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For this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s “Meet The Taco Plebs,” I was joined by fellow pleb Indian Hodl (@Indian_hodl) for his first-ever podcast appearance.
This touching discussion started off with his rabbit hole story, hearing about bitcoin from an event in the U.K. Hospitals in the U.K. were getting attacked and the attackers were demanding to get paid in bitcoin as ransom. He explained how he got a lot of hate from his friends on BTC, but that now, he’s the one laughing.
We talked about how money is a belief system, and why he hates holding fiat currency. He said he sleeps better at night knowing that his money is safe and sound in an incorruptible currency. I agreed and that related to a saying I’ve been meming for a while now: “bitcoin zen.” That’s when you understand the current monetary system versus Bitcoin’s and you just feel at ease knowing you own money that is not being debased.
Then we got into how people are not using bitcoin as an investment, but why they need it to survive. Americans who don’t get out of the country much don’t realize that people in developing countries need bitcoin to protect themselves from governments suppressing them and stealing their wealth. We ended the podcast by discussing what he would love to work on in Bitcoin when given the chance, and how he wants to help develop and further the Lightning Network in some way!
Below are some of Indian Hodl’s most interesting 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?
In 2016, I read an article that the darknet uses bitcoin as a currency but didn’t pay much attention, then I watched a TED Talk by Neha Narula: “Future of Money.” That video has changed my perspective on money. I continued with more research on Bitcoin; doubting that bitcoin could be a Ponzi scheme, then I discovered that Harvard University has a lab course — “Bitcoin and Blockchain.” This gave me even more confidence.
How Has Bitcoin Changed Your Life?
Bitcoin has changed my life in numerous ways. Until I discovered bitcoin, I had zero knowledge on money. After learning about bitcoin, I came to understand the fundamentals of money and how it works. Bitcoin made me somewhat financially free and I feel like I can quit my daily job and just work for Bitcoin in the near future.
I think Bitcoin will destroy government fiat currencies forever. When in doubt, zoom out.
What Do You Consider To Be The Most Amazing Thing About Bitcoin?
Decentralization: Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency which is completely decentralized. Government cannot stop this innovation and they can’t do anything about it.
Unlike in the U.S. and many other Western countries, in Asia and especially in India, the average salary is extremely low.
In 2008, $1 dollar was equal to 38 rupees, and today it is equal to 73 rupees.
The dollar has lost 98 percent of its value as being the world reserve currency, and imagine how the Indian rupee is performing. Two-thirds of people in India live in poverty: 68.8 percent of the Indian population lives on less than $2 a day. Over 30 percent have less than $1.25 per day available — they are considered extremely poor.
Most don’t get it that fiat is a slow poison scam. They hold their most money in fiat, not in gold. Bitcoin can make a lot of difference in countries like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as in other Asian countries.
India has 400 million millennials, accounting for a third of India’s population and 46 percent of its workforce. Once they understand what bitcoin is: hyperbitcoinization!
Bitcoin is hard, sound money that is here to stay and there is nothing the Indian government or any other government can do about it.
How Would You Advise Someone To Learn About Bitcoin? What Are Your Favorite Podcasts, Articles And Books?
My advice to anyone who is about to learn about bitcoin is that they should first get an understanding of money and its roots. All kinds of money is important, as is why they have failed, starting from rai stones, glass beads, metals and then to fiat. After learning about the evolution of money, they will understand that Bitcoin is the solution.
Podcasts: The “Bitcoin Magazine Podcast” and “What Bitcoin Did.”
Books: Saifedean Ammous’s “The Bitcoin Standard.”
What Is Your Best Bitcoin Pitch?
Money is a belief system, we all decided that gold is money because it is scarce and not easily available. The issue with the gold is that when gold prices increase, then the government mines more gold. More gold in circulation leads to a drop in price just because it is not sound money.
This is why gold failed big time and we have several problems with gold. I can’t use it at Starbucks, it’s confiscatable and it can’t be send overseas without someone physically carrying it. Bitcoin solves all of these problems. Bitcoin is the hardest sound money ever created, unlike gold, bitcoin is 100 percent money, 0 percent drama.
So far, no one would be able to change a single metric in bitcoin because it is completely decentralized. It theoretically could take only 10 minutes (with the Lightning Network, just seconds) to send bitcoin to anyone, anywhere on planet Earth, all you need is the internet.
The post Interview: Protecting Our Savings In Bitcoin With Indian Hodl appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
