0:01Yo, what is going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Jack Maler Show. I am your host Jack and you are listening to the first ever edition of what my team is calling Yo Jack. I don't know about that name.
0:19You guys let me know. I dig it. I get it. Uh but what is Yojack? Yo Jack is our new form of Q&A. So if you missed the announcement, I built a website ask.jack jackmowers.com where you guys can submit audio questions because I want to hear from you guys. I want to hear your voice and I wanted to dedicate videos to just doing pure Q&A, not trying to cram it into a live stream or cramming into another segment. Just
0:46spend time once a week listening to your voice and answering your questions. So, without further ado, I'm stoked for this. This is going to be so much fun. Uh let's do it. So the first question is from totally anonymous. There's an opportunity to submit your name and your email. You could leave it blank. So this is an anonymous question. And here we go. The first one.
1:11Why is your closet empty?
1:16This these videos are going to be so fun. Why is my closet empty that I'm sitting in? Uh okay. Um, when I first moved into this place, uh, I had work to do that day. I had, uh, actually I had a media segment. And I've told this story a few times. I don't remember exactly what it was. I want to say it was a podcast with Pomp. Uh, I would think I was on the Pomp, what's his podcast
1:46called? The Pomp podcast or the Pomp show or something like that. Um, I think I was doing that. whatever it was. The day I moved in, I had media to do and I'm new to the house and I'm walking around like, man, what's the best room to work out of? What's going to be my office? And I'm telling you guys, if you guys saw the house, you would be like, this is the best room. I got a nice view of Chicago and it's spacious and it's kind of off. It's not in the core part of the house. It's kind of off towards
2:14the master part of the house where my bed is and where my room is and stuff. And so I was like, "Okay, this is going to be the office." And I set up my now at the now I have an actual desk, like a real working desk, one of the ones you can like uh turn standing or sitting.
2:32But at the time, this was obviously prior to me moving in, the prior owner, this was his wife's closet, which I know, crazy. But when I toured the place, there were Lou Louis Vuitton bags and Gucci bags and red bottom shoes, the whole nine. Swear to you, the whole nine. And what used to be where I'm sitting was a makeup desk. And so, I mean, talk about living it up. Um, this woman's makeup desk was looking over
2:59Chicago. There's a still to this day there's a wine cooler sitting to my right totally empty like the rest of the closet but there's a wine cooler and this was a makeup desk and I put my laptop on the makeup desk and I join the pump podcast I record the podcast and I I mean I have [ __ ] to do I just started working out of this room now fast forward a few media segments uh go by maybe I was on CNBC or something and everyone on the internet is like is this
3:28guy really trying to change money out of an empty women's wardrobe. And to be totally honest with you, it hadn't really hit me because I didn't really care. Um, it never really mattered to me what I looked like or what I sound like or what my background was or what my resume was, right? I didn't go to college. Then none of that really mattered. Especially when you're talking about monetary policy or open source
3:58software. I mean, you growing up in Bitcoin, you come from a culture of the guy that created this thing is anonymous. Like, we don't care what he or she looked like or where they went to school. We don't even know. It doesn't matter. What m cipher punks write code.
4:15What matters is the proof of work. And so, it literally had kind of slipped my mind. And then by the time the internet was kind of like turning it into a meme, I had real I was like, "This is hilarious." I kind of fell in love with it myself, but it was a total accident.
4:30It was not on purpose. I was not subliminally sending a message or anything like that. That's the dead honest truth. I wish that I had like the mimemetic genius insight to, you know, send deeprooted messages by leaving the closet empty. Now, why is it still empty? Because it's a meme. And I've grown into I think it's hilarious.
4:53Because then it started to take on a life of its own where I would join CNBC or I would go on big podcast or people be like, "Oh, the guy that was involved in legal tender in El Salvador. What is just this babyface looking [ __ ] sitting in an empty women's wardrobe?"
5:10And like, yeah, damn right. And you know what I think, and again, this was all subconscious, but I think what resonates is, or at least what I've always believed in is authenticity. I think the world is dying for authenticity. We've had enough of politicians. We've had enough of big corporate. We just We want real. We want raw. We want authentic.
5:33We're tired of perfecting the background to give me legitimacy. Putting on a button-up shirt so that people take me seriously. Oh, did I mention I go to Harvard? Oh, did I mention that I work at Goldman Sachs? How many of these people like uh this person former Goldman Sachs he worked there from 1998 to 2007. Who cares? That was like 30 20 years ago. Why is that relevant? Oh, to give them credibility to make sure you take them serious to make sure that in
6:02the social hierarchy they stand above you. So that when I join CNBC and I have a button-up and behind me is not an empty women's wardrobe, it's a family photos and the degree from Harvard and my Goldman Sachs diploma certificate, whatever. And I think it's just like I don't care about any of that. And the truth is none of the world really truly cares about any of that. It's all projected insecurity garbage. We're all like trading and and I just think it's
6:31ridiculous. And on top of that, America is now like fullon like crazy consumerism where we're running these massive deficits and we live to consume and everyone's in their eyes of debt and you couldn't there's not enough Bitcoin in the world to get me to fill this thing because I don't care. I'm not I'm never going to buy Gucci bags and put them in my closet. I literally I own the clothes that make me comfortable and I own bitcoins. That's all I care. I don't
7:00value these other things. And I think whatever version of that that was just my subconscious living, like if you guys think this room is hilarious, you should see the rest of my house. Like it's like there's more to life for me than some of these things. And to each their own. I mean, I'm not going to tell anyone else how to live. But I think some of that like resonated. Now obviously there's a part of the internet that's like you know gets all wound up about well how how can we take this asset class
7:30seriously if this is well like first of all jackass I'm not the CEO of Bitcoin and that's the first thing to understand about Bitcoin is it's not mine it's not anyone so I'm going to dress and perform however I want and that's my sovereign right so there's all these people that are like blaming me for how I like design my own property and my own house but then there's a lot of folks that resonate with the raw, authentic, real.
7:55Let's make it about proof of work. Let's make it about code. Let's not make it about diplomas and what's on the shelves and what my house looks like. Oh, you guys can't take me seriously unless I put on a suit. Like, come on, grow up. So, I don't know. That's the truth. It's a It's an awesome room to work out of.
8:12And at this point, it's a meme that's kind of like outgrown me in a way. Like, you know, my fiance obviously when she first met me was like, "Oh man, there's so much I can do with this room." I'm sorry. Uh, this room's not going anywhere. You could do whatever you want with the rest of the house, but this this room this room is for Bitcoin. I don't know. Hopefully, that's a satisfying answer. Uh, with that, let's go on to the next question.
8:38This is from Casey. Shout out Casey. All right, Jack. First of all, love this concept. Keep it up. Don't ever stop. Um, thank you, brother. Appreciate that.
8:55All right, Jack. First of all, love this concept. Keep it up. Don't ever stop.
9:00Um, my question for you is I teach a Bitcoin and money course to junior high and high school students and we're starting uh we start class September 16th and many times my kids have a ton of good questions and so my question for you would be if my kids if I have a really good question I would love if they could ask you a question and get a response. um because I've I've used a
9:29bunch of your clips in my course, your uh a lot of explanations. Um used your I've used quite a few of your um uh you know the chop up videos that you do as well. So um kids know you would love if they have a good question. I'd love to be like, "Hey, let's ask Jack."
9:48So that's all. Just curious if the kids could come in and ask you some questions um and see if they can get a a good answer from you. That's all, man. Keep it up. See you.
9:58Man of the people, Casey. That's what they're saying. I didn't say it. That's what they're saying. That question is awesome. What do you guys think? We let the kids ask a few questions. I say I was going to say a curse word. Kids show. Hey, kids show. Be careful now.
10:16PG. No. Rated G. PG. Kids show. No cursing. Uh, yeah, Casey. I would say 100%, dude. Um, I tell you what. Dang. I would tell you an an email to like because I you know what would be better than the kids asking a question. Even if like the kids wanted to send in a video, I'd play it here. Um so shout out to teacher Casey, Dr. Casey, Professor Casey. I'd say yes 100%.
10:44Um uh if I say the email, then everyone's going to send to the email and pretend they're Casey.
10:53Dylan. Oh, actually Casey submitted his email. I see it here. Dylan, we're gonna reach out to Casey. 100%. I'd love to hear from the kids. Um, and if the kids are comfortable and you're comfortable, whatever the comfort level is, whether it's audio, video, both, none of the above. Let's make sure we get some kid questions on the show. No stupid questions in Bitcoin. That's a rule.
11:15Foundational rule. Uh, awesome. All right, let's go to the next question. Hold on here. I have them in my notes.
11:27Aiden is question 52, I think. Shout out to all you guys, by the way, that submitted all these. I mean, I got a ton. This is so cool. I think so. You guys will be the judge, but I think so. All right, let me shut up. Uh, I got to keep these under 30 minutes in my opinion, and I'm already almost at 12 minutes, so I got to shut my mouth. Aiden, let's hear from Aiden.
11:52Yo, Jack, it's Aiden. Longtime listener, first time caller. Uh, this is super cool, by the way. Like, good idea. Thanks for adding this to the show. Big fan. Um, first time I heard you or discovered you, I uh heard you on Rick Rubin's podcast and that honestly is kind of what branched me into the world of Bitcoin as heavily as I am now.
12:17Um, I guess my question to you is what relationship do you see between like Bitcoin and art and how do you think that'll continue to flourish into the future?
12:31Like I know at your latest keynote you talked about it kind of how we're entering a human renaissance, but I would love to know what your take on that is. Thanks.
12:43Shout out to you, brother. I really appreciate the question and to all the nice words all you guys this is cool as hell man to like I don't know be in this closet talking shop with people all over the world giving you guys an opportunity to call in hearing your voice it changes things doesn't it like it's different than YouTube comments and stuff hearing people's voice this is fun man this is really cool so I appreciate it dude I'm glad you found the Rick podcast really quick Rick story first time I met Rick I
13:12was in a cold plunge I'd never cold plunged before. Imagine getting in a cold plunge. Literally me and Rick. Mono emano. I'm staring into the eyes of one of the greatest. Cold as [ __ ] So God kids show. Sorry Casey. I was cold. Um so that's a story for a different time.
13:29Bitcoin's relationship with art. And you referenced the keynote I just gave. So I'm going to try and reiterate and articulate my thesis here. And I'll use Bitcoin and AI. So firstly I think that the story of humanity is largely commercializing energy from the sun. you know, the human story in large part is really our relationship to energy.
13:55And when I say commercialize it, um really take, you know, the energy source of planet Earth and of our species is that big orange yellow thing in the sky.
14:07And commercializing it is taking that energy source and turning it into things like caloric energy and being able to eat a ribeye and digest it and use that for energy. things like uh being able to fly a plane, uh hydrocarbons, gasoline, where our ability to commercialize energy, consume energy. There's a direct relationship between the quality of life in the flourishing of a civilization or of a country or a nation and their energy consumption. Whenever politicians
14:36are ragging on you for using energy, my dad always told me, "A politician's opinion is a politician's position. They're not being honest with you.
14:45They're trying to defend their political position. You know, if there's energy inflation, they're going to blame you for using too much energy. Where in reality, human flourishing is all about access to energy. Who has a higher quality of life? Who is more efficient?
14:58And who is more effective as a human being? The person that can travel the world on a plane or the person that has to walk, you know, would you rather walk across town or would you rather drive? Would you rather fly to Europe or would you rather take a kayak? Would you rather eat leaves off a tree or would you rather have a ribeye? You know, the the higher form of energy, that's the story.
15:22Now, how does it relate to Bitcoin, AI, and and art? Well, I view Bitcoin and AI as the latest technologies that are commercializing energy for us humans to flourish. AI is literally turning electrons and energy into intelligence. Think about that for a second. It's it's the intersection between intelligence and energy and making it cheap and accessible to all. It's democratizing access to intelligence and information which is a huge unlock for everybody.
16:01And I mean, listen, we can debate at the margins on whether these companies are profitable or not and whether they have good intent. This whole effective altruism thing that Sam Bankman Freed got caught into and blew up FTX and stole 10 billion from everyone, it seems like anthropic and these guys are in the same cult. We can debate all of that stuff, but the innovation itself, which is commercializing energy from the sun, finding a way to use energy and intelligence and make the marginal cost of intelligence and learning and
16:30information effectively zero and making sure that that's accessible to all. We are not far off from every single person in the world having a smartphone in their pocket, access to the internet, access to intelligence, and now I bring in the Bitcoin part, access to property and hard money. Bitcoin in the similar vein is commercializing energy. This is energy based money. I mean Bitcoin at the end of the day was taking this concept of proof of work and money. This
16:59technology that is money that humans have had since the dawn of our species is our ability to capture value and either move it through space or move it through time. our ability to capture value in order to place a place a premium on our future, right? And and combining this technology with energy and commercializing that energy, capturing that. I mean, you go listen to a sailor podcast and hear him talk about
17:27this. So, I see AI and Bitcoin as a continuation of this story of human civilization, which is really the story of commercializing energy from the sun.
17:38Now, what's the interface with art?
17:41Well, my thesis is that humans are naturally artists. I do not think humans are naturally I and I think that's the natural human state. I think that's what makes us uniquely human. I never I do not I I think the world is is increasingly going towards a Bitcoin standard and the world will be AI generated with a human finish. But my point of a human finish is humans will always be better
18:07at intuition, at culture, at expression, at at art, at in intuition.
18:14These are these are naturally and natively human. No machine will be able to learn these things. These are human generated like in our fibers. And I think we're naturally artists. And when I say artist, I don't necessarily mean musician or painter. I consider my job to be an artistic expression because I'm at the end of the day trying to create mediums for people to relate, to connect, to understand, to vibrate, to be motivated. I mean, in the same way
18:44that a Kanye West album could be uniting and motivating and expressive, I think a podcast I can I do can hopefully do the same thing. ignite the same emotions, bring about the same joy or inspiration for people. So when I say art, I I mean in this broad term and to contrast that against a lawyer that hates their job or an accountant that hates their job or no one dreams of being a compliance
19:11associate. You know, I think that what has happened through the destruction of money, let's stick to the money thing in particular, is that, and I've talked about this, when the United States decided to be the world reserve currency, print a lot of money, and we enacted this globalism where we're going to basically export inflation and export jobs and labor. So, bluecollar labor, the middle of America, all exported all over the world. So, whether it's Germany or China, they're building the stuff
19:39that we consume. And then what do we build and what do we export in return for our car or our electronics or our chip fabs? Well, it's these like hyper financialized jobs. hedge fund manager, legal work, trader, and and you it's this white collar ends up being and I don't want to be too like I don't want to insult people and uh you know overcharacterize here,
20:09but a lot of this work ends up being described as fairly soulless. Like you're doing people's taxes for your life. That's your life's purpose. That's nobody's life purpose to do people's taxes. It's nobody's life purpose to slit through to sit through drudgery of like legal compliance work. But that's the American dream nowadays is you go into incredible amounts of debt to be a lawyer. You go through incredible amounts of debt to be a big four accountant. You go through incredible
20:38like the American dream is be a hedge fund manager. And so anyways, you get a misallocation of talent and of human capital.
20:47where one of the smartest guys I know that I grew up with. He's a trader, but he's a quantitative trader at one of these big massive trading firms on Wall Street. And his job is pee off, payment for order flow. So the whole story of like Robin Hood traders like their data gets sold to these firms and these guys, smartest guy I know, he's writing math equations on how to make money on everyone else's Robin Hood trades. Now
21:15that to me, imagine if that guy was in was able to pursue art in the all all of the in in in his expressive most natural, intuitive, motivated sense. Or what if he were, you know, like we have a rare earth problem in the United States. What if that guy was working on rare earths? What what has this system that we've designed persuaded him to do in order to have the
21:44dream to own a home to be able to afford a family to be healthy to get the ribeye instead of have to eat ramen noodles?
21:52What does he do? He becomes a mathematician, quantitative monetiz and and create as a founder, instead of solve America's rare earth problem. You know what I mean? And so I think Bitcoin and AI allow us to be artists again because if
22:19the AI can do the legal work, if the AI can do my taxes and Bitcoin can protect my time and energy, you know, the Wright brothers invented People say, "Well, we can't innovate without being able to print money because how are we going to afford the ability to experiment?" I call [ __ ] The Wright brothers invented the plane on the gold standard.
22:42If you read the story, they were comfortable enough to take risk because the gold under their mattress was going to take care of their future. They were good. They didn't worry about debasement. They didn't worry about inflation. They were optimistic about the future and felt secure enough to dream and to try. I consider the Wright brothers an artist in a way. It's an artistic artistic expression of where they wanted the world to go and how they wanted to inspire. And not only were
23:09they innovative in creating flight, but think about all they inspired. Think about how big we can dream, the relationships we can have because we know that we can travel and see the world and how more connected we are. We understand each other more. The empathy that that's built throughout society.
23:27Do you understand? So if we have a money that nobody can print, that nobody can debase, that nobody can censor, that can actually protect our time and energy, and then we are also commercializing energy to democratize access to intelligence that says no robots. You, you be the lawyer, you do the accounting so that we can create, so that we could pursue, so that we could think freely, so that we could be optimistic, so that we can spend time together.
23:54That's the relationship between these technologies and art. And so I actually think that we are on the cusp of an art renaissance where I think everyone when when Elon Musk says there's no one's going to have a job anymore because there AI is going to and people get doom and gloom about that there will always be money. And I've explained this this is for a separate conversation. There will always be money because there will
24:21always be scarcity. Humans want more than they can actually have forever. And that is scarcity. I want a Lamborghini, but I can't snap my finger and have it. It's easier to want it than it is to have it. That right there is scarcity. And that scarcity requires us to monetize. And money will always, always, always be needed. But Elon's Elon's correct in this idea that the jobs that people have today, they won't
24:49necessarily need in 5, 10, 15 years. And people get freaked out about that because it does sound threatening. But my thesis is that if you have incredibly hard money and you live in a deflationary time where because you have hard money, everything around you is getting cheaper, it's getting more affordable in Bitcoin terms, housing for me has gotten more affordable, food more affordable, travel more affordable, vacation more affordable, family more affordable. My dream house used to be 10,000 Bitcoin. Now it's a couple Bitcoin, right? Or whatever, five Bitcoin. And so if everything around you
25:18is getting more affordable, your money is hard, and access to intelligence is easy, then you can be an artist.
25:26You don't need to be in the rat race trying to get a promotion every year, or else you're never going to get the house, you're never going to be able to have kids, you're never going to meet the love of your life. What if these things were accessible and you were optimistic about the future and you felt safe and you felt secure? You could be the Wright brothers. Why can't you? In today's world, you don't have the time to think about flight.
25:47you you're too stressed out. You're too occupied. You're running on a treadmill and making no progress. So AI and Bitcoin, I think, will I think these technologies empower the artist.
26:05Bitcoin's given a guy like me the opportunity to say, "Hey, I got these sats in cold storage and no one can touch these. No one can confiscate these. No one can debase me debase these. Why can't I build Strike? Why can't I go build the global financial institution? Bitcoin afforded me that opportunity to dream and to believe in myself and to think and say, I'm not going to go commute and do an accounting job that I don't like. I want to create the Bitcoin company that I want to be a
26:34customer of. But Bitcoin allowed me to do that. If I was living paycheck to paycheck and I was worried about owning a home and I was worried about falling in love and I was worried about what if my future wife wants to have four kids, how I'm gonna pay for those kids?
26:46They're gonna want to go to college. I don't have to worry about that because Bitcoin's got my back. And now with AI, I'm able to host a show, guys. You know, the staff for this show, there's no staff. All the slides and all the stuff I'm doing, AI's got me on that. I digress. Long answer there. Sorry. There's no way these shows are going to be 30 minutes.
27:09So, I got time for one more question now because I'm just running my mouth. I apologize. Great question, bro. Really good question. I appreciate you calling in. Uh, you got me wound up there. I'm I'm hopeful for the future. That's another thing these technologies do.
27:25Human beings, we're different because we're optimistic. We're optimistic because our money allows us to play place a premium on the future. That's that delayed gratification. That's that lower time preference. If you hold a good money and you're able to take value with you tomorrow, you could believe in tomorrow.
27:44You could value tomorrow more than today. When the money's bad, the best time to spend it is right now. That's monetizing and and valuing today more than tomorrow. That's a destructive society. So all all of these technologies make us more hopeful, make us more optimistic, make us more loving, make us better artists. So I think the the douchebag uh oh I I went to an Ivy League school and I work for this hedge fund and I
28:14should get in front of you in line and I should have this and I should have this because of my credentials and because of this and this and that. That white collar work will get disrupted. In order to provide value in the world in future generations, you're gonna need to be an artist. You need to be able to express, relate, communicate, create. I don't think Oh. Oh, cool. You You studied more at school and you're better at taxes.
28:38Well, guess what? It doesn't matter anymore. We democratized access. We've commercialized energy and used it to democratize intelligence. It doesn't matter that you're better at filing taxes. That's never what being human was about. And finally, we can move on from that and get back to who we are.
29:00All right, one more question. Let's see here. Maybe two more. Dylan's going to kill me. He wanted this to be 30 minutes. Sorry, bro. Uh, let's do Stephen question 36. Here we go. Let's hear from Stephen.
29:23Do you think you'll ever add anything in your closet or is it officially just a empty ass closet that's a recording studio?
29:32Uh, I guess that's a repeat question. My bad. Uh, officially an empty ass closet. Uh, you can listen to the beginning as to why, but I think the the power of the meme the power of the meme compels you. I might have botched that. I'm not sure. Um, it's it's it's the meme, man. It's the meme. I got plenty other space in the crib for decoration. Okay, last one. I don't know how to pronounce this.
30:04Uh, Fibbo Fibosuani.
30:11Let's see. 24 and then I'm out of here.
30:20Hey Jack, this is Fibos Swani here. Uh I have a uh a pinned article on my uh uh ex account. Uh so if you look that up and have time to read it, which I'm sure you don't, um but I've been thinking a lot about something that I call the great Bitcoin amnesia. uh Bitcoin is succeeding beyond what most of us has imagined, but we're increasingly measuring uh that success by ETF flows, corporate treasuries, banks custody,
30:48lending products, and institutional adoption. And at the same time, I hear le far less uh discussion about running nodes, holding keys, UTXO management, privacy, peer-to-peer transactions, and actually minimizing trust. Uh I know that you've been out on the airwaves talking a lot more about this and I do appreciate that. Uh but I don't think institutions or convenience are the enemy. Uh my concern is that Bitcoin could succeed spectacularly
31:18uh as an asset while most people slowly forget what made it different in the first place. Do you think there's a risk that we rebuild the old financial system on top of Bitcoin and eventually end up with a decentralized monetary protocol that most people only access through centralized inter intermediaries?
31:40Uh, and if you do, what should ordinary Bitcoiners be doing right now to make sure we're not just getting richer in Bitcoin terms while quietly giving back the freedoms uh, Bitcoin gave us? That's my question. Thanks, dude. Thanks for all you do. Later.
31:57Wow, what a good question. Perfect one to end on. Okay. Um, man, who knows how long I'm going to go here for this one.
32:08Um, listen, first of all, and this just my opinion, okay? You know, I'm not the CEO of Bitcoin. Sometimes that needs to be reminded. Why do I think more of the conversation in the media and these influencers on Twitter and stuff? Why is it like look at these ETF flows as opposed to look at nodes or look at the latest release of Bitcoin core, look at this new feature in, you know, uh data propagation or or or minor
32:38decentralization because uh I think that the former is just more relatable. It's easier to digest. It's easier to understand. You know, at the end of the day, I talk about this often internally at Strike. Bitcoin is a wealth transfer which implies, you know, a lot of the people adopting Bitcoin have existing wealth, old school wealth, analog assets, and are demonetizing those like a real estate portfolio or a basket index of stocks and they are monetizing
33:07actively this Bitcoin thing. And so you obviously the wealth is transferring from old analog assets to this new, you know, digital perfected version of money. And so a lot of these things like ETF flows or it's the digital version of gold. I think these things carry further uh whatever newspaper, media, magazines because they're more relatable because they speak a language that more people understand. I would not forfeit the notion that they're perpetually cooler.
33:36It'll always be that way. You know, Bitcoin's time preference is so much lower than ours because Bitcoin's going to have a block long after you and I are gone. You know, I've said often, we're on Bitcoin's time. Bitcoin's not on our time. So much do I wish that we get to hyper Bitcoinization while I'm alive and that people understand what you and I understand while we're alive. But not only is that not guaranteed, that's not likely. You know, the world the world
34:03the whole uh can remain insolvent far can remain irrational far longer than we can remain solvent. Things unfortunately take time. And so I just think that these things are easier to relate to, easier to understand. That's why they travel further. It's why they propagate further. If CNBC could get views and conversation off talking about nodes, I bet they would. But it's easier to meet the world where they are as opposed to bring the world to where we are. Now, we
34:33get benefit in my experience as a Bitcoiner. You benefit from being early to where the world is going. And that's what you know, if you can run a node, if you can self-custody your Bitcoin securely, if you can use Lightning in a self-s sovereign way, you carry benefits, whether it's privacy, sovereignty, a lack of counterparty risk. Now, there's starting to be conversation, real conversation of people saying, "Hold on a second."
35:02You know, what if the US government starts to, you know, seize assets in the ETF and and freeze withdrawals and say, "You can't buy or you can't sell." And people are starting to like I'm seeing gold bugs say hey what's the equivalent of owning a physical bar of gold in case the US government like really starts to get nasty here because you know Bessant and these buybacks and wars and things are starting to heat up and the debt problems only getting worse and the tax receipts might and for people that know how to run nodes that have been doing this for years we
35:31benefit from being early but I just wouldn't expect the it's always going to be easier for media I mean at the end of the day, we're still in this attention economy and and in order to get attention, you have to meet people where they are. You have to speak their language. You have to relate to them. You have to humanize it. Um, in Bitcoin, you Bitcoiners like myself fall victim to that as well. Like if if in order to orange pill someone, I call it digital gold. Fine, it's digital gold. I mean, it kicks gold's ass in every single metric. It's not gold in any gold being in the same sentence of
36:00Bitcoin is an embarrassment to Bitcoin. It's a shame to what Satoshi invented.
36:04But I mean, what can I do? Sure, you want to be that's how you understand it?
36:07Whatever. Fine. [ __ ] it. So that's on the I wouldn't take it personally. You know, let that go. It's fine. Um that you know the uh you know people have asked me like is do you ever get offended that people call you crazy and call you an idiot or call you an [ __ ] and then one day realize you're right? I said no. Every genius was an idiot until the second that they were right. Every
36:35single one. the big short uh the Wright brothers, you know, the Wright brothers were idiots to think that they could fly until the day they did and then they were geniuses. And so you can't take my point is you can't take it personally.
36:51That's my experience in my own journey is like Jack, you're an idiot. You dropped out of school. You're wasting your time. You should get a job. And then Bitcoin worked and then Strike started to get customers. You're like, man, I always knew that guy was smart.
37:06That's like, you know, and then people are revisionists of history. No, no, I knew him and he was a good chess player and I saw the relation between chess and his Bitcoin career. It's all a load of [ __ ] But that's why you don't take it personally. You stay focused, right?
37:19Okay, I digress off that topic. That's my two cents there. Now, can Bitcoin be success? Here's my opinion on this. You know, Strike, for example, Strike is a regulated financial institution. How can I, this is a common question, how can I be a Bitcoiner and believe so wholeheartedly in the ethos and decentralization and self- sovereignty while running a custodial service? What gives? Dude, you're contradicting yourself. Well, I don't think that Bitcoin will disrupt the concept of a
37:47corporation, of a business. I don't think that the end state of this whole project is that none of us are customers of anything. You want to go grocery shopping? Too bad. There are no more grocery stores. You got to go hunting. you know, you you want you need a loan. Too bad. There is no credit market in the world. Like, of course, there's still going to be institutions. There's still going to be grocery stores.
38:08There's still going to be butchers. There's going to be uh airlines. I think what Bitcoin does is it provides the proper check and balance that big corporations, governments, institutions, and businesses need. I tell you what people say, what's the biggest competitor to Bitcoin? the biggest competitor to Bitcoin would be the US government. If the US government came out and said, "We're never going to print another dollar." And we mean that.
38:35And they actually didn't. And they allowed for austerity. And they allowed the systems to fail. And they also said, "We're also not going to govern what you can or can't do, what you can or can't consume. We're not going to tell you what drugs you should or should not be putting in your body. We're not going to tell you the legal or not legal drinking age and driving cars. We're going to let the free markets and freedom of speech and freedom to act and freedom of property. we're going to let everyone do what they need to do and that no one's ever going to print another dollar.
39:01Bitcoin would get adopt it would it would still win out but it would get adopted slower. And you see my point is that there's no check and balance on the government. There's no check and balance on the Fed. There's no check and balance on JP Morgan Chase. There's no check and balance. You know what's interesting?
39:19People despise Chase. They can't stand Chase. things like Mark Zuckerberg. People despise that guy. They hate that guy, but they still use his products.
39:29Why do customers adore and love Strike?
39:31Why do customers feel like they're on the same team as me? Is because Bitcoin holds us accountable. If one day you couldn't withdraw your Bitcoin and I halted withdrawals, not only would you guys stop being customers, I'd go out of business. Bitcoin ensures that I'm moral and I'm principled and I'm ethical. So to your point, we must as a community and as runners of these nodes. And by the way, people say, "How can you support Bitcoin Core? What if they change a code?" Then none of us will run
39:59it. We're also the auditors of the code base. We're also the like we the people, the the majority, the consensus.
40:10We set the rules of this thing. There's no rogue actor that can change anything independently. We the consensus. We the people. We the majority. That's what makes this so cool. And we must must must must protect the right for everyone to be able to run a node, to be able to uh self-custody Bitcoin, to be able to safely generate and store private keys, to be able to be self- sovereign with this system. And as long as we have that property of at least an option,
40:38that alone holds the entire world accountable because when people get people are upset. I can't believe the government is printing all this money. Guess what? I don't care. I The government can print a bunch of money and Bitcoin's going to go to the moon and guess what? My life is insulated from that nonsense. I It doesn't impact me. The government can inflate away all this stuff. Guess what's going to inflate the most?
41:06Bitcoin. I don't care. So, Bitcoin is my check and balance on the government. So, I guess I think corporations, institutions, businesses will continue to exist and that's okay. That's fine.
41:17That's fine. Like Black Rockck and the ETF, they want redemptions inind redemptions. Mean people can withdraw physical Bitcoin from their product. So, you know what they cannot do? As long as we can self-s sovereignly hold Bitcoin, it takes one person to try and withdraw from the Black Rockck ETF and voice that they can't, then that thing is dead.
41:41Goodbye. I mean, FTX was the biggest thing since sliced bread. Sam Begmanf Freed was going to solve cancer. It took one day of wait a second, we can't withdraw. Jail, no bailouts, no political help. If anyone was going to get political help, it was that guy. If anyone was going to get a bailout as that guy. Guess what? Not in this protocol because we the people built it that way, maintain it that way, protect it that way. So, I think that's all we need. Now, at the margins, at the edges, you know, guys like you and I, we're
42:11going to continue to pound pavement and make sure that people understand the importance of of using teaching people how to use Bitcoin in a self-s sovereign way, in a way that can't be censored, in a way that you can hold it yourself. And we're we will continue. You got to chop wood, pound pavement, fight at the front lines, at the margins, at the edges. And these wins don't feel sexy. They don't feel big. They're not very easy to monetize. You don't build the biggest businesses this way. But it's important work. And you can feel it in the left side of your chest, in your heart. But
42:40we don't need everyone to live that way to win. As long as Bitcoin has these properties and at least we have the option, we keep a checking balance on the rest of the world. And that my friend is is enough within itself. It is the government can print all the money they want. Like a business like Strike must behave. We must be good Bitcoiners.
43:04We must respect the protocol. We must respect our users or we're dead. Guess what? JP Morgan Chase abused treated me like [ __ ] There's nothing I could have done.
43:15There's no accountability held. The Federal Reserves. We can't audit these guys. There's no accountability. There's no check and balance. You see what I mean?
43:25Two cents. I mean, I could keep going forever, but that's the answer that came top of mind first. Um, okay. With that, uh, I'm out of here. Uh, this is already I'm at 43 minutes. I told Dylan it'd be 30. So, I'm in trouble. Uh, not really, but kind of. I'll try and keep these shorter, but give me feedback. Let me know. Did you guys like this? Did you not? I'm having fun. These And listen, there's like a hundred of these. I mean, I could have gone for five hours. So, uh, I'll obviously try and keep my
43:54answers shorter. Uh, include some of you guys more. I'll do this at least once a week. If you really like it, maybe we could do more. Let me know. Drop in the comments, subscribe, like, all the good stuff. And, uh, more comment or more content, more unique stuff coming your guys' way. Damn, the sunset. I'm looking spooky in this closet. Uh, sorry about that. Talk soon, guys. Peace and love.
