October 21, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode of How I AI, I sit down with Chairman Elijah John Bowdre, a civic leader and Executive Director of the Miami-Dade Digital Commission, who has spent more than a decade at the intersection of blockchain, public policy, and financial innovation.
As Chairman of the Miami-Dade Cryptocurrency Task Force, Bowdre has advised government leaders on the responsible adoption of emerging technologies helping shape frameworks for blockchain integration, digital identity, and crypto payments across public systems. From his early ventures in China’s tech ecosystem to authoring Florida’s state bill for virtual assets, his work bridges global experience and local impact.
I share how AI, digital wallets, and blockchain are transforming civic infrastructure, why decentralized systems are key to rebuilding public trust, and what it takes to future-proof a city in the era of intelligent machines.
🔥 Topics We Cover:
• How blockchain provides a trust layer for AI and financial automation
• The convergence of cryptocurrency, identity, and civic accountability
• The evolution of Miami as a global hub for digital innovation
Tools and Concepts Mentioned:
AI Agents, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Digital Wallets, Smart Contracts, Coinbase, Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems, Quantum Computing, Cybernetics
Connect with Chairman Bowdre:
Instagram: chairmanbowdre
Website: bowdre4mayor.com
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- Explore all my resources in one place → https://stan.store/BRXSTUDIO
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Website: brookex.com
LinkedIn: Brooke Gramer
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"How I AI" is a concept and podcast series created and produced by Brooke Gramer of EmpowerFlow Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chairman Bowdre (00:00):
I've seen it as my personal duty.
To, assist our government andadvise them, intimately on these
new technologies that we knoware rapidly advancing.
Mm-hmm.
In changing the fundamentalnature of how we live our lives.
Brooke (00:13):
Welcome to How I AI the podcast featuring real people,
real stories, and real AI inaction.
I'm Brooke Gramer, your host andguide on this journey into the
real world impact of artificialintelligence.
For over 15 years, I've workedin creative marketing events and
business strategy, wearing allthe hats.
(00:35):
I know the struggle of trying toscale and manage all things
without burning out, but here'sthe game changer, AI.
This isn't just a podcast.
How I AI is a community, a spacewhere curious minds like you
come together, share ideas, andI'll also bring you exclusive
discounts, and insiderresources, because AI isn't just
(00:58):
a trend, it's a shift, and thesooner we embrace it, the more
freedom, creativity, andopportunities will unlock.
Have you just started exploringAI and feel a bit overwhelmed?
Don't worry, I've got you.
Jump on a quick start audit callwith me so you can walk away
with a clear and personalizedplan to move forward with more
(01:19):
confidence and ease.
Join my community of AI adopterslike yourself.
Plus, grab my free resources,including the AI Get Started
Guide.
Or try my How I AI companionGPT.
It pulls insights from my guestinterviews along with global
reports, so you can stay aheadof the curve.
Follow the link in thedescription below to get
(01:40):
started.
Today's guest is Chairman JohnBowdre.
He's a global civic leader,executive director of the
Miami-Dade Digital Commissionand candidate for the mayor of
City of Miami.
And he's here to talk about whatit means to prepare cities for
the future of money, AI andTrust.
(02:00):
Chairman Bowdre is not justthinking about the future.
He's running to build it.
He's also a member of theMiami-Dade Crypto Task Force and
head of the County's digitalcommission.
His big idea that AI andblockchain aren't just
buzzwords.
There are tools that help citiesrun smarter, safer, and more
(02:21):
fairly.
Today we talk about how digitalwallets, Bitcoin, and
decentralized systems could givepeople more power over their
money and identity.
And why cities need to get aheadof this tech shift and not fall
behind it.
He shares how he got into cryptoin China, what he sees coming
next, and how we can use newtools to protect the people,
(02:44):
profit the city, and prosper thecitizens.
But before we dive in, let'sconnect some dots on why this
topic matters.
This is an AI podcast and I'mtalking about Bitcoin and
blockchain.
Well, as AI agents begin makingreal world purchasing decisions
and automating transactions.
Blockchain becomes the trustlayer, the system that verifies
(03:08):
ownership, identity andtransparency.
This is why conversations aboutwallets and Bitcoin aren't just
about money.
They're about accountability inthe machine era.
Financial systems (03:19):
the way money moves gets stored, invested, or
tracked are being rewritten aswe speak, not just by
politicians or by bankers, butby machines.
Artificial intelligence isalready being used to detect
fraud, move money, and makefinancial decisions faster than
(03:41):
any human ever could.
But the twist is these systemsdon't explain themselves.
They just act fast, and thatcreates a serious trust gap.
So how do we keep these aishonest, blockchain acts like a
public ledger, a record bookanyone could read, but no one
can erase.
(04:02):
When you combine that with ai,you get something brand new,
machines that can be heldaccountable.
Every action they take, everytransaction they make can be
verified, traced, and explained.
It's already happening.
Just this summer, the Bank ofInternational Settlements
released results from a pilotproject where essential banks
(04:24):
tested how AI and blockchain canwork together to track cross
border payments.
They cut fees, slashedprocessing times, and proved
that decentralized systems couldoffer real time transparency.
Meanwhile, companies likeCoinbase are giving AI agents
(04:44):
their own crypto wallets so theycan buy, sell, negotiate, and
even vote in decentralizedorganizations, the future isn't
just AI managing our money.
It's AI managing its own, andthat's where Bitcoin and crypto
enter the story because machinescan't open checking accounts.
(05:05):
They can't apply for creditcards.
Traditional finance was builtfor humans, but cryptocurrency
changes that with a blockchainwallet, an AI agent doesn't need
permission.
It can hold funds, run smartcontracts, and interact with
financial systems directly.
Bitcoin and crypto are alsoprogrammable, borderless, and
(05:28):
fast enough for machine logic.
AI agents can use crypto to payfor services or computing time,
buy more data, executecontracts, and most importantly,
blockchain gives us an audittrail, a permanent public log of
what an AI system did and when.
That's how we make these systemstrustworthy.
(05:50):
Not by slowing them down, but bywatching them work.
So here's the big picture.
AI is becoming a new kind ofactor in the world, and Bitcoin
is the money it can actuallyuse.
That's why this topic andepisode matters because if we
don't think about these thingsnow, if we don't build AI with a
truth layer, we risk building asystem that's fast, powerful,
(06:13):
but totally unaccountable.
Alright, let's dive in.
Here's my conversation withChairman Bowdre.
Hello everyone.
Welcome to another episode ofHow I AI I'm your host, Brooke
Gramer.
Today I have a very esteemedguest.
He is the cryptocurrencychairman and is running for
(06:34):
mayor in the city of Miami.
We are together here at aconference today in Miami
learning about artificialintelligence and I had the very
lucky opportunity to interviewyou.
We're gonna be speaking aboutthe future of financial
technology.
Welcome chairman.
Chairman Bowdre (06:53):
Thank you so much.
It is an honor and a pleasure tobe here.
Brooke (06:55):
Yes.
Let's open this space.
I love to just give the floorfor you to introduce a bit about
yourself and how you ended upwhere you are today.
Chairman Bowdre (07:04):
Okay.
Excellent.
Um, how much time do we have?
Well, I'll keep it brief.
I'll, I'll give the briefversion.
So, I'm Elijah John Bowdre.
I'm the chairman of theMiami-Dade County Cryptocurrency
Task Force, um, and theexecutive director for the
Miami-Dade Digital Commission.
And so, I started here, inMiami, approximately, probably
eight years ago.
And I started off, coming in,from Hong Kong.
(07:25):
Actually I lived nine years inChina.
And I came in with the MiamiWorld Center.
And so, I created the compliancesystems.
For that, um, you know,multi-billion dollar development
located downtown Miami.
And, prior to that I was inChina, working on something
called EB five.
Wow.
Or basically like a foreigninvestment visa services for
(07:46):
many of my clients and friends.
On the mainland of China.
My background is, I'm from LongBeach, California.
Okay.
But I attended Florida A&MUniversity in Tallahassee, go
Rattlers.
I, after college I moved to NewYork, to Wall Street and, was
working, doing hedge fundprivate equity sales.
And I was there during the bestof times in the worst of times,
when I was there, the Dow hadjust reached 14,000, everything
(08:08):
was lovely.
But then the next year, about oheight, you know, credit markets
started to tighten, spreadsstarted to tighten, and, um, I
lived through and observed froma front row seat, something
called the global financialcrisis.
I like to tell people that inthat same cauldron, that same
fire, that um, kind of, ended mycareer in New York and pushed me
out to China.
(08:29):
Was where Bitcoin was formed
Brooke (08:31):
Yes.
And was
Chairman Bowdre (08:31):
birthed and launched.
And so, you know, that wasaround the oh nine time.
Um, I met Bitcoin, in China, uh,in 2012.
And after leaving New York, Iwent and started up a joint
venture, on the mainland ofChina with, my Chinese partners,
uh, shout out to.
I was gonna ask,
Brooke (08:51):
do you speak Chinese?
Chairman Bowdre (08:52):
Yes.
Brooke (08:54):
Wow.
That's incredible.
Yes.
Chairman Bowdre (08:55):
Yes.
Um, and I ended up, I made myfirst million dollars at 24
years old running my business, apartnership in China.
Right.
At that time, it was easy tomake a hundred renminbi or the
Chinese currency than it was tomake$1 obviously.
Brooke (09:10):
Mm.
Chairman Bowdre (09:10):
And so, uh.
You know, doing this, um, uh,I've shipped over I sourcing
materials.
Mm-hmm.
So I, I've shipped over, um,1200 different SKUs, you know,
from mainland China, metric tonsacross a Pacific Ocean to
approximately 40 ports aroundthe world.
And so one of the clients fromAmerica, they wanted to get some
things and they didn't wanna usemoney and traditional money,
(09:31):
right?
They didn't wanna use dollar,didn't wanna use Hong Kong
dollar.
Or, you know, the renminbi.
They didn't wanna usetraditional credit or dollar
denominated credit facilities.
They wanted to use somethingnew.
Internet protocol secured,encrypted, called Bitcoin.
And I was kinda like Bitcoin,like, what is that?
I had never heard of it at thetime, so I thought it was like a
scam or what have you.
It wasn't to my partner, uh,Evan Rice.
(09:52):
Shout out to Evan Rice as mypartner to this day who had
checked up on me to ask aboutthat deal.
And I said, uh, you know,everything was good.
But, um, when it came time tosettle, they were talking about
some Bitcoin and he stopped meand he red pilled me on the
spot.
And, um, you know, orange pillas we like to say now, he talked
about a distributed ledger,Satoshi White paper about the
(10:13):
peer-to-peer cash, right?
So I'm like, okay.
If you believe in it, I'll getto using it.
And um, so I set up the tradeand I began to, and when I did
add an epiphany that, um, thissmall technology that is small
in price now is about, you know,less than$10 at the time.
Brooke (10:32):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (10:33):
Um.
Would eventually take centerstage and eventually herd the
things that we see now.
And so it was my job to, to getinto it, you know, to make money
from it, but be in a position tohelp usher in the mass adoption
for this excellent technology.
And that's what we actuallyproceeded to do.
We created a jimal coin.
Which was, um, our basically adigital luxury online.
(10:55):
Mm-hmm.
Pawn shop, um, we did preciousstones in jury, so, um, X
diamonds in gold, we, you know,take your ruby necklace or your
grandmother's emerald ring andum, you know, we'd have our,
insurance company.
Mm-hmm.
Our allion was our insurance andmal my was our custody.
Take the information, upload itand tokenize it, and boom.
Offer you liquidity for yourilliquid luxury asset.
(11:16):
Um, but we also began doing alot of, white papers, uh,
written, uh, several whitepapers for zero knowledge proof
systems, uh, Singapore forclients out in the Philippines.
Wow.
All prior to, um, you know,coming back to America, you
know, a good friend of mine's,uh, Arthur Hayes, uh, shout out
to Arthur, the creator ofBitMEX.
You know, I remember when he satdown, you know, and was looking
(11:38):
for, you know, about a quartermillion dollars to start some
company called BitMEX.
But I purchased my first 10investment Bitcoin from them,
and, it changed my life, youknow, from that time I came back
to America with an investmentprobably about, around a half a
billion dollars, uh, from, um,from Hong Kong into downtown
Miami, into a project called theMiami World Center.
(12:00):
And so I was tapped to do thecompliance.
So I've created, uh, thecompliance from that system and
coming back to America to Miami.
Was like a eyeopener of reversecultural shock.
Brooke (12:12):
Um,
Chairman Bowdre (12:12):
I had spent nine years in China, uh,
traveling to, you know, around30 countries, um, visiting
around, um, 40 to 50 cities inChina.
Brooke (12:21):
Wow.
Chairman Bowdre (12:21):
Uh, yeah.
So I went pretty deep there.
Brooke (12:23):
Yeah.
Chairman Bowdre (12:24):
Um, had a fantasy of a time and, several
different, amazing experiences,but the experiences of the
global financial crisis.
Doing international business inChina during its rise, uh, as
well as coming back reallyemboldened me, you know, to
bring what I learned to America.
Brooke (12:42):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (12:42):
And at the time when I came, it was, um, really
nothing, you know, nothingofficially for Bitcoin or
blockchain or crypto.
There was several, several.
Bit Lord, is what we call'em.
You know, there's about six toseven individuals that were
here.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, like, uh, Erica Jima, likePravin, uh, like Chris Marshall,
uh, and several other luminariesas well who were talking about,
(13:06):
uh, the blockchain.
And so when I, arrived.
We, you know, kind of almostinstantly found each other and
connected.
Mm-hmm.
But I was the kind of governmentperson, right?
So my experience of doing thecompliance for, you know,
building that system and, andrunning it, took me all over
Miami, you know, from the highof billionaire Yes.
Board room meetings to theactual you know, departments
and, committees that, you know,manage those funds and
(13:28):
allocations to the community.
You know, that it eventuallywent to to help provide jobs or
to provide, you know, fundingfor crucial programs such as the
Lotus House or Camilla's Houseor, um, the, Overtown Youth and
Children's Center, uh, and so onand so forth.
And so, my experience here inMiami.
Has been one that's like amovie.
Brooke (13:50):
Yeah.
Chairman Bowdre (13:51):
Before my very eyes, you know, from that time
of December 8th, 2012, workingwith this little obscure
currency in China doing trades,you know, traveling around to
being the highest ranking cryptopublic.
Brooke (14:06):
Uh,
Chairman Bowdre (14:06):
Being also the author of the State Bill for
Florida for Virtual Assets andDigital Currencies, two,
creating the first, cryptoEndowment in Florida.
About three years ago, I gave$150,000 to my university.
Florida A&m in Tallahassee inBitcoin.
And today that endowment is, isroughly$600,000.
Um, now and, wrote the ordinancefor the crypto payments for here
(14:28):
in Dade County and, had initialconversations with our wonderful
mayor, mayor Francis Suarez,regarding the blockchain
regarding Bitcoin.
It's been one of the greatesthonors of, of my life.
To be a resident of Miami,during the burgeoning time of
the blockchain and seeing thetransformational force it's had
in the world.
Brooke (14:47):
Yes, it's
Chairman Bowdre (14:47):
had on America, but it's had on our people.
Brooke (14:49):
Yes.
And
Chairman Bowdre (14:49):
so that's how me and Jonathan, um, you know,
the creator of The Collectivelinked was having a similar view
of the future and thepossibilities, but having the
actual tenacity and having thecreativity and the boldness to
go after it.
That's why I'm so grateful andthankful to be here with you to
share my story and I reallyappreciate it.
Brooke (15:09):
Wow.
You make that really tough forme to wanna choose where to
start because that is what anepic, story and transformation
from China to the states, backto Miami, to all the work that
you've done.
Which by the way, I went toschool in Tallahassee as well.
Okay.
I went to Florida State, so Ihave Excellent.
Chairman Bowdre (15:28):
Yes, yes.
Shout out to Florida State.
Brooke (15:30):
So, wow, so fortunate to be in China and, and experience
this rapid technologicaladvancement very early on and
kind of position yourself inthat financial tech space in the
very beginning when it wasreally hitting.
So my first question of the dayfor you is.
What was it like to be in themidst of the spark when
(15:52):
financial tech andcryptocurrency and Bitcoin was
in the beginning and at whatpoint were you like, okay, I'm
paying attention.
This is gonna be big.
Chairman Bowdre (16:03):
Um, well, initially it was difficult and
scary.
Brooke (16:06):
Yeah.
I say,
Chairman Bowdre (16:08):
I was using Bitcoin when.
We didn't want to use it.
Mm-hmm.
Like I said, the initialintroduction was from some
clients who were like, Hey, wewant to, you know, get your
services.
We heard you can source thingsin China.
You know, I made a lot of moneyin China.
I lost a lot of money in Chinatoo.
Mm-hmm.
I had a lot of money stolen fromme.
Brooke (16:25):
Wow.
You know?
Chairman Bowdre (16:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But so I went through the whole.
Kind of, um, China adventure.
Right.
Which is kind of, uh, fitting.
'cause when I first decided togo back to China mm-hmm.
It was, you know, from beinglaid off from, from Wall Street
because of the global financialcrisis.
Brooke (16:39):
Mm-hmm.
And
Chairman Bowdre (16:40):
I told people that, you know what I did a
study abroad there, you know,prior to graduating and coming
to Wall Street.
Made some connections there.
And I was like, that's that.
I could feel it.
That's where the future is.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And so I said, I'm going backfor treasure and adventure.
I had a lot of success there.
Um, in addition to doingsourcing mm-hmm.
I also got involved with, um,bringing over professionals,
(17:00):
their companies and executives.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, signed some major deals,then started actually bringing
over students.
And, uh, to date, I brought overabout 450 students from America
mm-hmm to China with my, uh,nonprofit, the global citizens
community.
Um, fast forward, to, you know,being in Hong Kong, I was a, a
deacon at my church in Hong KongUnion Church.
Shout out to Union Church,getting into leadership and
(17:23):
communications trainer.
Brooke (17:24):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (17:25):
And actually some historical events that have
happened in Hong Kong.
I've kind of been in thebackground for, um, you know,
training, media training for thepolice chief and his Council of
13 administrator during theyellow umbrella.
We'll call it movement, right?
Or demonstration.
I was actually training thepolice chief and his counsel on
(17:45):
how to deal with the media, howto stand place, how to speak and
project.
And in the backdrop I was,working with the Bitcoin and the
blockchain.
I was a part owner of a bar inlayquifong in Hong Kong.
Uh, and it was on the secondfloor on, on layquifong and on
the first floor across thestreet was a bar called The Pit
Point.
And in there they had the firstBitcoin, ATM that we have in
(18:06):
Hong Kong.
They never worked, but theywould meet there every Tuesday
and talk about
Brooke (18:12):
what year was this?
Chairman Bowdre (18:13):
2013.
Brooke (18:14):
Oh wow.
I, I feel like I'm only just nowstarting to see Bitcoin bars and
Bitcoin ATMs in 2013.
Chairman Bowdre (18:22):
Yes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I was doing zero knowledge proofsystems, white papers for
Philippines and for Singaporeback in 20 14, 20 15.
Right.
Um, wow.
Before officially moving to,America.
And so that's kind of how I hadthe the boat, this sort of
leverage.
And so me having a whole likelife
Brooke (18:40):
mm-hmm.
Me
Chairman Bowdre (18:40):
and Arthur Hayes co-host the 2014
Blockchain Expo of Hong Kong.
Brooke (18:43):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (18:44):
Two African American guys hosting this
blockchain expo in Hong Kong.
Right.
And so, very powerfulexperiences.
And so coming back here, I waslike, hmm.
I'm like, okay, I need to startgetting to work.
Yeah.
And that's what I proceeded todo.
I, I, I went to countless barmitzvahs, quinceaneras, for past
(19:04):
county officials.
I was on the millennial taskforce and millennial advisory
board for the past county MayorJimenez, uh, you know, mayor
Jimenez.
And so I watched the differentprocesses of Miami Dade County
and in the city.
Um, I was also the OvertownCommunity Oversight Liaison, and
as you know, Overtown is one ofthe hardest hit economically
areas, but also rapid,rejuvenation we call it, but
(19:27):
call it gentrification at thetime.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Just a lot of investment to kindof eliminate slum and blight for
the area.
And so I went.
From city and county, you know,from programming to policy, all
the different systems, in Miami.
And I started to kind ofpermeate and say, you know what
you know, Bitcoin's coming,
Brooke (19:46):
you know,
Chairman Bowdre (19:46):
crypto, uh, but the blockchain.
You know, the blockchain isneeded in our government
systems.
Brooke (19:53):
Mm-hmm.
And
Chairman Bowdre (19:53):
so I kind of casted this vision that, we
needed to make Miami the cryptocapital of America.
And, to do that we're gonnaneed, more than me just going
and taking my laptop to mm-hmm.
You know the past city, vicemayors Bar Mitzvah and my laptop
setting up his first blockchainwallet, selling them their first
500 a hundred dollars ofBitcoin.
(20:14):
Like, Hey, this is coming.
You know, or convincing them weneed a legislation, we need an
actual written actual laws,rules to help usher it in and to
start that integration right.
To cement it.
And so, in 2020, I wrotesomething called the Blockchain
Board of Miami-Dade County, and,uh, it went nowhere.
Until FTX, you know, came in,you know.
Okay.
And, and many of the affiliatesare part of obviously the crypto
(20:37):
community, the global cryptocommunity.
Yes.
FTX is actually, was actuallyheadquarter or based out of Hong
Kong.
Right.
And so, um, they agreed to pay$135 million for the naming
rights of the arena.
This is about$95 million morethan what American Airlines paid
just 20 years past.
Brooke (20:55):
Wow.
So
Chairman Bowdre (20:56):
That sparked the interest of the county.
They said, wow, how do thesecrypto nerds have so much money,
we need to investigate this.
Uh, and they looked in thedocket and they seen, you know,
my bill.
Like, whoa, blockchain's alittle too broad.
You know?
And a board is a little toopermanent for this new tech.
We're interested in thiscryptocurrency.
Brooke (21:13):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (21:13):
Right.
And so we're gonna create a taskforce and, shout out to
Commissioner Danielle Higgins.
She's the one who, drafted thecryptocurrency, task force
resolution.
Mm-hmm.
Which was passed.
And then I was unanimouslyelected as its chairman.
And just to give a littlecontext, congrats.
Brooke (21:28):
Congrats
Chairman Bowdre (21:29):
that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Um.
Little context.
I had some heavy hitters on ourtask force.
We had members from Facebook's,Lyra program, from Uber, from,
uh, bit Stop ATMs and even, DanStabill, who was the leading
attorney for Tether at the time,he wrote the book on crypto
legislation.
Right.
(21:49):
And he was an attorney whotaught it at UN Law School, wow.
They elected him as my vicechair.
And, um, since that time I'vespent about$410,000 of my own
money.
As the cryptocurrency, taskforce chair and now transitioned
into like the cryptocurrencychairman, which has taken more
role of being the youngresident, young guy, explainer
(22:10):
of the new technology, whichincludes AI, cybernetics and
quantum computing as well, whichare coming down the line.
I've seen it as my personalduty.
To, assist our government andadvise them, intimately on these
new technologies that we knoware rapidly advancing.
Mm-hmm.
In changing the fundamentalnature of how we live our lives.
Brooke (22:29):
How I AI is brought to you in partnership with the
Collective AI, a space designedto accelerate your learning and
AI adoption.
I joined the Collective and it'scompletely catapulted my
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(22:53):
business with AI.
So stay tuned to learn more atthe end of this episode, or
check my show notes for myexclusive invite link..
Yes.
I started paying attention tocryptocurrency and learning
about the blockchain and Web3.
Once I started to read thatagents were starting to make
purchasing and buying decisionson our behalf.
(23:16):
Um, agents are talking to otheragents.
This is where a lot of thefuture of our automation systems
are going when it comes toartificial intelligence.
Chairman Bowdre (23:25):
We are rapidly creating the different systems
or the nodes to usher in.
Um, and you are right on thecutting edge of that.
Mm.
And so that's why I commend youand I, I'm a big fan of
everything that you do.
Oh, thank you.
You know, and support it becauseyou know, you're building the
future and you're helping therest of our people, our
citizens, our loved ones, ourfamily, to transition into
(23:46):
something that's super importantto everything that we do.
Brooke (23:48):
Mm.
Chairman Bowdre (23:50):
Crypto, Bitcoin, is the money of that
web world.
Right.
And the interactions that aregonna be more frequent between
the AI agents is gonna use thatcrypto.
Brooke (24:01):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (24:01):
Right.
As a proxy for the physicalworld, but increasingly more and
more, uh, uh, prodigious moreand more actually relevant to
what we do.
So the, um, absolute imperativeis that, we understand all the
different elements, right.
How they can interact each othermm-hmm.
Brooke (24:19):
And how
Chairman Bowdre (24:20):
they will impact us ultimately.
Brooke (24:23):
Yes.
So that brings us to where weare now in current day.
What do you see changing in thenext handful of months we're,
it's October, now we're in Q4 ofthe year.
What an incredible year.
2025 has been amazing.
I think.
Think we're gonna look back on2025 and see it as such a major
turning point.
Chairman Bowdre (24:43):
Absolutely.
Brooke (24:43):
So what's next and And what do you see happening right
now?
What is next and what's, what'shappening under our noses right
now?
Because you're in the thick ofit and some of us might not even
be paying attention andrealizing what's happening right
now and, and where are we headedin the next year or 2026?
Chairman Bowdre (25:01):
Well.
I like to say that we are in thecrypto city.
In the crypto year.
I'm a crypto chair.
I'm running for the crypto mayorof Miami
Brooke (25:11):
Crypto Mayor.
So, uh, so,
Chairman Bowdre (25:12):
Have to put that shameless plug in there.
Our, amazing mayor, mayorFrancis.
Mm-hmm.
Suarez.
Help to cheerlead market, andbasically, bring international,
and national, credence to whatwe've been doing on the ground
and what we've been doinglegislatively.
Mm-hmm.
And politically andgovernmentally for the
blockchain, uh, crypto andBitcoin.
And so, I'm gonna take thattorch Yes.
(25:34):
And take it to the next level.
All right.
Where Miami is the ground zerofor a technical revolution.
Miami is closer to the WhiteHouse than Washington dc
Brooke (25:48):
Right?
How is that?
Yes.
I'm
Chairman Bowdre (25:51):
glad you asked because as Miami goes,
Mar-a-Lago goes, and asMar-a-Lago goes, the rest of
America goes.
Right.
And so this is the crypto year.
Mm.
The crypto community elected thecrypto president.
Brooke (26:05):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (26:05):
And this administration has done
everything possible, even thingsthat we couldn't even think
about.
Right.
To really fast track, or tocatch up and ensure that America
is the lead, in this crucial,pivotal industry and technology,
for the world.
And subsequently, we have the,crypto legislation.
That has started our genius actand the market structure and
(26:26):
the, SBR Strategic BitcoinReserve.
In addition, there's been,different legislation for, uh,
the allowance of 4 0 1 Ks to getinto cryptocurrency.
As well as, protecting therights of different crypto
vendors and, and cryptocompanies, encouraging, the
robustness and development of itunder America.
It is crucial that, Americamaintains its technical
(26:50):
supremacy in order to protectour dollar hegemony,
Brooke (26:53):
right?
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (26:54):
Creating new pathways into our dollar
denominated systems, ourfinancial systems, um, is a race
against time, right?
Mm-hmm.
Or something that's a crucialelement in order to show
leadership to the rest of theworld, but to maintain, our
leadership, um, so this year iscritical and pivotal.
Brooke (27:10):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (27:11):
It's very important too because Miami has
a lot of challenges.
You know, it is the home to, youknow, FIFA now as an
organization.
Yes.
It's a global organization.
Uh, next year we have the WorldCup that is going, coming here.
Brooke (27:22):
Yep.
Chairman Bowdre (27:22):
Make sure we have the G 20 summit that is
coming here as well.
It's home to the most, secondhomes of sent millionaires on
the planet.
Brooke (27:30):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (27:30):
But also, it's number four in poverty and
income inequality.
Over 50% of our residents,qualify, or, excuse me, 60%
qualify for some type of housingassistance, either partial or
full.
We have almost 50% of ourresidents spending nearly 30 to
80% of their a MI or theirannual median income on
transportation and rent, andhousing security.
(27:52):
Um, these things are challengesthat we must face.
We have everything that we needto do.
Anything that we want, and us,myself, yourself, Jonathan, The
Collective.
Brooke (28:04):
Yeah.
Chairman Bowdre (28:05):
We are the ones standing in the gap or in the
forefront of that, pullingtogether the elements and tying
'em together to make that bridgeinto the future.
My job here is to ensure thatanyone can be affluent in Miami.
But that we make it affordableand efficient for everyone.
Brooke (28:23):
Yes.
Chairman Bowdre (28:24):
My plan is to unlock enterprise efficiency for
public beneficiary.
Uh, you know, I'm not a Zora,I'm Domini socialist.
I'm not, a super capitalist.
Right.
I'm a blockchain.
I'm a technologist.
I'm a futurist.
Brooke (28:36):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (28:37):
But I'm a person, i'm an amateur
politician, but I'm an expertpublic servant, and my ethos is
that what is this technology'smission?
Brooke (28:49):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (28:49):
If not to improve the human condition.
Brooke (28:51):
Yes.
Chairman Bowdre (28:52):
Because.
What really counts, no matterwhat is, how we help each other,
how we connect with each other.
Yeah.
Only what you do for peoplematters.
Only how we help one anothercounts.
And so beautiful.
I'm resolved to dedicate my lifeto my money, my time, my focus,
my skills, my network toensuring that we achieve that
(29:16):
future with this awesometechnology that has come down
and that can save us all.
Does not end up in the wronghands or end up coming online in
the wrong way that can enslaveus all.
Brooke (29:30):
Wow.
Chairman Bowdre (29:31):
November 4th, it is imperative that everybody
vote Bowdre, B-O-W-D-R-E forMayor of Miami for.
We're gonna move Miami forwardinto the future.
Brooke (29:42):
Amazing.
That was just a beautiful way toend and, and I feel like that's
probably the most important keytakeaway moment that you wanted
to share.
Or if you wanna just, uh, sharewith listeners on how they can
reach out to you and connect.
Chairman Bowdre (29:57):
Absolutely.
So you can go on my Instagram,it's chairman Bowdre like bow
tie, and Dr.
Dre, B-O-W-D-R-E.
Uh, also my website,www.bowdre4mayor.com.
That's B-O-W-D-R-E, the numberfour mayor.com.
I need your help.
I have international businessexperience, finance experience.
(30:18):
I'm a municipal operator at thepolicy level, a community
programmer at the very, mostintense area.
I've watched for eight years,mayor Francis Suarez, and I'm
ready to lead Miami.
We cannot miss this opportunityand.
I humbly ask for your help andI'll also tell you to stay tuned
into actually AI right.
(30:38):
And learn and stay abreast of itbecause not only can it help you
know our city, but your ownfamily and your own self, right?
This is the most intense time.
Alright?
And we recognize that we arepeering over the precipice of a
paradigm, preparing to pioneer anew path, realizing that the
physical world can only beaccepted as first.
And our digital reality can nolonger be denied.
(30:59):
At last, the tectonictransitions caused by
technology's position with theprodigious potential to
transform every tier in class.
So we've been entrusted thisvision so that with prudent
decision, may Miami bemultiplied by this immutable
math, and that's why I ElijahJohn Bowdre, chairman of the
Miami-Dade County CryptocurrencyTask Force Executive Director of
(31:21):
the Miami-Dade DigitalCommission, solemnly swear to
always espouse, to emulate thebenevolent idioms of this
beautiful immutable foreverledger.
To be transparent, to bedistributed, to protect the
private, and promote the publicto rule by consensus and to be
immutable with my word.
So help me, God.
(31:42):
This is our time.
Vote Bowdre for Mayor November4th.
Brooke (31:48):
This is our time.
Such beautiful last words.
Thank you so much, chairman.
Thank you.
I appreciate you.
Take care.
Yeah, thank you.
Wow I hope today's episodeopened your mind to what's
possible with AI.
Do you have a cool use case onhow you're using AI and wanna
share it?
DM me.
I'd love to hear more andfeature you on my next podcast.
(32:10):
Until next time, here's toworking smarter, not harder.
See you on the next episode ofHow I AI.
This episode was made possiblein partnership with the
Collective AI, a communitydesigned to help entrepreneurs,
creators, and professionalsseamlessly integrate AI into
their workflows.
One of the biggest game changersin my own AI journey was joining
(32:33):
this space.
It's where I learned, connectedand truly enhanced my
understanding of what's possiblewith ai.
And the best part, they offermultiple membership levels to
meet you where you are.
Whether you want to DIY, your AIlearning or work with a
personalized AI consultant foryour business, The Collective
has you covered.
(32:53):
Learn more and sign up using myexclusive link in the show
notes.
I've seen it as my personal duty.
To, assist our government andadvise them, intimately on these
new technologies that we knoware rapidly advancing.
Mm-hmm.
In changing the fundamentalnature of how we live our lives.
Brooke (00:13):
Welcome to How I AI the podcast featuring real people,
real stories, and real AI inaction.
I'm Brooke Gramer, your host andguide on this journey into the
real world impact of artificialintelligence.
For over 15 years, I've workedin creative marketing events and
business strategy, wearing allthe hats.
(00:35):
I know the struggle of trying toscale and manage all things
without burning out, but here'sthe game changer, AI.
This isn't just a podcast.
How I AI is a community, a spacewhere curious minds like you
come together, share ideas, andI'll also bring you exclusive
discounts, and insiderresources, because AI isn't just
(00:58):
a trend, it's a shift, and thesooner we embrace it, the more
freedom, creativity, andopportunities will unlock.
Have you just started exploringAI and feel a bit overwhelmed?
Don't worry, I've got you.
Jump on a quick start audit callwith me so you can walk away
with a clear and personalizedplan to move forward with more
(01:19):
confidence and ease.
Join my community of AI adopterslike yourself.
Plus, grab my free resources,including the AI Get Started
Guide.
Or try my How I AI companionGPT.
It pulls insights from my guestinterviews along with global
reports, so you can stay aheadof the curve.
Follow the link in thedescription below to get
(01:40):
started.
Today's guest is Chairman JohnBowdre.
He's a global civic leader,executive director of the
Miami-Dade Digital Commissionand candidate for the mayor of
City of Miami.
And he's here to talk about whatit means to prepare cities for
the future of money, AI andTrust.
(02:00):
Chairman Bowdre is not justthinking about the future.
He's running to build it.
He's also a member of theMiami-Dade Crypto Task Force and
head of the County's digitalcommission.
His big idea that AI andblockchain aren't just
buzzwords.
There are tools that help citiesrun smarter, safer, and more
(02:21):
fairly.
Today we talk about how digitalwallets, Bitcoin, and
decentralized systems could givepeople more power over their
money and identity.
And why cities need to get aheadof this tech shift and not fall
behind it.
He shares how he got into cryptoin China, what he sees coming
next, and how we can use newtools to protect the people,
(02:44):
profit the city, and prosper thecitizens.
But before we dive in, let'sconnect some dots on why this
topic matters.
This is an AI podcast and I'mtalking about Bitcoin and
blockchain.
Well, as AI agents begin makingreal world purchasing decisions
and automating transactions.
Blockchain becomes the trustlayer, the system that verifies
(03:08):
ownership, identity andtransparency.
This is why conversations aboutwallets and Bitcoin aren't just
about money.
They're about accountability inthe machine era.
Financial systems (03:19):
the way money moves gets stored, invested, or
tracked are being rewritten aswe speak, not just by
politicians or by bankers, butby machines.
Artificial intelligence isalready being used to detect
fraud, move money, and makefinancial decisions faster than
(03:41):
any human ever could.
But the twist is these systemsdon't explain themselves.
They just act fast, and thatcreates a serious trust gap.
So how do we keep these aishonest, blockchain acts like a
public ledger, a record bookanyone could read, but no one
can erase.
(04:02):
When you combine that with ai,you get something brand new,
machines that can be heldaccountable.
Every action they take, everytransaction they make can be
verified, traced, and explained.
It's already happening.
Just this summer, the Bank ofInternational Settlements
released results from a pilotproject where essential banks
(04:24):
tested how AI and blockchain canwork together to track cross
border payments.
They cut fees, slashedprocessing times, and proved
that decentralized systems couldoffer real time transparency.
Meanwhile, companies likeCoinbase are giving AI agents
(04:44):
their own crypto wallets so theycan buy, sell, negotiate, and
even vote in decentralizedorganizations, the future isn't
just AI managing our money.
It's AI managing its own, andthat's where Bitcoin and crypto
enter the story because machinescan't open checking accounts.
(05:05):
They can't apply for creditcards.
Traditional finance was builtfor humans, but cryptocurrency
changes that with a blockchainwallet, an AI agent doesn't need
permission.
It can hold funds, run smartcontracts, and interact with
financial systems directly.
Bitcoin and crypto are alsoprogrammable, borderless, and
(05:28):
fast enough for machine logic.
AI agents can use crypto to payfor services or computing time,
buy more data, executecontracts, and most importantly,
blockchain gives us an audittrail, a permanent public log of
what an AI system did and when.
That's how we make these systemstrustworthy.
(05:50):
Not by slowing them down, but bywatching them work.
So here's the big picture.
AI is becoming a new kind ofactor in the world, and Bitcoin
is the money it can actuallyuse.
That's why this topic andepisode matters because if we
don't think about these thingsnow, if we don't build AI with a
truth layer, we risk building asystem that's fast, powerful,
(06:13):
but totally unaccountable.
Alright, let's dive in.
Here's my conversation withChairman Bowdre.
Hello everyone.
Welcome to another episode ofHow I AI I'm your host, Brooke
Gramer.
Today I have a very esteemedguest.
He is the cryptocurrencychairman and is running for
(06:34):
mayor in the city of Miami.
We are together here at aconference today in Miami
learning about artificialintelligence and I had the very
lucky opportunity to interviewyou.
We're gonna be speaking aboutthe future of financial
technology.
Welcome chairman.
Chairman Bowdre (06:53):
Thank you so much.
It is an honor and a pleasure tobe here.
Brooke (06:55):
Yes.
Let's open this space.
I love to just give the floorfor you to introduce a bit about
yourself and how you ended upwhere you are today.
Chairman Bowdre (07:04):
Okay.
Excellent.
Um, how much time do we have?
Well, I'll keep it brief.
I'll, I'll give the briefversion.
So, I'm Elijah John Bowdre.
I'm the chairman of theMiami-Dade County Cryptocurrency
Task Force, um, and theexecutive director for the
Miami-Dade Digital Commission.
And so, I started here, inMiami, approximately, probably
eight years ago.
And I started off, coming in,from Hong Kong.
(07:25):
Actually I lived nine years inChina.
And I came in with the MiamiWorld Center.
And so, I created the compliancesystems.
For that, um, you know,multi-billion dollar development
located downtown Miami.
And, prior to that I was inChina, working on something
called EB five.
Wow.
Or basically like a foreigninvestment visa services for
(07:46):
many of my clients and friends.
On the mainland of China.
My background is, I'm from LongBeach, California.
Okay.
But I attended Florida A&MUniversity in Tallahassee, go
Rattlers.
I, after college I moved to NewYork, to Wall Street and, was
working, doing hedge fundprivate equity sales.
And I was there during the bestof times in the worst of times,
when I was there, the Dow hadjust reached 14,000, everything
(08:08):
was lovely.
But then the next year, about oheight, you know, credit markets
started to tighten, spreadsstarted to tighten, and, um, I
lived through and observed froma front row seat, something
called the global financialcrisis.
I like to tell people that inthat same cauldron, that same
fire, that um, kind of, ended mycareer in New York and pushed me
out to China.
(08:29):
Was where Bitcoin was formed
Brooke (08:31):
Yes.
And was
Chairman Bowdre (08:31):
birthed and launched.
And so, you know, that wasaround the oh nine time.
Um, I met Bitcoin, in China, uh,in 2012.
And after leaving New York, Iwent and started up a joint
venture, on the mainland ofChina with, my Chinese partners,
uh, shout out to.
I was gonna ask,
Brooke (08:51):
do you speak Chinese?
Chairman Bowdre (08:52):
Yes.
Brooke (08:54):
Wow.
That's incredible.
Yes.
Chairman Bowdre (08:55):
Yes.
Um, and I ended up, I made myfirst million dollars at 24
years old running my business, apartnership in China.
Right.
At that time, it was easy tomake a hundred renminbi or the
Chinese currency than it was tomake$1 obviously.
Brooke (09:10):
Mm.
Chairman Bowdre (09:10):
And so, uh.
You know, doing this, um, uh,I've shipped over I sourcing
materials.
Mm-hmm.
So I, I've shipped over, um,1200 different SKUs, you know,
from mainland China, metric tonsacross a Pacific Ocean to
approximately 40 ports aroundthe world.
And so one of the clients fromAmerica, they wanted to get some
things and they didn't wanna usemoney and traditional money,
(09:31):
right?
They didn't wanna use dollar,didn't wanna use Hong Kong
dollar.
Or, you know, the renminbi.
They didn't wanna usetraditional credit or dollar
denominated credit facilities.
They wanted to use somethingnew.
Internet protocol secured,encrypted, called Bitcoin.
And I was kinda like Bitcoin,like, what is that?
I had never heard of it at thetime, so I thought it was like a
scam or what have you.
It wasn't to my partner, uh,Evan Rice.
(09:52):
Shout out to Evan Rice as mypartner to this day who had
checked up on me to ask aboutthat deal.
And I said, uh, you know,everything was good.
But, um, when it came time tosettle, they were talking about
some Bitcoin and he stopped meand he red pilled me on the
spot.
And, um, you know, orange pillas we like to say now, he talked
about a distributed ledger,Satoshi White paper about the
(10:13):
peer-to-peer cash, right?
So I'm like, okay.
If you believe in it, I'll getto using it.
And um, so I set up the tradeand I began to, and when I did
add an epiphany that, um, thissmall technology that is small
in price now is about, you know,less than$10 at the time.
Brooke (10:32):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (10:33):
Um.
Would eventually take centerstage and eventually herd the
things that we see now.
And so it was my job to, to getinto it, you know, to make money
from it, but be in a position tohelp usher in the mass adoption
for this excellent technology.
And that's what we actuallyproceeded to do.
We created a jimal coin.
Which was, um, our basically adigital luxury online.
(10:55):
Mm-hmm.
Pawn shop, um, we did preciousstones in jury, so, um, X
diamonds in gold, we, you know,take your ruby necklace or your
grandmother's emerald ring andum, you know, we'd have our,
insurance company.
Mm-hmm.
Our allion was our insurance andmal my was our custody.
Take the information, upload itand tokenize it, and boom.
Offer you liquidity for yourilliquid luxury asset.
(11:16):
Um, but we also began doing alot of, white papers, uh,
written, uh, several whitepapers for zero knowledge proof
systems, uh, Singapore forclients out in the Philippines.
Wow.
All prior to, um, you know,coming back to America, you
know, a good friend of mine's,uh, Arthur Hayes, uh, shout out
to Arthur, the creator ofBitMEX.
You know, I remember when he satdown, you know, and was looking
(11:38):
for, you know, about a quartermillion dollars to start some
company called BitMEX.
But I purchased my first 10investment Bitcoin from them,
and, it changed my life, youknow, from that time I came back
to America with an investmentprobably about, around a half a
billion dollars, uh, from, um,from Hong Kong into downtown
Miami, into a project called theMiami World Center.
(12:00):
And so I was tapped to do thecompliance.
So I've created, uh, thecompliance from that system and
coming back to America to Miami.
Was like a eyeopener of reversecultural shock.
Brooke (12:12):
Um,
Chairman Bowdre (12:12):
I had spent nine years in China, uh,
traveling to, you know, around30 countries, um, visiting
around, um, 40 to 50 cities inChina.
Brooke (12:21):
Wow.
Chairman Bowdre (12:21):
Uh, yeah.
So I went pretty deep there.
Brooke (12:23):
Yeah.
Chairman Bowdre (12:24):
Um, had a fantasy of a time and, several
different, amazing experiences,but the experiences of the
global financial crisis.
Doing international business inChina during its rise, uh, as
well as coming back reallyemboldened me, you know, to
bring what I learned to America.
Brooke (12:42):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (12:42):
And at the time when I came, it was, um, really
nothing, you know, nothingofficially for Bitcoin or
blockchain or crypto.
There was several, several.
Bit Lord, is what we call'em.
You know, there's about six toseven individuals that were
here.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, like, uh, Erica Jima, likePravin, uh, like Chris Marshall,
uh, and several other luminariesas well who were talking about,
(13:06):
uh, the blockchain.
And so when I, arrived.
We, you know, kind of almostinstantly found each other and
connected.
Mm-hmm.
But I was the kind of governmentperson, right?
So my experience of doing thecompliance for, you know,
building that system and, andrunning it, took me all over
Miami, you know, from the highof billionaire Yes.
Board room meetings to theactual you know, departments
and, committees that, you know,manage those funds and
(13:28):
allocations to the community.
You know, that it eventuallywent to to help provide jobs or
to provide, you know, fundingfor crucial programs such as the
Lotus House or Camilla's Houseor, um, the, Overtown Youth and
Children's Center, uh, and so onand so forth.
And so, my experience here inMiami.
Has been one that's like amovie.
Brooke (13:50):
Yeah.
Chairman Bowdre (13:51):
Before my very eyes, you know, from that time
of December 8th, 2012, workingwith this little obscure
currency in China doing trades,you know, traveling around to
being the highest ranking cryptopublic.
Brooke (14:06):
Uh,
Chairman Bowdre (14:06):
Being also the author of the State Bill for
Florida for Virtual Assets andDigital Currencies, two,
creating the first, cryptoEndowment in Florida.
About three years ago, I gave$150,000 to my university.
Florida A&m in Tallahassee inBitcoin.
And today that endowment is, isroughly$600,000.
Um, now and, wrote the ordinancefor the crypto payments for here
(14:28):
in Dade County and, had initialconversations with our wonderful
mayor, mayor Francis Suarez,regarding the blockchain
regarding Bitcoin.
It's been one of the greatesthonors of, of my life.
To be a resident of Miami,during the burgeoning time of
the blockchain and seeing thetransformational force it's had
in the world.
Brooke (14:47):
Yes, it's
Chairman Bowdre (14:47):
had on America, but it's had on our people.
Brooke (14:49):
Yes.
And
Chairman Bowdre (14:49):
so that's how me and Jonathan, um, you know,
the creator of The Collectivelinked was having a similar view
of the future and thepossibilities, but having the
actual tenacity and having thecreativity and the boldness to
go after it.
That's why I'm so grateful andthankful to be here with you to
share my story and I reallyappreciate it.
Brooke (15:09):
Wow.
You make that really tough forme to wanna choose where to
start because that is what anepic, story and transformation
from China to the states, backto Miami, to all the work that
you've done.
Which by the way, I went toschool in Tallahassee as well.
Okay.
I went to Florida State, so Ihave Excellent.
Chairman Bowdre (15:28):
Yes, yes.
Shout out to Florida State.
Brooke (15:30):
So, wow, so fortunate to be in China and, and experience
this rapid technologicaladvancement very early on and
kind of position yourself inthat financial tech space in the
very beginning when it wasreally hitting.
So my first question of the dayfor you is.
What was it like to be in themidst of the spark when
(15:52):
financial tech andcryptocurrency and Bitcoin was
in the beginning and at whatpoint were you like, okay, I'm
paying attention.
This is gonna be big.
Chairman Bowdre (16:03):
Um, well, initially it was difficult and
scary.
Brooke (16:06):
Yeah.
I say,
Chairman Bowdre (16:08):
I was using Bitcoin when.
We didn't want to use it.
Mm-hmm.
Like I said, the initialintroduction was from some
clients who were like, Hey, wewant to, you know, get your
services.
We heard you can source thingsin China.
You know, I made a lot of moneyin China.
I lost a lot of money in Chinatoo.
Mm-hmm.
I had a lot of money stolen fromme.
Brooke (16:25):
Wow.
You know?
Chairman Bowdre (16:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But so I went through the whole.
Kind of, um, China adventure.
Right.
Which is kind of, uh, fitting.
'cause when I first decided togo back to China mm-hmm.
It was, you know, from beinglaid off from, from Wall Street
because of the global financialcrisis.
Brooke (16:39):
Mm-hmm.
And
Chairman Bowdre (16:40):
I told people that, you know what I did a
study abroad there, you know,prior to graduating and coming
to Wall Street.
Made some connections there.
And I was like, that's that.
I could feel it.
That's where the future is.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And so I said, I'm going backfor treasure and adventure.
I had a lot of success there.
Um, in addition to doingsourcing mm-hmm.
I also got involved with, um,bringing over professionals,
(17:00):
their companies and executives.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, signed some major deals,then started actually bringing
over students.
And, uh, to date, I brought overabout 450 students from America
mm-hmm to China with my, uh,nonprofit, the global citizens
community.
Um, fast forward, to, you know,being in Hong Kong, I was a, a
deacon at my church in Hong KongUnion Church.
Shout out to Union Church,getting into leadership and
(17:23):
communications trainer.
Brooke (17:24):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (17:25):
And actually some historical events that have
happened in Hong Kong.
I've kind of been in thebackground for, um, you know,
training, media training for thepolice chief and his Council of
13 administrator during theyellow umbrella.
We'll call it movement, right?
Or demonstration.
I was actually training thepolice chief and his counsel on
(17:45):
how to deal with the media, howto stand place, how to speak and
project.
And in the backdrop I was,working with the Bitcoin and the
blockchain.
I was a part owner of a bar inlayquifong in Hong Kong.
Uh, and it was on the secondfloor on, on layquifong and on
the first floor across thestreet was a bar called The Pit
Point.
And in there they had the firstBitcoin, ATM that we have in
(18:06):
Hong Kong.
They never worked, but theywould meet there every Tuesday
and talk about
Brooke (18:12):
what year was this?
Chairman Bowdre (18:13):
2013.
Brooke (18:14):
Oh wow.
I, I feel like I'm only just nowstarting to see Bitcoin bars and
Bitcoin ATMs in 2013.
Chairman Bowdre (18:22):
Yes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I was doing zero knowledge proofsystems, white papers for
Philippines and for Singaporeback in 20 14, 20 15.
Right.
Um, wow.
Before officially moving to,America.
And so that's kind of how I hadthe the boat, this sort of
leverage.
And so me having a whole likelife
Brooke (18:40):
mm-hmm.
Me
Chairman Bowdre (18:40):
and Arthur Hayes co-host the 2014
Blockchain Expo of Hong Kong.
Brooke (18:43):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (18:44):
Two African American guys hosting this
blockchain expo in Hong Kong.
Right.
And so, very powerfulexperiences.
And so coming back here, I waslike, hmm.
I'm like, okay, I need to startgetting to work.
Yeah.
And that's what I proceeded todo.
I, I, I went to countless barmitzvahs, quinceaneras, for past
(19:04):
county officials.
I was on the millennial taskforce and millennial advisory
board for the past county MayorJimenez, uh, you know, mayor
Jimenez.
And so I watched the differentprocesses of Miami Dade County
and in the city.
Um, I was also the OvertownCommunity Oversight Liaison, and
as you know, Overtown is one ofthe hardest hit economically
areas, but also rapid,rejuvenation we call it, but
(19:27):
call it gentrification at thetime.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Just a lot of investment to kindof eliminate slum and blight for
the area.
And so I went.
From city and county, you know,from programming to policy, all
the different systems, in Miami.
And I started to kind ofpermeate and say, you know what
you know, Bitcoin's coming,
Brooke (19:46):
you know,
Chairman Bowdre (19:46):
crypto, uh, but the blockchain.
You know, the blockchain isneeded in our government
systems.
Brooke (19:53):
Mm-hmm.
And
Chairman Bowdre (19:53):
so I kind of casted this vision that, we
needed to make Miami the cryptocapital of America.
And, to do that we're gonnaneed, more than me just going
and taking my laptop to mm-hmm.
You know the past city, vicemayors Bar Mitzvah and my laptop
setting up his first blockchainwallet, selling them their first
500 a hundred dollars ofBitcoin.
(20:14):
Like, Hey, this is coming.
You know, or convincing them weneed a legislation, we need an
actual written actual laws,rules to help usher it in and to
start that integration right.
To cement it.
And so, in 2020, I wrotesomething called the Blockchain
Board of Miami-Dade County, and,uh, it went nowhere.
Until FTX, you know, came in,you know.
Okay.
And, and many of the affiliatesare part of obviously the crypto
(20:37):
community, the global cryptocommunity.
Yes.
FTX is actually, was actuallyheadquarter or based out of Hong
Kong.
Right.
And so, um, they agreed to pay$135 million for the naming
rights of the arena.
This is about$95 million morethan what American Airlines paid
just 20 years past.
Brooke (20:55):
Wow.
So
Chairman Bowdre (20:56):
That sparked the interest of the county.
They said, wow, how do thesecrypto nerds have so much money,
we need to investigate this.
Uh, and they looked in thedocket and they seen, you know,
my bill.
Like, whoa, blockchain's alittle too broad.
You know?
And a board is a little toopermanent for this new tech.
We're interested in thiscryptocurrency.
Brooke (21:13):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (21:13):
Right.
And so we're gonna create a taskforce and, shout out to
Commissioner Danielle Higgins.
She's the one who, drafted thecryptocurrency, task force
resolution.
Mm-hmm.
Which was passed.
And then I was unanimouslyelected as its chairman.
And just to give a littlecontext, congrats.
Brooke (21:28):
Congrats
Chairman Bowdre (21:29):
that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Um.
Little context.
I had some heavy hitters on ourtask force.
We had members from Facebook's,Lyra program, from Uber, from,
uh, bit Stop ATMs and even, DanStabill, who was the leading
attorney for Tether at the time,he wrote the book on crypto
legislation.
Right.
(21:49):
And he was an attorney whotaught it at UN Law School, wow.
They elected him as my vicechair.
And, um, since that time I'vespent about$410,000 of my own
money.
As the cryptocurrency, taskforce chair and now transitioned
into like the cryptocurrencychairman, which has taken more
role of being the youngresident, young guy, explainer
(22:10):
of the new technology, whichincludes AI, cybernetics and
quantum computing as well, whichare coming down the line.
I've seen it as my personalduty.
To, assist our government andadvise them, intimately on these
new technologies that we knoware rapidly advancing.
Mm-hmm.
In changing the fundamentalnature of how we live our lives.
Brooke (22:29):
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Yes.
I started paying attention tocryptocurrency and learning
about the blockchain and Web3.
Once I started to read thatagents were starting to make
purchasing and buying decisionson our behalf.
(23:16):
Um, agents are talking to otheragents.
This is where a lot of thefuture of our automation systems
are going when it comes toartificial intelligence.
Chairman Bowdre (23:25):
We are rapidly creating the different systems
or the nodes to usher in.
Um, and you are right on thecutting edge of that.
Mm.
And so that's why I commend youand I, I'm a big fan of
everything that you do.
Oh, thank you.
You know, and support it becauseyou know, you're building the
future and you're helping therest of our people, our
citizens, our loved ones, ourfamily, to transition into
(23:46):
something that's super importantto everything that we do.
Brooke (23:48):
Mm.
Chairman Bowdre (23:50):
Crypto, Bitcoin, is the money of that
web world.
Right.
And the interactions that aregonna be more frequent between
the AI agents is gonna use thatcrypto.
Brooke (24:01):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (24:01):
Right.
As a proxy for the physicalworld, but increasingly more and
more, uh, uh, prodigious moreand more actually relevant to
what we do.
So the, um, absolute imperativeis that, we understand all the
different elements, right.
How they can interact each othermm-hmm.
Brooke (24:19):
And how
Chairman Bowdre (24:20):
they will impact us ultimately.
Brooke (24:23):
Yes.
So that brings us to where weare now in current day.
What do you see changing in thenext handful of months we're,
it's October, now we're in Q4 ofthe year.
What an incredible year.
2025 has been amazing.
I think.
Think we're gonna look back on2025 and see it as such a major
turning point.
Chairman Bowdre (24:43):
Absolutely.
Brooke (24:43):
So what's next and And what do you see happening right
now?
What is next and what's, what'shappening under our noses right
now?
Because you're in the thick ofit and some of us might not even
be paying attention andrealizing what's happening right
now and, and where are we headedin the next year or 2026?
Chairman Bowdre (25:01):
Well.
I like to say that we are in thecrypto city.
In the crypto year.
I'm a crypto chair.
I'm running for the crypto mayorof Miami
Brooke (25:11):
Crypto Mayor.
So, uh, so,
Chairman Bowdre (25:12):
Have to put that shameless plug in there.
Our, amazing mayor, mayorFrancis.
Mm-hmm.
Suarez.
Help to cheerlead market, andbasically, bring international,
and national, credence to whatwe've been doing on the ground
and what we've been doinglegislatively.
Mm-hmm.
And politically andgovernmentally for the
blockchain, uh, crypto andBitcoin.
And so, I'm gonna take thattorch Yes.
(25:34):
And take it to the next level.
All right.
Where Miami is the ground zerofor a technical revolution.
Miami is closer to the WhiteHouse than Washington dc
Brooke (25:48):
Right?
How is that?
Yes.
I'm
Chairman Bowdre (25:51):
glad you asked because as Miami goes,
Mar-a-Lago goes, and asMar-a-Lago goes, the rest of
America goes.
Right.
And so this is the crypto year.
Mm.
The crypto community elected thecrypto president.
Brooke (26:05):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (26:05):
And this administration has done
everything possible, even thingsthat we couldn't even think
about.
Right.
To really fast track, or tocatch up and ensure that America
is the lead, in this crucial,pivotal industry and technology,
for the world.
And subsequently, we have the,crypto legislation.
That has started our genius actand the market structure and
(26:26):
the, SBR Strategic BitcoinReserve.
In addition, there's been,different legislation for, uh,
the allowance of 4 0 1 Ks to getinto cryptocurrency.
As well as, protecting therights of different crypto
vendors and, and cryptocompanies, encouraging, the
robustness and development of itunder America.
It is crucial that, Americamaintains its technical
(26:50):
supremacy in order to protectour dollar hegemony,
Brooke (26:53):
right?
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (26:54):
Creating new pathways into our dollar
denominated systems, ourfinancial systems, um, is a race
against time, right?
Mm-hmm.
Or something that's a crucialelement in order to show
leadership to the rest of theworld, but to maintain, our
leadership, um, so this year iscritical and pivotal.
Brooke (27:10):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (27:11):
It's very important too because Miami has
a lot of challenges.
You know, it is the home to, youknow, FIFA now as an
organization.
Yes.
It's a global organization.
Uh, next year we have the WorldCup that is going, coming here.
Brooke (27:22):
Yep.
Chairman Bowdre (27:22):
Make sure we have the G 20 summit that is
coming here as well.
It's home to the most, secondhomes of sent millionaires on
the planet.
Brooke (27:30):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (27:30):
But also, it's number four in poverty and
income inequality.
Over 50% of our residents,qualify, or, excuse me, 60%
qualify for some type of housingassistance, either partial or
full.
We have almost 50% of ourresidents spending nearly 30 to
80% of their a MI or theirannual median income on
transportation and rent, andhousing security.
(27:52):
Um, these things are challengesthat we must face.
We have everything that we needto do.
Anything that we want, and us,myself, yourself, Jonathan, The
Collective.
Brooke (28:04):
Yeah.
Chairman Bowdre (28:05):
We are the ones standing in the gap or in the
forefront of that, pullingtogether the elements and tying
'em together to make that bridgeinto the future.
My job here is to ensure thatanyone can be affluent in Miami.
But that we make it affordableand efficient for everyone.
Brooke (28:23):
Yes.
Chairman Bowdre (28:24):
My plan is to unlock enterprise efficiency for
public beneficiary.
Uh, you know, I'm not a Zora,I'm Domini socialist.
I'm not, a super capitalist.
Right.
I'm a blockchain.
I'm a technologist.
I'm a futurist.
Brooke (28:36):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (28:37):
But I'm a person, i'm an amateur
politician, but I'm an expertpublic servant, and my ethos is
that what is this technology'smission?
Brooke (28:49):
Mm-hmm.
Chairman Bowdre (28:49):
If not to improve the human condition.
Brooke (28:51):
Yes.
Chairman Bowdre (28:52):
Because.
What really counts, no matterwhat is, how we help each other,
how we connect with each other.
Yeah.
Only what you do for peoplematters.
Only how we help one anothercounts.
And so beautiful.
I'm resolved to dedicate my lifeto my money, my time, my focus,
my skills, my network toensuring that we achieve that
(29:16):
future with this awesometechnology that has come down
and that can save us all.
Does not end up in the wronghands or end up coming online in
the wrong way that can enslaveus all.
Brooke (29:30):
Wow.
Chairman Bowdre (29:31):
November 4th, it is imperative that everybody
vote Bowdre, B-O-W-D-R-E forMayor of Miami for.
We're gonna move Miami forwardinto the future.
Brooke (29:42):
Amazing.
That was just a beautiful way toend and, and I feel like that's
probably the most important keytakeaway moment that you wanted
to share.
Or if you wanna just, uh, sharewith listeners on how they can
reach out to you and connect.
Chairman Bowdre (29:57):
Absolutely.
So you can go on my Instagram,it's chairman Bowdre like bow
tie, and Dr.
Dre, B-O-W-D-R-E.
Uh, also my website,www.bowdre4mayor.com.
That's B-O-W-D-R-E, the numberfour mayor.com.
I need your help.
I have international businessexperience, finance experience.
(30:18):
I'm a municipal operator at thepolicy level, a community
programmer at the very, mostintense area.
I've watched for eight years,mayor Francis Suarez, and I'm
ready to lead Miami.
We cannot miss this opportunityand.
I humbly ask for your help andI'll also tell you to stay tuned
into actually AI right.
(30:38):
And learn and stay abreast of itbecause not only can it help you
know our city, but your ownfamily and your own self, right?
This is the most intense time.
Alright?
And we recognize that we arepeering over the precipice of a
paradigm, preparing to pioneer anew path, realizing that the
physical world can only beaccepted as first.
And our digital reality can nolonger be denied.
(30:59):
At last, the tectonictransitions caused by
technology's position with theprodigious potential to
transform every tier in class.
So we've been entrusted thisvision so that with prudent
decision, may Miami bemultiplied by this immutable
math, and that's why I ElijahJohn Bowdre, chairman of the
Miami-Dade County CryptocurrencyTask Force Executive Director of
(31:21):
the Miami-Dade DigitalCommission, solemnly swear to
always espouse, to emulate thebenevolent idioms of this
beautiful immutable foreverledger.
To be transparent, to bedistributed, to protect the
private, and promote the publicto rule by consensus and to be
immutable with my word.
So help me, God.
(31:42):
This is our time.
Vote Bowdre for Mayor November4th.
Brooke (31:48):
This is our time.
Such beautiful last words.
Thank you so much, chairman.
Thank you.
I appreciate you.
Take care.
Yeah, thank you.
Wow I hope today's episodeopened your mind to what's
possible with AI.
Do you have a cool use case onhow you're using AI and wanna
share it?
DM me.
I'd love to hear more andfeature you on my next podcast.
(32:10):
Until next time, here's toworking smarter, not harder.
See you on the next episode ofHow I AI.
This episode was made possiblein partnership with the
Collective AI, a communitydesigned to help entrepreneurs,
creators, and professionalsseamlessly integrate AI into
their workflows.
One of the biggest game changersin my own AI journey was joining
(32:33):
this space.
It's where I learned, connectedand truly enhanced my
understanding of what's possiblewith ai.
And the best part, they offermultiple membership levels to
meet you where you are.
Whether you want to DIY, your AIlearning or work with a
personalized AI consultant foryour business, The Collective
has you covered.
(32:53):
Learn more and sign up using myexclusive link in the show
notes.
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