Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Thank you.
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All right, we are live and welcome back.
It's Monday.
Good morning to everyone.
Thank you for joining.
We will get this thing going here in just a second.
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Appreciate you all for being here.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and want to thank you for joining Bitcoin Veteran Spaces number 264.
Where we mostly talk about Bitcoin and other stuff.
Let's see here.
Okay.
Looks like we got a couple people coming up.
Perfect.
(01:11):
If you didn't know, my name is Bob Van Kirk.
I'll be your host this morning.
I am joined by producer Eric.
Thank you for the music.
Even with a little bit of a hiccup this morning.
It's Monday.
We'll give him a break.
Texas Toast.
Thanks for co-hosting.
And it looks like we got a couple others.
We'll say good morning to you in just a second, right after we look at the time chain stats.
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Today is Monday.
We're halfway through September.
It's the 15th, 2025.
And we are at Bitcoin block height number 914,813 with the Bitcoin price sitting just below 116,000.
last time I checked, which means you can still get 863 sats for each U.S. dollar.
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All right.
As a reminder, before we kick off the show, if you'd like to participate, love to have you up.
Please do hit that little microphone button in the bottom left.
Always love new voices in the space.
And as I've said before, we covet the ladies because there's not as many in the space as there should be.
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So if you'd like to come up, if you're a male, great.
Love to have you, but would especially love a female voice this morning.
All right.
If you have a comment, question, snide remark, or meme, put that in the comment box.
It is that little purple pill, or it'll turn purple once somebody throws something in there, in the bottom right.
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And if you're just listening, happy to have you.
But please do share the space.
We'd love to get as many people in here on this journey as possible.
All right, one more announcement.
Bitcoin Veterans is having our second annual summit on November 10th and 11th in beautiful Nashville, Tennessee.
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And tickets are live.
BitcoinVeterans.org forward slash summit 2025.
We should shorten that up, but bitcoinveterans.org forward slash summit 2025.
First day will be a conference.
You'll get to hang out with all your friends, learn a bunch of stuff,
and then day two will be range day.
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Be learning firearm safety and having some fun target practice.
So get involved.
Still looking for speakers, panel topics, and volunteers,
and we will announce this all the way up until that date.
We're a couple months away, so planning is happening in earnest.
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And with that, I want to go around the horn and say good morning to everybody first.
Everybody in the crowd, thank you so much.
Again, feel free to come up.
But Texas Toast, how was your weekend and how are you doing this morning, sir?
Good morning.
Good weekend.
tried to just clock out and you know spend some time with the family uh maybe that range day
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should have if he if he could have some ballistic gel and uh see kind of what different caliber
um you know bullets due to ballistic gel that would be really cool because uh reading
a lot of people's comments on Twitter has made me really realize that nobody knows what certain
(04:44):
size bullets do to different things. So yeah. I do think that that is an interesting point,
and maybe we can chat a little bit more about that this morning. Man, there are some crazy
discrepancies, I think.
And yeah, very interesting.
(05:05):
Did want to see if we can prove to the audience once and for all that Eric is a real person.
Eric, could you say good morning to everyone this morning?
Or is your mic so good?
Yeah, yeah.
Good morning, Bob.
I'm a real person.
Wow.
These AI voice things are getting much better, I think.
(05:29):
Neil, how are you this morning?
I'm doing good.
I'm doing real good.
I hate the tush push more than ever.
So that's my two cents of the sports ball.
Kansas City fan, maybe.
Puppy, how are you?
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I'm doing good, man.
I'll stay away from any tush push jokes.
Hey, if you're going to do the full range day, there better be people picking up brass afterward.
None of this bullshit.
Come out, fire off a few rounds, and that's it.
You will be picking up brass.
And, yeah, CBDC is your friend of reminder.
They're here for your safety and security and help save the environment.
But good morning, Bob.
(06:10):
Good morning.
I wonder what will be on those brass, like what will be inscribed on the brass, the casings.
Looks like we might have dropped Neil, but hopefully he'll be back with us.
BFP, always good to see you, sir.
Thanks for joining us on this Monday.
How's it going?
Hey, good morning, Bob.
Good to be here.
(06:33):
Yes, it is good to be back.
I know a lot of us had an interesting end of the week and lots going on, obviously.
But we'll try to continue to bring you guys truth, which I hope you're all seeking.
And not jump to any crazy conclusions or try to be first.
(06:54):
We want to, as we said Thursday, keep it calm, keep it cool, and hope you guys are all out there helping your communities, keeping it positive.
And today, I think I wanted to kick it off with the title of the space.
This just kind of came to mind.
I know people come into Bitcoin spaces for different reasons, and I think sometimes we have to really give people things that are going on outside of especially the American news cycle and get some perspective on what's coming down the pike.
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I think I just keep seeing with this deadline coming up in Europe for October, they've been working on this for almost three years.
And the European Central Bank's governing council is trying to decide on next steps.
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And, you know, we've talked a lot in this space, guys, about how it's hard to orange pill people, how it's hard to get people on this Bitcoin mission.
People don't see it.
They're fat, happy, comfortable with their dollars.
And I think people other places in the West, same thing.
They're pretty much taken care of, and they haven't seen the negative impacts,
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for whatever reason, of government money printing, overborrowing by governments,
and the tyranny that can result from them trying to inflate their debts away.
And so I think most of us have identified this, but wanted to kick this around this morning because I really do think, well, it's not going to be immediate that CBDC is coming to the West.
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And I am looking specifically at Europe first.
We know that the United States has passed legislation recently under Trump's second presidency here to basically ban it in the United States for now.
And maybe that gives us some legroom, but I think other places in the West, like in Europe,
(09:12):
as we see this plan being formulated and coming together,
where the EU finance ministers are pushing to finalize a legal framework by the end of this year,
it's going to usher in this new form of money.
And should it scare you?
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No.
But I do think that it's probably because you own Bitcoin.
And so I want to talk about some of the things that could come in with a CBDC and these pressures on the populations that use these networks, if we want to call them that.
Obviously, there's, you know, maybe some good that they're touting and pushing, saying that, hey, they can get stimulus out to people more quickly.
(10:03):
there's significant inefficiencies, but I think we know that,
or we could at least see, that there would be some negative impacts.
And so maybe we start off with just looking at some examples.
Thailand, over the weekend, it was announced that they froze 3 million bank accounts
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and essentially said, hey, don't panic.
This is nothing.
Don't worry.
All you got to do is prove that you're not a scammer and we will unlock those funds.
And so inevitably, people are getting caught up in this and probably a lot of them are not scammers.
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We'll have to see. But I wanted to tee this up and see what people thought about this news out of Thailand with the backdrop of government control over money and CBDCs.
So I'm not going to call on anybody, but did want to welcome Shane to the stage as well.
Thanks for joining us, sir.
(11:08):
Any ideas on this?
Yeah.
Morning, Bob.
Morning, gang.
I hope you guys are doing well this Monday morning.
I think this is going to be rolled out much like COVID was.
And when I say that, I mean, when you look at the way people were othered in the COVID event, when you were refusing to possibly take the shots, you were separated basically from your family and more or less your jobs.
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If you know, you know, like I think probably looking back is you look at what happened to the guys, especially in the military.
I think this kind of comes home is the guys that joined the military right after 9-11, you know, did 20 plus years from 2001 until 2021.
one and right when they're supposed to you know be looking at their uh end of contract and and
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retiring off into the sunset these guys were you know made to get a jab or they were told that they
were going to be forced out with other than honorable circumstances and basically uh you know
put to pasture without everything that they were you know told that they were going to get so i
think you know in a similar way what's going to happen is you're going to have the rollout of
(12:31):
CBDCs and because your corporation is probably owned by some sort of investment firm like BlackRock,
State Street, or any of these guys that own a controlling share, they're going to try to
implement this like DEI, they're going to try to implement it like environmental ESG, things like
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that. And if you want to interact, you will not only have to take it, but you will also have to
spend it. And if you're not willing to do either one of those things to participate,
you're just going to be left out. You're going to be excluded. And that's, I think, probably the
power of why, you know, why Bitcoin and holding your own Bitcoin is so damn important is because
(13:15):
you can continue to trade with anybody on the planet, whenever, wherever, and however you like
without any permission whatsoever. But that's kind of my take on it. I think they're just going to use
this as a wedge in a company down sort of technocratic way to push everybody into dealing
with CBDCs at some level.
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Yeah, and it's crazy how the more these governments or central banks clamp down in certain ways,
the more people seemingly want to revolt.
And for some reason, throughout history, we've seen this and people still in governments,
they still cannot control themselves.
They still want to add more and more power, thinking that they know best.
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Pubby, thanks for raising your hand.
What's up?
Yeah, you know, one of the words you're going to hear a lot here is control.
And it's one you're going to hear from many Bitcoiners in different rabbit holes.
Everything you have to view through this prism of control.
We have CBDCs here a lot.
People won't.
So it's like CBDC Lite, even your bank accounts and credit cards.
(14:22):
If you guys know B.J. Dichter and everything that went on with the truckers, they do something the government didn't like.
Boom. They just shut down your bank accounts.
I mean, that's one main form of control.
The difference with the CBDC, let's just say that that crackdown really knocked out 80, 90 percent of the utility of your savings, your life earnings.
(14:45):
The problem now, man, and if they went after who they would say would would be sort of a criminal criminal activity, CVDCs will be unrolled, I think, under this UBI universal basic income.
And it'll be under the guise of not only helping you, but guess what?
Now things are going to be tied to a social and credit score.
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OK, are you a good little boy?
How's your social standing?
How's your carbon standing?
You went out to the store. Now they're going to say, well, you already had a pound of your steak this month.
You can't have any more. And that's where the controlled behavior comes in of you're going to do everything you can just to protect that UBI because maybe there aren't as many jobs.
(15:30):
And this is what you depend upon. But that is a scary thought.
I would also add this The digital one they had rolled out most people don realize had an expiration date on it I don know if you know that Bob but yep If you had any of that left in your bank account at the end of the month guess what
Apparently, you didn't need it.
Thank you for playing.
(15:50):
Yeah, you got it.
They're not looking to allow people to exercise their freedom to save, right?
So I think that is a key component.
Obviously, it's a lot more advanced in countries like China who are further ahead on their control of their populace.
And, you know, I do wonder if people are going, especially in Europe, it seems like there hasn't been much of fighting back.
(16:21):
And so I wonder if this is done slowly, if people are just kind of lulled to sleep and eventually just accept it.
Wade, see your hand there. Good morning.
Good morning. Good morning, guys. Great time for a reset.
The president this weekend issued a statement directing all European NATO members to to sanction and tariff issues, secondary sanctions and tariffs on certain adversaries commodities.
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I'm not necessarily sure that the establishment is aware that historically the issue is not necessarily you putting sanctions on other people.
It's the fact that, you know, your fiat currency may not be money good for certain commodities.
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And historically, when that's happened, there have been just massive economic distortions regarding those types of sanctions backfiring.
And my concern is that there's so many people in the establishment, they seem to not have any fundamental understanding that fiat currency is just a coupon to redeem goods at the company store.
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And if the company's store is not going to accept these coupons, I just see this just looks to me like establishment powers, establishment entities are that they're not getting what they want and they're flailing.
And that's just what it looks like to me.
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Yeah, thank you for that.
And we did have a question in the comment section.
So thanks for throwing that out.
John asked or said, can someone please explain in some detail what a CBDC is?
And so I'll start it out.
Maybe some others can chime in here.
But a central bank digital currency, or a CBDC, is a digital form of a country's fiat currency.
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And so we could have that really in any country.
Any central bank who's responsible for the currency could issue one of these.
And what we're seeing is in the United States, at least for now, due to the political trends,
we've seen that CBDC in America, at least, is off the table for now.
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They created a law against it, but did leave a door open in case it's ever needed.
So it's not completely outright banned forever, just for now.
But what we're seeing in countries like China is they've rolled this out and there are implications, social implications.
If they don't like what you're doing, they can turn off your money.
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Pubby kind of touched on it a little bit.
It's programmable.
So because this is centralized and electronic, it's really moving away from privacy that we have through cash.
And so people are able to be surveilled a lot more easily.
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And if they don't spend it in a given amount of time, then it could be programmed to turn off or to be locked and confiscated.
So we see that.
And, again, we can kind of touch around it, but hopefully that gives you a sense.
What they say is that they're designed to improve payment systems.
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And it also allows for governments and central banks to more easily control liquidity, which they purport to help.
So they can help push out stimulus payments or, as was mentioned, the UBI.
(20:08):
UBI, yeah.
So this would be something that, you know, they're going to push and say is a good thing.
but universal basic income, if they do that, they don't want you to save,
because if you can save, you have some amount of freedom.
If you're just living kind of paycheck to paycheck that's handed out by the government or the central bank,
(20:31):
obviously they can kind of control your actions.
You've got to put food on the table, and you have to be able to meet your daily basic needs.
So I went on for a little bit there.
Do you see Texas toast hand?
If anybody else wants to jump in and round out my definition, I'm just kind of spitballing here this morning.
(20:51):
Help give some people some context for why we're talking about central bank digital currencies as far.
Yeah, and there's really two models to it.
It's like you have the European model, which is a directly issued CBDC out of the central bank.
And then you have the U.S. model, which, you know, is more kind of how we do things in this country is we give that power to private companies and then call it by a different name and think it's any different.
(21:20):
But really, it's a lot of the same if the government can access these.
I think he was. Go ahead.
I'm in the drive through, dude.
Get that coffee. Maybe you'll come through better.
It's all good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody take it away. I'll be right there.
(21:42):
Get your change. I know you're using cash. It's the only sense of privacy we have left besides maybe Monero or Bitcoin.
Yeah, all right. I'm back. Sorry about that. I thought it would be faster. So then you have the U.S., which is basically issuing these digital dollars via treasury issuance to private companies like Tether or Square or any of these other companies that are issuing these stable coins.
(22:13):
I consider those CBDCs because especially the ones that are that are U.S. based or even, you know, can be tapped on the shoulder by a by the government.
You know, it's a distinction without really a difference.
So, you know, in the in Europe, you might you might have, you know, more social control with with the social credit system, with it coming directly from the central bank.
(22:42):
But make no mistake, it's like if if if they want to cut you off for whatever reason, there's there's no reason that they can't go to any of these private companies and they do the same thing.
So it's you got to be really careful, kind of telling people that that it's all good.
You have a warm and fuzzy because the government said it's not a CBDC, but it's like in actuality, it's pretty much the same and can be controlled in much the same way.
(23:12):
Yeah, I get thinking about, and do want to go to the hands, but I just get thinking about how these credit card companies have made payments nearly frictionless, and they're all there collecting data.
I mean, big banks have become essentially huge data.
They're modeling all these things.
And maybe to say that this is all here so that they can use it to attract new clients,
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see where people are spending in the economy, all these different things,
and obviously make a profit off of the interchange fees that come from you spending on your credit card
and the merchant being charged.
But you can conceive of it that since these big banks have been named too big to fail
and they are in bed with the government, whether it's on OFAC compliance, KYC,
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all these different things that the government regulations force these banks into,
that they could be compelled by governments and their regulators to use that data for other things.
And so, like Texas Toast is saying, we do have almost a form of CBDCs,
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and to a large part, a lot of us have opted into it.
By using these systems, there's data that comes along with all of your credit card purchases,
and most people aren't using a lot of cash these days.
And so you kind of have to consider that.
I hope you're enjoying all of your rewards points and cash back and whatever else they're offering you.
But realize that in this time, we are the product.
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And maybe you say, hey, that doesn't impact me on an individual level.
They're just doing this in aggregate across all their customers and using it to, you know, sell to marketers and other things.
But I think that we really do have to take this into consideration as we're going throughout the economy.
(25:13):
And my hope is that we can build systems on top of Bitcoin that do make it with less friction so that people can use these things.
And so I'd encourage you as you see products out there, play with them.
Start using them.
I think that this is, if not the future for us, at least our kids.
(25:35):
And so I'll let BFP go, and then we have New Era, and then Jimmy.
We'll try to get to all you guys.
Thanks for coming up and raising your hands.
Go ahead, BFP.
All right.
I was actually going to say exactly what Texas Toast said, so I was giving the 100.
These CBDCs are here.
(25:55):
They're just semantics, we call them.
this or that but money in general is changing and morphing so much faster like just like everything
everything is it's like time speeding up or time is telescoping is one way i've heard it so you're
going to have people that you know realize this and buy the hardest asset or exchange their
(26:19):
their one currency for the hardest asset in the world bitcoin and you're going to have people that
don't try and figure things out and they get stuck in the quagmire because there are CBDCs,
there are crypto. I mean, how many trash coins are there? There's Trump mean coins, there's stocks,
(26:41):
there's, you know, Bitcoin summer treasuries, Bitcoin companies. Now they're just going to keep
expanding the pie. And until everyone realizes or until people stop accepting trash coins,
that we're not going to have like what we envisioned, but we're eventually going to win out.
(27:04):
There's just time will tell how long.
Yeah, thanks for that. Go ahead, New Era, and welcome to the stage.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
Hey, thank you very much.
I was just calling to respond to someone who asked about what CBDCs were and programmable monetary policy.
I'll just describe briefly some of the other traits that I think we'll see emerge in CBDCs and then kind of the implications.
(27:35):
So I know you mentioned that China had put, hey, if you don't use your government-issued funds, if you will, by the end of the month, then they're going to take it away.
well, you can also program them to only be able to be used in certain types of purchases,
(27:56):
in only certain regions. They could program it that if one region is needing more infusion
of M2, then you can only buy from certain stores or from certain cities. So it's highly
programmable cash. Now, the implication of this is that it's going to be tied to political whims.
(28:22):
It's going to end up enabling short-term remedies for what could be systemic problems.
and inevitably because of the short-term nature of politicians,
it's going to prevent us from getting to a more efficient global market.
(28:47):
It's just going to prolong pain.
Yeah, thanks for that.
And I do agree.
I think there is – this is why I named the space this,
is because I do think that a lot of people have been lulled to sleep.
And while it won't be immediate, as these crackdowns occur or these people see that things are being monkeyed with,
(29:13):
with monetary policy through these control mechanisms that we see are CBDCs,
people will be driven to find alternatives.
And I do think Bitcoin is that master alternative,
even though people may go to others.
Jimmy, thanks for coming up and your patience.
(29:34):
Go ahead.
Yeah, sure.
Good morning, guys.
Yeah, I have a question.
I'm a bit of a rebel in my life, always have been.
And when I listen to this and you ask, is it good for rapid adoption?
Yeah, I think it's bullish because bring it on.
This is going to be the battlefront.
Is CBDC's programmable money?
Try that out on some boomers.
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Try it out on your parents or other people and ask them about it.
Most of them don't even know what you're talking about.
But what's the travel industry going to say when all of a sudden people can't go anywhere
or voluntarily don't go anywhere because their money is no good?
There's so much shit that they're saying they're going to do.
Now, my question to everybody is, what do people say, fuck you, we're not going to do it?
Everywhere around the world.
(30:15):
In Mexico, I've seen it happen.
The government says you're going to do this.
They go, they just don't do it.
Three days of them insisting.
And the government, people just say, no, not going to happen.
No fax passes. We're not doing it. We're not checking. The restaurants are open.
And how do you deal with that? An entire city of millions of people just saying, no, not going to do it.
This is what this is going to be one of the lines in the sand where people finally wake up.
(30:38):
They don't have a clue of what we're talking about.
There are so many people out there that you ask about programmable money and they're going, what do you mean?
Oh, you can't buy certain things. It expires. You can't use it in certain areas.
This has been around. They've actually tested. I mean, the fact is, look what happened in Africa.
They come out with more central currencies and people, Bitcoin price goes up and people didn't do it.
(30:59):
And Zambabwe, it killed them. And it's like this is where people have a choice finally.
So it makes the choice available, just like what's going on with the core and the knots is the fact that more people are running nodes.
It's a Streisand effect. So, yes, I think it's a good thing for Bitcoin.
And it going to survive because of the CBDC It kind of why it was created So it like I would jokingly say central banks created the Bitcoin People are like they made it And I go no
(31:24):
They created the reason for why we need it.
And I think the world is going to find out,
wake up and go, fuck, they can't do that to us.
See, a lot of people don't know what's going on,
but they are freedom people.
They just don't know their freedoms
are being taken away in that way.
And once they see this,
it's going to be a different world, I think.
Yeah, it feels like maybe we've hit on something this morning.
Got good participation.
(31:45):
I want to once again say to everyone, thanks for coming up on stage.
You guys should follow these guys.
We do this every weekday, 10 a.m. Eastern,
and hopefully bringing you topics that you can think about or take back to other people.
And in that vein of thought, I do think that when you say CBDCs to maybe that older generation,
(32:09):
they just think that you're one of these people saying the sky is falling.
They're not familiar with Bitcoin, probably to the degree that you are, and they're also not familiar with the fact that central bank digital currencies are even a thing, right?
They're just in their own little world in the United States, living with their happy dollars that seem to keep them, again, fat and happy.
(32:33):
We have a lot of hands and some new folks up on stage.
I think Neil was next.
Then we'll go to Wade and then Manny O.
Yeah, people have been saying good things and kind of dovetailing off what Jimmy was talking about is like, you know, this, the CBDC is just a natural entailment of fiat.
(32:53):
You know, like we are like many, many wrong turns down on this journey of fiat.
So like this is just like this is the only thing they can do.
Like this is a coercive, you know, control system.
We already are in it.
And as they try to contain and control, more slips out.
(33:16):
So then they have to escalate and escalate and push the control lever, push the coercion lever.
So this is just the natural progression of how they keep fiat as the global reserve dominant monetary system.
Like, so if we think adversarially and you're just like, yes, they're just enacting the necessary steps to keep this thing moving.
(33:43):
Like, that's how we get ahead of it.
And that's, you know, so CBDC is like almost a symptom of, I don't know, it's kind of like they wouldn't have to increase the control.
They wouldn't be pushing for these things if they didn't have the threat of like if Bitcoin wasn't here, if we weren't doing what we're doing.
(34:05):
there would be no need for them to try to escalate.
And, you know, so we're in it.
We are in a war.
Like it is a battle.
It is it is the fight, the monetary fight of what's going to how we're going.
How are we going to relate to each other as a society, as civilization?
And like that's that's what we're pushing on.
So, you know, I feel very happy knowing that we have Bitcoin like we have we have the most powerful monetary object, you know, that that's ever been, you know, created.
(34:35):
So it's just like that's the asymmetry. That's our that's our advantage. So the harder they squeeze, the more people are going to just wake up and realize, like, how how how how how we get here?
You know, we went from, you know, oh, let's have a central bank. Oh, let's have fiat.
And now we're like, you know, literally controlling every aspect of your life, what you can buy, who you can interact with and all this like that.
(34:59):
That's all the same principle. It's the same core, the same through line at just people.
I guess they just need to hear it bang so loud before they wake up.
And so I don't know. I I'm with Jimmy. I'm very bullish. This is good.
And that's all I got.
Yeah. And leave it to Neil to always bring us back to first principles.
He always makes me think love having him in the space.
If you guys aren't following him,
(35:20):
please follow Neil and everybody up here,
but gets me thinking real quick before we go to Wade.
We've said it before that money is the communication of value in a society.
And when that communication breaks down because it's under surveillance or you lose privacy or there's additional controls, you know, people get pissed.
(35:44):
And so I hope that this is something that people begin to recognize, whether it's in the West or other places.
And we have this shining beacon on a hill for communication of value that is Bitcoin.
Wade, go ahead, sir.
I couldn't agree more, Bob. Hard money is probably one of the most soundest communications, you know, tools that the market can have.
(36:10):
And the CBDC is just another rationing mechanism.
And it just seems to be that that something must be so distorted with the establishment, with the economy in general and with the politicians,
because if they wanted truth, they would be pushing for more neutral reserve assets, not rationing mechanisms.
(36:31):
And it just leads me to wonder how bad, how distorted, how screwed up must the economy must be for us to be pushing down this road for additional rationing protocols instead of sound communication.
Yeah, you know, and that's huge because I actually got thinking this a couple of weeks ago, and I mistakenly used the BV Super Grok, but it was nice to ask with the central banks starting to, well, not starting to, but this trend of them adding hard money.
(37:07):
They haven't bought Bitcoin reportedly yet, but gold, and we see that in the price, there's been this swing for central banks to add gold.
And I was asking, well, does this open the door for some of these central banks and governments to start going back to pre-1971 where they would back fiat currency by gold again?
(37:34):
And basically, Super Grok was like, no, all indications are they're just doing this to basically protect themselves from the dollar.
And it could happen.
I don't think Grok is perfect, but I do think it's interesting.
Nobody's talking about that.
And every paper that's been put out by these central banks and governments doesn't indicate that there's any trend to go back to a gold-based fiat currency.
(38:03):
With that, I wanted to welcome Manny to the stage. Thanks for coming up and go ahead.
Thanks, Bob. So I don't think the other countries that are going to be adopting or rolling out these central bank digital currencies are going to do the same thing that China has done.
(38:24):
For instance, I think the country that I'm in, well, I know, I'm pretty sure I've already used a central bank digital currency in a pilot program when purchasing different things.
And so I don't know if they're in cahoots with banks or credit card companies or what happened there.
(38:44):
But after I made a purchase, you can see their symbol instead of my currency's symbol like USD.
You know, they had their central bank digital currency symbol showing instead of the currency that it should be showing.
And so they didn't roll.
They're not rolling this out yet.
(39:05):
I think it's supposed to be rolled out officially at the end of this year.
And I don't think they're going to use the same tactics that China has.
It's going to be rolled out slowly.
People won't even know that they're using it.
And so I don't know if there's going to be a rapid adoption to Bitcoin because people won't even realize they're using a central bank digital currency.
(39:27):
Basically, through my experience, you know, like I was kind of shocked.
I was anticipating it because I'm a Bitcoiner, you know, and I was aware of it.
So when I saw it on one of my receipts, I was like, what the fuck is going on here?
You know, like, and so I'm going to do a sneaky slide about way learning from China's mistakes.
and I can't remember what the other country was
(39:48):
that was trying to use a central bank digital currency
and they're just going to sneak it under everybody's,
under the rug and nobody's going to even be aware of it
until we get another COVID 2.0, you know,
and they could just shut shit down when people don't obey.
And that's kind of the thing that I'm a little worried about.
(40:08):
It's going to be all kumbaya.
And then when the hammer has to come down,
it's going to come down hard.
We'll be all right, but everybody else is kind of screwed.
Anyway, that's all I wanted to share.
Yeah, that's good stuff.
And I'm curious, maybe you don't want to say, and that's totally cool, where you've experienced that.
(40:30):
But I do think, like, Japan is saying they're coming out with theirs in 2026.
That's right around the corner here.
And, you know, just yet another example of a Western civilization where a lot of the wealth is at adopting this thing in some form or fashion.
(40:54):
And I do agree with a lot of the comments that this is just one control mechanism amongst others that could be used in concert to get people to conform to certain policies, to initiatives.
(41:14):
like, you know, they've said in Brazil that this might be used, their central bank digital currency
may be used to enforce policies like carbon limits, right?
So you can't do certain activities.
You can't do certain high-carbon activities, which is kind of funny because we're all made of carbon in some form.
(41:39):
And so I think that that's, you know, we just got to watch out for this.
We're not trying to sound the alarm and make everybody go crazy and fearful.
That's not what this is all about.
I think it's just important to recognize that these things exist,
and it could be argued that when these things roll out, especially, again, in Western democracies,
(42:01):
that these are the testing grounds for what comes next here in the United States as well.
And I know people will say, well, hey, they just made a law against it.
But when these things come out and there's either success or we have a major financial calamity here in the United States,
you could see where the tide would shift and that these things, especially since they've left open doors for it,
(42:26):
could be developed relatively quickly.
The Fed does have, well, it was a pilot program up until the end of last year,
and it was basically central bank digital currency, in my estimation, between banks.
So it wasn't from central bank to direct-to-consumer or business.
(42:47):
It was a program to allow people, basically banks, to settle amongst each other over the weekend, 24-7, 365.
And so I think the rails have been built.
Does it mean that it's going to get issued right away?
No, but I do think we need to pay attention to these things
(43:10):
and what's happening outside of the United States
because you can see the adoption is ramping up across the world,
moving into the West, and it's very easy to see where public opinion
could be swayed by propaganda and everybody would say,
hey, bring on the UBI, bring on the CBDC.
(43:31):
That's kind of what Pubby was talking about.
Jimmy, I see your hand. Go ahead.
I was going to say it's kind of different in Mexico.
The government's already got a CBDC.
They're using it, like you say, as rails.
There's also people using Bitcoin, Tether, all kinds of crypto in the background, not even knowing it.
The same thing.
It's these companies, when you get into their banking apps,
(43:53):
we have banking apps here now that you can convert dollars and pesos and wire it all over the world.
They're cheap.
You're like, well, how can they do that?
You dig into it, and they're using Tether or they're using Bitcoin.
And you're like, really? And then there's like I can convert to pesos and Mercado Pago's wallet and send pesos to tons of Mexicans and tons of types of accounts and debit cards.
(44:15):
No cost. Well, why is it free? And you dig into it and they're using the rails of crypto.
And it's really a trip because it's dropping the price of everything, of transfer of money.
And we have a thing called SPIA, S-P-I-A, SPI, which they call SPIA.
And it's how we wire money from our banks.
And people pay restaurant bills by wiring money to the owner's bank account.
(44:38):
That's how fast it is.
They take a QR code or a clave, as they call the number, and put it in their phone.
And they pay it straight from their bank.
And right there at the cashier, okay, thank you.
And so, like, they, like, do these direct deals.
And now when they learn about Bitcoin, they're like, oh, this is even easier.
lightning and they carry their own and so it's like the adoption of it is happening because you
(44:59):
know they haven't put any rules you know they're not using they i think they've studied it but the
problem in mexico is cash is used way more and they don't have bank accounts so trying to control
these people is much more difficult and trying to get them to even not make their own money which is
legal in mexico you can make your own money you can use vouchers use credit you can do all kinds
of things you can't do in the united states because any currency between any two people say
(45:24):
It's a currency. It's a currency according to the Supreme Court.
They've already been in court over this.
And it's like, wow.
So it's interesting. How are they going to force it?
So imagine here they say we have to pay your taxes and the government money, the CBDC,
and we'll only pay government employees with CBDC.
So they force you to use it.
Only can you go to the airport and things like this, right?
(45:45):
Mexicans will go right around it.
They'll quit working for the government.
They'll just skip it because it's just they look at it as like, you know,
they're so close to not having that much anyway, the major population, they're not in the system.
And the Mexican government knows this. So this isn't unique to the world. This is more the way
the world is. In India, Africa, the major populations aren't banked. So this is where
(46:08):
they're using apps. And these apps are using cryptos and using Bitcoin because of the rails
and because of the changes in laws. And it's pretty incredible because I keep saying it's
like baby steps. This is where Jack Mallard has always talked about, not the Bitcoin itself,
the bitcoin rails and he's always talked about as the payment system trying to get visa well these
companies are figuring it out visa if they don't do it they're out because i can move money much
(46:30):
cheaper than using a credit card and people can accept money much cheaper than using a credit card
now and we have point of sale systems coming out all over and it's simple they accept bitcoin on
lightning payment but it's pesos in their bank account instantly so it's baby steps but imagine
you land in La Paz and you can convert to pesos or you can just spend Bitcoin anywhere you go.
(46:52):
That what going to happen And then as more people do that they going to go just pay me in Bitcoin I don want the pesos I want Bitcoin And that is just it like a passive revolution There no avoiding this It a convenience It so utilitarian to these people
You don't get it.
They're not going to give this up.
This is more important.
Money is the most important thing to people other than food, water, air, shelter, and love.
(47:14):
I'm telling you, you're not taking this away from people.
They're going to fight for it.
They're going to realize they've got an option they've never had.
It's just, that's why I say it's bullish.
It has to be battled out.
It has to be the year of FAFO, if not several years of fucking around to find out with governments and corporations.
But I'm not at all worried about it because if it doesn't survive it, then it isn't what I believe it is.
(47:37):
But the concept of what Bitcoin is cannot be killed.
They fuck with it.
We fork off.
It's that easy.
It's like, guys, BlackRock or anybody hacks the chain.
Sorry, guys, you're on the wrong chain.
You woke up to the wrong fucking thing.
Your bags are all in the wrong place.
They're like, you can't do that, but we can.
This is something that's never been possible.
(47:58):
It's mind-blowing.
My brain just goes off.
Like, the people can, this is giving people power all over the world.
Look what just happened in Nepal.
Look what just happened in the UK with millions of people in the street.
The people are going to wake up.
They're asking for it.
This is the time to get it out.
This is when they get orange-pilled because they have a need, finally.
You see?
And as the stupid globalists are creating the need for us to break away and take our independence and take their fucking power back,
(48:25):
for us to take our power back and say, fuck it, we never had the ability.
I've not been able to talk to people that are in Ireland and America and United States and Brazil at the same fucking time.
This is mind-blowing.
So it's like the world is falling apart, but it's also falling together.
Yeah, really good points.
Lots to unpack there.
(48:47):
Wondering if – yeah, go ahead, Pubby.
Yeah, just real quick, just a bit of an aside.
You know, we have what's called here in the U.S. the EBT, an electronic balance transfer.
And for those sort of on welfare, in a way, it is a CBDC.
You know, you have this controlled amount that is put onto a card.
(49:09):
And what's interesting is, one, and this is how they get by with it, one, it's really, in a way, it's free money, for lack of a better term.
this money they didn't have.
So you don't have as much to say into what you do.
When you have your own money, your own savings account,
you get pissed if someone tells you how to spend it.
And this is what came out this year with, well, how's it spent?
(49:29):
Well, at the time, obviously, you couldn't buy any alcohol or anything else.
But if you guys remember recently this year,
they did now come off and said, hey, now they're controlling the food.
Now, rightfully so, eating junk food, most people would agree,
is not very healthy and not a great way to spend money
when you're poisoning people that you're trying to keep off the system
and just medical bills add up.
(49:50):
Point being, they have this thing where they now control exactly what you eat
and you don't have a say in it because it's, quote, unquote, free money,
which is where the UBI stuff comes in when they transfer over to this income
and be it by, you know, jobs that are put out of business by AI.
But it is an interesting thing to watch unfold as a corollary.
(50:11):
Yeah, and if you don't think that we're moving towards a prison planet, you better start paying attention.
And this is not like the black pill, guys.
This is, I think, a slow grind towards an inevitability.
And I think that we should be paying attention to these things and prepare ourselves,
(50:35):
not just with Bitcoin, but with, as we've been talking,
especially in the last week or so, about being a positive influence in your household,
in your community, in your neighborhood, your church, whatever it is, your social groups.
Because I do think you can't do this alone.
Like, just like Bitcoin by itself doesn't solve it.
(50:57):
We need communities where people are exchanging ideas
and I think supporting each other monetarily,
where you can buy things from people who provide services with Bitcoin.
And so I think we need to continue building those things out.
Citadels are one thing, but just having a good community of Bitcoiners that understand this stuff
(51:18):
and taking on a little bit of a leadership role to coordinate some of these things, I think, is super important.
And so we just want to be encouraging in this.
Like, this is not, again, to make anybody feel like, oh, this is the end of the world.
These things are a slow bleed.
And if you're not paying attention to them, I think it could creep up on you.
(51:39):
And so it's just important that we, I think, identify these things, talk about them,
and have real serious conversations with the people who, up until now, have not paid attention to Bitcoin.
I think the points that Jimmy made about people being riled up right now and, you know, they didn't have a need before,
This is a time to kind of as people get maybe outside of their normal thought processes because of some recent events, we can maybe open up people's minds to some of the other realities of where these governments and central banks are going to clamp down and give them the reason to need Bitcoin for once.
(52:24):
And so I've kind of gone on there with the tirade.
But, Jimmy, you still have your hand up, or is that just on my screen?
Yeah, just real quickly, I'm 100% with Pubby.
The EBT, actually, I used it as an example of what a CBDC would be like to other boomers.
That's my example is because, yeah, and they're pissed off.
And you see this, and you're thinking, but not only are the people pissed off
(52:45):
who can't buy Coca-Cola or alcohol with their EBT,
but imagine the companies that were selling shitloads of product
all of a sudden don't have the market dried up
because the government is saying you can't buy these products there's a huge amount of money in
ebt and when you see this it's like okay it's like when they say you limit travel well what's the
airlines going to say about that what's the travel agent what's the motel what's going to happen to
(53:08):
carnival cruises if people are limited is how often they can take a vacation there's things
like this that you know people haven't but you explain this to people they can't do that
but they can well they how do you stop it don't do it don't allow it to start and that's what
It makes people up.
So it's happening.
It's a perfect example.
It really is because that's exactly controlling people with their money.
(53:30):
And you think, well, that's a good thing.
They're not eating junk food.
I agree.
Now, at the same time, it's because it's free money that you have that right.
But you're not doing it with my hard-earned money.
Ain't going to happen.
And most Americans and most people in the world feel that way.
In Mexicans, same thing.
They're like, you can't do that with my money.
You can't tell me how I can use it.
So that's the line.
And that's what's happening.
UBT is a perfect example.
(53:51):
Now, these people that are flipping out, you look at them going,
You shouldn't even be on that money anyway. But, you know, I mean, it's abused.
But yeah, this is this is it's coming and it's a perfect example.
Yeah, good stuff. It does get me thinking, though, to Bitcoin isn't really what it should be if you're just holding it on an exchange.
(54:12):
Right. So this is yet again your weekday reminder to venture into self-custody if you haven't already.
And that doesn't mean you have to do it with your entire stack, but you should begin to learn these things.
Because honestly, if you're not preparing for what's to come or you're not teaching maybe your heirs,
(54:34):
if you're a Bitcoin holder, on how to use this technology, then it's just an investment.
And it is not freedom money like maybe you think it is.
So I do think self-custody is something we talk about a lot.
If you don't have that set up, we'd love to help you.
(54:55):
Please visit BitcoinVeterans.org and throw your information in the website,
and we'll get back to you, get you plugged into some valuable resources,
and make sure you're doing it safely and securely so that you can set up yourself
and future generations on this Freedom Money platform.
(55:16):
Manny, thanks for your hand. Go ahead.
Yeah, I just wanted to add to that self-custody aspect because I just bought Bitcoin through my bank account.
Easiest chips, the most simplest purchase I've ever made.
(55:37):
But obviously when you dig into it, there is no Bitcoin.
You can't take custody of it.
I called the bank, you know, asking how do I withdraw the Bitcoin or had no idea.
Anyway, after a number of conversations, finally dug in and got the answer that you can't withdraw.
(55:58):
So it's just held.
And I think the same thing that I was mentioning before, this is how they're going to lull everybody into this false sense of freedom, security.
Oh, look how easy it is for you to transact.
Your international wires are free.
Look, you could buy Bitcoin through your bank account.
So keep doing what you guys are doing.
(56:18):
It's great.
Educating people and bringing awareness to this nonsense that we're trying to push on people.
Yeah, and I do think that this, you know, the debate goes on and on, I think, on X especially,
but other places about Bitcoin being a store of value versus a medium of exchange.
and the timeline to get there.
(56:40):
And if it can't be used as a medium of exchange,
then it's not really money and all of these things around and around we go.
But I think that this is where these things meet,
where the store of value problem that we're solving by holding on to Bitcoin
meets actual usage and medium of exchange,
(57:01):
where you can simply go spend your Bitcoin permissionlessly
without a government, maybe they'll try to look over your shoulder, right?
Because it's an open public blockchain, an open public ledger where they can see things.
But there's things that you can do maybe to obfuscate a little bit.
And I do think that this is where medium of exchange meets the store of value problem.
(57:26):
So we'll see how that happens in what timeframe.
but I do think that this is going to be a huge driver.
And so hopefully the space title was accurate for you guys today as we've unpacked this and seen this.
I did want to go around the horn here as we come to the end of the hour
(57:47):
and see if anybody on stage wants to get a final word in, kind of sum things up.
I do want to say thank you to all the people who listen each day
and the speakers that come around and new speakers even.
So thank you to – we had a couple of new speakers today.
Really do appreciate that.
(58:07):
But wanted to go around the horn, saw we lost Texas Toast.
Wanted to see if Wade, Neil, Captain Trips, Jimmy, BFP, or Manny,
any closing thoughts here on this CBDC episode.
This makes me bullish on neutral reserve assets, self-custody,
your Bitcoin guys.
(58:32):
Yeah.
And peer to peer,
peer to peer,
meaning if you're buying it as well,
it's stay away from the exchanges,
stay away from the banks,
buy it from people and spend it with people.
That's how you really get off the system.
Yeah.
I mean,
I'll have to say is just like,
you know,
your life matters.
(58:52):
The choices you make,
how you live,
how you're going to be like,
That's what actualizes the future.
So be the change you want to be.
And, I mean, have hope.
Pour out.
I just want to say thanks to Manny for his insight.
(59:14):
I think it's all going to happen quicker than people think.
And it's going to be dirty tricks.
And I think the dirty tricks like the self-custody is going to be the only way to thwart the dirty tricks because we saw with Bitcoin Summer, it seems to me like there's just going to be obfuscation, conflation.
(59:40):
It's just going to be more of the same.
So you just have to educate your friends, families and anyone you can get to lend you an ear.
Sounds like a thirsty dog in the background.
Manny, any final words here?
(01:00:02):
No, not really.
Yeah.
What's his saying?
Stay humble.
Stack sats.
And if you don't have any sats, just get some and see what happens.
Go down that rabbit hole and see what happens.
Yeah, I love it.
Hopefully this was good for you guys.
I really enjoyed this conversation, but I'm a banker, a former banker,
(01:00:24):
and these are things that I look at.
I'm kind of the nerd that'll watch for papers from central banks,
the Bank of International Settlements,
and now I have a little bit of exposure to AI to summarize some of these things for me,
so it makes it cut out some of the nonsense and the sales pitches that they're trying to do.
(01:00:46):
But I think it is important to look at these things.
As we've said, I think all the speakers had great comments on this this morning,
and we're hoping to do this again tomorrow.
Lord willing, 10 a.m. Eastern, please do join us,
and we appreciate all of you guys for listening.
Everybody who comes up, Producer Eric for helping with the show,
Captain Trips, Wade, Jimmy, Bitcoin for Precedence, Manny, Neil.
(01:01:11):
We've got, yeah, plenty to be thankful for, guys.
But make sure you're not just hanging out online all day.
Go outside, touch some grass, make some friends, help people understand this,
excuse me, bright orange future.
And I want to say thank you to Texas Toast, too, for always being up here
and helping co-host when I'm on the stage.
(01:01:34):
And with that, guys, we'll do it tomorrow.
I want to wish you all a wonderful Monday.
Again, get out there, help some people, be positive.
and infect your communities with positivity.
I think we need more of that, and this week we have the chance to do that.
Each day you have the chance to do that.
(01:01:54):
But I hope to see you guys all tomorrow, and, you know, we'll say it again like we're blue in the face.
Do not shitcoin.
It's like thinking that the dollar is still on the gold standard.
People that use fiat currency as a store of value, we call them we cork.
Thank you.
(00:30):
All right, we are live and welcome back.
It's Monday.
Good morning to everyone.
Thank you for joining.
We will get this thing going here in just a second.
(00:50):
Appreciate you all for being here.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and want to thank you for joining Bitcoin Veteran Spaces number 264.
Where we mostly talk about Bitcoin and other stuff.
Let's see here.
Okay.
Looks like we got a couple people coming up.
Perfect.
(01:11):
If you didn't know, my name is Bob Van Kirk.
I'll be your host this morning.
I am joined by producer Eric.
Thank you for the music.
Even with a little bit of a hiccup this morning.
It's Monday.
We'll give him a break.
Texas Toast.
Thanks for co-hosting.
And it looks like we got a couple others.
We'll say good morning to you in just a second, right after we look at the time chain stats.
(01:34):
Today is Monday.
We're halfway through September.
It's the 15th, 2025.
And we are at Bitcoin block height number 914,813 with the Bitcoin price sitting just below 116,000.
last time I checked, which means you can still get 863 sats for each U.S. dollar.
(01:58):
All right.
As a reminder, before we kick off the show, if you'd like to participate, love to have you up.
Please do hit that little microphone button in the bottom left.
Always love new voices in the space.
And as I've said before, we covet the ladies because there's not as many in the space as there should be.
(02:19):
So if you'd like to come up, if you're a male, great.
Love to have you, but would especially love a female voice this morning.
All right.
If you have a comment, question, snide remark, or meme, put that in the comment box.
It is that little purple pill, or it'll turn purple once somebody throws something in there, in the bottom right.
(02:41):
And if you're just listening, happy to have you.
But please do share the space.
We'd love to get as many people in here on this journey as possible.
All right, one more announcement.
Bitcoin Veterans is having our second annual summit on November 10th and 11th in beautiful Nashville, Tennessee.
(03:08):
And tickets are live.
BitcoinVeterans.org forward slash summit 2025.
We should shorten that up, but bitcoinveterans.org forward slash summit 2025.
First day will be a conference.
You'll get to hang out with all your friends, learn a bunch of stuff,
and then day two will be range day.
(03:30):
Be learning firearm safety and having some fun target practice.
So get involved.
Still looking for speakers, panel topics, and volunteers,
and we will announce this all the way up until that date.
We're a couple months away, so planning is happening in earnest.
(03:51):
And with that, I want to go around the horn and say good morning to everybody first.
Everybody in the crowd, thank you so much.
Again, feel free to come up.
But Texas Toast, how was your weekend and how are you doing this morning, sir?
Good morning.
Good weekend.
tried to just clock out and you know spend some time with the family uh maybe that range day
(04:18):
should have if he if he could have some ballistic gel and uh see kind of what different caliber
um you know bullets due to ballistic gel that would be really cool because uh reading
a lot of people's comments on Twitter has made me really realize that nobody knows what certain
(04:44):
size bullets do to different things. So yeah. I do think that that is an interesting point,
and maybe we can chat a little bit more about that this morning. Man, there are some crazy
discrepancies, I think.
And yeah, very interesting.
(05:05):
Did want to see if we can prove to the audience once and for all that Eric is a real person.
Eric, could you say good morning to everyone this morning?
Or is your mic so good?
Yeah, yeah.
Good morning, Bob.
I'm a real person.
Wow.
These AI voice things are getting much better, I think.
(05:29):
Neil, how are you this morning?
I'm doing good.
I'm doing real good.
I hate the tush push more than ever.
So that's my two cents of the sports ball.
Kansas City fan, maybe.
Puppy, how are you?
(05:49):
I'm doing good, man.
I'll stay away from any tush push jokes.
Hey, if you're going to do the full range day, there better be people picking up brass afterward.
None of this bullshit.
Come out, fire off a few rounds, and that's it.
You will be picking up brass.
And, yeah, CBDC is your friend of reminder.
They're here for your safety and security and help save the environment.
But good morning, Bob.
(06:10):
Good morning.
I wonder what will be on those brass, like what will be inscribed on the brass, the casings.
Looks like we might have dropped Neil, but hopefully he'll be back with us.
BFP, always good to see you, sir.
Thanks for joining us on this Monday.
How's it going?
Hey, good morning, Bob.
Good to be here.
(06:33):
Yes, it is good to be back.
I know a lot of us had an interesting end of the week and lots going on, obviously.
But we'll try to continue to bring you guys truth, which I hope you're all seeking.
And not jump to any crazy conclusions or try to be first.
(06:54):
We want to, as we said Thursday, keep it calm, keep it cool, and hope you guys are all out there helping your communities, keeping it positive.
And today, I think I wanted to kick it off with the title of the space.
This just kind of came to mind.
I know people come into Bitcoin spaces for different reasons, and I think sometimes we have to really give people things that are going on outside of especially the American news cycle and get some perspective on what's coming down the pike.
(07:36):
I think I just keep seeing with this deadline coming up in Europe for October, they've been working on this for almost three years.
And the European Central Bank's governing council is trying to decide on next steps.
(07:56):
And, you know, we've talked a lot in this space, guys, about how it's hard to orange pill people, how it's hard to get people on this Bitcoin mission.
People don't see it.
They're fat, happy, comfortable with their dollars.
And I think people other places in the West, same thing.
They're pretty much taken care of, and they haven't seen the negative impacts,
(08:21):
for whatever reason, of government money printing, overborrowing by governments,
and the tyranny that can result from them trying to inflate their debts away.
And so I think most of us have identified this, but wanted to kick this around this morning because I really do think, well, it's not going to be immediate that CBDC is coming to the West.
(08:46):
And I am looking specifically at Europe first.
We know that the United States has passed legislation recently under Trump's second presidency here to basically ban it in the United States for now.
And maybe that gives us some legroom, but I think other places in the West, like in Europe,
(09:12):
as we see this plan being formulated and coming together,
where the EU finance ministers are pushing to finalize a legal framework by the end of this year,
it's going to usher in this new form of money.
And should it scare you?
(09:33):
No.
But I do think that it's probably because you own Bitcoin.
And so I want to talk about some of the things that could come in with a CBDC and these pressures on the populations that use these networks, if we want to call them that.
Obviously, there's, you know, maybe some good that they're touting and pushing, saying that, hey, they can get stimulus out to people more quickly.
(10:03):
there's significant inefficiencies, but I think we know that,
or we could at least see, that there would be some negative impacts.
And so maybe we start off with just looking at some examples.
Thailand, over the weekend, it was announced that they froze 3 million bank accounts
(10:27):
and essentially said, hey, don't panic.
This is nothing.
Don't worry.
All you got to do is prove that you're not a scammer and we will unlock those funds.
And so inevitably, people are getting caught up in this and probably a lot of them are not scammers.
(10:47):
We'll have to see. But I wanted to tee this up and see what people thought about this news out of Thailand with the backdrop of government control over money and CBDCs.
So I'm not going to call on anybody, but did want to welcome Shane to the stage as well.
Thanks for joining us, sir.
(11:08):
Any ideas on this?
Yeah.
Morning, Bob.
Morning, gang.
I hope you guys are doing well this Monday morning.
I think this is going to be rolled out much like COVID was.
And when I say that, I mean, when you look at the way people were othered in the COVID event, when you were refusing to possibly take the shots, you were separated basically from your family and more or less your jobs.
(11:43):
If you know, you know, like I think probably looking back is you look at what happened to the guys, especially in the military.
I think this kind of comes home is the guys that joined the military right after 9-11, you know, did 20 plus years from 2001 until 2021.
one and right when they're supposed to you know be looking at their uh end of contract and and
(12:09):
retiring off into the sunset these guys were you know made to get a jab or they were told that they
were going to be forced out with other than honorable circumstances and basically uh you know
put to pasture without everything that they were you know told that they were going to get so i
think you know in a similar way what's going to happen is you're going to have the rollout of
(12:31):
CBDCs and because your corporation is probably owned by some sort of investment firm like BlackRock,
State Street, or any of these guys that own a controlling share, they're going to try to
implement this like DEI, they're going to try to implement it like environmental ESG, things like
(12:52):
that. And if you want to interact, you will not only have to take it, but you will also have to
spend it. And if you're not willing to do either one of those things to participate,
you're just going to be left out. You're going to be excluded. And that's, I think, probably the
power of why, you know, why Bitcoin and holding your own Bitcoin is so damn important is because
(13:15):
you can continue to trade with anybody on the planet, whenever, wherever, and however you like
without any permission whatsoever. But that's kind of my take on it. I think they're just going to use
this as a wedge in a company down sort of technocratic way to push everybody into dealing
with CBDCs at some level.
(13:37):
Yeah, and it's crazy how the more these governments or central banks clamp down in certain ways,
the more people seemingly want to revolt.
And for some reason, throughout history, we've seen this and people still in governments,
they still cannot control themselves.
They still want to add more and more power, thinking that they know best.
(14:02):
Pubby, thanks for raising your hand.
What's up?
Yeah, you know, one of the words you're going to hear a lot here is control.
And it's one you're going to hear from many Bitcoiners in different rabbit holes.
Everything you have to view through this prism of control.
We have CBDCs here a lot.
People won't.
So it's like CBDC Lite, even your bank accounts and credit cards.
(14:22):
If you guys know B.J. Dichter and everything that went on with the truckers, they do something the government didn't like.
Boom. They just shut down your bank accounts.
I mean, that's one main form of control.
The difference with the CBDC, let's just say that that crackdown really knocked out 80, 90 percent of the utility of your savings, your life earnings.
(14:45):
The problem now, man, and if they went after who they would say would would be sort of a criminal criminal activity, CVDCs will be unrolled, I think, under this UBI universal basic income.
And it'll be under the guise of not only helping you, but guess what?
Now things are going to be tied to a social and credit score.
(15:08):
OK, are you a good little boy?
How's your social standing?
How's your carbon standing?
You went out to the store. Now they're going to say, well, you already had a pound of your steak this month.
You can't have any more. And that's where the controlled behavior comes in of you're going to do everything you can just to protect that UBI because maybe there aren't as many jobs.
(15:30):
And this is what you depend upon. But that is a scary thought.
I would also add this The digital one they had rolled out most people don realize had an expiration date on it I don know if you know that Bob but yep If you had any of that left in your bank account at the end of the month guess what
Apparently, you didn't need it.
Thank you for playing.
(15:50):
Yeah, you got it.
They're not looking to allow people to exercise their freedom to save, right?
So I think that is a key component.
Obviously, it's a lot more advanced in countries like China who are further ahead on their control of their populace.
And, you know, I do wonder if people are going, especially in Europe, it seems like there hasn't been much of fighting back.
(16:21):
And so I wonder if this is done slowly, if people are just kind of lulled to sleep and eventually just accept it.
Wade, see your hand there. Good morning.
Good morning. Good morning, guys. Great time for a reset.
The president this weekend issued a statement directing all European NATO members to to sanction and tariff issues, secondary sanctions and tariffs on certain adversaries commodities.
(16:52):
I'm not necessarily sure that the establishment is aware that historically the issue is not necessarily you putting sanctions on other people.
It's the fact that, you know, your fiat currency may not be money good for certain commodities.
(17:14):
And historically, when that's happened, there have been just massive economic distortions regarding those types of sanctions backfiring.
And my concern is that there's so many people in the establishment, they seem to not have any fundamental understanding that fiat currency is just a coupon to redeem goods at the company store.
(17:36):
And if the company's store is not going to accept these coupons, I just see this just looks to me like establishment powers, establishment entities are that they're not getting what they want and they're flailing.
And that's just what it looks like to me.
(17:56):
Yeah, thank you for that.
And we did have a question in the comment section.
So thanks for throwing that out.
John asked or said, can someone please explain in some detail what a CBDC is?
And so I'll start it out.
Maybe some others can chime in here.
But a central bank digital currency, or a CBDC, is a digital form of a country's fiat currency.
(18:19):
And so we could have that really in any country.
Any central bank who's responsible for the currency could issue one of these.
And what we're seeing is in the United States, at least for now, due to the political trends,
we've seen that CBDC in America, at least, is off the table for now.
(18:42):
They created a law against it, but did leave a door open in case it's ever needed.
So it's not completely outright banned forever, just for now.
But what we're seeing in countries like China is they've rolled this out and there are implications, social implications.
If they don't like what you're doing, they can turn off your money.
(19:04):
Pubby kind of touched on it a little bit.
It's programmable.
So because this is centralized and electronic, it's really moving away from privacy that we have through cash.
And so people are able to be surveilled a lot more easily.
(19:24):
And if they don't spend it in a given amount of time, then it could be programmed to turn off or to be locked and confiscated.
So we see that.
And, again, we can kind of touch around it, but hopefully that gives you a sense.
What they say is that they're designed to improve payment systems.
(19:46):
And it also allows for governments and central banks to more easily control liquidity, which they purport to help.
So they can help push out stimulus payments or, as was mentioned, the UBI.
(20:08):
UBI, yeah.
So this would be something that, you know, they're going to push and say is a good thing.
but universal basic income, if they do that, they don't want you to save,
because if you can save, you have some amount of freedom.
If you're just living kind of paycheck to paycheck that's handed out by the government or the central bank,
(20:31):
obviously they can kind of control your actions.
You've got to put food on the table, and you have to be able to meet your daily basic needs.
So I went on for a little bit there.
Do you see Texas toast hand?
If anybody else wants to jump in and round out my definition, I'm just kind of spitballing here this morning.
(20:51):
Help give some people some context for why we're talking about central bank digital currencies as far.
Yeah, and there's really two models to it.
It's like you have the European model, which is a directly issued CBDC out of the central bank.
And then you have the U.S. model, which, you know, is more kind of how we do things in this country is we give that power to private companies and then call it by a different name and think it's any different.
(21:20):
But really, it's a lot of the same if the government can access these.
I think he was. Go ahead.
I'm in the drive through, dude.
Get that coffee. Maybe you'll come through better.
It's all good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody take it away. I'll be right there.
(21:42):
Get your change. I know you're using cash. It's the only sense of privacy we have left besides maybe Monero or Bitcoin.
Yeah, all right. I'm back. Sorry about that. I thought it would be faster. So then you have the U.S., which is basically issuing these digital dollars via treasury issuance to private companies like Tether or Square or any of these other companies that are issuing these stable coins.
(22:13):
I consider those CBDCs because especially the ones that are that are U.S. based or even, you know, can be tapped on the shoulder by a by the government.
You know, it's a distinction without really a difference.
So, you know, in the in Europe, you might you might have, you know, more social control with with the social credit system, with it coming directly from the central bank.
(22:42):
But make no mistake, it's like if if if they want to cut you off for whatever reason, there's there's no reason that they can't go to any of these private companies and they do the same thing.
So it's you got to be really careful, kind of telling people that that it's all good.
You have a warm and fuzzy because the government said it's not a CBDC, but it's like in actuality, it's pretty much the same and can be controlled in much the same way.
(23:12):
Yeah, I get thinking about, and do want to go to the hands, but I just get thinking about how these credit card companies have made payments nearly frictionless, and they're all there collecting data.
I mean, big banks have become essentially huge data.
They're modeling all these things.
And maybe to say that this is all here so that they can use it to attract new clients,
(23:39):
see where people are spending in the economy, all these different things,
and obviously make a profit off of the interchange fees that come from you spending on your credit card
and the merchant being charged.
But you can conceive of it that since these big banks have been named too big to fail
and they are in bed with the government, whether it's on OFAC compliance, KYC,
(24:07):
all these different things that the government regulations force these banks into,
that they could be compelled by governments and their regulators to use that data for other things.
And so, like Texas Toast is saying, we do have almost a form of CBDCs,
(24:28):
and to a large part, a lot of us have opted into it.
By using these systems, there's data that comes along with all of your credit card purchases,
and most people aren't using a lot of cash these days.
And so you kind of have to consider that.
I hope you're enjoying all of your rewards points and cash back and whatever else they're offering you.
But realize that in this time, we are the product.
(24:53):
And maybe you say, hey, that doesn't impact me on an individual level.
They're just doing this in aggregate across all their customers and using it to, you know, sell to marketers and other things.
But I think that we really do have to take this into consideration as we're going throughout the economy.
(25:13):
And my hope is that we can build systems on top of Bitcoin that do make it with less friction so that people can use these things.
And so I'd encourage you as you see products out there, play with them.
Start using them.
I think that this is, if not the future for us, at least our kids.
(25:35):
And so I'll let BFP go, and then we have New Era, and then Jimmy.
We'll try to get to all you guys.
Thanks for coming up and raising your hands.
Go ahead, BFP.
All right.
I was actually going to say exactly what Texas Toast said, so I was giving the 100.
These CBDCs are here.
(25:55):
They're just semantics, we call them.
this or that but money in general is changing and morphing so much faster like just like everything
everything is it's like time speeding up or time is telescoping is one way i've heard it so you're
going to have people that you know realize this and buy the hardest asset or exchange their
(26:19):
their one currency for the hardest asset in the world bitcoin and you're going to have people that
don't try and figure things out and they get stuck in the quagmire because there are CBDCs,
there are crypto. I mean, how many trash coins are there? There's Trump mean coins, there's stocks,
(26:41):
there's, you know, Bitcoin summer treasuries, Bitcoin companies. Now they're just going to keep
expanding the pie. And until everyone realizes or until people stop accepting trash coins,
that we're not going to have like what we envisioned, but we're eventually going to win out.
(27:04):
There's just time will tell how long.
Yeah, thanks for that. Go ahead, New Era, and welcome to the stage.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
Hey, thank you very much.
I was just calling to respond to someone who asked about what CBDCs were and programmable monetary policy.
I'll just describe briefly some of the other traits that I think we'll see emerge in CBDCs and then kind of the implications.
(27:35):
So I know you mentioned that China had put, hey, if you don't use your government-issued funds, if you will, by the end of the month, then they're going to take it away.
well, you can also program them to only be able to be used in certain types of purchases,
(27:56):
in only certain regions. They could program it that if one region is needing more infusion
of M2, then you can only buy from certain stores or from certain cities. So it's highly
programmable cash. Now, the implication of this is that it's going to be tied to political whims.
(28:22):
It's going to end up enabling short-term remedies for what could be systemic problems.
and inevitably because of the short-term nature of politicians,
it's going to prevent us from getting to a more efficient global market.
(28:47):
It's just going to prolong pain.
Yeah, thanks for that.
And I do agree.
I think there is – this is why I named the space this,
is because I do think that a lot of people have been lulled to sleep.
And while it won't be immediate, as these crackdowns occur or these people see that things are being monkeyed with,
(29:13):
with monetary policy through these control mechanisms that we see are CBDCs,
people will be driven to find alternatives.
And I do think Bitcoin is that master alternative,
even though people may go to others.
Jimmy, thanks for coming up and your patience.
(29:34):
Go ahead.
Yeah, sure.
Good morning, guys.
Yeah, I have a question.
I'm a bit of a rebel in my life, always have been.
And when I listen to this and you ask, is it good for rapid adoption?
Yeah, I think it's bullish because bring it on.
This is going to be the battlefront.
Is CBDC's programmable money?
Try that out on some boomers.
(29:54):
Try it out on your parents or other people and ask them about it.
Most of them don't even know what you're talking about.
But what's the travel industry going to say when all of a sudden people can't go anywhere
or voluntarily don't go anywhere because their money is no good?
There's so much shit that they're saying they're going to do.
Now, my question to everybody is, what do people say, fuck you, we're not going to do it?
Everywhere around the world.
(30:15):
In Mexico, I've seen it happen.
The government says you're going to do this.
They go, they just don't do it.
Three days of them insisting.
And the government, people just say, no, not going to happen.
No fax passes. We're not doing it. We're not checking. The restaurants are open.
And how do you deal with that? An entire city of millions of people just saying, no, not going to do it.
This is what this is going to be one of the lines in the sand where people finally wake up.
(30:38):
They don't have a clue of what we're talking about.
There are so many people out there that you ask about programmable money and they're going, what do you mean?
Oh, you can't buy certain things. It expires. You can't use it in certain areas.
This has been around. They've actually tested. I mean, the fact is, look what happened in Africa.
They come out with more central currencies and people, Bitcoin price goes up and people didn't do it.
(30:59):
And Zambabwe, it killed them. And it's like this is where people have a choice finally.
So it makes the choice available, just like what's going on with the core and the knots is the fact that more people are running nodes.
It's a Streisand effect. So, yes, I think it's a good thing for Bitcoin.
And it going to survive because of the CBDC It kind of why it was created So it like I would jokingly say central banks created the Bitcoin People are like they made it And I go no
(31:24):
They created the reason for why we need it.
And I think the world is going to find out,
wake up and go, fuck, they can't do that to us.
See, a lot of people don't know what's going on,
but they are freedom people.
They just don't know their freedoms
are being taken away in that way.
And once they see this,
it's going to be a different world, I think.
Yeah, it feels like maybe we've hit on something this morning.
Got good participation.
(31:45):
I want to once again say to everyone, thanks for coming up on stage.
You guys should follow these guys.
We do this every weekday, 10 a.m. Eastern,
and hopefully bringing you topics that you can think about or take back to other people.
And in that vein of thought, I do think that when you say CBDCs to maybe that older generation,
(32:09):
they just think that you're one of these people saying the sky is falling.
They're not familiar with Bitcoin, probably to the degree that you are, and they're also not familiar with the fact that central bank digital currencies are even a thing, right?
They're just in their own little world in the United States, living with their happy dollars that seem to keep them, again, fat and happy.
(32:33):
We have a lot of hands and some new folks up on stage.
I think Neil was next.
Then we'll go to Wade and then Manny O.
Yeah, people have been saying good things and kind of dovetailing off what Jimmy was talking about is like, you know, this, the CBDC is just a natural entailment of fiat.
(32:53):
You know, like we are like many, many wrong turns down on this journey of fiat.
So like this is just like this is the only thing they can do.
Like this is a coercive, you know, control system.
We already are in it.
And as they try to contain and control, more slips out.
(33:16):
So then they have to escalate and escalate and push the control lever, push the coercion lever.
So this is just the natural progression of how they keep fiat as the global reserve dominant monetary system.
Like, so if we think adversarially and you're just like, yes, they're just enacting the necessary steps to keep this thing moving.
(33:43):
Like, that's how we get ahead of it.
And that's, you know, so CBDC is like almost a symptom of, I don't know, it's kind of like they wouldn't have to increase the control.
They wouldn't be pushing for these things if they didn't have the threat of like if Bitcoin wasn't here, if we weren't doing what we're doing.
(34:05):
there would be no need for them to try to escalate.
And, you know, so we're in it.
We are in a war.
Like it is a battle.
It is it is the fight, the monetary fight of what's going to how we're going.
How are we going to relate to each other as a society, as civilization?
And like that's that's what we're pushing on.
So, you know, I feel very happy knowing that we have Bitcoin like we have we have the most powerful monetary object, you know, that that's ever been, you know, created.
(34:35):
So it's just like that's the asymmetry. That's our that's our advantage. So the harder they squeeze, the more people are going to just wake up and realize, like, how how how how how we get here?
You know, we went from, you know, oh, let's have a central bank. Oh, let's have fiat.
And now we're like, you know, literally controlling every aspect of your life, what you can buy, who you can interact with and all this like that.
(34:59):
That's all the same principle. It's the same core, the same through line at just people.
I guess they just need to hear it bang so loud before they wake up.
And so I don't know. I I'm with Jimmy. I'm very bullish. This is good.
And that's all I got.
Yeah. And leave it to Neil to always bring us back to first principles.
He always makes me think love having him in the space.
If you guys aren't following him,
(35:20):
please follow Neil and everybody up here,
but gets me thinking real quick before we go to Wade.
We've said it before that money is the communication of value in a society.
And when that communication breaks down because it's under surveillance or you lose privacy or there's additional controls, you know, people get pissed.
(35:44):
And so I hope that this is something that people begin to recognize, whether it's in the West or other places.
And we have this shining beacon on a hill for communication of value that is Bitcoin.
Wade, go ahead, sir.
I couldn't agree more, Bob. Hard money is probably one of the most soundest communications, you know, tools that the market can have.
(36:10):
And the CBDC is just another rationing mechanism.
And it just seems to be that that something must be so distorted with the establishment, with the economy in general and with the politicians,
because if they wanted truth, they would be pushing for more neutral reserve assets, not rationing mechanisms.
(36:31):
And it just leads me to wonder how bad, how distorted, how screwed up must the economy must be for us to be pushing down this road for additional rationing protocols instead of sound communication.
Yeah, you know, and that's huge because I actually got thinking this a couple of weeks ago, and I mistakenly used the BV Super Grok, but it was nice to ask with the central banks starting to, well, not starting to, but this trend of them adding hard money.
(37:07):
They haven't bought Bitcoin reportedly yet, but gold, and we see that in the price, there's been this swing for central banks to add gold.
And I was asking, well, does this open the door for some of these central banks and governments to start going back to pre-1971 where they would back fiat currency by gold again?
(37:34):
And basically, Super Grok was like, no, all indications are they're just doing this to basically protect themselves from the dollar.
And it could happen.
I don't think Grok is perfect, but I do think it's interesting.
Nobody's talking about that.
And every paper that's been put out by these central banks and governments doesn't indicate that there's any trend to go back to a gold-based fiat currency.
(38:03):
With that, I wanted to welcome Manny to the stage. Thanks for coming up and go ahead.
Thanks, Bob. So I don't think the other countries that are going to be adopting or rolling out these central bank digital currencies are going to do the same thing that China has done.
(38:24):
For instance, I think the country that I'm in, well, I know, I'm pretty sure I've already used a central bank digital currency in a pilot program when purchasing different things.
And so I don't know if they're in cahoots with banks or credit card companies or what happened there.
(38:44):
But after I made a purchase, you can see their symbol instead of my currency's symbol like USD.
You know, they had their central bank digital currency symbol showing instead of the currency that it should be showing.
And so they didn't roll.
They're not rolling this out yet.
(39:05):
I think it's supposed to be rolled out officially at the end of this year.
And I don't think they're going to use the same tactics that China has.
It's going to be rolled out slowly.
People won't even know that they're using it.
And so I don't know if there's going to be a rapid adoption to Bitcoin because people won't even realize they're using a central bank digital currency.
(39:27):
Basically, through my experience, you know, like I was kind of shocked.
I was anticipating it because I'm a Bitcoiner, you know, and I was aware of it.
So when I saw it on one of my receipts, I was like, what the fuck is going on here?
You know, like, and so I'm going to do a sneaky slide about way learning from China's mistakes.
and I can't remember what the other country was
(39:48):
that was trying to use a central bank digital currency
and they're just going to sneak it under everybody's,
under the rug and nobody's going to even be aware of it
until we get another COVID 2.0, you know,
and they could just shut shit down when people don't obey.
And that's kind of the thing that I'm a little worried about.
(40:08):
It's going to be all kumbaya.
And then when the hammer has to come down,
it's going to come down hard.
We'll be all right, but everybody else is kind of screwed.
Anyway, that's all I wanted to share.
Yeah, that's good stuff.
And I'm curious, maybe you don't want to say, and that's totally cool, where you've experienced that.
(40:30):
But I do think, like, Japan is saying they're coming out with theirs in 2026.
That's right around the corner here.
And, you know, just yet another example of a Western civilization where a lot of the wealth is at adopting this thing in some form or fashion.
(40:54):
And I do agree with a lot of the comments that this is just one control mechanism amongst others that could be used in concert to get people to conform to certain policies, to initiatives.
(41:14):
like, you know, they've said in Brazil that this might be used, their central bank digital currency
may be used to enforce policies like carbon limits, right?
So you can't do certain activities.
You can't do certain high-carbon activities, which is kind of funny because we're all made of carbon in some form.
(41:39):
And so I think that that's, you know, we just got to watch out for this.
We're not trying to sound the alarm and make everybody go crazy and fearful.
That's not what this is all about.
I think it's just important to recognize that these things exist,
and it could be argued that when these things roll out, especially, again, in Western democracies,
(42:01):
that these are the testing grounds for what comes next here in the United States as well.
And I know people will say, well, hey, they just made a law against it.
But when these things come out and there's either success or we have a major financial calamity here in the United States,
you could see where the tide would shift and that these things, especially since they've left open doors for it,
(42:26):
could be developed relatively quickly.
The Fed does have, well, it was a pilot program up until the end of last year,
and it was basically central bank digital currency, in my estimation, between banks.
So it wasn't from central bank to direct-to-consumer or business.
(42:47):
It was a program to allow people, basically banks, to settle amongst each other over the weekend, 24-7, 365.
And so I think the rails have been built.
Does it mean that it's going to get issued right away?
No, but I do think we need to pay attention to these things
(43:10):
and what's happening outside of the United States
because you can see the adoption is ramping up across the world,
moving into the West, and it's very easy to see where public opinion
could be swayed by propaganda and everybody would say,
hey, bring on the UBI, bring on the CBDC.
(43:31):
That's kind of what Pubby was talking about.
Jimmy, I see your hand. Go ahead.
I was going to say it's kind of different in Mexico.
The government's already got a CBDC.
They're using it, like you say, as rails.
There's also people using Bitcoin, Tether, all kinds of crypto in the background, not even knowing it.
The same thing.
It's these companies, when you get into their banking apps,
(43:53):
we have banking apps here now that you can convert dollars and pesos and wire it all over the world.
They're cheap.
You're like, well, how can they do that?
You dig into it, and they're using Tether or they're using Bitcoin.
And you're like, really? And then there's like I can convert to pesos and Mercado Pago's wallet and send pesos to tons of Mexicans and tons of types of accounts and debit cards.
(44:15):
No cost. Well, why is it free? And you dig into it and they're using the rails of crypto.
And it's really a trip because it's dropping the price of everything, of transfer of money.
And we have a thing called SPIA, S-P-I-A, SPI, which they call SPIA.
And it's how we wire money from our banks.
And people pay restaurant bills by wiring money to the owner's bank account.
(44:38):
That's how fast it is.
They take a QR code or a clave, as they call the number, and put it in their phone.
And they pay it straight from their bank.
And right there at the cashier, okay, thank you.
And so, like, they, like, do these direct deals.
And now when they learn about Bitcoin, they're like, oh, this is even easier.
lightning and they carry their own and so it's like the adoption of it is happening because you
(44:59):
know they haven't put any rules you know they're not using they i think they've studied it but the
problem in mexico is cash is used way more and they don't have bank accounts so trying to control
these people is much more difficult and trying to get them to even not make their own money which is
legal in mexico you can make your own money you can use vouchers use credit you can do all kinds
of things you can't do in the united states because any currency between any two people say
(45:24):
It's a currency. It's a currency according to the Supreme Court.
They've already been in court over this.
And it's like, wow.
So it's interesting. How are they going to force it?
So imagine here they say we have to pay your taxes and the government money, the CBDC,
and we'll only pay government employees with CBDC.
So they force you to use it.
Only can you go to the airport and things like this, right?
(45:45):
Mexicans will go right around it.
They'll quit working for the government.
They'll just skip it because it's just they look at it as like, you know,
they're so close to not having that much anyway, the major population, they're not in the system.
And the Mexican government knows this. So this isn't unique to the world. This is more the way
the world is. In India, Africa, the major populations aren't banked. So this is where
(46:08):
they're using apps. And these apps are using cryptos and using Bitcoin because of the rails
and because of the changes in laws. And it's pretty incredible because I keep saying it's
like baby steps. This is where Jack Mallard has always talked about, not the Bitcoin itself,
the bitcoin rails and he's always talked about as the payment system trying to get visa well these
companies are figuring it out visa if they don't do it they're out because i can move money much
(46:30):
cheaper than using a credit card and people can accept money much cheaper than using a credit card
now and we have point of sale systems coming out all over and it's simple they accept bitcoin on
lightning payment but it's pesos in their bank account instantly so it's baby steps but imagine
you land in La Paz and you can convert to pesos or you can just spend Bitcoin anywhere you go.
(46:52):
That what going to happen And then as more people do that they going to go just pay me in Bitcoin I don want the pesos I want Bitcoin And that is just it like a passive revolution There no avoiding this It a convenience It so utilitarian to these people
You don't get it.
They're not going to give this up.
This is more important.
Money is the most important thing to people other than food, water, air, shelter, and love.
(47:14):
I'm telling you, you're not taking this away from people.
They're going to fight for it.
They're going to realize they've got an option they've never had.
It's just, that's why I say it's bullish.
It has to be battled out.
It has to be the year of FAFO, if not several years of fucking around to find out with governments and corporations.
But I'm not at all worried about it because if it doesn't survive it, then it isn't what I believe it is.
(47:37):
But the concept of what Bitcoin is cannot be killed.
They fuck with it.
We fork off.
It's that easy.
It's like, guys, BlackRock or anybody hacks the chain.
Sorry, guys, you're on the wrong chain.
You woke up to the wrong fucking thing.
Your bags are all in the wrong place.
They're like, you can't do that, but we can.
This is something that's never been possible.
(47:58):
It's mind-blowing.
My brain just goes off.
Like, the people can, this is giving people power all over the world.
Look what just happened in Nepal.
Look what just happened in the UK with millions of people in the street.
The people are going to wake up.
They're asking for it.
This is the time to get it out.
This is when they get orange-pilled because they have a need, finally.
You see?
And as the stupid globalists are creating the need for us to break away and take our independence and take their fucking power back,
(48:25):
for us to take our power back and say, fuck it, we never had the ability.
I've not been able to talk to people that are in Ireland and America and United States and Brazil at the same fucking time.
This is mind-blowing.
So it's like the world is falling apart, but it's also falling together.
Yeah, really good points.
Lots to unpack there.
(48:47):
Wondering if – yeah, go ahead, Pubby.
Yeah, just real quick, just a bit of an aside.
You know, we have what's called here in the U.S. the EBT, an electronic balance transfer.
And for those sort of on welfare, in a way, it is a CBDC.
You know, you have this controlled amount that is put onto a card.
(49:09):
And what's interesting is, one, and this is how they get by with it, one, it's really, in a way, it's free money, for lack of a better term.
this money they didn't have.
So you don't have as much to say into what you do.
When you have your own money, your own savings account,
you get pissed if someone tells you how to spend it.
And this is what came out this year with, well, how's it spent?
(49:29):
Well, at the time, obviously, you couldn't buy any alcohol or anything else.
But if you guys remember recently this year,
they did now come off and said, hey, now they're controlling the food.
Now, rightfully so, eating junk food, most people would agree,
is not very healthy and not a great way to spend money
when you're poisoning people that you're trying to keep off the system
and just medical bills add up.
(49:50):
Point being, they have this thing where they now control exactly what you eat
and you don't have a say in it because it's, quote, unquote, free money,
which is where the UBI stuff comes in when they transfer over to this income
and be it by, you know, jobs that are put out of business by AI.
But it is an interesting thing to watch unfold as a corollary.
(50:11):
Yeah, and if you don't think that we're moving towards a prison planet, you better start paying attention.
And this is not like the black pill, guys.
This is, I think, a slow grind towards an inevitability.
And I think that we should be paying attention to these things and prepare ourselves,
(50:35):
not just with Bitcoin, but with, as we've been talking,
especially in the last week or so, about being a positive influence in your household,
in your community, in your neighborhood, your church, whatever it is, your social groups.
Because I do think you can't do this alone.
Like, just like Bitcoin by itself doesn't solve it.
(50:57):
We need communities where people are exchanging ideas
and I think supporting each other monetarily,
where you can buy things from people who provide services with Bitcoin.
And so I think we need to continue building those things out.
Citadels are one thing, but just having a good community of Bitcoiners that understand this stuff
(51:18):
and taking on a little bit of a leadership role to coordinate some of these things, I think, is super important.
And so we just want to be encouraging in this.
Like, this is not, again, to make anybody feel like, oh, this is the end of the world.
These things are a slow bleed.
And if you're not paying attention to them, I think it could creep up on you.
(51:39):
And so it's just important that we, I think, identify these things, talk about them,
and have real serious conversations with the people who, up until now, have not paid attention to Bitcoin.
I think the points that Jimmy made about people being riled up right now and, you know, they didn't have a need before,
This is a time to kind of as people get maybe outside of their normal thought processes because of some recent events, we can maybe open up people's minds to some of the other realities of where these governments and central banks are going to clamp down and give them the reason to need Bitcoin for once.
(52:24):
And so I've kind of gone on there with the tirade.
But, Jimmy, you still have your hand up, or is that just on my screen?
Yeah, just real quickly, I'm 100% with Pubby.
The EBT, actually, I used it as an example of what a CBDC would be like to other boomers.
That's my example is because, yeah, and they're pissed off.
And you see this, and you're thinking, but not only are the people pissed off
(52:45):
who can't buy Coca-Cola or alcohol with their EBT,
but imagine the companies that were selling shitloads of product
all of a sudden don't have the market dried up
because the government is saying you can't buy these products there's a huge amount of money in
ebt and when you see this it's like okay it's like when they say you limit travel well what's the
airlines going to say about that what's the travel agent what's the motel what's going to happen to
(53:08):
carnival cruises if people are limited is how often they can take a vacation there's things
like this that you know people haven't but you explain this to people they can't do that
but they can well they how do you stop it don't do it don't allow it to start and that's what
It makes people up.
So it's happening.
It's a perfect example.
It really is because that's exactly controlling people with their money.
(53:30):
And you think, well, that's a good thing.
They're not eating junk food.
I agree.
Now, at the same time, it's because it's free money that you have that right.
But you're not doing it with my hard-earned money.
Ain't going to happen.
And most Americans and most people in the world feel that way.
In Mexicans, same thing.
They're like, you can't do that with my money.
You can't tell me how I can use it.
So that's the line.
And that's what's happening.
UBT is a perfect example.
(53:51):
Now, these people that are flipping out, you look at them going,
You shouldn't even be on that money anyway. But, you know, I mean, it's abused.
But yeah, this is this is it's coming and it's a perfect example.
Yeah, good stuff. It does get me thinking, though, to Bitcoin isn't really what it should be if you're just holding it on an exchange.
(54:12):
Right. So this is yet again your weekday reminder to venture into self-custody if you haven't already.
And that doesn't mean you have to do it with your entire stack, but you should begin to learn these things.
Because honestly, if you're not preparing for what's to come or you're not teaching maybe your heirs,
(54:34):
if you're a Bitcoin holder, on how to use this technology, then it's just an investment.
And it is not freedom money like maybe you think it is.
So I do think self-custody is something we talk about a lot.
If you don't have that set up, we'd love to help you.
(54:55):
Please visit BitcoinVeterans.org and throw your information in the website,
and we'll get back to you, get you plugged into some valuable resources,
and make sure you're doing it safely and securely so that you can set up yourself
and future generations on this Freedom Money platform.
(55:16):
Manny, thanks for your hand. Go ahead.
Yeah, I just wanted to add to that self-custody aspect because I just bought Bitcoin through my bank account.
Easiest chips, the most simplest purchase I've ever made.
(55:37):
But obviously when you dig into it, there is no Bitcoin.
You can't take custody of it.
I called the bank, you know, asking how do I withdraw the Bitcoin or had no idea.
Anyway, after a number of conversations, finally dug in and got the answer that you can't withdraw.
(55:58):
So it's just held.
And I think the same thing that I was mentioning before, this is how they're going to lull everybody into this false sense of freedom, security.
Oh, look how easy it is for you to transact.
Your international wires are free.
Look, you could buy Bitcoin through your bank account.
So keep doing what you guys are doing.
(56:18):
It's great.
Educating people and bringing awareness to this nonsense that we're trying to push on people.
Yeah, and I do think that this, you know, the debate goes on and on, I think, on X especially,
but other places about Bitcoin being a store of value versus a medium of exchange.
and the timeline to get there.
(56:40):
And if it can't be used as a medium of exchange,
then it's not really money and all of these things around and around we go.
But I think that this is where these things meet,
where the store of value problem that we're solving by holding on to Bitcoin
meets actual usage and medium of exchange,
(57:01):
where you can simply go spend your Bitcoin permissionlessly
without a government, maybe they'll try to look over your shoulder, right?
Because it's an open public blockchain, an open public ledger where they can see things.
But there's things that you can do maybe to obfuscate a little bit.
And I do think that this is where medium of exchange meets the store of value problem.
(57:26):
So we'll see how that happens in what timeframe.
but I do think that this is going to be a huge driver.
And so hopefully the space title was accurate for you guys today as we've unpacked this and seen this.
I did want to go around the horn here as we come to the end of the hour
(57:47):
and see if anybody on stage wants to get a final word in, kind of sum things up.
I do want to say thank you to all the people who listen each day
and the speakers that come around and new speakers even.
So thank you to – we had a couple of new speakers today.
Really do appreciate that.
(58:07):
But wanted to go around the horn, saw we lost Texas Toast.
Wanted to see if Wade, Neil, Captain Trips, Jimmy, BFP, or Manny,
any closing thoughts here on this CBDC episode.
This makes me bullish on neutral reserve assets, self-custody,
your Bitcoin guys.
(58:32):
Yeah.
And peer to peer,
peer to peer,
meaning if you're buying it as well,
it's stay away from the exchanges,
stay away from the banks,
buy it from people and spend it with people.
That's how you really get off the system.
Yeah.
I mean,
I'll have to say is just like,
you know,
your life matters.
(58:52):
The choices you make,
how you live,
how you're going to be like,
That's what actualizes the future.
So be the change you want to be.
And, I mean, have hope.
Pour out.
I just want to say thanks to Manny for his insight.
(59:14):
I think it's all going to happen quicker than people think.
And it's going to be dirty tricks.
And I think the dirty tricks like the self-custody is going to be the only way to thwart the dirty tricks because we saw with Bitcoin Summer, it seems to me like there's just going to be obfuscation, conflation.
(59:40):
It's just going to be more of the same.
So you just have to educate your friends, families and anyone you can get to lend you an ear.
Sounds like a thirsty dog in the background.
Manny, any final words here?
(01:00:02):
No, not really.
Yeah.
What's his saying?
Stay humble.
Stack sats.
And if you don't have any sats, just get some and see what happens.
Go down that rabbit hole and see what happens.
Yeah, I love it.
Hopefully this was good for you guys.
I really enjoyed this conversation, but I'm a banker, a former banker,
(01:00:24):
and these are things that I look at.
I'm kind of the nerd that'll watch for papers from central banks,
the Bank of International Settlements,
and now I have a little bit of exposure to AI to summarize some of these things for me,
so it makes it cut out some of the nonsense and the sales pitches that they're trying to do.
(01:00:46):
But I think it is important to look at these things.
As we've said, I think all the speakers had great comments on this this morning,
and we're hoping to do this again tomorrow.
Lord willing, 10 a.m. Eastern, please do join us,
and we appreciate all of you guys for listening.
Everybody who comes up, Producer Eric for helping with the show,
Captain Trips, Wade, Jimmy, Bitcoin for Precedence, Manny, Neil.
(01:01:11):
We've got, yeah, plenty to be thankful for, guys.
But make sure you're not just hanging out online all day.
Go outside, touch some grass, make some friends, help people understand this,
excuse me, bright orange future.
And I want to say thank you to Texas Toast, too, for always being up here
and helping co-host when I'm on the stage.
(01:01:34):
And with that, guys, we'll do it tomorrow.
I want to wish you all a wonderful Monday.
Again, get out there, help some people, be positive.
and infect your communities with positivity.
I think we need more of that, and this week we have the chance to do that.
Each day you have the chance to do that.
(01:01:54):
But I hope to see you guys all tomorrow, and, you know, we'll say it again like we're blue in the face.
Do not shitcoin.
It's like thinking that the dollar is still on the gold standard.
People that use fiat currency as a store of value, we call them we cork.
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