Watch These 40 Mins If You Want To Be Financially Free In 6 Months.

Summary

The speaker at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas discusses the importance of being a sovereign individual in the face of growing authoritarianism and monetary debasement. They explore the concept of financial sovereignty and the need for a medium of exchange that is not subject to the trust issues inherent in traditional banking and fiat currencies. The presentation advocates for Bitcoin as a solution, highlighting its attributes as a decentralized, borderless, and trustless store of value that could potentially disrupt the current international monetary order.

Takeaways

• 🌍 The speaker emphasizes the importance of being a sovereign individual in the context of growing authoritarianism and monetary debasement worldwide.
• 🏦 There is a noted increase in authoritarian measures globally, including in democratic nations like the United States, with potential threats to individual freedoms and financial sovereignty.
• 💔 The trust in traditional financial systems is eroding due to historical instances of government overreach and seizure of assets, such as the recent freezing of Russian assets.
• 📉 The endless debasement of currency by governments is leading to a decrease in purchasing power, making it harder for individuals to maintain their wealth and financial independence.
• 📈 The speaker suggests that the trend of authoritarianism and debasement is likely to continue, indicating a need for individuals to protect themselves through financial sovereignty.
• 💡 The concept of financial sovereignty is tied to the freedom to transact, which underpins all other freedoms, such as assembly and speech.
• 🔑 The speaker critiques traditional methods of securing assets like gold and cash, highlighting the counterparty risk and the impracticality in the digital age.
• 🔐 The script discusses the evolution of money, from physical collectibles to digital currencies, emphasizing the need for attributes like portability, divisibility, and durability.
• 🚀 The presentation suggests that Bitcoin represents a digital revolution in money, offering a trustless, permissionless, and decentralized system that could be the future of financial sovereignty.
• 🔮 Looking at Bitcoin's potential future value, the speaker considers it as a new store of value that could pull a significant market share from traditional assets like gold, real estate, and stocks.
• 🕰 The script concludes by suggesting that we are still in the early stages of Bitcoin's adoption and that it might be a prudent investment, echoing Satoshi Nakamoto's advice to 'get some in case it catches on.'

Q & A

What is the main theme of the presentation at Freedom Fest?

The main theme of the presentation is the concept of being a sovereign individual in the context of the growing trends of authoritarianism and monetary debasement, and how to achieve financial sovereignty.

What does the speaker mean by 'sovereign individual'?

A 'sovereign individual' is someone who has the ability to direct their life as they see fit, without being coerced or controlled by others, making their own choices rather than having someone else's choices imposed upon them.

What are the two growing trends mentioned in the world today that threaten freedom?

The two growing trends mentioned are the rapid increase of authoritarianism across the world and the endless debasement of currency by governments, which undermines the value of money and the ability to preserve wealth.

Why is the rate of debasement a concern for individuals?

The rate of debasement is a concern because it erodes the purchasing power of money, meaning that even if one's income or savings increase, their ability to buy goods and services may not improve if the cost of living increases at a faster rate due to inflation.

What is the significance of the year 1971 in the context of this presentation?

The year 1971 is significant because it marks the year the United States abandoned the gold standard, which the speaker believes led to an acceleration in monetary debasement and inflation.

What is the 'hurdle rate' mentioned in the script, and why is it important?

The 'hurdle rate' is the minimum rate of return that an investment must earn to cover the cost of the capital used to finance that investment. It's important because it represents the real benchmark for evaluating the performance of an investment, taking into account the debasement of currency.

What is the connection between financial sovereignty and the freedom to transact?

Financial sovereignty is intrinsically linked to the freedom to transact because without the ability to freely exchange goods, services, and ideas, other freedoms such as speech and assembly become meaningless or difficult to exercise.

Why does the speaker argue that having physical assets like gold and cash might not be enough for true financial sovereignty?

The speaker argues that physical assets like gold and cash still carry counterparty risk and may not be portable or easily accessible in all situations, which can limit one's financial sovereignty.

What is the 'trust bug' mentioned in the script, and how does it relate to the current financial system?

The 'trust bug' refers to the inherent trust issues in the financial system that arise from the use of ledgers and debt instruments instead of physical assets like gold. This trust is fragile and has been repeatedly broken, leading to a loss of confidence in the system.

What are the key attributes that the speaker believes a good form of money should have?

According to the speaker, a good form of money should be durable, portable, divisible, have intrinsic value, be fungible, scarce, and easily salable.

What is the potential future of the international monetary order according to the speaker?

The speaker suggests that the international monetary order may be moving towards an end, with the potential for a shift away from fiat currencies to commodity-backed currencies or a new form of digital currency that is decentralized, trustless, and borderless.

Outlines

00:00

🗣️ Freedom and Sovereignty at the Heart of the Presentation

The speaker addresses the audience at Freedom Fest, emphasizing the importance of the event's theme and the concept of being a sovereign individual. They introduce the idea of personal sovereignty as the ability to direct one's life without coercion, using the example of being told what to do, such as taking a vaccine or losing a job. The speaker also highlights the two growing global trends of authoritarianism and currency debasement, suggesting that these issues are interconnected and will continue, impacting individual freedoms and financial stability.

05:01

📊 The Rising Tide of Authoritarianism and Currency Debasement

This paragraph delves into the concerning trends of increasing authoritarianism worldwide and the continuous debasement of currency, particularly in the United States. The speaker presents data showing a decline in democracy and an increase in partly free or not free living conditions globally. They discuss the technical definition of hyperinflation and the impact of currency debasement on the value of money, using the example of the hurdle rate for businesses and the diminishing purchasing power of savings.

10:03

🏦 Financial Sovereignty and the Illusion of Asset Control

The speaker discusses the concept of financial sovereignty and the importance of the freedom to transact. They critique common advice for achieving financial sovereignty, such as buying a safe, keeping physical cash, and investing in gold and silver, by pointing out the inherent counterparty risks in all assets. The paragraph highlights the shift from physical stock certificates to a debt-based system where assets are technically owed to individuals rather than being in their possession, leading to potential risks and lack of control.

15:03

💰 The Evolution of Money and the Attributes of a Good Currency

In this paragraph, the speaker explores the evolution of money from collectibles to a medium of exchange and a unit of account. They discuss the attributes that make something a good form of money, such as durability, portability, divisibility, and intrinsic value. The speaker contrasts the historical use of gold as a form of money with the challenges it faces in the information age, particularly its lack of portability and the trust issues associated with ledger systems.

20:04

📚 The Ledger's Impact on Trust and the Fragility of Financial Systems

The speaker explains how the introduction of the ledger in 1500 revolutionized trade by allowing for the tracking of assets like gold without physical movement, thus increasing the velocity of money. However, this advancement introduced a trust bug, as it created debt on top of assets and relied on the fragile concept of trust. The paragraph provides historical examples of trust being broken, such as the suspension of gold convertibility in England and the 1933 U.S. gold seizure, illustrating the recurring theme of trust betrayal in financial systems.

25:06

🌐 The International Monetary Order and the Shift Towards Commodity Money

This paragraph discusses the current state of the international monetary system, highlighting the move by nations like Saudi Arabia and China towards commodity money due to the loss of trust in fiat currencies. The speaker explains the historical context of the Bretton Woods agreement and the subsequent move to a purely fiat system in 1971. They predict a shift back to commodity money, as evidenced by central banks becoming net buyers of gold and sellers of treasuries, signaling a lack of trust in the current monetary system.

30:07

🔄 The Incompatibility of Gold Standard with Modern Transaction Needs

The speaker argues against a return to the gold standard, pointing out that gold's lack of portability makes it incompatible with the fast-paced transactions of the information age. They explain the mechanics of how a gold standard would work, using current gold reserves and money supply to calculate a new gold price that would be significantly higher than the market rate. The paragraph emphasizes the need for a medium of exchange that can keep up with the velocity of modern commerce.

35:08

🌐 The Need for a Borderless, Trustless, and Decentralized Currency

The speaker identifies the need for a currency that is borderless, trustless, and decentralized, in response to the problems of inflation, lack of transparency, and the permission-based system of traditional banking. They highlight the challenges of global trade and the exclusion of billions of unbanked adults due to the current system's requirements. The paragraph advocates for a digital revolution in currency, one that is accessible, transparent, and free from centralized control.

40:08

🚀 Bitcoin's Potential and the Future of Value Storage

In the final paragraph, the speaker discusses Bitcoin's potential as a new store of value that could disrupt traditional forms of value storage like gold, real estate, and stocks. They use a venture capitalist's perspective to estimate the potential market share Bitcoin could capture from these assets. The speaker also addresses the concern of being too late to invest in Bitcoin, suggesting that the technology is still in its early stages of adoption and has significant growth potential.

💡 Satoshi Nakamoto's Vision and the Catching On of Bitcoin

The speaker concludes with a quote from Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, encouraging the audience to consider getting involved with Bitcoin in case it becomes widely adopted. This final note serves as a reminder of the potential impact Bitcoin could have and the importance of being open to new technologies that may redefine value storage and transaction methods.

Keywords

💡Sovereign Individual

A 'Sovereign Individual' refers to someone who has the autonomy to direct their life as they see fit, without being coerced by others' choices or control. In the video, this concept is central to the discussion on personal freedom and the ability to make independent decisions, especially in the context of an increasingly authoritarian global trend.

💡Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is a form of governance characterized by strict, often centralized, control over citizens' lives with limited political freedoms. The script discusses the alarming rise of authoritarianism worldwide, including in the United States, and its threat to individual freedoms and democracy.

💡Monetary Debasement

Monetary debasement occurs when the value of currency is reduced, often due to excessive printing of money by governments. The video highlights the issue of endless debasement, explaining how it erodes purchasing power and contributes to inflation, which affects individuals' financial well-being and economic stability.

💡Hurdle Rate

In the context of the video, the 'hurdle rate' is the minimum return that an investment must earn to cover the cost of the capital it uses. It is used to illustrate how the rate of monetary debasement sets a new benchmark for returns that individuals and businesses must meet to maintain their wealth's value.

💡Financial Sovereignty

Financial sovereignty is the concept of having full control over one's financial assets and transactions without reliance on or interference by external authorities. The script emphasizes its importance for achieving true freedom and autonomy in one's life, especially in an era of increasing government control and currency devaluation.

💡Collectibles

Collectibles in the video refer to rare items such as art, watches, and classic cars that are often used as a store of value by wealthy individuals. The script discusses how these assets, while not ideal for everyday transactions, represent an alternative form of wealth storage outside of traditional financial systems.

💡Counterparty Risk

Counterparty risk is the risk that the other party in a financial transaction may default on its obligations. The video explains how various forms of assets, including bank deposits and safety deposit boxes, involve counterparty risk, as they rely on third parties to secure and honor the assets.

💡Velocity of Money

The 'velocity of money' measures how quickly money changes hands within an economy. The script discusses how the introduction of ledgers and accounting practices increased the velocity of money by facilitating faster transactions, but at the cost of introducing trust issues and debt.

💡Fiat Currency

Fiat currency is a government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold, but rather by the government that issued it. The video critiques the current global reliance on fiat currencies and the trust issues that have arisen due to their devaluation and mismanagement.

💡Debasement

Debasement, in the context of the video, refers to the act of reducing the quality or value of something, particularly currency. It is used to describe the continuous decrease in the value of money due to excessive printing by governments, leading to inflation and loss of purchasing power.

💡Digital Revolution

The 'digital revolution' in the video refers to the transformative impact of digital technologies, particularly Bitcoin, on the financial system. It highlights how digital currencies offer a trustless, decentralized, and permissionless alternative to traditional financial systems, potentially revolutionizing how value is stored and transferred.

Highlights

The importance of being a sovereign individual in the context of the Freedom Fest discussion.

The concept of sovereignty as the ability to direct one's life without coercion.

Two growing global trends: the rise of authoritarianism and the endless debasement of currency.

The technical definition of hyperinflation and its relevance to the current economic climate.

The impact of monetary debasement on personal wealth and the concept of a 'hurdle rate'.

Global data on democratic decline and its correlation with authoritarianism.

The acceleration of debt accumulation in the U.S. and its comparison to the gold standard era.

The idea of financial sovereignty as a prerequisite for all other freedoms.

The limitations of traditional assets like gold and real estate in terms of portability and counterparty risk.

The evolution of money from physical collectibles to a medium of exchange and a unit of account.

The attributes required for an effective medium of exchange in the information age.

The historical shift from physical money to ledger-based accounting and its implications.

The trust issues inherent in ledger-based financial systems and the potential for a 'trust bug'.

The potential for a new financial system that is trustless, permissionless, and decentralized.

The role of Bitcoin as a potential solution to the problems of trust and centralization in finance.

The future value potential of Bitcoin and its competition with traditional stores of value.

The message from Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, encouraging early adoption.

Transcripts

I gave this as a a presentation to a

live audience at the freedom Fest in Las

Vegas but you get to watch it without

having to buy a ticket without having to

travel so let's go all right let's get

this thing warmed up thanks for coming

in appreciate it everybody coming I

appreciate everyone coming to the event

first of all Freedom Fest it's pretty

important topic I would ask if you guys

like freedom but of course you do we're

all here so uh appreciate you guys

coming it's my third year I've been at

Freedom Fest and uh again it's such an

important topic I love coming appreciate

all of you taking the time and uh

wandering into this little room over

here to hear me talk I'm going to talk

about something today that I think

should be super important to each one of

you here at the freedom Fest and that is

being a sovereign

individual and I was going to talk about

uh the end of the international monetary

order don't worry we're going to still

going to bring that in there but I want

to talk about being a true sovereign

individual and the way that I think

about sovereignty is being able to

direct my life

as I see

fit how many like being told what to do

when that's not what you want to do you

know when you're coerced like you know

take the jab or quit your job right

where either one of those choices leads

to somebody else's end so for me being

Sovereign is being able to not be not

have freedom of choice that are someone

else's choices but my own choices and so

I want to talk about how we can do that

today and actually what I'm calling the

final piece to that so I think it's a

pretty big topic should be pretty fun

now there's two growing trends that we

have in the world today and I'm guessing

each one of you see them because you're

here at the freedom Fest and the two

Trends are one unfortunately an alarming

and a rapid rate of increase of

authoritarianism all across the

world it's a trend and it's trending the

wrong way we're seeing this in Nations

all over the world and even here in the

United States the land of the free um a

democratically uh State supposedly I

know a republic but uh in this

Democratic state where you're supposed

to be able to vote for your leaders your

representatives to rise to power and

here we might see an installed person

taking Biden's place and become like

more of a dictator they're preaching to

save democracy at the same time

subverting it and this is in the land of

the free of course across the world

we're seeing authoritarian

authoritarianism rise faster and faster

and faster and that's a problem on the

other end of that we have another

driving force a growing Trend and that's

this endless debasement and the problem

is that no matter how fast you can make

money no matter how much value you're

providing to the world you're working

against the tide and the tide is that

governments want to continue to print

more money to fund any number of

programs that they have and of course

again back to the land of the free we're

at the same rate in other countries

Argentina Venezuela Lebanon Peru turkey

Etc you see it happening at a very rapid

rate the the technical definition of

hyperinflation would be 50% increase

month over month or 50% inflation month

over month inflating against

what the dollar inflating its gold and

so we're seeing this endless debasement

but even here in the United States I

mean Argentina Venezuela sure triple

digit inflation but even in the United

States over the last four years the

monetary

debasement has been 10% since

2019 and what does that mean for you

well that's what we call a hurdle rate

so a hurdle rate is if you have a

business you want to borrow money for

your business let's say at 8% the hurdle

rate is now 8% I have to make more than

8% to offset the interest I have to pay

on the debt and so what each one of you

or most people are thinking about is

inflation CPI oh it's 3.3 3.5% no no no

the hurdle rate is the rate of

debasement and so if it's at averaging

10% you need to be making more than that

and so we have these two issues and

again this is even a Land of the Free

it's not so bad now the question I would

ask you is

do you think

authoritarianism and debasement continue

is that a trend that will continue or

does that magically go away it probably

continues so let's talk about how we can

protect oursel from those two Tides now

there's been a numerous studies that

have been done I have a couple charts

here on the screen and we can see uh 16

years of democratic decline right this

is globally we can see this and this is

of course at the time when the United

States is exporting democracy to the

rest of the world world but yet it

continues to be in Decline so it's not

just a feeling that we have it's

actually happening we can measure it we

can gauge it here we can see that eight

out of 10 people are now living in a

partly free or a not free

world we can see the data is showing

this exactly this right here partly free

I'm not even sure what that means we're

we're either free or we're not but yet

this is the world that we're living in

and so we can see that the debasement is

continuing at a rapid rate as a matter

of fact the trillion dollar conundrum

since the founding of the United States

it took until the

1980s before the US government had

racked up $1 trillion in

debt from inception until 1980 currently

this slide is actually a little out of

date here currently we're adding about

$1 trillion of debt to the US government

every 90 days every quarter and even

that is understated the goal so every

single time the government puts out the

treasury puts out what their funding

requirements are for the year they

revise them later and it's going faster

and faster and faster and I put here

does this see if this laser pointer

works I put these red lines here just so

you can see the trend so right here is

this vertical red line that's 1971

anybody know what year that was the

significance of that right that's the

year we got off the gold standard and so

you can see that this red trend line was

tracking pretty horizontal right here

but right around 1970 you can see this

trend line started taking off and so you

can see the rate of debasement is

accelerating right it's going faster and

faster and faster right here around

2,000 the Doom crash it took a whole

another turn up right here 2008 it took

another turn up here 2020 it's taking

another turn up and we're almost going

straight up how much faster could this

rated of De basement be and again this

is in America this is where it's not

even that bad and this is a global

situation that we're dealing with we can

see that the whole world is dealing with

this situation at the exact same time

and a lot of people get caught off sides

by this because they look at the United

States look at the Federal Reserve of

course we have the dollar system and so

they say well the FED is tightening the

monetary Supply they're trying to slow

down inflation but the rest of the world

is not so we have to be paying attention

we can see right here the world's major

central banks we don't have to pay

attention to all 160 of them but at

least the major central banks which

would be the ECB European Central Bank

the boj the bank of Japan the pboc China

central bank and of course the Federal

Reserve and we can see that they're all

rapidly debasing the currency as fast as

they can and look nothing ever goes up

or down in a straight line so we can see

that they zigzagged here but we can see

the direction and the trend that we're

on so this is a major problem for us

it's the reason why even though you look

at your retirement accounts and you look

at your 401k you look at your mutual

funds and the valuation went way up but

you don't feel more

Rich it's why on paper you should be

more wealthy but you don't feel it and

it's because this rapid rate of

debasement is contining stealing the

power the purchasing power from those

currency units in your bank account even

though the money is still there it just

doesn't get you as much as it used to

now again bringing this back to home

here we are at the freedom Fest and

we're talking about sovereignty but I

want to talk about spe specifically

Financial sovereignty and the reason why

we bring it back to financial

sovereignty um I was speaking to

Congressman Tom Massie yesterday and he

asked me hey Mark just tell me one

reason why people should care about

Bitcoin and this is something I would

typically hear someone says uh explain

Bitcoin to me like I'm 5 years old and

in two minutes and I'm like I I can't

like a 5-year-old just won't get it but

he said boil it down to one statement

and I said the reason why Financial

sovereignty the reason why is because

all Freedom sits at the ability to

transact the freedom to transact if we

don't have freedom to transact then we

have no other freedoms let me give you

an example in the United States we have

this wonderful document called the

Constitution it's being disregarded but

hopefully we'll get that restored at

some point but we have this Constitution

that guarantees our freedoms for example

freedom of

assembly however if I don't have the

freedom to transact how do I put gas in

my truck to drive to the assembly how do

I pay for a hotel room when I get to the

assembly how do I get food when I go to

the assembly and so if I can't transact

I can't go assemble we have guaranteed

the freedom of speech but in today's day

and age of the information age if I

can't pay to get a computer to get on

the Internet or a phone how do I have

any speech and so at the underpinning of

all Freedom comes the ability to

transact which of course they understand

that which is why they want to take that

away now um there's a newspaper or a a a

website and a newsletter called

Sovereign man and I pulled this off of

their website Sovereign man and these

are some steps that they would recommend

for each one of you to become a little

bit more Sovereign to get more freedom

in your life and you walk around this

show floor out here there's no shortage

of people out here offering you types of

solutions for this as well a lot of gold

dealers are out here and these are some

of the steps that we'd see directly off

of The Sovereign man this is a shift

Sovereign and so they said hey number

one we should go online and you should

buy a

safe okay why would I want to have a

safe well that way I could have assets

in my control that I could keep them at

my location in my custody and I could

try to keep them safe cool I should get

some physical

cash and I should probably put that

physical cash in the safe and then I

should buy some gold and silver

coins that's how we get more freedom

right now with three steps and the and

the thought process behind this is that

well if I have custody if I have control

of these assets then nobody else does

that would be what we call counterparty

risk if I leave my cash in the banks

then my money could be at risk in the

banks if I leave my gold in a safety

deposit box that gold could be at risk

but if we if we take a step back and

think what is it that we're really

trying to do

here what is it that we're really trying

to do well as I said right we're trying

to take custody we're trying to remove

that counterparty risk well we have to

understand that all of our assets

actually have this all of our assets

actually have counterparty risk so what

am I talking about well we can see this

across so let's just start on the right

Financial assets there was a world maybe

some of you remember this world where

like stock certificates actually used to

be physical certificates and you

actually used to have that physical

certificate today you're not allowed to

own stocks anymore do you guys know that

you think you own stocks you might have

Tesla Apple Google in your account but

technically you don't own that legally

that stock is owed to you it's a big

deal it's a big difference anybody heard

of that book The Great taking I've asked

about that recently nobody here it's

pretty interesting at this conversation

usually this conference people ask me

about that but in the great taking he he

basically breaks this process down but

we don't have this instrument the stock

certificate anymore now it's owed to me

we're in a debt-based system a

debt-based economy and so if that broker

doesn't want to give me that stock I

don't get it the same as the money in

the bank the money in your bank is no

longer your money in the bank that money

in the bank is now owed to you and again

usually it's not that big of a deal but

legally it is if something were to

happen to that bank and it's also a

problem when that bank doesn't want to

allow you to even access your own

money I gave a talk in another room

yesterday so I won't go back through the

whole process some of you are here but

currently I'm in the process of raising

money we have a publicly traded company

we're launching it's licensed it's

regulated it's launching on the Toronto

Stock Exchange and we're raising money

and one of the one of our investors in

the company is banking with Fidelity and

he's trying to wire money from his

Fidelity account into our company into a

regulated public ID entity and Fidelity

told him

no they said well we don't know what

this money is for can you give us him

any information he pulled up a website

well we don't see what this is really

for okay we need to understand who these

people are how do you know them he went

through this whole process multiple um

levels of authorization and he said

finally look hey I need to get this

through the deadline's coming and they

said we don't see it's going to be

possible for us to send that money for

you his own money in his own bank and it

happens every day people get their bank

accounts shut down my Dr Joe Marcola

probably a lot of you know who he is not

only were his bank accounts shut down

the people that worked for him his bank

accounts were shut down and even their

family members bank's accounts were shut

down so we see that happens all the time

uh real estate same thing counterparty

risk of course you own your house

hypothetically just don't stop paying

your property taxes we can see what

happens with that as well as a house

isn't really very portable and then of

course gold now for the most part we can

have a few ounces of gold in our home

safe any more than that it's probably

going to need to go into a Vault

somewhere and that's a big problem

because once I put that gold in a vault

again it's no longer in my custody and

I've now introduced counterparty risk

now I kind of set the stage to

understand where we're at in this

society today where we are under this

threat of authoritarianism that want to

tell us what to do and we have this

rapid debasement some solutions would

tell me that I should get a safe I

should get some cash I get some gold and

I should hold it but the problem is if

we step back and go what is the actual

problem we're trying to solve we might

see there's another solution so what I

want to do is just run quickly through

here what is even money and a lot of

people think they understand what money

is because we all use it we all depend

on it and everything that we do have in

our society is denominated in dollars

it's in money but if we think about

money specifically I like to say that

nobody wants

money I said this at lunch just now

earlier and they said what do you mean

nobody wants money we don't want money

we want the things that money buys us we

want the goods and services that money

buys us we don't want the money itself

it's just a placeholder until we're

ready to deploy

that and if we understand that then we

can understand that it's sort of a

medium of exchange it communicates value

it's a way that I can trade that money

that good for something that I want and

when we understand that we can see that

throughout thousands of years of History

we've had all different types of money

and money is a natural and emergent

process and so we've had rocks we've had

feathers we've had seashells and of

course we've settled on gold and gold

has been that form of money for now

5,000 years what we can see is that it's

this emergent it's this evolutionary

process and so it sort of looks like

this it starts down here at the bottom

as a as a as a

collectible oh look at this rock this is

a pretty rare rock this is pretty cool

maybe I'll collect it look at this

feather it's pretty rare look at this um

painting whatever it's a collectible now

if this

collectible is able to make this next

evolutionary step this next emergent

step it could become just the random

rock or a feather and it could become a

store of value and so we see today many

of the rich people billionaires Etc they

store their wealth in Collectibles today

Fine Art watches old cars things like

that and so we see a lot of wealth about

I believe $6 trillion dollar is parked

just in those collectible assets right

now in the world today but here's where

we get to the next step maybe if

sometimes if there's a collectible that

becomes a good enough store of value it

could potentially maybe emerge to the

next final step which is a medium of

exchange and we can start to use that

collectible that store value to exchange

for other goods and

services if it has the right attributes

we're going to come back to this in a

second and then maybe potentially if it

was a medium of exchange it could move

to the final step which would be called

a unit of account right and so this is

how we've seen things and of course the

dollars were based off of a unit of

account of a measure of gold obviously

the pound sterling talked about a pound

of sterling silver um just a month ago

in Russia President Putin had a meeting

the St Petersburg um economic Forum

which is their counter to the world

economic forum and they introduced at

that meeting a month ago that they are

going to launch their own brics currency

we've been talking hearing about it for

years they finally announced it and

they're going to call this new currency

it's going to be called the unit and

that unit will be backed by 40% by a

weight of gold not a dollar amount of

gold but a weight of gold and 60% to a

basket of currencies but again it

becomes a unit of account that's the

that's the U final stage but only if it

has the right attributes this is another

page that I had taken from uh Peter

Schiff off of his website and this goes

back all the way to I believe Socrates

but in order to have a good money that

becomes a medium exchange it has to have

the right attributes otherwise it stays

a collectible it never makes the mer the

emergent step which would be it needs to

be durable portable divisible it needs

to have intrinsic value fungible

scarcity salability Etc so for example

it needs to be durable bananas would be

a horrible form of money they go bad in

about seven days on your countertop they

need to be

portable they need to be divisible so

like a Mona Lisa works as a store of

value it's gone up in value but it's not

a good me of exchange because I can't

divide that monol Lisa down it needs to

be

um fungible one unit has to be worth one

unit if I cut up a cow maybe the ribeye

is worth more than the

liver right so it needs to be all of

these things in order to actually be

good

money and the problem is that most

things don't make money because the

world has changed if some of you maybe

haven't realized that we've gone from

what was known as the Industrial Age

into now what's known as the information

Age and what we used for money for 5,000

years which has been gold gold is

natural money fat is fake what we used

as money what has emerged as the best

form of money because it met the best

attributes it was the most scarce the

most fungible divisible portable durable

Etc the problem is it's just not very

portable not in the information age

today and the reason why is because

things change and what changed

specifically well

starting in about

1500 the world started to expand at a

pretty rapid rate and it and it expanded

through a rapid rate through something

known as globalization or global trade

you grow the food I'll make the clothes

and we'll just trade and trade started

expanding across the world across the

seas we had the Silk Road before that

Etc but the problem is that again gold

is not very portable so if I want to

trade with somebody in the Far East or

in the Middle East or something like

that how do I pay them well I have to

get a whole bunch of gold which is

really heavy and I have to transport it

across the seas hopefully my ship

doesn't sink and I don't lose all the

gold which of course happens hopefully

the Pirates don't steal all my gold

hopefully I can get the gold across the

continent under hostile territory and I

don't get it taken from me and so it

became a very big problem that we had

now of course problems create Solutions

that's the way the world is supposed to

work we're all supposed to be looking

for problems and finding solutions for

that and so we came up with a problem um

in 1500 lucco Pali there's an image of

him right here came up with a new

technological invention in 1500 and it

was called The Ledger it was The Ledger

and double entry accounting and

basically what that said was hey you

give us the gold and we'll just keep

track of who has what you see in a

physical world like I have this clicker

in my hand right here and everybody can

see this it's physical and if I were to

give the clicker to you then everyone

could see that I've given the clicker

away but in the information age how do

we keep track of that and of course

there was no way before 1500 but with

the Ledger we got the ability to do that

now when we got the ability to do that

it opened up free trade faster now we

didn't have to Lug this heavy gold

around the world because remember gold

is not very portable and what we can see

happened is global trade just started to

take

off so it worked it added what's called

velocity to money right so as

transaction times got faster it became

much easier for me to get the goods and

services that I wanted the transaction

sped up and it allowed money to move

faster the velocity of money picked up

but here's the problem all right now

we're talking about Bitcoin in the

future of the financial system I want to

make sure you secure it properly

millions of Bitcoin have been lost

myself personally has lost a lot of

Bitcoin maybe worth millions of dollars

in today's dollars and so I've learned

the hard way that I want to secure it

with a hardware wallet like this keep

your private key safe this is a treasure

Hardware wallet you plug it in you do

your transaction and you unplug it don't

leave it on Exchange I've lost it that

way don't leave your Bitcoin on a phone

I've lost it that way as well secure it

with a hardware wallet like treaser used

it for over a decade I think it's the

easiest one to use it's Open Source

Hardware so you don't have to worry

about some back door and someone rug

pulling you and taking your Bitcoin

that's why I like the treasure and it's

pretty cheap and if you'd like to save

even more money there's a link in the

description down below that you can save

some money with it but look whether you

use a treasure or not use something

don't leave your Bitcoin on the exchange

or at risk of getting hacked off of your

phone secure with a hard wallet like

this treasure there's a link down below

now let's go back into the video the

velocity problem is that in order to get

gold to move faster in order to add more

velocity to Gold it caused a big

problem and that big problem is what I

call a bug it put a bug into the system

and that's a trust bug you see the thing

with trust is that trust is very fragile

I'm sure you guys understand this if

you've ever had a business partner or

some other partner that maybe was

embezzling from you or stealing from you

or cheating on you you have your

suspicions and then once you find out

something like that happened the trust

is gone and it doesn't just come back it

doesn't come back very easy and so trust

is very fragile but when The Ledger was

introduced to Gold to speed it up it

created the trust problem because now

all the gold went into a bank this

person is keeping The Ledger saying that

well the Gold's going to come from this

guy going to go to this guy but how do

we know that he really moved it from my

account to your account how do we know

that they really have the gold that they

say they have and all of these other

problems that we had and more

importantly what it did is it created

debt on top of the asset so in order to

get the velocity onto the system we had

to introduce debt which means like I

said earlier the gold is now owed to me

I don't actually have

it now we can see that throughout

history every time we've used this bug

the trust bug it turned out to be well

let's just say not good we can see that

trust is very fragile so we can look

back all the way to England right and so

in England sort of where the creation of

the First Central Bank started we can

see that they they created the central

bank to create more paper dollars more

Fiat of course to fight

war and then what they had to do is

because they had printed so many dollars

they didn't have the gold to back that

up so what did they do they suspended

convertibility you could no longer

redeem those dollars for any

gold they printed a whole bunch of Fiat

and then don't worry we'll go back to

Gold we we'll we'll get your trust back

and then we'll suspend the

convertibility again and they went back

and forth and back and forth in the

United States I'm sure most of you guys

know here at Freedom Fest but in 1933

the United States government seized all

the gold so remember gold is heavy gold

is slow Gold's not portable just put it

in the bank don't worry we'll just mark

it on The Ledger and it's it's the same

thing as gold we'll give you these paper

gold certificates that are again debt

instruments IUS claims to the gold that

you have in the bank and that worked out

pretty well that allowed for the US

economy to flourish but the problem was

again we trusted the government we

trusted the banks and they printed way

too many of the paper claims didn't

match up with the gold in the bank the

problem is they owed the gold so what

did they do well they just took it from

you and they didn't even just take it

from you I wasn't alive at the time most

of us weren't uh they didn't take it

from us but they also made it even

illegal to

own

remember they the authoritarians On The

Rise don't want you to own

anything you can't own your stocks you

can't own your bonds you can't even own

the cash in the

bank it's all owed to you so we saw that

1933 again somehow we contined to trust

the government they contined to print

more paper certificates than they had

gold in the bank in N leading into the

1960s the governments of the world

realized this and said we don't want

these paper certificates anymore we want

the gold they started reclaiming the

gold and then president Richard Nixon

1971 defaulted the United States

defaulted on what they owed we're not

going to give you the gold back but we

give you a bunch of these uh funny money

paper gold certificates

back then we saw I mean we can see it in

China like China supposedly has what

30,000 tons of gold but in audit they

they were found to have a whole bunch of

fake gold tungsten painted gold bars

right and so over and over and over and

over we continue to see how this trust

bug continues to get exposed but yet for

some reason we continue to trust it

probably be because we don't really have

any other option we saw the United

States seized all of Venezuela's gold

actually the UK vaults seized all of

venage way as gold it wasn't in their

own vaults it was in the UK the UK

seized it again it wasn't in their

possession we saw the United States

seized Afghanistan Central bank's money

I think about $7

billion anybody remember the Canadian

truckers that went on during the

pandemic a peaceful protest they just

started freezing all their bank accounts

and then finally what I believe is the

final nail in the coffin if we'll call

it that was the Russia bank accounts got

frozen and just recently they decided to

go ahead and auction them off now if

you're one of three superpowers in the

world with nuclear

weapons and you can't even can keep your

money safe what does that have to say

for any of us or any other Nation for

that matter so every nation on Earth was

basically put on notice well if Russia's

money is not safe none of our money is

safe I think most of us woke up during

the Canadian truckers but the whole

world woke up when the Russia situation

happened and so we realize that trust is

gone so where do we go from here and

this kind of brings it back to the topic

of the of the of the conversation which

is the end of the international monetary

order that we have so where do we go

from here in a world where it depends on

trust but trust has been completely

ruined over and over and over and over

again it's like an abusive relationship

why would we continue to go back and

trust them so where do we go from here

well what we're seeing right now is most

of the world the bricks Nations which

make up more than half of the world's

population are moving to something like

a back to a commodity money so gold was

a commodity right it's a physical

property that came out of the ground and

they're moving back to that so we see

that now Nations like Saudi Arabia are

trading oil outside of the US dollar and

the reason why that's important for us

is because they're no longer putting

their Surplus their savings into Dollars

they're putting it into gold instead

we're seeing China go around and buy

half the lithium mines in the world

they'd rather have the lithium in the

ground than the dollars even GM General

Motors spent $650 million on a lithium

mine they'd rather have the lithium in

the ground than the dollars what does

that tell

you it tells you that they think that

lithium will be more important than

dollars in the future it would cost us

more dollars in the future to buy that

lithium I'd rather have it now we see

it's it's it's part of the reason why we

see the OPEC nations wanting to put less

oil out of the ground they'd rather keep

the oil in the

ground than hold these dollars that are

that are required to have trust on them

and so the world finds themselves at

this inflection point right now for

about 5,000 years for most of recorded

history the world has used commodity

money again feathers rocks seashells and

gold for 5,000 years around

1944 the world got on to what's known as

the Breton Woods agreement and the

Breton Woods agreement is that the

dollar would be back to Gold backed by

gold and then all the other nations of

the world would Peg their currencies to

the dollar all right and so we were

still sort of semi quas iic gold

standard because the dollar was backed

by gold but it was kind of like part

gold part Fiat system that's why I kind

of have that overlapping there so we had

gold bars and we had Fiat 1971 we got

off the gold standard as we talked about

and went onto a purely Fiat standard

right so there's nothing backing it

there's no gold in the back in in the

bank and now we find ourselves at this

inflection

point and the question is where do we go

from here back to the inter end of the

international monetary order we're not

talking about the death of the dollar

we're talking the death of the entire

Fiat monetary system that we're seeing

today now as I just said um last month

the bricks finally announced to come out

with this new currency which is going

back to Gold backed we see what's

happening with these nations as I said

these bricks nations are starting to put

their savings into gold as a matter of

fact for the last 10 years central banks

around the world have been net sellers

of treasuries us treasuries which used

to be the reserve asset and they're net

buyers of gold and so we can see this

trend where trust is lost they don't

want to buy us treasuries those are

going to be taken from them nor do they

want to buy us treasuries because they

know they're going to be debased at the

same time so so I guess we'll just go

back to the way we used to do it and

we'll go back to commodity money I'll

take the gold I'll leave my oil in the

ground I'll buy the minerals right now

while I still

can the problem with that is that that

worked in a world from a 100 years ago

that worked in the in in the Industrial

Age and so it's what I call De

Evolution we're not evolving so while

the world is globalizing while

technology is changing the world that

we're in because trust is lost the

option is we go back to the Dark Ages

the stone not the Dark Ages maybe more

like the stone ages and we have to trade

physical

rocks old school or there could be

another option now before we jump to the

other option let's just talk about how

this works let's just set this up for a

minute so there's a lot of people

talking about going back to a gold

standard like I said Russia is talking

about going back to a gold standard of

course you have lots of people Peter

Schiff talking about going back to a

gold standard so how would this work

let's talk about this for a second so

remember we don't want the money we want

the goods and services that money buys

us and so really it's just a medium of

exchange if we were going to go back to

a gold standard what we would do is we

would look at all the dollars that are

in circulation and we' divide it by all

the gold that's in circulation which

will give us a new dollar price of gold

so before we got off the gold standard

well let's go back to before they well

okay so it's

$35 per ounce of gold so that means that

there were supposed to be only $35 for

every 1 ounce of gold that was in the

bank but now they've printed so many

more dollars so we now have to go okay

here's all the new dollars we have

divided by the gold so we can see in the

US supposedly Fort Knox has about 8,000

tons of gold supposedly we haven't had

it audited um I don't know I'll let you

guys decide if that's true or not it's

about 282 million ounces of gold now if

we take uh the US M2 the US money supply

there's about $ 20

trillion out there in circulation so we

take the2 trillion we divide it by the $

282 million ounces which would give us a

new gold price of about $70,000 an ounce

pretty big jump that's why a lot of

people hold gold waiting for that

eventual day maybe one day uh if we

looked at it globally we can see

globally there's about $87 trillion of

currency in the world and we can see

there's about 6 billion ounces of gold

if we did it globally it's more about

13,000

per ounce of gold still pretty good I

don't know what gold is at today 2,300

bucks an ounce is move it to 13,000

pretty good but I just want you to

understand the mechanics of how that

works real quick but again as I said

it's not going to work and it can't work

because remember all the way back to

Socrates the attributes of money are

portable divisible durable recognizable

salable Etc the key piece being

portable and

unfortunately gold is not very portable

not today not in the information age

remember I talked about transaction

times getting faster faster faster today

I can push a button on Amazon and I

could have something delivered to my

house before the day is over instant

transaction times but yet settlement

still take days if you guys run a

business and run credit cards you know

that it typically takes what 72 hours at

least before those funds show up in your

account and even up to 6 months later

they could be charged back on a credit

card so we have instant transactions but

yet our settlement time

still in the stone

ages so it's incompatible with the world

that we're in at this point so the

reevolution might look like something

different remember as I said earlier

problems are or Solutions are supposed

to come to problems that we have and so

I've set this up we have a lot of

problems with inflation right the

government is debasing at a very rapid

rate inflation and so maybe it might

make sense to have something with a

fixed

Supply with Fiat and gold there's no

transparency does China really have the

gold in the vaults or is it tungsten

bars painted as gold does Fort Knox

really have the 8,000 tons or do they

not and so there's no transparency and

so Bitcoin offers us an open and

transparent base layer that everybody

can see a big thing is that as the world

has continued to globalize and global

trade has continued to take off we've

continued to flourish because of that

global trade but the problem is that if

everybody has their own different money

how does that work and so we might need

something borderless I'm in the process

of building a house down in Mexico right

right now and I've been seeing this

firsthand in Mexico the labor is cheap

but most of the stuff has to be imported

and we're importing stuff from all

around the world some appliances come

from Europe some tiles come from the US

different places and the problem is

trying to figure out what the price will

be in the

future and so the my builders in Mexico

want to price me in pesos but they don't

know what the euro exchange rate will be

or the dollar exchange what will be in

the future even at the gas station

they're speculators so the official

exchange rate is 18 pesos to $1 but at

the gas station they give me

17 because they don't know what the

exchange rate will be in a week by the

time they get those to the bank and

change them in and so everybody's forced

with all these different dollars all to

be controlled in these borders we need

something borderless the big one that

I've been talking about here is this

permission system so in order to use the

Fiat gold system it requires permission

to join and a lot of people don't know

if you haven't left the United States is

there's 1.5 billion people in the world

right now today 1.5 billion I should say

adults not people 1.5 billion adults who

have no access to banking because they

don't have permission to join if you've

open a bank account you know it takes a

paperwork stack about that thick and

they don't have that so for

example they just happen to be born in a

country that has sanctions on them no

bank count for you like the super naazi

on Seinfeld um you know it maybe they

had to flee their country because it got

bombed and they they don't have the

paperwork they need to get a bank

account no bank account for you maybe

they live in a country you know half the

world lives on less than $5 a day maybe

they don't have enough money to pay for

a bank account every single

month no bank account for you so the

world has this permission system so we

might want a system that's

permissionless like with Bitcoin where I

can just download an app right now we

can instantly send and send and receive

money instantly and then ultimately we

have this trust Ledger the bug that I

called it the trust bug that was put in

there and so whether it's back to Fiat

or whether it's back to gold or back to

any commodity for that matter it's

always going to require trust does this

person really have the gold they say

they have and can I trust them to give

it to me you know like those movies like

the drug deal like give me the money no

give me the drugs like how do we work in

a world like that and so it might make

sense that we have a system that's

trustless that we don't have to trust

and then ultimately here at Freedom Fest

we'll talk about centralized control so

all Fiat all gold requires that

centralized system that somebody manages

it and so ultimately in a world where

trust is lost in a world where we can no

longer trust each

other what we need is a decentralized

system that nobody can control you see I

talk about the bricks having their own

currency each one of those own bricks

Nations wants to use their own currency

but none of them trust each other well I

certainly don't want to trust the United

States to hold my money anymore but I

don't really trust Russia or China

either and why would I want to hold

whatever Boulevard whatever currency you

have the Turkish ler that's losing money

very fast and so ultimately we need a

decentralized system that nobody can

control and really that is the digital

Revolution so uh for those of you guys

don't know how Bitcoin works I can

basically remember these like 12 words

in my head right

here and I can get on a computer

anywhere in the world plug those 12

words in and have my entire bank account

my entire balance with me instantly A

system that nobody controls A system

that nobody has access to other than

myself it's a digital Revolution we've

seen everything become demonetized or

Dem materialized I should say books

music movies Etc and the last thing left

we finally have is value now real quick

I'm running out of time I got like two

minutes left let's talk about where it's

going because a lot of people maybe the

most common question I hear is it's too

late it's gone too far um maybe I should

try to find something cheaper and

something like that now there's a whole

bunch of ways we can think about

bitcoin's future value one way that we

do it I run a fund you can see it marked

down here Bitcoin opportunity fund it's

a venture fund and a way a venture

capitalist would invest money is you're

trying to invest into a startup and

imagine how much this company could be

worth in the future and you think about

it in a way of how much value is it

going to pull so if I was going to

invest into Uber how much value will it

pull from taxes or from limos or from

Vans Etc and so if we think about

Bitcoin Bitcoin is a lot of things but

it's not competing against new

technologies what bitcoin's competing

against is value itself which is why I

want to build that up from the beginning

right it's competing against value

itself and so if we think about it

people store their weal store their

value in a lot of things like gold for

example it's about A1 trillion market

cap cars and collectibles I told you

it's about $6 trillion Fine Art 18

trillion a lot of people hold their

wealth in the stock market your 401k

your mutual fund 115 trillion there real

estate obviously you have your house but

a lot of people invest into real estate

as well 330 trillion there bonds 300

trillion that adds up to about $900

trillion of assets that people just used

to store their wealth just their savings

if that makes sense so then we might ask

ourselves from a venture capitalist

perspective how much value do I think

that a new store of value that might be

superior to all of those things might

pull well maybe it gets a little bit

from gold maybe it gets 5% from

Collectibles 5% from art maybe it pulls

15% from the stock market 15% from Real

Estate we're not saying it's going to

take 100% but maybe it pulls a little

bit from each one of those about every

50 years we have a new technology that

changes the world and so we're this is

where we're witnessing Bitcoin takeoff

right here um and ultimately again are

we too late um new technology Cycles

work in these 50-year Cycles like this

and we are right about here right now so

it's just barely getting going right

here about 2023 2024 and it's just

getting going and I I'll leave you with

this slide so the creator of uh Bitcoin

Satoshi Nakamoto he left us a lot of

messages on message boards and he left

this quote right here and he said it

might make sense just to get some

in case it catches

on so I'll leave you with that I ran out

of time so I don't have any questions

but I'll be hanging out if you have any

so thank you