Tag: Meet The Taco Plebs

Here’s Why The Culture Of Bitcoin Changes The World

by Bitcoin Magazine

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Discussing the most important cultural implications of Bitcoin.

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A world of fiat currency is a world of fiat culture. Although critics of Bitcoin maximalists say that fixing culture with Bitcoin is a stretch, I’ve had the pleasure of editing many articles for the magazine which address the various ways in which the technology is capable of impacting our culture. I was lucky enough to discuss these ideas with Allen, an account manager on the conference team who recently joined us here at BTC Inc.

In our conversation, we touched on what impact bitcoin can have on individuals and their families, the life lessons to be learned from Bitcoin, and more. Be sure to check out the podcast and the written interview below.

How were you first introduced to Bitcoin?

I first came across bitcoin in 2014 during my freshman year of college. It was actually on my move-in day. My roommate at the time was showing me Tor and Silk Road 2.0. When I had asked him how he purchased things there, he brought up bitcoin. He also had mentioned the price had just crashed from $600 … It wasn’t until 2017 though that I finally made my first purchase.

What’s the primary “life lesson” that you have learned from your time in bitcoin?

I can’t stress this enough but adopting a low time preference and an ability to demonstrate your own personal proof of work.

When I dropped out of college at the end of 2016, I thought my life was absolutely done. I had fallen into the pitfalls and labels society tends to throw upon someone like myself at the time. I had absolutely zero direction. It wasn’t until I fell down the bitcoin rabbit hole that I started to think more for myself and less about what others thought. This allowed me to formulate attainable goals both in the long and short term.

Five years seems like a long time for many people, but in that time I’ve gone from jobless and living out of my truck to happily engaged, a father, and blessed with an incredible job.

What aspect of Bitcoin, be it part of the technology, the culture or the industry, do you believe best encapsulates what change you desire to see in the world?

Culture, 100%. No questions asked. The root of all of the problems in the world currently stems from unsound money. Fiat has normalized the debasement of wealth for the majority of the population. This debasement incentives the average person to spend their money rather than save and as a consequence manufacturers of goods and services create cheaper products. This normalizes high time preference decision making which is why we have seen such a decline in the importance of morality and the familial unit and an uptick in vices and short-term decision making.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

Hyperbitcoinization and Bitcoin 2022.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

I think we’re going to reach some crazy price discovery levels before the end of the year, upwards of $250,000, just based off of previous trends in other halving cycles.

Really hard to say where price discovery will be in 2030. In 2001, the majority of Americans didn’t even have the internet. Most people got online using dial up connections and only a fraction had broadband. Let’s not forget a majority of online purchases were done with money wire too. In 2007, the iPhone came out. What I’m getting at here is that we’re not far off from an overwhelming adoption of bitcoin by the masses and nation states. So, price by 2030? 1 BTC equals 1 BTC.

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Bitcoin Is Financial Sobriety

by Bitcoin Magazine

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Two college-age Bitcoiners discuss how young people are changed by the culture of Bitcoin.

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College, for many, can be an experience that completes the transition from youth to adulthood. Along with the many responsibilities that come with living on your own are the freedoms to enjoy life. It can be a life-direction-changing place, for better or for worse.

With these themes in mind, I spoke with Bitcoin Magazine’s very own Eli Dyer about the differences we’ve observed in young people we know outside of Bitcoin versus the young people we know who have been kissed by the orange sun. Be sure to check out the podcast, along with reading the written version of the interview below.

How did you first hear about/get into bitcoin?

I first heard about it and used it in 2018. I was bored in high school and doing random, degenerate stuff online to make money such as online trivia games, lending out money and gambling on Bustabit. It was attractive to me because I was under 18 so I couldn’t open up a bank account in my own name, but I could have my own Bitcoin wallet. Sadly, I didn’t go down the rabbit hole until later, during college. I saw the price going parabolic and decided to look into why people were paying $30,000 for a bitcoin. I started doing research, studying monetary history and eventually found myself on Bitcoin Maximalist Twitter with a completely new lens with which to view the world.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

It’s given me a sense of urgency — stack as many sats as possible before hyperbitcoinization. It has made me more optimistic for the future. It has made me more conscious about what I spend time on. The only two finite things are my time on this earth and Bitcoin.

It has made me less worried and anxious about dumb stuff, I know I’ll always have my bitcoin stack to fall back on. It’s made me happy to have found a group of people who see the world in a similar lens as I do

You and I are both college aged — what differences in perspective do you see between younger Bitcoiners and young people who haven’t yet understood Bitcoin, in regards to culture and current events?

I think the problem that younger people have with understanding Bitcoin is that it takes a long time to really grasp what it is, and you probably have to read a couple of books in order to really get it. It seems like people don’t really read books anymore because the dopamine from these social media apps has destroyed everyone’s attention spans; I’ve recommended “The Bitcoin Standard” to like five different people and no one has read it. Everyone is caught up with the current news and celebrities/pop culture, but to understand Bitcoin you have to take a break and zoom out and really study monetary history and how we got here and most people our age just aren’t interested enough in that.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

More Michael Saylor-esque speculative attacks on the dollar and the number of Bitcoin maximalists increasing.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

I think we’ll see new all-time highs for sure by the end of this year, my guess is that we reach $100,000, barely.

By 2030, I think hyperbitcoinization will be in full swing, if it hasn’t already happened. I think 2029 is the year of hyperbitcoinization, with the block reward decreasing to 1.56 bitcoin. In terms of USD purchasing power, I believe 1 bitcoin will have the purchasing power of $10 million by then. 

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Bitcoin Is A Financial Future Of Hope

by Bitcoin Magazine

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Writer and bitcoin price analyst Dion Guillaume discusses the beauty of a future with bitcoin.

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It isn’t often that you get to consider bringing about revolutionary change that will impact the world for decades to come — unless you work in bitcoin. Our entire purpose is to ensure hyperbitcoinization through education and evangelism. One of my favorite contributors here at the magazine, Dion Guillaume, discussed these ideas with me in our recent episode of “Meet The Taco Plebs.” We touched on how bitcoin was first represented in the media, how bitcoin brings financial freedom to people, what is important to understand about bitcoin and more. Be sure to listen to the full podcast and check out the written interview below.

How did you first hear about/get into bitcoin?

I first heard about bitcoin in 2011 while doing my daily reading on Gizmodo — they were pretty anti-bitcoin so I assumed the same position until much later. In 2015, before his passing, my uncle and I discussed bitcoin and he mentioned it had merit and I should get in on it, which I once again didn’t do.

It wasn’t until early 2017, right as the bull run started off, that I really got into bitcoin. Of course, at the time I wasn’t very knowledgeable and lost a decent amount of money day trading. After a while I decided to adopt the “diamond hands” mantra and just HODL on. It paid off.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

Well, since I haven’t sold any, I’d say financially I haven’t changed much, however as my understanding of bitcoin and the global financial markets grew I became much more aware of how the governments and financial institutions of the world exert control over the masses.

Bitcoin brings financial freedom and despite its volatility at times, it’s a solid hedge against inflation, probably the best “rainy day” fund anyone will ever have.

What do you believe is the most important part about Bitcoin for people to understand?

There are two things I believe are important for people to understand about bitcoin. The first is that its environmental impact isn’t as bad as the media would have many believe and bitcoin mining is likely to fuel the adoption of renewable sources of energy. The second is that bitcoin isn’t primarily made up of shadowy figures eager to commit crime and hide their wealth.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

Further adoption. Bitcoin is still in its early days. El Salvador adopting bitcoin as legal tender paved the way for so many other countries to adopt bitcoin. Bitcoin is very likely to become the global currency over the next few decades. There will of course be challenges, but nothing in life comes easy and as proven in the past, bitcoin can withstand any obstacle in its way.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

Although I would love to see bitcoin breach the $250,000 mark towards the end of 2021, I believe it will more likely be in the $150,000 range. We’re long overdue for a decent bull run and I count on November and December being the months that we finally see bitcoin hit the six-figure mark.

As for 2030, I firmly believe that bitcoin is likely to hit the $5 million mark around then, perhaps even going as high as $10 million. Only time will tell. But let’s consider more countries adopt bitcoin, the U.S. cozies up to bitcoin and the majority of companies add it to their balance sheets, how would that reflect in the price? How would a billion or two or three billion people using bitcoin affect its price? We’re going to see the sat standard sooner than later.

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Bitcoin Is A Clear Solution To An Unclear Problem

by Bitcoin Magazine

Discussing the problems that Bitcoin solves with Captain Sidd.

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When first explaining Bitcoin to people, it can be difficult to find a place to begin. After consuming endless amounts of content that discuss economics, philosophy and history, there is not a single clear place to start. Of course, it helps to tailor each introduction that you present to the person you are presenting to, as with anything. But one key factor in understanding Bitcoin, as Captain Sidd and I discussed on this week’s episode of “Meet The Taco Plebs,” is helping others understand the problems that Bitcoin solves. In addition to this, we discussed what introduced Sidd to bitcoin, how it has changed his life and his predictions for the future. Make sure to give the audio podcast a listen, and read our interview below.

What’s your Bitcoin rabbit hole story?

When unanswered questions about modern economic theory clashed with my readings on emerging technologies — especially through a book titled “Throwing Rocks At The Google Bus” — the need for Bitcoin and decentralized systems clicked. I fell out of love with “crypto” through an experience fundraising for a bitcoin mining farm, where I learned the importance of a rock-solid consensus mechanism. Bitcoin has it, others don’t.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

Two ways: it serves as a simple vehicle for saving that allowed me to focus on producing value, instead of gambling to find arbitrage opportunities and “quick wins.” By seeing how “experts” in finance use jargon to obfuscate the truth, I gained a distrust of experts and anyone who cannot break down their domain’s jargon into simple, easily understood concepts.

Your pieces are incredibly straightforward and insightful, and they explain things in ways that both bitcoiners and nocoiners can understand. What’s your process for creating these articles, and what do you think is the most important thing to understand for someone wanting to learn about bitcoin?

Thank you! I look for patterns and metaphors that help me boil down complex jargon into simple models. What I write about is usually something I’ve been mulling over for years, with a lot of stops, starts and meanderings. Writing an article just happens when something clicks in a way that I think others will understand.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

Two things: more nation state adoption, and implementation of mining by energy producers. Nation state adoption by itself is not that interesting, but I believe it will drive conversation and questions at the governmental level — forcing leaders to publicly answer questions about bitcoin and the monetary system. That will lay bare the insanity of what they’re peddling to us.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

2021: Under $100,000 because everyone seems to think we’ll break it!

2030: No number in mind. Whereas the 2017 bull run was driven by the desire to get rich, the next nine years will be driven by the desire to avoid poverty as inflation takes hold. Bitcoin could be worth $1 billion by 2030 — but what will a loaf of bread cost? Not to mention a decent steak…

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Low Time Preference, Bitcoin And Personal Health

by Bitcoin Magazine

In this episode of “Meet The Taco Plebs,” Mind/Matter and I discussed the connections between the low time preference effect of bitcoin and health.

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Mind/Matter, a fantastic contributor here at the magazine, also has a rather popular Twitter account, which focuses more on health and lifestyle than exclusively bitcoin. I’m a big fan of the content he posts, and felt it would be interesting to address the intersection between these two subjects.

In this episode of “Meet The Taco Plebs,” we explored how he got into Bitcoin, and how that has impacted his life. Of course, the low time preference mechanics and incentives of bitcoin quickly appealed to his understanding of health excellence. As we explored, it became apparent that these two ideas are very much hand in hand — the preservation of one’s wealth and the preservation of one’s health. Be sure to listen to the whole podcast, and to read our short interview below.

What’s your Bitcoin rabbit hole story?

I came from the bodybuilding space, and when I realized that I was training the mind as much as the body. In the middle of 2017 around July, I had heard people talking about it. I read a book about it, and saw bitcoin go from around $600 to $2,800, and felt I had missed the boat. I bought again at the top, but didn’t really go down the rabbit hole until late 2019.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

Bitcoin has lowered my time preference, and merged my low time preference for health with technology and money.

Your posts, username and Twitter feed are designed to encourage people to master their health and mind. How do you see Bitcoin working into this lifestyle mastery?

Bitcoin has the same incentives that lower time preference and force us to think about how we take care of ourselves. As I evolved through the self improvement space, I found that I was also training my mind as I trained my body. Part of learning about Bitcoin and the history of money is another part of training your mind in order to improve your life.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space, or in life in general?

I am excited to see the infrastructure for hyperbitcoinization be built — truly, the bear markets are when the building happens. The broader ecosystem will continue to build even after any bull run — and then we could potentially see a circular economy.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

I have a theory that the cycle is extended — that we may go into 2022. I see it going somewhere around $350,000 to $400,000. For 2030, we may see something like $5 million to $10 million in terms of 2019 purchasing power. 

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For Addicts And Debt Slaves, Bitcoin Is A Bright Light In A Dark Place

by Bitcoin Magazine

A former drug and alcohol addict discusses our addiction to fiat money, debt slavery and how Bitcoin inspires him for the future.

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Although the general sentiment of the Bitcoin community and that of Bitcoin Magazine is one of hope and optimism, the real world is often not so straightforward.

One of our recent posts discussed the reality of addiction, and how this relates to the fiat world and debt. I believe that this is an important topic that touches nearly everyone. With drug and alcohol addiction widespread in the United States, almost everyone knows a friend or family member impacted. Addiction can also be found, in a way, in our fiat monetary system and the debt cycle it proliferates.

OtterBTC, a former durg and alcohol addict himself, and I discussed both of these topics in this podcast episode, so be sure to give it a listen, check out his article and read our interview below.

What’s your Bitcoin rabbit hole story?

I was fully introduced to Bitcoin during the mania of the bull run in late 2017. I bought a little coin and then watched the price fall into the bear market of 2018. At some point, I wanted to know more.

I started trying to find content in the space where I could learn. I remember listening to a podcast with Tim Ferris, Naval Ravikant and Nick Szabo and then another where Wences Casares was interviewed. I fell down the rabbit hole hard. I felt like a veil was being lifted from my eyes. I had previously been interested in gold and silver coins as valuable collectables, but this was different. The implications of widespread bitcoin adoption as a benefit to every person on the planet has kept me enamored ever since.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

I am more hopeful and optimistic for the future today because of bitcoin. Even in all of the chaos around us, I still tend to have a glimmer in my eye knowing that bitcoin exists and there are advocates everywhere and more people being enlightened every moment. I always intuitively believed that centralized control over anything valuable — money, goods, services or even humans themselves, was the cause of much oppression in the world, but I never dug deep enough to understand the mechanisms behind how this control was wielded. And it all starts with the money.

My eyes are more open today. I take even more responsibility for my reaction to life today and I absolutely prefer to verify before trusting in what any person or institution puts forth as fact. Show me the incentives…

Your recent piece on addiction, fiat, debt and bitcoin was really interesting. Could you discuss some of the parallels you see between these things and what led you to write this article?

As I lay out in the article, our global economy is addicted to cheap fiat debt in an unsustainable way. The consequences cause huge distortions in markets that have rippling effects across society. Much of the populous acts with the objective of fulfilling high time preference (short-term gratification) goals. We are ever in fear that the prices of the things we want will go up, therefore we must get them now, so we take on debt to acquire such things.

Being in debt can be perceived as another form of slavery. Being underneath debt can feel like getting on a hamster wheel inside of a cage, where you stay active but do not realize your main objective is only to service the liability that you’ve been saddled with. This is a soul-sucking endeavor and leads to the degradation of the individual.

I was once enslaved to drugs and alcohol. It’s a desperate and demoralizing place to be. At many points I was only living to service the spell of the addiction that I was under. I had a moment of grace and took the opportunity to change my life, which I’ll forever be grateful for.

In writing the article, I wanted to share a bit of my story and give back and contribute a perspective to the community. Societal ills affect us all. Misinformation around money and the negative effects of debt seem to be shrouded in ignorance similarly to the way we as a society address drug/alcohol addiction and its associated stigma. I’d love to help shed light on both.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

I’m looking forward to more widespread adoption and education. Millions more “lightbulb” moments. I want more people to feel their minds being blown as they interact with bitcoin, send their first transaction, and watch their savings increase over time. I’m looking forward to seeing people place more value on their time and in turn, spend that time with their families or doing what they love.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

I’d say we see $100,000 before January 1, 2022. (I’m purposefully being bearish so as to not have any dashed expectations, haha.) Easy $1.5 million bitcoin price by 2030.

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It Is Easy To Have An Impact On Bitcoin

by Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin has a place for many skill sets and backgrounds, as we’ll see in this episode of “Meet The Taco Plebs.”

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Oftentimes, those who have the greatest impact go unseen. Here at Bitcoin Magazine, we have an excellent copy editing network, which includes the highly talented Keith Mukai. Mukai contributes to Bitcoin in so many ways, and we are very lucky to have him here at the magazine. In this episode, we discussed his background that brought him into Bitcoin, including the skill sets which have allowed him to contribute to the space. We also talked about how Bitcoin has changed his life, his favorite piece he’s edited here at the magazine and what he’s personally looking forward to in the industry. After listening to the podcast, be sure to check out the written interview below!

What’s your Bitcoin rabbit hole story?

Unfortunately, I didn’t have that nerd friend who could have told me about Bitcoin way back in the early days. It just took the usual 3+ touches over the course of a few years for me to finally take a closer look and make the plunge in June 2017.

But I did learn a valuable lesson. Before 2017, every time I encountered Bitcoin I’d think, “Man, that sounds cool! I need to check it out!” But I also had no clue what I would do with it if I had some. Seemed hard to justify the time and effort for something that, at the time, was just a nerdy curiosity. And then I’d just forget about it. Good lord, what regrets I have!

So now when I encounter a new tech or even just a new skill, I dive in. I don’t think about how it’ll be useful or whether it’ll advance my career or have some future ROI. If it interests me, I’m in. Period. Every bit of expertise and knowledge and skill that I can acquire will someday pay off in some way that I couldn’t possibly anticipate today. Circuits, woodworking, astrophotography, endless side rabbit holes in Bitcoin itself … I’m here for all of it. All these unique combinations of expertise give me a unique perspective. That’s my ROI. I’ll see solutions that others can’t.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

I feel like I’m finally making a difference in the world!

In late 2019 I was following a very new, raw project called Specter Desktop. I loved what Stepan Snigirev was doing with it, but his focus was on supporting airgapped hardware wallets that never get plugged into a computer. I wanted to use Specter but I only had USB wallets. I asked him if he’d be open to me adding support for USB wallets. He gave his blessing so I got to work. Fast-forward to today: Bitcoin Beach has helped propel Bitcoin to the world stage. And their custom community wallet uses Specter to manage their cold storage. If they’re using USB hardware wallets, they’re using my code!

And then, after Jack Mallers’ incredible announcement about El Salvador at the Bitcoin 2021 conference, I was so inspired that I really wanted to add Spanish language support to Specter. And the way code works, if you add support for one language, you can basically add every other language. So I recruited volunteer translators and we ended up fully translating Specter into 11 languages, with lots more to come!

And most recently, my previous tinkering with a Raspberry Pi has paid off now that I’ve discovered SeedSigner, which is this amazing open source, super cheap hardware wallet. I’m having such a great time adding cool new features to this project, all with the hopes of it eventually finding its way into places like El Salvador where people can’t afford a $100-300 hardware wallet. Because of SeedSigner’s unique stateless approach, a whole family — or even a whole town — could share a single $50 SeedSigner reasonably safely.

So my code has the potential to help spread Bitcoin self-sovereignty to more and more people around the world. Incredible.

As one of the copy editors here at the magazine, you’ve worked on many of our articles – what have been your favorite pieces to edit and why? (could be specific pieces, could be certain types of pieces, what have you)

Definitely Arman the Parman’s “DIY Bitcoin Private Key Project”! It’s a fun step-by-step guide to generate your own private key totally offline without using a computer at all. He lays out the steps so clearly and it really helps you understand how the process comes together. What would otherwise be mysterious Bitcoin magic just becomes something simple and mechanical that’s not even that hard to understand.

Just an incredible piece of high-quality, accessible education.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

I’m reorganizing my professional life to fully commit to working in the Bitcoin ecosystem. There’s a ton of work to be done as Bitcoin sees greater and greater adoption around the world. I’m not savvy enough to be able to predict where we’re going or what the world will look like, but I’m just dying to build like crazy to provide the tools and services that become necessary along the way.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

Oof. It’s early September and we just stumbled off $50k through El Salvador’s Bitcoin launch. In three and a half months? $85k.

The end of 2030 includes two more halvings. A Lot more global adoption. Uncountably more fiat money printing. I’d say, $675k after falling off a 2029 mania peak just shy of $900k.

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Bitcoin Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated

by Bitcoin Magazine

In this episode of “Meet The Taco Plebs,” I sat down with Nameless to discuss simplifying complex ideas related to Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin can be a daunting thing to learn about. It involves the study of several different fields, from computer science to economics. At Bitcoin Magazine, we always hope to be able to educate our readers on the basics of Bitcoin. We offer a guides section, and have a large selection of books in our store. One of my parts about the magazine are contributor articles designed to simplify complex ideas. Nameless, one of our contributors here at the magazine, has sent in several of these articles, including “A Gentle Introduction To The Lightning Network,” “So, What Are Bitcoin Miners Actually Doing?” and “An Overview Of Bitcoin’s Cryptography.”

All of these articles are extremely high quality, and they take some of the more difficult to grasp subjects in Bitcoin and simplify them for the reader. I highly recommend you give his articles a read, listen to the podcast above and check out the written interview below.

What’s your Bitcoin rabbit hole story?

I bought bitcoin at the ATH of 2017, did a bunch of panic selling and buying, and have slowly been learning about Bitcoin, and learning how to HODL, ever since.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

It represents the most reasonable chance at escaping fiat debt and getting out from behind the eight-ball of skyrocketing home and asset prices.

What is your process for writing your articles which explain technical concepts in easy to understand ways?

Throwing things at a page very quickly, and then spending a lot of time untangling it, and doing a lot of learning in the process.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

The lightning network, associated routing algorithms, and the economics of routing node fees.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

By the end of 2021, $70-90k. By the end of 2030, $500k.

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Why You Should Be Optimistic About The Future Of Bitcoin

by Bitcoin Magazine

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Austrian economics is a very common topic of discussion and study within the bitcoin community. Being the base economic theory upon which we find bitcoin resting, it makes sense that understanding this would be a primary lead for someone to get into bitcoin. Josef Tětek, one of our regular contributors here at Bitcoin Magazine, is an example of this.

Tětek has written some fantastic articles for us, including “Your Financial Data Is Not Private, Bitcoin Can Fix That,” “Here’s Why Bitcoin Will Rejuvenate Your Hope In Life” and “Bitcoin Is The Sustainable Money Europe Deserves.” Bullish on both bitcoin and on life, Tětek maintains an optimistic outlook that bears witness to the good bitcoin is capable of doing.

In our interview, we discussed how his foundations in Austrian economics lead him to Bitcoin, and how the reverse is often true of bitcoiners. We then discussed how Bitcoin has impacted his life, both in personal preferences and in his career. We touched on what he believes is the most important part of people’s bitcoin education — in his opinion, an understanding of fiat. Finally, we discussed what he is looking forward to in the space, and his bullish price thoughts. He said, “in the short term, we are usually too optimistic. In the long term, we are too pessimistic.”

Check out the podcast above and be sure to read our written interview. 

What’s your Bitcoin rabbit hole story?

I studied Austrian economics at school, and after graduation I cofounded a libertarian think tank in the Czech Republic with similar-minded schoolmates. That was around 2011. We were mostly gold and silver bugs back then, and even though bitcoin was discussed among libertarians/Austrian economists, it was in a dismissive fashion at first. I remember the bubble when bitcoin went to $30 dollars and fell to $2 — I thought that was it for bitcoin. 

In 2013, when Mt. Gox and Silk Road went down, I read up a bit more on bitcoin, but again I thought it was going to die after the major exchanges and markets were shut down. Then around 2015, I understood that this thing isn’t going to die and it’s actually what gold bugs had been looking for — a true free market money.

I regrettably got seduced by the lure of shitcoins in 2017 to 2018. The Bitcoin maximalist signal wasn’t that strong then, or maybe I simply chose to ignore it because I still had the fiat mindset and wanted my bags to pump. Anyway, I was a bad shitcoin trader and ended up with fewer sats after that period.

In 2020. I wrote a book with an unoriginal title — “Bitcoin: The Separation Of Money And State,” in Czech. It’s kind of similar to Saifedean’s or Vijay’s work — a dive into monetary history and monetary economics.

Writing the book finally transformed me into a Bitcoin maximalist — nothing but Bitcoin makes sense to me anymore.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

I’m sort of a stereotypical bitcoiner in this aspect. Bitcoin definitely lowered my time preference: I think about the future much more, because there is something to look forward to. Fiat really messed up our economies and societies, and with Bitcoin we have a solution at hand.

Like many others, I started to search for value in other fields of life and found the benefits of intermittent fasting, the carnivore diet and regular exercise.

Bitcoin also changed my career. I left the corporate life in 2018 and I was able to focus first on “crypto,” then on Bitcoin when I found out that ”crypto“ is bullsh*t. I’ve been working for Trezor since Spring 2021 and it’s the best job of my life — I basically study Bitcoin every day and communicate why Bitcoin matters to others.

The pieces you have written for the magazine have aimed to educate others on how best to maximize their bitcoin stack. What do you think is most important for people to educate themselves about in regards to bitcoin?

Two things: how fiat works, and how Bitcoin works.

The majority of people don’t really think about how today’s money works. Many still believe there is some link to gold, or that central bankers have the science of money nailed down and there’s nothing wrong. But when you show people the long-term charts — interest rates, price levels, M2 money stock, central bank balance sheets, debt levels — it really doesn’t seem sustainable. So that’s the first important thing: to see that there’s something very wrong with how today’s monetary system operates.

The second one is how Bitcoin works. And I mean both as a monetary system and as a technology. Bitcoin’s value as money lies in its predictable, unchangeable monetary policy which is in direct contrast to the monetary policy of fiat money. But for people to benefit from this, they need to understand how it works on an individual level and how to hold bitcoin properly. And I believe the team at Trezor is doing a great job with providing the proper tools for ordinary people to safeguard their sats.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

There’s many things. Taproot and Schnorr adoption and what benefits it will bring for users. El Salvador’s coming bitcoinization — and a massive growing adoption in developing countries in general. I’m looking forward to further growth in the Lightning Network and the third layer on top of it — check out Impervious AI’s recent hackathon, that is some fascinating stuff.

But mostly I’m looking forward to more and more people realizing that Bitcoin is never going away, and the implications of that.

What is your price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

Let me preface my answer with this: in the short term, we are usually too optimistic. In the long term, we are too pessimistic. At the end of 2021, I believe we will see bitcoin over $100,000. By 2030, over $1 million (in today’s purchasing power). But in the long run, fiat price doesn’t matter, because we will see fiat fail and bitcoin take over. 

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How Memes Will Take Bitcoin To The Moon, With Chad_Capital

by Bitcoin Magazine

Exploring how Bitcoin memes can contribute to the growth of culture.

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Understanding Bitcoin can change your life. Once you do understand it, your entire system for evaluating what is worthy of your time, money and effort is also changed. I discussed this idea and more with the Bitcoin Conference team’s latest addition, Brad, on Twitter as @Chad_Capital.

He and I discussed how he first heard about Bitcoin, which was a result of the infectious excitement many feel about Bitcoin once they understand it. It seems that there is an exuberance that begins to come off of people once the incentives of nature align with a technological experience available to them today. He agreed, and followed up with his thoughts about how Bitcoin can change peoples’ lives. Brad has written two separate articles for us here at the magazine, one of them being titled, “Bitcoin: The Ultimate Opportunity Cost.” In this article, he discusses how upon realizing the true value of bitcoin the asset, every single choice one makes is an opportunity cost involving Bitcoin. Both time and money are what one trades for goods, services and advancement in the world, and every single decision we make must take into account maximizing our bitcoin stack.

In addition to this, we discussed the power of memes and how they, through humor, convey commonly understood ideas of the absurdity of the fiat world we live in. A fiat world deserves to be mocked through memes, and it pushes forward a culture which searches for the truth.

We finished off with what he is looking forward to in the Bitcoin space, including a shoutout for Bitcoin 2022, and his final bullish price prediction.

Check out our written interview below and be sure to listen to our interview above.

What’s your Bitcoin rabbit hole story?

My first time hearing about Bitcoin was in a bar in L.A. in early 2017. I overheard someone talking about Bitcoin mining and showing people the price on his phone. I asked him about it and he was very excited to talk about it. He started to tell me about the halving, hash rate and how Bitcoin was entering a bull market. I had no idea what he was talking about but I was interested. He gave me his number and the next day he sent me a few articles and videos. By the second article, I was completely hooked.

How has Bitcoin changed your life?

Bitcoin has completely changed:

My time preference, the personal time preference change is pretty simple — when you know your purchasing power will increase over time you are forced to think twice about what you buy today.

My concept of opportunity cost, to me Bitcoin is already the ultimate opportunity cost. This means I weigh other financial decisions against the risk of not buying bitcoin. I think traditional finance will be forced into this realization at some point. Right now the opportunity cost or “risk-free rate” of every professional investor and money manager are treasury bonds. It’s such a hilarious idea that there is an investment with zero risk, but it’s even funnier that the entire financial system uses the worst-performing investment as its benchmark to make decisions. We’re living through a great social experiment where you can choose to use bitcoin, the best performing asset ever, as your benchmark instead.

My critical thinking skills, I think to understand Bitcoin deeply people are forced to question a lot of ideas and beliefs that they’ve held for a long time or that they’ve been told were right. I think I was lucky to find Bitcoin in my early 20s, when I wasn’t too cemented in the ideas I did have. The ability to look at things from first principles and always challenge my conclusions has definitely spilled over to other parts of life.

You’ve written about hyperbitcoinization using memes for the magazine. How do you see memes as a force to further the adoption of Bitcoin?

The memes are hilarious, I just laugh all day scrolling through Twitter. Bitcoin is the native money of the internet and memes are like the native language of the internet. The Bitcoin memes are so natural, I think it’s because most of the people I shitpost with feel the same way, like we are just fucking around killing time until hyperbitcoinization. Memes are 100% furthering adoption. A picture says a thousand words and I love the video memes because you can basically say a million words in 60 seconds. It is terrifying and hilarious the things that are meme’d into reality.

What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space?

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in El Salvador, it’s like the testing ground for “fix the money, fix the world.” I’m looking forward to Lightning developments — streaming sats for content, messaging, Twitter wallets, video games, etc. I also can’t wait for Michael Burry’s liquidation tweet.

Price prediction for the end of 2021, and the end of 2030?

End of 2021: $158,000. End of 2030: 1 bitcoin can be traded for about 11 million central bank digital cuck bucks, but businesses stopped accepting the state surveillance in 2028.

Source

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 26,573.12 0.40%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,591.95 0.54%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 64.79 0.06%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 208.15 0.27%