March 13, 2025 • 11 mins
Cody Ellingham's introduction talk at Bitkiwi Queenstown, New Zealand, March 2025.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right welcome everybody to bit Kiwi 12.
I'm Paul from bit Kiwi and orange shirt Dan from bit Kiwi
over there. So we put it together today for
you thanks for coming everyone really appreciate the turnout.
It's amazing really. I we know a lot of people have
(00:20):
travelled from all over. I do know these people here have
travelled from Japan, Australia,Auckland, Todonga, Raglan,
Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch, Dunedin.
So thank you for supporting the event and coming all this way.
It's fantastic. Huge thanks to our supporters
and helpers, Gary and Amanda andthe Wheelbar team.
(00:41):
It's best venue out of our back Kiwis.
Thank you and then a couple of mini shout outs from a couple of
people who have helped us a lot and help support our event from
the beginning. Z on the desk at the bat and his
wife Margaret have really helpedus with things.
(01:02):
Huge shout out to the Legend Kiwi Lamb everything he does
with us. Legend.
Also, James and Tip, thank you for your support and Cody has
been there all the way through Legend.
I mean, anyone else I've forgotten out of there?
So many people who helped us. Thank you.
So a couple of little things. Obviously most of you may know
(01:23):
already, you can't pay with setsat the bar.
Get into it. Z is running a little bit of a
desk down the back with a wee bit of merchandise and different
things. Again, sets.
So not a good day to be spendingsome sets, but good for others
perhaps. Enjoy those, Gary.
And yeah, we've got a, A, a great range of speakers.
(01:45):
We've got 5 awesome speakers, quite sort of diverse topics.
It should be a mixture of interesting, helpful.
Yeah. We really hope you enjoy it.
So without further ado, we'll get into our first speaker, Mr.
Cody Ellingham from the Transformation of Valium.
Pop guys, thank you. Thank you, Paul.
(02:07):
All righty. Hello everyone.
I am Cody Ellingham, I'm host ofthe Transformation of Value
podcast. I want to just take a moment to
reflect on how awesome it is that we are all here in this
place, this peaceful, non coercive assimilation of people
coming from many parts of the world to join us here in
(02:30):
Queenstown. I mean, isn't this amazing guys?
I mean, let's just give a round of applause for bringing
everyone together. Now, I know there are many more
people out there as well who couldn't be here in person.
There's a much wider network of Bitcoin and freedom lovers in
New Zealand and of course, the world.
And now the world is changing and that's something I want to
(02:53):
talk about today. As many of you may know, I am
based in Asia, I live in Japan. And it comforts me in a way to
return to New Zealand, which in many ways seems to be a place
that doesn't quite change as fast as the rest of the world.
But without a doubt, the world and New Zealand is changing.
(03:14):
We are entering into the era of the sovereign individual.
Many of you may be familiar withthe book by this title, The
Sovereign Individual Mastering the Transition to the
Information Age, published in 1997.
Its thesis lays out a vision fora world constructed not around
democratic nation state governments, but around
(03:35):
volunteer sovereign individuals working together in sovereign
communities. Much like what we have here
amongst us today, politics is always downstream of technology.
Gunpowder, the printing press and the personal computer all
changed and influenced the nature of political systems in
(03:57):
ways that today Bitcoin is doingthe exact same thing.
The separation of money and state is something that was not
able to be seriously considered prior to Bitcoin.
It was an idea that was thinkable, but it had no form
through which to actualise it. However, now that there is a
way, I believe it is inevitable.The cat is out of bag.
(04:21):
Bitcoin separates money and state.
It does not enforce fiscal and monetary discipline through laws
and central bank mandates which can be bypassed in times of
emergency or changed according to the political winds of the
day. No, Bitcoin instead is non state
money secured by mathematics andcryptography in a way that is
(04:45):
open source and transparent. This new technological nature of
money at the very base of society change is all that is
built upon it in ways we can only imagine, and likely in ways
that we cannot imagine. Clearly, the government is not
in the room with us today, yet the state still lays claim to
(05:08):
what we produce here, to the value exchanged between us.
Somehow it takes credit for our innovation and entrepreneurship
that is so abundant amongst us thinkers and builders.
Bitcoin enables innovation and businesses to flourish without
the bloat of the legacy government and banking cartel
system. Bitcoin is a technology that is
(05:31):
available to everyone and for meit is the epitome of a
particular word and F word freedom.
But make bonus. But make no mistake though,
freedom is available to anyone that takes the time to learn a
thing or two. Freedom is not wanted by
everyone. It is a gift horse, yet many
(05:51):
look it in the mouth. As we witness the slow and
inevitable decline and unwindingof the democratic nation state
system and its governments and institutions, there will be
those who cling to the myth evenmore.
So let me ask you, when was the last time you thought about the
Roman Empire? The Roman Empire is generally
(06:13):
understood to have ended in 476 AD when the last emperor,
Romulus Augustalus, was deposed.The Visigoth Barbarians took
power. But what I find fascinating is
that some people at the time didnot realise it had ended until
years or even centuries later. Has the era of the nation state
government as we know it alreadyended and we simply have not
(06:35):
realised it yet? And the most powerful countries
in the world, the executive branch of governments, have
become de facto monarchs. The concept of the deep state is
something that has entered everyday conversations.
There is something in the air right now in the world.
Can't you sense it? Can you smell it?
There is a kind of feedback loopwhere the more we look into what
(06:56):
the state truly is, the more we see that only a shell of the
illusion remains. All of us here were born into
the bondage of the nation state.We all have birth certificates,
passports, tax numbers, the artefacts and paraphernalia of
the Nation State Project. No matter how closely we inspect
our own lives and the world around us, it is still difficult
(07:18):
to totally understand what a self sovereign world truly means
for me. Even at the very most, I will
only ever be an immigrant to it.The populism of the current
political moment may be convenient to Bitcoin, we may
play along with it. But let's remember, in just 16
short years Bitcoin went from anunknown open source project on
(07:39):
an Internet mailing list to being arguably one of the most
important political economic topics of our time, entertained
at the highest levels by presidents and kings of the old
world. But still, here we are, a
relatively small group of peopleat this venue in Queenstown at
the bottom of the world. It seems like what I am saying
(08:01):
may be far fetched. Surely the age of the nation
state cannot be over yet. I do think that the smaller and
more nimble countries such as New Zealand and Australia may
hold on to the myth of the nation longer than others.
But in the scheme of things, thestates that wield real kinetic
power are the ones that are fragmenting before our eyes.
(08:23):
In my travels I have come to realize it is not that the West
is in decline and that China is rising, and it's not that we are
seeing some great power shift inempires between Europe, Asia and
the United States. No, all legacy states are
equally withering under the burden of printed money and
perverse incentives from the extractive professional
(08:44):
politicians and the cantillionaires.
There is nothing new under the sun.
The same sun that shone on the Roman Empire and all that came
before and since. It is all theatre.
The fact that we are all here today talking about the new
technological order of Bitcoin, a new kind of monetary system.
The fact that the most powerful people in the world are uttering
(09:07):
the words Bitcoin says to me that it is simply a matter of
time. As the cyberpunk author William
Gibson once said, the future is already here, it is just not
evenly distributed. So let's be real, things may get
crazy out there in the world. More and more people will come
to know the freedoms and boundless opportunities
(09:29):
available to them in this post nation state world, in this
Bitcoin world. But along with all of this there
is another if word that comes up, Fear.
The changes we see coming will not be welcomed by everyone.
They will ask who caused this downturn in Fiat money and the
ways of old? Who should we turn to to protect
(09:52):
us to redistribute the unfairly acquired value?
Why is my paper money no longer worth anything at all?
Bitcoin is a technological solution downstream of which is
a social revolution. We are here already 1 foot in
that new world, a peaceful and conscientious world of
consenting people coming together because they want to be
(10:13):
together. But the vast majority of people
are still not in this world. And as we have come to know, in
times of crisis, people form a mass that is easily manipulated,
that reduces complex new individuals into a mere body in
a crowd. A crowd of fear, uncertainty and
doubt. So what I wish to leave you with
(10:33):
as we enter into this exciting new era, let us remember the
freedom we have here today to laugh and share with friends and
family. Many of you have brought your
family here. Many of you have made new
friends here. And I just want to remember
that. Because as we enter this new
world, there will be many thingsthat look familiar, but there
will be a whole lot that looks different.
And many people will not be ready for this.
(10:54):
There are some incredible educators here today who we will
hear from and they'll be sharingways that everyone can
participate in this new future. So let's continue with that
spirit of education and innovation with Bitcoin.
And let us also remember our neighbors and the peaceful
relations between people, the beauty of friendship and family
and fellowship and all that is good.
(11:16):
Thank you very much. So thank you, Cody.
All right welcome everybody to bit Kiwi 12.
I'm Paul from bit Kiwi and orange shirt Dan from bit Kiwi
over there. So we put it together today for
you thanks for coming everyone really appreciate the turnout.
It's amazing really. I we know a lot of people have
(00:20):
travelled from all over. I do know these people here have
travelled from Japan, Australia,Auckland, Todonga, Raglan,
Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch, Dunedin.
So thank you for supporting the event and coming all this way.
It's fantastic. Huge thanks to our supporters
and helpers, Gary and Amanda andthe Wheelbar team.
(00:41):
It's best venue out of our back Kiwis.
Thank you and then a couple of mini shout outs from a couple of
people who have helped us a lot and help support our event from
the beginning. Z on the desk at the bat and his
wife Margaret have really helpedus with things.
(01:02):
Huge shout out to the Legend Kiwi Lamb everything he does
with us. Legend.
Also, James and Tip, thank you for your support and Cody has
been there all the way through Legend.
I mean, anyone else I've forgotten out of there?
So many people who helped us. Thank you.
So a couple of little things. Obviously most of you may know
(01:23):
already, you can't pay with setsat the bar.
Get into it. Z is running a little bit of a
desk down the back with a wee bit of merchandise and different
things. Again, sets.
So not a good day to be spendingsome sets, but good for others
perhaps. Enjoy those, Gary.
And yeah, we've got a, A, a great range of speakers.
(01:45):
We've got 5 awesome speakers, quite sort of diverse topics.
It should be a mixture of interesting, helpful.
Yeah. We really hope you enjoy it.
So without further ado, we'll get into our first speaker, Mr.
Cody Ellingham from the Transformation of Valium.
Pop guys, thank you. Thank you, Paul.
(02:07):
All righty. Hello everyone.
I am Cody Ellingham, I'm host ofthe Transformation of Value
podcast. I want to just take a moment to
reflect on how awesome it is that we are all here in this
place, this peaceful, non coercive assimilation of people
coming from many parts of the world to join us here in
(02:30):
Queenstown. I mean, isn't this amazing guys?
I mean, let's just give a round of applause for bringing
everyone together. Now, I know there are many more
people out there as well who couldn't be here in person.
There's a much wider network of Bitcoin and freedom lovers in
New Zealand and of course, the world.
And now the world is changing and that's something I want to
(02:53):
talk about today. As many of you may know, I am
based in Asia, I live in Japan. And it comforts me in a way to
return to New Zealand, which in many ways seems to be a place
that doesn't quite change as fast as the rest of the world.
But without a doubt, the world and New Zealand is changing.
(03:14):
We are entering into the era of the sovereign individual.
Many of you may be familiar withthe book by this title, The
Sovereign Individual Mastering the Transition to the
Information Age, published in 1997.
Its thesis lays out a vision fora world constructed not around
democratic nation state governments, but around
(03:35):
volunteer sovereign individuals working together in sovereign
communities. Much like what we have here
amongst us today, politics is always downstream of technology.
Gunpowder, the printing press and the personal computer all
changed and influenced the nature of political systems in
(03:57):
ways that today Bitcoin is doingthe exact same thing.
The separation of money and state is something that was not
able to be seriously considered prior to Bitcoin.
It was an idea that was thinkable, but it had no form
through which to actualise it. However, now that there is a
way, I believe it is inevitable.The cat is out of bag.
(04:21):
Bitcoin separates money and state.
It does not enforce fiscal and monetary discipline through laws
and central bank mandates which can be bypassed in times of
emergency or changed according to the political winds of the
day. No, Bitcoin instead is non state
money secured by mathematics andcryptography in a way that is
(04:45):
open source and transparent. This new technological nature of
money at the very base of society change is all that is
built upon it in ways we can only imagine, and likely in ways
that we cannot imagine. Clearly, the government is not
in the room with us today, yet the state still lays claim to
(05:08):
what we produce here, to the value exchanged between us.
Somehow it takes credit for our innovation and entrepreneurship
that is so abundant amongst us thinkers and builders.
Bitcoin enables innovation and businesses to flourish without
the bloat of the legacy government and banking cartel
system. Bitcoin is a technology that is
(05:31):
available to everyone and for meit is the epitome of a
particular word and F word freedom.
But make bonus. But make no mistake though,
freedom is available to anyone that takes the time to learn a
thing or two. Freedom is not wanted by
everyone. It is a gift horse, yet many
(05:51):
look it in the mouth. As we witness the slow and
inevitable decline and unwindingof the democratic nation state
system and its governments and institutions, there will be
those who cling to the myth evenmore.
So let me ask you, when was the last time you thought about the
Roman Empire? The Roman Empire is generally
(06:13):
understood to have ended in 476 AD when the last emperor,
Romulus Augustalus, was deposed.The Visigoth Barbarians took
power. But what I find fascinating is
that some people at the time didnot realise it had ended until
years or even centuries later. Has the era of the nation state
government as we know it alreadyended and we simply have not
(06:35):
realised it yet? And the most powerful countries
in the world, the executive branch of governments, have
become de facto monarchs. The concept of the deep state is
something that has entered everyday conversations.
There is something in the air right now in the world.
Can't you sense it? Can you smell it?
There is a kind of feedback loopwhere the more we look into what
(06:56):
the state truly is, the more we see that only a shell of the
illusion remains. All of us here were born into
the bondage of the nation state.We all have birth certificates,
passports, tax numbers, the artefacts and paraphernalia of
the Nation State Project. No matter how closely we inspect
our own lives and the world around us, it is still difficult
(07:18):
to totally understand what a self sovereign world truly means
for me. Even at the very most, I will
only ever be an immigrant to it.The populism of the current
political moment may be convenient to Bitcoin, we may
play along with it. But let's remember, in just 16
short years Bitcoin went from anunknown open source project on
(07:39):
an Internet mailing list to being arguably one of the most
important political economic topics of our time, entertained
at the highest levels by presidents and kings of the old
world. But still, here we are, a
relatively small group of peopleat this venue in Queenstown at
the bottom of the world. It seems like what I am saying
(08:01):
may be far fetched. Surely the age of the nation
state cannot be over yet. I do think that the smaller and
more nimble countries such as New Zealand and Australia may
hold on to the myth of the nation longer than others.
But in the scheme of things, thestates that wield real kinetic
power are the ones that are fragmenting before our eyes.
(08:23):
In my travels I have come to realize it is not that the West
is in decline and that China is rising, and it's not that we are
seeing some great power shift inempires between Europe, Asia and
the United States. No, all legacy states are
equally withering under the burden of printed money and
perverse incentives from the extractive professional
(08:44):
politicians and the cantillionaires.
There is nothing new under the sun.
The same sun that shone on the Roman Empire and all that came
before and since. It is all theatre.
The fact that we are all here today talking about the new
technological order of Bitcoin, a new kind of monetary system.
The fact that the most powerful people in the world are uttering
(09:07):
the words Bitcoin says to me that it is simply a matter of
time. As the cyberpunk author William
Gibson once said, the future is already here, it is just not
evenly distributed. So let's be real, things may get
crazy out there in the world. More and more people will come
to know the freedoms and boundless opportunities
(09:29):
available to them in this post nation state world, in this
Bitcoin world. But along with all of this there
is another if word that comes up, Fear.
The changes we see coming will not be welcomed by everyone.
They will ask who caused this downturn in Fiat money and the
ways of old? Who should we turn to to protect
(09:52):
us to redistribute the unfairly acquired value?
Why is my paper money no longer worth anything at all?
Bitcoin is a technological solution downstream of which is
a social revolution. We are here already 1 foot in
that new world, a peaceful and conscientious world of
consenting people coming together because they want to be
(10:13):
together. But the vast majority of people
are still not in this world. And as we have come to know, in
times of crisis, people form a mass that is easily manipulated,
that reduces complex new individuals into a mere body in
a crowd. A crowd of fear, uncertainty and
doubt. So what I wish to leave you with
(10:33):
as we enter into this exciting new era, let us remember the
freedom we have here today to laugh and share with friends and
family. Many of you have brought your
family here. Many of you have made new
friends here. And I just want to remember
that. Because as we enter this new
world, there will be many thingsthat look familiar, but there
will be a whole lot that looks different.
And many people will not be ready for this.
(10:54):
There are some incredible educators here today who we will
hear from and they'll be sharingways that everyone can
participate in this new future. So let's continue with that
spirit of education and innovation with Bitcoin.
And let us also remember our neighbors and the peaceful
relations between people, the beauty of friendship and family
and fellowship and all that is good.
(11:16):
Thank you very much. So thank you, Cody.
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