1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:26,840
So the Iran war is going great. And the two weeks to total victory is now in its sixth month or something like that. And Iran, thanks to the fact that we totally control the situation, is now charging literally millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in order to just keep global trade alive. One of the most important global trade routes that we have.

2
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:37,580
But the Treasury Secretary just said that they grabbed a billion dollars worth of Iran's crypto and there was nothing Iran could do about it.

3
00:00:38,100 --> 00:00:43,320
So the question is, is Bitcoin saving Iran in the middle of this war?

4
00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:53,120
Or can the U.S. steal all the Bitcoin as easily as they can confiscate the dollars, the bonds, and lock them out of the global financial infrastructure?

5
00:00:53,120 --> 00:01:04,640
there's a literal like blanket of capital controls on iran i actually having some family in iran

6
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:11,340
is actually interesting because the dollar is actually scarce inside the country so it carries

7
00:01:11,340 --> 00:01:17,760
an entirely different price than it does outside and the inflation rate is horrible inflation rate

8
00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,920
is miserable in the Iranian currency itself.

9
00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,800
They're taking Bitcoin because they believe it's a neutral money here.

10
00:01:25,1000 --> 00:01:26,600
And it is.

11
00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:27,440
It is.

12
00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:29,680
That's the whole selling point of Bitcoin, right?

13
00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:34,700
That's the power of Bitcoin is that it is radically neutral in this conflict.

14
00:01:35,060 --> 00:01:37,840
But then the Treasury Secretary said it just grabbed all their wallets.

15
00:01:39,380 --> 00:01:43,340
Besant just came out and said, we stole a billion dollars worth of their crypto.

16
00:01:43,460 --> 00:01:46,200
They're probably typing it in right now and they don't even know we got it.

17
00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,580
I believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto.

18
00:01:51,340 --> 00:01:52,820
Just outright seized it.

19
00:01:52,900 --> 00:01:55,160
Just outright grabbed the wallets.

20
00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:02,160
Some of them may be typing in right now and they might not have realized that their wallet had been grabbed.

21
00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:09,700
And we are working with our allies all over Europe to grab villas and houses and properties.

22
00:02:10,340 --> 00:02:12,720
And this is money that's stolen from the Iranian people.

23
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:27,188
So immediately there a flood on social about Bitcoin not censorship resistant Oh they can just confiscate it This is why Bitcoin selling off And they probably quantum broke all the Bitcoin keys What the reality of this situation

24
00:02:27,468 --> 00:02:30,328
Basically, everything in Bitcoin is managed by cryptography.

25
00:02:30,888 --> 00:02:44,828
And if you create your keys locally on a hardware wallet like Bitbox or you just put it in your software, then there's actually no exposure to that from externally.

26
00:02:44,828 --> 00:02:59,848
It's not a central institution. You can't call Bitcoin up on the phone and say, freeze these accounts. Like you are the only one who has the capability to move it because you're the only one who can cryptographically prove that you have the keys behind it.

27
00:02:59,848 --> 00:03:03,268
how does this play into the situation with Iran?

28
00:03:03,848 --> 00:03:07,548
Like, didn't they just get a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin?

29
00:03:08,668 --> 00:03:09,568
Confiscate it from them?

30
00:03:09,888 --> 00:03:12,128
If you read social media, that's what you'd believe.

31
00:03:12,848 --> 00:03:15,288
Turns out, just a tiny amount of digging,

32
00:03:15,408 --> 00:03:16,608
all you have to do is really ask AI,

33
00:03:17,208 --> 00:03:19,688
and you'll find out that it was a billion dollars worth of tether.

34
00:03:24,808 --> 00:03:26,568
It's not anything to do with Bitcoin.

35
00:03:26,728 --> 00:03:28,728
It's not even really anything to do with crypto.

36
00:03:28,728 --> 00:03:30,548
It's really just a different kind of bank.

37
00:03:31,448 --> 00:03:36,108
And so obviously, if you call up Tether Central, they can confiscate the funds.

38
00:03:36,728 --> 00:03:37,728
It was USDT.

39
00:03:37,828 --> 00:03:39,248
It has nothing to do with Bitcoin.

40
00:03:39,848 --> 00:03:44,508
It's like saying that, you know, I hacked into your computer because something was on the Internet.

41
00:03:44,728 --> 00:03:46,428
It's like, well, the Internet is not your computer.

42
00:03:46,708 --> 00:03:47,688
Sure, they kind of look the same.

43
00:03:48,408 --> 00:03:49,868
It's it's both digital.

44
00:03:50,508 --> 00:03:51,348
It's the same thing.

45
00:03:51,688 --> 00:03:52,888
It's the same thing, Mike.

46
00:03:52,888 --> 00:03:59,788
To the contrary of suggesting that this means Bitcoin is confiscatable, it proves the exact opposite.

47
00:03:59,988 --> 00:04:04,988
It means that shitcoins are centralized, as Bitcoiners have been saying forever that shitcoins are centralized,

48
00:04:05,348 --> 00:04:09,548
that stablecoins are just banking reinvented in a slightly different way,

49
00:04:09,548 --> 00:04:16,148
and that the only thing that is unconfiscatable and the only thing that is decentralized and censorship resistant is Bitcoin.

50
00:04:16,148 --> 00:04:23,908
And what they should have done, if they weren't stupid, is they would have immediately moved their USDT to Bitcoin.

51
00:04:24,428 --> 00:04:26,268
And this wouldn't have been a problem for them.

52
00:04:26,528 --> 00:04:31,408
This is kind of the universal problem of people not actually adopting Bitcoin,

53
00:04:32,008 --> 00:04:49,816
but taking quote ownership of some account that says it labeled in Bitcoin and an amount somewhere by some centralized entity If Iran had been holding their keys had generated their keys and been holding it in a Bitbox with their own hardware wallet

54
00:04:50,456 --> 00:04:52,236
this would never have been a problem.

55
00:04:52,476 --> 00:04:56,336
The kind of depressing point is that most users

56
00:04:56,336 --> 00:04:58,516
are in this same situation and they have no idea.

57
00:04:59,116 --> 00:05:01,696
They think they're holding Bitcoin, but they're holding an ETF.

58
00:05:02,356 --> 00:05:07,096
They're holding BlackRock points that are in a trust

59
00:05:07,096 --> 00:05:09,156
and they're actually holding shares of the trust

60
00:05:09,156 --> 00:05:12,296
that are supposedly one-to-one to Bitcoin,

61
00:05:12,476 --> 00:05:14,976
but that's entirely if BlackRock actually has those Bitcoin.

62
00:05:15,696 --> 00:05:17,616
And the same thing with Coinbase.

63
00:05:17,876 --> 00:05:20,176
You think you have Bitcoin in your account,

64
00:05:20,256 --> 00:05:21,096
but that's an IOU.

65
00:05:21,856 --> 00:05:22,956
You have a debt.

66
00:05:23,516 --> 00:05:25,596
And I promise you, if Coinbase goes under,

67
00:05:25,756 --> 00:05:28,036
they're not going to owe you the amount of Bitcoin,

68
00:05:28,336 --> 00:05:30,136
whatever the Bitcoin is worth at the time

69
00:05:30,136 --> 00:05:32,296
that they finally pay you back in 15 years.

70
00:05:32,676 --> 00:05:36,696
They're going to try to pay you some of the dollar amount that you have.

71
00:05:36,696 --> 00:05:39,396
you need to hold your own keys.

72
00:05:39,676 --> 00:05:42,296
You need to actually own Bitcoin for the first time.

73
00:05:42,296 --> 00:05:44,176
Because if you do not have,

74
00:05:44,296 --> 00:05:45,536
if you did not generate your keys,

75
00:05:45,616 --> 00:05:47,396
if you do not have a hardware wallet

76
00:05:47,396 --> 00:05:50,456
or just a software wallet on your computer

77
00:05:50,456 --> 00:05:51,996
where you generated your keys

78
00:05:51,996 --> 00:05:54,076
and then you moved your Bitcoin to it,

79
00:05:54,256 --> 00:05:56,096
you've never actually owned Bitcoin.

80
00:05:56,636 --> 00:05:58,036
The easiest way to do this

81
00:05:58,036 --> 00:06:00,056
is to get a good hardware wallet.

82
00:06:00,196 --> 00:06:03,516
Get a BitBox, get something safe and secure

83
00:06:03,516 --> 00:06:04,636
and easy to use.

84
00:06:05,216 --> 00:06:05,836
Set it up.

85
00:06:05,896 --> 00:06:07,216
It's like four steps.

86
00:06:07,796 --> 00:06:08,896
Write down your seed phrase.

87
00:06:09,096 --> 00:06:10,216
Move your Bitcoin to it.

88
00:06:10,616 --> 00:06:12,416
It's an entirely different experience.

89
00:06:12,636 --> 00:06:14,496
You will feel different about it.

90
00:06:14,716 --> 00:06:16,636
And you will never end up like I ran.

91
00:06:17,656 --> 00:06:20,496
Nobody's going to just come in and take your account.

92
00:06:20,856 --> 00:06:27,456
And it just so happens that I have a discount if you do get a Bitbox and an affiliate link, which helps support my show.

93
00:06:27,456 --> 00:06:39,416
So take your keys, hold your own Bitcoin, sleep like a baby at night and help me out. And you got a link right down, right down in the show notes in the description. Check it out.

94
00:06:39,416 --> 00:06:51,956
You know, in 2022, a huge portion of Russia's reserves were confiscated by the U.S. because the U.S. owns the global banking infrastructure.

95
00:06:52,476 --> 00:06:54,376
Like the entire thing is permissioned.

96
00:06:55,156 --> 00:07:16,044
Like when we say that like a bank is centralized well also all of the things that the bank runs on is centralized There is no independent source of value in the entire stack Most of the U reserves and most of the global reserves are just U bonds They can just be revoked

97
00:07:16,824 --> 00:07:22,064
In the same year as Russia's treasury reserves were confiscated, their treasury reserves,

98
00:07:22,204 --> 00:07:25,404
like it was just like taken from them, like they just signed a paper and it's like, oh,

99
00:07:25,404 --> 00:07:26,404
Well, now it's all gone.

100
00:07:27,944 --> 00:07:28,624
Oh, what?

101
00:07:29,144 --> 00:07:30,344
It's gone. It's all gone.

102
00:07:31,304 --> 00:07:33,504
They did the exact same thing to Afghanistan.

103
00:07:34,144 --> 00:07:41,344
They took billions of dollars of their reserves and they confiscated and or redirected it for more valuable use cases.

104
00:07:41,344 --> 00:07:50,564
I think the transition to Bitcoin won't be because Bitcoin's like the super cool feature rich thing.

105
00:07:50,744 --> 00:07:52,864
It doesn't need to or have to be.

106
00:07:53,144 --> 00:07:55,224
And it ought not be, actually.

107
00:07:55,404 --> 00:08:21,044
The point is that Bitcoin is radically neutral and it never stops working. As all other reserves become politicized, as the global financial infrastructure is constantly being weaponized against anybody who is seen as not the good guys by whoever arbitrarily holds the power at any one point in time, Bitcoin is going to be the thing that just keeps working.

108
00:08:21,964 --> 00:08:26,624
The transition to Bitcoin will be slow and painful because it will be one out of necessity.

109
00:08:27,584 --> 00:08:43,084
As every currency hyperinflates, as all of the bills for the debt come due, as every country attacks each other because that debt is coming due and everybody desperately wants to put the bill onto somebody else's shoulders, they're all going to be used to attack each other.

110
00:08:43,084 --> 00:08:47,424
Everything that can be confiscated will be confiscated by the person who has the power.

111
00:08:47,864 --> 00:08:55,124
And ultimately, we will switch to the thing that simply keeps working in such a volatile and conflict-ridden environment.

112
00:08:55,404 --> 00:08:56,584
And that will be Bitcoin.

113
00:08:57,384 --> 00:09:02,004
And the fact that Iran takes Bitcoin today, Iran still has their Bitcoin.

114
00:09:02,364 --> 00:09:04,304
They only lost their stable coins.

115
00:09:04,304 --> 00:09:08,984
and the fact that the U.S. is considering a Bitcoin reserve at the exact same time

116
00:09:08,984 --> 00:09:13,564
because they both know it's something they can hold that the other can't fuck with.

117
00:09:14,764 --> 00:09:17,024
I think that puts us in a Bitcoin world.