In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s “Meet The Taco Plebs,” I was joined by the homie Ben Carman. I’ve been interacting with Carman on Bitcoin Twitter for the past couple of years and he is someone who I’ve even met in person via a conference. Carman has been contributing a lot to helping develop Bitcoin by working on Bitcoin Core, Wasabi Wallet and now as a developer at Suredbits.
In this podcast, we discussed how Carman got into Bitcoin and fell down the rabbit hole, after hearing about it a few times early on in Bitcoin’s past. We discussed what he was involved in before Bitcoin and the kind of work he did, and how that helped him transition into developing in this space. We then dove into what he’s working on currently at Suredbits.
Carman walked through his past and what his beliefs on life were before Bitcoin, and just how much they’ve changed. We discussed the problems that are in society today and why they exist. We came to the conclusion that the Federal Reserve and fiat money are at the core of all our problems, and Bitcoin fixes this.
Below are some of Carman’s best thoughts shared during the interview. And be sure to check out the full episode for more.
How Did You Find Bitcoin And Fall Down The Rabbit Hole?
“I got into Bitcoin in November of 2017. I had heard about Bitcoin many times before and was told it was the future of money, but had never looked into why that was and what makes it important and a necessary upgrade.
“During the 2017 bull market, I heard about the price so I bought a little and started watching some Andreas videos, I quickly fell down the rabbit hole taking the orange and red pill in one gulp. Initially the tech was really interesting for me, but finding the econ side of it was what has kept me interested.
“I was a total Bernie Bro before I got into Bitcoin and always assumed all the economic problems in the world should be solved through more taxation and giving to the poor. After reading and listening to tons of content about the Austrian School I became convinced that the centrally-planned economy was the actual problem and sound money is the best way to solve this and Bitcoin is the best way to achieve that goal.”
How Has Bitcoin Changed Your Life?
“Bitcoin has drastically changed my life. I took a total 180 on my political and economic views and ended up committing my life and career to it. I was in college for computer science when I discovered it, but had no real plan in life. I spent most of my free time playing League of Legends and would never save any money. After college, I just wanted to get some desk job and collect a paycheck. After getting into Bitcoin, I started committing almost all of my free time to learning about Bitcoin and then contributing to open-source projects.”
What Do You Consider To Be The Most Amazing Thing About Bitcoin?
“What amazes me about Bitcoin is how smart some of the people are working on the project. Satoshi had the genius inclination to create the system and then all these amazing minds from around the world have coalased onto making sure this project succeeds. I spend most of my time doing Bitcoin things and there is so much I don’t know and even if I catch up, there will always be new things to learn.”
How Would You Advise Someone To Learn About Bitcoin? What Are Your Favorite Podcasts, Articles And Books?
“There is so much good content out there for Bitcoin. I am more of an auditory learner so I listen to countless podcasts. I would say the best intro content exists on “Tales From The Crypt” and Stephan Livera, they have hundreds of hours of content for your rabbit hole journey. There are plenty of good books too. Saifedean’s “The Bitcoin Standard” was a huge eye opener for me and really convinced me how important Bitcoin is and what it means for the world.”
What Is Your Best Bitcoin Pitch?
“My favorite way to pitch bitcoin is just to say it’s more fair money. Simply put, bitcoin is the most fair money ever created and will fix a lot of the societal problems we have in the world. I think 2020 has been great for pitching Bitcoin and you can just pull up a chart of any currency in the world and show how much has been printed.”
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