2016 But I also think there are Americans who are engaged in
this kind of propaganda and whether they should be civilly
or even in some cases criminally charged is something that would
be a better deterrence because yo welcome to some of the
Bitcoin live your number one source for the peaceful Bitcoin
revolution of cover breaking news culturamatic warfare.
We'll be your guide through the separation of money and straight
streaming live from the unconfiscatable real world suite
here at gold spake the gold spike in Las Vegas, NV courtesy
of tone vase. ANYWAYS, starting off the cold
opening with Hillary Clinton basically saying that any
narrative, any information that is not officially approved is
dangerous propaganda and that American be locked up for that.
I mean that that contradicts completely what the 1st
amendment is all about. I mean, it's we are heading to
very dangerous territory where government officials, very
powerful government officials, including Kamala Harris are
saying the things along the lines of like, look like, you
know, Elon Musk has too much power because of what he can
because he controls Twitter. You know, it's, it's, it's a
very slippery slope when government officials get into
discussions about speech. And we've seen this play out
throughout history over the last 100 years or so.
It never ends well. Freedom of speech isn't perfect,
but I would say that it's a much better alternative than a group
of very powerful bureaucrats getting to decide what speech is
OK and what speech is not OK. And then this brings me to the
idea of central bank digital currencies.
If they're not OK with you transacting information freely,
what makes you think they're going to be OK with you
transacting money freely? So I think freedom of speech is
the front line for the, for the disintermediation of money and
state. It is the disintermediation of,
of state and information. So I think it's very important
that we continue to highlight this because it's, it's pretty
insane. And I got to say guys, and, and
we have a very special guest to talk about this today.
We're this is the first election, the election of 2024,
this presidential election where depending on the candidate that
gets into office that wins, it will have a impact on the
regulatory environment for the Bitcoin industry in the United
States. And that's something that as a
Bitcoin podcasts or content creation or media company,
however you would you would like to call us, it's something that
we have to bring up. It's something that we have to
talk about, right? And what I've seen, what I saw
over the weekend, I was kind of being a little bit hyperbolic
when I said, Oh my God, look, this, you know, the it's not a
coincidence that the first Bitcoin presidential candidate
was almost assassinated twice. You know, I said that half
jokingly, but the responses surprised me a lot because a lot
of people were basically saying like, oh, look, you know,
Trump's not pro Bitcoin, Trump's pro crypto.
And my responses were like, so what's the alternative exactly?
You know, it's very clear to me, especially after RFK has, you
know, gone out of the race, we have a pro Bitcoin candidate
slash anti CBDC candidate versus a anti Bitcoin candidate slash
pro CBDC candidate. So from my perspective, is it
perfect? No, but if you use a little bit
of common sense, it's very easy to, you know, to decide who you
should put your support behind, specifically if you're a
Bitcoiner or if you're a Bitcoin business owner in the United
States. Anyways, no more delay.
I do want to bring up McShane on to the stage.
McShane is the director of programming for the Bitcoin
Conference man, and you guys have done an incredible job.
Bitcoin 2024 was I would say on par with Bitcoin 2021 in terms
of historical milestones Bitcoin 2021 of course, was when Naimbu
Kelly announced making Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador.
But you guys got an ex president, potentially a future
president to speak at the Bitcoin conference and not to
mention RF KS speech holy cow he he sounded like a maxi man.
It was insane. It was crazy.
So really, really happy to have McShane on the show today.
How you doing, man? I'm.
Doing well, man. Good morning, it's a beautiful
day. Love to see this price action
despite our political, you know, climate Right now.
I'm just loving life man. Loving being a big corner.
Absolutely. I think once you reach bitcoins
then you have Bitcoin in self custody, you know, you feel
protected. You're like, look, no matter
what is going on in crazy clown world Fiat world, you know, life
is getting progressively cheaper for me because I'm on a better
unit of account. Absolutely.
I want to bring up my legendary coast who's always optimistic
streaming live from Dallas, TX. How you doing Opti?
I am doing wonderful. I am having a little bit of FOMO
because I'm not in Vegas right now, but hey, you know, Nika's
got to keep me safe and away from the party, so I get how it
is. But on that note, Nika drinking
a root beer at 9:00 AM in the morning in Las Vegas.
Love to see it. Love to see it when in Vegas.
I mean, Speaking of speaking in Vegas, bro, I mean, there's
going to be quite an event coming up next year, early next
year in Vegas. And I'll be at that one.
Yes, he'll definitely be at that one.
May 27th through 29th Bitcoin 2025.
I don't know how we're going to outdo ourselves from last year,
but I promise you that we will. Let's go.
I totally, totally believe it. Anyways, what are you going to
talk about? Yeah.
Well, before I get into the culture, I do kind of want to
comment on that cold, cold open we saw in the morning.
And I'm, I'm really going to troll it out because if, if
Hillary does have her way, I am convinced that not only us, but
every other Bitcoin podcaster is going to be in the gulags.
So the gulags are going to be lit.
I'm super excited to hang out with all my friends in the
gulags because we are saying things that are very unpopular
as far as the corporate press is concerned, or rather the system
is concerned. So, you know, fingers crossed
that we make it. Fingers crossed that we're cool
enough to make it. But yeah, in in the culture, of
course, we got McShane on today. So we're going to be talking
about, of course, first and foremost, you guys got another
epic event coming up in Amsterdam.
So we'll cover the conferences in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Abu
Dhabi. And then depending on how much
time we got, we're going to we're going to pick Mcshane's
brain on just like alternative modes of living.
I know you've been off the grid. You were telling me before the
show you're like, dude, I'm completely checked out from the
online narratives. So maybe we'll talk about that
and then, you know, thoughts on the general culture.
Noster, I know you really want to chat about Metaplanet as
well. So we'll try to wrap all this
stuff up in a, in a good short times sequence or else the show
will go on for like 2 hours. But yeah, we got a, we got a jam
packed show today. Yeah, we got we got loads of
content so stay tuned guys. If you guys are enjoying the
show so far, it really, really helps with the algos if you
smash the like button. Also shout out to our audience
on Rumble on Noster as well as ZAP dot Stream.
Really, really love you guys appreciate it.
We were, we were blown away the moment we got deplatformed and
the fact that a lot of you got most of, I would say the vast
majority of you guys followed us to alternative platforms and
protocols was really broke our hearts and we really, really
appreciate it. So we're going to continue to
put a lot of emphasis, a lot of emphasis and a lot of work into
alternative platforms like X and Rumble and alternative protocols
like like Nostril where you can't get to platform period,
right? And especially in this era of
censorship, I think that is incredibly, incredibly
important. Anyways, before we jump into the
show, I do want to give a very special shout out to our lead
sponsor. Of course, I'm talking about
Bitcoin. Well, Bitcoin was the best place
to build your automatic self custody Bitcoin stack.
Buy real Bitcoin enable your independence with the fastest
and safest way to buy Bitcoin in Canada and the USA.
It's a publicly traded company that recently expanded to all 50
U.S. states. And by the way, if you buy
Bitcoin on Bitcoin well, you earn Bitcoin well points and you
can use those points towards the Bitcoin wishing well contest.
So every time you toss a coin into the Bitcoin wishing well,
you have an opportunity to win up to 1,000,000 satoshis.
We'll do that live for you guys right now.
First person to scan the QR code on your screen right now gets
the satoshi. So we're going to do that for
you guys and bada Bing bada boom, it's 500 SAT's.
By the way, if you use promo code simply BTC again, simply
BTC to sign up to bitcoinwell.com today, you get 3
tosses into the Bitcoin wishing well.
Let's hit the numbers. All right, everybody, I want to
tell you guys about stamp seed. Usually when you buy yourself a
hardware wallet, it comes with a piece of paper.
Opti's showing the custom Simply Bitcoin stamp seed plate.
It comes with a piece of paper, and what you're supposed to do
is you're supposed to write down your seed words on that piece of
paper. The problem is that paper is
prone to water damage, fire damage.
Your dog could eat it. You don't want to do that.
You want to store your generational wealth properly.
And that's why we recommend the stamp seed.
It's a titanium seed frayed storage kit, literally proof of
work your seed into hammering it physically, literally at home
into a plate of titanium. And the kit comes with
everything. It comes with the letter
stamping tools comes with the hammer comes with the anvil
comes with everything you need to stamp your seed into a plate
of titanium so it could stand the test of time.
Head over to stampseed.com today and use promo code simply to get
15% off anything on the website. At the time of recording the
Bitcoin price is 60,820 sats per dollar 1644 block height 861,720
blocks to having 188,280 having estimate March 26th 2028 total
lightning network capacity 5045 BTC capacity value 370 three 107
million realize monetary inflation continuing to take
Fiat currencies to absolute school 1.346% market
capitalization 1.2 trillion and Bitcoin versus gold market gap
6.69%. Anyways, Trump held a a spaces
yesterday with some shit coiners.
I'll be honest with you. But again, I think the message
that I want to hammer in home today is it's a two party
system. You really only have two
choices. You have the Biden Harris
administration slash campaign that has shown us over the last
two and a half, I would say 3 1/2 years, their outlook on the
industry in the Democratic Party platform of 2024.
It does not mention digital currencies or digital assets or
crypto or Bitcoin. One time we know how Elizabeth
Warren feels about the industry. She wants to create a monopoly
for a central bank digital currency.
And then if you compare and contrast that with not only what
Trump said at the Bitcoin conference, but the Republican
Party platform, it literally said verbatim, we'll protect the
right to mine, we'll protect the right to self custody, and we'll
end the, you know, the attack on the industry.
It's pretty clear to me, but again, I understand some
Bitcoiners, I empathize with them.
I understand that, you know, a lot of people feel that Bitcoin,
that Trump is not a, you know, a a pure Bitcoin maximalist, but
it's not perfect. But you really only have two
choices. One choice is pretty bad and one
choice is much better. So here's a recap and shout out
to Sophie for taking notes. So first, they brought up the
campaign promise on crypto and Bitcoin.
Second, the Biden Harris campaign will continue.
This is a claim made by Trump. I believe it as well, just based
on the actions that we've seen over the last couple months.
For example, when the Crypto for Harris initiative was launched
the same day the Federal Reserve sued one of the last friendly
crypto slash Bitcoin banks in the United States.
And I mean, don't pay attention to what they say.
Pay pay attention to what they do right.
So Trump claims Biden Harris campaign will continue to make
crypto adoption or Bitcoin adoption more difficult, but he
will leave us alone and help us thrive.
That's also something that he promised at the Bitcoin
conference, says that there's a learning curve that his kids
understood right at the beginning that his kids,
specifically Barron Trump is managing his wallets and has
taught him. He says that the US has has to
be #1 not only in Bitcoin slash crypto, but also AI and all
technology. For that to happen, we need
twice the electricity we already have.
We cannot be left in the dust. He says that during his
administration, they become the leader in the space and they'll
do the same with crypto, AI and mining.
This is when you tie what? What you OK?
And then this is when I want to bring up my discussion that I
had with Wicket, because I kind of did this like half jokingly,
half serious. But the reality is that Trump
has faced now two assassination attempts.
I made the case that it's no coincidence that the first
Bitcoin pro Bitcoin presidential candidate has had that happen to
him. But to my surprise, there was a
lot of people that felt very passionate about it,
specifically a well known Bitcoiner in the community,
wicked and he said they had a they have a pro Bitcoin, a pro
crypto stance. That's a very, very different
that's very, very different than a pro Bitcoin stance and shows
how little they actually understand what's really going
on. My first response to that is
number one, do you remember the first year that you got into
Bitcoin? Did you know the difference
between Bitcoin and crypto? That's my first response.
My second response and the reason I believe it's a bad take
is it's fundamentally A2 party system.
So you have a choice between a pro Bitcoin slash anti CBDC
candidate and an anti Bitcoin slash pro CBDC candidate.
And not to mention the fact that one of the candidates it has
promise to free Ross. Is it perfect?
No. Is it better?
Absolutely. And I would say that if you're
going down the purity test route, it's basically you want a
continuation of the regulatory crackdown.
And then I made a meme which Pierre Rashard and BK and a lot
of predominant Bitcoiners liked or retweeted and I said, you
know, it's like the bell curve meme right at the at the left it
says Trump 2024 on the right it says Trump 2024 protect self
custody free Ross pro Bitcoin anti CBDC right to mine and
operation Trump .2 point O. And then the middle, the middle
of the bell curve is Trump is pro crypto.
He's not a maxi. So I'm going to be I'm going to
keep doubling down on that, right.
It's not a perfect system. It's a two party system.
We don't have a, you know, a, a, a pure Bitcoin maxi president
presidential candidate, but I would say it's much better than
the alternative. And he's already shown good
faith and he's already shown good faith by not only including
it in the official Republican presidential policy, but also
are the official Republican Nico wrong.
Third party is Bitcoin. The third party candidate is RFK
and he literally got out of the race and supported Trump.
That's what I would say. And and another thing that I
would say as well is because I think a lot of us Bitcoiners
really fundamentally believe this because we read the
sovereign individual and we believe in the thesis that over
the long term, you know, the Internet and digital and Bitcoin
specifically is going to make politics irrelevant.
But right now, during the transitionary period, I think
politicians and the regulatory environment can have a
meaningful impact in the life of Bitcoiners in that specific
jurisdiction. Specifically if you're a Bitcoin
entrepreneur, if you're trying to build Bitcoin business, you
don't want to build it in a hostile regulatory environment,
which is why you see a lot of these lightning wallets leaving
the United States like the and I and I saw a very powerful tweet
and it was basically along the lines of there's three countries
that have banned wall of Satoshi, China, North Korea and
the United States. Like you don't want that.
You don't want that at all, right?
And I think Trump coming in, yes, you know, he he will bring
a lot of all coinary for sure, without a doubt.
But at the same time, he's going to leave that alone and he's
going to allow Bitcoin to thrive.
And Bitcoin doesn't need any special privileges or special
advantages. It is superior money.
It's going to win based on its own merit by itself.
It just needs to be left alone, at least from a regulatory
perspective. Now, does this mean that Bitcoin
needs a politician for it to succeed?
No, but I would say that does it mean that potentially the United
States could get left behind from an innovative aspect, from
a regulatory aspect, 100%. And if you're a Bitcoiner living
in the United States, then yeah. I mean, this, this election
coming up in 2024 will have a meaningful impact.
And I think purity tests could potentially be dangerous.
Anyways, I've been on a a little bit of a ramble here.
I want to pass it on to McShane. McShane, you guys have done an
incredible job at the Bitcoin conference getting not only RFK,
but Trump and also members on the other side of the aisle as
well. Ro Khanna, I hope I pronounced
that correctly from the Democratic, from the Democratic
side that have all been pro Bitcoin slash crypto.
So I want to get your takes on this.
I'm sure you have a little bit more insight on this.
Yeah, I would say we we invite members of Congress from both
sides of the aisle and they don't always show up.
It's been hard to get them to show up.
You know, Kamala turned us down in the 11th hour.
I don't know. For me, it's not really, it's
not really about these, these parties.
I'm I'm a big orange party guy. I don't, you know, Full
disclosure, I don't, I don't vote at all.
I don't, I don't like our system.
I don't I don't think that this experiment in like pseudo
representative democracies worked out well, but there are
certain advantages that the United States can accrue by
putting leaders in charge to understand Bitcoin on some
level. And I would say, you know, I'm
also very disappointed and, you know, the Trump campaign's
choice to launch about cryptocurrency.
And but I at the same time, I think that some exposure to
Bitcoin's better than none. And I still believe, you know,
everything's good for Bitcoin. And the path to Bitcoin is
through altcoins. It's always been that way.
That's the origin story of most people probably watching this
stream. They probably dabble.
And I think they're going to get burnt real bad by this.
I think, you know, Trump was been kind of on a down
downstream since, you know, that the debate launching the crypto,
it's just a bad look. I think it's going to backfire
and hopefully they learn their lesson.
I hope he gets, you know, some of these people out of his ear
who are encouraging this sort of, I don't know, it's me, it's
fraud. These these cryptos all make
fraudulent claims. And you know, people are going
to get hurt. So I'd like to see a return to
Bitcoin. I still think the alternative's
a lot worse. You know, this, this censorship
regime of like the Democratic Party, I mean, we, we can't, we
can't tolerate this. I, I don't think that would be
good for Bitcoin at all. I think you'll see an exodus of
Bitcoiners from the United States if Kamala gets elected.
100% I, I 100% agree with that. And Opti, I mean, this is
something that we've been talking about for quite a while
now. We've been on the fence.
We've tried to remain neutral. And I think what really was a
breaking point for us was when the Samurai wallet guys got
arrested. Then I felt like I got very
passionate at that point. The attack on self custody, the
proposed 30% Bitcoin mining tax, the the denial of Caitlin Long's
federal banking charter for her bank Custodia Bank, even though
it's fully Reserve Bank. All those things like it just
kind of starts to add up. And then you have to start to
question yourself. Like at what point do I speak
up? At what point do I make my voice
heard and say, you know what, like it's probably not a good
idea that, you know, the current administration gets another four
years just based on how they treated the industry.
And I, I just want to be specific guys like if Kamala
came out tomorrow and, you know, didn't say it through her
subordinates, like didn't say it through the media, but it
actually came out of her mouth. Like, you know, I'll protect
the, you know, I'll protect self custody.
I'll leave the industry alone. Then I think we would change
stance on simply because I completely agree with McShane.
Like this isn't red versus blue, liberal versus conservative.
It's really the party of Fiat versus the party of Bitcoin.
But the reality is that one party in the Fiat sense has
played ball better and the other party has just been extremely
hostile towards the industry as a whole.
So and that's just a reality that we have to point out.
Like, go ahead, Mitch, Shane. I was going to say, I just, I
can't stop thinking about the, you know, custodia bank being
denied a federal banking charter.
I mean, people need to realize it's illegal in this country to
run a bank with four reserves. You have to take unsecured loans
from citizens, risk them on the market and and socialize your
loss to that's that's status quo.
That's the law, insanity, insanity.
And that what that tells me is that that system is completely
unviable. Do not trust those people with
your money. Instead, learn to use Bitcoin
well in self custody and and go that direction.
You're going to you're going to have a lot more prosperity and
try to mess around with these banks. 100% I, I 100% agree with
that. And, and I think it also shows
like, and I think it was like a, a Cameron or Tyler Winklevi,
like the way that he was describing it in a tweet thread
where he's basically making the, the case that like the Federal
Reserve is positioning itself on a regulatory level, on a, on a
legal level where they have the final say to approve what bank
in the United States has the ability to bank anyone that has
any type of relation or interaction with the Bitcoin
slash crypto industry. So it's kind of like an
unelected bureaucracy because we don't elect the head.
The chairman of the Federal Reserve is basically has a
literal choke point. And they're the deciding factor
of what banks are allowed to interact with the industry and
what banks are not allowed to interact with the industry.
And then you could also make the case that central banks have the
most to lose if our industry succeeds.
So it's kind of like, why would you like that?
Doesn't make any sense. It's not allowing innovation,
which is what originally America was based on, right?
This idea of individualism, meritocracy, innovation.
But it seems like it's been going away from that.
Opti, we've been covering this for a couple months now.
It's not surprising at this point.
It's quite disappointing for my as a first generation American.
That's how I'm interpreting it. What's your take?
Yeah. Well, First off, I do want to
mention that today is a very important day in regards to the
Samurai case. It's their first hearing, so
let's wish the best for them and and I think this is going to set
a huge precedent, so hopefully we get some good news coming out
of this. With that being said on the
other news, you know I said this the other day we were getting
trolled by our by everyone's favorite cat in the chat and he
was saying are we still single issue voters now that Trump is a
shit coiner? And I responded with basically
the same thing we just said. Well we still have on one side
one that is anti Bitcoin pro CBDC and the other one that I
guess now is more pro shit coin and pro Bitcoin.
So all roads are going to lead to Bitcoin adoption.
Either they're going to try to fight Bitcoin and it's going to
accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin, or we get four more
years of cover and Bitcoin gets to do its thing.
And hopefully Trump actually holds up his, you know what he's
saying where he's going to allow the industry to prosper, because
we've been saying it for a long time that America, if they want
to stay in a position of power, will have to adopt Bitcoin.
And it's, it's the most sensible move right now.
It's don't fight the industry. This industry is good for the
people. And I think that's the the most
important thing right now. And as much as Trump getting
into shitcoins is definitely disappointing.
I again, I remember when I got in the Bitcoin, I didn't really
know much about Bitcoin. So he's still in his learning
curve. We can't expect him to just
instantly get into Bitcoin or announce some pro Bitcoin
policies and go full maxi. But as McShane said, and as the
meme goes, the best way to become a Bitcoin maxi is by
getting burned with shitcoins. So all roads lead to Bitcoin.
But even with that said, if you're still on the fence of
Kamala versus Trump, like, yes, the Trump family is seemingly
going down the shit coin path, but at least they're not
advocating for stealing your Bitcoin for them, fighting
freedom of speech for them, taking away your firearms,
introducing price controls. So there's a lot of things going
on behind the scenes that yes, I know Niko, he says single issue
voters, but there's a lot of things that if Kamala gets back
in power is going to really affect not only Bitcoin, but the
freedom movement that we are a part of.
So I think it's all good for Bitcoin.
And really, like I was saying in that tweet is like, yeah, Trump
may be going bullshit coin now, but hey, at least they are going
pro crypto. And we all know what shit coins
really do. They just play cover.
They're just smokescreens for Bitcoin.
So if we have one side that's more pro crypto, then Bitcoin's
going to very obviously win on that front.
And you know, for all the free market Maxis out there that are
complaining about it's like, let Bitcoin win and you know, you
know, let let them unleash all of the shit coins out there, Let
them unleash the the floodgates and on on that front, Bitcoin
will prove itself to be the best.
I mean, I joked a while ago when the SEC approved the ETF that
like, oh, no, sorry, when they approved the ETF that is now
Gary Gantz, they're going to prove all the shit coin ETF's
and just open the floodgates and wreck the wreck the citizenry
out here. And I'm like, game on.
Let's go like this sounds fun. Bitcoin's going to win And you
know, as much as what we do is try to protect people from
wrecking themselves and just going into Bitcoin, you know,
people want to gamble and and you play stupid games, you win
stupid prizes. And so I think they're going to
learn. But one of the biggest things
that did come out of that space is the fact that Eric Trump is a
huge Michael Saylor fan. So maybe they're still in their
learning curve, but at least there's a lot of good signal out
there. So hopefully, like I've said
again in the past, all the time on this show, that now when you
get into Bitcoin, your education is accelerated because there is
so much good signal. There is a lot of good content
out there to get people to the pro Bitcoin stance and hopefully
get to become a Bitcoin maxi. But yeah, man, you know, I'm not
a fan of stable coins and I'm here for Bitcoin.
I'm not here to perpetuate the dollar.
But yeah, they're going through their learning, their learning
paces here. But eventually, eventually, once
the Trump's become Bitcoin Maxis, they're gonna become the
most toxic Maxis. So I am here for it.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean there is a learning
curve. I mean I don't wanna say that as
an excuse, but I will say based on the two party system and the
two choices, I think it's very clear if you use a little bit of
common sense anyways, I do want to give a shout out to the 986
of you guys watching live between YouTube and X and of
course, the 100 or so of you guys watching live on rumble 20
of you guys watching live on ZAP dot stream.
If you guys are enjoying the show so far, make sure to smash
the like button really really helps the algos or ZAP of some
sass. That would be nice too anyways
guys stay tuned. We have a lot of content loaded
for you guys. Let's hit the news.
Here we go. Special shout out to our sponsor
Compass Mining. They make Bitcoin mining
accessible to everyone from beginners to experienced
investors. Their Turn key miners gets you
online and hashing within 48 hours, making it easier than
ever to start your mining journey.
Plus, with their active marketplace, you can resell your
miner at any time, adding flexibility and value to your
investment. Visit their website to access a
wealth of resources, learning everything you need to know
about Bitcoin mining. Take your first step into the
world of Bitcoin mining with confidence.
Discover more at Compass Mining dot IO.
Again, Compass Mining dot IO and see how Compass Mining can power
your success. I want to give a shout out to
our sponsor foundation. It's self custody done right.
They've built a premium grade hardware wallet called Passport
right here in the US, and it integrates seamlessly with their
free app called Envoy. Passport is fully open source
and verifiable. It's the most intuitive Bitcoin
wallet design with a UX reminiscent of a classic feature
phone, so you'll know how to navigate it and use it the
moment you pick it up. It's also air gaps, meaning
Bitcoin stays offline, never touching an Internet connection.
It's Bitcoin only. Open source, verifiable air gap
security model, gorgeous design craft, premium grade materials.
Get your. Bitcoin off exchanges and into
your own hands in just a few minutes.
With Passport at foundation dot XYZ slash simply get Peace of
Mind for your piece of Bitcoin everybody.
I made it incredibly easy for you guys.
You can scan the QR code on your screen right now.
I'll take you directly to the Foundation Devices website where
you can use promo code simply to get a discount.
Get yourself, not your keys, not your cheese, get yourself a
harder wallet. Of course you recommend our
sponsored passport by Foundation Devices.
Completely open source Bitcoin only, Harder wallet.
Anyways, I do want to continue the conversation.
We were talking about the Trump's earlier.
McShane, you did want to bring up a quick note on Eric Trump.
Yeah, I think, I think a lot of Bitcoiners, I was just reading
through the chat just kind of throw up arms like this is the
way it is. You know, we're we're in Eric's
ear trying to re steer this ship that's kind of gone awry.
I'm working with him. Other Bitcoiners are working
with him. He does claim to be best friends
with Sailor, so I'm sure Sailor is working on him as well.
That's not that's not an endorsement.
You know, I wouldn't go out and necessarily vote for these
people just just because of that.
But but there's hope. We don't have to be all, you
know, pessimistic about about both parties.
I think everyone comes around eventually and we're going to
see, you know, we're going to see that bright orange future
that we've been looking forward to.
Absolutely 100% agree. I think everyone has to pay
their price of tuition. And just just keep in mind what
like with Sailor and with Trump and Trump's family, they're
going through the, they're paying their price of tuition
and paying their dues, but they're public figures.
But I would just ask you guys, do you remember the first year
that you were in Bitcoin? I've been doing this for quite a
long time. 99% of Bitcoiners, 99% of Bitcoiners that I've met
have all gone through a shit coin phase.
This is the fact. Like I've seen it happen over
and over and over again. And then it's only by burning
their finger on the metaphorical stove is that when they come to
the realization that, you know, Bitcoin is different, Bitcoin is
king, right? So I'm not trying to make
excuses, but I'm also trying to be a realist.
Like, you know, these aren't God like figures, like these aren't,
you know, these are human beings after all.
And it's going to help a lot if Trump gets elected and he knows
that a lot of that support, either from the donor base or
from the voter base came from the community.
That's going to give him more of an incentive to pay attention to
what's going on. That's my two sats on the
matter. But anyways, I do want to pivot
the conversation a little bit on two really, really bullish
things. I believe Opti talked about this
yesterday. If you want to know, if you want
to know why, if you want to know why the legacy media went
absolutely bonkers and when the IMF also went, got very upset as
to why El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender.
Even though if you take a look at the GDP of El Salvador, which
is only 32 billion. To put that in perspective, Elon
Musk's Elon Musk's net worth is like 250 billion, right?
So El Salvador's GDP is only 32 billion.
So it's a very, it's a, it's a, it's a small country, it's a
developing country. As a Hispanic myself, someone
comes from originally from Venezuela.
I'm looking at El Salvador and I see inspiration, I see hope,
right? But the reason that the media
was so hell bent on attacking them, the reason that the IMF
was so hell bent on attacking them is because all of a sudden,
if these developing countries have an alternative to the IMF
loans, it starts to become very difficult to control them.
And I think that's fundamentally what it boils down to.
Naimbu Kelly wrote a very famous piece for Bitcoin magazine.
It was called don't drink the elites kool-aid.
In that article, he made the case that their most important
weapon was their control on the truth, right?
And that they're willing to do everything to keep that control.
And if you connect the dots with the Hillary Clinton cold opening
kind of explains a lot of things, right?
I think that if you control money, if you have this unique
ability, which governments have to create money for free that
everyone else has to work for, that comes with a tremendous
amount of influence and power. And, you know, obviously the
powers that be don't want to let that go.
So I, I found this inspirational.
Naimbu Kelly posted financial independence announcement on
Independence Day. And not to mention the fact
talking McShane was talking about Caitlin's Caitlin Long's
bank, how it is a fully reserved bank and it was denied a federal
banking charter. One of the things that El
Salvador did was that they made their Bitcoin reserves public
and that's in stark contrast with how gold reserves are run.
We haven't seen a video or a picture of the United States
gold reserves since the 1970s. We have to take the United
States government's word for it, El Salvador said.
You know what, we're going to make our reserves public.
And when when they do that, they make it very difficult for any
politician to skim a little. Bit off the top.
And if you compare that with how other countries treat their gold
reserves, it's in stark contrast.
One is of transparency, one is of accountability, and one one
is of trust me, bro, we're going to do the right thing, right?
And the whole ethos of Bitcoin is don't trust verify.
Now, what makes me really bullish, and this is what I want
to focus on today's episode is it seems like El Salvador isn't
the only country that is moving along with this Bitcoin
strategy. We've been talking a lot about
the Kingdom of Bhutan. The Kingdom of Bhutan is a very
small country in the Aegis in the Himalayas that has a
tremendous amount of hydroelectric power capability
because it has such a small population.
But because it has so much hydroelectric power capability,
it has a lot of excess energy. And Bitcoin miners love that
because excess energy means that it's cheap.
Excess energy means that it's not being used.
So that's where Bitcoin miners come in and they become the
buyer of last resort. And this is another kind of
follow up article to the Kingdom of Bhutan, something that we've
been covering over the last couple of months.
First piece of news was that bit deer, a publicly traded Bitcoin
mining company in the United States, actually partnered with
the small Kingdom to to increase their mining capability from I
think I believe it was 100. I'm I'm going to butcher the the
electricity thing. So I don't want to say that, but
anyways, they increased their their mining capability from
100. Here we go.
Here it is because I don't want to, I don't want to butcher
this, here we go. So they increased their mining
capability from 100 megawatts to 600 megawatts, meaning they
added 500 megawatts of mining capability despite the halving
going around the corner. And that's an indication of the
how they feel about the future price appreciation because they
wouldn't make that type of investment without feeling
optimistic about, you know, Bitcoin's future.
So here's an article dropped by our friends over at Bitcoin
Magazine written by our boy Nicholas Hoffman.
And the headline is Bhutan's Bitcoin Holding Revealed the
Kingdom owns $780 million in BTC from mining.
It goes on to say South Asian country Bhutan, a Buddhist
Kingdom on the Himalaya Himalayas eastern edge, has been
revealed as a major Bitcoin holder, owning 13,011 BTC,
around $780 million, according to a report by Arkham
Intelligence. The public data company
identified Bhutan's Bitcoin address, marking the first time
this information has been shared publicly.
Bhutan is the 4th largest government with Bitcoin holdings
on our platform with over $700 million in BTC.
Unlike most governments, Bhutan's BTC does not come from
law enforcement asset seizures, but from Bitcoin mining
operations, which has ramped up dramatically since early 2023.
We have satellite photos here that goes on to say Bhutan's
Bitcoin mining activities are conducted by the kingdoms
investment arm Duck Holdings. According to Arkham, the country
has constructed mining facilities at multiple sites,
with the largest on the grounds of the defunct Education City
project. Markham further noted.
Quote we were able to collab corroborate the timeline of on
chain mining activity with the time lapse time lapse satellite
imagery of facility construction.
That is so freaking cool. By the way, in May 2023, bit
dear partnered with drug holding and investments to develop the
100% carbon free Bitcoin mining operation of Bhutan.
I mean. Like this is awesome.
This is so cool. The way that they were able to
do this research and see the mining facilities built out.
And another thing, Bhutan has been quite humble about this and
I, and I believe it has to do with the press's reaction to the
industry as a whole. It they've been keeping this
under wraps. They haven't really been saying
anything. This has been third parties
doing research into Bhutan, but it isn't Bhutan advertising
that, hey, we're mining Bitcoin. And I just got to say, this is
in stark contrast to what Western countries are doing, not
only in the United States, not Texas.
Texas is great, but let's say the overall federal, federal
regulatory, our environment, let's say they haven't been, you
know, the friendliest towards the industry.
But if you take a look at Norway, Norway bans Bitcoin
mining and the price of electricity for residents went
up like 20 or 30%, right? So I'm really bullish on
developing countries adopting Bitcoin.
And we're seeing that. And it's not only El Salvador
that has been quite vocal about it, but it's also been these
very small countries in Asia that I would say most people, if
you tell them where is Bhutan on the map, they would not be able
to tell you they've been mining Bitcoin.
I think this is a trend that's going to continue.
I'm very bullish on Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin mining and
Bitcoin adoption in developing countries in South America and
in Southeast Asia, and I suspect that trend will continue.
Anyways, I'm going to pass it on to McShane.
McShane, what are your thoughts on this?
It's not surprising at all, man. Like honestly, if you understand
Bitcoin's incentives, you understand that this has always
been inevitable. Yeah, it takes just a few people
and a few touch points to kick off initiatives like this.
Just to go back, I mean, following up on on El Salvador,
it's amazing to see kind of on the nation state level, the the
prosperity that a nation can accrue and the changes that it
makes to it's sort of livelihood.
Just like we all have had, you know, Bitcoin affect us
personally and sort of change the way we live.
You know, in in the beginning who Kelly ran on infrastructure
and security. And I think what you're going to
see over the next year is an announcement to help boost that
GDP, which is going to take the form of goods and services
produced in El Salvador that are free of the poisons that our
corporations have invaded all of the global S with.
You're going to see corner stores with blue and gold
branded, you know, tooth toothpaste, free of toxins,
everything, just anything to bring that economy back home.
And and you'll see this country begin to behave more and more
like a truly self sovereign nation that they won't need to
be dependent on IMF loans, which is the best we can hope for.
And this, this is a, you know, El Salvador has its faults, Boo
Kelly as well, but this is there are big rays of hope there.
And I think it's going to be a positive example for for
countries around the world. A. 100% I, I 100% agree with
that outlook. Opti, what's your take on this?
I mean, we've been covering this for quite a while, man.
It's not surprising at this point, Opti.
Yeah, no, I mean, I think the most, there's two points to me
that the that are the most interesting one kind of doing or
jumping off. What McShane was saying is once
you get off off those touch points and you fully dive into
the Bitcoin space, like there's no going back.
And so you just love to see that the Kingdom of Bhutan again,
another relatively unknown country just getting put on the
map because of their Bitcoin strategy plays.
And let's not forget that we wouldn't have even known that
Bhutan was mining Bitcoin if they didn't get caught up in a
bankruptcy and it got exposed. So like they probably still
would have been mining secretly. And so that really makes you
think of what other nations are out there doing something
similar, what other corporations are at least trying to keep it
hush hush and individuals doing something very similar.
And so to me, that's one of the most interesting aspects about
the Bhutan news is that they're just doubling down.
They expanded their mining supply and now they're just
continuously stacking and mining Bitcoin.
So you just love to see it. But the second point is the idea
that there's only two countries in the world that have gotten
their Bitcoin ethically, and that is El Salvador and the
Kingdom of Bhutan. El Salvador obviously buying
Bitcoin, one Bitcoin a day for I forget how long it's been now, a
year or so. And then of course, you know,
going on to a Bitcoin reserve strategy playbook.
And then the Kingdom of Bhutan by mining their Bitcoin.
Every other government that currently holds Bitcoin is
because they took it from theft. They, they, they stole it from
their citizens. And this is where we are right
now. And so I think it really reminds
me of that Satoshi quote. And I always butcher it.
But as an honest actor, it pays more to just follow the rules of
Bitcoin, to stack Bitcoin, to mine Bitcoin.
And only times going to show whether these countries are
correct and whether they're going to make it and whether
it's going to actually improve their nations and their
economies. And so you just love to see it
like the signal has gotten out there and now everyone is waking
up to the idea that not only is Bitcoin a mature asset that you
need some, but it's a viable solution to the problems that we
all face, which is there's nothing else to store your value
in. Yes, you can store your value in
gold. You know, the other hard money
out there, yes, it just hit all time high, but it's basically
been going sideways for what I don't know, like 50 years or
something like that. And so gold for for all intents
and purposes is a stable coin at this point.
It's just going sideways. It's holding your value.
Treasuries are looking like they're going up in smoke and
more people are moving away from treasuries, especially when you
talk about all the stuff going on in the BRICS nations.
And then no one in their right mind is trying to save in
dollars if they understand what's going on.
And so the only solution here, again, all roads lead to
Bitcoin. There is no alternative.
You need to hold some Bitcoin. You have to hold some Bitcoin if
you want to survive what's coming in the future.
And it's not like some dystopian future thing.
It's just math that the system that we are a part of needs to
inject more Fiat into the system to keep it going.
And that means everyone else is getting poorer, that's holding
dollars. And so everyone is looking for a
solution. And yes, of course, it's going
to start with these tiny countries at first because they
don't have as much to lose, I would say, than the US or other
first world Western countries. But I think soon enough, again,
going back to the Titanic meme that I use all the time, it
takes a lot more to turn these countries around and make them
pivot than it does a small, nimble country.
And so you just love to see that El Salvador and the Kingdom of
Bhutan are being nimble on their feet and they are stacking
Bitcoin. They are trying to save in
Bitcoin. And I think in the future, these
are going to be very important historical data points to show
that these were the smartest countries, the people that were
in power at this time. Others should follow suit.
And then, you know, we go back to the whole election stuff in
the US and we have one side fighting us and one side going
full shit coin. So it's just interesting times
all around in regards to Bitcoin adoption.
But all roads lead to Bitcoin, so it's good to see.
And I think in 2025, we're going to see even more interesting
news stories come out in the same regard. 100 percent 100%
all right everybody stay tuned there's 1280 of you guys
watching live just between YouTube and X and a couple 100
of you guys watching live between rumble and ZAP stream.
If you guys are enjoying the show, make sure to share the
show like smash the like button really, really helps with the
algos. Stay tuned because we're going
to talk to Mick Shane about the Bitcoin conference about about
the noster. We're going to talk about about
him being unplugged from the matrix, so to speak and living
off grid a little bit. So I'm really excited to to
explore this conversation. So stay tuned.
We're going to hit the culture. Here we go.
All right, everybody, I do want to give a shout out to our
sponsor, the Orange Pull app Stack friends who stack SAT's
join the 12,233 Bitcoiners that are currently on the app.
The Orange Pull app is the Bitcoin social layer.
So if you're on the go, if you're travelling, you're going
to a new city, perhaps you're in a city for a Bitcoin conference,
and perhaps the Bitcoin conference is only two or three
days, but you're there for a week.
The Orange Pull app is for you. It's the number one resource for
Bitcoin only events. It allows you to DM bitcoiners
that are around you. So it tells you geographically
the bitcoiners that are around you and it'll it'll give you the
ability to send them a message directly.
It's also one of the best ways to reach me if you want to
contact me. I don't really answer Twitter or
emails these days. You could you could contact me
via the orange pull out. So to get started, scan the QR
code on your screen or check the link in the video description.
Man, I'm so excited to have McShane on the show first.
I do want to give him a little bit of credit bro, because the
Bitcoin conference, dude, you guys absolutely freaking crushed
it. It was incredible.
Trump's speech was historic. RF KS speech was historic.
I definitely believe in my heart that it was a milestone in
Bitcoin's history. And I know a lot of people were
just like, dude, RFK's speech was better than Trump's speech.
And I'm like, dude, RFK is independent.
Trump is running from a mainstream political party.
It's a little bit different, but I think you guys did a fabulous
job on that. And I know that you guys are not
stopping and you guys have future plans in regards to more
conferences and more programming upcoming.
So very, very excited for that. Yeah, it's thanks, man.
It's, it's getting wild out there.
We're looking at 4 conferences in the upcoming year.
You know, we're looking at Las Vegas.
We've got Abu Dhabi down the line in December.
We've got, of course, Bitcoin 2025 in Vegas and Amsterdam.
They already mentioned Vegas. Yeah, we're going to Amsterdam
here in a couple of weeks. I'm pretty excited for that.
And then we'll be back in Hong Kong and Asia, man.
So we're just kind of doing what we can to support Bitcoin
adoption globally and just set, set roots and plant seeds
wherever we can. Absolutely.
And I think that I think the conference really move what what
I experienced as a Bitcoin content creator is something
that I called the Bitcoin echo chamber, which is bitcoiners
create content for other bitcoiners.
How you move the envelope is getting people that are popular
in the mainstream to talk about Bitcoin.
I I one of the, one of the, one of the things that went most
viral and it was from the Bitcoin conference and it was,
it was a comedian and he was basically identifying the fact
that like a lot of most of the world's problems, you can
literally you can identify the root cause.
And the root cause of that is the government's ability to
create money for free. It's it's Fiat money.
And I forget what his name is Opti.
I don't know if, if, if you can remember off the top of his
head, off the top of your head, it was very Dave Smith, exactly,
very famous comedian. And he was on a panel with I
believe American Hoddle was on that panel as well.
Is that correct, McShane? I don't think American Huddle
was on that one. I'm sorry.
I can't recall who else was on the panel.
But yeah, Dave Smith has been really, really big into this
sort of libertarian narrative and really critical of, you
know, the government at president and really friendly to
Bitcoin, which we love to see. But I would like to point out
it's it's super fun. Like I have a really, really fun
job which is trying to bring new people into Bitcoin.
I know people, you know, come to a conference and they want to
see just bright orange across all stages and just tried and
true Maxis. And there is definitely there is
definitely a a place for that. And that's a beautiful thing.
But the way that we, as you said, insert Bitcoin into more
and more of the daily lives of people is taking some risks,
bringing in new people and educating them through their
participation in these, in these events and discussions and
getting them to meet, you know, all the folks that are, you
know, in the, in the comments showing up to these, showing up
to these events. And just just those touch
points, man, that's that's what it's all about.
So we're going to, yeah, we're going to see this is going to be
really interesting to go to Abu Dhabi and the MENA region, I
think because this is like the the gold bug capital of the
world. You know, we've got a lot of
work to do there. We've got a lot of people to to
convert there. And Bitcoin is, you know, halal.
It's the most Islamic form of money.
And we have a mission to prove that to these people and get
them to experiment with Bitcoin and try it. 100% and and just to
just to specify, it was Mark Moss and Guy Swan that was on
that panel with, with Dave Smith and it was it it.
And it's incredibly important with what you're saying,
McShane, because it's like when you bring in Russell Brand, when
you bring in these creators that got famous not by not through
Bitcoin, but they just got famous through the mainstream.
When they tell their audience, when they turn to the audience
and they say, you know, Bitcoin fixes a lot of these things, it
carries a lot more weight, right?
That's how you break the Bitcoin echo chamber.
I think you guys were incredibly successful at that at this
year's conference with getting comedians like Dave Smith,
getting people like Russell Brand, getting people like RFK,
getting people like Trump. And then you guys are expanding
it, right? You guys are expanding to the
Middle East as well. And what I'm most bullish about
is because it's coming up, it's right around the corner is
Bitcoin Amsterdam. By the way, you can use promo
code McShane to get 10% off your tickets.
Could you tell us a little bit about what you what you guys
have, maybe some some exclusive Intel for the simply Bitcoin
audience? Some exclusive Intel.
I think First off, I'm very, very excited.
This is going to be the coolest production and Bitcoin mainstage
you all have ever seen, guaranteed.
It's going to be absolutely insane.
I don't know if people saw what we did last year in Amsterdam.
It's two or three times as epic. And I can't wait to give these
big corners, you know, panelists, you know, these
fireside chats and keynotes, the the love and the production
quality that they deserve because they're on the world
stage now. And you know, we, we have to
scale to suit them because they're, they're absolute
superstars coming out. And I think it's a really
important event for Europe. I mean, we just see increasingly
hostile Bitcoin policy and and frankly freedom policies that
are that are gunning to take away yourself sovereignty and
take away freedom of speech across countries in Europe.
And we we have to have a response to that.
It's very important to be there and to send our message and to
make new friends and make new bit corners out of these people.
100% I think it's, it's incredibly important that you
have to plant the flag and you have to make your, your, your
voice heard. 100% You can't just give up on, on a, on a specific
continent specifically. Like, and I would, and I'll be
honest, like, like we're complaining about the US, but
like Europe has gone like, like right behind China, like
straight up so and, and, and, and you know, I'll, I'll even
say something, I'll say like, I don't think if people were fully
informed and were fully aware, I don't think they, they would go
along with it. I think governments are taking
advantage of the fact that people are not fully informed on
Fiat and fully informed on Bitcoin.
And that's how they're kind of sneaking in these dystopian
totalitarian regulations because I think if they fully
understood, they wouldn't go along with it.
That's my two sats on the matter.
And I do want to ask Opti have Sally dancing in front of me and
it's distracting. I do want to ask Opti.
Opti, you have dated Christine Lagarde in the past.
What did you do to her for her to feel so vengeful that she's
cracking down in Europe? Well, I pulled the card that
hurts women the most, and it's when you don't commit to them.
So I didn't fully commit. I tried.
I, you know, I did the best I could.
I wore a few silk scarves, but I just wouldn't give her
commitment. And that's why she's so spurned
out there. But yeah, you know, it is what
it is. So my, my dating life is not
what's on blast here, Nico. So let's ignore that.
But I do want to mention one thing in regards to what McShane
was saying before we go into some of these other topics and
wrap up today's show. Nico and I, I were sitting at
actually, we were texting back and forth while we were watching
the DNC. And the production was
incredible at the conference. It was like a Hollywood
production. And I think a week or so before
there was a Libertarian conference and we were
mentioning like, man, that like simply Bitcoin could have done a
better job at at doing the stream.
And then we were kind of also joking about that the RNC
production just wasn't up to par with the DNC production.
And that's like, I think people underestimate how important it
is to have really good production at these events.
So it is like it is an experience.
And so again, kudos to you, McShane.
And I'm glad that you guys are are, are seeing the same things
we're seeing. And like, we got to make sure
that this show that this is an experience.
So yeah, I can't wait to see what the live stream and stuff
like that. I'm not going to be in
Amsterdam, Nico. Well, let me go to Amsterdam,
but maybe next time. Maybe next time.
Nico, I did see you pulled up Vegas, so you want to, you want
to touch on that real quick. Yeah, absolutely.
So there's a couple conferences coming up for for BTC Inc.
Of course there is the Amsterdam that's coming up in October.
There is, there is Abu Dhabi that's coming up in December, I
believe. And there is the Bitcoin 2025
conference that is happening at the Venetian in Las Vegas May
27th to the 29th. My birth, No, I don't want to
dox my birthday, but let's just say it's around that time.
So it's the it's, it's around that time.
I didn't give you the exact date, but could you tell us a
little bit about why you guys? So you guys were in Miami, which
was awesome because I didn't have to get on a plane and you
guys were doing the conference in my hometown.
And it was kind of surreal, like seeing the Bitcoin conference
literally right where I grew up. And you guys decided to pivot to
Nashville, which was incredible. Great venue, great attendance.
I would say Bitcoin 2021 and Bitcoin 2024.
I would say Bitcoin 2024 went up that which is like, I don't, I
don't know how that's possible because 2021 was historic in in
my books. I thought the meme was that the
price crashes on the conferences.
What's going on here? Do price is noise, But the point
is though, is that from a from a milestone from a milestone
aspect and from breaking the Bitcoin echo chamber.
It was it was huge. I think what you guys
accomplished at 2024, but you guys have Bitcoin 2025 coming
up. If Bitcoin continues its its
price cycles, it should be the year of the bull market.
So everyone should be very, very hyped and you guys decided to
move it from Nashville to Las Vegas.
So it it you it changed a little bit from staying in Miami.
I think you guys stayed in Miami a couple years.
To changing from Nashville to Las Vegas, what was the
motivations behind that and what can you tell us?
What do you have in store for Bitcoin 2025 McShane?
Look, we got to take this show on the road.
We need to plant seeds all over the world and that's kind of our
that's kind of our mission here. I can tell you Vegas is going to
be the world's largest Bitcoin conference.
We're going to break our three previous records for holding
that. And I'm excited to go to a
completely new region and new city for me and kind of embrace
the irony of Bitcoin as this, you know, speculative, you know,
gamblers asset and just just really lean into it and onboard
new people, man, get them excited about Bitcoin.
Show them the the prosperity that Bitcoiners have enjoyed the
past few cycles and and and get them hyped.
Could you tell us anything? Could you, could you, could you
give us a little little sneak peek about Bitcoin 2025 in
Vegas? By the way, promo code McShane
is, is is available if you guys want 20 and and by the way, it's
early bird tickets. So you'll, you'll be getting a
very special deal on the Vegas tickets.
Could you, could you tell us, McShane, could you drop us a
little nugget? Oh, can I drop you?
How do we outdo ourselves? Look, I've got I've got 2 events
until then so. Fair enough, fair enough, fair
enough. But our track record speaks for
itself. I think I this is already
tracking to be the world's biggest Bitcoin conference.
Those early bird tickets are key.
I mean, you know, go ahead and get some, get some for your
friends and family. It's not going to be one you're
going to want to miss. We are on the level where there
is no one on earth that we can't get in touch with and have a
conversation about coming to speak at these conferences.
And that is kind of our mission right now.
It's just like who are the most important people that need to
get on board to help protect your rights, not only at here at
home in the United States and not just from a political
perspective, but from a cultural perspective as well.
So I think you're going to see bigger speakers.
I think you're going to see, you know, amazing production and
just, it's just a good time, man.
It's, it's not even just our conferences.
Like have you ever been to a Bitcoin conference where you're
like, wow, that was, that was not a good time.
No, these are people who think like you.
We're living our day-to-day lives just having these
conversations about Bitcoin. A lot of people in their heads.
If you're out in a rural area or you know, a small town, there's
not many Bitcoiners. Maybe your family doesn't get
it. It's very important to get out
and kind of network and spend time with Bitcoiners in real
life. And it's, it's very affirming.
It it it, it really makes you feel that, you know, I'm not
wrong, I'm not crazy. This is this is really not only
the future, but the present. And you could absolutely opt out
with Bitcoin and, and these are the events that makes it make it
happen. I would also add these are the
best places to get jobs in the Bitcoin, if you want to call it
an industry in Bitcoin in the world.
I can't even name how many great companies in the space have been
started at our events or how easy it is to meet people and
start a project on the ground at the events.
So I think if you're looking to exit a Fiat career, this is this
is the best quote, UN quote job fair in the world for that.
I completely agree. I completely agree.
On that point, Nico and I didn't meet at Bitcoin Miami, but Niko
literally came to me and was like, yo join simply Bitcoin and
I'm like. At Bitcoin, at Bitcoin 100%, if
you're trying to get a job in the industry, this is this is
where you network. This is how you meet the right
people. Before we move on, McShane, I do
want to highlight this because I think this is the first, you
guys are doing a Bitcoin conference in the Middle East,
specifically in the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, December
9th and 10th. So it is this year.
What motivated you guys to do that?
You were mentioning earlier about them being huge gold bugs.
Do you think that they can transition to seeing Bitcoin as
the new gold? That's my personal goal is to
get as many people on stage destroying gold bugs as possible
and to, to, to, to get them to allocate, you know, something of
their crazy Arabian royalty net worth into, into Bitcoin.
But along with that, this is a very exciting event because this
is one day after the F1 race. We're working on a, a
partnership with them. You know, one of the most
viewed, you know what we call it spectator events in the world.
There's going to be a number of really highly influential global
leaders and leaders from North Africa and in the Middle East.
There we're talking heads of state.
We're talking some of the wealthiest individuals and
families and and royalty in the world.
And I think I think it's going to make quite the statement and
it's long overdue. To my knowledge, there hasn't
been a really large Bitcoin only conference there, there, there,
there a lot of crypto, there's a lot of extended bloated
bureaucracy in the region. And I think our message just
will speak truth, truth to power in that area in a way that's
very refreshing for, for for people who live there, people
who are looking for an alternative way to live.
Absolutely spreading the Satoshi gospel guys.
By the way, you can use promo code McShane again, McShane to
get 10% off any of these conferences.
Highly recommend the Bitcoin 2025 and of course, Amsterdam.
That's coming up. And if you live in the Middle
East, Abu Dhabi, the United, the UAE is is is is a beautiful
country. You've never been there before,
highly developed, very, very nice Dubai, Abu Dhabi, very,
very nice cities and and definitely worth the journey of
the the pilgrimage. Anyways, I do want to pivot the
conversation. I want to take advantage of the
last couple minutes of the show. Nick, Shane, you were talking
about earlier before we went on air and you actually mentioned
it when you were talking about the conferences, this idea of
unplugging, right? This idea of I think 2024 has
been this year of of course, nostril, taking off AI, taking
off the Twitter algos, being highly manipulative and
psychological and getting into your fields and just getting you
like kind of in the fold. But you're talking about like
this idea of unplugging. You're talking about this idea
of just like, you know, like I, I've achieved bitcoins and I
know my bitcoins in cold storage.
I'm OK. I know my future generations are
OK. My life is on track.
I don't really have to be on social media.
I don't really have to be on the web.
So could you talk a little bit about that?
Because I think people are getting their dopamine receptors
completely hijacked by these very, very sophistic, very
sophisticated algorithms. Yeah, I think a lot of people,
you know, we spend all day evangelizing for Bitcoin and and
pushing people to hold it in self custody.
But a not too much conversation around what do you actually do
with your Bitcoin in your time, You know, several cycles in, I
think a lot of people will relate to this.
You start, you know, feeling pretty comfortable.
Life life is pretty easy. You're playing life on on cheap
mode by holding Bitcoin and you need to find new challenges and
ways to push yourself. And I think one of them is
breaking up with these. You have these basically drugs
that are being served to you all day through your food and
through through the endlessly entertaining algorithms, the
centralized platforms. And I found myself at one point
really almost living in service of these, you know, got to catch
the next news quick. Got to make a tweet about this,
got to produce more content. And I didn't feel good, didn't
feel good in my body, didn't feel good in my mind.
Got super into no sur where it was a lot more value for value
and not virtue for value. You know, people sending Bitcoin
around on the web and they they, they really appreciate it when
you're your authentic self. And you know, I think the less
time you spend on these sort of centralized platform platforms
that are serving you up likes all day, the the better you're
going to feel in your body. I think that's obvious intuitive
to a lot of us, but actually doing it is, is really hard.
You know, removing those apps from your phone, setting down
the phone, spending more and more time outside, soaking up
the sun all day is I think just an infinitely better way to
spend your time that is that's on par with a Bitcoin lifestyle.
Like that is a worthy way to spend your time, your energy,
and your Bitcoin. Everyone has to make those
decisions for themselves. There's a lot of nuances, but
but I'm kind of all in on that. I'm trying to move my life in a
direction that is, you know, completely free of these, these
addictions that have really snuck up on us as a society.
100% they're, they're, they're, they're digital drugs, like
really like I, I, I really see it as that, like they, they're
able to hijack your receptors in your brain with these
algorithms. And before you know it, you
spend a ridiculous amount of time on these apps when there's
a, you know, there's sunshine outside, there's grass to touch,
there's experiences to be had, right?
So anyways, we are getting to the top up of the show.
McShane, I do want to give you the floor if you have any final
messages for the 1442 people that are watching us live
between YouTube and X and then of course the couple 100 that
are watching us between Noster and Rumble.
What would those final words be? I would encourage all of you, if
you haven't already to give Noster a shot if you tried it,
you know, a year and a half ago, come back and see where we are
now and maybe even tune into this stream on ZAP dot stream
next time and give it a watch. It's amazing.
You don't give up any user data using most of these clients, not
at all. Only the information you choose
to serve up. You can operate anonymously.
You know, it's a free and open source protocol and you're going
to find yourself not being served basically engagement
drugs all day. You're going to have the freedom
of algorithmic choice. You know, we've got a long way
to go to make these platforms as easy and intuitive as the other
centralized ones with mega, you know, inflation funding.
But we're getting there, man. They're they're they're they're
extremely powerful and it's extremely fun to be in a
basically a niche new community. It's like finding Bitcoin in
like 2010. I I 100% agree with that because
I recently went through a deep platform deplatforming
experience and it wasn't until then that I realized the
importance of Noster protocols over platforms. 100% agree.
And then going down the nostril rabbit hole and figuring out how
to properly post content there. And by the way, shout out to
everyone that's helped Walker America, the CEO of Primal.
I'm going to butcher your name, bro.
I'm sorry, Kiran and the rest of you guys have helped me through
this kind of Nico 2016 Bitcoin newbie question experience.
I appreciate you all and we're going to continue putting all of
our content on there because I really, really believe in the
future of the protocol. So Alex McShane, thank you so
much for joining us on simply Bitcoin Live Today.
Really, really appreciate it guys.
Today was September 17th, 2024. This is simply Bitcoin live.
I'm your host Nico is my legendary Co host Optimus Fields
and our guest for today McShane, director of programming for BTC
Inc and the Bitcoin conference. Love you all.
If you guys enjoyed the show, make sure to smash the like
button, consider subscribing and share this content.
That's how we get the message out there.
Tomorrow we'll be live again from the I'm going to butcher
this if I don't read this The real World Unconfiscatable Suite
here in Las Vegas, NV with Tone Vase.
So stay tuned for that episode. Until then, love you all, go
touch some grass and we'll see you on the next one.
To you buy bitcoinwell.com, a Bitcoin only platform on a
mission to enable financial independence.