Mailbag Monday: Live From The Bitcoin Conference

[0:17] There we go. Not a professional
[0:19] podcaster.
[0:21] Ready?
[0:22] >> [clears throat]
[0:24] >> Yo, welcome back to another episode of
[0:27] the Jack Mallers Show. I am your host
[0:31] Jack and you are listening to yet
[0:33] another edition of what I like to call
[0:36] Mailbag
[0:37] Monday.
[0:40] I aim for as much signal as possible and
[0:43] as little noise as I can produce. Okay,
[0:47] episode 115
[0:50] and today's episode is titled Mailbag
[0:53] Monday live from the Bitcoin conference.
[0:57] Uh for those of you that don't know, the
[0:59] Bitcoin conference is this week in Las
[1:02] Vegas. So, unfortunately,
[1:05] I am in the city of Las Vegas. For
[1:08] frequent listeners of the show, you guys
[1:11] know how I feel about the city of Las
[1:13] Vegas. Is it gross? Yes. However, is the
[1:19] reason I am in Las Vegas gross? No.
[1:23] I'm here to fix the money, fix the
[1:25] world. Okay?
[1:26] So, I saw a bunch of you guys
[1:29] he's going to go on a rant about Las
[1:31] Vegas. Las Vegas isn't worth any more of
[1:33] our time. We've already talked about the
[1:36] cinnamon churro clogged arteries, sugary
[1:40] cocktail, wheeling yourself from casino
[1:43] to casino because the size of your
[1:45] ankles can't support the rest of the
[1:48] body. We're not going to do that.
[1:51] We're not going to do that. That's not
[1:52] the type of man I am.
[1:54] We're going to focus on the positives
[1:56] because in all seriousness,
[1:58] um, I'm here for Bitcoin. I'm here to
[2:00] fix the money, fix the world.
[2:02] Uh, I would host this conference in El
[2:05] Salvador, probably, if it were up to me,
[2:07] but it's not. And we have to keep
[2:09] building because society is
[2:11] fundamentally broken
[2:13] and
[2:15] it needs our help. It needs better
[2:17] money.
[2:18] Uh, also, really quick, before we get
[2:20] started, this episode's going to be a
[2:22] bit shorter because I'm in Las Vegas.
[2:25] There's going to be a few changes to
[2:26] this episode. For one, I just don't have
[2:28] too much time today. Uh, this is going
[2:30] to be a huge week for me on many fronts
[2:34] and for many reasons. Uh,
[2:37] if there's one thing about this week
[2:39] that I can, uh, say, it will not be
[2:42] boring.
[2:44] That That I'm fairly confident in. So,
[2:47] unfortunately, I don't have a few hours,
[2:51] uh, to,
[2:52] uh, chit-chat and, you know, talk [ __ ]
[2:54] with you guys. Um, so this episode will
[2:57] be shorter,
[2:58] uh, and I'm going to prioritize Q&A. So,
[3:00] it'll be a shorter episode on the front.
[3:03] I'm going to skip company updates
[3:05] because I have a good feeling that I'll
[3:07] be talking about my company's, uh, more
[3:11] than zero times throughout this week.
[3:13] Uh, and then I'm going to prioritize
[3:15] Q&A, just engage with you guys, hang
[3:17] out. Honestly, I was really looking
[3:19] forward to this episode cuz these
[3:21] conferences can get intense. There's a
[3:22] lot going on. Uh, there's a lot of
[3:26] shaking hands and kissing ass. I I'm not
[3:29] I'm not an ass-kisser, but you know, you
[3:30] guys know what I mean. Conferences are
[3:31] conferences. And so, I was looking
[3:33] forward to just kind of ducking off in
[3:35] my hotel room, opening up, uh, the live
[3:37] chat, and kind of hanging out with you
[3:39] guys. And so, that'll be the bulk of
[3:41] this episode after I get through, I
[3:43] don't know, I think I got like 10
[3:44] slides, no more, of just updates, how
[3:47] I'm viewing the world, the markets,
[3:49] Bitcoin, and uh, we move on. So,
[3:52] short episode this week, won't won't be
[3:54] a new normal. Um so, I apologize for
[3:56] that for those of you that enjoy the
[3:58] 2-hour rants. Um but, this is a unique
[4:00] week and uh we we will see
[4:03] what this week produces. Will not be
[4:05] boring. I'll tell you that much. All
[4:07] right. Uh the chapter one, the only
[4:09] chapter I got today, uh I titled cut
[4:12] through the noise. Uh for frequent
[4:14] listeners, I said last week, I said,
[4:16] "Listen, my days of, you know, opining
[4:20] on politics in very much detail, I've
[4:23] about had it. Um you know, following the
[4:26] ups and downs of government and their
[4:28] marketing and their strategy and their
[4:29] communications um is effectively
[4:33] pointless. Um at the end of the day,
[4:36] governments, I'm not a fan of. I think
[4:38] they're largely too big. I'm not a I'm
[4:41] not on the left. I'm not on the right.
[4:43] I'm not up. I'm not down. I'm not this.
[4:44] I'm not that. I'm a Bitcoiner and and
[4:47] more specifically, I believe in free
[4:48] markets. I believe believe in, you know,
[4:50] the Austrian form of economics.
[4:53] Uh and I talked to you guys last week. I
[4:55] said, "Listen,
[4:56] enough is enough because really, in my
[4:59] opinion,
[5:00] when it comes to the global conflicts
[5:02] and what's going on, it's really about
[5:04] these four questions,
[5:06] right? It's one, is the Strait of Hormuz
[5:09] still closed? Yes or no?
[5:12] Listen, I'm not in the situation room. I
[5:13] don't know why people are making the
[5:15] decisions that they're making.
[5:17] That's not we're not going to make this
[5:19] podcast about trying to, you know, catch
[5:22] the tail on the donkey of politicians.
[5:25] Not going to do that. One, why's the
[5:27] Strait of Hormuz or or excuse me, is the
[5:29] Strait of Hormuz closed or not?
[5:32] Two, is the conflict still ongoing? Yes
[5:36] or no?
[5:37] Three, are global supply chains still
[5:41] disrupted? Yes or no? Four, can the
[5:45] global debt around the world, the
[5:47] sovereign debt that has been accruing.
[5:50] All these countries that have borrowed
[5:52] so much money from their future and from
[5:55] their populace. Can that debt-based
[5:58] system survive this level of disruption?
[6:02] Yes or or no.
[6:06] And ultimately, that's how we're going
[6:08] to do updates on this topic on this
[6:10] podcast going forward. Because it's just
[6:12] not worth my time and our time as
[6:15] Bitcoiners.
[6:17] Because the Strait of Hormuz is still
[6:19] relatively closed. The conflict is still
[6:22] going on. Global supply chains continue
[6:25] to be further disrupted. And no, an
[6:28] extremely indebted system is going to
[6:31] need some form of money printing in
[6:33] order to survive what is playing out.
[6:36] And so I'm not going to go into, well,
[6:38] he said, she said, she said, well,
[6:40] Republicans think this, Democrats think
[6:43] I don't care. I don't care. I care about
[6:46] Bitcoin. Okay? And I I saw some comments
[6:48] of Jack seems like he cares more about
[6:50] the Strait of Hormuz than Bitcoin. And I
[6:52] just want to say, the only reason any of
[6:54] this is relevant, if you're a Bitcoiner,
[6:56] if you believe in hard money, is because
[7:00] it's becoming more and more evident that
[7:02] hard money and new monetary systems need
[7:05] to be developed, need to be monetized,
[7:07] and need to be used to support a
[7:08] functioning society. The conflict in
[7:11] Iran is very clear because there are
[7:15] threats to things like the petrodollar.
[7:17] There are threats to things like
[7:20] sovereign debt. There are threats to
[7:22] things like the Fed's monetary policy. I
[7:25] mean, it's every central banker's worst
[7:27] nightmare
[7:28] to have stagflation.
[7:30] Where you have the price of oil going up
[7:33] a lot, and you have implied inflation
[7:36] coming aggressively.
[7:38] But the stag part is that there's not a
[7:40] lot of new jobs being created. and
[7:42] there's a looming fear that AI is going
[7:44] to leave a lot of people unemployed. So,
[7:47] as a central banker, what do you do? Do
[7:49] you cut rates or do you raise rates?
[7:51] For the United States being $40 trillion
[7:53] of debt and you're in a conflict that's
[7:56] fracturing global supply chains, what do
[7:57] you do?
[7:59] If you are the United States and have
[8:01] heavily relied on the petrodollar and
[8:03] countries are starting to want to price
[8:06] crucial and critical commodities like
[8:08] oil in things like the CNY or in gold or
[8:11] using Bitcoin, what do you do? And so,
[8:14] to be clear, my interest in these topics
[8:19] are centered around the world realizing
[8:22] that the money is fundamentally broken
[8:24] and this is a catalyst in greatly
[8:26] expediting a lot of the education. It's
[8:29] like a Trojan horse of the world
[8:30] realizing, "Whoa, you know, no wonder
[8:32] gold is being remonetized. No wonder
[8:35] Iran is interested in using Bitcoin to
[8:37] settle transactions between enemies at
[8:40] war."
[8:41] Right? No wonder the United States all
[8:43] of a sudden is starting to
[8:45] talk a lot about the strategic Bitcoin
[8:47] reserve. I saw a representative of the
[8:48] White House today at the Bitcoin
[8:50] conference say that they plan on
[8:51] announcing stuff in the coming weeks.
[8:53] So, anyways, let's answer these
[8:55] questions. Is the Strait of Hormuz
[8:58] relatively open again? No, not at all.
[9:03] Total tanker transit calls are near
[9:05] zero. You're seeing these little blips
[9:08] of life. These are predominantly ships
[9:12] that Iran is allowing through the
[9:14] strait.
[9:15] So, we are seeing ships being sent in
[9:18] from countries like China and they are
[9:21] getting through and Iran has control
[9:25] over the strait. Now, the US is
[9:27] blocking. I'm not even going to get into
[9:29] that. We're going to leave it as is the
[9:31] Strait of Hormuz open and back to
[9:33] functioning normally or not. It is not.
[9:37] Next.
[9:38] This from the Washington Post, "Clearing
[9:41] the Strait of Hormuz mines could take 6
[9:44] months, the Pentagon tells Congress."
[9:47] And so again, I think that as
[9:49] Bitcoiners, we should not get so
[9:51] distracted by oh, well, you know, what
[9:54] if this ceasefire and this that and the
[9:56] third.
[9:57] At the end of the day, Bitcoiners were
[9:59] well aware that there are physical
[10:01] realities to the world, right? That's
[10:03] the whole point of Bitcoin. You can't
[10:04] just print it out of thin air. The point
[10:07] of proof of work is it allows us humans
[10:10] to be governed by Mother Nature, by the
[10:12] physical realities of the universe. By
[10:14] the way, that's where I believe we're
[10:15] meant to be.
[10:17] We are a product of a child of the
[10:20] universe, of Mother Nature. We are best
[10:23] governed by it. The best moneys that
[10:25] we've come up with in the history of our
[10:27] species have been things like gold,
[10:29] which are a product of Mother Nature,
[10:30] that are governed by the physical
[10:32] realities of the universe.
[10:33] And so we're well familiar with the
[10:35] value of physical things. Bitcoiners
[10:39] don't fall in love with abstract,
[10:41] artificial, Narnia-type elements of
[10:45] hyper-financialized
[10:46] derivative contracts. We don't care
[10:49] about hyper-financialized money printing
[10:52] and monetary policy.
[10:54] That's man-made central planning
[10:57] garbage.
[10:58] And so the point of this headline is
[11:00] really simple.
[11:01] Unwinding all of this and getting global
[11:04] supply chains back to peak function will
[11:07] take time at a minimum. The Pentagon's
[11:10] telling Congress it's going to take at
[11:11] least 6 months, even if everyone
[11:14] makes up, hugs, kisses, says they love
[11:17] each other, it's going to take time. And
[11:20] so the implications here is that there's
[11:22] going to be stress on markets. The price
[11:26] of oil is not going to normalize
[11:28] seemingly anytime soon. There is no stop
[11:31] to what seems to be incoming inflation,
[11:35] not only in commodities like oil, but
[11:37] oil oil's the tip of the iceberg. The
[11:39] iceberg gets much bigger. It's going to
[11:41] be rent. It's going to be energy. It's
[11:44] going to be food. It's going to be
[11:46] travel. I mean, countries
[11:48] like developed countries are already
[11:50] running out of jet fuel.
[11:52] Okay?
[11:53] So, we go on. Um we talked about the
[11:56] swap line last week, okay? This was the
[12:00] UAE reached out to the United States and
[12:03] said, "Hey, if you want us to continue
[12:06] to use the dollar in trading for things
[12:08] like oil, we're going to need a swap
[12:11] line, because the only way we can raise
[12:13] dollars to finance a lot of this mess
[12:16] that you started." This is the UAE's
[12:18] words, not mine.
[12:20] "We would appreciate a swap line,
[12:21] because if not, we're going to have to
[12:23] raise money by selling dollar assets."
[12:26] What are dollar assets? US Treasuries,
[12:28] US stocks. And so, it was like a fair
[12:31] warning from the UAE and basically
[12:33] saying, "Listen, guys,
[12:34] this is a conflict. This conflict isn't
[12:36] ending anytime soon. There's going to be
[12:38] inflation. We're going to need to raise
[12:40] capital for our people, for our
[12:42] government, for our strategies. Do you
[12:45] want us to sell US stocks and sell US
[12:48] Treasuries in order to raise capital?
[12:50] Cuz remember the way the fiat system
[12:51] works. The US runs deficits, other
[12:54] countries run a surplus. They run a
[12:56] surplus of dollars, so they're
[12:57] constantly getting an excess pile of
[12:59] dollars. What do they do with those
[13:01] dollars? You can think of those dollars
[13:03] like US store credits. You know, you
[13:06] don't spend the dollars locally in your
[13:08] local economy and strengthen your local
[13:10] currency. That screws with your ability
[13:13] to, you know, produce labor and things
[13:15] that are end up exporting into the
[13:17] United States. So, what you do is you
[13:19] take your US dollar store credits and
[13:21] you go shopping in the US. You buy
[13:23] luxury real estate. You buy big tech
[13:25] stocks. You buy US Treasuries. And so,
[13:28] you have all these countries all over
[13:29] the world that have a ton of US assets.
[13:33] And the UAE is saying, "Listen, guys,
[13:35] we're going to be forced to raise
[13:36] capital. And if we're forced to raise
[13:38] capital,
[13:39] we're going to
[13:40] we're going to have to sell a ton of
[13:42] Nvidia." Now, they didn't say this
[13:43] literally, but you know, I'm in a
[13:45] hypothetical. We're going to have to
[13:47] sell a ton of Nvidia, a ton of Meta, a
[13:48] ton of Google, a ton of Amazon.
[13:51] We're also going to have to sell a ton
[13:52] of Treasuries. We don't want to crash
[13:54] the Treasury market unless that's what
[13:55] you want. We don't want to crash the
[13:57] stock market. We don't want to send the
[13:59] 10-year yield above 5%. So, are you
[14:02] willing to give us a swap line or not?
[14:04] And what was the answer from the United
[14:06] States? Of course, it's an unequivocal
[14:08] yes. So, this from the New York Times,
[14:10] Blinken backs the UAE swap line.
[14:13] Financial support for the oil-rich UAE.
[14:16] And you know, this from Luke,
[14:19] it's it's not it's not rocket science to
[14:22] understand what's happening. So, Luke
[14:23] writes, "Secretary Blinken responds to
[14:26] UAE after the UAE threatened to price
[14:28] oil and gas in CNY if the US would not
[14:31] supply USD swap lines a few days ago.
[14:33] Yes, we will give you whatever swap
[14:35] lines you want to prevent the disorderly
[14:37] sale of US assets."
[14:39] So, I will read the snippet uh that Luke
[14:42] has screenshotted here.
[14:44] Treasury's Treasury Jesus. Treasury
[14:47] Secretary Scott Blinken said on
[14:49] Wednesday that he backed the idea of
[14:51] providing economic support in the form
[14:53] of a currency swap to the UAE, an
[14:56] oil-rich ally that has been contending
[14:58] with economic fallout from the war in
[15:00] Iran.
[15:01] Speaking to a Senate hearing, Mr.
[15:02] Blinken said that the Emirates, along
[15:05] with several other countries in the
[15:06] Persian Gulf and Asia, had inquired
[15:08] about the possibility of a swap.
[15:10] He said such a maneuver would prevent
[15:13] the disorderly sale of US assets as
[15:16] nations look to secure access to
[15:18] dollars.
[15:19] The war in Iran has damaged oil and gas
[15:21] infrastructure throughout the Middle
[15:22] East, dealing a blow to economies such
[15:25] as the Emirates that rely on the Strait
[15:27] of Hormuz to transport crude oil around
[15:30] the world.
[15:31] The Treasury Secretary said that
[15:33] providing a currency swap to the
[15:34] Emirates could benefit the United States
[15:37] by stabilizing foreign exchange markets
[15:39] and protecting American assets around
[15:41] the world. He said that it could be
[15:43] provided by the Federal Reserve or by
[15:46] the Treasury Department, which can
[15:48] deploy its exchange stabilization fund
[15:50] to buy another nation's currency.
[15:53] So, let's take a step back and this is a
[15:56] show that is by the common man for the
[15:58] common man. The end of the day, we're
[16:00] Bitcoiners, we care about having a
[16:02] better future for ourselves and our
[16:03] kids.
[16:05] What's a way to interpret this? A way to
[16:07] interpret this is really simple.
[16:09] When posed with the decision of do asset
[16:13] prices fall or do you weaken the
[16:16] currency?
[16:18] He chose to weaken the currency. And
[16:20] that's all that matters and that's
[16:22] always been our thesis as Bitcoiners. Is
[16:25] when they're forced to choose, are asset
[16:28] holders going to suffer? Are governments
[16:30] because the problem with assets falling,
[16:32] assets falling, there's a recession,
[16:33] there's a recession, then there's a
[16:35] sovereign debt crisis and the whole
[16:37] thing blows up. The United States as we
[16:39] know it, as this like highly indebted,
[16:42] running these massive deficits, it just
[16:44] doesn't work mathematically.
[16:46] And so,
[16:47] basically, let me put it to you guys
[16:49] this way. Hey,
[16:50] Scott Bessent, United States government,
[16:53] do you want us to sell US assets? Do you
[16:56] want the the US stock market and US
[16:58] assets to be more properly priced?
[17:01] Do you know, what if there is a
[17:02] collapse? What if there is a recession?
[17:03] But at the end of the day, if you're a
[17:05] free market proponent, you want the
[17:06] truth. You want honesty. You want free
[17:08] markets. You don't want centrally
[17:09] planned, propped up anything. You don't
[17:11] want any central group of governments to
[17:13] pick winners. We want hard money. We
[17:16] want neutral money. We want fair money.
[17:19] And what's what's the answer from these
[17:20] central planners every time? It's not
[17:23] specific to the US. It's not even
[17:24] specific to governments. Now we're
[17:25] talking about central banks, which are
[17:27] technically private entities.
[17:29] These central planners are going to
[17:30] debase the currency, which is therefore
[17:32] debasing the people before assets. That
[17:36] is why assets continue to go up because
[17:39] they're going to make the currency
[17:40] weaker. And let me remind you guys, by
[17:43] debasing the currency they're by proxy
[17:45] debasing you because money is intended
[17:49] to represent your work, your effort,
[17:52] your contributions to this world. It is
[17:54] supposed to be your time and your energy
[17:57] abstracted
[17:59] into a market good that you can trade.
[18:02] What do you deserve? Do you deserve the
[18:04] nice steak or do you deserve jail slop
[18:08] dinner? Do you deserve a nice house or
[18:11] do you deserve to be homeless? How does
[18:13] society answer these questions? Well,
[18:15] ultimately, if you produce enough value,
[18:19] you can abstract it into a tradable good
[18:21] that allows you to either save the value
[18:23] you've created or exchange it for goods
[18:26] and services that you need. And it is
[18:28] society's way of measuring the value
[18:30] we're all creating and what goods and
[18:32] services are worth what effort we're
[18:35] contributing.
[18:36] Period.
[18:38] And so if you get up and you work and
[18:40] you spend your time and your energy
[18:42] contributing value, and some people
[18:44] contribute less value than others.
[18:46] That's not the ultimate, you know, means
[18:47] to an end when it comes to happiness.
[18:49] This isn't about what makes someone
[18:51] happy or not. It's what is the market
[18:53] value your contributions. If you're
[18:55] saving that in dollars,
[18:58] and these guys are making the dollar
[19:00] worth less
[19:02] purposefully. Read Read these articles.
[19:05] Read the slides I have. They're doing it
[19:07] purposefully.
[19:09] That's no secret. Dollar debasement,
[19:12] currency debasement, fiat debasement is
[19:14] implied in how the system works. That's
[19:16] why Satoshi invented Bitcoin. It's as
[19:18] clear as day.
[19:20] He wrote very plainly, we can't trust
[19:22] them
[19:23] to not debase the currency.
[19:26] And so, when they debase the currency,
[19:27] they're debasing you. They're debasing
[19:30] your time, your energy, your effort,
[19:33] your work, your labor.
[19:36] They're debasing your ability to have
[19:37] more family, your ability to have more
[19:40] housing, your ability to have more
[19:41] vacations, your ultimate ultimately,
[19:44] your access to energy.
[19:49] And so,
[19:50] the swap lines, I brought it up last
[19:52] week. It's interesting. Why is it
[19:53] interesting? Because I'm telling you
[19:56] guys, the United States and all Western
[19:58] I mean
[20:00] all fiat maximalists
[20:02] is what this is. They have to make a
[20:04] decision. Are you going to sacrifice the
[20:06] time, energy, effort, and labor of the
[20:08] people?
[20:09] Are you going to sacrifice the currency?
[20:13] Or are you going to let all this debt
[20:15] collapse on itself?
[20:17] But there are no other options. There is
[20:19] no third option.
[20:21] And I'll tell you guys this, the way
[20:22] that I conceptualize it is pretty
[20:23] simple.
[20:25] There is a $40 trillion hole. And it
[20:28] depends how you want to think about it.
[20:29] That number could be way higher. But
[20:31] let's just go with 40 trillion. There's
[20:32] a $40 trillion hole.
[20:35] And that loss has to be realized.
[20:38] Again, money is time and energy in an
[20:41] abstracted form. It's not something You
[20:44] can't just forgive debt.
[20:46] We have borrowed time and energy from
[20:48] our future.
[20:50] They have borrowed time and energy from
[20:53] you and I.
[20:54] From our kids.
[20:58] That loss has to be realized. Somebody
[21:00] has to lose.
[21:03] And the way I think about Bitcoin is
[21:06] listen, I don't know who's going to have
[21:08] to realize that loss.
[21:11] But it's not going to be me.
[21:15] Because my time and energy is in Bitcoin
[21:18] and they can't print that. They can't
[21:20] debase that. They can't confiscate that.
[21:22] That's mine.
[21:25] And the distributed network and the
[21:26] monetary policy that was set in stone in
[21:29] the first block cannot be changed.
[21:32] So Bitcoin's my way of literally opting
[21:34] out.
[21:36] Listen,
[21:37] there's going to be a giant game of
[21:38] tug-of-war of who has to realize this
[21:41] massive pile of debt, this massive pile
[21:44] of borrowed and spoiled human time,
[21:47] energy, effort, and labor.
[21:49] I don't know who's going to be the odd
[21:51] one out. Is it going to be the big
[21:53] banks? Is it going to be the government?
[21:55] Is it going to be the collective people?
[21:57] If the government implies it's the
[21:58] collective people, are they going to get
[22:00] violent? Are they going to try to start
[22:01] assassinating politicians?
[22:04] Listen, I don't know,
[22:06] but I'm out.
[22:07] My time, my energy, my effort, my labor
[22:10] is going to go into an asset that
[22:12] respects me.
[22:13] And that is Bitcoin and that's what I'm
[22:15] working on, right? So,
[22:18] these these Iran Twitter accounts are
[22:22] like I mean, they are out-meming.
[22:26] They They They are mastery of memes, I
[22:28] will say that. So, this tweet,
[22:31] "Swaps given to prevent disorderly sale
[22:34] of US assets." Translation, "Some
[22:36] holders can't sell."
[22:38] "Hidden single-digit percentage sale cap
[22:40] limits some institutional holders. Door
[22:43] closes if things escalate. Get out while
[22:46] it's still open."
[22:49] Again, it's a
[22:50] Why are central banks around the world
[22:52] buying gold? Why is gold being
[22:54] remonetized? Why is Bitcoin becoming a
[22:56] strategic asset for the United States?
[22:59] I mean, this tweet has some truth in it,
[23:00] of course.
[23:03] If you're holding an asset and you need
[23:06] liquidity and you're told not to sell
[23:08] the asset, please don't sell the asset,
[23:10] the United States doesn't want you to
[23:12] sell the asset, how good is the asset?
[23:14] Why am I holding the asset?
[23:18] Money is only as valuable as the things
[23:21] you can exchange it for.
[23:24] If these countries if if they need to
[23:26] raise money for war, for oil, for jet
[23:30] fuel, for food, for whatever they want
[23:32] because theoretically it's their
[23:33] property.
[23:35] And they're being told they can't, well,
[23:38] luckily this time around they're going
[23:39] to get a swap line. But, what happened
[23:41] in 2022 with Russia, that was like a
[23:44] defining moment in monetary history when
[23:46] the United States says your money and
[23:48] your property is worthless.
[23:50] That's why people are remonetizing gold.
[23:53] That's why
[23:55] all these countries and nation states
[23:56] and and central banks are now getting
[23:58] into Bitcoin.
[23:59] It's because how valuable's your money
[24:01] if a country can say you can't sell it.
[24:03] What do you mean? Can you imagine
[24:04] walking into the grocery store and
[24:06] saying I'm hungry and someone being able
[24:08] to say, "No, you're not.
[24:10] You're going to bed starving tonight."
[24:11] What?
[24:12] I don't want that money. What what good
[24:14] is that money?
[24:16] Why would I store my effort, my my
[24:18] labor, and the value I'm producing
[24:20] society in that?
[24:22] That's a question that like people ask,
[24:24] "Why is the gold price going up? Why are
[24:25] central banks remonetizing gold?"
[24:28] Um
[24:29] it's pretty obvious to me.
[24:32] Um and then also I think a thing worth
[24:34] noting I obviously I want to keep a
[24:36] pulse on AI cuz we talk about catalysts
[24:38] for the world entering, you know, this
[24:41] type of fourth turning,
[24:43] totally new monetary era that I think
[24:45] ultimately Bitcoin will win and likely
[24:47] in the beginning Bitcoin will share with
[24:49] gold
[24:50] is AI. AI is this deflationary You
[24:54] cannot have a highly indebted system
[24:55] meet a deflationary force. It's going to
[24:57] blow it up. And so, you know, this
[24:59] headline from Bessant couldn't have been
[25:01] ignored. Bessant says, "Game over if the
[25:03] US doesn't win the AI war AI over
[25:06] China."
[25:09] So, take that on its face at at face
[25:11] value.
[25:13] The United States is going to do
[25:14] whatever they need to do to win the AI
[25:15] race.
[25:17] Again, that is money printing. And then,
[25:20] I want to play this video from Kevin
[25:22] Warsh, the new Fed chair. He's not sworn
[25:26] in yet, but um looks like that'll be
[25:27] soon. Because, I mean, having this said
[25:30] by the future chair of the Central Bank
[25:33] uh the Federal Reserve, it I find I
[25:36] found it astonishing. Hold on.
[25:38] It's not as easy to do this show when
[25:40] I'm not on my monitor. How do I
[25:42] Okay, I'm going to mute myself and play
[25:43] the video. Be right back.
[25:53] >> what we call AI in a couple years we'll
[25:56] just call business.
[25:58] And AI is going to make almost
[25:59] everything cost less, and the US can be
[26:02] a big winner. And and it's a hugely
[26:04] exciting moment. If I were to step back
[26:06] for a minute, if I were the president,
[26:08] what I'd be worried about is a Central
[26:10] Bank that doesn't see any of that. A
[26:12] Central Bank that is stuck with models
[26:14] from 1978,
[26:16] governance from a prior period, and
[26:18] don't recognize we could be at the front
[26:20] end of a productivity boom. And if I
[26:23] were the president, I'd be worried that
[26:24] they might not see it. And they might
[26:26] think economic growth is somehow going
[26:28] to be inflationary. I think we were
[26:30] probably in the early innings of a
[26:32] structural decline in prices. Ken sees
[26:35] it on the front lines of real
[26:36] businesses, and I think if you look over
[26:39] the period of the next year or two, it's
[26:40] a pretty special moment.
[26:45] So, there you go.
[26:47] The Federal Reserve and the Treasury of
[26:49] the United States says, "We must win AI,
[26:52] and AI is going to bring the price down
[26:54] of everything. So we're cool printing
[26:56] into it. And we've already heard Jerome
[26:58] Powell say things like, "Yeah, the price
[27:01] of oil is going up. Yeah, that might
[27:02] imply severe inflation on the horizon,
[27:05] but we're going to look past that."
[27:08] So again, all signs point towards
[27:10] currency debasement. All signs point
[27:13] towards weakening the money that the
[27:16] everyday person is storing their effort
[27:20] in.
[27:21] All signs port point towards money
[27:23] printing, which ultimately is good for
[27:25] the price of Bitcoin, but is
[27:27] extraordinarily detrimental to society
[27:30] how it functions and
[27:31] has serious knock-on effects.
[27:35] You have to let human beings operate in
[27:37] a truly free market and price each
[27:40] other's contributions.
[27:42] And you know, money at the end of the
[27:43] day in its most pure form is just
[27:45] information. Who owes what to whom?
[27:49] And if you get in the way of that and
[27:51] you distort that and you manipulate
[27:53] that,
[27:55] you break society at its most basic
[27:57] core.
[27:58] So it's just not there's there's no ifs,
[28:01] ands, or buts about that. And so before
[28:04] I get into Q&A, I mean the last
[28:06] like little section I have here is
[28:09] again, you know, I saw a lot of comments
[28:11] like, "Oh, Vegas is so gross. Jack's
[28:13] going to you know, take pictures of
[28:14] people sitting at the slot machines." It
[28:17] is gross. I did think about taking
[28:19] pictures of people sitting at the slot
[28:20] machines and posting it. I didn't do
[28:22] that.
[28:23] And ultimately on a more serious note,
[28:26] I mean seeing tweets like this, like US
[28:28] government cancer data just dropped and
[28:30] overall cancers are up 6.4%.
[28:35] Brain tumors are up 20%.
[28:40] It worries me.
[28:43] It worries me. It worries me, you know,
[28:45] for my family, for my loved ones, but
[28:48] just for society as a whole.
[28:51] Because here's the thing, guys, like
[28:52] nobody goes out and wants to get sick.
[28:56] Nobody goes out and wants to die young.
[28:59] Nobody wants less family. Nobody wants
[29:01] less housing. Nobody wants less life.
[29:06] So, the fact that this is a trend that's
[29:07] happening in something that we can be so
[29:09] confident isn't, you know, purposeful or
[29:12] intentful from the people it's happening
[29:14] to.
[29:16] Society has structural flaws.
[29:20] And then
[29:21] obviously, I had to include that the
[29:24] tweets Trump rushed from stage as shots
[29:27] ring out.
[29:30] Political violence is another sign of a
[29:32] disordered society.
[29:34] Again, I'm not I'm done with the
[29:37] political stuff. I'm done with politics
[29:40] on this show. Obviously, if there's
[29:41] something to comment on, you guys know
[29:43] me. I'm going to say I'm going to speak
[29:45] my mind.
[29:46] But I'm not I'm My point is
[29:49] you guys got it We We have assassination
[29:51] attempts at the second highest level in
[29:54] the United States since the mid-1800s,
[29:56] which was the Civil War.
[29:58] You have all the signs and the makings
[30:00] of a of a society that's sick, that is
[30:04] that is structurally broken.
[30:08] You can't tell me, whether it's obesity
[30:11] rates, whether it's lifespan expectancy,
[30:14] whether it's cancer rates, whether it's
[30:16] metabolic disease,
[30:19] whether it's political violence, whether
[30:21] it's general violence, whether it's
[30:23] assassination attempts, whether it's
[30:26] suicide and whatever forms of self-harm,
[30:30] whether accidental overdoses or
[30:32] purposeful overdoses in in young to
[30:36] middle-aged Americans, all of the These
[30:39] are terrifying metrics.
[30:44] And at the end of the day, you know, you
[30:46] know, people will accuse a Bitcoiner and
[30:47] say, "Bitcoin doesn't solve everything.
[30:50] Stop selling it as a silver bullet." Of
[30:52] course.
[30:53] Should should there also be health
[30:56] podcasts? Yeah, of course. You know, I'm
[31:00] I'm no stranger to listening to some of
[31:02] these, you know, whether it's Dr. Shawn
[31:04] Baker or, you know, the guys Joe Rogan
[31:07] will have on from time to time. Learning
[31:09] a thing or two about the sauna, learning
[31:11] a thing or two about
[31:13] whatever type of type of health hacks.
[31:15] Of course, there should be health
[31:16] podcasts. There should be
[31:18] peace podcasts. I don't know. Bitcoin's
[31:19] not a silver bullet. But again, just a
[31:22] reminder of why at least I'm here,
[31:24] because I think if you can fix the
[31:25] money, you can fix a lot of the world's
[31:28] problems. You can make a tremendous
[31:29] amount of progress. I think that
[31:33] we have distorted our ability to
[31:36] understand and relay value, to price
[31:39] each other's worth, to relate to each
[31:41] other. I mean, think about things like
[31:43] the wealth gap, how dividing that is for
[31:45] society, what it does for our
[31:47] conceptually understanding of
[31:49] how much we we love or hate one another,
[31:52] how we value one another, where then we
[31:54] are raised, who we meet, how we think
[31:56] about family. I mean, it's all so
[31:58] fundamentally distorted from the basic
[32:01] sense that we can't freely share
[32:03] information of what is worth what, what
[32:05] is worth value, who is worth doing, none
[32:07] of that.
[32:09] And I'm I'm I I I will continue to pound
[32:11] that drum that I think we can build a
[32:14] better world by building a better money,
[32:15] period. And that's why I'm here in Las
[32:17] Vegas, just straight up.
[32:21] Um and I I thought this was interesting.
[32:23] Shout out um Onramp for creating this
[32:25] graphic. I mean, Bitcoin outperforms in
[32:27] every crisis. I think the last seven.
[32:29] So, you've got the US-Iran escalation,
[32:31] COVID outbreak, Russia invades Ukraine,
[32:33] US banking crisis, yen carry trade
[32:35] unwind, Trump's liberation day, and the
[32:38] Iran conflict that original start to it,
[32:41] not the escalation uh that was in 2020.
[32:45] I mean, Bitcoin's outperformed in all of
[32:47] them.
[32:48] You know, pe- people like to rag on
[32:49] Bitcoin like, "Oh, it's supposed to be a
[32:52] risk-off asset like gold, and it's
[32:54] actually trading more like tech." And
[32:56] I've said my piece on this. I think
[32:58] Bitcoin is some combination of
[33:00] technology plus fiat liquidity. It is
[33:03] technology. It is better technology. It
[33:05] does grow with traditional tech trends
[33:09] like growth of the network, growth of
[33:10] new addresses. So, it is technology, but
[33:13] a lot of its price is actively driven by
[33:15] currency debasement and fiat liquidity.
[33:18] And so, it kind of lives in this weird
[33:20] hybrid. And so, it's not fair to compare
[33:23] Bitcoin strictly to gold. Gold's not
[33:25] technology. Gold can't have new
[33:26] features. No one's building new
[33:28] innovative businesses that disrupts, you
[33:31] know, payments or or prime brokerage
[33:34] services or lending. Like, no one's
[33:36] building anything new on gold. You can't
[33:37] submit a pull request to gold's GitHub
[33:40] repository. Like So, it's not a fair
[33:43] comparison to compare Bitcoin to gold.
[33:44] It's also not a fair comparison to
[33:46] compare Bitcoin to Nvidia.
[33:48] It's not a company. It's not a pure
[33:50] technology play with a cap table and a
[33:52] balance sheet. It's more like a
[33:54] commodity.
[33:56] And so,
[33:57] at the end of the day, it's its own
[33:58] unique thing. Humans are going to waste
[34:00] a lot of time and effort trying to box
[34:03] it into something that it's just not.
[34:04] It's something like unequivocally new,
[34:07] straight up. There's no if, ands, or
[34:09] buts about that. And when you look at
[34:12] when, you know, the world goes through
[34:14] crisis, Bitcoin Bitcoin wins.
[34:17] I mean, the fact that Bitcoin's pushing
[34:18] up against
[34:20] 80,000,
[34:22] I mean, hey, listen. I'm one of the guys
[34:25] that are like, "Man, surely the market's
[34:26] going to puke. Surely assets are going
[34:28] to get distressed if global supply
[34:30] chains start to fall apart." And here
[34:32] this thing is just chugging along. Now,
[34:34] that's not a price prediction. I've told
[34:35] you guys, I have no idea what the price
[34:37] is going to do, neither does anyone
[34:39] else.
[34:40] If If
[34:42] If someone tells you they know the
[34:44] future,
[34:45] red flag. Nobody knows. Um but yeah, I
[34:49] mean, listen.
[34:51] Bitcoin is the most impressive
[34:53] technology
[34:54] I've seen invented in my lifetime, and I
[34:57] think it will continue to be. I know
[34:59] AI's cool and all.
[35:00] I think Bitcoin will be the most
[35:03] important invention of our lives.
[35:07] Okay.
[35:09] Grind my gears.
[35:10] I'll try and do this one quick, but I
[35:12] know it's a really like popular subject
[35:14] cuz I got to uh
[35:16] I got to do some Q&A, or at least I want
[35:19] to.
[35:20] Um
[35:21] it's this
[35:23] Q-Day Project 11 Quantum FUD stuff.
[35:27] Um I haven't had the time to do like a
[35:29] proper Quantum episode or section. I was
[35:32] hoping to do it today. I just This
[35:33] conference is always so hectic for me,
[35:36] so much going on. Um I just didn't have
[35:38] the time, but I I did want to give my
[35:41] opinion on
[35:44] this
[35:45] I What What I think can be
[35:48] factually described as FUD.
[35:51] So, Project 11 is the Quantum startup
[35:55] that actually don't understand, and I'm
[35:57] not here to talk [ __ ] Um
[35:59] I don't know much about the company. I
[36:01] don't know the founders or anything like
[36:03] that. Uh and I I just don't think it's
[36:06] which I'll get into in a second. I just
[36:07] don't think it's worth our time.
[36:10] You know, like for me, you know, I wake
[36:12] up, I got a ton of things that I want to
[36:14] get done cuz there's a version of the
[36:16] world that I want to see in our future,
[36:18] and you know, this type of stuff just
[36:21] doesn't meet my bar of worth my time.
[36:24] So, I'm not here to talk [ __ ] I don't
[36:26] know this company. But I don't They're a
[36:29] you know They're
[36:31] exist to help resist the quantum threats
[36:34] to Bitcoin, to my understanding.
[36:36] And um yeah, I mean
[36:39] I'll read this tweet on the left from
[36:40] this uh Dr. Hugh Guy. "Project 11 has
[36:43] put on a master class on how to blow up
[36:45] your rep uh you blow up your
[36:47] credibility." They offered a Q-Day
[36:50] prize, one Bitcoin awarded for breaking
[36:53] a 15-bit ECC key with Shor's build as a
[36:57] 512x
[36:58] jump on public quantum hardware.
[37:01] So, just to take a step back, and I I
[37:02] promise at some point I'll have the time
[37:04] to dive more specifically into quantum.
[37:07] TLDR, I think all of this is far
[37:09] overblown. Bitcoin is in a totally okay
[37:12] place. Of course, quantum theoretically
[37:15] is a threat, and of course, the Bitcoin
[37:17] community should work on it. But no
[37:19] one's refuting that it is theoretically
[37:21] a future threat, and Bitcoiners are
[37:24] working on it. I think the gravity of it
[37:28] being like an impending thing that can
[37:30] crash Bitcoin in the next few years is
[37:33] way overblown, totally misrepresented.
[37:36] And the fact that people say the
[37:37] Bitcoiners aren't valuing the idea of
[37:40] quantum, and that the development
[37:41] community isn't thinking about it, isn't
[37:43] developing potential solutions, all of
[37:45] that's just a lie.
[37:48] So, I I've been around you know, Bitcoin
[37:51] soft forks, debates within the developer
[37:53] community. The developer community is
[37:55] doing great with quantum. There's tons
[37:58] of progress to point to. There's tons of
[38:00] different proposals. And on the quantum
[38:02] side, just for this episode cuz I have
[38:04] to keep it short,
[38:05] the way I would explain it to the common
[38:08] man on the street is you know, quantum
[38:10] needs to be divided into two distinct
[38:13] categories. There's the software side of
[38:15] quantum, and there's the hardware side
[38:17] of quantum. The software side is making
[38:20] tons of progress, which is cool. At the
[38:22] end of the day, I'm not rooting against
[38:24] quantum. It's cool, okay?
[38:27] Now, what runs the software, quantum
[38:30] hardware, is so far behind. Like, so far
[38:36] behind. The software, by the way, isn't
[38:39] necessarily in a place that's dangerous,
[38:41] either, but it is making progress, which
[38:43] is cool. But, when I tell you like
[38:46] orders of magnitude to explain to the
[38:48] common man on the street, orders of
[38:50] magnitude behind. So, combined, is
[38:52] quantum a near-term threat? No, okay?
[38:57] So, when I read this tweet and it says
[39:01] "They offered a QDAY prize, one Bitcoin
[39:03] awarded for breaking a 15-bit ECC key
[39:06] with Shor's build as a 512x jump on
[39:10] public quantum hardware." That's the key
[39:12] part, is it's build as this massive 500x
[39:16] leap on quantum hardware, okay? So, you
[39:19] guys can understand the distinction. The
[39:20] hardware piece is the one that's behind.
[39:22] And this sold as like this this massive
[39:24] leap, okay?
[39:26] Then, I guess this this guy, I don't
[39:28] Again, I don't know who this is. I'm not
[39:30] talking [ __ ] I've no idea. I just I
[39:32] just know what what was published, this
[39:34] bounty thing, and
[39:36] I think it was it was misleading.
[39:39] Uh this guy swapped the quantum calls
[39:41] for a random number generator and got
[39:43] the same results. It gets worse. They
[39:45] had courted Google to be involved. He
[39:47] declined and express expressly flagged
[39:50] this as a way it was likely going to
[39:52] end. They ran the comp anyway, picked a
[39:55] winner who fell straight into the
[39:56] predicted trap, and are now defending
[39:58] the results on X. The competition was
[40:01] meant to raise awareness about QDAY.
[40:03] There have been amazing breakthroughs in
[40:04] the past 12 months, which should have
[40:06] been celebrated. Instead, they've
[40:08] torched their reputation. Again, I don't
[40:09] know if they've torched their
[40:09] reputation. I just know that this was
[40:12] really misleading, total waste of time.
[40:15] Um
[40:15] I think that the way the community is
[40:19] talking about quantum is misleading,
[40:22] inaccurate, arguably just factually
[40:24] false, and fud, and waste of time. So,
[40:28] this [clears throat] from Robin, Google
[40:30] quantum researcher. This is a quote.
[40:32] This guy, the Google guy, wrote a blog
[40:34] post. You guys should read it.
[40:36] But, the quote is, "The fact that
[40:37] Project 11 is boosting these results
[40:39] instead of shunning them has hugely
[40:41] damaged my perception of their
[40:42] credibility."
[40:44] Um, and ultimately, listen, like
[40:47] decisions for Bitcoin of things like
[40:49] should we freeze Satoshi's coins?
[40:52] I mean, that has that is arguably one of
[40:54] the most important decisions the Bitcoin
[40:57] project will ever make. That has a
[40:59] serious implications for property
[41:02] rights.
[41:04] These decisions, it's not about people
[41:06] can Of course, anyone can speak their
[41:08] opinion. Say what you want about
[41:09] quantum, okay? Of course.
[41:12] But, upselling these threats
[41:15] and misleading what is,
[41:18] you know, the accurate state of the
[41:20] developer community addressing these
[41:23] things, there's there's plenty of really
[41:25] good proposals. Ultimately, as Bitcoin
[41:27] does, we need consensus. But, there's so
[41:30] many ways for us to resolve of these
[41:32] problems,
[41:34] plenty of time, none of this is
[41:36] immediately threatening.
[41:38] I find it extremely dangerous that on a
[41:41] lot of these really critical
[41:44] points of like do we freeze Satoshi's
[41:46] coins? What does that mean for property
[41:48] rights?
[41:49] That it's being pushed by some of these
[41:51] like bogus bounty narratives. It's
[41:54] stupid. It's a waste of time. And, you
[41:56] know, part of me was going to come in
[41:58] here, and you guys know how I get. I'm
[41:59] yelling, I'm cursing, I'm fired up.
[42:02] And, I just think that sends the wrong
[42:04] message because it's so validating to
[42:06] all this nonsense. Like,
[42:08] it's not worth the time. So, anyway,
[42:10] grind my gears is just
[42:12] just the fud, man. And I I will spend
[42:14] more time and and like I said, you know,
[42:17] Strike as a company has made plenty of
[42:19] mistakes and we [ __ ] up all the time.
[42:21] Um does that make us a bad business? No.
[42:24] So, I don't know this company. I don't
[42:25] know these guys. May you know, being an
[42:28] entrepreneur is hard. I'm not going to
[42:29] sit here and you know, curse and yell
[42:31] and kick and scream.
[42:33] But it's it's fud. It's unfortunate. I
[42:36] think it finally crossed the line where,
[42:39] you know, the community was like, "Yo,
[42:41] enough. Enough." And I I it's crossed
[42:44] the line where I will do a quantum
[42:47] section on one of these shows when I
[42:48] have the time.
[42:50] But I figured it was worth cuz it's it
[42:52] it's it just this this specific little
[42:55] project thing, it was ridiculous. It was
[42:58] ridiculous.
[42:59] It was ridiculous.
[43:01] And you know, with such important
[43:02] decisions for Bitcoin and I think
[43:04] Bitcoin is so important to the future of
[43:06] society,
[43:07] you can't we cannot have borderline
[43:10] blatant lies, fud, misrepresent
[43:12] representation of information and trying
[43:14] to convince
[43:16] the world
[43:17] of a version of society that's false.
[43:22] Can't make really important decisions on
[43:24] on
[43:25] on fud on fud.
[43:27] Ultimately.
[43:28] So, anyways.
[43:31] Yeah, I mean, this tweet from Jonas I
[43:33] mean kind of sums it up. Project 11 paid
[43:35] one Bitcoin for a quantum break of
[43:37] Bitcoin style crypto. The quantum
[43:39] computer, like the actual hardware,
[43:41] contributed nothing. It was just noise.
[43:43] The answer was recovered by a classical
[43:46] checker sifting random noise. I
[43:48] reproduced this whole thing in 20 lines
[43:50] of Python with no quantum computer at
[43:53] all.
[43:54] So, again.
[43:56] Not that quantum isn't theoretically a
[43:58] threat. Not that it isn't making
[43:59] progress. The progress is on the
[44:01] software side, not the hardware side.
[44:03] So, if you just focus on the software
[44:04] side side, it's it's extremely
[44:07] misrepresentative of the overall threat
[44:10] and the progress that's being made at
[44:11] whole.
[44:13] There's plenty of work going into
[44:14] quantum, you know, on a future episode I
[44:17] can go through countless developer
[44:19] proposals of how we as a community
[44:21] should address this, but like things
[44:24] like this are just they cross a line.
[44:26] They cross a line.
[44:30] Um okay.
[44:32] Company updates for Strike and 21.
[44:35] I'm going to skip these this week
[44:36] because I I I think I had mentioned
[44:37] this. I have a feeling I will be talking
[44:39] about my companies a decent amount this
[44:41] week. I think I'm going to have media.
[44:44] Um there's podcasts. Uh I have a keynote
[44:47] on Wednesday. I can't talk about um
[44:49] things I plan on saying, but um I I
[44:52] don't know. I I might I might have a
[44:55] thing or two to say about about Strike
[44:57] or 21 or who knows.
[45:00] But I'm not going to I'm not going to do
[45:02] it today on Monday. I'm going to allow
[45:04] this week There's a lot that's gone on
[45:06] into this week. Um everyone that works
[45:08] with me, a lot of our partners. Uh and
[45:11] so I'm just going to let that play out.
[45:13] And um next week on Monday, I'm sure you
[45:16] guys will have questions and comments
[45:18] and stuff and we can talk about it then.
[45:20] But for this week, um we'll uh we'll let
[45:23] the week play out.
[45:25] Cool?
[45:26] Okay.
[45:28] Um let's uh
[45:30] let's do some Q&A. I got maybe 10 15
[45:33] minutes max. And then uh I unfortunately
[45:36] got to jump. So I apologize. These weeks
[45:38] are intense for me.
[45:40] Um but uh
[45:41] let's hang out. Let's see what Dylan's
[45:43] got for us.
[45:45] Hold on. Let me blow me up.
[45:47] I just got a haircut.
[45:50] How do you guys think it looks?
[45:52] Grade it.
[45:54] Don't flatter me.
[45:56] Be honest.
[46:00] All right.
[46:02] Uh let's Let's see. Let's see.
[46:06] Dylan, where is Dylan?
[46:12] That is Mr. Dylan.
[46:17] Oh, no. No. No. No. No.
[46:20] There we go.
[46:22] Let's do it this way.
[46:26] Um
[46:28] Okay.
[46:46] Um okay.
[46:48] Let's do it. Ready? Uh
[46:49] question one, dumb question. What is a
[46:52] swap line?
[46:53] Um the very simple answer is it is a
[46:56] facility that allows a counterpart,
[46:59] traditionally like another country, um
[47:02] or or a domestic bank. Um I don't know
[47:04] if they're called swap lines when like
[47:06] Chase Bank uses it, but it's a facility
[47:09] to borrow a bunch of dollars. So, the
[47:12] point is
[47:14] someone needs dollars,
[47:16] but they're being asked to or don't want
[47:19] to sell something like stocks or bonds
[47:23] or or land or real estate to raise the
[47:26] cash. You know, when people say whenever
[47:28] markets go haywire, Bitcoin goes down.
[47:31] Yeah, because it's a highly liquid
[47:33] global commodity, and people need to
[47:35] raise cash. They need to raise cash to
[47:37] meet a margin call. They need to raise
[47:38] cash because there's a crisis. And so,
[47:41] you see things like gold and Bitcoin
[47:42] sell off in those moments because you
[47:45] use assets to raise cash. Uh and if
[47:49] someone like the UAE is being asked not
[47:52] to sell their assets to raise cash, then
[47:54] a swap line
[47:56] incentivized either from the Fed or from
[47:59] the Treasury, is a way to borrow
[48:01] dollars. Now,
[48:03] if
[48:04] obviously like collateralized lending is
[48:07] totally different because you're posting
[48:08] collateral that is worth something and
[48:10] you're borrowing capital that is worth
[48:13] less. And obviously, if the collateral
[48:15] value falls, then you get liquidated.
[48:17] But, traditionally in these swap lines,
[48:20] they just start printing dollars that
[48:21] are {quote} {unquote} lent. But,
[48:23] obviously, when you print more money,
[48:24] you're increasing the supply. You
[48:25] increase that's inflationary. That
[48:27] weakens the currency. So, it's a fancy
[48:29] way of handing out dollars in times of
[48:32] crisis.
[48:33] Um now,
[48:35] it's called swap because historically
[48:39] the two central banks
[48:40] or whatever, the Treasury swaps dollars
[48:44] for another currency.
[48:46] But,
[48:47] you know,
[48:48] the whole reason it exists is to prevent
[48:50] dollar shortages,
[48:52] stabilize markets. These are the things
[48:54] you'll hear from central planners.
[48:55] Stabilize asset prices, stabilize
[48:57] markets, avoid crisis, and prevent
[49:00] dollar shortages. It's a way to puke
[49:02] dollars out into the world so that
[49:04] people don't sell assets and crash
[49:06] markets to raise cash. Does that make
[49:08] sense? Let me know if if that makes
[49:10] sense.
[49:11] Um hey Jack, can you think about doing a
[49:13] podcast with an in-depth look at what
[49:15] makes Bitcoin better than gold? Totally.
[49:18] You know what's interesting, and I pose
[49:20] this question to you guys.
[49:22] I get a lot of requests like, hey, can
[49:24] you do an episode on what makes
[49:26] Bitcoin better than other crypto coins?
[49:29] What makes Bitcoin better than gold?
[49:32] And there's another version of the show
[49:34] I can do where basically I put together
[49:36] a presentation which maybe would
[49:38] otherwise be a keynote at a conference
[49:40] or something, and I just present it live
[49:42] on Monday and upload it to YouTube.
[49:44] Obviously, I wouldn't then be doing kind
[49:46] of this hybrid macro
[49:49] opining on real-world events.
[49:52] Um you know, I I don't know if I have
[49:53] time to do all of it. I could try. But,
[49:56] you know, if, you know, for the next few
[49:59] episodes you guys would rather have an
[50:01] episode, like an hour-long episode on
[50:04] why Bitcoin's better than gold, or why
[50:06] Bitcoin's better than other cryptos
[50:08] instead of macro, uh, you know, news,
[50:13] societal trends, how it relates to
[50:16] Bitcoin, let me know in the comments.
[50:18] I'm you know,
[50:19] I like doing all this stuff. I like
[50:22] trying to educate, uh, champion Bitcoin,
[50:25] um,
[50:26] trying to be helpful. So,
[50:29] let me know.
[50:30] Um,
[50:31] Okay, Bitcoin markets. Hey Jack, did you
[50:34] watch the documentary that came out last
[50:36] week called Finding Satoshi, and what
[50:37] were your thoughts?
[50:39] I did not watch it yet. Um,
[50:42] I'm sure I will. I'll give you my
[50:43] thoughts then.
[50:44] My overall thoughts on Finding Satoshi,
[50:46] I've said this before, you know, listen,
[50:49] Satoshi didn't ask for anything from us
[50:52] except for one thing. Okay? But, Satoshi
[50:54] didn't ask for money, fame, awards,
[50:57] credibility, control.
[51:00] Trust me, I've been in tons of business
[51:02] negotiations. I've been in tons of
[51:04] meetings, tons of partnerships. Hell, I
[51:06] mean, I was involved in a country making
[51:09] Bitcoin legal tender. So, I I've been up
[51:12] close and personal with government.
[51:16] People ask for lots of things. People
[51:19] want control. People want veto rights.
[51:22] People want uh, equity, cash. People
[51:25] want People have egos. People want to be
[51:29] the man. People want to be popular.
[51:31] People want to be recognized. Satoshi
[51:35] Nakamoto wanted none of that. The only
[51:38] for arguably one of the greatest gifts
[51:41] to mankind, Satoshi wanted one thing.
[51:45] And that was to be left alone.
[51:48] And so I for one res- will always
[51:51] respect Satoshi's one request. Now
[51:54] obviously not literally to me, but
[51:56] because I'm a Bitcoiner, to me, to us,
[51:59] to the people.
[52:00] Leave the [ __ ] guy alone.
[52:02] It doesn't matter who he is, it doesn't
[52:06] matter what he intended, what he wanted,
[52:08] this, that, and the third. Bitcoin's far
[52:10] bigger than any one person, any one
[52:12] government, any one company. It doesn't
[52:15] matter.
[52:16] And Satoshi couldn't have been more
[52:18] clear. Leave me alone.
[52:20] I want you guys to know who I am. I
[52:22] don't want you guys to look after me,
[52:23] try and figure me out, try and
[52:25] investigate and track me down.
[52:27] So I know that there will always be
[52:29] people that want to go off and do that
[52:31] exercise. I'm not going to participate
[52:33] in it and I don't find it I don't find
[52:35] it interesting. I don't know what we
[52:36] would benefit by finding out who Satoshi
[52:38] was and I find it just a violation of
[52:41] the one ask that this I mean that
[52:43] Satoshi Nakamoto might go down as the
[52:45] most generous person in human history. I
[52:48] mean there's been plenty of people that
[52:49] have invented amazing things.
[52:51] But obviously you read all about them
[52:54] and and their lives and they were they
[52:56] were the awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
[52:58] or Time Person of the Year or they got a
[53:01] key to the city. Like this person gifted
[53:04] better money. I mean Satoshi could have
[53:06] pre-mined a bunch, could have IPO'd it
[53:08] on the stock exchange, could have tried
[53:10] to sell it as software to solving the
[53:14] Byzantine Generals problem, could have
[53:15] brought it to someone that was willing
[53:17] to hire him for a lot of money. None of
[53:19] that.
[53:20] None of that.
[53:22] So I don't know. I I saw the documentary
[53:25] dropped. I wasn't interested. I don't
[53:27] give a [ __ ]
[53:29] Um and then the other thing I will say
[53:31] is, you know, I remember I was with
[53:33] Dorsey
[53:35] um during one of the like
[53:37] episodes where everyone was convinced
[53:40] Dorsey was Satoshi, which he has said
[53:42] he's absolutely not.
[53:45] I was with him, and that was scary.
[53:48] Because like there are immediately
[53:50] questions about our security.
[53:52] We're like going to dinner, and like the
[53:54] whole world is trying to be convinced
[53:56] that this guy created Bitcoin. Do you
[53:58] know what that does to a person and
[54:00] their security and their well-being?
[54:04] If if someone if the world is convinced
[54:06] that they have access to a million
[54:08] Bitcoins and created Bitcoin and created
[54:10] this money, like what the [ __ ] Why
[54:13] would why would we do that to somebody?
[54:15] Unless someone has cryptographical
[54:18] evidence, all of this is far more
[54:21] endangering and rude and pathetic than
[54:23] it is helpful. What are we doing?
[54:26] Endangering other people.
[54:29] What the [ __ ] is that?
[54:30] Nobody deserves that.
[54:33] So anyway,
[54:34] Satoshi didn't want to be known, was was
[54:37] clear that Bitcoin was bigger than him.
[54:40] If we were to find out who this person
[54:42] was or is,
[54:44] it doesn't matter. It won't change my
[54:46] opinion on Bitcoin. It won't change how
[54:47] Bitcoin works. So I certainly don't
[54:49] care. And then I've also experienced
[54:51] what it like could do to a friend. It's
[54:53] [ __ ] up, dude. That's not cool.
[54:56] So I don't know.
[54:58] I'm sure I'll watch it, but
[55:01] that's my consistent take on the whole
[55:03] who's Satoshi stuff.
[55:05] It's just a waste, and I I
[55:07] I think it's dangerous. It's not cool.
[55:11] Um Yo Jack, do pleb nodes really matter,
[55:13] or is it economic nodes that have the
[55:15] real power?
[55:16] Um
[55:18] I'm not sure I understand the question.
[55:19] You'll have to define what a pleb node
[55:21] and an economic node is, but does
[55:23] running a node matter? Yes. If you don't
[55:26] run a node, ultimately you're trusting
[55:27] someone else to validate for you, right?
[55:30] So the true and most pure way to use
[55:32] Bitcoin is to run a node and receive
[55:34] your Bitcoins to your own node, because
[55:37] then you are literally verifying
[55:39] cryptographically in accordance to the
[55:41] consensus rules
[55:43] that like your Bitcoin is real
[55:45] and it's not forged, it's not fake, it's
[55:48] not double spent. You know, obviously by
[55:51] using Strike, you're using Strike's
[55:53] nodes.
[55:54] And I use Strike's nodes, but Strike's
[55:57] nodes are my nodes. So, ultimately
[55:58] you're trusting me. Now,
[56:00] that's not a good or bad thing. You
[56:02] know, I think businesses will continue
[56:03] to exist. People aren't ultimately going
[56:05] to run all their own financial services
[56:08] for themselves. Um but yeah, when you
[56:10] use Strike, you're not running your own
[56:12] node. You're you're you're using my
[56:13] node. And
[56:16] so, do nodes matter? 100%
[56:19] Because here's the thing.
[56:20] Bitcoin doesn't work like fiat or like
[56:23] Ethereum with proof of stake where
[56:25] whoever holds the most coins benefits.
[56:29] It's the same rules for everyone no
[56:31] matter what your balance is. It doesn't
[56:33] matter if you're Sailor, if you're
[56:34] Satoshi, or if you're someone who
[56:36] doesn't own any Bitcoin yet.
[56:38] Nodes enforce the rules. And so,
[56:41] whenever people have tried to change the
[56:43] rules in Bitcoin,
[56:45] the only way to change the rules is if
[56:47] we all change the rules. And so, if the
[56:50] Bitcoin network says, "No. We don't want
[56:53] to increase the block size. We don't
[56:55] want to increase the supply cap from 21
[56:57] million to 42 million. No." Then by
[57:00] changing the rules, you're creating a
[57:01] totally different coin. Because
[57:04] it does not
[57:05] it does not validate within the rules
[57:07] that we all run.
[57:09] So, it actually doesn't matter how many
[57:10] coins you have when it comes to
[57:12] governance and property rights what for
[57:15] Bitcoin. What matters is the nodes. What
[57:17] rules are the nodes running? And so, why
[57:19] is it important that you run a node?
[57:21] Because you're casting your vote for
[57:23] what the rules are. What makes a Bitcoin
[57:26] real?
[57:27] If I if I if I run a node and I change
[57:30] the 21 million cap to 22 million
[57:32] and I try and transact with you, are you
[57:35] going to accept that Bitcoin? Is that a
[57:37] real Bitcoin to you?
[57:39] Cuz if your rules are no, no, no, the
[57:40] supply cap's 21 million,
[57:42] well, then your node will reject it.
[57:44] Fake money. [ __ ] you.
[57:47] And so
[57:48] I Guys, I've been in Bitcoin for almost
[57:50] 14 years. People have tried to change
[57:52] the Bitcoin rules all the time.
[57:54] And what's critically important is that
[57:56] everyone can run a node and that people
[57:57] do run nodes because then we get
[57:59] consensus on what Bitcoin is. What are
[58:02] the consensus rules, the monetary
[58:04] properties that make a Bitcoin a
[58:05] Bitcoin?
[58:06] And that's why when people say, you
[58:07] know, we need to raise the block size,
[58:09] we need to do all these fancy crazy
[58:10] things, and and that prevents the
[58:12] everyday person from running a node,
[58:14] that's really dangerous because if the
[58:16] only people that can run nodes are large
[58:18] data centers and large companies, then
[58:20] those are the people that are ultimately
[58:22] going to set the rules. So, we want
[58:24] Bitcoin to be able to run on extremely
[58:26] cheap hardware, on your phone even,
[58:29] because if everyone needs to be able to
[58:32] participate in validating and asserting
[58:36] the rules.
[58:37] Doesn't matter how much money you have,
[58:39] who you are,
[58:40] you can run a node if you want, and you
[58:43] can cast your claim for validating and
[58:46] enforcing the consensus rules. Does that
[58:48] make sense?
[58:51] Question for Jack. How can Bitcoin be
[58:52] labeled a trustless protocol if it's
[58:54] 100% dependent on trusting somebody else
[58:56] will accept it later?
[58:59] Bitcoin is a trustless protocol in that
[59:01] you do not have to trust your
[59:03] counterparty to achieve finality.
[59:07] Meaning this,
[59:09] gold
[59:11] did not scale to 8 billion people that
[59:13] are now using the internet because you
[59:15] can't send it over a communications
[59:18] channel like the World Wide Web.
[59:20] And so, in order to use gold in today's
[59:22] society, you have to deposit it with
[59:24] someone else, and they give you an IOU,
[59:26] and then you can send that IOU over the
[59:28] internet.
[59:30] But at the end of the day, you end up
[59:31] trusting the US government or Chase Bank
[59:34] or whoever, Tether Gold.
[59:37] And so, gold is not trustless when used
[59:40] in that way, and that's the only
[59:41] practical way to use gold in today's
[59:43] society.
[59:44] Bitcoin is both a monetary asset and a
[59:47] monetary network. You can achieve
[59:49] transaction finality without needing to
[59:52] trust anyone in the middle. You do not
[59:54] have to trust your counterpart. Enemies
[59:56] at war can trade Bitcoin trustlessly.
[59:59] The US cannot rug
[60:01] uh uh their counterpart in Bitcoin. They
[60:03] can't They can't sanction it. They can't
[60:05] say that Bitcoin's now worthless. They
[60:07] can't do that. That's the trustless
[60:09] piece. Now,
[60:11] depending on will someone else accept it
[60:13] later, now that's just money and
[60:15] markets, right?
[60:18] Like, you know, if I wanted to use my
[60:20] toenail clippings as money, sorry,
[60:22] that's kind of gross example, but
[60:23] whatever. If I wanted to use my toenail
[60:26] clippings as money, I could do that. I
[60:28] have every right to do that. I you know,
[60:30] for for every dollar I earn, I exchange
[60:33] it for toenail clippings, but if I were
[60:35] to go to Whole Foods and say, "Here's a
[60:37] bunch of toenails for steak," they have
[60:39] every right to say, "I don't want that."
[60:41] It's their good and service they're
[60:43] exchanging.
[60:44] So, ultimately, that's just markets, and
[60:46] that's a huge property of money. When
[60:48] when people say Bitcoin is highly
[60:50] liquid, highly saleable, these are
[60:53] foundational properties it has achieved.
[60:55] New moneys have a really tough time
[60:57] garnering any network effect because
[60:59] you're right, who values it? Who wants
[61:01] that? The fact that Bitcoin's a
[61:03] trillion-plus dollar global money is a
[61:05] huge deal. It's a huge deal because it's
[61:08] highly liquid and 24/7, you're very
[61:12] likely to now find someone that's
[61:13] willing to exchange for it.
[61:16] So, but you know, there's no protocol
[61:18] that solves for that. There's no
[61:20] protocol to say, like, we're going to
[61:22] trustlessly make sure that Whole Foods
[61:24] accepts it. Of course not.
[61:27] Of course not. It's just how markets
[61:28] work.
[61:29] That goes for any money by the way.
[61:31] Maybe there's a day where Whole Foods
[61:32] says, "Oh, you have dollars? Yuck. I
[61:34] don't want that [ __ ] shitcoin."
[61:37] Right?
[61:38] Who knows? There's no protocol to solve
[61:39] for that.
[61:42] Uh
[61:44] What has the coolest part of the
[61:45] conference been so far, Dylan and Jack?
[61:47] Well, I'm not going to lie. I just got
[61:49] here. Well, I got here two nights ago. I
[61:51] got here Saturday night. And I think the
[61:53] conference started today.
[61:55] But uh I will say I'm looking forward to
[61:57] the Strike event tonight. We're hosting
[61:59] an event tonight. Um Strike private. So,
[62:02] some of our, you know, most loyal
[62:04] customers that have done a lot of
[62:05] business with us. Um after this, I'm
[62:07] actually going to go hang out uh there
[62:10] and uh meet some of our customers. I
[62:12] love hearing from you guys, meeting you
[62:13] guys.
[62:15] Um
[62:15] I don't know. Bitcoin's a movement, man.
[62:17] It's a revolution. So, I'm looking
[62:18] forward to that tonight. And then um my
[62:21] keynote on is on Wednesday. Uh so, I'm
[62:23] really excited about that. Um
[62:26] you know, these are always opportunities
[62:27] for me to announce new stuff, uh convey
[62:31] plans and ideas, talk about new
[62:33] partnerships, and you know, just
[62:36] uh I don't know. Convey my contribution
[62:39] to this greater story we're all on. Um
[62:42] So, yeah. And then I always like to
[62:43] stopping by the Strike booth. The Strike
[62:46] booth is pretty cool this year. We've
[62:47] got a bunch of exclusive merch we're
[62:49] handing out for free. A bunch of the
[62:51] employees are here cuz now Strike is is
[62:54] getting big, man. We We have a whole
[62:55] lending
[62:57] suite of products. We have our brokerage
[62:59] business. There's all sorts of things we
[63:01] now sell as products to Bitcoiners. And
[63:04] uh we've got a team here to help
[63:06] everyone through it. And I always love
[63:07] stopping by the booth. Again, just
[63:09] meeting meeting our customers, meeting
[63:11] Bitcoiners, hearing what we could be
[63:12] doing better.
[63:14] I love asking people what their Bitcoin
[63:15] story is. It's so cool that we're all
[63:18] kind of united from around the world on
[63:20] this one thing.
[63:22] And uh
[63:23] I think it's cool that we're all so
[63:24] different. So, anyway.
[63:27] Those are probably some of my top three
[63:30] uh things.
[63:31] Uh question for Jack. I'm 19 and a very
[63:34] serious Bitcoiner. I think most
[63:35] Bitcoiners think young people are more
[63:37] hip to BCC than they really are. Young
[63:39] people are skeptical and dumb. What do
[63:41] you think?
[63:43] Shout out to you. Uh
[63:44] that's cool. I was once 19 and a
[63:46] Bitcoiner and I got a lot of respect for
[63:48] you. And uh
[63:50] I'm curious how you found the show. Um
[63:52] it's cool that you're listening.
[63:54] Whenever I hear
[63:56] the people that actually listen to this
[63:57] show, it always blows my mind cuz it's a
[64:00] weird show. I'm talking for hours to
[64:02] myself. And so it's always funny to
[64:05] realize that there are real people
[64:06] listening on the other side.
[64:08] And I really appreciate it. Um
[64:11] So, my opinion on young Bitcoiners,
[64:14] yeah. I mean, listen.
[64:16] What we've realized at Strike, majority
[64:18] of our business and our volume is
[64:20] actually not from young people. I think
[64:21] people look at me and I look young and
[64:24] depending on the context I am young and
[64:26] people assume, oh Jack is the millennial
[64:29] Bitcoiner and he sells his services to
[64:32] young people. And the truth is that's
[64:33] not the case necessarily because at the
[64:36] end of the day, Bitcoin is the largest
[64:38] wealth transfer in human history.
[64:41] Right? We are, you know, wealth is
[64:43] leaving analog assets like old real
[64:46] estate, bonds, you know, old equity
[64:49] portfolios and it's entering Bitcoin.
[64:51] Bitcoin's being monetized in the face of
[64:54] analog ways of persisting and exchanging
[64:56] wealth.
[64:57] And 19-year-olds don't have old art
[65:01] paintings, a real estate portfolio, a
[65:03] basket of equities. Of course, how the
[65:05] [ __ ] would you? You're 19.
[65:08] And so the reality is the people that
[65:10] have the wealth today, those are the
[65:12] people that are wiring strike $20
[65:14] million to buy Bitcoin or taking out a
[65:16] $50 million loan,
[65:19] not 19-year-olds.
[65:21] We, of course, serve tons of young
[65:22] people as well, but to your point, young
[65:24] people are far more skeptical
[65:27] um and they're just generally less
[65:29] educated on things like money in the
[65:32] world and themselves.
[65:33] I mean, it takes time. Like, I I
[65:35] jokingly say all the time, you can print
[65:37] money, but you can't print an
[65:38] 18-year-old.
[65:39] >> [laughter]
[65:41] >> Right? Like, it takes time to come into
[65:43] your own as a human being.
[65:45] And so,
[65:47] you know, I I think that what I found
[65:49] really interesting is I should have put
[65:51] this Maybe I'll do this next episode.
[65:53] There's a lot of growth in religion
[65:56] recently. And I'm not a particularly
[65:59] religious person. I've I've no opinion
[66:01] on religion itself, but it's fascinating
[66:04] to see society reevaluate what it means
[66:07] to be human and conduct the human
[66:09] experience. I think people are sick of
[66:11] being sold [ __ ] and are finding
[66:13] purpose and a sense of self and a sense
[66:15] of being. Like, religion is being
[66:18] rediscovered again, seemingly. And and
[66:20] it's being driven a lot in the youth.
[66:23] Um and so, to me, that tells me that the
[66:26] youth is not only skeptical about
[66:28] Bitcoin, they're skeptical about the
[66:29] world. They're skeptical about what
[66:30] they're being sold. They're skeptical
[66:32] about the situation they've been born
[66:34] into. And they're generally cautious and
[66:38] they have every right to be. And so, I'm
[66:41] hopeful that
[66:42] a lot of what we're living through, like
[66:44] the necessary inflation, currency
[66:45] debasement, will end up driving the
[66:48] youth to discovering Bitcoin, but it's
[66:50] going to be a journey. I mean, think
[66:52] about it, guys. Like, the youth doesn't
[66:53] have a basket of assets that they're
[66:56] trying to manage. They're kids, man.
[66:59] They're [ __ ] kids.
[67:00] Um and so, anyway, shout out to you,
[67:04] uh
[67:05] whoever you are, 19 years old, and all
[67:07] you young folks out there,
[67:09] I mean, obviously if there's ever ways
[67:10] we can help either at Strike or myself
[67:12] personally,
[67:14] um I have a huge passion for the youth.
[67:17] I I associate with the youth more than I
[67:19] do older generations. Um
[67:22] those are my people and uh and I I I I
[67:26] ultimately think, you know, we don't
[67:27] control what we were born into, but we
[67:29] control, you know, what comes next. And
[67:33] it's a really tough and mature thing to
[67:35] do to be like, you know what? I forgive
[67:37] those before us.
[67:39] Um there's nothing we can do about that.
[67:41] The best thing we can do for each other
[67:43] is build something better.
[67:44] And eventually
[67:46] people will come to that, but for the
[67:48] 19-year-olds that have already gotten to
[67:49] that place and feel that way and are on
[67:51] this show listening, it's cool. So, huge
[67:53] respect. Thanks for listening.
[67:56] And yeah, I agree with you, bro. It's
[67:58] something uh we have to solve.
[68:00] So,
[68:01] I don't know. Any feedback you have,
[68:03] educational content I can put out. I
[68:05] mean, sometimes universities ask me to
[68:07] come and zoom in to their class or to
[68:10] their
[68:11] uh like I What are these programs
[68:14] called? Like the Bitcoin club and stuff
[68:16] like that. And I never say no, ever. You
[68:19] know, if it's kids or youth or college
[68:22] students, you know, I always will have
[68:24] time for that. So, if there's anything I
[68:26] can do to help out, help educate, you
[68:29] guys just let me know.
[68:32] Um okay, I'm going to try and blitz
[68:34] through these Strike questions and then
[68:37] uh we'll have a few other ones and then
[68:38] I'll try and get out of here
[68:40] uh in the next 5-10 minutes. Uh Jack,
[68:43] can you add little orange dots to the
[68:44] price chart in our Strike app for each
[68:46] of our Strike purchases weighted by the
[68:47] size? Oh, like how Saylor does? Yeah,
[68:50] it's not a bad idea. I think we've
[68:51] looked into this. It's on the road map.
[68:53] I mean, when building a company like
[68:55] Strike, it's always hard because there's
[68:56] so much we want to do, but the challenge
[68:59] that you have to implement as an
[69:01] entrepreneur is, you know, what is the
[69:04] it's it's not what's How do I say this?
[69:07] It's not difficult to have a lot of good
[69:09] ideas. Ideas aren't scarce within
[69:10] themselves. Like Mark Zuckerberg wasn't
[69:12] the only person that came up with the
[69:14] social media. What's hard is well,
[69:16] what's the most important thing to do
[69:18] now? And what's the right order of
[69:19] operations to build the vision?
[69:22] Ideas are easy. Like, yeah.
[69:24] Uh not easy. I don't want to undersell
[69:27] them, but ideas are abundant. Everyone
[69:29] has opinions. Those things are not
[69:31] They're no They're not scarce. What's
[69:33] hard is the execution. And so it's
[69:35] definitely somewhere on our road map.
[69:37] It's just competing with
[69:40] It's competing with all sorts of stuff
[69:42] like liquidation-proof loans or uh like
[69:47] yield on your cash. Right now, you know,
[69:49] some of our customers want to explore
[69:50] yield on their Bitcoin. Um like it's
[69:53] competing with all those things. And so
[69:54] it hasn't
[69:56] been the top priority yet, but I know
[69:57] it's somewhere on there. And I would
[69:59] expect to see that something like that
[70:01] um within this year. Don't hold me to
[70:03] it. Uh hey Jack, you've mentioned
[70:04] strategy is borrowing at very expensive
[70:06] rates. The Bitcoin line of credit on
[70:08] Strike is even higher. I think they're
[70:10] kind of the same. Maybe not. Uh would
[70:13] When do you anticipate Strike having
[70:15] comparable rates to other lenders?
[70:17] What other lenders are cheaper than
[70:19] Strike?
[70:22] Uh we may or may not have some exciting
[70:25] announcements related to this topic
[70:26] later this week, but I would be curious
[70:28] to hear what lenders you're talking
[70:30] about. I mean, ultimately at the end of
[70:32] the day,
[70:34] these things are expensive because
[70:36] the capital getting capital to finance
[70:39] Bitcoin loans are expensive. And
[70:41] sometimes what you see is like startups
[70:43] or companies will like raise a bunch of
[70:45] VC money, and they'll try and undercut
[70:48] the market. They'll be like, "Oh, our
[70:50] loans are 7% or 8%. We're the cheapest."
[70:53] And then they they out of the money that
[70:56] funded them, and the product stopped
[70:58] working. Like, at the end of the day, a
[71:01] HELOC, like a home equity loan, is still
[71:03] even like, you know, 8, 9, 10, 11%. It
[71:07] depends on your house and who's doing it
[71:09] for you, but with Fed funds where they
[71:11] are and markets where they are, like
[71:13] money's not cheap. And I mean,
[71:17] bringing up strategy is a great point.
[71:19] Like, if Saylor could get cheaper money,
[71:21] he would.
[71:23] He would. If Saylor could get money at
[71:25] 0%, he would. He's not an idiot.
[71:28] He's trying to get money from you guys.
[71:31] Who's lending Saylor money? You guys.
[71:34] Anyone that buys stretch.
[71:37] And so, and that's not a secret. And so,
[71:40] getting money to finance things right
[71:42] now is not cheap. So, Saylor, who's like
[71:45] the largest holder of Bitcoin, he can't
[71:46] get money any cheaper than what what
[71:48] stretch at, 11, 12%. And so, our rates
[71:51] will come down, but when markets come
[71:53] down. Cuz ultimately, you're asking
[71:55] someone to give you cash at a cheap
[71:57] rate. Like, why Let me put it to you
[71:59] this way. I would love to give you a
[72:01] loan at 1% rate. Of course I would. I
[72:04] mean, what are you I'm not a bad guy.
[72:06] But who in their [snorts] right mind
[72:08] would take billions of dollars that they
[72:10] have and give it to you for 1% instead
[72:13] of buying Bitcoin, buying T-bills, doing
[72:16] something else with it? So, the question
[72:18] is,
[72:19] by giving really cheap rates, someone's
[72:21] getting [ __ ] Someone is Someone is
[72:23] losing. And you say, "Well, mortgages
[72:24] are cheap cheap." Yeah, but mortgages
[72:26] have the implicit backing of the US
[72:28] government. Bitcoin-backed loans don't
[72:29] yet. And obviously, once they do
[72:31] someday, Strike will be super cheap. But
[72:34] right now, we are kind of pioneering.
[72:36] Ultimately, and and I will talk about
[72:38] this later this week, like ultimately,
[72:40] Tether and Strike are pioneering
[72:43] Bitcoin lending. And like, trying to
[72:45] build this market from scratch. And so,
[72:47] you're always going to get startups that
[72:49] raise $50 million dollars a venture
[72:50] capitalist and use that money to try and
[72:53] do really cheap loans, but there's no
[72:55] one has billions and billions and
[72:56] billions of dollars that are cheaper
[72:59] financing than like HELOCs and like
[73:02] because why would a massive institution
[73:04] that has 10 billion dollars
[73:06] give it to you for 1% instead of buying
[73:09] Bitcoin, instead of buying equities,
[73:11] instead of doing something where they
[73:13] can get a greater return?
[73:15] So, and I've talked about, you know, at
[73:18] Strike we want to build what we call
[73:20] yield on cash where our customers at
[73:22] Strike say, "Hey, if you give me 5%, 4%,
[73:27] 6%, whatever the number is, yield on our
[73:29] cash, you know, you can use my cash to
[73:32] help finance Bitcoin backed loans or
[73:34] people's Bitcoins line of credit." And
[73:35] we're creating a two-sided market where
[73:37] you have people all over the world
[73:39] depositing cash on our platform, we have
[73:40] people all over the world wanting to
[73:42] borrow cash against their Bitcoin, and
[73:44] that could be cheaper because you're
[73:46] basically it's not peer-to-peer cuz
[73:49] Strike is helping facilitate the market,
[73:51] but it's people borrowing and lending to
[73:53] people. And then when you say I want my
[73:55] cash back, obviously we're we're that's
[73:57] the value Strike would be providing is
[73:59] we're making sure that this market is
[74:01] functional. But that that would be the
[74:03] way to ultimately get it cheaper. The
[74:05] cheapest capital is the guy standing
[74:07] next to you in line at Starbucks, right?
[74:10] Who's like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I'd
[74:11] take, you know, 4 and 1/2% yield on my
[74:13] cash on Strike." And then I can say,
[74:15] "Okay, now I'll I will lower the cost of
[74:19] everyone else's Bitcoin line of credit
[74:20] because now my capital cost is only 4
[74:23] and 1/2%." But to go to an institutional
[74:25] investor and say, "I'll give you 4 and
[74:26] 1/2%," they're going to say, "Why would
[74:28] I do that? I could buy
[74:30] Why don't I just buy Bitcoin instead of
[74:32] that? That's stupid." Does that make
[74:34] sense?
[74:36] So, it's no it's it's it's no accident
[74:39] that strategies
[74:41] uh Stretch and Strike's products are
[74:44] similarly priced
[74:46] because, you know, what what yield would
[74:48] it take for someone to forego buying
[74:51] Bitcoin and doing a bunch of other
[74:52] things and instead getting, you know, a
[74:54] yield? For Strike, it seems to be 11
[74:56] 12%. And so, the market is similar for
[74:59] Bitcoin back lending products. The Block
[75:01] is one of our more expensive ones
[75:02] because it's a smaller loan. If you
[75:04] borrow 500 grand or a million or 5
[75:06] million or 50 million from Strike, we go
[75:08] as low as like even 7% to be clear.
[75:12] But, that's because like it's a
[75:13] tremendous amount of business. Does that
[75:15] make sense? Hopefully, it does.
[75:17] Uh
[75:19] Okay, next question. Buying
[75:21] uh
[75:22] Buying on Bitcoin via Strike is
[75:23] seamless, but selling via Strike isn't
[75:25] integrated. Others support both
[75:27] directions. Oh, I didn't know that. I'll
[75:29] ping the team um and ask why we don't
[75:31] support the sell flow. No problem.
[75:33] Thanks for clarifying. Um but I didn't
[75:36] know that.
[75:38] Uh okay, a few other questions which are
[75:40] usually fun
[75:42] um
[75:43] cuz they're have nothing to do with
[75:45] Bitcoin.
[75:46] Question, what's your preferred sauce or
[75:48] sides with your ribeye? Big fan of sour
[75:50] cream and honey with hot sauce. Wow. I
[75:54] have had honey on steak. I have had hot
[75:56] sauce on steak.
[75:58] You guys are going to kill me in the
[75:59] comments for this.
[76:01] I love ketchup. I use Primal Kitchen
[76:05] ketchup, so this kind of like, you know,
[76:07] a carnivore's version of ketchup. But,
[76:09] as a kid, I mean, I This is so gross.
[76:13] Don't judge me for it. I was like 4
[76:14] years old. But, my dad said I used to
[76:17] put ketchup on like pancakes. I mean,
[76:20] I've always eaten ketchup as a kid. I
[76:21] know, you guys are going to look at me
[76:22] different.
[76:24] I'm sorry. Hey, if if I'm anything, I'm
[76:26] honest, okay? I was four. I don't
[76:29] remember it.
[76:31] But, you know, growing up at home, I was
[76:33] always like I put ketchup on No, I put
[76:36] ketchup on my eggs, put ketchup on steak
[76:39] sometimes. But, if the steak's high
[76:41] quality and good enough, just eat it
[76:43] with salt. Um but I I had my phase of
[76:46] honey.
[76:47] But honey's just too much sugar um
[76:50] for me. I know the Saladino crowd likes
[76:53] it, but all the fruit and all the honey
[76:55] is just so much sugar. I prefer the
[76:57] ketosis. So, um but I have I use the
[77:01] Primal Kitchen products. So, I at home I
[77:04] have Primal Kitchen ranch, Primal
[77:05] Kitchen buffalo sauce, and Primal
[77:07] Kitchen ketchup. That's my rotation. And
[77:09] depends cuz I got a smoker. I got a
[77:11] Traeger on the roof. So,
[77:13] you know, sometimes I'll be smoking
[77:15] tri-tip, sometimes I'll be smoking
[77:17] chicken thighs, sometimes I'll be
[77:19] uh sometimes I'll grill ribeyes. And so,
[77:21] it kind of depends on what I'm eating.
[77:23] Sometimes I go, you know, my own
[77:25] homemade buffalo ranch for some chicken.
[77:29] Anyway.
[77:30] Hey Jack, I'm going to Chicago for 3
[77:31] days to catch the Cubs. Give me two
[77:33] great steakhouses to visit.
[77:36] I'll give you more than two because it's
[77:38] not a guarantee you're going to be able
[77:39] to get a reservation. Chicago in the
[77:41] Midwest, that's steak country. You know,
[77:44] that is Midwest homegrown crop. Um and
[77:47] so, that's in my opinion the best steak
[77:51] in the country, which means it's it
[77:53] might be tough to get a reservation. My
[77:55] favorite steakhouse is Maple & Ash, but
[77:57] it's a combination of the ambiance, the
[77:59] experience, the quality service, and the
[78:02] food. The only food The only steak that
[78:05] could be better than Maple & Ash in my
[78:06] opinion is Bavette's. So, the top two,
[78:09] if you can get a reservation,
[78:11] it's Bavette's and Maple & Ash, hands
[78:13] down. But I would be shocked if you'd be
[78:15] able to nail both of those.
[78:17] Um other steakhouses that are probably
[78:19] easier to get into and still like
[78:21] unbelievably good, um
[78:25] let's see.
[78:29] Dylan, what's the steakhouse next to
[78:31] Bavette's that we go to sometimes? That
[78:34] place is good.
[78:38] Oh.
[78:39] Supposedly I'm too close to the camera.
[78:40] Sorry.
[78:42] Um
[78:46] What's that steakhouse still?
[78:54] Anyway,
[78:55] the the live stream has a lag, so
[78:58] Dylan's not going to be able to answer
[78:59] in real time.
[79:00] Maple and Ash and Bavette's, I'll come
[79:02] back to you.
[79:03] Uh okay, after the engagement, what was
[79:05] the first thing that Jack and the future
[79:07] Mrs. did?
[79:09] Spend time with family and friends?
[79:11] So, that was the Soho House roof in
[79:14] Chicago.
[79:16] That was the first time I ever
[79:19] took the future Mrs. out um for lunch.
[79:23] It was the first time we like ever asked
[79:25] her if she wanted to hang out with me
[79:26] alone.
[79:27] We went and got lunch. It was on that
[79:29] roof. So, that's our spot. Um it's a fun
[79:33] place to hang, so I I rented that place
[79:37] out and filled it with friends and
[79:38] family that were hiding out the floor
[79:40] below.
[79:41] And so, the future Mrs. thought we were
[79:43] going to an event.
[79:45] Elevators opened and nobody was there.
[79:48] I got on my knee.
[79:49] I asked if she would marry me. I'd be
[79:51] the luckiest man in the world. And then,
[79:53] all the people that make life worth it
[79:55] to us
[79:57] came on up. And uh
[79:59] we
[80:00] just shared the moment. It was really
[80:02] cool. Um I'm excited for all the photos
[80:05] and videos to be produced from that. So,
[80:07] it's a cool moment. Um like I said,
[80:10] you know, prioritize family.
[80:13] Find a relationship, you know, it's the
[80:15] best thing that's ever happened to me.
[80:17] This Bitcoin stuff has its ups and its
[80:19] downs, its goods and its bads. My career
[80:21] has been quite the journey, but you
[80:23] know,
[80:24] my future Mrs. and what I'm building
[80:26] over there, which is my family, makes it
[80:28] all worth it.
[80:30] Um Jack, do you get paid to give keynote
[80:32] presentations at the Bitcoin conference?
[80:34] I don't get paid for none of that. Um,
[80:38] buy my own travel and my own hotels.
[80:41] Sometimes people offer, but to be
[80:43] honest, I don't know.
[80:45] I don't like So, the answer to your
[80:47] question is no, I don't get paid. But, I
[80:50] also
[80:51] I don't know. I I don't want the
[80:52] incentives to be like I'm a paid
[80:54] speaker. That's you know, another reason
[80:56] I don't don't do advertisements on here.
[80:59] You know,
[80:59] I want you guys to know where I make
[81:01] money. I make money one, I've been
[81:02] holding Bitcoin a long time, and two,
[81:05] by selling products through my
[81:07] businesses. Like when you guys use
[81:09] Strike, that's how you support me. You
[81:11] know, I've gotten a lot of licenses, we
[81:12] built a lot of technology, we've
[81:14] designed a lot of apps to give you a
[81:16] product and we charge for that. That's
[81:18] how I pay rent.
[81:21] And I I don't want people I I don't want
[81:23] to you know, collect money from selling
[81:26] you guys ads that can be convoluted and
[81:28] conflated with my opinions, and I don't
[81:31] want to get on stage because someone
[81:33] paid me. I'm here because I want to
[81:35] support Bitcoin, and I have things to
[81:38] say that I think are valuable
[81:40] given, you know, I'm a small piece of
[81:42] this overall story.
[81:44] Um,
[81:45] that's why I'm here. So, no, no one no
[81:47] one's paying me to be here. And uh, you
[81:50] know, make sure we get our own hotels
[81:52] and stuff. I just like separating
[81:53] separating
[81:55] that stuff. Like, I like being truly
[81:58] authentic, truly transparent, truly
[82:01] truly truly like unbiased, like I'm not
[82:04] for sale.
[82:06] You know,
[82:07] and at the end of the day, I'm going to
[82:08] miss rent if my companies fail, and my
[82:10] companies will fail if people think my
[82:12] products suck and what I stand for
[82:14] sucks. But, that's how I make money is
[82:16] if you guys use Strike and you know,
[82:20] support 21 ultimately.
[82:22] Okay, and last one, the chat wants to
[82:24] see my shirt.
[82:26] It is a Satoshi shirt. Let me push this
[82:28] back
[82:30] and I'll show you guys.
[82:32] So, the front says Satoshi Nakamoto.
[82:36] And let me zoom this in here because
[82:38] this is cool.
[82:39] These little boop
[82:41] these little things here
[82:43] that says
[82:45] can you see that?
[82:48] Those are programming languages. So, it
[82:50] says Linux, Python on there. You see
[82:52] that? HTML.
[82:55] So, Satoshi Nakamoto
[82:57] and then the back
[83:02] I'm going to go shirtless.
[83:04] But, we're not going to do any nips. Let
[83:06] me pull the camera up.
[83:11] The back
[83:15] is cool.
[83:19] Boop.
[83:20] Can you guys read that?
[83:23] It says
[83:24] "It isn't who has the most money or the
[83:26] most clout who wins. It's who has the
[83:28] best code."
[83:30] Bad ass, huh?
[83:32] And with that
[83:34] shirtless Jack is out. I will see you
[83:37] guys either at the Strike event tonight
[83:39] at the Strike booth or on stage on
[83:41] Wednesday. Much love. Appreciate all the
[83:44] support as always. Comments, questions
[83:47] leave them down below. I'll read them
[83:50] and I'll see you guys