1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,000 Stacey, welcome to the University of Conference. 2 00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:04,160 Thank you for speaking on behalf of the government of El 3 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:05,720 Salvador. Great to have you here. 4 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,200 It's great to be here. You know I posted this on X and 5 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:13,160 people are so excited to watch it so I can't wait to get into 6 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:14,920 this interview. Amazing. 7 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:20,000 So you know, as we know, El Salvador was put on the map by 8 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,720 President B Kelly or last four years set of meteoric ascent. 9 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:28,280 Nobody really talked about it or, or cared about it before 10 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,320 20/21/2020. And now, you know, it's a 11 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:33,280 startup country. Why don't you tell me a little 12 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,480 bit about, you know, El Salvador and then yourself and your, your 13 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:37,920 position there? So first of all, my name is 14 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,000 Stacey Herbert and I am the director of the National Bitcoin 15 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:46,400 Office of El Salvador. I am in El Salvador because El 16 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:51,000 Salvador is Bitcoin country, as you mentioned that say at the 17 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:53,160 beginning of a network sort of state. 18 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,320 And the remarkable thing about El Salvador is Bitcoin country. 19 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,320 So everybody knows El Salvador is Bitcoin country, right? 20 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:02,880 You know what, your audience knows it, everybody knows this. 21 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,680 Now before that, like literally the month before that, if you 22 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,200 had Googled El Salvador, all you came up with was El Salvador is 23 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:17,680 homicide capital of the world. After it became Bitcoin became 24 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,680 legal tender, it was El Salvador is Bitcoin country. 25 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,840 This is one of the greatest rebrands in history, if not the 26 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,400 greatest, to go from murder capital of the world to Bitcoin 27 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,040 country within one single day. You know, The thing is, it 28 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,280 wasn't just, it was a rebrand, but it's also substance, yes. 29 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:36,640 I was just going to come into that. 30 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,640 Yes, yes, go ahead. Yeah, I mean, you can't just 31 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,400 have a marketing gimmick, especially with Bitcoiners, 32 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,200 right? So we have the new Layer One 33 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,720 capital, we have gold, U.S. Treasuries and Bitcoin. 34 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,440 So how are you, you know, going to get these best and brightest 35 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:59,040 in the world who are now have your attention, You have not 36 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,200 only the attention of the financial press, right? 37 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,640 And that's the most important press in the world because it's 38 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,360 not politics, it's not culture, it's not entertainment, it's not 39 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:08,800 local and domestic. It's international. 40 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,400 Wall Street media has international attention because 41 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:14,320 everybody wants to know what interest rates are. 42 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,640 US interest rates are what the stock market is doing, what gold 43 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:20,160 prices are doing. These are this translates 44 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,000 internationally. So suddenly, you know, when El 45 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,880 Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, the world's 46 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,320 financial press had to cover El Salvador. 47 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,840 They had no choice but to cover El Salvador. 48 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,240 They tried to at first be, you know, quite flippant and mocking 49 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,920 of us. But President Wood Kelly is 50 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:41,840 witty, he's smart, he's charming. 51 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:45,000 He's, you know, quite brilliant. And he just couldn't. 52 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,560 They then couldn't turn away their lens. 53 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,360 They kept on focusing on him and hoping he made a mistake, but he 54 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,200 didn't. Part of it is because he just 55 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,640 kept delivering actual results. It wasn't just a marketing 56 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:01,080 campaign because if it had been they would have sussed it out, 57 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,600 but they couldn't stop because he did. 58 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,080 We did start building real things and one of the things we 59 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:13,640 started with is that I knew that bitcoiners would suss it out if 60 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:15,320 it were just a marketing campaign, right? 61 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,480 We had to build real things. They they had the. 62 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:19,320 First thing was the security environment. 63 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,920 So that's why I think of him as Bikel Lee Kuan Yew, right, where 64 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:25,000 the first thing was physical security and then on top of 65 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,560 that, international capitalism. Go ahead. 66 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,920 Yeah, sure. You know, I'm actually reading 67 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:30,120 Lee Kuan Yew. I know you. 68 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,240 You're in Singapore. So you are a big fan of what Lee 69 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:35,880 Kuan Yew has done for a Singapore. 70 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,600 And many people compare El Salvador to Singapore naturally 71 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:46,240 because to small countries in tropical climate, no resources. 72 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,960 Now I'm reading from third world to 1st and one of the things 73 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,440 that strikes and has struck me about it was that he was very 74 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:00,760 much inspired by Israel, right? So that how Israel was a startup 75 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,320 nation that had with no resources and how they 76 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,840 leapfrogged to the top was through education, innovation 77 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,280 and discipline. So these are the things that we 78 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,680 also have in El Salvador. It's the discipline part of it 79 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:25,920 from the Bitcoin office is staying very focused on Bitcoin 80 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:27,520 country. This is what we are. 81 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:29,960 This is our brand. We've got the world's attention 82 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:31,800 with this. The best and brightest are 83 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,120 looking at us now we need to deliver not only the regulatory 84 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:36,800 framework. And remember at that time in 85 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,440 2021-2022, we had the Biden administration, we had Gary 86 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,960 Gensler and there was there was everybody was seeking some 87 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,040 regulatory clarity. So I said, well, let's give them 88 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:54,000 regulatory clarity and just do exactly because you know how it 89 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,040 is on in, you know, in America's backyard as they like to think 90 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:02,840 of Latin America is there was already a lot of blowback in the 91 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,000 US from the Democrats about El Salvador adopting Bitcoin. 92 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,240 And so I said, let's just do exactly what they're saying, 93 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,560 right. Let's let's build a regulatory 94 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:13,720 framework with what the builders want. 95 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,440 And what Gary Gensler is saying is Bitcoin is is a commodity. 96 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,880 Everything else is a security. So we built a regulatory 97 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,880 framework around that to invite people to have we have the 98 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,840 regulatory clarity, right, like come, come build here in El 99 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:29,920 Salvador, but. I really, I really appreciate 100 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:34,880 that, which is you built a platform that actually, you 101 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,360 know, one might disagree or agree with whatever regulations, 102 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:39,000 but you actually built a concrete thing. 103 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:41,840 It wasn't some vague regulation by enforcement. 104 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,240 You said here's what's permissible, here's the process. 105 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,360 You can come in and actually you manage to bring in Tether, which 106 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,880 is, you know, like a top 20 global bank or what have you at 107 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,800 this point, as well as obviously Bitcoin Beach and a bunch of 108 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:57,720 other things. Exactly. 109 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,680 So I mean, this is the regulatory clarity, but on top 110 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:07,280 of it, definite brand, right. We're not just like everything. 111 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:12,400 We're not, you know, we're not, you know, it's a very specific 112 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,240 brand. So if you look at INSEAD, that, 113 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,840 you know, the well known the French business, yeah, the 114 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:21,440 French Business School, it's a very, you know, prestigious 115 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,080 Business School. And they looked at El Salvador 116 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,520 just last year. And what they saw was that the 117 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,240 Blue ocean strategy, which is a very famous strategy, right, in 118 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,320 business. And that at a country level, 119 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,320 they're saying this is a country strategy where they clearly 120 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,120 define themselves apart from all of the rest of the countries in 121 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,480 the world, not just the region is they are Bitcoin countries. 122 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:47,560 That's like, and, and so you're naturally already attracting not 123 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,160 only wealthy people, but the best and the brightest and the 124 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,720 smartest, right? The smartest people in the world 125 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,560 got Bitcoin early. You're an early Bitcoiner, like 126 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,600 all the like you obviously looked at El Salvador, right? 127 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,680 As soon as we adopt A Bitcoin as legal tender, you're like, what 128 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:06,440 is El Salvador and you wanted to know more? 129 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:07,520 Well. That's right. 130 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:12,320 Now, The thing is, I, I, I do think it also shows, I mean, you 131 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:14,760 know, it is, it's a little self regarding to say all as far as 132 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:16,640 people are. But I do think there's a lot of 133 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,280 very talented computer scientists, investors and so on 134 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:23,040 who were contrarian and correct on, on Bitcoin. 135 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:28,880 And it showed that President Mckelly has the soul of a tech 136 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,920 founder, right? The soul. 137 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:32,360 That's really the important thing. 138 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,240 It's like a tech founder who is running the country, who has the 139 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:39,800 right balance of different things, you know, and, and and 140 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,720 you know, is, is, I mean, he's only 40 something, right? 141 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,040 43, yeah. 43 right? So still has lots of runway in 142 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,160 front of him and is also, if I'm not mistaken, one of the most 143 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,320 democratically popular elected people in the entire world. 144 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,480 Exactly. Something like 92% favorability 145 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:00,120 rating. Nobody else has something like 146 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:00,960 that. That's right. 147 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,720 And so that means that there's consensus for what he's doing, 148 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,800 it's legitimate and it's competent, which is the best 149 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:08,440 combination. Yes. 150 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,920 So you're right. Like he is like a Steve Jobs. 151 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:13,920 He is like an Elon Musk. He has that. 152 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,360 He has a vision. And you know, to be a great 153 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,320 leader, you need quite a few things. 154 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,560 It's not just, you know, otherwise we would have more of 155 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:25,600 them right in, in history. But there are only a handful. 156 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:29,080 There are many heads of state, but there are only a few leaders 157 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:33,480 that ever arise. And that is somebody who is so 158 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,840 bold, right? Imagine this. 159 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:42,280 El Salvador was a failed state even before he became president. 160 00:08:44,039 --> 00:08:46,880 President Buchelli was saying things like where El Salvador is 161 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,240 going is to the place we want to be. 162 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:54,240 So he said that in 2019. And like the audacious sort of, 163 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:58,480 you know, vision, bold vision of saying like El Salvador might be 164 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,560 a failed state right now, but you know, in a few years, like 5 165 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:02,960 years, we're going to be at the top. 166 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:04,520 And you know what, he took us there. 167 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:06,280 He took El Salvador there. Like there it's. 168 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,680 Actually, it's actually crazy. I mean, The thing is, you know, 169 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,320 for the fact that people even know the name of the country 170 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,960 outside the country was, was, I mean, it's, it's interesting 171 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,640 because countries now are volatile in a, in a sense that 172 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,640 they they weren't before when we were, you know, in the 80s and 173 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:26,720 nineties, 2000s or pretty static. 174 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:28,960 What countries were in good shape and what weren't? 175 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,960 And just vaulting from murder capital the world to something 176 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,240 that's attracting from murder capital to global capital or 177 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,040 from murder capital to Bitcoin capital. 178 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:39,880 How's that right? Go ahead. 179 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,960 Yeah, well, we're building capital markets on Bitcoin. 180 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:47,160 That was the intention. That's what I knew we could do. 181 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,640 We already had the brand, so let's build the capital markets 182 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,640 because you can't. You can't become a Singapore. 183 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:57,320 You can't become a global economic powerhouse without 184 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,880 capital. So we needed either gold, U.S., 185 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:02,840 Treasuries or Bitcoin so we could. 186 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:03,520 Get it? Did you do gold? 187 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:05,800 Do you do you also hold gold? Yes. 188 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:07,440 Yes, yes. President Luke Kelly just 189 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:11,440 recently purchased $50 million worth of gold for I don't know 190 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,560 how many ounces that is for the central bank, but we do have 191 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:16,360 gold. We we, we've had gold for a long 192 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:17,880 time. The previous governments had 193 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,560 sold some of it, but he's stockpiling it. 194 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:23,000 So we have the layer one money we have, we're on AUS dollar 195 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,280 standard. So we already have U.S. dollars, 196 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,200 we have gold and we have Bitcoin, so. 197 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,040 Amazing. However, we have a competitive 198 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:34,120 advantage with Bitcoin, right? So this is the new capital 199 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,760 markets that even Wall Street is now piling on up. 200 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:41,480 Remember when we first adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, there 201 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:45,400 was so much blowback from the global powers, right? 202 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:48,080 The big, you know, multinational. 203 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:50,640 Yeah, yeah, yeah. The government of the United. 204 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:51,720 States and all these kind of guys. 205 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,160 Yeah, and the Biden administration and all the 206 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,640 Democrats, and it was, you know, pretty nasty. 207 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:02,360 But now, like, BlackRock has one of the most, well, it is the 208 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:05,120 most successful Wall Street financial product in history 209 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:07,800 launched. But we were there first. 210 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:11,040 President Buchelli saw that first, and he stuck with it. 211 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:15,160 Like I was there. I started working for him right 212 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:17,560 as the whole gang war started as well. 213 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,400 So the gang war started. But remember, what also happened 214 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:26,160 was Terra, Luna, FTX, Celsius, all of that happened. 215 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:31,680 And Bitcoin went from like 68,069 thousand down to 60. 216 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:32,920 Thousand. Yeah. 217 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:34,160 So it's 60,000, right? Yeah. 218 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:39,440 So you have the world media looking at you, the world 219 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:43,040 financial media, especially Bloomberg wanted us to fail. 220 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,080 They wanted they didn't want this like who is this tiny 221 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:48,000 little country? And why is this guy so 222 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,120 confident? Like this is like, you can't, 223 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,760 you can't be us. Like you can't be successful. 224 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:54,880 Like you know how that works, right? 225 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,000 People don't want to see somebody transform on their own 226 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,280 without your help, without your NGO, without your humanitarian 227 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:04,760 organization, without your pennies that you throw to them. 228 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,200 You didn't, and they're not. Really, even they're not, and 229 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,880 that's the biggest thing, is they did not want El Salvador to 230 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,680 stand on its own 2 feet. They wanted to be a pawn. 231 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:15,800 They wanted to, I mean, these, quote, humanitarian 232 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,440 organizations. You know, charity is dependency, 233 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:21,480 investment is independence, right? 234 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,680 India also learned that, you know, but go ahead. 235 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:25,760 So go. I'm listening. 236 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:30,840 That's exactly right. And so where was I when, when 237 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,440 that happened? So we, we got the world's 238 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:38,680 attention and we, so I started working there when all that 239 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:41,240 Terra Luna, all that stuff happened and Bitcoin went down. 240 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,360 And you know, he just remained. He had President Bill Kelly had 241 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,280 the vision and he knew it was transforming El Salvador. 242 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,600 He knew it had rebranded and he knew we were building something. 243 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,720 Yeah, he stuck with it. And I was, you know, I had been 244 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:56,960 around, you know, I was the first person to mention Bitcoin 245 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,600 on global television in 2010 at $0.23. 246 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:03,080 So I, I had been through many like, crashes and stuff like 247 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,320 that. So I, I, I, you know, for me 248 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,040 individually, it didn't matter. But I could see like the there 249 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,080 was a pile on from Bloomberg and they were, Oh my God, this is 250 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,240 going to be a failed state. When did you join the Bitcoin 251 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,960 office? So we created the Bitcoin Office 252 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:29,120 by executive decree in November of 2023, maybe 2022, yeah, 2022. 253 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,800 But I had started working, you know, from like January, 254 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:32,680 February of that. Year. 255 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:35,120 So they they did it right in the month that FTX blew up, 256 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,080 something like that. Yeah, well, F yeah. 257 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:39,880 When did FT? Yeah 'cause FT. 258 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,000 First it was Terra. Luna blew up in like April, 259 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,680 which is the beginning of the gang war. 260 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,880 And so that at first, you know, during the gang, with the very 261 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:55,840 first days of the gang war, Max and I, my husband Max Kaiser and 262 00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:00,240 I were there in El Salvador and the gang war started and what 263 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:02,920 the US immediately. What was the gang war for people 264 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:08,320 who don't know what that was? So the gang war is so we were 265 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:09,840 there. OK, so on. 266 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,200 It was something like 2425 of March 2022. 267 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,440 Max and I flew with Ricardo Salinas, the third richest man 268 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:23,280 in in Mexico, and he is a Bitcoiner, early Bitcoiner, and 269 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,120 we flew with him from Mexico City to El Salvador. 270 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,960 We had dinner with President Buchelli on like the 24th or 271 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,320 25th. It was a Thursday in March of 272 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,840 2022 and then literally the next day. 273 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,680 And so we were bringing him there, as, you know, a Latin 274 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:43,320 American billionaire, a tycoon, business tycoon. 275 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:45,960 And we're like, OK, come invest in El Salvador. 276 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:50,840 And then the next day, over the course of the next 48 hours, 277 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,880 there were 87 murders, just random assassinations by the 278 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,280 gangs. You're trying. 279 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:01,120 To take back control of El Salvador after President Kelly 280 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,680 of reduced crime. Yes, and so it was the bloodiest 281 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,040 weekend in the murder capital of the world. 282 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:12,880 Like it was historic bloody weekend so the president started 283 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,840 the gang war. So basically since then really 284 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:17,440 the. War the war on gangs the. 285 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,120 War on gangs, yeah. He, he, he, he went after them, 286 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,320 locked up 80,000 over the course of the next 18 months of all the 287 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,120 gangs. And it was quite easy to find 288 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,480 them because they tend to put a tattoo on, of course. 289 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:32,080 Yeah. It's like here I'm, I'd, you 290 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,160 know, I'm marketing El Salvador here. 291 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,600 They were marketing MS13 or, you know, gay terrorism. 292 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,120 They were, you know, they were designated terrorists. 293 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:43,920 And so they, you know, they started, he started arresting 294 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:46,760 all of these gang members immediately, hundreds and 295 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:52,280 hundreds at a time. And one of the things, so Max 296 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,880 and I were there and the US government were, was 297 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,600 immediately, of course, all those human rights organizations 298 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,320 were like, this is against the human rights of these gangs who 299 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,680 had terrorized the the people of El Salvador. 300 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,680 Now, where we were staying was in San Benito, which is like 301 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:09,840 Beverly Hills of San Salvador, right? 302 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,200 So we, you know, it's not like we had seen that. 303 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:19,240 But I knew that, you know, there were like Soya, Pango, Ilepango, 304 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,360 Apopa, these areas in San Salvador outside of the center, 305 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:25,800 which were basically occupied by the gangs. 306 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:27,880 You couldn't drive in. You had to like, go through 307 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,760 their, you know, checkpoints. So he was liberating them. 308 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:35,680 We knew because we were there on the ground. 309 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,920 But the media was saying that, you know, the human rights of 310 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:42,920 these gangsters and some of the Bitcoiners at that time, they 311 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:47,080 were, you know, not in the country, but they were, oh, 312 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:52,320 look, the US is saying that this is bad news there and the human 313 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,080 rights of these gang members. But Max and I were there and 314 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,360 what we did is we went into those after about four or five 315 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,600 weeks. So there were maybe 20 or 30,020 316 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:06,599 thousand guys locked up by then. But we went into the gang 317 00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:11,079 occupied areas because I would see the president tweeting all 318 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:14,319 the time, like we arrested these guys in Apopa, these guys in 319 00:17:14,319 --> 00:17:17,720 Ilapongo, you know, these guys in Soyapongo. 320 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,640 And so that's the, that's the first I ever knew about these 321 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,839 areas, the specific names of the areas that had been occupied by 322 00:17:24,839 --> 00:17:28,240 these gangs. And so Bit Fenix at that time 323 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:33,000 had raised a $2,000,000 worth of Bitcoin to give away to the 324 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,000 victims of gangs. And so we took that money on 325 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,560 this exact phone. I have Jamie Dimon on the back 326 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,400 flood. So I took this and I went into 327 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:50,520 those areas to distribute Bitcoin to the people, a lot of 328 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,360 the small businesses individuals. 329 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:57,400 I was given $500 up to 2000 three, $1000 to certain like the 330 00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:59,120 the marching band and Soya Pongo. 331 00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:00,960 I gave him $3000 worth of Bitcoin. 332 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,520 I went into a town hall in Soya Pongo where 8 couples were 333 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:08,320 getting married. They had a group wedding to save 334 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,520 money and I gave them each $2000 worth of Bitcoin. 335 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,320 You know, it was very emotional because one of the couples like 336 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:17,920 fell on the ground crying because you know, it was so it 337 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,360 like was a lifesaver for them and a start to a new life that 338 00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:25,200 they didn't expect to have. Like we had just walked in and 339 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:27,800 gave them this money and it was like mana from heaven. 340 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:29,960 Like it was just like, wow, what is this? 341 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:35,800 But we saw like contrary to the press for our own eyes at this 342 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,360 point, because we went into these areas and we saw that 343 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:41,000 these were liberated people, right? 344 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,440 We could see for we were talking to them for hours. 345 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,360 It's not like we went in for half an hour. 346 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:49,760 We were there for hours without any security, without whether it 347 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:51,320 was just me and Max and my phone. 348 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:53,200 And so we were giving away this money. 349 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,880 Hundreds of people were surrounding us like looking, you 350 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,480 know, for some these Bitcoin donations we were giving. 351 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:05,200 So but we talked to all of these people and we could see very 352 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,760 early on that this was a genuine liberation. 353 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,600 There was no doubt in my mind at all after meeting these people. 354 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:16,280 So, so we could see that the war on gangs was working, that it 355 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:21,680 was liberating the people because they were a force for 356 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,800 plunder, right? They were plundering not only 357 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,040 money. When when you saw photos of if 358 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:32,080 you look back to the 2022, you'll see all these guys being 359 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,400 arrested, the gang members, the terrorists being arrested that 360 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,880 they were. They had nickels and Dimes and 361 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,520 pennies, stacks of them. They were stealing nickels from 362 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:48,640 people like this is how. Yeah, they were stealing the 363 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,880 last nickel a guy had in his pocket. 364 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,400 That this was the sort of extent of the humiliation that had to 365 00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,720 be endured in these communities. And President Buchelli liberated 366 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:06,960 the people from these gangs. And what it did is it that began 367 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,560 such a radical transformation of the mindset of the Salvadoran 368 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,320 population, because until that point. 369 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:19,120 The the only hope you had in life for success, if you weren't 370 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:23,920 born into it, was to flee your country, to abandon. 371 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:29,360 Question which is how did President Kelly like somewhat 372 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:32,080 brought the gangs under control by 2021 and then this is like a 373 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:34,800 relapse and then this was then the second dose of medicine, so 374 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,600 to speak? This was an all out war on the 375 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,720 gangs. This was a total. 376 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,480 OK, go ahead. This was a total pivot of he 377 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,520 knew he had a huge vision. As you said, he was like a tech 378 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,360 founder. He had a vision for how huge and 379 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:56,680 how amazing El Salvador would be. 380 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,840 Because remember what he said was where El Salvador is going 381 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:04,040 is to the place we want to be. And what these gang members, 382 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:08,160 these terrorists were saying is like, no, because we could mess 383 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,240 it up for you. We could terrorize the 384 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,120 community. We can kill and assassinate 87 385 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:16,400 random innocent people in the course of 48 hours. 386 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,960 And he's like, no, my vision is for greatness. 387 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:24,000 And so if you're standing in the way, we're going to remove you. 388 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:29,120 And he removed them all. He like he's that was his focus 389 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,200 for six months for sure, like completely on on getting these 390 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,080 gang members the first like hardcore 4050 thousand of them. 391 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:39,920 And then then we could build like. 392 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,600 Then we could start to really build something. 393 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,800 And then the consequences. El Salvador's homestead rate has 394 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,120 just dropped to 1 of the very lowest in the world now. 395 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,280 It just went from like murder capital to Bitcoin capital. 396 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,440 Murder capital to Bitcoin capital, but you know, having 397 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:59,880 been there for this whole time is the the mindset like what you 398 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:03,200 gave people is is so hard to even put a number on it. 399 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,880 It's not just the number the the homicide rate, it's not just the 400 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,120 GDP. It's you gave people like their 401 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:13,880 humanity back like they could love their country, they could 402 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,440 have pride in their country. They could build a future they 403 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:18,280 could have hope for their children. 404 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,560 They could be human. They could experience their 405 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,760 their, the beauty around them. El Salvador is such a beautiful 406 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:26,720 country. It's shockingly beautiful. 407 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,360 It has beautiful oceans, it has volcanoes, it has like just 408 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:36,520 these tropical paradise. And yet so many Salvadorans 409 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,720 weren't even able to, even though it's a country, they 410 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:44,360 weren't even able to travel like an hours drive away because of 411 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:46,880 the danger from the the the gangs. 412 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,240 So you gave them so much that could not even be quantified by 413 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,280 anything because you just gave them all of the things that, you 414 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,440 know, an American might take for granted, which is freedom and 415 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,240 what freedom gives you and freedom of association. 416 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,440 Like they didn't have freedom of association. 417 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,920 Like think of these, this is a foundational human right that we 418 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,800 have in America. Now think of the the human 419 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,960 rights organizations that then we're looking at El Salvador and 420 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:19,480 like condemning the actions of the president when he was giving 421 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,960 them back like these basic human rights, like freedom of 422 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,560 association. Now they're free to go and hang 423 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,920 out with whoever they want, wherever they want. 424 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:30,640 This. Is great. 425 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,640 I want to switch gears a little bit and say what is? 426 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,680 Also, what has El Salvador been doing with AI, particularly in 427 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,080 the realm of education? I've been working on the Bitcoin 428 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,880 policy and regulatory framework and, you know, building the 429 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:46,880 strategic Bitcoin reserve. We have the world's first, we 430 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:51,680 have a now a regulatory, we pass a law that would allow for 431 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,920 Bitcoin banks. So we have that. 432 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:59,040 So I was already looking at El Salvador as building a 433 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,840 regulatory framework that would appeal to the best and brightest 434 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:06,520 in the world to attract them to come to El Salvador and build an 435 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,280 El Salvador and bring that capital here. 436 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:14,040 And as you know, there's been a lot of convergence over the past 437 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:21,080 few years between Bitcoin and AI and the AI from Bitcoin miners 438 00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:26,480 also doing AIHPC, the data centers and the investment 439 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,200 community and the same builders and engineers. 440 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:34,720 So on my X feed, I was starting to see, I saw opportunity. 441 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:44,480 So what I saw was that the US was unable to act at a national 442 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:48,280 level on this exponential technology. 443 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:53,400 Exponential innovation is happening and we were stuck in 444 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:59,760 these states, some states very hostile to innovation, some more 445 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,480 favorable perhaps, but on a national level, they were 446 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,880 unable, the US was unable to act. 447 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,200 And you saw that President Trump tried to put into his big 448 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,920 beautiful bill this, that he would ban states for a few years 449 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,120 from regulating AI and it would be done at the at the national 450 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:19,720 level that that was pulled out of the big beautiful bill. 451 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:26,800 So what was happening is all these countries, we're the first 452 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,120 country in the world to have a complete regulatory framework, a 453 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:34,440 a policy framework around AI. And the reason is most countries 454 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,920 are waiting for either the US or EU, one of the big blocks to go 455 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,680 1st. And the EU therefore is going to 456 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:47,320 be the benchmark if somebody else weren't the benchmark first 457 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,160 because the US is not going to be able to move. 458 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:54,040 So I said, well, that's, you know, the EU is like fining, 459 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:58,200 regulating, preventing, banning, like it's very hostile to 460 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,560 innovation. We, there's an opportunity here 461 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:06,600 for us to attract more of the best and brightest, right? 462 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,840 Like we like they want to build these people want to build these 463 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,360 AI geniuses and engineers. It's exponential innovation. 464 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,760 Let's provide a a regulatory clarity and a framework for them 465 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:22,920 that they'll come build in El Salvador and that's what. 466 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,880 And So what is what, what specifically are the like? 467 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:27,440 What should we look for like online? 468 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,520 Is it, is there an AI bill is there, what's the name of the AI 469 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:31,720 regulation? Maybe we could put that on 470 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:33,560 screen? It's AI law. 471 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:35,560 It's right now on my Twitter feed. 472 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,520 I'll pin it. You could look at Stacy Herbert 473 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:43,720 on X or Anya ANIA, the AI agency of El Salvador. 474 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,320 And it's the AI law, right? And we're also passed the robot 475 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,680 law, but we have to write the regulations still on that. 476 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:51,560 But what is done? Do you? 477 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,400 Have a Bitcoin law? You have an AI law? 478 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:55,080 You're coming up with a robot law. 479 00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:57,360 Yeah, pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 480 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:02,480 It's cool because you can see what I have seen through. 481 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,880 This is why there's always somewhere that is lightness, no 482 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,840 matter how dark the age gets, there's always a place for 483 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,600 lightness because of competitive advantage. 484 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,440 Like if everybody else wants to be dark. 485 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:19,040 If else, if, if the EU wants to ban and, and restrict and, and 486 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,480 prevent innovation, well, that gives us an opportunity, right? 487 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,640 Because you can't stop innovation. 488 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,760 You can't stop builders from building, so why not provide 489 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,600 them with a safe harbor to build what they want to build? 490 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:36,600 And that's what we've done. So we, we have this opportunity 491 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,200 because everybody, because we could act fast, because 492 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,280 President Buchelli can act fast. He has the 92% support from the 493 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,920 population he control, you know, he the population elected his 494 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,720 party to the assembly, to the Congress. 495 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,920 He, he has a vision that the population believes in and he 496 00:27:55,920 --> 00:28:00,680 can act fast where many other countries are just torn apart by 497 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:06,240 fear of, of these innovators, fear of change, fear of losing 498 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,320 their power, whether it's like Bitcoin separating money from 499 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:14,680 state and AI is separating, you know, the infrastructure of 500 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:16,320 governance from the state, right? 501 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:22,200 Like it these AI, the, the, the tools that AI is giving are so 502 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:28,200 liberating to the people in such a profound way that there's a 503 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,720 lot of fear there. But in El Salvador, we don't 504 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,600 have the fear. We, we, we, we have hope and, 505 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,560 and, and we're building for a future that the best and 506 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,360 brightest are going to come to El Salvador if we provide the 507 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,400 framework for them to tell them, hey, we want you here. 508 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,600 A lot of these countries remarkably are, are just saying 509 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:50,680 no, we don't want the best and brightest. 510 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:54,800 It's it's, it's pure insanity, but it's an opportunity for El 511 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:55,560 Salvador. It's. 512 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,000 Well, so that gets the next, that's the next thing that you 513 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,440 guys are doing. You have the, I think it's you 514 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,440 could become an El Salvador citizen for I think is it a 515 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:04,840 million in Bitcoin? Is that right? 516 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,560 A million in Bitcoin, it's like almost instant. 517 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:11,880 It's very fast. We are rolling out some other 518 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,760 programs, including the president had announced last 519 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,720 year, but we're you know, we're changing the regulatory 520 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,920 framework for this the legal framework to he's going to grant 521 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:28,480 a 5000 passports to the best and brightest in the world in. 522 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:29,800 Great. So talent search. 523 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:33,360 Talent search but including like this is the first that's ever 524 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:37,720 done like philosophy as well like so we're looking for 525 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:44,520 philosophers and you know it it when when you compare countries 526 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,200 like you know you to try to understand the situation, 527 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,160 especially somewhere like El Salvador that was so unknown 528 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,320 before people compare it to other times or other places. 529 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,440 But it is the El Salvador model it is President Buchelli. 530 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:02,720 He's a unique individual that you know there has been nobody 531 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,760 quite like him. You can kind of compare him to 532 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,320 some people Lee Kuan Yew, Steve Jobs like, but. 533 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,320 Simon Bolivar is also an interesting, yeah, essential 534 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:12,520 comparison, right? Yeah. 535 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,040 So he's unified a lot of these people, but he's President 536 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,080 Buchelli, right? He's Najib Buchelli and he, 537 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,040 there's nobody quite like him. But with the philosopher thing 538 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,560 like that, that gives a level of of a sort of renaissance. 539 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,280 Sure. That it is not simply the tech 540 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,000 or the OR the you know it is. There's also the. 541 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:35,280 Finance, Exactly, yeah. And that's something unique that 542 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,320 say like a Singapore doesn't have like that's not something 543 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,760 that they cultivated early on. It was very focused on. 544 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:47,480 LKYLKYS books, you could consider it to be philosophy, 545 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,840 but you're right that they were less focused on, let's call it 546 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,320 the liberal arts and so and so forth, and more focused on 547 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:55,880 construction and building and so and so forth. 548 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,280 It's kind of more of an East Asian thing or what have you. 549 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:00,160 But go ahead, yes? Yeah. 550 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,800 So we are focused on something extraordinary, right? 551 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:11,760 And what think of the times of Florence, Like how did a city 552 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:17,720 state of like 40,000 people, 50,000 people have such a huge 553 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:23,040 impact on not just that city, but humanity and history? 554 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:29,400 Like, OK, Medici was a rich guy, but you can't, you have to 555 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,520 inspire that. You can't just like purchase it 556 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,240 because there were other rich guys. 557 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,440 There were other Dukes of other city states. 558 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,880 Why didn't they inspire all of the extraordinary, The eight? 559 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,440 It's not just the art. It's not just Da Vinci and 560 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:44,320 Michael Lamb. Absolutely. 561 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,200 It's a, it's a synthesis. It is the capital, it's the, 562 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,280 it's the execution. It's the art, it's the 563 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:51,560 philosophy. It was the age of discovery, It 564 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:53,640 was the astronomy, it was the accounting. 565 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:59,480 It like you can do that right through inspiring, like Medici 566 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,240 himself didn't build any of it. He inspired others. 567 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:06,680 He attracted others to his city to do the extraordinary things. 568 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:08,440 And that's what we're doing in El Salvador. 569 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:12,000 So what is El Salvador doing to attract global digital nomads 570 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,200 and tech startups like, for example, Tether? 571 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,880 What El Salvador is doing to attract global digital nomads is 572 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:24,160 we are introducing 0% tax for many of the sort of industries 573 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,640 that they would build in. We are we have a very 574 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,240 responsive, fast acting government that can respond to 575 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:40,680 their needs very quickly. We are introducing easy pass bus 576 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,880 pathways to citizenship or permanent residency, whichever 577 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:51,680 they prefer. We have the, our brand is 578 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,160 important to entrepreneurs because just through 579 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:59,400 association. So think of how Silicon Valley 580 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,960 happened and how the Internet and and tech companies came 581 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:05,600 there. You had capital, you had the 582 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:10,240 universities, but the brand value of Silicon Valley added to 583 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:14,640 a startup also was a brand enhancer to the company to 584 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:19,440 attract capital. So our our brand as El Salvador 585 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:24,480 is now a cool brand if you wear this hat any I was just in New 586 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:28,040 York City walking around everybody, everybody was point 587 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,960 like people, the hotel clerks like taxi cab drivers, 588 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,560 everybody's like El Salvador like asking about El Salvador 589 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,000 because it's a cool brand now, right. 590 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,800 So you could distinguish yourselves as being part of El 591 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,600 Salvador. As you mentioned tethers there 592 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:49,040 Why? Because El Salvador is a brand 593 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,920 enhancer, even to one of the most profitable companies in the 594 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,360 world, right? It's a brand enhancer. 595 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,800 It's a place to be cool. It's a place to distinguish 596 00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:01,080 yourselves amongst a sea of competitors around the world. 597 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:07,000 I think El Salvador is Bitcoin Country is such a powerful brand 598 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,679 and we own it alone. If you go and search on Google, 599 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,120 and I know Google's kind of messed up now at Google. 600 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,679 No, no, for sure. If someone says what's the first 601 00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:20,440 Bitcoin country, it's El Salvador and it's still, I think 602 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,719 the only country where it's formerly the national currency, 603 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:24,760 yes. So go ahead. 604 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,159 Yeah, no. If you search Bitcoin country, 605 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,960 the flag of El Salvador comes up on a Google search. 606 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:35,440 If you search crypto country, El Salvador is in there, but it's 607 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,679 you, you have to hit the button for it. 608 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,040 See more. The first one's the United 609 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:44,040 States, Canada, it's like it's hundreds of countries, but only 610 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:46,480 one Bitcoin country and. So. 611 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:48,600 That's amazing. That's great. 612 00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:50,120 Absolutely. And it will, it will have a 613 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,960 place in the history books. So now one way I think about El 614 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,840 Salvador is, you know, President P Kelly is a reaction in part to 615 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,440 the twin ills that plagued Latin America over the 20th century, 616 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,160 which were money printing and drugs, right? 617 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,800 And so by cracking down on drug dealers and, and jailing them, 618 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,600 he restored order. And by cracking down on 619 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,080 effectively money printing, by introducing hard money, he's 620 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,280 restored monetary order. And that is spreading in a 621 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:22,960 positive way where he is influential beyond El Salvador's 622 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:24,880 borders. Many people in Latin America 623 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,880 look up to him. I think Argentina and Malay is 624 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:30,480 is a friend of President the Kelly. 625 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:32,400 You know, they're going through their own kind of thing right 626 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:34,480 now. But basically, I think in part 627 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:36,760 the markets in Argentina were reacting to that, that the 628 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,800 President Malay may not get his bills and so on through. 629 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:44,360 He has less, you know, that says say the meltdown is not caused 630 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,080 by Malays policies. It was caused by the possibility 631 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,080 that his policies may not be pursued. 632 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,160 That's actually, you know, part of part of what's happening. 633 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,360 But we'll see what happens in there. 634 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,720 I'm rooting for President Malay. But more broadly, Latin America 635 00:35:56,720 --> 00:35:58,560 is being inspired by President B Kelly. 636 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:00,240 I think he's very popular across the region. 637 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,720 Are there any other countries that are inspired by what 638 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,920 President B Kelly is doing that are, you know, mimicking it? 639 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,600 How do you think about that? The B Kelly model on security 640 00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:14,600 has swept Latin America. And America, actually. 641 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,160 And yeah, and the US parts of it, that's true. 642 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,240 That's true. That confidence, that 643 00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:24,080 discipline, that is so important, that discipline is 644 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,600 lacking in so many countries, right? 645 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:30,480 And it's partly to do with the apparent success of money 646 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,240 printing since the global financial crisis of 2008. 647 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:37,520 There seems to have been no sort of negative consequences to it. 648 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:42,680 But El Salvador has a disciplined model and a 649 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:47,520 trailblazing pioneering brand and reputation. 650 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:52,560 And I think that that sort of that vision that else out that 651 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,800 President Buchelli has as a tech hub and to be able to act on it 652 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,200 and deliver like our regulatory framework, for example, with AI 653 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,480 is super streamlined, is the the law is simple and the 654 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:10,200 regulatory, the regulations to accompany the law are just 13 655 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,280 pages. We don't have 500 page 656 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,000 regulatory regimes of like all this burden that you must have, 657 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:21,400 you know, abide by. So I know for a fact that we are 658 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:25,440 already our our tech regulatory framework. 659 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,120 Our tech framework is inspiring other countries. 660 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:34,240 I know that, you know, certain, you know, certain big countries 661 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:39,520 in the region are who had been working on their own AI 662 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:43,400 regulations based on what the EU is building. 663 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:44,920 I know for. That's terrible. 664 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:49,400 Yeah, yeah. So I know for a fact like 665 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:55,360 Mexico, I'll say like that they have they're starting to look at 666 00:37:55,520 --> 00:38:01,280 El Salvador instead the what El Salvador has achieved more pro 667 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:06,240 innovation and less hostile to innovation and and business. 668 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,600 So we are more. Adversarial fix fixing the 669 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,800 downsides without giving up the upsides. 670 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,840 Exactly. We are providing a positive 671 00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:20,120 example like we are leaders because we have a leader in 672 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:21,440 charge, right? He. 673 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:22,560 He. That's actually a good way of 674 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:24,280 putting it. You are leaders in Latin America 675 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,000 because you have a great Latin American leader. 676 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:30,560 Yes, yes. And, and it's not like there 677 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:33,760 hasn't been a a great Latin America leader in a long time. 678 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:38,480 And he's, he's, he's, he's very clear thinking and has a very 679 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:42,240 clear vision. And it's, it's, you know, until 680 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:46,240 you see it, like, you don't realize, like how important that 681 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:50,560 is, right? To have a confident leader with 682 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:54,040 a clear vision is half the battle. 683 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:58,960 That's like a lot of it's remarkably when you look at it 684 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:02,400 around the world, like what are The Who are the leaders of 685 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:04,840 Europe, right? Where is the clear vision? 686 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,680 What what is their destination? What do they want? 687 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:11,600 Can you describe it? No, you can't because they don't 688 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:16,320 have one. And that's, you know, that's a 689 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:21,880 poor result of of the political systems that are there and in 690 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,600 the EU. But El Salvador has fixed that 691 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,520 like we have now, a leader with a clear vision. 692 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:33,600 And he aims to be great, right? Like he aims for El Salvador to 693 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:35,800 be great. What he said in 2019 was where 694 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,320 El Salvador is going is to the place we want to be. 695 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:43,240 And so, you know, you need to know where you want to be and in 696 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:44,920 order to get to where you want to be. 697 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:49,120 So he knows where he wants El Salvador to be and that is 698 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:50,920 great. And, and we're already like 699 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:53,520 there, like we're, we're on the global map. 700 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,640 Like you said it at the very beginning of our conversation. 701 00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:59,000 El Salvador is on the map, right? 702 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,320 We weren't on the map before. If you knew about it. 703 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:07,960 The only coverage that ever happened in the US or hardly 704 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,920 ever in the EU is. If there were like a 705 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:16,200 particularly gruesome weekend of of murders or chaos, right, 706 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:18,440 like. So, so actually, so now, so on 707 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:22,640 the like, basically this is now a place where I think digital 708 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:26,800 nomads, I, I assume you'd say people who are into star 709 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,040 societies, into network states should come and visit El 710 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:32,000 Salvador, build an El Salvador is that, would you agree with 711 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,480 that? There, it is so easy to come 712 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,760 there. You even to get a residency 713 00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:41,600 permit is very super easy. You could just we have a digital 714 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,680 nomad visa essentially so when you arrive you could stay for 715 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,600 180 days, right? That's the tourist visa. 716 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:53,760 It's like you just show up and you stay for 180 days every 717 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:55,840 single. The thing about El Salvador as 718 00:40:55,840 --> 00:41:02,280 well is that there is a huge sense of optimism and you can't 719 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:05,080 underestimate how that feels as a, as a builder. 720 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,600 So if you're, if you're, if you want to build and everybody 721 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,160 around you is depressed and things are getting worse for 722 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,520 them, it's not a great environment to build in. 723 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,400 But in El Salvador, everybody is happy. 724 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,920 The, the locals are happy. All the, the, the millions of 725 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,040 Salvadorans that had to flee over the past few decades to the 726 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:24,240 US, they're all returning. They're building, they're 727 00:41:24,240 --> 00:41:27,080 excited. There are the best and brightest 728 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,000 around the world in El Salvador building. 729 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,160 And President Buchelli also points out all the time, one 730 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:34,720 thing about El Salvador is in the tropics, right? 731 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:39,800 It is, you know, tropical country, but it has all the way 732 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,720 up to you could live at a constant temperature, whatever 733 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:49,200 you like, whether it's 90°F every day or 50°F every day if 734 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,280 you if you want to live up. If you want to look cold or look 735 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:53,160 hot, that's great. Yeah, yeah. 736 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:56,600 So you could you could live in a cold part of El Salvador. 737 00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:01,960 For many people who want to visit El Salvador from Asia or 738 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:07,160 from, you know, Europe and so and so forth, many flights go 739 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:10,600 through the US. And a non obvious thing, maybe 740 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,560 you're aware of this, the US actually requires a so-called 741 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:19,000 transit visa. So that if you are even going 742 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:23,600 through to the US for a stop at the airport, you need a visa, 743 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,040 which is a huge deterrent for people to visit because it's a 744 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:30,640 whole process just for it like a, you know, a stop, right? 745 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:39,000 So nonstop flights to El Salvador from Singapore or maybe 746 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,680 Heathrow or Dubai. Reason I mentioned Singapore and 747 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:46,280 Dubai is those are two giant global capitals. 748 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:50,280 If there's something to subsidize would be air 749 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:52,760 connectivity, because there's obviously a lot of Bitcoiners 750 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,560 in, you know, Dubai, a lot of Bitcoiners in Singapore who 751 00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:00,040 would want to visit. And that is something I think 752 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:04,040 you should consider to bring more capital and, and, and 753 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:05,920 talent there. And probably Emirates or 754 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:07,720 Singapore Airlines, you might talk to them about that. 755 00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:11,040 If there's one kind of deal that could be on your table and then 756 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:12,520 I could send more people over there. 757 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:14,040 I'm sure Dubai could send more people over there. 758 00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:17,200 Right. So I'll give you some reasons to 759 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,320 come visit in November. It's Bitcoin month, so there's 760 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:24,040 several Bitcoin conferences. I'm putting on a conference at 761 00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:29,040 the National Palace in Central Historico November 12 and 13. 762 00:43:29,240 --> 00:43:32,880 It's going to be something quite extraordinary, unlike anything. 763 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,000 And I've, I went to the first Bitcoin conference in 2011 in 764 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,960 Prague and I've been to many of the Bitcoin conferences across 765 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:40,520 the years. This is going to be an 766 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:42,920 experience. We have a festival sort of 767 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,480 environment during the day with learning being experiences, 768 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:49,960 cultural experiences, you know, technical discussions. 769 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,840 If you, if you want to get into the dev talks on a separate 770 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:55,920 stage where there right now in Bitcoin, there's a lot of 771 00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:59,320 fighting going on. But on the mainstage, which is 772 00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:02,200 the National Palace from 4:00 until 8:00 PM, we have these 773 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:06,720 very sophisticated cultural talks and conversations and, and 774 00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:10,400 philosophical conversations from people like Ricardo Salinas, 775 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:13,240 Jeff Booth, We have Jack Mahler's, we have big names 776 00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:16,000 coming. It's going to be a very elegant 777 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,360 affair. November 12th and 13. 778 00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:20,840 And right after that, there's another Bitcoin conference, more 779 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:25,320 like a tech devs and pleb vibe at adopting Bitcoin. 780 00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:29,680 And so that's a reason to come now. 781 00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:32,840 You can visit that@bitcoinhistorico.com to 782 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,080 find out information about our conference that the Bitcoin 783 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,000 office is putting on. OK. 784 00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:39,880 OK, good. So we'll put that on at the very 785 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,280 last, this very last thing we'll put on Bitcoin Historico. 786 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:44,920 OK. Anything else for network 787 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,520 Staters to to know about El Salvador? 788 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:48,840 Anything. Any any other words? 789 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:52,280 Well, in Bitcoin, we have that phrase don't trust verify. 790 00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,960 And you really must come and verify for yourself that this 791 00:44:55,960 --> 00:45:01,480 transformation that has happened in El Salvador is more it's very 792 00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:04,000 deep, it's very profound, and it's very real. 793 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,960 And you have to come see it for yourself because you have to 794 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:11,440 feel it to understand just what hope feels like, just what 795 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:15,840 optimism feels like, just what strong men creating good times 796 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:18,120 like. It's been a long time since 797 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:21,760 we've had that right in the West, that transformation, that 798 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:24,000 sort of transformative moment in history. 799 00:45:24,240 --> 00:45:25,520 We're going through that right now. 800 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,640 And it's it, it You come to El Salvador, you're going to want 801 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,840 to stay and you're one. You're going to want to build. 802 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:33,360 Yeah. You'll have that build 803 00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,360 excitement. That energy will go through you. 804 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:39,840 That's great. And so I am, I, I, I, I do think 805 00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:42,560 people should visit and I want them to see for themselves, send 806 00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,040 photos. And thank you very much, Stacy. 807 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:47,560 And thank you to the Government of Salvador for appearing at the 808 00:45:47,560 --> 00:45:49,120 Number State Conference. Good to be here. 809 00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:50,160 Great. OK.