1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,420
Every person that sees Bitcoin will likely first say, I missed the boat.

2
00:00:05,580 --> 00:00:07,720
People thought they missed the boat when Bitcoin was a dollar.

3
00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:13,480
I saw Bitcoin as double digit prices and I figured I missed the boat.

4
00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,620
Then I saw it over a hundred dollars and I figured I'd really missed the boat.

5
00:00:17,740 --> 00:00:20,240
And then I saw it one of the tops of the bubbles.

6
00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:21,720
It was like twelve hundred bucks.

7
00:00:21,780 --> 00:00:23,480
And I was like, holy crap.

8
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:27,060
And then you start reading and then you start going, what is this?

9
00:00:27,060 --> 00:00:30,220
Like, is this a Ponzi scheme or is there something here?

10
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:36,080
I think the big realization that people need to come to is Bitcoin is completely finite,

11
00:00:36,340 --> 00:00:40,740
only 21 million and dollars can inflate forever.

12
00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:47,120
So if you're looking at a dollar price of Bitcoin, you're using the wrong measuring stick.

13
00:00:47,300 --> 00:00:51,040
Bitcoin is the measuring stick because it is constant.

14
00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:53,540
There's a certain number forever.

15
00:00:53,540 --> 00:00:57,440
And then there's a constantly inflating supply of dollars.

16
00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:02,840
So if you're trying to measure something static in something that grows forever,

17
00:01:03,180 --> 00:01:05,900
the static thing will always be worth more.

18
00:01:06,100 --> 00:01:08,980
There's going to be ups and downs, but over a long time period,

19
00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:14,580
it will always be worth more dollars because there's always more dollars.

20
00:01:14,580 --> 00:01:26,720
Welcome to Saving in Bitcoin, your financial freedom blueprint on the Bitcoin podcast.

21
00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,900
Powered by Fold, the best place to buy, earn, and save in Bitcoin.

22
00:01:32,300 --> 00:01:38,240
I'm your host, Walker, and in this six-episode limited series, I'm talking to some of the best

23
00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:45,440
minds in Bitcoin to walk you through the basics of why our money is broken, how Bitcoin fixes it,

24
00:01:45,700 --> 00:01:51,780
and how you can use Bitcoin as your personal financial freedom blueprint. Let's get started.

25
00:01:57,820 --> 00:02:04,300
Greetings and salutations. Today I'm joined by BTC Sessions, the world's most trusted Bitcoin

26
00:02:04,300 --> 00:02:11,100
only educator since 2016. He's taught tens of millions of people around the globe. He also

27
00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:16,320
leads local and international educational and community initiatives. His YouTube channel is a

28
00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:22,080
go-to resource for anyone wanting to learn literally anything about Bitcoin. And he has

29
00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:29,480
almost 400,000 subscribers there. He also practices what he preaches and lives on a Bitcoin standard

30
00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:36,120
himself. So Sessions, welcome. Thanks for joining. Thanks for having me, man. And if I could bore you

31
00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:41,020
for every time they announce me at a conference, I'd love you to read that bio.

32
00:02:42,180 --> 00:02:47,960
Happy to do it as long as it's paid in Bitcoin. Yeah, we can work something out. So Sessions,

33
00:02:48,140 --> 00:02:52,580
this is the last episode in this series, and I was really excited to have you on for it because

34
00:02:52,580 --> 00:02:58,140
I think, again, you are one of the foremost educators around Bitcoin in the entire world.

35
00:02:58,140 --> 00:03:00,120
That's a pretty cool title to hold.

36
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:06,200
Your videos are fantastic for anybody who wants to dive deeper into, again, literally any topic, technical or otherwise.

37
00:03:06,700 --> 00:03:07,800
You have a video for it.

38
00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:08,440
I guarantee it.

39
00:03:08,500 --> 00:03:09,420
It's on your channel somewhere.

40
00:03:09,580 --> 00:03:10,520
So people can check that out.

41
00:03:10,580 --> 00:03:11,560
I'll link it on the show notes.

42
00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:22,680
But I want to start out just at a really basic level because somehow this question, you know, Bitcoin's been around for 16 years, still appears to be confusing to some folks, which is what even is Bitcoin?

43
00:03:22,780 --> 00:03:23,940
Is this just a technology?

44
00:03:24,100 --> 00:03:25,880
Is it a speculative investment?

45
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:27,060
Is it money?

46
00:03:27,060 --> 00:03:29,800
How do you think about it? How do you explain it?

47
00:03:32,460 --> 00:03:41,860
I mean, it's an escape, right? It's an escape from feeling stuck, I think, for a lot of people

48
00:03:41,860 --> 00:03:49,580
once they understand what it can do for you. You know, you see people every day, you know,

49
00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:54,220
I thought I had a good job. I thought I had a good wage. And, you know, now I can't put food

50
00:03:54,220 --> 00:03:59,440
on the table or for the younger generations, like the Gen Z coming up, I'm never going to retire.

51
00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,600
I'm never going to own a home. And there's all these things that I was told I was going to get

52
00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:08,680
if I was smart and went to school and, you know, got a whole bunch of student debt.

53
00:04:09,300 --> 00:04:19,860
I was told that I would be repaid in kind with a secure future. And that's largely not the case.

54
00:04:19,860 --> 00:04:28,820
So, I mean, for me and for many others, it is an opt out of the broken system and the broken promises that we were brought up with.

55
00:04:29,620 --> 00:04:38,020
And it allows you to it's an outright rejection of the crappy hand we've been dealt.

56
00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,120
And so, yeah, it's a it's a replacement.

57
00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,840
Of the money that we are supposed to use.

58
00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:55,020
and a lot of people say it's F you money, but using F you money allows you to say F your money

59
00:04:55,020 --> 00:05:00,160
to the existing system. So yeah, that's, that's what it is for me. It's an opt out and it's a,

60
00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:06,440
it's a silver lining to, you know, a storm that's been going on for a long time.

61
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:13,140
I, I love that. I'm curious to a lot of people, maybe, especially if you live in a, you know,

62
00:05:13,140 --> 00:05:20,240
so-called developed or western nation maybe you don't feel the the pain of of some of the you know

63
00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:25,460
the things that are broken in this system today or maybe you do you actually do feel that something's

64
00:05:25,460 --> 00:05:32,780
broken but you can't quite put your finger on what that is what do you think is the most important

65
00:05:32,780 --> 00:05:37,160
thing people understand about like what actually is broken what's broken at the core of our system

66
00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:38,680
Why do things feel wrong?

67
00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:39,680
Yeah.

68
00:05:39,940 --> 00:05:52,940
I mean, when you step back and you think about how you value your time, maybe let's take this from the perspective of a blue collar worker.

69
00:05:53,300 --> 00:06:06,580
You go, you get a job, you agree and say, okay, for every hour that I'm going to spend working for this company, I'm going to get paid X amount of dollars.

70
00:06:06,580 --> 00:06:12,320
And at the time that you make that agreement, you have a decent understanding of what that means.

71
00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:18,360
You understand X amount of dollars is going to be able to afford me the following things.

72
00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:25,760
And, you know, there may be some promises of your wages growing over time.

73
00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:31,780
And so you interpret that as my standard of living will get better because I'll have more dollars.

74
00:06:31,780 --> 00:06:41,420
And based on what I know I can understand, right, I can afford right now with the current number of dollars I'm going to be earning, I think things will get better.

75
00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:52,020
But what happens in practice is people don't realize how money, you know, that money itself doesn't create value.

76
00:06:52,020 --> 00:07:00,440
And that money is merely just kind of a measuring stick for all the stuff that exists, all the goods and services that we could possibly buy with it.

77
00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:14,800
And so when you have a fixed amount of money and we're able to gradually make more stuff with less effort, in theory, you know, everything should be getting cheaper.

78
00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,160
But that's not the way that the system is working.

79
00:07:18,380 --> 00:07:20,320
They are creating more money.

80
00:07:20,500 --> 00:07:26,020
They're making more money faster than we can produce more stuff.

81
00:07:26,020 --> 00:07:31,780
meaning that stuff is getting more expensive because there's more money than stuff.

82
00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:36,900
You have 10 apples and you have $10 and 10 people.

83
00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:39,580
Everybody can afford an apple.

84
00:07:39,580 --> 00:07:49,480
But if one guy goes and prints $90, all of a sudden that guy can afford nine apples

85
00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,700
and the remaining 10 people have to pool their funds just to afford one.

86
00:07:53,700 --> 00:08:09,280
And that's what we're seeing in real time a little bit slower, but that's what we're basically seeing. The people that have the exorbitant privilege of being able to create new currency are siphoning away the resources from everyone else.

87
00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:17,240
and there's this knee-jerk reaction of, you know, if you're rich, you must be stealing from me.

88
00:08:18,020 --> 00:08:22,800
And that's not always the case, right? It's the wrong problem to look at. It's,

89
00:08:23,540 --> 00:08:28,980
you know, if I bought something, and this is another thing that comes up often, people,

90
00:08:28,980 --> 00:08:34,620
you know, their initial reaction is, I went to the grocery store. Groceries were more expensive.

91
00:08:34,620 --> 00:08:36,780
You're the grocer that sold them to me.

92
00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:38,100
It's your fault.

93
00:08:38,700 --> 00:08:40,620
They don't dig a little bit deeper.

94
00:08:41,060 --> 00:08:49,520
The people who do own the businesses are the ones that see the additional currency first.

95
00:08:49,620 --> 00:08:53,200
They see prices creeping up and they can actually adjust their prices.

96
00:08:53,480 --> 00:09:00,000
But you as a blue collar worker, it's a lot harder to adjust your prices because it's an hourly wage.

97
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:19,940
And so you're just put in this position where everything's getting more expensive and your only course of action is to go to your employer and effectively beg or argue or, you know, negotiate in order to maintain your standard of living.

98
00:09:19,940 --> 00:09:22,260
And that's a pretty crappy place to be in.

99
00:09:22,380 --> 00:09:25,400
So, I mean, I hope that kind of answers your question.

100
00:09:25,540 --> 00:09:33,340
But in the end, it's, you know, we're creating a lot of additional money and creating money doesn't create wealth.

101
00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:35,940
Creating stuff creates wealth.

102
00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:42,020
If you're stuck spending dollars, at least stop earning dirty fiat rewards.

103
00:09:42,020 --> 00:09:46,960
Use Fold to earn Bitcoin on everyday purchases and regular expenses.

104
00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:54,920
groceries, bills, travel, home improvement. I literally just earned 2,203 sats buying a $100

105
00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:01,040
Amazon gift card on Fold. You don't even need to use the Fold card itself if you don't want to.

106
00:10:01,220 --> 00:10:05,880
You can connect your favorite credit card and double dip with Bitcoin rewards on merchant

107
00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:13,500
offers. Or go all in. Make Fold the center of your personal finances. Buy, earn, save,

108
00:10:13,500 --> 00:10:16,220
and even get paid in Bitcoin with Fold.

109
00:10:16,380 --> 00:10:20,540
Head to the link in the show notes to get started with the ultimate savings toolkit

110
00:10:20,540 --> 00:10:26,680
or go directly to use.foldapp.com slash r slash walker

111
00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:30,360
and get yourself $10 in Bitcoin when you sign up.

112
00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:32,620
No, it definitely answers the question.

113
00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:35,780
And I think that you made the point very well

114
00:10:35,780 --> 00:10:38,980
that people look for something to blame or someone to blame,

115
00:10:38,980 --> 00:10:42,160
but they are looking at the symptoms of the problem

116
00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:47,420
and blaming the people associated with those symptoms versus looking at the root cause of the disease,

117
00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:53,380
which is that they are printing money out of thin air, then they will continue to do so.

118
00:10:53,940 --> 00:10:59,660
If there is one thing that is certain in this life, it is that central banks will continue to print money.

119
00:11:00,260 --> 00:11:02,560
And the sooner people realize that, the better.

120
00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:07,180
But the problem is you can realize that, okay, but if you don't see a solution,

121
00:11:07,860 --> 00:11:10,880
you might be a little bit nihilistic, you might be a little bit depressed because you say,

122
00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:16,100
well then i'm just running on this hamster wheel forever until i you know keel over so you're

123
00:11:16,100 --> 00:11:21,260
somebody who you actually live on a bitcoin standard first of all can you talk about what

124
00:11:21,260 --> 00:11:24,740
does that actually mean to live on a bitcoin standard and then we can kind of go from there

125
00:11:24,740 --> 00:11:35,800
yeah yeah so effectively as of 2020 um i decided that i would like to earn as much bitcoin as

126
00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:42,720
possible, not earn dollars and then purchase Bitcoin, but get paid directly in Bitcoin and

127
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:49,380
then use that to survive through whatever means necessary. However, I had to string it together.

128
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:57,920
And so, yeah, I've been doing that now for five years. I'd say about 90 to 95% of my income

129
00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:06,240
is Bitcoin paid directly into my own self custody that I control. Nobody's has control of it. I get

130
00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:13,640
paid. It's now mine. And how do I string together? How do I live on it? Because a lot of people are

131
00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:18,200
going to be hearing that going, well, yeah, but how do you, how do you buy anything? What do you

132
00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:24,760
do then? And it's a mix of things. You know, obviously there are hoops to jump through. Not

133
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:32,180
every merchant is going to be accepting Bitcoin directly. So there's a few things. There's a

134
00:12:32,180 --> 00:12:37,180
couple companies in Canada that we're very lucky to have. So those would be Bull Bitcoin and Bitcoin

135
00:12:37,180 --> 00:12:43,260
Well. And both of those companies enable me to be able to pay pretty much any Canadian bill

136
00:12:43,260 --> 00:12:49,580
directly with Bitcoin. And so they deal with the end, you know, the end fiat payment, but more or

137
00:12:49,580 --> 00:12:50,760
It's like, log in.

138
00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,580
I would like to pay this bill from this company.

139
00:12:54,100 --> 00:12:55,340
This is my account number.

140
00:12:55,460 --> 00:12:58,080
And I want to put this many dollars towards that bill.

141
00:12:58,260 --> 00:13:00,480
And they say, great, here's a Bitcoin QR code.

142
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:01,580
And here's how much to send.

143
00:13:01,740 --> 00:13:04,080
I send it and they sort the rest.

144
00:13:04,220 --> 00:13:06,840
So that's like a godsend.

145
00:13:07,340 --> 00:13:08,920
And so that helps a lot.

146
00:13:09,660 --> 00:13:17,000
Now, when it comes to things like groceries and, you know, gas and shopping online, Amazon

147
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:23,420
and, you know, going to Walmart or whatever I need to grab, you know, a lot of the gift card

148
00:13:23,420 --> 00:13:28,740
services are excellent. So BitRefill I use often. There's another great service in Canada called

149
00:13:28,740 --> 00:13:33,940
CoinCards. There's also the Bitcoin company. So there's a number of different ways that you can

150
00:13:33,940 --> 00:13:40,800
obtain gift cards and place things together. It helps with travel too. So I do a lot of that.

151
00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:54,140
But I'd say the third, final and most important piece of the puzzle is actually trying to be fully resilient and create Bitcoin circular economies and create those relationships.

152
00:13:54,140 --> 00:14:06,880
And the reason I say that's the most important is because, you know, in the first two examples, I'm still reliant on a service in order to, you know, bridge that gap for me.

153
00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:23,885
And there a possibility that you know in a nightmare scenario you know Bitcoin illegal We going to shut down all these services that help Bitcoiners use their Bitcoin But in a scenario where I actually know the people where I getting my goods and services from

154
00:14:24,085 --> 00:14:29,145
and we're a local circular economy, we have real relationships with each other,

155
00:14:29,685 --> 00:14:31,725
it's really difficult to stamp that out.

156
00:14:31,865 --> 00:14:37,805
If I know the guy I'm getting my eggs from and I want to pay him in sats, good luck stopping that.

157
00:14:37,805 --> 00:14:41,425
And so we've done that here in Calgary.

158
00:14:41,425 --> 00:14:48,925
We've begun creating something called the sad market and we've been running it for, I think, a couple of years now.

159
00:14:49,665 --> 00:14:51,805
And we just do it, you know, a couple of times a year.

160
00:14:51,965 --> 00:14:56,865
But then we keep in contact throughout the year and try to frequent each other as much as possible.

161
00:14:56,865 --> 00:14:59,425
So I'm able to get beef and chicken and eggs.

162
00:14:59,485 --> 00:15:00,645
I've got a personal trainer.

163
00:15:00,745 --> 00:15:01,505
I've got a dentist.

164
00:15:01,725 --> 00:15:10,605
I've got a roofer and somebody who does flooring and like like real tangible things that are incredibly useful day to day.

165
00:15:10,605 --> 00:15:18,905
Not just like Bitcoin merch and hats and stuff, which is also there, but real stuff that helps me survive.

166
00:15:19,085 --> 00:15:26,145
And so I think that's one of the most exciting things in the Bitcoin ecosystem that's coming to fruition in many places right now.

167
00:15:27,085 --> 00:15:28,305
I think that's awesome.

168
00:15:28,365 --> 00:15:31,605
And that community aspect of it is really powerful.

169
00:15:31,845 --> 00:15:34,985
And that may be something that takes a little while for people to build up.

170
00:15:35,025 --> 00:15:37,725
But then, as you mentioned, you know, in the meantime, there are these other services.

171
00:15:37,725 --> 00:15:43,005
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention, you know, for U.S. folks, you have access to Fold.

172
00:15:43,245 --> 00:15:46,885
And they are a sponsor of this series, but it's a similar thing.

173
00:15:46,925 --> 00:15:50,725
And these companies are great where you can pay bills and you can, you know, even earn rewards.

174
00:15:51,485 --> 00:15:55,265
You can pay off your mortgage, your credit card, like other bills, get Amazon gift cards.

175
00:15:55,445 --> 00:15:59,645
Like you can do all of these things and live on this Bitcoin standard.

176
00:15:59,645 --> 00:16:04,345
But as you said, it does take it's not it's not as easy right now.

177
00:16:04,345 --> 00:16:09,665
but a lot of these companies are making it easier and easier and easier for you to do that.

178
00:16:09,665 --> 00:16:14,525
Like it's certainly if you would have tried doing this, you know, uh, 10 years ago, it would have

179
00:16:14,525 --> 00:16:18,625
been a much different story, but there are all these companies today, uh, you know, like fold,

180
00:16:18,725 --> 00:16:23,745
like bit refill, like bull Bitcoin and Bitcoin well that provide these incredible services. And

181
00:16:23,745 --> 00:16:28,425
I'm, I'm very grateful we have them because they allow you to really, uh, you know, take this next

182
00:16:28,425 --> 00:16:32,565
step and try to actually live on a Bitcoin standard. The other thing that I think is,

183
00:16:32,565 --> 00:16:37,845
is interesting is, you know, people may say, oh, well, okay, that's all well and good,

184
00:16:37,845 --> 00:16:44,825
but I'm, I'm, I'm too late to Bitcoin. I missed the boat because Bitcoin's over a hundred thousand

185
00:16:44,825 --> 00:16:49,065
dollars. And, you know, that's all nice for you guys who, who, you know, bought it a couple of

186
00:16:49,065 --> 00:16:54,865
years ago. But for me, I, how can I possibly, you know, how can I possibly catch up? How can I be

187
00:16:54,865 --> 00:16:59,205
still early? What do you, what do you say to those people who think I'm just too late? I've missed

188
00:16:59,205 --> 00:17:04,945
the boat? What's the point of even trying? First thing I would say is I said that to myself

189
00:17:04,945 --> 00:17:15,425
through three orders of magnitude first before I got into Bitcoin. So every person that sees Bitcoin

190
00:17:15,425 --> 00:17:20,245
will likely first say, I missed the boat. People thought they missed the boat when Bitcoin was a

191
00:17:20,245 --> 00:17:28,045
dollar. I saw Bitcoin as double digit prices and I figured it was, I missed the boat. Then I saw it

192
00:17:28,045 --> 00:17:33,585
over a hundred dollars and I figured I'd really miss the boat. And then I saw it. And like one of

193
00:17:33,585 --> 00:17:39,785
the, one of the tops of the bubbles, it was like 1200 bucks. And I was like, holy crap. And then

194
00:17:39,785 --> 00:17:45,405
you start reading and then you start going, what is this? Like, is this a Ponzi scheme or is there

195
00:17:45,405 --> 00:17:50,645
something here? And as you actually dig in and you start asking it, there's gotta be a way,

196
00:17:50,705 --> 00:17:56,005
there's gotta be something that's going to break or that it's just straight out, straight up

197
00:17:56,005 --> 00:18:01,965
illegitimate and you dive in and you start asking questions. How does this work? How is this possible?

198
00:18:02,345 --> 00:18:11,045
What could break it? And you begin to realize how resilient Bitcoin is. And then you begin to

199
00:18:11,045 --> 00:18:18,685
realize how corrupt the existing monetary system is. And I think the big realization that people

200
00:18:18,685 --> 00:18:29,965
need to come to is Bitcoin is completely finite, only 21 million and dollars can inflate forever.

201
00:18:30,505 --> 00:18:39,265
So if you're looking at a dollar price of Bitcoin, you're using the wrong measuring stick. Bitcoin

202
00:18:39,265 --> 00:18:46,705
is the measuring stick because it is constant. There's a certain number forever. And then there's

203
00:18:46,705 --> 00:18:52,425
a constantly inflating supply of dollars. So if you're trying to measure something static

204
00:18:52,425 --> 00:18:59,045
in something that grows forever, the static thing will always be worth more.

205
00:18:59,645 --> 00:19:04,785
You know, there's going to be ups and downs, but over a long time period, it will always be worth

206
00:19:04,785 --> 00:19:13,605
more dollars because there's always more dollars. You know, if you think back to the financial

207
00:19:13,605 --> 00:19:21,605
crisis of 08 the bailouts back then that everybody was losing their minds over were hundreds of

208
00:19:21,605 --> 00:19:29,905
billions of dollars if i see some sort of money printing shenanigans today and it doesn't start

209
00:19:29,905 --> 00:19:36,865
with a t i'm not even phased let alone if it's you know what i'm waiting on what i think would

210
00:19:36,865 --> 00:19:43,885
truly kind of be initially shocking to me is going to be the first time that they announce

211
00:19:43,885 --> 00:19:53,205
a trillion, a multi-trillion bailout or printing or deficit or something like that, that is at

212
00:19:53,205 --> 00:19:59,965
least over 10 trillion. That will raise my eyebrows slightly. That's where we've come from,

213
00:20:00,025 --> 00:20:03,665
hundreds of billions to multiple trillions and people don't even blink an eye.

214
00:20:03,665 --> 00:20:33,345
I think that that's really it's hard for us to wrap our minds around these massive numbers, right? And the numbers always seem massive at the time. Then in retrospect, when it comes to fiat, as you said, the numbers don't seem quite so big because the number, you know, you went from billion, you know, millions to billions to trillions. But that's just that speaks to how destructive this system is. It doesn't. The measuring stick is the perfect analogy, because how can you possibly measure your time and your energy and your hard work?

215
00:20:33,665 --> 00:20:36,185
You wake up every day and you go to work and you try to create value.

216
00:20:36,645 --> 00:20:40,705
How can you measure that with a measuring stick that's constantly changing?

217
00:20:41,065 --> 00:20:42,265
And it's really just expanding.

218
00:20:42,465 --> 00:20:44,105
It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

219
00:20:44,585 --> 00:20:49,785
It's valuing your time less and less and less, your energy, your work less and less and less.

220
00:20:50,465 --> 00:20:55,005
And so I think that that's a really important thing for people to realize that you haven't missed the boat.

221
00:20:55,005 --> 00:21:03,705
There's a thousand at the time of this recording in 2025, there's a thousand trillion dollars of global assets, right?

222
00:21:04,485 --> 00:21:05,765
Bitcoin is 2 trillion.

223
00:21:06,385 --> 00:21:10,265
0.2% is what Bitcoin currently clocks in at.

224
00:21:10,485 --> 00:21:16,325
It's not even a quarter of 1% of the total global assets as of 2025.

225
00:21:17,085 --> 00:21:18,285
That's crazy.

226
00:21:18,625 --> 00:21:20,085
We're insanely early.

227
00:21:20,885 --> 00:21:23,205
And the great thing is, too, that there are still places.

228
00:21:24,145 --> 00:21:26,485
Sure, in the old days, you had the Bitcoin faucets.

229
00:21:26,605 --> 00:21:32,665
And for people that don't know, you could go to a website, basically click a button, and it would give you free Bitcoin.

230
00:21:32,805 --> 00:21:34,605
I think at the time, it was something insane.

231
00:21:34,845 --> 00:21:36,525
Like, what was it, like five Bitcoin or something?

232
00:21:36,825 --> 00:21:37,245
Yeah, probably.

233
00:21:37,445 --> 00:21:38,365
You could click a button.

234
00:21:39,165 --> 00:21:40,105
Which is wild.

235
00:21:40,405 --> 00:21:47,565
In today's dollar value, you were getting over half a million dollars just for free from somebody who had set up this site to give people Bitcoin.

236
00:21:47,565 --> 00:21:50,945
But these things still exist today.

237
00:21:51,205 --> 00:21:55,785
Like you can spin the wheel unfold and get a few sats every single day.

238
00:21:56,565 --> 00:22:01,385
And in 10, 15 years, what is a one Satoshi going to be worth?

239
00:22:01,785 --> 00:22:09,625
I think people really need to change their mindset, change their frame of reference to realize that we are so incredibly early.

240
00:22:10,225 --> 00:22:14,565
And the longer that you think you've missed the boat, the less early you are.

241
00:22:14,565 --> 00:22:17,105
You'll still be early, but you'll be a little bit less early.

242
00:22:17,565 --> 00:22:22,565
And so I think it's good for people to hear that, look, you watched it go three orders of magnitude before you picked it up.

243
00:22:22,565 --> 00:22:27,985
Because I think people don't want to admit that, hey, if I could have bought it when I first heard about it, but I didn't.

244
00:22:27,985 --> 00:22:32,145
Do you think there's a lot of that just kind of like a sunk cost fallacy there?

245
00:22:32,665 --> 00:22:33,685
Yeah, yeah, of course.

246
00:22:33,825 --> 00:22:42,665
Everybody always thinks, you know, actually for the first time I've started hearing, you know, a bit of,

247
00:22:42,665 --> 00:22:50,705
I guess it speaks to the nihilism of, of the coming generation. Uh, but you know, everybody's

248
00:22:50,705 --> 00:22:56,765
in such a, I'm never going to again, own a home or retire or anything like that. They're in that

249
00:22:56,765 --> 00:23:04,585
mindset. And so the, the only possible way out that people can think now is gambling. You know,

250
00:23:04,665 --> 00:23:11,445
if, if I gamble, if I buy a meme stock, if I gamble on some sort of like meme coin or something,

251
00:23:11,445 --> 00:23:19,405
or if I hit the lottery, then I'll be set and then I can just, you know, then I'm good.

252
00:23:19,565 --> 00:23:21,405
But otherwise, I'm just going to doom spend.

253
00:23:22,025 --> 00:23:26,705
And for the first time, I'm hearing that Bitcoin, from some of these people and their perspective,

254
00:23:26,845 --> 00:23:34,925
is not risky enough because they've been so conditioned to think that if you just work hard,

255
00:23:35,705 --> 00:23:38,945
spend less than you earn and save, that you can actually make it.

256
00:23:38,945 --> 00:23:43,145
But that's what Bitcoin is reattaining for the average person.

257
00:23:43,225 --> 00:23:45,125
That used to be all you needed to do.

258
00:23:45,445 --> 00:23:46,745
Just be good at something.

259
00:23:47,185 --> 00:23:47,745
Save.

260
00:23:48,365 --> 00:23:49,745
And then you're good.

261
00:23:50,005 --> 00:23:54,125
But, you know, the fiat world has changed that dynamic.

262
00:23:54,345 --> 00:23:59,405
You can't just have a skill and save the exact same money that you earn.

263
00:23:59,465 --> 00:24:01,365
You had to become a professional speculator.

264
00:24:01,545 --> 00:24:04,665
And now today that's not even – that's still not good enough.

265
00:24:05,485 --> 00:24:13,565
And so I think right now when people are looking at Bitcoin and they're like, there's no way, it's still not even for me.

266
00:24:13,725 --> 00:24:14,865
Everybody already made it.

267
00:24:15,345 --> 00:24:17,485
No, that's not true at all.

268
00:24:17,685 --> 00:24:24,205
And you really need to shift your mindset into the opposite of what you've learned growing up.

269
00:24:24,465 --> 00:24:32,945
And it's a return to just providing value to society and simply being able to save the money that you earn.

270
00:24:33,085 --> 00:24:34,505
And that's an incredible thing.

271
00:24:34,505 --> 00:24:36,545
It takes such a burden off one's shoulders.

272
00:24:37,245 --> 00:24:38,025
You can start now.

273
00:24:38,145 --> 00:24:46,085
And furthermore, the people that think they're too late right now, think about the people that are not born currently.

274
00:24:46,485 --> 00:24:56,845
They're going to be born and they're going to be like, can you imagine being born when Bitcoin was still, when there was still a block reward, when Bitcoin was still being mined?

275
00:24:56,845 --> 00:25:01,245
Like right now, every block is 3.125 Bitcoin being mined.

276
00:25:01,245 --> 00:25:04,985
And like they're still over a Bitcoin per block right now.

277
00:25:05,085 --> 00:25:09,705
And that's going to be unheard of in the future in a very short amount of time.

278
00:25:10,525 --> 00:25:13,625
Yeah, it's a crazy thing to think about.

279
00:25:13,865 --> 00:25:18,525
And I think that for a lot of people who have started saving in Bitcoin, because that's what Bitcoin is.

280
00:25:18,525 --> 00:25:20,305
As you said, it's a savings technology.

281
00:25:20,305 --> 00:25:22,605
It's a return to savings.

282
00:25:22,845 --> 00:25:25,485
We're just not used to that being possible.

283
00:25:25,485 --> 00:25:35,825
We're used to needing to speculate, needing to gamble because the thing we're supposed to be able to save in, the money, is broken.

284
00:25:36,565 --> 00:25:46,905
And so for people when they hear, what, I just have to save money, I just have to save Bitcoin and I don't have to be a super trader and be calling the highs and the lows and all these things.

285
00:25:46,905 --> 00:25:56,065
No, no, no. You can just focus on your craft. You can try to create value for society and you can save the value of that time and energy in Bitcoin.

286
00:25:56,065 --> 00:26:02,245
And that's enough. You shouldn't need a second job as an expert trader just to be able to make ends meet.

287
00:26:02,625 --> 00:26:06,145
But that's where we're at right now. And that's it's incredibly sad.

288
00:26:06,925 --> 00:26:15,405
Yeah. Yeah. It's hope for the future. Again, imagine somebody just saying, I'm just going to learn a skill to get really good at it.

289
00:26:15,405 --> 00:26:26,145
And I'll just do that. And then I'll, with my free time, I can just enjoy myself and I'll just save. What a wonderful, simple life that could lead to.

290
00:26:26,145 --> 00:26:30,925
it's it's beautiful and i'm curious you know on a on a personal note for you

291
00:26:30,925 --> 00:26:36,805
how has living on a bitcoin standard you've you obviously create a ton of value uh through all

292
00:26:36,805 --> 00:26:42,285
the work that you do now you live on a bitcoin standard how has that changed kind of your life

293
00:26:42,285 --> 00:26:48,645
your perspective your your family's life since you've kind of started this journey yeah well i

294
00:26:48,645 --> 00:26:59,665
mean the the first the first thing that really took a weight off our shoulders was um or for me

295
00:26:59,665 --> 00:27:08,685
personally was pre-bitcoin i could never save like i've never really saved much of anything in my life

296
00:27:08,685 --> 00:27:14,865
i just had i grew up learning bad habits and around money as most people do i if i had a dollar

297
00:27:14,865 --> 00:27:20,585
in my pocket, I was finding a way to spend it. And that really shifted with Bitcoin. For the first

298
00:27:20,585 --> 00:27:28,885
time, I had a reason to save. And it actually also, I never really worried about the price

299
00:27:28,885 --> 00:27:35,965
fluctuations because in my head, having anything in savings, even if it dropped, was already more

300
00:27:35,965 --> 00:27:42,465
than I had ever had. It was like, okay, well, it dropped by 80%. Well, it's still 20% more

301
00:27:42,465 --> 00:27:45,365
than I would have had in the first place.

302
00:27:45,405 --> 00:27:46,385
I was never saving.

303
00:27:46,805 --> 00:27:49,725
And so it started to change the dynamics there.

304
00:27:50,385 --> 00:27:54,145
Over time, as we saved, you know, myself and my wife,

305
00:27:54,805 --> 00:27:56,565
when I first got into Bitcoin,

306
00:27:57,605 --> 00:28:01,085
there were, you know, plenty of times where it's like,

307
00:28:01,085 --> 00:28:05,985
oh crap, we've got bills and we do not have a way to pay bills.

308
00:28:06,945 --> 00:28:10,905
And what that gradually shifted to as we saved in Bitcoin was,

309
00:28:10,905 --> 00:28:13,945
Oh we've got a cushion

310
00:28:13,945 --> 00:28:16,005
We've got a cushion where

311
00:28:16,005 --> 00:28:18,225
If something happened and I was out of work

312
00:28:18,225 --> 00:28:19,265
For a period of time

313
00:28:19,265 --> 00:28:20,705
We would be okay

314
00:28:20,705 --> 00:28:22,865
And that grew to

315
00:28:22,865 --> 00:28:25,765
We would be okay for a long time

316
00:28:25,765 --> 00:28:27,045
And that grew to

317
00:28:27,045 --> 00:28:29,285
We have a retirement

318
00:28:29,285 --> 00:28:44,331
And now it grown to We have a retirement And we are confident that we be able to help our kids in the future And so it you you start looking out to the future

319
00:28:44,471 --> 00:28:47,491
You start saying, OK, well, I'm good now.

320
00:28:47,611 --> 00:28:50,630
What am I what do I want to spend my time doing?

321
00:28:50,771 --> 00:28:52,211
What does this free up for me?

322
00:28:52,311 --> 00:28:53,731
What am I passionate about?

323
00:28:53,991 --> 00:28:56,071
What do I want my kids to experience?

324
00:28:56,071 --> 00:29:08,951
What do I want out of my family, out of my life, out of my hobbies, out of my own personal health and fitness so that I'm actually around to enjoy this later?

325
00:29:09,611 --> 00:29:19,971
It takes the stress off of just trying to put food on the table and it allows your mind to open to all of the other beautiful things that life has to offer.

326
00:29:21,551 --> 00:29:23,331
That is beautifully put.

327
00:29:23,331 --> 00:29:28,191
If that's not an enticing pitch for folks, I don't know what is.

328
00:29:28,910 --> 00:29:32,910
I want to talk a little bit too because you're the perfect person to talk to about this.

329
00:29:33,311 --> 00:29:35,811
Just kind of some practical tips for people.

330
00:29:36,890 --> 00:29:44,471
And one of the things maybe as a preface to that is perhaps what's the biggest sort of mistake or pitfall that you see?

331
00:29:44,670 --> 00:29:47,751
Obviously, you help a lot of people as they're starting their Bitcoin journey.

332
00:29:48,571 --> 00:29:51,031
What's the biggest issue that people have when they're starting out?

333
00:29:51,031 --> 00:29:52,851
And maybe that's something on the technical side.

334
00:29:52,851 --> 00:29:56,571
Maybe that's something just on the way that their mind is thinking about its side.

335
00:29:56,670 --> 00:29:59,231
What do you run into as the most kind of common thing?

336
00:30:00,751 --> 00:30:00,930
Yeah.

337
00:30:01,170 --> 00:30:15,591
So one thing that I'm not going to dive deep into it, but one thing that oftentimes comes up for people when they first get into the Bitcoin realm is there are distractions out there, right?

338
00:30:15,591 --> 00:30:24,231
There's all these other coins and things that people will try to market to you and sell to you as this is the next Bitcoin.

339
00:30:24,371 --> 00:30:28,930
This is worth your time and your blood, sweat and tears and, you know, the fruits of your labor.

340
00:30:29,591 --> 00:30:36,491
And while I won't, I'm sure there's plenty of material out there regarding why specifically Bitcoin.

341
00:30:36,491 --> 00:30:41,231
I will just for the newcomers watching this, please tread with caution.

342
00:30:41,231 --> 00:30:50,311
over many years after dabbling in different things, I coalesced on just Bitcoin. And it took

343
00:30:50,311 --> 00:30:57,551
time to understand if you get in the proper kind of stream of consciousness and you start listening

344
00:30:57,551 --> 00:31:03,291
to the right types of content and, you know, here with Walker, you're going to be led down that path.

345
00:31:03,371 --> 00:31:10,351
Absolutely. Especially with the prior guests in this series as well. You can begin to understand

346
00:31:10,351 --> 00:31:15,771
why that is. So I'm not going to dive into that, but let's chat maybe about the practical,

347
00:31:16,551 --> 00:31:21,231
you know, what do you actually need to do? What are the main skills that you should probably

348
00:31:21,231 --> 00:31:32,131
focus on? So it's important to note that Bitcoin is very much like cash or like a physical asset

349
00:31:32,131 --> 00:31:40,071
in that you, the best way to deal with it is taking full custody, full control of it,

350
00:31:40,071 --> 00:31:47,650
yourself rather than leaving it with a third party. And so, um, you were, we grow up thinking,

351
00:31:47,650 --> 00:31:53,011
oh, I got to be responsible for, you know, this, that, and the other thing, you know,

352
00:31:53,011 --> 00:31:58,331
watch after my passport, keep track of, you know, all my important documents and all that.

353
00:31:58,691 --> 00:32:04,331
But the, the glaring hole in that is everybody's like, yeah, but don't you dare try to take care

354
00:32:04,331 --> 00:32:09,650
of your own money. No, leave that with the experts over here and they'll do some magic in the

355
00:32:09,650 --> 00:32:13,691
background. Don't worry. Don't look behind the curtain, but leave your money with us. It'll be

356
00:32:13,691 --> 00:32:20,491
safe. And Bitcoin is the antithesis of that. Leaving your Bitcoin with somebody else is just

357
00:32:20,491 --> 00:32:28,211
about the worst thing that you can do. It, you know, not only was Bitcoin built in and around

358
00:32:28,211 --> 00:32:37,871
the premise of, of personal responsibility and removing trusted third parties, but the risk is

359
00:32:37,871 --> 00:32:44,971
greater there. And what I mean is we've seen many times where exchanges that hold people's Bitcoin

360
00:32:44,971 --> 00:32:52,571
have blown up either through hacks or internal malicious intent or a host of other reasons. But

361
00:32:52,571 --> 00:32:59,811
at the end of the day, mistakes happen and people, real people lose real money. And it's heartbreaking

362
00:32:59,811 --> 00:33:06,391
when that happens. Now, some of you may think, well, yeah, but I, you know, if I take control

363
00:33:06,391 --> 00:33:14,391
my Bitcoin, what if I make mistakes? And my counter to that is if everybody on exchanges

364
00:33:14,391 --> 00:33:22,711
like FTX had self-custodied, some of them, yes, may have made mistakes. But the people

365
00:33:22,711 --> 00:33:31,191
that were on FTX, all of them lost their money, every single one. And so if you can learn the

366
00:33:31,191 --> 00:33:39,131
tools and you can learn a few basic concepts and skills, you can very effectively secure your money.

367
00:33:39,410 --> 00:33:43,791
And so what are those skills? One, you need to be able to obtain Bitcoin. Where are you going to get

368
00:33:43,791 --> 00:33:49,591
it? There's lots and lots of options depending on your jurisdiction. And so, you know, I'm sure,

369
00:33:50,291 --> 00:33:53,831
Walker, I'm sure you talk about many different places that you can get Bitcoin. So I'll kind of

370
00:33:53,831 --> 00:33:59,031
defer to, you know, places that you've talked about on the show before, but, you know, look

371
00:33:59,031 --> 00:34:05,691
locally what's available for you to be able to purchase Bitcoin. Number two is just getting

372
00:34:05,691 --> 00:34:12,111
familiar with a regular Bitcoin wallet, like a hot wallet on your phone. There's tons of options for

373
00:34:12,111 --> 00:34:18,451
this. You know, if you're, if you're on a phone, then some, there's, there's lots of simple options.

374
00:34:18,451 --> 00:34:24,490
There's things like blue wallet and aqua wallet. And, you know, I like things like Phoenix and,

375
00:34:24,951 --> 00:34:28,911
you know, there's a lot of point being, there's lots of different options. I've done videos on

376
00:34:28,911 --> 00:34:35,611
lots of different wallets on your phone, but this is your initial pathway to understanding what a

377
00:34:35,611 --> 00:34:42,171
Bitcoin wallet is. Now, the interesting thing about a Bitcoin wallet is even though I say you're

378
00:34:42,171 --> 00:34:47,271
taking control of your own money, you're holding your own money. Technically speaking, a Bitcoin

379
00:34:47,271 --> 00:34:54,071
wallet, it doesn't hold your money. It doesn't have Bitcoin in it. It has something else. And so

380
00:34:54,071 --> 00:35:00,451
what I mean is Bitcoin is just a big ledger of who owns what kind of like a bank would have a

381
00:35:00,451 --> 00:35:04,751
record. Okay. This person has this much, this person has this much. That's what the Bitcoin

382
00:35:04,751 --> 00:35:09,911
blockchain is. It's just a copy of where's all the money. And even though there aren't names

383
00:35:09,911 --> 00:35:16,771
specifically attached, there are a record, there is a record of every single sat on the Bitcoin

384
00:35:16,771 --> 00:35:23,470
blockchain and what addresses it sits in. And so when you have a Bitcoin wallet, what you actually

385
00:35:23,470 --> 00:35:28,951
have is the keys to your money. You have a key, a digital key, and it sits on your phone.

386
00:35:29,851 --> 00:35:36,690
And when you create that wallet, you take that key, which is information, and you make a spare key.

387
00:35:37,331 --> 00:35:43,931
And that spare key, what it looks like is just a copy of typically 12 words, sometimes 24, but

388
00:35:43,931 --> 00:35:49,931
12 English words, maybe written on a piece of paper. Some people go as far as stamping it into

389
00:35:49,931 --> 00:35:54,671
steel so that it doesn't get burned up in a fire. But nonetheless, it's a piece of information.

390
00:35:54,671 --> 00:35:59,451
It's on your phone. And then it's written down in case you smash your phone or you delete the app.

391
00:36:00,190 --> 00:36:07,451
And so that's kind of the first major hurdle of learning Bitcoin. How do I get a wallet?

392
00:36:07,931 --> 00:36:13,851
How do I back it up? How do I recover it if I do something wrong? And so if you can

393
00:36:13,851 --> 00:36:21,411
write down 12 words and keep them in a safe spot, which I'm certain many people can. If you have

394
00:36:21,411 --> 00:36:28,690
important documents that you've kept safe, you are qualified. If you know how to download an

395
00:36:28,690 --> 00:36:35,530
application on your phone, you are qualified. If you have children and you've managed to keep

396
00:36:35,530 --> 00:36:43,731
those children safe and alive and thriving, you are indeed overqualified. So we do many

397
00:36:43,731 --> 00:36:49,071
important things, there's no reason to fear writing down 12 words and keeping them safe.

398
00:36:49,251 --> 00:36:54,791
So step one, where are you going to get your Bitcoin? Step two, learn a basic Bitcoin wallet

399
00:36:54,791 --> 00:37:03,951
on your phone. And then I would say the third and final step for your average person is going to be

400
00:37:03,951 --> 00:37:10,131
let's get in something a little bit more secure. You can get a specialized device to secure your

401
00:37:10,131 --> 00:37:15,611
Bitcoin often referred to as a hardware wallet. And this just keeps the keys to your money instead

402
00:37:15,611 --> 00:37:21,271
of on your phone. It keeps them on a special security device that's totally offline. And so

403
00:37:21,271 --> 00:37:26,170
if you can do those three things, get Bitcoin, learn about Bitcoin wallets, and then graduate

404
00:37:26,170 --> 00:37:35,030
to a hardware wallet, you're nailing it in the Bitcoin realm. I think that's fantastic and

405
00:37:35,030 --> 00:37:40,451
actionable advice because it's very understandable that people may, because of also all the bad

406
00:37:40,451 --> 00:37:45,811
information that's been put out there over the years, people may hear Bitcoin and maybe want to

407
00:37:45,811 --> 00:37:50,030
get exposure to it, but just don't know where to start. Luckily now there are, I mean, there are so

408
00:37:50,030 --> 00:37:54,471
many amazing channels. If you want to have literally a step-by-step guide on how to do any of these

409
00:37:54,471 --> 00:37:59,451
things that Sessions just talked about, go to the BTC Sessions YouTube channel. I can't recommend it

410
00:37:59,451 --> 00:38:04,951
enough. It will literally be your one-stop shop to learn all of these things in detail. You know,

411
00:38:04,951 --> 00:38:07,611
your personal guide basically to walking through these.

412
00:38:07,971 --> 00:38:08,611
And that,

413
00:38:08,670 --> 00:38:12,771
and that's the thing is that it doesn't have to be too complicated.

414
00:38:13,291 --> 00:38:15,291
People want to act like it is,

415
00:38:15,351 --> 00:38:17,631
but really if there's one thing that's complicated,

416
00:38:17,631 --> 00:38:18,791
it's our current,

417
00:38:18,871 --> 00:38:19,111
you know,

418
00:38:19,151 --> 00:38:21,010
banking and monetary system.

419
00:38:21,010 --> 00:38:21,951
By contrast,

420
00:38:22,670 --> 00:38:24,431
Bitcoin seems pretty simple,

421
00:38:24,550 --> 00:38:25,710
at least to me,

422
00:38:25,831 --> 00:38:26,111
you know,

423
00:38:26,271 --> 00:38:27,891
is that what you found as well?

424
00:38:28,251 --> 00:38:28,371
Yeah.

425
00:38:28,451 --> 00:38:28,771
I mean,

426
00:38:29,111 --> 00:38:29,471
have you,

427
00:38:29,510 --> 00:38:34,451
have you tried getting like getting a bank account and then logging into

428
00:38:34,451 --> 00:38:43,391
online banking and sending wire transfers and get, and, and not only that, but at times having

429
00:38:43,391 --> 00:38:49,971
your bank say, no, you can't do that. Or you need to call us or things are frozen or we reversed a

430
00:38:49,971 --> 00:38:54,391
transfer or we don't know where that money is. You know, that all of the, all of the things that

431
00:38:54,391 --> 00:39:01,411
can come along with somebody else dealing with your money. Yeah, it's absolutely in my, I, I will

432
00:39:01,411 --> 00:39:09,291
die on this hill that Bitcoin is easier than traditional banking. On its head, Bitcoin is

433
00:39:09,291 --> 00:39:15,030
much simpler, much less in terms of barriers to entry. You got to learn how to download an app,

434
00:39:15,030 --> 00:39:21,611
write down 12 words. And if you delete the app, how to download the app again and put in 12 words

435
00:39:21,611 --> 00:39:27,931
again. It's not too bad. One thing I want to talk about a little because you brought up just,

436
00:39:27,931 --> 00:39:30,670
potentially getting cut off from the banking system.

437
00:39:31,291 --> 00:39:35,951
And that's something that you personally helped a lot of people get through.

438
00:39:36,451 --> 00:39:38,971
Can you talk a little bit about the trucker protests

439
00:39:38,971 --> 00:39:41,111
and what happened there kind of at a high level?

440
00:39:41,210 --> 00:39:43,431
Because I think we've talked up until now about,

441
00:39:43,871 --> 00:39:46,831
yes, you want to escape the pain of inflation.

442
00:39:46,831 --> 00:39:48,731
You want to kind of get off that hamster wheel.

443
00:39:48,771 --> 00:39:50,210
You want to be able to provide for your family.

444
00:39:50,670 --> 00:39:54,071
There's that kind of, okay, I want to be able to have a great savings technology,

445
00:39:54,170 --> 00:39:54,931
which Bitcoin is.

446
00:39:55,311 --> 00:39:57,010
But there's another side to Bitcoin too,

447
00:39:57,010 --> 00:40:02,510
which is that it allows you and it's true freedom money and so can you talk about that a little why

448
00:40:02,510 --> 00:40:07,550
people should really care and even if they think oh it won't happen to me that this kind of thing

449
00:40:07,550 --> 00:40:14,371
can happen to anyone yeah absolutely so you're right we've been talking about kind of protecting

450
00:40:14,371 --> 00:40:22,451
yourself from the debasement of of the dollar or whatever your local currency is and and savings

451
00:40:22,451 --> 00:40:30,571
technology, but Bitcoin is also censorship resistant. And while many in the West come to

452
00:40:30,571 --> 00:40:37,391
Bitcoin for protecting their savings, a lot of people from all over the globe come to Bitcoin

453
00:40:37,391 --> 00:40:45,210
to protect their ability to just simply transact. And so, you know, we got a taste of this here in

454
00:40:45,210 --> 00:40:52,151
Canada in 2022. There was, it was the largest protest in Canadian history, the Canadian

455
00:40:52,151 --> 00:41:01,010
trucker protest. Um, and, uh, the, I, I want to start by saying that these protests while large

456
00:41:01,010 --> 00:41:09,331
were completely peaceful. There was no violence that happened. There were families and children

457
00:41:09,331 --> 00:41:16,010
and music and bouncy castles and all kinds of great like live concerts,

458
00:41:16,411 --> 00:41:19,451
things like this happening in front of Canadian parliament.

459
00:41:19,690 --> 00:41:20,471
Was it noisy?

460
00:41:20,690 --> 00:41:21,091
Yeah, sure.

461
00:41:21,391 --> 00:41:25,151
There were horns honking, you know, all kinds of stuff.

462
00:41:25,251 --> 00:41:25,911
There was music.

463
00:41:26,010 --> 00:41:26,510
It was loud.

464
00:41:26,990 --> 00:41:29,210
Yeah, it was the largest protest in Canadian history.

465
00:41:30,851 --> 00:41:34,170
But the way that the Canadian government dealt with it

466
00:41:34,170 --> 00:41:39,291
was painting anybody that was partaking in that as,

467
00:41:40,571 --> 00:41:44,931
I mean, name every kind of general slur in the book.

468
00:41:45,010 --> 00:41:49,251
They were all bigots and racists and, you know,

469
00:41:49,371 --> 00:41:52,651
deplorables or whatever they decided to throw at them.

470
00:41:53,951 --> 00:41:57,651
And the way that they decided to deal with these individuals,

471
00:41:57,651 --> 00:42:01,371
the organizers, the truckers that were down there,

472
00:42:01,530 --> 00:42:04,151
the individual businesses that they could target,

473
00:42:04,170 --> 00:42:09,510
is they shut down bank accounts. They passed the Emergencies Act. They said, all right,

474
00:42:09,550 --> 00:42:14,811
if you're present down here, if we, you know, see that you're down here, if you're in any way

475
00:42:14,811 --> 00:42:20,931
involved, you run the risk of having your bank account shut down, your credit card shut down.

476
00:42:21,050 --> 00:42:28,351
They revoked people's auto insurance. They started doing all this crazy stuff. And so

477
00:42:28,351 --> 00:42:32,550
So what ended up happening is well before all of this took place,

478
00:42:32,550 --> 00:42:36,550
when the protest was just beginning and they were doing the convoy across Canada,

479
00:42:36,550 --> 00:42:43,111
I was asked if I could help set up a donation page and manage Bitcoin donations.

480
00:42:43,690 --> 00:43:02,476
And so we thought that most people would probably still donate through traditional means but maybe we get a few thousand bucks Maybe we get you know four or five grand Um and that would have been great That would have been cool Maybe we could get some gift cards buy people some Tim Hortons coffee or whatever Um but what

481
00:43:02,476 --> 00:43:07,816
when the emergencies act passed, when bank accounts started getting shut down, when they

482
00:43:07,816 --> 00:43:14,496
started freezing donations on GoFundMe, uh, and reversing those, sending them back to the donors,

483
00:43:14,496 --> 00:43:19,796
after saying they were just going to donate them to whatever other cause they felt like.

484
00:43:19,916 --> 00:43:23,456
They did get threatened with a lawsuit, so instead they just sent the money back to the donors.

485
00:43:24,376 --> 00:43:30,816
And then another platform stepped up and said, yeah, we'll accept the donations and we won't freeze them.

486
00:43:30,816 --> 00:43:36,956
And then when they went to send the money to the organizers, to a Canadian bank,

487
00:43:37,076 --> 00:43:38,856
well, that Canadian bank took those funds.

488
00:43:39,396 --> 00:43:43,876
So all of these digital payment mechanisms were just failing in the face of tyranny.

489
00:43:44,496 --> 00:43:49,556
And the one glaring thing that kept going was Bitcoin.

490
00:43:50,076 --> 00:43:55,916
And people started piling in because they realized this is the shot we have.

491
00:43:56,156 --> 00:44:02,036
We have a global example of this being censorship resistant freedom money.

492
00:44:02,916 --> 00:44:10,416
And yeah, like $1.2, $1.3 million, I think, donated to the Canadian trucker protest.

493
00:44:10,416 --> 00:44:13,216
It was effectively, it was over 21 Bitcoin.

494
00:44:13,216 --> 00:44:21,676
So basically one one millionth of the entire monetary base that will ever exist was donated to that single cause, which is crazy.

495
00:44:23,116 --> 00:44:40,296
And yeah, at the end of the day, not every sat got there because, you know, some RCMP did kick open a door and use force to to take some of the last few Bitcoin, which to this day sit in a legal escrow awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit.

496
00:44:40,296 --> 00:44:47,596
But the vast majority of those funds were handed directly in care packages to truckers on the ground.

497
00:44:48,196 --> 00:44:52,936
And it was the only digital payment mechanism that was successful.

498
00:44:53,336 --> 00:45:06,936
And I'm very confident that had we made some smarter decisions earlier on and anticipated it being as big as it was, it would have been 100% of funds donated directly to the people that it was intended for.

499
00:45:06,936 --> 00:45:17,036
That story is just so incredible because, again, there's the saving money and building up for a family.

500
00:45:17,196 --> 00:45:22,956
But sometimes your government is overbearing, oftentimes actually.

501
00:45:23,676 --> 00:45:28,316
And you need to stand up for what you know to be right.

502
00:45:28,896 --> 00:45:33,896
It's very difficult to do that when your access to the banking system is completely shut down.

503
00:45:33,896 --> 00:45:40,476
You know, in America, if you want to exercise your freedom of speech, well, that starts with the freedom to transact.

504
00:45:40,616 --> 00:45:41,776
In Canada, you know, same thing.

505
00:45:41,856 --> 00:45:47,436
You need to have the freedom to transact to truly be able to exercise your other rights.

506
00:45:47,876 --> 00:45:57,696
Otherwise, you know, it's pretty scary how quickly you can be cut off from everything just by getting cut off from the banking system.

507
00:45:57,876 --> 00:45:59,956
And that's where Bitcoin is this incredible lifeline.

508
00:45:59,956 --> 00:46:02,276
Yes, it's an escape valve.

509
00:46:02,276 --> 00:46:07,856
it's a you know escape boat to get away from punishing inflation but it's also a way for you

510
00:46:07,856 --> 00:46:13,256
to escape something that is you know arguably just as dark or even darker in some cases which is

511
00:46:13,256 --> 00:46:18,416
financial repression financial censorship these are things that may not seem important to you now

512
00:46:18,416 --> 00:46:24,556
but if it happens to you you really want to have another option yeah there are examples around

513
00:46:24,556 --> 00:46:31,976
around the world because of my involvement in you know the bitcoin donation side of things with the

514
00:46:31,976 --> 00:46:37,996
Trugger protest, I've now for the past four years had active involvement with the Human Rights

515
00:46:37,996 --> 00:46:45,396
Foundation. And we host quarterly webinars with political dissidents from around the globe,

516
00:46:45,836 --> 00:46:50,496
teaching them how to use Bitcoin as a tool for human rights and freedom. And we regularly have,

517
00:46:50,556 --> 00:46:59,656
you know, 100 to 200 people in these webinars every single time. And it's wild seeing some of

518
00:46:59,656 --> 00:47:06,496
the people that come through and recognize the importance of Bitcoin. I'm talking, going to

519
00:47:06,496 --> 00:47:11,996
events and, you know, each person in the room standing up saying who they are and what they do.

520
00:47:12,036 --> 00:47:17,816
And I get to stand up and say, I make YouTube videos about Bitcoin. And then, you know, four

521
00:47:17,816 --> 00:47:22,716
or five other people in the room stand up to say that they've toppled the dictator.

522
00:47:22,716 --> 00:47:31,876
which is like if you ever want imposter syndrome go to uh an hrf event and listen to people's

523
00:47:31,876 --> 00:47:39,036
stories because these people have been through the gamut and uh and have come out the other side

524
00:47:39,036 --> 00:47:46,936
just through uh insane amounts of hardship and human suffering and they're still there

525
00:47:46,936 --> 00:47:51,296
and they're still positive and they're still working their asses off.

526
00:47:51,976 --> 00:47:55,756
And they're using Bitcoin as a tool in their tool belt, which is incredible.

527
00:47:56,516 --> 00:48:01,976
I think there's often a misconception, again, specifically in the West,

528
00:48:02,416 --> 00:48:07,016
that Bitcoin, again, is just this speculative investment or this tech bro thing

529
00:48:07,016 --> 00:48:10,136
or associated with a certain political party.

530
00:48:10,916 --> 00:48:12,636
And the reality is that it's not.

531
00:48:12,796 --> 00:48:14,416
I mean, is it fair to say, in your opinion,

532
00:48:14,416 --> 00:48:18,356
I mean, like Bitcoin's for anyone who's willing to learn about it.

533
00:48:18,956 --> 00:48:19,116
Yeah.

534
00:48:19,316 --> 00:48:19,496
Yeah.

535
00:48:19,856 --> 00:48:20,516
A hundred percent.

536
00:48:20,516 --> 00:48:35,736
And, and I, I know that there's a, you know, right now, given the current political climate, many people would say that, you know, Bitcoin is a partisan issue.

537
00:48:36,896 --> 00:48:38,816
I fully disagree.

538
00:48:38,816 --> 00:48:44,236
I agree that it's been painted into that just by nothing more than timing.

539
00:48:44,536 --> 00:48:57,716
But I think that all it has to do with is the time where Bitcoin kind of began to grow and be used.

540
00:48:57,716 --> 00:49:05,856
the people that are most likely to use it are the ones that are at the current time,

541
00:49:05,856 --> 00:49:13,776
most likely to have a degree of censorship, perhaps financial censorship. And it just

542
00:49:13,776 --> 00:49:24,156
happened to come about, you know, during a, during a political time where the political

543
00:49:24,156 --> 00:49:32,416
apparatus was leaning a certain way and there was a shift. But pre that shift, there was a very

544
00:49:32,416 --> 00:49:39,376
concerted effort to kind of stop people from using Bitcoin. We saw something called Chokepoint 2.0.

545
00:49:39,376 --> 00:49:45,576
We saw bank accounts, you know, being shut down if you were doing something with Bitcoin. And so

546
00:49:45,576 --> 00:49:51,216
one side of the political aisle was able to latch onto that and the displeasure of everybody in the

547
00:49:51,216 --> 00:49:59,296
Bitcoin space and use that to their advantage. But I very much believe roles reversed,

548
00:49:59,576 --> 00:50:05,216
it would absolutely be viewed as partisan in the opposite direction. What do you think they would

549
00:50:05,216 --> 00:50:14,256
have used if Bitcoin was coming into being during the civil rights movement? What do you think would

550
00:50:14,256 --> 00:50:19,656
have been the money of choice then, right? And when you look in different parts of the globe,

551
00:50:19,656 --> 00:50:27,876
it doesn't matter like the political affiliations it's not a right or left issue it's who is being

552
00:50:27,876 --> 00:50:35,616
censored they're going to use censorship resistant money yeah well said and i hope that people take

553
00:50:35,616 --> 00:50:42,416
that to heart because the last thing that i want is for somebody to not get into bitcoin to not

554
00:50:42,416 --> 00:50:48,636
start saving in bitcoin simply because some talk show host or some politician has painted it to be

555
00:50:48,636 --> 00:50:55,376
one way. Don't listen to that. Do your own research. Check out channels like BTC Sessions

556
00:50:55,376 --> 00:51:01,516
when you want to really dive deep into this and make up your own mind because Bitcoin is not a

557
00:51:01,516 --> 00:51:07,776
partisan tool. Bitcoin is political. Money is always political, but it's not partisan. It's

558
00:51:07,776 --> 00:51:14,036
not right or left or red or blue or orange or yellow. It is orange actually, but it's not any

559
00:51:14,036 --> 00:51:19,396
of those other colors. And so I think that's really important to emphasize. I want to just,

560
00:51:19,476 --> 00:51:24,296
as we're sort of wrapping up here, is there something that you, some advice you would give

561
00:51:24,296 --> 00:51:29,416
to yourself if you could, you know, go back in time earlier in your Bitcoin journey, maybe before

562
00:51:29,416 --> 00:51:34,916
you were buying, what advice would you give yourself or what advice do you most commonly

563
00:51:34,916 --> 00:51:39,116
give to people who are just starting to look at this, who have not started stacking yet?

564
00:51:39,116 --> 00:51:51,216
yeah i mean times have changed a little bit um over the years and the the resources that i had

565
00:51:51,216 --> 00:51:58,876
at my fingertips uh for for practical education did not exist uh it was like go to this forum

566
00:51:58,876 --> 00:52:04,836
and scroll down and there's a comment with some bullet points on how to do it oh god i don't learn

567
00:52:04,836 --> 00:52:12,696
that way. Things are different now. I think that the biggest piece of advice I would give to people

568
00:52:12,696 --> 00:52:18,816
is don't wait on educating yourself. Don't think that you need to know it all before you can start

569
00:52:18,816 --> 00:52:27,416
dabbling in Bitcoin and trying to use it. The medium is the education, right? Like by utilizing

570
00:52:27,416 --> 00:52:34,556
Bitcoin, you are learning how to use Bitcoin. And so you don't have to go and be playing around with

571
00:52:34,556 --> 00:52:40,776
thousands and thousands of dollars, you can get 50 bucks or a hundred bucks worth of Bitcoin and

572
00:52:40,776 --> 00:52:48,196
learn how to use a Bitcoin wallet and delete it and recover it and learn how hardware works. And,

573
00:52:48,196 --> 00:52:56,436
and so you can start to learn the tools with very little, uh, risk. You know, it's still good to

574
00:52:56,436 --> 00:53:01,416
have some skin in the game so that, you know, if you do make a mistake and you lose, you know,

575
00:53:01,416 --> 00:53:10,296
50 bucks or something that's painful but pain is also a valuable and effective teacher and so

576
00:53:10,296 --> 00:53:17,096
start with small amounts but actually play around with real bitcoin and if you make a mistake

577
00:53:17,096 --> 00:53:26,696
and you lose 50 bucks i guarantee you you won't do that same thing again and that perhaps 50

578
00:53:26,696 --> 00:53:30,916
mistake, which I'm not saying people are going to lose 50 bucks right away, but if that were to

579
00:53:30,916 --> 00:53:38,036
happen, the $50 mistake prevents a mistake down the road that could have been hundreds or thousands

580
00:53:38,036 --> 00:53:46,336
of dollars. And so start learning the tools right away. Don't get analysis paralysis, act. And by

581
00:53:46,336 --> 00:53:53,156
acting, you actually learn. Don't just kind of try to read your way through understanding Bitcoin.

582
00:53:53,156 --> 00:54:14,736
That's not how it works. So the other thing that I would say is I have a, I actually set up a bit of a curated list of tutorials. I have a dedicated page for it now. And I sub in what I believe to be the most relevant tutorials on each kind of specific skill set that you can learn.

583
00:54:14,736 --> 00:54:26,776
And so if you're wanting to kind of start and learn some of the basics, I would just go to btcsessions.ca, it's Canadian, slash learn.

584
00:54:27,316 --> 00:54:31,236
And on there, you're going to see beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

585
00:54:31,376 --> 00:54:35,576
And if you're brand new, there's three videos for the beginner part.

586
00:54:35,976 --> 00:54:40,976
Just take a look at those three and just begin your Bitcoin journey.

587
00:54:40,976 --> 00:54:43,316
And you don't just tackle one at a time.

588
00:54:43,316 --> 00:54:48,656
You don't have to do them all in a night, like, you know, do one a week, something like that.

589
00:54:48,756 --> 00:54:51,476
And just begin that process.

590
00:54:51,616 --> 00:54:53,716
Oh, how do I, how do I get Bitcoin?

591
00:54:53,956 --> 00:54:54,976
How do I get a wallet?

592
00:54:55,236 --> 00:54:56,736
And what is a hardware wallet?

593
00:54:57,096 --> 00:54:59,796
And it'll take you through those three things that I mentioned.

594
00:55:00,316 --> 00:55:02,416
And then, and then you're pretty much good.

595
00:55:02,416 --> 00:55:06,656
Like if you want to go beyond that, there's more to the page beyond that.

596
00:55:06,736 --> 00:55:12,956
But if you just get through the beginner section, you're golden and you can always level up later.

597
00:55:12,956 --> 00:55:18,476
So yeah, go to btcsessions.ca slash learn and that'll give you your base.

598
00:55:19,536 --> 00:55:20,336
I love it.

599
00:55:20,476 --> 00:55:28,556
And I appreciate all the advice that you've shared with folks because you are truly the goat when it comes to Bitcoin education.

600
00:55:28,756 --> 00:55:31,236
And so I'm very grateful for you to share that knowledge on here.

601
00:55:31,516 --> 00:55:36,016
I'll link that btcsessions.ca slash learn here in the show notes for people.

602
00:55:36,136 --> 00:55:42,536
They should also, if they want to follow you on XNoster or YouTube, they should just search BTC Sessions.

603
00:55:42,956 --> 00:55:44,636
You'll come up, certainly.

604
00:55:45,296 --> 00:55:47,216
You're the big one there.

605
00:55:48,096 --> 00:55:48,996
But really, thank you.

606
00:55:49,456 --> 00:55:52,136
Look for cartoon ridiculous hair.

607
00:55:52,656 --> 00:55:54,696
Yes, absolutely.

608
00:55:55,036 --> 00:55:57,116
But really, Sessions, thank you so much.

609
00:55:57,256 --> 00:55:57,996
Appreciate your time.

610
00:55:58,336 --> 00:56:01,016
Is there anything else you wanted to leave folks with before we close out?

611
00:56:02,696 --> 00:56:03,936
I believe in you.

612
00:56:04,696 --> 00:56:06,836
You can do it, honestly.

613
00:56:08,696 --> 00:56:12,736
Once everything new is going to seem foreign,

614
00:56:12,956 --> 00:56:14,896
until you've done it a few times.

615
00:56:15,196 --> 00:56:16,416
And so act.

616
00:56:16,716 --> 00:56:19,176
Actually, as soon as you finish this podcast,

617
00:56:19,736 --> 00:56:22,316
go download a Bitcoin wallet for the first time ever.

618
00:56:22,836 --> 00:56:23,916
It's a great experience.

619
00:56:23,916 --> 00:56:25,256
Just learn how it works.

620
00:56:25,436 --> 00:56:26,616
It's really cool.

621
00:56:26,936 --> 00:56:28,036
And you'll be glad you did.

622
00:56:29,156 --> 00:56:30,276
Perfect note to end on.

623
00:56:30,656 --> 00:56:32,136
Sessions, thank you so much for your time.

624
00:56:32,756 --> 00:56:33,316
Thanks, man.

625
00:56:33,316 --> 00:56:41,516
Thank you.

626
00:57:03,316 --> 00:57:03,516
Peace.