do become more affordable.
The meme of like, I forget what the numbers are specifically,
but the meme of that goes around all the time.
You know, houses used to cost 45 Bitcoin, now they cost 6
Bitcoin. And I'm venturing in maybe four
to five years, it's going to be one or two Bitcoin, who knows,
maybe 3 Bitcoin, I don't know. I don't know what it is.
But we all know that this is a game, or rather anyone that
understands how the Fiat system works understand that this is
the game. You cannot hold dollars, hence
the sailor meme of melting ice cubes.
If you are saving in dollars or cash equivalents, you are losing
purchasing power year over year. And so you need to go into hard
assets. Historically that would have
been real estate or gold or, you know, super yachts or whatever
you can buy. But for most of us, it's
Bitcoin. You can buy, you know, as little
as one penny into Bitcoin. Obviously, you need to buy as
much Bitcoin as possible to eventually get yourself into a
position where you can buy yourself some real estate or you
know, for the family, etcetera. But we have a fix.
There is a solution. People understand what the
problem is, and it's the fact that they're expanding the money
supply which is making us all poorer, which means you need to
hold assets and the most available hard asset for
everyone out there is Bitcoin. So hey, if you aren't saving in
Bitcoin, you might want to get some because it looks like
Bitcoin is demonetizing everything.
All roads lead to Bitcoin and everything is going to zero
against Bitcoin. Amen.
Beautifully, beautifully said. And I would just just a comment
about the, the, the, the house thing, right?
I mean, again, like for my generation, I think it's been me
and Opti's generation, the millennial generation and the
zoomer generation. Like it's, it's just crazy.
Like it's nuts, right? Like we're the 1st generation
that I would say we feel poorer than our parents.
And again, it's not because the system is broken or markets are
broken or because we need more government intervention or any
of that. It's literally because the money
is broken. The money is like it's, it's
forcing people to it, it, it's just messing everything up,
right? Whether it's the food Sailor
just explained exactly why housing prices are are as high
as they are because you don't have a choice, right?
Like if you had a choice between parking your, you know, excess
wealth in Bitcoin versus parking your excess wealth in something
else, I would say the vast majority of people over time are
going to park their excess wealth in Bitcoin.
And then of course, that's going to demonetize Bitcoin over time.
And then that kind of fixes the whole housing situation.
Like that's why housing is, you know, I would say, so
unaffordable. It's not because like
technically the world has gotten richer in the last 20 or 30
years, but no ones really seen that, right?
So again, it's, it's Fiat money. It's it, it messes up all the
ways that you can analyze the numbers.
It, it just, it kind of messes everything up, right?
So anyways, fix the money, fix the world is not an exaggerated
statement and you know, saving Bitcoin and look with the
awesome part too is me and Opti are millennials, right?
Like bitcoins giving us hope, like we actually have hope for
the future. Like the meme that was coming
out of the World Economic Forum, like that thing was so true.
Like, you know, nothing. They really, really meant that.
Like they truly meant that, right?
And my counter is own Bitcoin and be happy, right?
That sounds much better than own nothing and be happy.
But then who owns everything if no one owns nothing, right?
That's a good question. Yeah.
That's the question no ones asked.
Well, who owns all the stuff that we're renting?
Who owns everything, right? If we don't own it, then who
owns it? Anyways, guys, we're about to
break 100 likes. So if you guys are enjoying the
show so far, we're at 1500 live viewers between YouTube Rumble
and X Make sure to smash that like button.
Really, really helps with the algos.
Guys, we have tons to talk about.
So much news on today's show. Tether apparently is relocating
to El Salvador. We'll talk about that and also
Ron Paul bombshell article dropped any the name of the
article is it's time to call inflation by its real name
theft. I mean, excuse me, that's
something that Bitcoiners, I've been saying for quite a while
now, we're going to keep hammering that point on What's
wrong with society these days is isn't more government.
It isn't red, it isn't blue, it isn't left.
It isn't right, isn't liberal, it isn't conservative.
It's the broken money. You fix the money, you fix a lot
of these problems. People are able to achieve their
hopes, their desires, prosperity.
And again, it's not a, a 24 hour fix.
It takes time huddling, you know, you got to earn your
stripes. This is a this is a long term
process, but at least it gives you a shot.
At least it gives you the opportunity to save up for the
future, unlike, you know, Fiat currency.
All right, everybody, let's get to the news.
We have tons to talk about. Let's check it out.
Here we go. I want to give a very special
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simply head over to passport today all right everybody Tether
license in El Salvador strengthening focus on emerging
markets and innovation Tether and its subsidiaries are about
to complete all formalities to relocate to El Salvador
following the successful acquisition of a digital asset
service provider license and as a stable coin issuer, marking a
step in tether's journey to foster global Bitcoin adoption.
This strengthens tether's position in one of of the
world's most forward thinking markets and fosters the
development and implementation of cutting edge solutions more
efficiently in a dynamic environment where innovation
thrives. It underscores the company's
dedication to leveraging bitcoins transformative
potential as it drives growth in emerging markets.
All right, here is so some comments here, right?
So us Bitcoiners had a theory a couple years ago as it relates
to emerging markets. Our theory was that in emerging
markets there was going to be rampant Bitcoin adoption because
the local Fiat currency was such poo poo.
What happened instead was you saw massive adoption of stable
coins, specifically Tether, right?
So. And a lot of Bitcoiners feel a
certain way about it. And in a way, they they're
right, because Tether is inherently centralized.
If something is inherently centralized, it can and.
Will. Be inevitably Co opted it's
inevitable right the government's going to put
pressure it starts to censor like This is why this bitcoins
decentralization is so key. However, the argument that I've
made and the argument that Samsung Mao has made as well is
what's what Tether is, is a Trojan horse.
It's a stepping stone to if you are in a, in, in a developing
market, developing world and you don't have the privilege that we
have in the West where the, the, the, the Fiat currencies
inflation rate is somewhat stable.
It's, or let me just put it this way, the inflation rate isn't
big enough for you to realize you're being stolen from on a
daily basis. So the incentive to seek an
alternative isn't quite there yet.
It's not there. You don't really have it.
You're like, OK, you know, 2% a year, you don't really notice
it, right? Of course, Bitcoiners are like,
dude, 2%, it compounds. It's theft, like absolutely
right. And if you save in Bitcoin,
like, you know, you're not even going to get dinged by the whole
inflation argument. However, what I will say is if
you're dealing with 1015 twenty 30% inflation and all of a
sudden you have the opportunity to use dollars, you're going to
use dollars. And the reason it's so
significant is because it gives people exposure to a digital
wallet. And that's massive because and
all of a sudden their account isn't with the bank.
Their account is a wallet they just downloaded from an App
Store and they can now send and receive money from anywhere
around the world. It's a game changer.
And The thing is, once they adopt dollars, all roads lead to
Bitcoin because it's just going to be a couple of years until
they realize, you know what, like I understand what they mean
now, this two 3% inflation thing is a scam.
And then they're going to adopt Bitcoin.
But their situation was so bad initially that for them, like
dollars is, is the salvation, right?
That's that's what at least the data's showing what why I
believe stable coins have been so, so widely adopted.
So I think it's a very positive that they're moving to El
Salvador. Of course, El Salvador is
Bitcoin country. And I also really big fan of
Tethers recent investment in Rumble and Rumble's a free
speech platform. All of this is interconnected by
the way. So, you know, I think this is a
net positive for the industry. I know Opti, you know, has
different feelings, but that's my take on it.
And then we'll get to the Ron Paul quote.
I mean the Ron Paul article. Yeah, yeah.
Well, I'm not going to go on a, you know, tethered tirade right
now. So that's for another show.
I think this is huge for El Salvador.
Really this is huge news story coming out of El Salvador.
And also when you couple that not only did tether invest a
significant portion of capital into Rumble, but Rumble also
announced over the weekend. I forget when exactly whether it
was Thursday or Friday at some point, but some point at the end
of last week or maybe it was over the weekend.
I forget I'm I'm losing my my times.
You know, it's all it's all block time.
It's all one time here at simply Bitcoin.
But they also announced that they're doing a rumble AI cloud
service data center project in El Salvador.
So this is absolutely huge for El Salvador.
And it really goes to what we've been staying here for a long
time in terms of Bitcoin is where capital is treated best,
where a country has favorable regulations.
You know, businesses and entrepreneurs will go to that
country. And it's looking like Buckele is
setting up El Salvador to really, you know, leapfrog a lot
of countries and, and really be freedom country of the world.
You know, Rumble, I, we love Rumble.
They're they're a freedom of speech platform.
And you know, even with my, you know, more pessimistic take on
tether, I think this is huge. And it really goes to show what
we've been talking about. And maybe Nika, this is the
portion where we bring up the sovereign individual again,
because it's a, it's a perfectly, perfectly fitting
quote here, But where capitals treated best, that's where
entrepreneurs and businesses will flow.
And El Salvador set themselves up to really be the freedom
country of the world. And I think this is huge for not
only innovation coming out of El Salvador, but, and I, I hate to
use the like trickle down economy meme here, but obviously
with more businesses coming into El Salvador, more freedom minded
entrepreneurs coming to El Salvador, I think that's going
to be huge for the country. And we're seeing that, Hey, El
Salvador is really starting to look like a favorable place for
businesses. And maybe like, you know, states
like Delaware, etcetera are going to have a run for their
money for companies incorporating in El Salvador
versus other jurisdictions. And hopefully maybe, you know,
we'll see in a week, basically once Trump's does take office,
we'll see if the US is able to kind of stop the flow of capital
and businesses going to the US. If we get a favorable
jurisdiction, then the game theory is really starting to
play out. And I think this is a very
interesting development. This is huge for El Salvador,
not only just the tether news, but the rumble news as well.
And so, yeah, I think this is great.
Like shouts out to Bukele. I would really love to see a
leader like that in the US and. We can still.
Stay hopeful. But yeah, this is huge for El
Salvador. I would say coupled with the
rumble news like this is big. This is big news for for freedom
country. Obviously Buckele announcing and
adopting Bitcoin is what kind of set the stage for all of this
stuff. Now, with all that being said, I
do have to drop a cynical meme here, Nico.
You know, Buckele signed that IMF loan with the specifications
of dropping the Chiva wallet. Well now I guess tethers filling
that hole. I think, I think like to be
fair, like I think like there's something there, there's
something that people I think have to understand, right?
Which is the world isn't black and white, it's full of grace,
right? And I think we have to really
kind of adopt free market principles to our thinking,
right? Because at the end of the day,
like, you know, we're Bitcoiners and we have to, we have to think
about it, right? If we're not acknowledging the
fact that Tether adoption is trumping Bitcoin adoption in
developing countries, like you're not taking market data
and applying it to your analysis and your theories, right?
And then you have to ask yourself, why is that phenomenon
happening, right? Well, it's because again, it's
an education problem and it's a, it's a volatility thing.
But I think Bitcoin's volatility over the long term is going to
decrease. And because Bitcoin's a superior
money, all roads lead to Bitcoin.
But the reason that that tether is such a strong Trojan horse is
because it exposes people to non sovereign alternatives and it
exposes people to essentially sending and receiving digital
assets on their phone right now. All that being said, is Tether
an alternative to Bitcoin? No Why?
Because it's not decentralized and secure.
If it's not decentralized and secure, it will inevitably be Co
opted and the rules will be changed.
It's inevitable. It's an inevitability.
So it's not a replacement. But you can't deny what the
market conditions are and you also can't deny the fact that
Tether has made some very positive investments, obviously
towards El Salvador, but obviously towards Rumble.
Rumble's a free speech platform. And I mean, you heard it in the
press release itself. It's literally talking about not
Tether adoption. It's literally talking about
Bitcoin adoption, right? So again, you know, it's not so
black and white. There's Grays to different
things and you have to paint out the entire picture to really
find out what the truth is. Now, is this good?
Is this work? In an ideal world, me and Opti
would just be like, you know what, if you're in Zambia, the
whole country is just on a Bitcoin standard tomorrow, bro.
That's that's what Bitcoiners have dreamed, but that's not
what the reality is. Lightning's come a really long
way. It's it's it's it's amazing.
Is there adopt? Is there Bitcoin adoption in
developing worlds? Absolutely.
But you also can't discredit the stable coin adoption in in
developing world. And I think I'm making the case
here that that is a positive for Bitcoin in the long term.
All right, everybody, before we move on to the culture, I do
want to get to this Ron Paul article because again, like this
is something that simply is, I mean, Ron Paul started the meme,
OK? He started the meme.
So we cannot take credit for this.
All right, Ron Paul, the legend did this.
But at the same time, I mean, saying the same thing.
The headline is it's time to call inflation by it's real name
theft. Inflation isn't a scary word.
I mean, inflation isn't a scary word, is it?
It makes you think of blowing up balloons for birthday parties,
the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, maybe helping a toddler get
their water wings on before an adventure in the swimming pool.
It sounds so inoculate. Or what was that Opti?
Inoculus. Innoculus, right?
Interesting. Innocuous.
OK, there we go.
Even so, in an economic sense, inflation is the deadliest
danger we face today. Recently, it's been all over the
news, so I'm sure you're aware of it.
Even if you don't watch the news, you've seen your trips to
the grocery store become noticeably more expensive over
the last year. Today I'd like to share with you
an important way to view the monetary phenomenon called
inflation and help you understand exactly how it's
stealing your future. Goes on to say I'm going to
quote myself myself here. Stable money is a cornerstone of
civilization. This man was before his effing
time. It's incredible, dude.
Let me say in order to plan for the future, you must know what
your money will buy in the future.
In order for businesses to decide whether to, say, make a
big investment in constructing a new factory, they have to
forecast forecast upfront expenses and future profits.
In order to simply make make a transaction, you have to know
the value of your money won't radically change while you're
handing handing it over. Without stable money, households
can't plan for the future. Businesses can't expand.
Buyers and sellers lacked in the the necessary trust to simply
complete a transaction now. Throughout most of American
history, stable money meant physical gold and or silver
coins and when paper was traded, that paper was a claim on either
gold or silver. You could walk up to a bank and
present your paper and demand cold hard cash and they have to
hand it over. Now this is a great way to
deliver money with stable purchasing power over time.
Now this is fantastic for households and businesses.
Can you guess who it's terrible for?
Governments. The entire continent of Europe
effectively abandoned the gold standard during World War One.
This is why Bitcoiners say Fiat fuels endless wars.
You can continue paying for the war if you can continue printing
money. That's a lot easier than saying,
hey, guys, we want to fight a war.
You guys are going to have to fight in it.
We're U.S. politicians like, Nah, we're OK and our children
are OK. But you peasants, you have to
fight our war. And by the way, we're going to
tax you and your taxes are what's going to fund the war.
People would not do it. They would just say, you know
what, F that guy, let's vote him out.
But the way they get away with it is the effing money printer
because people don't realize that inflation is a taxation.
Anyways, it goes on to say then again during World War 2 so they
could print money to finance their armies. the US eventually
followed suit in 1972 when President Nixon told Americans
their money was no longer exchangeable for gold or silver.
In other words, the US went to a Fiat currency system.
In other words, a dollar has value because the government
said so. This reminds me of something
President Herbert Hoover once told FDR. We have gold because
we cannot trust governments. When gold was money, it was easy
to know how much a government could spend.
All you had to do was add up the dollars in circulation and
compare it to the government's gold reserve.
That's it. Simple math.
Once we left the gold standard and entered the age of quote,
it's money because I said so, we also entered the age of
unconstrained government spending.
Does that sound harsh? Let me show you a chart
comparing the US debt today. I think the charts kind of
messed up on this page, but anyways, it goes on to say since
the end of the gold standard, the US national debt has
increased almost 70 fold. Meanwhile, the purchasing power
of each individual dollar is about 1/7 of what it was in
1972. That's because every time the
government prints new money, it doesn't make wealth.
Only hard work creates wealth. Every single new dollar that
rolls off the printing press reduces the value of every
dollar in the world. Theft is not too strong a word.
Imagine the government pass an executive order overnight that
confiscated 8.5% of your money in the bank and your retirement
account in your wallet. What would you do?
How would you feel? I'm pretty sure I know exactly
how you feel like you've been robbed.
You feel like the power the people in power have decided to
abuse that power. You'd be angry.
You might engage in acts of civil disobedience, perhaps even
civil, uncivil disobedience. Whatever you did, you do
something. Such an astonishing overreach of
government power, such an incredible abuse of personal
property. It's not something any red
blooded American would take lying down.
We'd figure out a way to put a stop to it.
Now, what if exactly the same thing happened, but without
changing the balance in your bank account?
Would you even notice? The truth is, most people watch
their balance more closely than they watch the value of their
money. If the balance goes down, it's
easy to see if the value of your dollars if you're purchasing
power decreases. You're unlikely to notice right
away. Now here's what I want you to
understand. This is exactly what the Federal
Reserve has done. They have robbed you of the
value of your money, even if they didn't affect the balance
of your money. It might not be polite to say,
but I firmly believed theft is not too strong a word to
describe the effects of inflation on you and your
family. I firmly believe that inflation,
the ongoing destruction of your hard earned savings, is the
greatest economic threat we face today.
Lawrence Lappard. I did an episode with him, you
guys loved it. Got 56,000 views on YouTube.
He just wrote an entire book about this.
The single greatest threat to you and your family.
The future of America, the future of the world, is
inflation. It is broken money.
It is affecting every facet of society, whether that's housing
crisis, migration crisis, like you name it, broken money is
underneath. Go to the website What the F
happened in 1971? And you can't look at me
straight in the eye and tell me Nico, all of those things are
coincidences now. What makes Simply Bitcoin
different than all the liberal commentators or conservative
commentators which are just doom and gloom errs?
What makes our show different is that we are, we are providing
you not only a way out, we're providing you hope.
Because you don't need to wait for Trump to get inaugurated in
seven days. You don't need to if you don't
live in the United States. If you live in Canada, you don't
need to wait for Trudeau to step down.
If you live somewhere else, you don't need to wait for a
politician. You can adopt Bitcoin now and
save yourself from the theft that is inflation.
And I promise you as me and Opti, you could, you could talk
to me and Opti, you could hear my story.
You can hear Opti's story. I've, I've been doing this for
nine years. I've heard thousands of stories.
You adopt A Bitcoin standard, your work and your energy will
actually be valued. And the what you've been able to
manage to save and what you've been able to manage to work for
will actually extend into the future and will actually buy you
the life that you worked for. And the reason that like you
feel like you can't get ahead if you're new to Bitcoin is because
not only do you have to pay income tax, property tax, sales
tax, all the taxes, you also have to pay money tax.
And none of us have agreed to that taxation.
It is not in law. And that's why politicians, when
they talk about it, they gas like the public.
They say it was Putin. They say it's the war.
They say it's grocery, They say it's consumers.
Consumers are spending too much. They say it's a workers.
Workers are asking for increasing wages and all that
stuff. No, no, no, no, no.
They are solely. I'm going to say this one time.
The government is the sole cause of monetary debasement and
inflation. Nobody else is.
Why? Because the government is the
only one that could print and issue money.
If you do it, you go to jail. They're the only ones that have
the ability to do so. And every time they do it, what
they're doing is they're debasing the currency.
The $100 in your account stays exactly the same, but what that
$100 can purchase is a lot lower.
And every year it goes lower. So next year that $100 is worth
97, the following year it's worth 92.
And it just compounds over time. What type of racket is this?
It's, it's, it's on, it's incredible.
It's, it's, it's absurd. It's criminal.
Like I would say it's criminal. It's a very strong statement
that I'm saying it is criminal. Anyways guys, if you guys are
enjoying the show so far, I thought you guys would love that
episode on Monday. Make sure to smash the like
button. We just broke 405 live viewers
on YouTube. Appreciate y'all.
We're at 159 likes. Smash the like button.
Help us break 200 likes within the first hour of the show.
Also shout out to our Rumble audience. 85 of you guys
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We appreciate you guys and of course our Twitter audience as
well. We're up to almost 2000 live
viewers across all platforms, so make sure to smash that like
button. Opti.
I got to apologize, brother. I feel like that was encroaching
into the culture side of things. Yeah, you literally stole my
article. No, no, no, wait.
Did I fuck? This is this is news.
This is news. I feel like that encroached into
the culture side of the show. But when I read that article
this morning when we were prepping for the show, it hit me
to the core because this is a man who has been talking about
this problem since the 1970s. Bro, the dude's like 8090 years
old. He still has a YouTube channel.
He's like, inflation is theft, you know, like he stayed on
message. Ron Paul is a legend.
He started it all. It's our responsibility as the
next generation. Because remember, Ron Paul's
tool to fight this theft was gold.
Our tool to fight this theft is Bitcoin.
And Bitcoin is a much better tool.
By the way, this only applies if you're taking Bitcoin to self
custody. That's how you're going to
protect yourself the most anyways.
Been ranting Opti hit this hard bro.
What's your what's your opinion? Is Ron Paul right?
Is inflation theft? Well, Ron Paul is the original
go and then there is some some debate in the chat about Ron
Paul not being fully orange pale guys.
Like Nico just said he's 90 years old.
He's basically been a gold bug for like twice my life.
You know, old habits do die hard, but we are taking up the
baton here as Bitcoiners and this is what this is all about.
This is why Bitcoin kind of got into the libertarian circles in
the 1st place is because we all understand that the real problem
right now is the fact that Fiat money is stealing all of our
wealth. This is a you what, what do we
say, Nico? Fiat money is a wealth
redistribution mechanism to the top.
Those closest to the money printer are the ones that are
able to essentially, you know, pump their bags and their
assets. And if you get the money first,
then you, you know, you're the God king here on planet earth
right now. And I really like that Ron Paul
in that article essentially said what Fiat means.
You know, it's money by decree. It's literally your master's
telling you this has value because we say so.
And this is the the pinnacle problem that we're seeing right
now. And This is why social media is
going through an upheaval right now is because now, as you know,
Elon's been saying, and as everyone knows, I'm not the
biggest Elon fan here, but you are the media now.
And This is why the powers that be are freaking out about the
controlled media. We're seeing corporate press
lose their minds about the fact that no one listened to them
anymore is because the Fiat system needs these institutions.
They need these talking heads. They need the suits to continue
to gaslight you. So you believe that this paper
has value. And I really like this quote in
here. And it this is probably the
message that we should continue to harp on.
Every single one of us should take this meme and spread it far
and wide. And it is stable.
Money is the cornerstone of civilization.
And This is why we're seeing in the world right now that there
is a lot of social upheaval. You're starting to see that, you
know, it looks like the Western world is, you know, crumbling
and collapsing right now under the weight of Fiat currency.
They are printing way too much money.
The debt is getting out of control.
We all saw, at least in America, that inflation was one of the
big presidential topics is because people are getting
poorer and poorer, yet we're working more and more.
And somehow we're still not able to basically keep our heads up
and afloat. Right now.
The middle class is. I'm decimated.
I'm sorry, sorry to interrupt you.
We can see it, bro. You got me hyped up.
We can see it. Why can we see it?
Look, let me explain this to you guys, right?
And this was Jeff Booth who told me this.
And I swear to God, you literally saw my mind blown on
the podcast. But essentially Jeff Booth makes
the argument that Bitcoin is the only thing that's going to
properly value your time, right? So look, if you're using Bitcoin
as your money, as your unit of account, look, look at this,
look at this, right? Like commodity, let's go with
commodities, right? So oil, let's go with housing,
right? Like if you're saving in Bitcoin
on A5 year time scale, that house got 94% cheaper on a three
years, a three-year time scale, 81% cheaper.
That's you primary SMP file. Everything, everything,
everything just gets cheaper against Bitcoin.
Everything gets cheaper. And but that's the way money
should work. That's the way money should
work. I look, you shouldn't be forced
to become a part time investor just to maintain your purchasing
power. Like, look, if you're a painter,
if you're a plumber, right, and you've honed or me and Opti,
right, we're Youtubers, we're content creators, we're talking
heads, whatever you want to call us.
What the, what the F do we know about finance?
Like, OK, fine, we're Bitcoin Youtubers, so it's a little bit
different. But let's say me and Opti were
like EE girls or whatever. And we were just like just
showed up and like, we're just like, OK, you know what, we're
going to play video games for a living and like all that stuff.
And we were just like talking and let's say we were successful
at it, right? And like, we're like, oh, me and
Opti were like, dude, we're starting to make money.
This is this is dope, right? And we had some extra savings.
The what the norm is right now is, oh, Nico, with that extra
savings, you should buy some real estate.
You should put your money in an index fund and let your money
grow for you. Why?
That is insane. People do say that, that any
kind. We, I know, so we live.
We live in a world where the population has been psyopped
into thinking that you, even though this is not your
speciality, have to learn how to invest to just maintain your
money. Not even grow your money just to
maintain your money. Bitcoiners are basically saying
listen, be the plumber, be the painter, be the artist, focus
and hone in on your craft and all you got to do is the excess
income, put it into Bitcoin as savings.
That's it, that's it. It like it's so simply Bitcoin.
It's in the, it's in the, it's in the effing name, right?
So anyways, wanted to read that article.
Want to give you that context. I would say I love the
conservative commentary. I love the liberal.
The liberal commentary is interesting.
And these are great. These are great, you know, great
creators on both sides, but they don't provide you a solution.
It's all doom and gloom. And I think their hearts are in
the right place. By the way, I voted for Obama
twice, OK, Grip. And I think the hearts are, I
think their hearts are in the right place and I think the
conservative hearts are in the right place too.
But Bitcoiners actually have a solution to this problem.
Bitcoiners have the solution to one of the world's toughest
problems. And of course, it's Bitcoin.
And it's really simple. Simply Bitcoin dollar cost
average every single day. Do it for at least four years,
your life will improve. Do it for eight years, you're
going to be relatively wealthier to the people around you because
you're on a Bitcoin standard. Simple as that.
Anyways, that's the I do. Want to say one last thing?
Simple. It's complicated.
I want to say it's complicated. This is why on the Friday show,
I brought up the Janet Yellen gaslighting about inflation is
because I think this is the pivotal message to get across to
everyone out there. Obviously people are feeling the
pain of inflation, but it's hard for them to pinpoint what is the
actual problem when they are getting distracted by every
other solution or problem out there.
There's a lot of problems in the world right now.
Obviously the fix the money, fix the world name isn't going to
fix everything, but that is where we need to start and
everything will follow suit. And while you were going, Nico,
I was reminded of the quote attributed to Henry Ford.
And I think this is the perfect way to send this off before we
go into the culture is, you know, again, this is attributed
to Henry Ford. There's debate here.
But the quote is it is well enough that people of the nation
do not understand our banking and monetary system.
For if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before
tomorrow morning. And this is the central message
that I think most people don't understand.
They don't understand how the banking system works.
They don't understand how money works.
It is complicated by design when you can really break things down
in you know 5th grade language and people understand the real
problem here. I am convinced that more people
and the majority of people are going to start saving in Bitcoin
and they will live a better life and this is the starting point
and then we can figure out everything else after the fact.
As we said earlier, Ron Paul said Fiat money is by decree.
They are telling you that this piece of paper has value.
Well, we have opted out of that and we are opting into something
that is hard cap that 21 million that cannot be debased that
literally can't steal your value over time.
It's actually designed to go up over time.
I don't know, it seems like a novel idea.
I, I like my savings going up. So anyways, let's get into the
culture, Nico. Yeah guys, let's get to the
culture. I'm excited.
I don't know what opt he's going to cover today, but I'm
definitely looking forward to it.
We will be right back and also we're on the verge of breaking
200 likes on YouTube broke 400 live viewers.
So guys, if you guys are watching on YouTube, smash that
like button. If you guys are watching on
rumble smash that like button. If you guys are watching on X
smash the like button and of course share the video comment,
whatever you guys want. The the the live chats are very,
very lively. All right, everybody, let's get
to the culture. Tons to talk about.
We'll be right back. I want to give a shout out to
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All right, everybody, I also want to tell you guys about our
sponsor bit Block Boom Guys is going to be one of the best
Bitcoin conferences of the year. It's actually the first
conference where me and Opti met each other in person.
So it's very, very dear to not only simply Bitcoins history,
but also me and Opti's brotherhood and friendship.
So guys definitely don't want to miss it.
I think me and Opti, I think we, we've reached a level where we
can get separate rooms. Now at the time we were broke.
So, you know, we had to share a room.
Of course, you know, queen beds, separate beds.
But but yeah, I mean, yeah, guys definitely don't want to miss
this conference. It's going to be a a big Bitcoin
celebration April 3rd through the 6th of 2025.
It's going to be in Dallas, TX. It's going to be awesome.
And again, they have an axe throwing contest of the day at
shooting range. They they have a BBQ.
Of course they have the conference day.
We're going to be live streaming the entire conference on the
Simply Bitcoin channel, The Nico Opti, Rustin Dante, we're all
going to be there guys. It's going to be awesome.
And I, and I hope to see you guys in the flesh in Dallas, TX,
April 3rd through the 6th. Get your tickets quickly because
the tickets do increase. But I got good news.
If you use promo code BBB 21, you get $100 off of your
tickets. So you want to get those tickets
quickly. Anyways, I'm going to give Opti
the floor. Opti what is the culture about
today, my friend? Yeah, yeah.
So appreciate it. Thank you, guys.
I dropped the wait to decide. I think I dropped the poll here
on YouTube and we got to get these numbers up.
I I have to do this every once in a while, so I am yeah, I I am
going to do that. I am once again here to tell you
why you need to run a node. So the poll here is on YouTube
and I asked you guys on Rumble. Only a few people responded, but
a very simple poll guys. Do you run a Bitcoin node?
There is about everyone watching this show right now, about 400
people of you, 400 of you guys that that responded to this,
it's really 359. But 23% of you guys say yes, you
do run a Bitcoin node and 76% of you guys that hang out with us
every single day say no, you do not run a Bitcoin node.
So before I go into this, why you need to run a node, will you
comment in the chat why you don't run a node?
And maybe we'll talk about that after I go through this.
So I saw this good quote here, a good thread and shout out to my
boy. I, I don't know what his name is
right now, but it's usually, you know, Opti's Big Mac reserve,
Opti's reserve of central bank girlfriend I opt is something
trolling me in the chat. He's not here today, but he's
telling me on Twitter that we need to talk about nodes again
on the show. I guess I haven't talked about
nodes for a while on the show and today I'm not necessarily
going to do you know how to run a node.
It's more about the why you should run a node because the
how is pretty simple. I will kind of give you some
options at the end, but the main point and This is why I need to
keep doing this constantly is because the numbers are showing.
Even people that hang out with us every single day aren't
running Bitcoin nodes and we need to get those numbers up.
Gotta pump those numbers up. And then on the weekend I saw a
great, great thread here. You know, it's a short thread by
my node. Shout out the my nodes over
there a way to run a Bitcoin and lightning node.
And they did a thread here, you know, short Twitter post of why
you should run a Bitcoin node and it goes first tweet.
How does a Bitcoin node prevent invalid blocks from being added
to the blockchain? A node checks every block
against the Bitcoin consensus rules before accepting it.
It verifies things like block size transaction, but valid
validity and proof of work. If even one transaction is
incorrect, the entire block is rejected.
This is how nodes ensure miners can't cheat the system, keeping
the blockchain honest and immutable.
Now it's not just enough to run a node.
It's not just enough to have a node out there that you call
your own. You need to validate your
transactions coming in with your personal node.
And that's how you are using Bitcoin now, my boy, Mr. Hoddle
on Twitter, he's a little more militant than I am, but I I
totally agree with this message. And Mr. Hallo goes either you're
self validating, literally using the Bitcoin network, literally
running your own node or someone else is doing it for you.
You must be running a Bitcoin node to use the Bitcoin network.
Now there is different portions here.
Yes, of course, you know, you can protect your purchasing
power by getting some capital into Bitcoin.
You can achieve the number go up aspect of Bitcoin and and that's
one aspect of this, but the second aspect is you need to be
running a node to to validate and verify your own
transactions. It's not just enough to have a
node out there, you need to connect your Bitcoin wallets to
that node so that when you send Bitcoin 1, you know it's
actually Bitcoin and two that you are self validating these
transactions. The more economic nodes we get,
the more people using those to validate their transactions, the
more decentralized and robust a network a Bitcoin network gets.
This is. I mean, you could argue that
this might be the most important aspect, obviously taking Bitcoin
into self custody. But you want to take Bitcoin
into self custody, validating these transactions with a node
that you control. So you are not trusting a
middleman. Remember the Bitcoin white paper
the Internet works and payments on the Internet work because of
a high trust society, but we are trusting third parties eliminate
the middle men stop trusting someone else.
Yes, there is levels to this. If you don't think you are, you
know technically savvy enough, then maybe get in touch with
someone in your family that is technically savvy.
That is a big corner and they can Uncle Jim you they can
validate your transactions with their node.
I think this is a good kind of middle step.
If you don't fully trust yourself, it's really not that
complicated. But you need to run a node.
If you, you are an ardent bitcoiner, if you hang out with
us every single day, and I would argue, you know, millennial like
myself or younger or Gen. Xer, you should be running a
note. It's really not that
complicated. If I can do it, you can do it
just takes a little time and you but this is one of the most
important things. Again, either you are self
validating literally using a Bitcoin node or someone else is
doing it for you. You must use a Bitcoin node to
use the Bitcoin network. It is just downloading software.
There's many ways to do this. Obviously.
I think it's kind of a rite of passage.
If you go to bitcoin.org and I have to set up, this is a
homepage here for you guys. You go up here to participate,
you hit running a node and you get to this page.
At the very least, go read this. Go read this so you know why you
need to run a Bitcoin node. I think it's again a rite of
passage where everyone downloads a Bitcoin node.
You do the initial block download, you sit there for a
while on your computer and you get all the Bitcoin blocks and
transactions from the very beginning.
So you know you're a full participant of the Bitcoin
network. It really it, it, this is free.
You can do it on an old laptop, but if you want to have more of
a personalized standing node that's always there verifying,
always running the network connected to your Bitcoin
wallets. Obviously we're huge fans of
start 9. I love my server pure.
It's in the other room, it's chilling, it's connected to all
my Bitcoin wallets. You connected to your favorite
Bitcoin wallets, you know, Electrum and Sparrow, all the
good stuff. So there's the.
Promo. Code down below, promo code
there and. Give you a discount.
This is really before I pass it over to Nico and I guess I
should end this poll. These numbers are too high here
of people not running Bitcoin nodes.
If you are hanging out with us in the chat, I would say that
one of your 2025 goals should be to run a Bitcoin node. 76% of
you guys aren't running a node that hang out with us every
single day. That number is way too high.
We need to get you guys running more Bitcoin nodes, verifying
your transactions for yourself, and stop trusting other people.
OK, rant over Nico, take it. Yeah, yeah.
First of all, absolutely crushed it.
Monday morning Culture. Absolutely love it.
This is why we named it the Culture very fitting for Opti.
Opti is the culture. But look, you got it.
Perhaps node is like an intimidating word.
Look, all running a node is is like you could, you're just
running Bitcoin software. OK, you could do this on your
Mac, You could do this on your PC, right?
And as you're running the Bitcoin software?
You're running a node, right? Ideally you don't want to run a
node or you don't want to run the Bitcoin software on your
day-to-day computer because bitcoins are pretty hefty
software and you obviously you want it to be plugged, you want
to be, you want it to be synced to to the blockchain all the
time. So what we recommend is getting
a dedicated computer that is just literally like its purpose
is just to run the Bitcoin software, right?
With Start 9. They're incredible.
It gives you more functionality. So it's not just a Bitcoin node,
it's also a server, right, that you can connect to remotely
anywhere across the world. You can run your node, the
Bitcoin software to Tor. So people don't know that you're
running Bitcoin at your home IP address and that's essentially
how the Bitcoin network works, right?
I, I mentioned earlier, I said Bitcoins decentralisation is
key. The decentralisation falls on
you, right? If you become one more node in
the network, Bitcoin becomes more decentralised.
Like that's the whole point. So if you're a little bit
intimidated and you're like dude, like this self custody
shit is already like too big. Now you're talking about node.
Like what does that even mean? It's just a computer that is
running the Bitcoin software. That's all a node is, right?
And we've come a very long way in the last five years.
When we and Octi were doing this, there was no companies
that focused on making devices. I'll tell you the device I run,
I run the Start 9, the server pure.
It's right here people. You know what I what Start 9 is
pretty cool about is that their software is open source.
So let's say you don't want to buy a computer from them.
Let's say you have an old computer and you're like Nico,
I'm not using this computer for anything else.
It's just sitting there. You could download the Start 9
software onto that computer and you could just run a node or you
can actually just go to bitcoin.org and just download
the Bitcoin software from the website there and then run it on
your computer too, right? So you could do it in a variety
way. You can do it on your daily
driver. Let's say you know, like you
have a desktop and that desktop is always on.
You can run it on there. I suggest you don't do that
cause again, Bitcoins a somewhat heavy software and if your
device isn't beefy enough, you know it, it could be taxing on
the device itself. So and then let's talk a little
bit about like what Opti was saying and he was quoting Mr.
Hoddle's tweet. Like every time you send a
Bitcoin transaction, it's going through a node.
There's no other way, right? So if you are using Blue Wallet
on your phone, if you're using Sparrow on your laptop, if
you're using Electrum for the for the people that still use
Electrum and you're broadcasting a transaction, it is going
through a node. Every time it goes through a
node, you are doxing the fact that you have that Bitcoin and
you're doxing your balance. Because what these software,
what these wallet softwares do to tell you the balance of
Bitcoin that you have is they basically ask a node and they
say, how much Bitcoin does each one of these addresses have?
And then they sum it together and then they tell you this is
your Bitcoin balance. So if you're sending that
information to someone else's computer, they could surmise
that like, OK, this IP address probably has this much Bitcoin
because they're asking me about all these specific Bitcoin
addresses, right? So with Sparrow, with Electrum,
with Blue Wallet, they all give you the functionality to connect
to your own node. So let's say I'm travelling, I'm
travelling and I travel a lot for conferences, right?
And I'm like, dude, I, I, I got to make payroll, right?
Got to pay everyone out at the end of the month simply or I
have to make a payment for, you know, Bitcoin, right?
I pull up my Electrum, my Sparrow, my blue wallet,
whatever wallet I'm using and that wallet is connecting to my
note. I'm not trusting anybody.
I'm there is no other person that I'm asking, hey, what is my
balance? I'm asking my own computer.
What is my balance? So there's privacy to it and it
also gives me a vote because whenever there's a bit, whenever
there is a change to Bitcoin software, your vote is
basically, am I going to download that new software?
No, I actually disagree with it. I'm going to run this software.
I don't like that software. There's things that I don't like
about that software. Whatever.
If you don't run a node, if you don't run your own version of
Bitcoin software, you don't have a vote.
You don't have a vote. Someone else is voting for you
by choosing what software they choose to run, right?
So yeah, it's incredibly important.
We got to get those numbers up. Hopefully, you know, maybe we
got to maybe make it like a tutorial or something of that
because it's like a seems like a very popular talk.
Seems like a lot of you guys are not doing it.
And it's super easy these days. You literally go to start 9.
That's I recommend it because that's the one I use.
And you know, you can buy their software or let's say you don't
want to buy their software, you can download their software and
put it on an older computer free.
It's free. You don't have to pay anything,
right? But if you are at a certain
point in your Bitcoin journey, there is absolutely no reason as
to why you shouldn't be running your own Bitcoin software.
I'll leave it at that guys, this was simply Bitcoin live for
January 13th, almost halfway through the month and we're only
at 91 Ki thought 2025 was supposed to be a party.
What happened? If you guys enjoyed the show,
you know what to do. Smash the like button.
Consider subscribing to simply Bitcoin if you feel like we
provided you value and of course, I'm your host Nico.
He's my legendary Co host Optimus Fields.
We're signing out for today. We'll be back tomorrow for a
brand new episode of Simply Bitcoin Live.
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