Aug. 14, 2024

The Power of Peer-to-Peer with Grafton Clark - Bitcoin Infinity Show #122

The Power of Peer-to-Peer with Grafton Clark - Bitcoin Infinity Show #122
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The Bitcoin Infinity Show

Grafton Clark joins the show to tell us about Vexl, a mobile app giving its users a simple, accessible and safe way to trade bitcoin as it was intended - peer-to-peer and without KYC. 

Connect with Grafton and Vexl: 
https://x.com/satsdisco
https://x.com/vexl

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https://primal.net/knut
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https://primal.net/luke

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The Bitcoin Infinity Show is a Bitcoin podcast hosted by Knut Svanholm and Luke de Wolf.

The Freedom Footprint Show is a Bitcoin podcast hosted by Knut Svanholm and Luke de Wolf.

In each episode, we explore everything from deep philosophy to practical tools to emit freedom dioxide to expand your freedom footprint!

Chapters

00:00 - Welcoming Grafton

01:24 - Intro to GRafton Clark

11:11 - Music

16:13 - Prague as the Bitcoin Cpital of the World

20:18 - Vexl

31:01 - Synergies with Other Projects

33:19 - Bootstrapping Vexl

40:13 - Satoshi Labs

43:12 - KYC vs Non-KYC

50:36 - Dog Visit

51:58 - Shitcoining

59:35 - Spending Bitcoin

01:06:44 - Wrapping Up

Transcript
1
00:00:00,162 --> 00:00:02,002
Grafton, welcome to the
Freedom Footprint show.

2
00:00:02,012 --> 00:00:02,822
Thanks for joining us.

3
00:00:03,172 --> 00:00:04,142
Thank you for having me.

4
00:00:04,502 --> 00:00:05,952
Yeah, good to see you again, Grafton.

5
00:00:06,142 --> 00:00:06,462
How have you

6
00:00:06,512 --> 00:00:08,042
Always good to see you as well, man.

7
00:00:08,602 --> 00:00:08,972
Yeah.

8
00:00:09,782 --> 00:00:11,812
It hasn't been too long, it's
just a couple weeks at this

9
00:00:11,812 --> 00:00:15,332
point, but I feel like we've seen
each other quite a lot recently.

10
00:00:15,648 --> 00:00:19,358
Yeah, before that was Warsaw,
and before that was Riga, I

11
00:00:19,358 --> 00:00:19,868
guess.

12
00:00:20,388 --> 00:00:20,878
Madeira?

13
00:00:20,878 --> 00:00:21,498
of course.

14
00:00:21,548 --> 00:00:22,018
Madeira.

15
00:00:22,018 --> 00:00:22,508
of course.

16
00:00:22,901 --> 00:00:26,051
Basically, every time I go anywhere
I can pretty much assume that you're

17
00:00:26,051 --> 00:00:27,451
going to be there, I feel like.

18
00:00:27,665 --> 00:00:28,395
it tends to be.

19
00:00:28,565 --> 00:00:30,795
What did, what did Joe Hall call it?

20
00:00:30,825 --> 00:00:35,025
Uh, like a, uh, a traveling
circus band thing.

21
00:00:35,715 --> 00:00:36,555
Uh, yeah,

22
00:00:37,245 --> 00:00:38,315
that's what we are, I guess.

23
00:00:38,806 --> 00:00:39,556
sure is, yeah.

24
00:00:39,936 --> 00:00:42,756
But I think that it's always
like, that's what's a lot of fun

25
00:00:42,756 --> 00:00:45,876
is we travel a lot, but we always
wind up in really cool places.

26
00:00:45,996 --> 00:00:48,936
And, um, yeah, it never gets old.

27
00:00:49,306 --> 00:00:49,726
No.

28
00:00:50,686 --> 00:00:54,536
And you're in, right now you're
in the studio that was built for

29
00:00:54,696 --> 00:00:56,896
BTC's Prague specifically, right?

30
00:00:57,425 --> 00:01:01,985
Yeah, this will, it's not specifically
for BTC Prague, but, um, you know,

31
00:01:01,985 --> 00:01:04,225
I work in Satoshi Labs, so Trezor.

32
00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:05,330
As well.

33
00:01:05,370 --> 00:01:09,300
And so Trezor built like a
really nice podcasting studio.

34
00:01:09,710 --> 00:01:12,830
Um, and I am getting to use it today.

35
00:01:12,870 --> 00:01:14,030
I feel, I feel honored.

36
00:01:14,070 --> 00:01:15,210
Um, it's very nice.

37
00:01:15,250 --> 00:01:18,370
Um, probably the nicest
studio I've ever been in.

38
00:01:18,510 --> 00:01:21,250
So we have nice microphones
and camera set up.

39
00:01:21,250 --> 00:01:22,670
So I hope I look good for everybody.

40
00:01:22,915 --> 00:01:24,185
Uh, you do, certainly do.

41
00:01:24,675 --> 00:01:29,475
So, so you live in Prague, but you're,
uh, but you're not from Prague.

42
00:01:29,485 --> 00:01:31,915
You have a, a, a bit of a dialect there.

43
00:01:31,915 --> 00:01:33,915
Can you give us the TLDR on Grafton

44
00:01:33,980 --> 00:01:34,440
Yeah.

45
00:01:34,470 --> 00:01:37,760
So, uh, born and raised in Mississippi.

46
00:01:37,980 --> 00:01:40,590
Um, so that, that is a dialect
you're hearing there, that

47
00:01:40,590 --> 00:01:42,410
Southern, Southern accent.

48
00:01:42,410 --> 00:01:44,450
So I do have the, uh,
the old Southern drawl.

49
00:01:44,975 --> 00:01:47,225
M M I S S I S S I P P I.

50
00:01:47,355 --> 00:01:47,525
Is

51
00:01:47,675 --> 00:01:50,465
Yeah, Crooked Letter or Crooked
Letter, Crooked Letter, Humpback.

52
00:01:50,565 --> 00:01:53,315
Humpback if you can't read, you know,
like most people from Mississippi.

53
00:01:54,385 --> 00:01:54,645
Yeah.

54
00:01:54,865 --> 00:02:00,095
Um, but yeah, I've been here in
Czech Republic like 13 years now.

55
00:02:00,115 --> 00:02:01,305
So it's, it's home.

56
00:02:01,365 --> 00:02:02,415
I really love it here.

57
00:02:03,155 --> 00:02:05,425
it's, uh, Prague is a great city.

58
00:02:05,445 --> 00:02:07,985
It's, it's my favorite big city.

59
00:02:08,075 --> 00:02:11,115
Like, uh, I can't think of one
that I like better than Prague.

60
00:02:11,555 --> 00:02:14,675
Well, there's not too many places,
like I, you know, we travel a lot.

61
00:02:14,675 --> 00:02:17,475
We were just talking about, but
there's always like that feeling of I'm

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coming home when I get back to Prague.

63
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And it's like, I always compare
When I travel, I was like,

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all right, could I live here?

65
00:02:24,265 --> 00:02:25,255
Would I want to live here?

66
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And you know, like Lisbon's nice.

67
00:02:26,875 --> 00:02:28,715
I love Lisbon, but I
don't want to live there.

68
00:02:28,765 --> 00:02:33,705
Um, Prague is kind of that it has
everything that I was looking for.

69
00:02:33,725 --> 00:02:36,095
Um, and the pace of life
is really nice here.

70
00:02:36,105 --> 00:02:40,455
And the people are, uh, I mean, you've
been here, Czech people are, are great.

71
00:02:40,455 --> 00:02:43,845
We have a really good Bitcoin
scene and yeah, it just feels

72
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like where I was supposed to be.

73
00:02:45,847 --> 00:02:47,727
Yeah, we, uh, we definitely like Prague.

74
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I mean, uh, obviously, obviously,
BTC Prague brings everyone there.

75
00:02:53,207 --> 00:02:56,127
Uh, but, but yeah, I mean,
it's, it's, it's great.

76
00:02:56,157 --> 00:03:01,627
Uh, I, I made sure to visit Prague
as soon as I was living Europe side

77
00:03:01,657 --> 00:03:06,587
before either of the BTC Prague events,
but I, I'm curious what, what brought

78
00:03:06,587 --> 00:03:08,927
you to, to Czech Republic originally?

79
00:03:09,286 --> 00:03:11,676
Yeah, um, I studied history.

80
00:03:12,116 --> 00:03:16,306
So, you know, like a growing, growing up,
I had, uh, we, if we can get into that

81
00:03:16,306 --> 00:03:21,136
as well, but I had like a crazy childhood
full of like entrepreneurial everything.

82
00:03:21,136 --> 00:03:25,826
And then I went to university and, um,
I didn't know like what I wanted to do.

83
00:03:26,291 --> 00:03:30,791
Of course, like every, um, you
know, 20, 20 year old that gets

84
00:03:30,791 --> 00:03:33,281
out of, you know, says like, all
right, what do I, what do I do?

85
00:03:33,281 --> 00:03:37,441
So started to figure out, you know, taking
all the classes, never had one that got

86
00:03:37,441 --> 00:03:39,141
me, but then I had this history teacher.

87
00:03:39,141 --> 00:03:42,191
And I think if most people can
remember one or two teachers

88
00:03:42,191 --> 00:03:43,301
that made an impact on them.

89
00:03:43,986 --> 00:03:49,706
And, um, I had this history teacher
who just spelled out class, taught like

90
00:03:49,706 --> 00:03:53,676
it was the best book or movie that I'd
ever, you know, been, I wanted more

91
00:03:53,676 --> 00:03:57,606
and more and more, and so I really fell
down that history kind of rabbit hole,

92
00:03:57,646 --> 00:04:02,586
and as I started to kind of get into
there, Czech Republic was always one

93
00:04:02,636 --> 00:04:05,466
of the things that was most fascinating
to me, it was like, I want to go there,

94
00:04:05,466 --> 00:04:09,966
I want to see how this, what makes
this so different than everyone else.

95
00:04:10,086 --> 00:04:15,341
And, um, I did a study abroad, like, my
version of Erasmus, kind of, uh, Europeans

96
00:04:15,341 --> 00:04:20,261
have Erasmus, but we had just study
abroad, and, uh, I did mine in the UK,

97
00:04:20,301 --> 00:04:22,271
actually, in Kent, down in Canterbury.

98
00:04:22,811 --> 00:04:28,841
And I came to Prague for like a four
day weekend and yeah, I had so much fun.

99
00:04:28,851 --> 00:04:32,081
Like a lot of people who come to
B2C Prague for three or four days,

100
00:04:32,081 --> 00:04:33,631
they come back and they're like,
Oh, I'm going back next year.

101
00:04:34,111 --> 00:04:35,611
I couldn't wait to come back.

102
00:04:35,611 --> 00:04:40,401
So, um, after I graduated, you
know, I graduated with a degree in

103
00:04:40,571 --> 00:04:43,801
like history teaching, like I was
supposed to teach high school kids.

104
00:04:44,311 --> 00:04:49,581
I I'm going to do one year, go over
there, take a break, relax, hang out,

105
00:04:49,881 --> 00:04:52,571
and then a blink, and it's been 13 years.

106
00:04:52,711 --> 00:04:53,571
It's crazy.

107
00:04:54,401 --> 00:04:57,301
So, um, that was just like, you
know, it was like, I want to

108
00:04:57,301 --> 00:04:58,841
go check it out, and here I am.

109
00:04:58,851 --> 00:05:01,461
But I could ask you, you know, the
same, because you said you were from

110
00:05:01,461 --> 00:05:03,931
Canada, and you wound up in Finland.

111
00:05:03,931 --> 00:05:09,151
Like, I guess they're both cold and kind
of like, you know, in the same area.

112
00:05:09,191 --> 00:05:11,291
So, like, what, why would
you go over to Finland?

113
00:05:11,301 --> 00:05:12,261
What, what you be there?

114
00:05:12,706 --> 00:05:14,166
No, it's, it's, uh, it's funny.

115
00:05:14,206 --> 00:05:18,406
I, I was hearing your, your story and
thinking just so much parallel, just

116
00:05:18,586 --> 00:05:21,336
some kind of fascination for a long time.

117
00:05:21,336 --> 00:05:25,016
I mean, I'm not, I'm not quite
as, as long, uh, in my state.

118
00:05:25,026 --> 00:05:28,956
It's, it's coming up on three years
here shortly, but I have exactly

119
00:05:28,956 --> 00:05:32,276
the same feeling of, of when I,
whenever I get back to Helsinki,

120
00:05:32,276 --> 00:05:33,996
it's like, I'm I'm coming home.

121
00:05:33,996 --> 00:05:34,876
It feels like home.

122
00:05:34,986 --> 00:05:40,366
And yeah, I've been interested in a lot of
the sort of the cultural historical stuff.

123
00:05:40,396 --> 00:05:45,706
I did a pod for a few years on
mythology, mostly Norse and Inuk stuff.

124
00:05:45,736 --> 00:05:48,926
And so, yeah, just the
interest was always there.

125
00:05:48,926 --> 00:05:54,001
And then when I got the chance to transfer
to my company's Finland office, I was

126
00:05:54,001 --> 00:05:54,499
like, Oh my God, this is unavoidable.

127
00:05:54,909 --> 00:05:58,469
Took it and yeah, I, I
think I'm aiming to stay.

128
00:05:58,469 --> 00:06:01,789
So yeah, there's, there's something
about there's something about Europe

129
00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:07,329
that, uh, hopefully, hopefully the entire
thing, uh, doesn't fall apart because

130
00:06:07,329 --> 00:06:09,419
there's some pretty cool places here.

131
00:06:09,419 --> 00:06:13,029
And I, and I personally love
being, uh, nearby to be able to,

132
00:06:13,069 --> 00:06:14,499
to travel to different places.

133
00:06:14,499 --> 00:06:18,109
Like, uh, I, I'm sure it's even better,
uh, from, from where you are, right?

134
00:06:18,460 --> 00:06:20,730
Well, I mean, we're
pretty central for sure.

135
00:06:20,740 --> 00:06:23,000
So, I mean, it's easy to get everywhere.

136
00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,670
And I mean, I, with, I
mainly travel for work.

137
00:06:25,670 --> 00:06:29,120
I haven't, I can't remember the last
time I had like a, you know, a vacation

138
00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,860
for myself where I went somewhere, but
like, it's, that's why, you know, I

139
00:06:31,860 --> 00:06:36,490
even joked at BTCProg when I talk, I
was like, everyone just thinks that I

140
00:06:36,580 --> 00:06:40,280
am on vacation all the time, whether
it's my parents or my girlfriend or

141
00:06:40,340 --> 00:06:43,880
my friends, because I'm always, it's
Somewhere nice, but it's like, yeah,

142
00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,380
what is a dream job is finding a job
that allows you to get somewhere where

143
00:06:47,380 --> 00:06:49,570
you can travel and do things you love.

144
00:06:49,570 --> 00:06:53,940
And that's kind of, I can't imagine
living somewhere, you know, far

145
00:06:53,940 --> 00:06:57,650
away, like Australia, where you're
really isolated or even the U.

146
00:06:57,650 --> 00:06:57,870
S.

147
00:06:57,870 --> 00:06:59,870
I feel, and I have, I
mean, you talk about Yeah.

148
00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,590
You're worried if Europe falls apart, like
I, I saw the United States fall apart.

149
00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:09,290
You know, I grew up in that, that, you
know, where as a kid from now, it's

150
00:07:09,290 --> 00:07:10,600
just a completely different place.

151
00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,200
And then under, I can't imagine ever
going back there and trying to live

152
00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,320
or start a family or anything here.

153
00:07:17,380 --> 00:07:21,460
It just, it works for now, you know,
and like, like you said, studying is

154
00:07:21,460 --> 00:07:25,380
like looking at Czech Republic has
historically been a very peaceful

155
00:07:25,380 --> 00:07:27,130
place and full of people who.

156
00:07:27,130 --> 00:07:27,150
Yeah.

157
00:07:27,895 --> 00:07:32,045
Uh, you know, kind of hack the planet
or hack the system in a way that they,

158
00:07:32,055 --> 00:07:33,835
they never really get taken over.

159
00:07:33,835 --> 00:07:35,915
You know, it's like they
might be occupied, but they've

160
00:07:35,915 --> 00:07:37,135
never really been conquered.

161
00:07:37,900 --> 00:07:41,550
No, and the word
defenestration comes to mind.

162
00:07:41,895 --> 00:07:42,065
yeah,

163
00:07:42,610 --> 00:07:43,880
it's a great word.

164
00:07:43,890 --> 00:07:49,020
I think we should adopt
more defenestration here and

165
00:07:49,020 --> 00:07:50,150
there on the planet, right?

166
00:07:50,975 --> 00:07:53,065
could definitely use some
of that right now, I think.

167
00:07:53,955 --> 00:07:54,315
Yeah.

168
00:07:54,995 --> 00:07:58,285
so, and where do you, like,
where are you based mainly?

169
00:07:58,285 --> 00:08:00,925
Cause I basically only
see you out in the world.

170
00:08:00,925 --> 00:08:01,605
Never.

171
00:08:02,625 --> 00:08:04,335
Yeah, I'm based in Spain, but I

172
00:08:04,335 --> 00:08:05,545
am from here in Sweden.

173
00:08:05,555 --> 00:08:10,095
So like, yeah, uh, a couple of years
or three years back now, we decided to

174
00:08:10,095 --> 00:08:15,185
move down to our holiday home in Spain
and now we've sold off both the old

175
00:08:15,185 --> 00:08:16,695
homes and have a new home in Spain.

176
00:08:17,309 --> 00:08:21,749
mainly for the, for the sun and getting
out of the cold and the darkness.

177
00:08:21,749 --> 00:08:22,974
Um, yeah.

178
00:08:23,714 --> 00:08:29,934
And yeah, and also just to reset
life and like, uh, try to going

179
00:08:30,734 --> 00:08:34,254
full time with Bitcoin, I needed
a change of environment, I think.

180
00:08:34,254 --> 00:08:35,924
So that was part of the deal too.

181
00:08:36,564 --> 00:08:39,694
Uh, but yeah, uh, so far
I, I like it down there.

182
00:08:40,404 --> 00:08:44,084
The politics are bad, but they're,
they're sort of bad everywhere.

183
00:08:44,084 --> 00:08:47,114
So if you can avoid them, that's good.

184
00:08:47,494 --> 00:08:51,294
You're, you're kind of like, uh, becoming
like a Hemingway of Bitcoin in a way.

185
00:08:51,354 --> 00:08:54,504
I feel like, you know, you got
the, you got the look, you know,

186
00:08:54,504 --> 00:08:57,334
you're the boat, you know, the
boat guy, the sailor as well.

187
00:08:57,334 --> 00:09:00,084
And like, yeah, it's a good vibe, man.

188
00:09:00,939 --> 00:09:01,699
Well, thank you.

189
00:09:02,219 --> 00:09:07,539
But speaking of history, like I, when I
was young, younger, I was never really

190
00:09:07,549 --> 00:09:12,609
into history, but it wasn't like until
later in life where you, uh, where you

191
00:09:12,609 --> 00:09:19,239
sort of realize that like right now
I'm pushing 50, like I'm 48 this fall.

192
00:09:19,359 --> 00:09:21,119
And, and you sort of feel like that's.

193
00:09:21,969 --> 00:09:28,499
Half a century, like, uh, so,
so, and, uh, that means that you

194
00:09:28,499 --> 00:09:30,229
can put yourself in this context.

195
00:09:30,239 --> 00:09:32,729
So like 50 years has
passed since I was born.

196
00:09:33,149 --> 00:09:40,146
And if you just, rewind the tape
back a couple of those, uh, half

197
00:09:40,166 --> 00:09:41,996
lifetimes, you, you end up in.

198
00:09:42,666 --> 00:09:47,916
You know, when the Hansa was a thing
and, uh, like the things are so close in

199
00:09:47,916 --> 00:09:52,156
history to, uh, and, uh, you don't really
realize that as a kid, you think history

200
00:09:52,156 --> 00:09:55,196
is like, Oh, this is way, way back.

201
00:09:55,799 --> 00:10:00,249
Yeah, and, uh, just looking at, like,
the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix or something

202
00:10:00,249 --> 00:10:05,169
like that, which is, uh, when I grew
up, so it's like, these are old bands,

203
00:10:05,169 --> 00:10:11,779
this is ancient history, and it's just
10 years before, or 20 years before, the

204
00:10:11,779 --> 00:10:16,729
bands that you like and grew up with,
like, so it's, it's, time is weird, like,

205
00:10:17,444 --> 00:10:17,794
Yeah.

206
00:10:17,794 --> 00:10:21,744
I mean, time blinks, you know,
like BTC Prague was a month ago.

207
00:10:21,944 --> 00:10:26,224
And I, like, it's just, everything is
moving at this lightning speed now,

208
00:10:26,264 --> 00:10:31,334
and, um, when you're a kid, everything
moves so slow, and then now it's, you

209
00:10:31,334 --> 00:10:35,174
can't get control of it, no matter
how hard you try, you, you can't, you

210
00:10:35,174 --> 00:10:38,204
can't ever get ahead, or, like, you
know, you'll never beat time, and, you

211
00:10:38,204 --> 00:10:42,054
know, there's, like, nothing you Yeah,
nothing fucks you like time, I would say.

212
00:10:42,294 --> 00:10:47,274
No, but also, it's a symptom, like
that means you're living a good

213
00:10:47,274 --> 00:10:51,664
life, like, because the more fun
you have, the faster time flies by.

214
00:10:52,134 --> 00:10:53,644
yeah, I'm having too much fun.

215
00:10:54,414 --> 00:10:58,174
Yeah, no, I'm definitely not bored, but
yeah, sometimes you want to sit back

216
00:10:58,174 --> 00:11:02,944
and be like, where did, you know, I'm
36 now and I'll be 37 and it's already

217
00:11:02,944 --> 00:11:04,714
half a year of that, you know, gone.

218
00:11:04,864 --> 00:11:06,684
Um, um, yeah.

219
00:11:06,994 --> 00:11:07,604
Time flies

220
00:11:07,714 --> 00:11:11,614
one told you when to run,
you missed the starting gun.

221
00:11:11,872 --> 00:11:15,822
But I mean, for me, like, music, that
was, that was really, like, one of the

222
00:11:15,832 --> 00:11:19,332
things growing up that, because, you know,
I grew up in a small Mississippi town

223
00:11:19,332 --> 00:11:23,322
where, you know, we didn't have, we didn't
have a lot, and music was the thing that

224
00:11:23,332 --> 00:11:25,412
started pulling me outside of my bubble.

225
00:11:25,812 --> 00:11:30,292
Um, because it wasn't just like going
to see a band, you know, one off, I, I

226
00:11:30,382 --> 00:11:35,432
listened to like, jam bands, um, so like,
you've heard of the Grateful Dead, right?

227
00:11:35,952 --> 00:11:40,502
So, I'm one of these kids that grew
up, you know, following bands around

228
00:11:40,502 --> 00:11:44,092
the country, I've seen like my favorite
band in concert like 130 something

229
00:11:44,092 --> 00:11:46,492
times, um, all over the United States.

230
00:11:47,252 --> 00:11:48,482
Widespread panic.

231
00:11:48,842 --> 00:11:52,272
Fractals, favorite band as well.

232
00:11:52,662 --> 00:11:58,232
Yeah, so the crazy thing about that
is, um, I, when in the BTC Prague

233
00:11:58,232 --> 00:12:01,832
fractal was having trouble like
shipping the stuff out on a Sunday and

234
00:12:01,832 --> 00:12:03,182
I was like, Hey man, I can help you.

235
00:12:03,222 --> 00:12:03,862
I live here.

236
00:12:04,232 --> 00:12:05,282
Um, no problem.

237
00:12:05,282 --> 00:12:06,302
I can, I can help you.

238
00:12:06,662 --> 00:12:09,412
And so I like shipped it stuff,
you know, the next day I got

239
00:12:09,412 --> 00:12:10,362
there, everything was fine.

240
00:12:10,672 --> 00:12:12,592
And then, um, I was just
like checking something.

241
00:12:12,592 --> 00:12:13,802
I saw that he retweeted them.

242
00:12:13,802 --> 00:12:15,312
And so I had, of course,
sent him a message.

243
00:12:15,332 --> 00:12:17,472
I was like, are you a fan?

244
00:12:17,472 --> 00:12:18,012
He was like, yeah.

245
00:12:18,012 --> 00:12:19,162
And so we were like chatting about that.

246
00:12:19,162 --> 00:12:21,162
He's like, I was actually
at their show last Sunday.

247
00:12:21,762 --> 00:12:25,522
So, but I've been over here so
long that I kind of stopped going.

248
00:12:25,522 --> 00:12:28,782
But actually this time last year,
I went to, to Iceland to see

249
00:12:28,782 --> 00:12:31,652
another one of my favorite bands
for like three nights and concert.

250
00:12:31,682 --> 00:12:36,972
And so that was kind of, What really
got me like traveling and what

251
00:12:36,972 --> 00:12:40,122
pushed me outside of Mississippi
was you started meeting friends at

252
00:12:40,122 --> 00:12:46,152
concerts all over and I wound up in
Texas at university and then Europe.

253
00:12:46,502 --> 00:12:46,892
So

254
00:12:47,047 --> 00:12:51,767
Yeah, I have a similar, similar story to
that, uh, yeah, and added to that all the

255
00:12:51,767 --> 00:12:56,367
sailing stuff, of course, but, uh, yeah,
music was also like a big pull to the

256
00:12:57,067 --> 00:13:00,097
larger world than your own little bubble.

257
00:13:00,311 --> 00:13:04,246
yeah, and you know, like even like the,
um, You know, getting into like, well,

258
00:13:04,656 --> 00:13:08,896
peer to peer is these were bands where
you like, you actually tape the concerts.

259
00:13:08,926 --> 00:13:10,916
So like they allow taping.

260
00:13:10,976 --> 00:13:14,546
They, they encourage people to come
to make live audience recordings.

261
00:13:14,556 --> 00:13:17,736
And then they encourage people to
trade those tapes peer to peer.

262
00:13:18,256 --> 00:13:22,076
So it's like, if the best way to share
music, music is made to be shared.

263
00:13:22,106 --> 00:13:24,686
So you saw something, you go, Hey,
man, you got to check this out.

264
00:13:24,976 --> 00:13:25,906
You give it to them.

265
00:13:26,176 --> 00:13:27,266
And so this.

266
00:13:27,631 --> 00:13:31,021
For my early ages, I wasn't doing
like illegal file sharing, you know,

267
00:13:31,021 --> 00:13:34,741
I definitely, well, okay, I was, I
definitely had Napster, but my early

268
00:13:34,741 --> 00:13:40,001
days were actually like trading tapes
and using like torrents to share

269
00:13:40,331 --> 00:13:43,161
like music concerts peer to peer.

270
00:13:43,581 --> 00:13:47,431
And so that was like, that really
was what kind of got me into

271
00:13:47,501 --> 00:13:50,781
that path of understanding what
a peer to peer technology is and

272
00:13:50,781 --> 00:13:52,151
why we need it and how it works.

273
00:13:52,976 --> 00:13:56,836
Um, so I, and I can blame music for
all of, all of the good stuff that's

274
00:13:56,836 --> 00:13:58,176
happened to me most of the time.

275
00:13:58,686 --> 00:13:59,396
That's great.

276
00:13:59,736 --> 00:14:03,631
Me and Luke went to a concert
after B2C Prague last year.

277
00:14:03,701 --> 00:14:09,331
We went and saw Pantera reunited, or
like half of Pantera, I guess, but yeah.

278
00:14:09,346 --> 00:14:09,776
yeah,

279
00:14:09,981 --> 00:14:15,231
My wife's favorite band of all time,
and she had just become pregnant with

280
00:14:15,231 --> 00:14:19,041
our, with our kid, uh, just before
Prague, found out just before Prague,

281
00:14:19,081 --> 00:14:22,871
so she unfortunately didn't get to
enjoy it as much as possible, but, but

282
00:14:22,871 --> 00:14:24,751
she, she still, uh, still loved it.

283
00:14:25,041 --> 00:14:28,731
We're both too young to have
managed to see them in their heyday.

284
00:14:28,756 --> 00:14:32,156
baby could hear it as
well, as, yeah, Panteras,

285
00:14:32,916 --> 00:14:37,396
And me as being a, being an old safety
officer, the first time, the thing I did

286
00:14:37,396 --> 00:14:39,466
was look for the fire exits and stuff.

287
00:14:39,856 --> 00:14:43,846
And then we was like crammed into
this crowd and all of a sudden there's

288
00:14:43,846 --> 00:14:48,466
one of those, Uh, what do you call
it when people start, uh, a mosh pit,

289
00:14:48,501 --> 00:14:49,471
Mosh Pit, yeah,

290
00:14:49,476 --> 00:14:53,256
yeah, yeah, like, uh, just a couple
of meters away from us and like, oh,

291
00:14:54,556 --> 00:14:56,106
all right, I'm a bit too old for this.

292
00:14:56,744 --> 00:15:02,384
I learned my lesson, um, I went to see,
um, a band, a Czech band here, and I was,

293
00:15:02,394 --> 00:15:05,004
you know, with my girlfriend at the time,
I was like on the front row, you know,

294
00:15:05,004 --> 00:15:07,554
like, looking around, I was like, oh, this
is, you know, these people are getting

295
00:15:07,554 --> 00:15:10,684
pretty crazy, and I turned and looked,
and when I did, someone jumped, stage

296
00:15:10,684 --> 00:15:15,774
dove off the stage, collapsed me to the
floor, I had a hairline crack in my neck.

297
00:15:15,914 --> 00:15:19,644
So I had to, like, take Stretcherd
out to the hospital, and so now,

298
00:15:19,654 --> 00:15:22,744
when I go to concerts, I stand
in the back by the soundboard.

299
00:15:22,774 --> 00:15:25,794
I want to be right in front of the
soundboard so I can hear good and not

300
00:15:25,804 --> 00:15:27,854
be a part of the chaos anymore, because

301
00:15:28,029 --> 00:15:28,379
Yeah.

302
00:15:28,654 --> 00:15:30,144
I can't go through that ever again.

303
00:15:30,811 --> 00:15:31,951
Were you at the Rocamodo?

304
00:15:31,991 --> 00:15:33,171
Were you at the Rocamodo?

305
00:15:33,211 --> 00:15:34,101
I can't remember.

306
00:15:34,189 --> 00:15:36,179
No, I was not at Rakamoto this year.

307
00:15:36,199 --> 00:15:37,799
I was so exhausted.

308
00:15:37,809 --> 00:15:41,439
That was like the, you know, we had
the cypherpunk meetup on Thursday

309
00:15:41,479 --> 00:15:46,909
and then I had my talk on Friday
and preparedness of everything.

310
00:15:46,909 --> 00:15:48,199
I was exhausted after the thing.

311
00:15:48,199 --> 00:15:49,339
So I stayed at the after party.

312
00:15:49,339 --> 00:15:54,269
I think I was in home in bed by 10,
but, uh, Saturday night I was, I closed

313
00:15:54,269 --> 00:15:57,539
down the PVA Lethgiani like area.

314
00:15:57,539 --> 00:15:58,369
We closed it down.

315
00:15:58,369 --> 00:15:59,019
So we had fun.

316
00:16:00,023 --> 00:16:00,203
Oh,

317
00:16:00,233 --> 00:16:00,803
good to hear.

318
00:16:00,963 --> 00:16:03,083
for everyone at that conference.

319
00:16:03,573 --> 00:16:06,343
Can't wait to see what
they'll pull out next year.

320
00:16:06,393 --> 00:16:12,673
Nothing but rave reviews from
this last year for BTC Prague.

321
00:16:12,713 --> 00:16:12,973
So,

322
00:16:13,268 --> 00:16:16,878
Yeah, I mean that was the same everywhere
you, everywhere I went, you know, you

323
00:16:16,878 --> 00:16:19,658
chatted with people who went to BTC
Pro and everybody has the same kind of

324
00:16:19,678 --> 00:16:22,278
consensus, which is like, don't miss it.

325
00:16:22,378 --> 00:16:23,088
It's a lot of fun.

326
00:16:23,118 --> 00:16:25,538
And I love that because
this is my, my hometown.

327
00:16:26,218 --> 00:16:30,708
Um, and Prague really is kind of like
the true Bitcoin capital of the world.

328
00:16:30,708 --> 00:16:32,248
I really feel that.

329
00:16:32,708 --> 00:16:33,488
Absolutely.

330
00:16:34,048 --> 00:16:34,952
Um, yeah.

331
00:16:35,313 --> 00:16:39,663
A lot has been done here and still
happening here and you can feel, feel it,

332
00:16:39,743 --> 00:16:42,623
you know, you have El Salvador, you have
these places where stuff is happening,

333
00:16:42,623 --> 00:16:44,163
but it's a completely different thing.

334
00:16:44,163 --> 00:16:49,263
This is the Bitcoin capital for people,
I would say, not for anything else.

335
00:16:49,843 --> 00:16:51,623
So can you take us
through that a little bit?

336
00:16:52,453 --> 00:16:53,473
The history,

337
00:16:53,943 --> 00:16:54,253
Yep.

338
00:16:54,513 --> 00:16:55,233
whatever you know.

339
00:16:55,253 --> 00:16:55,693
Yeah.

340
00:16:56,024 --> 00:16:59,534
Yeah, I mean, I've been into
Bitcoin quite a long time.

341
00:16:59,564 --> 00:17:03,564
Um, you know, this is the home of,
you know, Paralanypolis and Bitcoin

342
00:17:03,574 --> 00:17:06,614
Coffee, the first place that I
ever, you know, knew where I could

343
00:17:06,614 --> 00:17:08,784
spend Bitcoin, um, for coffee.

344
00:17:09,414 --> 00:17:13,454
Uh, was here, but it's also where
Trezor was invented, which is the

345
00:17:13,474 --> 00:17:15,064
world's first hardware wallet.

346
00:17:15,474 --> 00:17:18,884
Um, they have, like, even behind
me, like, the early prototypes

347
00:17:18,884 --> 00:17:21,454
here in the studio, even I was,
I used to work at Trezor as well.

348
00:17:21,974 --> 00:17:26,344
But, um, you have Slushpool,
which is now Brains, um, which

349
00:17:26,344 --> 00:17:30,294
is where, BTC Prague, uh, General
Bytes, the guys who made the ATMs.

350
00:17:30,614 --> 00:17:37,374
Um, so, there is, uh, Something to be said
about a post communist country, um, that,

351
00:17:37,774 --> 00:17:41,214
you know, is no one really understands
what it means to have freedom, like those

352
00:17:41,214 --> 00:17:45,724
living in a post communist state, and
I think that you've seen, uh, the true

353
00:17:45,724 --> 00:17:51,744
reaction to that, um, here, and you have
some great minds, um, who really, the

354
00:17:51,744 --> 00:17:56,861
Czech Bitcoin scene is very strong, and
then, um, last year, after BTC Prague, uh,

355
00:17:56,881 --> 00:18:02,051
this company enabled, um, you to pay with
Bitcoin in nearly 5, 000 restaurants and

356
00:18:02,051 --> 00:18:04,291
pubs all over, all over Czech Republic.

357
00:18:04,711 --> 00:18:04,841
They

358
00:18:04,876 --> 00:18:06,226
What, what's that app called?

359
00:18:07,755 --> 00:18:09,725
Q E R K O, yeah.

360
00:18:10,180 --> 00:18:11,380
yeah, I, I downloaded it.

361
00:18:11,380 --> 00:18:13,870
I never got to use it, but,
but I have it on my phone.

362
00:18:13,870 --> 00:18:14,110
Yeah.

363
00:18:14,341 --> 00:18:15,201
It's super easy.

364
00:18:15,241 --> 00:18:18,271
I mean, you just scan a QR code and
then choose how you want to pay.

365
00:18:18,321 --> 00:18:20,651
You pay Lightning Bitcoin,
scan it, and you're done.

366
00:18:20,671 --> 00:18:22,831
You walk out, you don't
know, nobody says anything.

367
00:18:22,881 --> 00:18:25,121
And I mean, the waiter doesn't
know that you paid in Bitcoin.

368
00:18:25,171 --> 00:18:28,651
I mean, if we're being honest,
it's mainly the company who's, is

369
00:18:28,851 --> 00:18:30,501
processing the transactions for them.

370
00:18:30,501 --> 00:18:35,021
But, um, Certainly it allowed for
spending your Bitcoin wherever

371
00:18:35,021 --> 00:18:37,011
you want, which is a good thing.

372
00:18:37,715 --> 00:18:42,325
Yeah, this is sort of a philosophical
thing with the Bitcoin as a medium

373
00:18:42,325 --> 00:18:43,955
of exchange of it all, right?

374
00:18:43,955 --> 00:18:50,605
Like, that forcing restaurants or
wherever to adopt Bitcoin and have

375
00:18:50,605 --> 00:18:54,105
this whole other layer, it's sort
of the other way around, right?

376
00:18:54,365 --> 00:18:57,875
You have people who want to use
Bitcoin, well, just make it easy

377
00:18:57,875 --> 00:19:03,460
for them and get it flowing around
and And then that's, that's fine.

378
00:19:03,470 --> 00:19:05,840
And then you don't have, you don't
have the overhead and the, the

379
00:19:05,850 --> 00:19:08,210
waiting with, with merchants, right?

380
00:19:08,210 --> 00:19:13,730
But is, is there merchant adoption as well
in, in Prague beyond the sort of parallel,

381
00:19:14,340 --> 00:19:16,030
parallel police scene and all that?

382
00:19:16,540 --> 00:19:20,050
yeah, I would say there is, um,
you know, there definitely are some

383
00:19:20,050 --> 00:19:23,280
places I would have to look at,
like, you know, CoinMap or something.

384
00:19:23,330 --> 00:19:27,420
Um, but certainly there are
coffee houses and interiors where

385
00:19:27,420 --> 00:19:30,240
it's not just, they're, they're
accepting Bitcoin as a payment.

386
00:19:30,330 --> 00:19:34,090
Um, there are pizza places that
accept Bitcoin as a payment.

387
00:19:34,140 --> 00:19:38,030
Um, you know, and I, I think that
it's definitely becoming more and more

388
00:19:38,030 --> 00:19:41,840
part of, um, I don't know if there's
many Czech people who haven't heard

389
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,870
of Bitcoin or don't know what Bitcoin
is or why it matters in a lot of ways.

390
00:19:45,870 --> 00:19:48,800
I mean, yeah, there are a
lot, but I think Czechs are

391
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:50,480
definitely familiar with the idea.

392
00:19:50,610 --> 00:19:54,440
Um, you know, adoption is, is very
strong here in Czech Republic.

393
00:19:54,450 --> 00:19:59,790
I mean, if I look at, you know, The
success that we've had with Vexl, um,

394
00:19:59,860 --> 00:20:03,840
it's remarkable to see how quickly
people have taken to it and really

395
00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:08,660
started to understand that they have
this ability to buy and sell not just

396
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:13,450
Bitcoin, but eggs and honey and beef
jerky and find jobs and everything else.

397
00:20:13,470 --> 00:20:16,410
So you really are starting to
see that circular economy aspect

398
00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:18,180
start to take place here as well.

399
00:20:18,645 --> 00:20:25,005
So, yeah, this leads us to vl, uh, and uh,
yeah, I'm excited by the project and when

400
00:20:25,005 --> 00:20:30,635
you explain it to me how it works, because
I think like VL is to local Bitcoins

401
00:20:30,725 --> 00:20:35,045
what BTC pay server is to BitPay, if you

402
00:20:35,045 --> 00:20:36,005
know what I mean by that.

403
00:20:36,995 --> 00:20:41,685
Uh, so, so we're, we're, we're sort
of going away from these honeypot

404
00:20:41,775 --> 00:20:45,975
centralized bullshit things to, to
things that are actually peer to peer.

405
00:20:46,015 --> 00:20:52,335
And, uh, so please, Grafton, give us
the TLDR on Vexl and, uh, why it's so

406
00:20:52,335 --> 00:20:56,445
awesome and why it has so many synergies
with other developments in Bitcoin

407
00:20:56,836 --> 00:20:57,126
Yeah.

408
00:20:57,126 --> 00:21:01,886
I mean, so you kind of hit it right
there, which is like local bitcoins.

409
00:21:01,916 --> 00:21:06,816
Um, local bitcoins is great, but, you
know, it kind of didn't scale over time

410
00:21:06,816 --> 00:21:10,326
and it had its own issues and had a
different type of reputation system.

411
00:21:10,856 --> 00:21:16,706
Um, and so when we were kind of figuring
out, you know, what is Vexl and how do

412
00:21:16,706 --> 00:21:18,686
we build something that we want to use?

413
00:21:18,726 --> 00:21:22,046
Um, you know, it was
actually, uh, Slush's idea.

414
00:21:22,106 --> 00:21:26,076
Um, you know, Monarch from Trezor
is, you know, Sitting on his sofa one

415
00:21:26,076 --> 00:21:29,576
night, I think he was like, okay, so
if I want to buy or I want to sell

416
00:21:29,576 --> 00:21:31,506
Bitcoin, what's the best way to do that?

417
00:21:31,516 --> 00:21:35,446
And there's not currently,
um, a great solution.

418
00:21:35,796 --> 00:21:41,386
Like, no matter how you frame it, there's
problems with them and they don't scale.

419
00:21:41,706 --> 00:21:47,586
And you look at centralized exchanges and
the KYC nightmare and the data nightmare

420
00:21:47,586 --> 00:21:53,006
that they have, you look at, you know,
other previous peer to peer applications

421
00:21:53,006 --> 00:21:56,546
or things like that, and there was
always a but this and a but that.

422
00:21:57,276 --> 00:21:58,326
So what is Vexl?

423
00:21:58,326 --> 00:22:03,896
Vexl is a mobile app that allows
you to peer to peer Bitcoin without

424
00:22:03,916 --> 00:22:05,876
KYC the way it was intended.

425
00:22:06,526 --> 00:22:12,016
And so what I mean without KYC,
uh, that means there's no, no

426
00:22:12,016 --> 00:22:14,206
excuses, no exceptions whatsoever.

427
00:22:14,386 --> 00:22:18,016
Um, we do not touch Bitcoin.

428
00:22:18,156 --> 00:22:19,526
We do not touch fiat.

429
00:22:19,526 --> 00:22:20,886
We are a non profit.

430
00:22:21,326 --> 00:22:25,216
We created Vexl as a tool
to empower the individual to

431
00:22:25,216 --> 00:22:27,046
have the freedom to transact.

432
00:22:27,416 --> 00:22:33,456
So what It does is it leverages your
real world reputation and your real

433
00:22:33,456 --> 00:22:38,756
world social graph that creates a
web of trust that allows you to trade

434
00:22:38,756 --> 00:22:41,636
with friends and friends of friends.

435
00:22:41,676 --> 00:22:42,296
And that's it.

436
00:22:42,336 --> 00:22:43,786
It never goes further than that.

437
00:22:44,466 --> 00:22:47,216
So, Knut, I know you.

438
00:22:47,796 --> 00:22:48,646
I don't know Luke.

439
00:22:49,106 --> 00:22:50,426
Right, but you know Luke.

440
00:22:51,146 --> 00:22:58,076
So, I can trade with Luke by knowing
and leveraging my connection with Knut.

441
00:22:58,676 --> 00:23:02,666
So I don't know who Luke is, I
just see that Luke has posted an

442
00:23:02,676 --> 00:23:04,346
offer that he's selling Bitcoin.

443
00:23:04,936 --> 00:23:09,656
I don't know who that person is, I see a
random Japanese name similar to Satoshi.

444
00:23:10,426 --> 00:23:14,466
And that's where the offer appears, but
I do see that I have common friends.

445
00:23:15,001 --> 00:23:18,641
And I have, in this instance,
one common connection, and

446
00:23:18,641 --> 00:23:20,521
that connection is you, Knut.

447
00:23:21,251 --> 00:23:25,231
So I say, hey, we don't know each other,
and we don't have a lot of mutual friends,

448
00:23:26,021 --> 00:23:31,451
but we both know Knut, so if it's okay
with you, I'm gonna send him a message.

449
00:23:31,681 --> 00:23:33,851
You don't have to tell him anything
else, if you don't want him to

450
00:23:33,861 --> 00:23:36,931
give me your name or anything,
just, you also send him a message.

451
00:23:37,211 --> 00:23:40,911
Since we're both messaging him
at the same time, he's gonna

452
00:23:40,911 --> 00:23:42,991
know that we want to verify that.

453
00:23:43,615 --> 00:23:45,305
Knut doesn't have to be a bitcoiner.

454
00:23:45,325 --> 00:23:46,715
He doesn't have to be on Vexl.

455
00:23:46,895 --> 00:23:50,445
None of that to be able to be in
that and to leverage his trust.

456
00:23:50,845 --> 00:23:52,895
So Knut says, Hey,
yeah, Luke's a good guy.

457
00:23:52,895 --> 00:23:54,305
We do a podcast together.

458
00:23:54,335 --> 00:23:55,185
You can trust him.

459
00:23:55,385 --> 00:23:57,285
I go, All right, I trust you.

460
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:02,026
Now, Luke, if you screw me over, Knut's
gonna have things to say, because I'm

461
00:24:02,026 --> 00:24:05,506
certainly gonna tell him, like, yeah, Luke
screwed me over, man, and he's gonna, it's

462
00:24:05,506 --> 00:24:07,166
gonna damage your real world reputation.

463
00:24:07,646 --> 00:24:10,866
So, we talk about how to, how do
we create something that scales?

464
00:24:10,866 --> 00:24:14,516
Well, over time, this truly scales,
because then you go from having one

465
00:24:14,516 --> 00:24:18,136
friend in common, to two friends, to
ten friends, to twenty five friends.

466
00:24:18,436 --> 00:24:21,296
And you can be damn sure, if I have
twenty five or thirty friends in

467
00:24:21,296 --> 00:24:22,546
common with somebody, I'm like, okay.

468
00:24:22,546 --> 00:24:24,216
That the trade is going to go well.

469
00:24:24,236 --> 00:24:27,246
And if I don't, if that
person's not already a friend, I

470
00:24:27,266 --> 00:24:28,526
probably want to make them one.

471
00:24:29,123 --> 00:24:34,073
natural follow up question for the, the,
uh, uh, suspicious bitcoiner here, like,

472
00:24:34,103 --> 00:24:37,063
uh, how does the app get this information?

473
00:24:37,143 --> 00:24:41,043
Uh, where does it get it from
and where does it store it and

474
00:24:41,193 --> 00:24:42,763
does it go to a server somewhere?

475
00:24:43,153 --> 00:24:47,863
So everything happens
on your device locally.

476
00:24:47,973 --> 00:24:52,373
So your phone number is used to build
out your web of trust, your social

477
00:24:52,373 --> 00:24:56,703
graph, because currently, we do not
have one that's any better than that.

478
00:24:57,358 --> 00:25:01,218
Your phone number is what you share
with your friends and your loved ones.

479
00:25:01,448 --> 00:25:03,898
Everybody is still using
WhatsApp as their main form of

480
00:25:03,938 --> 00:25:05,708
communication outside of Bitcoin.

481
00:25:06,158 --> 00:25:09,268
Um, so my aunt, my uncle, they're
going to have a web of trust

482
00:25:09,428 --> 00:25:11,078
based around their phone number.

483
00:25:11,658 --> 00:25:17,038
What Vexl does is it hashes your phone
number and it uses the hashes to build

484
00:25:17,038 --> 00:25:23,768
out But the way we handle data is means
that we do not know your phone number.

485
00:25:24,128 --> 00:25:25,728
No one else knows your phone number.

486
00:25:25,798 --> 00:25:30,458
No one gets a notification that says,
Hey, Luke, join Vexl like you see

487
00:25:30,458 --> 00:25:32,348
on every other messaging platform.

488
00:25:32,688 --> 00:25:36,358
No, this is done in a fully
anonymous and discreet way.

489
00:25:36,408 --> 00:25:40,278
So your hashes are built
out, but we split up.

490
00:25:40,278 --> 00:25:44,983
Transcribed The data across four
different microservices that never

491
00:25:44,983 --> 00:25:46,583
communicate with each other, right?

492
00:25:46,943 --> 00:25:50,873
So, your phone number hashes are hashed,
they're coupled on your device, the

493
00:25:50,873 --> 00:25:55,683
hash is built with the network, your
offers are encrypted separately, your

494
00:25:55,693 --> 00:25:59,843
chats are end to end encrypted, and
your profile is encrypted, and they

495
00:25:59,903 --> 00:26:01,703
never communicate with each other.

496
00:26:02,188 --> 00:26:06,798
So, let's say that, for the argument's
sake, as people say, well, phone number

497
00:26:06,798 --> 00:26:10,878
hashes are really trivial to, you
know, get the number from the hashes.

498
00:26:11,188 --> 00:26:14,668
And that might be true, but if
someone does that, they're going

499
00:26:14,668 --> 00:26:17,938
to get a giant list of phone
numbers that are not connected to

500
00:26:18,308 --> 00:26:21,928
Bitcoin, they're not connected to
anything, or, and they have no value.

501
00:26:22,288 --> 00:26:26,448
Because I can randomly generate
numbers with AI that are more valuable,

502
00:26:26,488 --> 00:26:30,248
because we don't have any information
about what those phone numbers do.

503
00:26:30,248 --> 00:26:35,513
Because when I import them I import
everyone I know, every contact number

504
00:26:35,513 --> 00:26:40,263
in my phone, because each one of
them is essential to my social graph.

505
00:26:40,583 --> 00:26:42,473
So my dog walker, she's not a Bitcoiner.

506
00:26:42,473 --> 00:26:43,583
Well, her number appears there.

507
00:26:43,583 --> 00:26:43,863
Why?

508
00:26:43,883 --> 00:26:45,253
How is that connected with anyone else?

509
00:26:45,323 --> 00:26:45,863
It's not.

510
00:26:46,453 --> 00:26:49,643
They don't have value if there's no
data attached to them, and there's not.

511
00:26:50,623 --> 00:26:54,353
So, uh, we have a really good blog
about this on our, on our, like,

512
00:26:54,353 --> 00:26:57,143
blog you can check out to really
see how that splits the data.

513
00:26:57,633 --> 00:27:02,403
This is so, so fascinating because
we've been, even been riffing on app

514
00:27:02,433 --> 00:27:08,703
ideas ourselves around this concept
that Since Bitcoin has so pointed out to

515
00:27:08,703 --> 00:27:12,553
everyone in the world that money doesn't
need to be anything but information,

516
00:27:13,143 --> 00:27:16,243
uh, sort of nothing else does either.

517
00:27:16,243 --> 00:27:21,643
So you can just like, between people
you trust, you can do so much without

518
00:27:21,653 --> 00:27:23,803
ever touching any network of any kind.

519
00:27:23,803 --> 00:27:28,573
Just, just, uh, there's
so much to explore there.

520
00:27:28,603 --> 00:27:34,343
And like the natural follow up here is
like, is there on the roadmap for Vexl?

521
00:27:34,888 --> 00:27:37,108
Uh, is Nostr somewhere on the roadmap?

522
00:27:37,138 --> 00:27:41,118
Because this sounds like something
that would be built upon Nostr and not

523
00:27:41,128 --> 00:27:42,788
telephone numbers in the future, right?

524
00:27:43,433 --> 00:27:48,503
Yeah, so because a better web of trust
doesn't exist right now, of course,

525
00:27:48,503 --> 00:27:49,633
phone numbers is the natural way.

526
00:27:49,643 --> 00:27:51,623
I mean, who has a better one?

527
00:27:51,633 --> 00:27:54,813
Maybe Facebook has a really
good web of trust, right?

528
00:27:54,813 --> 00:27:58,253
Because it's old now, it's
established, but creating a new

529
00:27:58,253 --> 00:28:00,383
one is very difficult, right?

530
00:28:00,403 --> 00:28:02,523
So looking at Nostr
integration, Nostr integration.

531
00:28:02,863 --> 00:28:07,243
Yes, of course, we're curious and we're
interested in to go down that path.

532
00:28:07,303 --> 00:28:12,523
But right now you're looking at something
like 25, 000 active weekly users.

533
00:28:12,853 --> 00:28:18,243
Um, we are five people in a dog
that we need to work and focus

534
00:28:18,243 --> 00:28:21,243
right now on actually building
out the best version of our app.

535
00:28:21,243 --> 00:28:25,263
And then as Nostr's web of trust and
social graph starts to grow and starts

536
00:28:25,263 --> 00:28:29,243
to come, we, of course, naturally
will eventually replace Nostr.

537
00:28:29,478 --> 00:28:32,468
Phone numbers in every, every
system of every web of trust.

538
00:28:32,488 --> 00:28:36,938
And you've already seen that happen with
things like telegram usernames, or even

539
00:28:36,938 --> 00:28:39,988
now signal usernames is Threema session.

540
00:28:39,998 --> 00:28:41,608
You're starting to
replace these with keys.

541
00:28:41,608 --> 00:28:44,938
And, and so what Nostr is
doing is certainly interesting.

542
00:28:45,138 --> 00:28:50,088
Um, but right now it's just not a
viable, like, web of trust to use

543
00:28:50,088 --> 00:28:54,693
to trade Bitcoin with, because this
is You know, when I, when I look at

544
00:28:54,703 --> 00:28:58,403
how I do peer to peer trades on Vexl
is I'm not doing them digitally.

545
00:28:58,903 --> 00:29:02,793
I'm meeting you underneath a
statue of the horse in Old Town

546
00:29:02,803 --> 00:29:07,843
Square in Václavská Náměstí in the
center, like, You know, Wenceslas

547
00:29:07,843 --> 00:29:09,193
Square as they call it in English.

548
00:29:09,543 --> 00:29:10,673
I'm meeting you under the horse.

549
00:29:10,703 --> 00:29:14,153
I'm giving you cash and you're giving
me Bitcoin and I'm walking away, right?

550
00:29:14,683 --> 00:29:17,993
Most of my Nostr web of trust is,
well, you're in Sweden right now

551
00:29:17,993 --> 00:29:21,673
and Luke's in Finland and like, I'm
sorry, even though I know you, I still

552
00:29:21,673 --> 00:29:25,213
don't want to send you a digital bank
transfer because I don't want my name

553
00:29:25,243 --> 00:29:26,713
appearing in anyone's bank account.

554
00:29:27,268 --> 00:29:28,048
For any reason.

555
00:29:28,808 --> 00:29:32,758
Now this is the thing, this is the
problem with, with, uh, you know,

556
00:29:32,818 --> 00:29:36,558
you know, the old, with exchanges
in general, as soon as you touch

557
00:29:36,558 --> 00:29:38,328
the banking system, you're fucked.

558
00:29:38,598 --> 00:29:44,318
Like, it's the on and off ramps,
as they call them, but I, I prefer,

559
00:29:44,408 --> 00:29:49,623
prefer like the terms, uh, Oh, Proper
system and legacy bullshit system.

560
00:29:49,623 --> 00:29:53,203
Like that's, and you don't want to
touch the legacy bullshit system

561
00:29:53,203 --> 00:29:56,613
because it comes with all of the baggage
that we're trying to get away from.

562
00:29:57,365 --> 00:29:59,595
And that's like the
very, very thing, right?

563
00:29:59,605 --> 00:30:03,115
Is that if you're like, people
ask me like, oh, is Nostr coming?

564
00:30:03,115 --> 00:30:06,775
It's like, well, if you are like,
because my Bitcoin friends are on

565
00:30:06,785 --> 00:30:10,175
Nostr, but my Bitcoin friends don't
live around the corner from me, right?

566
00:30:10,715 --> 00:30:13,855
But my phone number, the people that I
have my phone number, that's everyone.

567
00:30:13,855 --> 00:30:17,145
That's my cleaning lady, my dog walker,
the people that I get beers with on

568
00:30:17,145 --> 00:30:19,355
Tuesday evening, you know, these people.

569
00:30:19,625 --> 00:30:24,655
People, they live in this community and
they have friends that they trust that

570
00:30:24,705 --> 00:30:28,535
I don't know, you know, but I can meet
their friends on a Wednesday afternoon,

571
00:30:28,835 --> 00:30:33,205
have a coffee, do Bitcoin, or I can
meet the farmer who's selling honey,

572
00:30:33,595 --> 00:30:37,645
um, who I know through, you know, my
colleague who I, like, I had no idea.

573
00:30:37,645 --> 00:30:40,715
I didn't need to ask my colleague, Hey,
do you know anybody that's selling honey?

574
00:30:41,025 --> 00:30:41,905
But I see.

575
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:43,650
On Vexl, there's an offer.

576
00:30:43,690 --> 00:30:44,740
Oh, I share two people.

577
00:30:44,740 --> 00:30:45,340
It's my colleague.

578
00:30:45,370 --> 00:30:46,780
Oh, yeah, I got a honey guy now.

579
00:30:46,890 --> 00:30:47,280
Right.

580
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:48,210
So

581
00:30:48,660 --> 00:30:49,010
A honey

582
00:30:49,150 --> 00:30:50,740
how you, yeah, exactly.

583
00:30:50,750 --> 00:30:54,800
Is the honeypot is like actual honey,
you know, not, not anything else.

584
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:55,590
Yeah.

585
00:30:55,830 --> 00:30:59,310
You've replaced the honey,
honey pot with the actual honey.

586
00:30:59,950 --> 00:31:00,290
Yeah.

587
00:31:00,660 --> 00:31:00,960
So.

588
00:31:01,970 --> 00:31:02,980
It's super cool.

589
00:31:03,010 --> 00:31:07,360
And, and I see so many synergies with
like, we, we, um, talked to Svetsky

590
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,200
in Prague about the Satlantis project.

591
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:09,960
Do you know about that?

592
00:31:10,310 --> 00:31:10,650
Yeah.

593
00:31:10,650 --> 00:31:10,940
Yeah.

594
00:31:10,940 --> 00:31:13,570
I, um, I unfortunately slept through.

595
00:31:14,315 --> 00:31:18,505
The satlantis, uh, hang on a minute, but
Jozef Tetek, he, uh, he, I was supposed

596
00:31:18,505 --> 00:31:21,815
to present and Jozef did a wonderful
job, so thank you, thank you to Jozef

597
00:31:21,825 --> 00:31:26,745
for taking over for me, but yeah, I
talked to, to Alex for a while and I

598
00:31:26,745 --> 00:31:32,405
really like this because this was using
my example, um, which is if you visit

599
00:31:32,405 --> 00:31:34,625
Prague, please don't look at TripAdvisor.

600
00:31:35,170 --> 00:31:35,750
No, no.

601
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,650
Contact me, ask a friend, and that's
exactly what we have to learn how

602
00:31:39,650 --> 00:31:43,930
to leverage is like friends and
friends of friends is like, uh, maybe

603
00:31:43,930 --> 00:31:47,340
I don't know the best vegetarian
restaurant in Prague because I'm not

604
00:31:47,340 --> 00:31:50,350
a vegetarian, but I certainly have a
few friends who could tell you that

605
00:31:50,620 --> 00:31:51,080
Yeah.

606
00:31:51,180 --> 00:31:56,730
And, and I, I could easily see, um,
Vexl integrate integration with that.

607
00:31:57,413 --> 00:31:58,453
Go into a city.

608
00:31:58,523 --> 00:32:01,893
Yeah, I mean, visiting a new city,
seeing maybe how you can turn local

609
00:32:02,163 --> 00:32:03,663
shitcoin into Bitcoin before you leave.

610
00:32:03,753 --> 00:32:04,513
Yeah, that'd be nice.

611
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:06,030
Or Orange pill app.

612
00:32:06,030 --> 00:32:09,910
Like if you have both the apps, you
could just start chatting on there

613
00:32:09,910 --> 00:32:11,650
and then see the, the V Excel offer.

614
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:16,030
I, I guess if, if you have the, the one
you don't really need the other, but yeah.

615
00:32:16,105 --> 00:32:20,565
But I think, you know, that I like
the idea, but you know, the, the thing

616
00:32:20,575 --> 00:32:22,465
is going back to like local bitcoins.

617
00:32:22,475 --> 00:32:26,855
I mean, we're really, we're talking about
local is, I really think that the best

618
00:32:26,855 --> 00:32:28,495
way to do that is really face to face.

619
00:32:28,505 --> 00:32:33,085
So, but with, with Satlantis, I mean,
that's a really good kind of thing

620
00:32:33,085 --> 00:32:37,440
because you are visiting a city and
there might be, you know, as a, Hey,

621
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,370
I'm in Istanbul for the weekend.

622
00:32:39,370 --> 00:32:42,060
Well, I know somebody who has three
really good friends who live there.

623
00:32:42,060 --> 00:32:43,230
So they're going to give me advice.

624
00:32:43,230 --> 00:32:46,280
They're going to tell me who I can buy
Bitcoin from this kind of stuff as well.

625
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,400
So I do think there's some
synergies between them.

626
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,010
And, you know, that's what we
want to ultimately create is

627
00:32:53,510 --> 00:32:55,475
something new, a private company.

628
00:32:55,665 --> 00:33:00,715
Marketplace for the people that's
not, um, polluted by advertising

629
00:33:00,715 --> 00:33:02,235
and greed and everything else.

630
00:33:03,062 --> 00:33:05,962
so I mean, it's it's a great vision.

631
00:33:05,982 --> 00:33:09,572
And I think leveraging some of
the synergies with the the other

632
00:33:09,602 --> 00:33:14,402
applications, I think, as you say,
maybe maybe it'd be good to look

633
00:33:14,402 --> 00:33:16,442
into those things in the future.

634
00:33:16,442 --> 00:33:19,612
But if the if the focus is on
keeping it local, it's fantastic.

635
00:33:19,612 --> 00:33:24,422
My only my initial thought on that
is that the zero to one ing of it

636
00:33:24,492 --> 00:33:28,692
that that getting onto the app and
well, what if you don't have any

637
00:33:28,692 --> 00:33:31,012
contacts that are already on the app?

638
00:33:31,462 --> 00:33:35,422
I mean, the of course, one of these
things is you've just got to kind of get

639
00:33:35,812 --> 00:33:38,892
sort of a hook in some location, right?

640
00:33:38,982 --> 00:33:42,241
Some some person or group of
people that actually adopt it.

641
00:33:42,552 --> 00:33:47,432
The thing, but I, I figure I have tons
of great contacts on Telegram, but not

642
00:33:47,432 --> 00:33:51,462
very many are actually phone number
contacts, you know, so there's just

643
00:33:51,462 --> 00:33:55,442
a couple of a couple of these things
that, that are a little bit of friction

644
00:33:55,452 --> 00:34:00,042
that, that are probably not making it
quite so easy to, to use at this point.

645
00:34:00,052 --> 00:34:01,181
What, what do you think about that?

646
00:34:01,281 --> 00:34:05,311
well, you know, we're very, we're all
familiar with, uh, gradually and then

647
00:34:05,311 --> 00:34:10,421
suddenly and, um, with Czech Republic
is a very good example of that.

648
00:34:10,771 --> 00:34:15,691
Is right now, you know, there's like
over 6, 000 users in the country.

649
00:34:15,701 --> 00:34:19,511
If you want to buy Bitcoin this
afternoon, you can do that.

650
00:34:19,731 --> 00:34:22,551
Um, this time last year,
you could still do it.

651
00:34:22,561 --> 00:34:25,631
Maybe took a little bit longer,
but right now, I mean, there's

652
00:34:25,661 --> 00:34:26,881
there's liquidity on there.

653
00:34:26,891 --> 00:34:28,981
People are buying and
selling Bitcoin every day.

654
00:34:29,461 --> 00:34:31,511
Um, and I.

655
00:34:32,661 --> 00:34:37,481
You can see every time I open the app,
I check, I'm a curious person, so I

656
00:34:37,481 --> 00:34:38,991
check and I see my number's grown.

657
00:34:39,171 --> 00:34:40,031
My number gets bigger.

658
00:34:40,051 --> 00:34:43,161
So you can actually, when you
open up your app, if you go to the

659
00:34:43,161 --> 00:34:47,771
settings page and look up in the very
top corner, it'll say your reach.

660
00:34:47,911 --> 00:34:52,041
And your reach is how many people
you could potentially Vexl with.

661
00:34:52,531 --> 00:34:53,641
And that number grows.

662
00:34:54,121 --> 00:34:56,981
Every almost every day,
every time you open the app.

663
00:34:57,271 --> 00:35:01,961
So to someone who I can say, well, okay,
I don't have many offers in my area.

664
00:35:01,961 --> 00:35:04,271
Well, why haven't you created one?

665
00:35:04,361 --> 00:35:09,151
And every marketplace, whether that
be Craigslist or Facebook or your

666
00:35:09,181 --> 00:35:13,616
local classifieds ads, I Uh, and the
newspaper were empty at some point.

667
00:35:13,746 --> 00:35:16,356
It took people actually posting offers.

668
00:35:16,356 --> 00:35:20,616
It took people, you know, as Kevin
Costner, uh, in Field of Dreams said,

669
00:35:20,616 --> 00:35:22,236
if you build it, they will come.

670
00:35:22,296 --> 00:35:25,016
And, um, we are, we've built it.

671
00:35:25,056 --> 00:35:25,936
We are still building.

672
00:35:25,936 --> 00:35:29,016
We still have a lot of ways to go
and improving and really making

673
00:35:29,016 --> 00:35:30,966
the tool, um, for, for everyone.

674
00:35:30,966 --> 00:35:32,676
But I'm really proud of our UX.

675
00:35:33,006 --> 00:35:35,916
I'm really proud of how the
app It looks and how intuitive

676
00:35:35,916 --> 00:35:37,266
it feels for most people.

677
00:35:37,506 --> 00:35:40,776
Um, you know, I can put it in the
hands of my mom or my dad and it

678
00:35:40,776 --> 00:35:44,406
makes sense to them, and that's
what we're, we're going after.

679
00:35:44,586 --> 00:35:49,356
Um, but if you don't have an offer in your
area, uh, if you don't have many contacts.

680
00:35:49,726 --> 00:35:51,196
You have to do two things.

681
00:35:51,206 --> 00:35:54,206
You have to start talking about it
to other people, telling them, try

682
00:35:54,206 --> 00:35:58,116
this out, if we build this private
marketplace between us, it will

683
00:35:58,116 --> 00:36:00,436
happen, um, and create an offer.

684
00:36:00,466 --> 00:36:02,746
If you want to buy, say you want to buy.

685
00:36:02,826 --> 00:36:05,226
If you want to sell, say you want to sell.

686
00:36:05,566 --> 00:36:10,786
If you're curious, if maybe you just
want to meet somebody for a coffee

687
00:36:10,786 --> 00:36:16,126
and do a symbolic, you know, 20 euro
trade just to see and test out the app.

688
00:36:16,316 --> 00:36:20,776
Put that there as well because you
might meet somebody in your community.

689
00:36:20,776 --> 00:36:21,816
Maybe you have a small town.

690
00:36:21,826 --> 00:36:23,676
Maybe you didn't know there
were other Bitcoiners around

691
00:36:23,676 --> 00:36:24,666
and that you were connected.

692
00:36:24,666 --> 00:36:26,726
And the next thing you know,
you can put together meetup.

693
00:36:27,276 --> 00:36:30,866
Um, you can get more people in,
but it's really word of mouth.

694
00:36:31,216 --> 00:36:31,896
Grassroots.

695
00:36:31,916 --> 00:36:32,836
You got to talk about it.

696
00:36:33,046 --> 00:36:37,906
And, um, you know, because we're a
nonprofit, we will never monetize.

697
00:36:38,066 --> 00:36:42,536
So we don't have marketing budget
to go out and put up, you know,

698
00:36:42,866 --> 00:36:45,556
advertising everywhere on the
internet or billboards or wherever.

699
00:36:45,886 --> 00:36:49,396
Um, it's truly like, I want this.

700
00:36:49,836 --> 00:36:50,606
This is what I want.

701
00:36:50,986 --> 00:36:53,306
Um, why do people build anything?

702
00:36:53,306 --> 00:36:54,166
Why do we do anything?

703
00:36:54,236 --> 00:36:56,016
Because it's, it's for me, number one.

704
00:36:56,476 --> 00:36:58,936
Um, but I'm pretty sure you want it too.

705
00:36:59,476 --> 00:37:00,606
And so you got to build it.

706
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:01,770
That's beautiful.

707
00:37:01,770 --> 00:37:05,870
So people download vxl and
like, subscribe and brush your

708
00:37:05,870 --> 00:37:07,355
teeth, please do all the things.

709
00:37:07,839 --> 00:37:11,452
We'd love to see in the comments what
you, uh, what you think about Vexl and,

710
00:37:11,452 --> 00:37:15,822
uh, spread the word, uh, don't forget,
and, and, and just as a, just as a thing,

711
00:37:15,852 --> 00:37:20,342
let's, let's, uh, let's make sure to,
uh, to do this regularly, uh, come on,

712
00:37:20,362 --> 00:37:25,272
come on, Grafton, uh, to, to our show,
you know, every, every few months or

713
00:37:25,272 --> 00:37:28,712
something, at least once a year, something
like that, and let's, let's spread the

714
00:37:28,712 --> 00:37:30,322
word together, that's the least we can do.

715
00:37:30,507 --> 00:37:34,747
I mean, look, it's taken me a long time
to get to, to, to where we are now.

716
00:37:34,747 --> 00:37:39,137
I mean, and, and, and Bitcoin, you
know, is like, everybody's panicking

717
00:37:39,137 --> 00:37:40,287
because the price is at what?

718
00:37:40,427 --> 00:37:41,997
Fifty seven or something?

719
00:37:42,967 --> 00:37:46,037
So it's like, people go
crazy, but they also like.

720
00:37:46,102 --> 00:37:49,912
When Bitcoin drops, you know, what
it is right now or whatever, like,

721
00:37:49,922 --> 00:37:52,382
all of a sudden you look at Vexil
and people are really using it.

722
00:37:52,392 --> 00:37:55,952
So there's like these periods of
time where, um, because people

723
00:37:55,952 --> 00:37:58,632
are buying the dip, but people
are also selling it as well.

724
00:37:58,632 --> 00:38:03,072
And so, like, you can see that and
by talking about it and understanding

725
00:38:03,072 --> 00:38:07,562
that there is a private marketplace
out there where you can Vexl, Bitcoin

726
00:38:07,572 --> 00:38:11,032
with your friends and friends of
friends, like that's the biggest

727
00:38:11,072 --> 00:38:12,472
secret that's going on right now.

728
00:38:12,472 --> 00:38:13,402
It shouldn't be a secret.

729
00:38:13,402 --> 00:38:17,952
We have to, we have to build these tools
for tomorrow, today, because if you look

730
00:38:17,952 --> 00:38:22,437
at what's happened with KYC and what's
happening with Bitcoin is The further we

731
00:38:22,437 --> 00:38:27,607
get away from that, you know, Satoshi's
white paper, the more it starts to

732
00:38:27,607 --> 00:38:29,277
mirror our current financial system.

733
00:38:29,317 --> 00:38:31,717
And that scares me because
that's not what Bitcoin is.

734
00:38:31,807 --> 00:38:33,807
Bitcoin was rebel, you know?

735
00:40:14,144 --> 00:40:19,484
So, so other than you and, and slush,
uh, like how is, how is Vxl connected to

736
00:40:19,484 --> 00:40:21,645
Satoshi Labs and, and Trevor and all that?

737
00:40:22,213 --> 00:40:22,553
Yeah.

738
00:40:22,613 --> 00:40:28,673
Um, so Slush is, I mean, Vexl was
Slush's idea, but we have Stick as well.

739
00:40:28,713 --> 00:40:33,223
So Stick, Slush, um, they are
the co founders of Trezor,

740
00:40:33,733 --> 00:40:35,063
founders of Satoshi Labs.

741
00:40:35,543 --> 00:40:37,263
Um, and Vexl is the newest.

742
00:40:37,813 --> 00:40:38,433
project.

743
00:40:38,633 --> 00:40:43,653
Um, we have Trezor, uh, which is,
you know, the OG hardware wallet.

744
00:40:43,663 --> 00:40:47,793
Then there is Tropic Square,
which is aiming to be the world's

745
00:40:47,793 --> 00:40:49,403
first open source secure element.

746
00:40:49,889 --> 00:40:55,079
Okay, so, so, so, uh, so, uh, it's
under the Satoshi Labs, uh, umbrella.

747
00:40:55,079 --> 00:40:55,709
So, so, so to

748
00:40:55,963 --> 00:40:57,663
It's yeah, it's under the umbrella.

749
00:40:57,823 --> 00:41:02,023
So we were our initial investment
was funded through Satoshi Labs.

750
00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:03,430
but that's, that's it.

751
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,580
Now we are supported through grant
for the last six months from OpenSats

752
00:41:07,620 --> 00:41:09,220
and we're currently fundraising.

753
00:41:09,220 --> 00:41:09,295
for listening.

754
00:41:09,585 --> 00:41:12,615
Um, to kind of look at Nostr,
to look at these things as well.

755
00:41:13,495 --> 00:41:16,675
So, but yeah, Satoshi Labs
is our parent company because

756
00:41:16,675 --> 00:41:17,725
our co founders created it.

757
00:41:18,139 --> 00:41:24,769
Oh, wonderful, and, uh, yeah, I mean,
Uh, as you say, I think this massive

758
00:41:25,009 --> 00:41:32,719
weight of sort of the history and the
companies in Czech Republic, I mean,

759
00:41:33,169 --> 00:41:40,219
there are other places that are starting
to kind of pick up some steam, try to

760
00:41:40,229 --> 00:41:45,384
be these sort of Bitcoin destinations,
but, uh, Yeah, really, really cool

761
00:41:45,384 --> 00:41:47,914
to see kind of how that's all worked.

762
00:41:47,914 --> 00:41:52,224
And I mean, yeah, I, I think I think for
for my part with the with the vexling of

763
00:41:52,224 --> 00:41:55,954
it, I definitely see the gradually and
suddenly that you're talking about that.

764
00:41:56,774 --> 00:42:01,184
Just got to get the contacts and
it incentivizes people to you.

765
00:42:01,639 --> 00:42:03,039
Make these connections.

766
00:42:03,039 --> 00:42:07,499
And I mean, we're still early as soon
as you were starting to say, you know,

767
00:42:07,519 --> 00:42:08,739
the price has dipped and everything.

768
00:42:08,739 --> 00:42:13,259
I mean, I'm old enough to remember when
55, 000 US dollars per for one Bitcoin.

769
00:42:13,289 --> 00:42:14,419
That seemed like a lot.

770
00:42:15,343 --> 00:42:20,423
Yeah, I mean, I remember when
600, I remember telling my mom to

771
00:42:20,423 --> 00:42:24,183
buy Bitcoin at like 600 and her
response was, Oh, it's too expensive.

772
00:42:24,183 --> 00:42:25,743
I'll wait for it to
come down a little bit.

773
00:42:26,333 --> 00:42:31,543
Um, and I mean, that's like, you know, I
think the first time my mom really started

774
00:42:31,543 --> 00:42:36,973
looking at Bitcoin is, you know, as a
real thing was when Bitcoin hit 69, 000,

775
00:42:36,973 --> 00:42:39,663
you know, and then she's like, all right,
I should probably get some just in case,

776
00:42:40,093 --> 00:42:43,938
you know, and that's like, well, that's
where we are with, you know, With Bitcoin,

777
00:42:43,958 --> 00:42:48,088
I think we should all start looking
at, um, getting some just in case, but

778
00:42:48,098 --> 00:42:50,638
getting some no KYC Bitcoin just in case.

779
00:42:50,798 --> 00:42:55,978
And I think that realistically, we're
going to wake up in 10 years and go like,

780
00:42:56,038 --> 00:42:58,828
okay, this is a nightmare of KYC hell.

781
00:42:58,998 --> 00:43:03,138
Everybody's information is all over
the place and there's no going back.

782
00:43:03,158 --> 00:43:04,508
There's no resetting that.

783
00:43:04,508 --> 00:43:07,488
Once it's out there, you know,
they leak how much Bitcoin

784
00:43:07,488 --> 00:43:09,818
you own or something is just.

785
00:43:10,378 --> 00:43:12,158
It seems like a disaster
waiting to happen.

786
00:43:12,789 --> 00:43:15,289
yeah, let's let's dig
into this a little bit.

787
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:16,639
Yeah.

788
00:43:16,729 --> 00:43:18,119
How important is it?

789
00:43:18,859 --> 00:43:24,589
KYC versus non KYC in your view, because,
I mean, you sort of described the picture,

790
00:43:24,599 --> 00:43:31,609
but non KYC at the moment is difficult
for newer people, at least as the first

791
00:43:31,609 --> 00:43:39,139
point of entry, compared to just go
on whatever exchange dick, and I had a

792
00:43:39,139 --> 00:43:45,973
encounter recently, locally, with a guy
who was trying to convince, I forget it.

793
00:43:45,974 --> 00:43:52,864
He was related to her, but, um,
somebody knew, uh, and, and she was

794
00:43:52,864 --> 00:43:57,914
saying that she actually did not want,
I guess, I guess this, this guy was,

795
00:43:57,954 --> 00:44:03,314
was advocating non KYCU, but pushback
was she wanted it to be KYC'd so that

796
00:44:03,314 --> 00:44:04,914
it was all above board and legal.

797
00:44:04,914 --> 00:44:08,884
And so it's just this funny,
this funny opposite mindset.

798
00:44:09,284 --> 00:44:14,254
Right, of, of how people think the
world is supposed to be but just, just

799
00:44:14,254 --> 00:44:17,554
to actually get to, get to a point
here is that, is that in, in a certain

800
00:44:17,554 --> 00:44:19,374
extent, there's only 21 million.

801
00:44:20,614 --> 00:44:24,184
You have, you have a certain
percentage of, of Bitcoin on a

802
00:44:24,184 --> 00:44:26,434
hardware wallet in your possession.

803
00:44:27,224 --> 00:44:30,864
You keep the secret, only
you know what that is, right?

804
00:44:31,254 --> 00:44:34,224
Well, you have it,
whether it's KYC or not.

805
00:44:34,604 --> 00:44:38,404
But what's your view, I guess,
of the nuance and the interplay

806
00:44:38,404 --> 00:44:42,284
between just simply having Bitcoin
and KYC versus non KYC Bitcoin?

807
00:44:42,548 --> 00:44:47,328
Well, KYC thinks like, okay, so I
saw an interesting discussion about

808
00:44:47,328 --> 00:44:53,148
this actually on Twitter recently,
where he said that, um, looking at

809
00:44:53,148 --> 00:44:56,688
KYC Bitcoin, it doesn't mean that,
you know, your, your Bitcoin, your KYC

810
00:44:56,688 --> 00:44:58,038
follows you everywhere or whatever.

811
00:44:58,038 --> 00:44:59,838
And it says that it's know your customer.

812
00:44:59,878 --> 00:45:05,088
So what it means is for you to be able to
have Bitcoin, you have to have permission.

813
00:45:05,973 --> 00:45:11,363
Um, and that's what KYC is for
most of these, like, people, right?

814
00:45:11,373 --> 00:45:14,683
If you are Coinbase or Binance or
any of these things, what they're

815
00:45:14,683 --> 00:45:18,813
saying is that we have this system,
you can participate in it, but first,

816
00:45:18,973 --> 00:45:21,773
we need to make sure it's okay that
you participate in that system.

817
00:45:22,273 --> 00:45:27,963
And not everybody can do that, so
for me, we have to make it as easy

818
00:45:27,963 --> 00:45:34,063
to buy Bitcoin for everyone as we do
for the exchanges who make it easy to

819
00:45:34,063 --> 00:45:36,583
buy Bitcoin on their exchange because
they've granted you permission.

820
00:45:37,463 --> 00:45:40,793
So, when you look at, I mean, the BTC
pay server movie was great because

821
00:45:40,793 --> 00:45:44,003
you go into El Salvador and you look
at the dentist who never had a bank

822
00:45:44,003 --> 00:45:47,923
account, who was never able to save
money to do this, or you have people

823
00:45:47,923 --> 00:45:51,703
who don't have identification or who
are unbanked, who can't participate.

824
00:45:52,273 --> 00:45:53,433
What are they supposed to do?

825
00:45:53,433 --> 00:45:55,183
Um, how do they get permission?

826
00:45:55,863 --> 00:46:00,573
And when you introduce permission
into Bitcoin, well, that's not

827
00:46:00,633 --> 00:46:02,013
what Bitcoin is supposed to be.

828
00:46:02,903 --> 00:46:05,283
Bitcoin should not have
permission attached to it.

829
00:46:05,783 --> 00:46:08,533
Um, you know, go and look
at Canadian truckers.

830
00:46:09,023 --> 00:46:12,283
protest, you know, is going, well,
their bank accounts are frozen.

831
00:46:12,493 --> 00:46:13,563
You don't have permission.

832
00:46:13,593 --> 00:46:17,003
So we, you can't do anything because
we're freezing your accounts, right?

833
00:46:17,093 --> 00:46:18,953
Your permission has been revoked.

834
00:46:19,683 --> 00:46:22,603
They can do that to you in 2020, 2022.

835
00:46:22,613 --> 00:46:25,683
They can do that to you tomorrow
for, I saw an article of

836
00:46:25,763 --> 00:46:28,013
not wearing a hijab in Iran.

837
00:46:28,023 --> 00:46:30,573
They will freeze your bank account
because you're not, they, you don't have

838
00:46:30,573 --> 00:46:32,193
permission to participate in their system.

839
00:46:32,573 --> 00:46:34,243
That's what KYC is to me.

840
00:46:34,793 --> 00:46:39,298
Um, you know, looking at someone who says,
well, We need to make sure that the coins

841
00:46:39,298 --> 00:46:41,488
that we're getting are not tainted, right?

842
00:46:41,488 --> 00:46:43,508
Or they're not blacklisted or this.

843
00:46:43,508 --> 00:46:46,118
And I go, well, what is that
fucking, what is tainted Bitcoin?

844
00:46:46,278 --> 00:46:47,128
Bitcoin is Bitcoin.

845
00:46:47,738 --> 00:46:51,728
So what it means is you don't
have permission to spend that

846
00:46:51,728 --> 00:46:52,688
Bitcoin on that exchange.

847
00:46:53,618 --> 00:46:58,248
And I think that that's really,
to me, why I see KYC as an enemy.

848
00:46:58,268 --> 00:47:01,308
Not because I'm trying to hide
anything or anything like that.

849
00:47:01,338 --> 00:47:05,828
I'm just trying to protect myself and
be able to have permission with money.

850
00:47:06,559 --> 00:47:11,479
now, I, I totally agree and I think
there's a cognitive dissonance here, and I

851
00:47:11,479 --> 00:47:15,619
hear it all the time because like, there's
so many people who want like Bitcoin to,

852
00:47:15,799 --> 00:47:21,409
to be legitimized by some fucking entity
before, before they can take it seriously.

853
00:47:21,869 --> 00:47:26,669
And that is completely missing the
point because if, if all bitcoins

854
00:47:26,679 --> 00:47:31,609
were legitimized by someone, the, you
know, if they all required permission.

855
00:47:32,464 --> 00:47:37,144
Then, uh, there is no 21 million cap
anymore, and there's no value proposition,

856
00:47:37,404 --> 00:47:43,534
because then you, these people are able to
censor and, and rule the network anyway.

857
00:47:43,764 --> 00:47:48,244
So, so all the, all the value
propositions go away when it's

858
00:47:48,244 --> 00:47:49,494
not underground money anymore.

859
00:47:50,124 --> 00:47:54,524
So, so it needs, like, we've
figured out a way to do money

860
00:47:54,524 --> 00:47:56,214
without government involvement.

861
00:47:56,444 --> 00:47:57,814
And that's the point.

862
00:47:57,964 --> 00:48:01,284
Like, if you want it to be permissioned,
you have this cognitive dissonance.

863
00:48:01,294 --> 00:48:02,554
Like, it doesn't work.

864
00:48:02,814 --> 00:48:09,234
It's like saying, yeah, I love this
invention, the wheel here, but I refuse

865
00:48:09,304 --> 00:48:13,584
to use a wheel to roll this thing
down this hill until the government

866
00:48:13,584 --> 00:48:14,924
says it's okay for me to do so.

867
00:48:14,924 --> 00:48:16,253
It's

868
00:48:16,318 --> 00:48:16,848
imagine?

869
00:48:18,668 --> 00:48:22,118
I mean, but that's kind of where we
are, if you look at regulations, I mean.

870
00:48:22,908 --> 00:48:30,548
Look at where we are with, um, I
mean, the bottle cap in Europe,

871
00:48:30,908 --> 00:48:33,828
um, I think my camera died, um,

872
00:48:33,954 --> 00:48:35,214
Your camera definitely died.

873
00:48:35,658 --> 00:48:39,078
yeah, look at where we are with the bottle
cap in Europe, you have to have, you

874
00:48:39,078 --> 00:48:40,378
know, different ones, hold on one second,

875
00:48:42,237 --> 00:48:47,717
while he's fixing it, that, uh, you
know, uh, freezing of bank accounts if

876
00:48:47,717 --> 00:48:52,697
you're not wearing a hijab thing made me
think of a rainbow hijab, do you think

877
00:48:52,697 --> 00:48:54,207
there's such a thing as a rainbow hijab?

878
00:48:54,207 --> 00:48:55,127
Yeah.

879
00:48:55,237 --> 00:48:57,527
I mean, a lot of them are pretty colorful.

880
00:48:57,607 --> 00:49:02,367
Uh, but, but it's, it's an interesting,
it's an interesting thought.

881
00:49:02,807 --> 00:49:03,437
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

882
00:49:03,437 --> 00:49:04,317
You're, you're good now.

883
00:49:04,317 --> 00:49:04,767
You're good.

884
00:49:04,807 --> 00:49:05,167
Yeah.

885
00:49:05,457 --> 00:49:08,387
I don't know, maybe the battery
on it is something, we'll see if I

886
00:49:08,387 --> 00:49:13,402
have to message my, uh, my guy, but
yeah, I mean, That's exactly what

887
00:49:13,402 --> 00:49:14,582
you're talking about a rainbow hijab.

888
00:49:14,582 --> 00:49:20,362
I mean, that's like people have such,
such difficulty these days understanding

889
00:49:20,362 --> 00:49:22,942
what they're even for or against.

890
00:49:23,112 --> 00:49:27,242
Um, and like the, you know, saying,
well, I want my Bitcoin that's like,

891
00:49:27,282 --> 00:49:30,512
you know, the gays for Palestine
thing and like all of this,

892
00:49:30,517 --> 00:49:31,507
for KFC.

893
00:49:31,752 --> 00:49:33,162
yeah, chickens for KFC.

894
00:49:33,162 --> 00:49:36,112
It's like, you have, I don't
think that you really have

895
00:49:36,172 --> 00:49:37,482
so much idea what's going on.

896
00:49:37,492 --> 00:49:41,892
I think you're just whatever feels good
in that moment is what they're going for.

897
00:49:42,127 --> 00:49:45,337
we go into this a lot in the new
book about like the difference

898
00:49:45,347 --> 00:49:47,527
between legal and lawful.

899
00:49:48,417 --> 00:49:52,607
It's like there's been some libertarian
writings about this and how lawful

900
00:49:52,607 --> 00:49:55,907
is something that is actually
ethically and morally correct.

901
00:49:56,357 --> 00:50:00,727
And it's basically all property rights
when you boil it down to essentials

902
00:50:00,777 --> 00:50:05,847
and legal is just something that some
guy at some institution came up with

903
00:50:06,637 --> 00:50:08,867
regardless if there's a victim or not.

904
00:50:09,341 --> 00:50:13,401
Well, I don't know if you've read, I told
you, I think we talked about it in, um,

905
00:50:13,701 --> 00:50:17,841
Poland or Warsaw, but I told you about a
book called A Lodging of Wayfaring Men.

906
00:50:18,231 --> 00:50:19,071
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

907
00:50:19,371 --> 00:50:21,771
I haven't read it yet, I

908
00:50:21,921 --> 00:50:26,551
I will, I will send you, um, I'll
send you a copy, um, because it's

909
00:50:26,551 --> 00:50:30,201
hard to find, um, but I think that
you would really enjoy that book.

910
00:50:30,741 --> 00:50:34,841
I like exclusively do audiobooks
these days because I just

911
00:50:34,841 --> 00:50:36,751
don't have the time to sit down

912
00:50:36,801 --> 00:50:37,611
not sure.

913
00:50:37,631 --> 00:50:39,971
If there's not an audiobook,
there should be one.

914
00:50:39,981 --> 00:50:41,691
My dog is making an appearance.

915
00:50:41,761 --> 00:50:42,421
Um,

916
00:50:42,831 --> 00:50:44,691
Yeah, there's a Kindle version, that's

917
00:50:44,841 --> 00:50:48,451
yeah, I'm not sure if there's an audio
one, but man, I think there should be.

918
00:50:48,451 --> 00:50:51,531
I might maybe need to talk to Max
Hillebrand and get him to record.

919
00:50:51,531 --> 00:50:52,351
I would listen to him.

920
00:50:53,531 --> 00:50:57,351
well the AI voices are good enough
now, you could just, like, make

921
00:50:57,351 --> 00:50:59,471
some app read it for you, I guess.

922
00:51:00,046 --> 00:51:01,756
Well, that'd be nice.

923
00:51:01,786 --> 00:51:04,706
I don't know if you've ever
done like the immersion reading

924
00:51:04,746 --> 00:51:08,176
technique where you listen to a
book and read it at the same time.

925
00:51:08,306 --> 00:51:09,446
Um, oh my god.

926
00:51:10,026 --> 00:51:11,586
Uh, no.

927
00:51:11,776 --> 00:51:13,330
No, the target languages are good.

928
00:51:13,330 --> 00:51:14,366
This is all good.

929
00:51:14,446 --> 00:51:18,846
Yeah, and there's a, there's a similar
language learning technique too if you

930
00:51:18,846 --> 00:51:20,096
want to take it a whole other level.

931
00:51:20,096 --> 00:51:23,386
You listen to a, you listen to an
audio book in your target language and

932
00:51:23,386 --> 00:51:26,636
you keep your, your native language
and the target language at the same

933
00:51:26,636 --> 00:51:30,566
time and it's like, that's like the
hardcorest way you can immerse yourself.

934
00:51:31,066 --> 00:51:34,746
Um, Doggo is, uh, is getting,
is getting the, uh, attention

935
00:51:34,746 --> 00:51:35,856
here, but I think that's

936
00:51:36,076 --> 00:51:36,966
Hey, doggie.

937
00:51:37,226 --> 00:51:38,076
That's, that's priorities in

938
00:51:38,096 --> 00:51:39,466
What was the name of the dog?

939
00:51:39,766 --> 00:51:40,726
this is Ash.

940
00:51:41,006 --> 00:51:42,676
We call him Ash the Vexl dog.

941
00:51:43,846 --> 00:51:45,056
Ash the Wechseldanger.

942
00:51:45,076 --> 00:51:47,876
yeah, he has his own Twitter
account and everything.

943
00:51:48,356 --> 00:51:51,056
On Vexl, no one knows you're a dog.

944
00:51:51,271 --> 00:51:53,371
They just know that you have
a lot of mutual friends.

945
00:51:53,656 --> 00:51:58,006
But, but they will call you out if you
try to sell the Doge coin or doggie

946
00:51:58,006 --> 00:51:58,266
coin,

947
00:51:58,531 --> 00:51:59,101
exactly.

948
00:51:59,101 --> 00:51:59,401
Yeah.

949
00:51:59,701 --> 00:52:00,641
Well, getting into that.

950
00:52:00,651 --> 00:52:05,561
So that's one of my favorite things
ever is, uh, the first time I ever met,

951
00:52:05,751 --> 00:52:12,081
I don't know if you know this story,
Luke, but we were in Miami, Miami, 2022.

952
00:52:12,221 --> 00:52:16,411
You know, I'm fresh into,
uh, working in Bitcoin.

953
00:52:16,421 --> 00:52:18,791
I'm very proud that I
I'm working in Bitcoin.

954
00:52:18,801 --> 00:52:21,751
I'm very proud that I work at
Trezor and the Trezor booth is

955
00:52:21,751 --> 00:52:24,601
right across from the book signing.

956
00:52:25,306 --> 00:52:29,246
And, um, I was like, oh,
Knut's gonna be over there.

957
00:52:29,246 --> 00:52:31,046
I was like, I gotta get
him to sign my book.

958
00:52:31,316 --> 00:52:35,186
Um, so I went over, and I was
like, hey, I'm so glad to meet you.

959
00:52:35,186 --> 00:52:36,006
Will you please sign my book?

960
00:52:36,016 --> 00:52:37,156
He's like, yeah, what do you do?

961
00:52:37,206 --> 00:52:38,486
And I was like, oh, I work at Trezor.

962
00:52:38,486 --> 00:52:40,686
And he's like, oh, Trezor, he's like,
yeah, you should tell them they're

963
00:52:40,686 --> 00:52:42,466
a bunch of shitcoiners, alright?

964
00:52:43,056 --> 00:52:47,996
So I was like, well, I'm not sure
how accurate that statement is, if

965
00:52:48,016 --> 00:52:49,246
Trezor's a bunch of shit coiters.

966
00:52:49,246 --> 00:52:52,846
I mean, we've, we've, the
reason you have 12 words is, is,

967
00:52:52,891 --> 00:52:54,231
I think you remember this.

968
00:52:55,191 --> 00:52:56,941
I have a slight different memory.

969
00:52:56,941 --> 00:52:57,041
I

970
00:52:57,041 --> 00:53:00,661
told them like you should you
should do the Bitcoin only thing

971
00:53:00,671 --> 00:53:02,451
on top at least like you should go

972
00:53:02,471 --> 00:53:03,251
Bitcoin only.

973
00:53:03,261 --> 00:53:03,961
Yes, you should.

974
00:53:04,331 --> 00:53:06,971
But at least you should put
like the Bitcoin only firmware

975
00:53:07,891 --> 00:53:08,881
as the default.

976
00:53:09,261 --> 00:53:13,391
And I think there was some I think you
told me afterwards that it was something

977
00:53:13,391 --> 00:53:18,971
like that they put Bitcoin on top, whereas
it wasn't before, or something's changed.

978
00:53:19,276 --> 00:53:24,436
But, basically, That, that moment, it's
stuck in my head, and it really, it made

979
00:53:24,436 --> 00:53:27,796
me, it made me crazy, you know, because
I'm like, what, you know, Trezor is, is,

980
00:53:27,816 --> 00:53:31,156
we've, you know, contributed so much to
Bitcoin, and like, we are Bitcoiners,

981
00:53:31,986 --> 00:53:36,286
like, Trezor are Bitcoiners, like, we,
okay, yeah, we have shitcoin, they have

982
00:53:36,286 --> 00:53:42,256
shitcoin, but like, we do everything we do
for Bitcoin, and um, so basically, every

983
00:53:42,286 --> 00:53:49,101
time that I've seen Knut since, Um, I
have, I have basically slightly insulted

984
00:53:49,101 --> 00:53:52,821
him, not insulted him, but like dug at
him a little bit and be like, yeah, try to

985
00:53:52,821 --> 00:53:54,671
call me a shit coiner now, motherfucker.

986
00:53:55,661 --> 00:53:59,081
And so, like, it worked, you know,
and then in Prague, you were like,

987
00:53:59,081 --> 00:54:01,651
uh, I think you said something like,
you're definitely not a shit coiner.

988
00:54:01,651 --> 00:54:03,771
I was like, yeah,
finally, it worked, yeah.

989
00:54:04,521 --> 00:54:07,091
think even in Warsaw,
I'd come around to that.

990
00:54:07,301 --> 00:54:12,771
But, and, uh, yeah, so, you know,
Trezor makes legit products.

991
00:54:14,266 --> 00:54:19,336
I still wish they would stop shitcoining
completely, and I stand by that, and

992
00:54:19,336 --> 00:54:24,026
stand by that for every single hardware
wallet manufacturer, or everyone on earth,

993
00:54:24,406 --> 00:54:25,666
actually, should stop shitcoining

994
00:54:26,846 --> 00:54:30,356
immediately, but the product is good.

995
00:54:30,831 --> 00:54:35,421
Yeah, I mean, I can't speak on, on,
like, too much of it, but I mean, Trezor,

996
00:54:35,421 --> 00:54:37,471
they are, we are, they're Bitcoiners.

997
00:54:37,741 --> 00:54:43,021
I mean, that, that's why, yes, they do
have shitcoin, um, and I will say that,

998
00:54:43,201 --> 00:54:47,701
um, the one thing I can, you know, add
about that is that shitcoiners hopefully

999
00:54:47,701 --> 00:54:52,311
make Bitcoiners, and they never took
look back, so, you know, a lot of people

1000
00:54:52,501 --> 00:54:57,911
still, in their minds, They go, I'm
looking for the next Bitcoin and that's

1001
00:54:57,911 --> 00:55:00,261
like, I've heard that from my friends.

1002
00:55:00,261 --> 00:55:01,431
I've heard that from everyone.

1003
00:55:01,901 --> 00:55:04,931
Um, you know, my, my normal
friends who are like, Oh, I'm

1004
00:55:04,931 --> 00:55:05,881
going to get the next Bitcoin.

1005
00:55:05,881 --> 00:55:06,871
I'm trying to find the next one.

1006
00:55:06,871 --> 00:55:08,701
And I'm like, you know, I go to sailor.

1007
00:55:08,751 --> 00:55:09,731
There, there is no,

1008
00:55:10,486 --> 00:55:11,846
There is some second, but yeah,

1009
00:55:12,651 --> 00:55:13,251
yeah, but

1010
00:55:13,306 --> 00:55:16,786
that's still going on, but, but
that's why I'm so irritated with shit

1011
00:55:16,921 --> 00:55:17,861
I know.

1012
00:55:18,166 --> 00:55:22,606
they are the attack, like people who
fall for them and then get burned,

1013
00:55:23,546 --> 00:55:26,866
likely they won't come back to
Bitcoin until 10 years down the line.

1014
00:55:27,351 --> 00:55:31,561
Then when they realize, oh, it was
Bitcoin all along, like, and, uh, I

1015
00:55:31,561 --> 00:55:36,821
think for the most part, that process
coming to Bitcoin only, mentally, uh,

1016
00:55:37,311 --> 00:55:41,301
could be faster if there weren't all
of these bullshit narratives about the

1017
00:55:41,509 --> 00:55:41,549
place.

1018
00:55:41,559 --> 00:55:43,549
Oh yeah, like, I'm, I'm open personally.

1019
00:55:43,629 --> 00:55:49,569
I, I started with Ethereum in 2017, and my
office, my personal local community, was

1020
00:55:49,569 --> 00:55:53,009
only into Ethereum for whatever reason,
and that's the only thing I bought,

1021
00:55:53,019 --> 00:55:56,909
and then everything crashed, and, ah,
I didn't think about it for four years,

1022
00:55:56,909 --> 00:55:59,569
and then things started going up, and I
go down the rabbit hole, and whatever,

1023
00:55:59,569 --> 00:56:05,299
but yeah, I started in shitcoins, and
Probably, possibly, I missed the boat

1024
00:56:05,329 --> 00:56:09,479
by four years, and that's too bad for
me, but, you know, no regrets, but, uh,

1025
00:56:09,677 --> 00:56:15,087
But I mean, I get Knut's point, which
is that if you provide this place for

1026
00:56:15,087 --> 00:56:18,987
shitcoiners to put their shitcoin,
um, what you're doing is in a way

1027
00:56:18,987 --> 00:56:22,107
validating that like, oh, yeah, yeah.

1028
00:56:22,107 --> 00:56:25,707
And I, like, I, I do, I
agree with you in that point.

1029
00:56:25,767 --> 00:56:28,747
Um, you know, and I, I have
had shitcoin in my life.

1030
00:56:28,757 --> 00:56:30,807
You know, I'm not saying that
I've never had a shitcoin.

1031
00:56:30,807 --> 00:56:33,967
I had litecoin back in
like 2012 or some shit.

1032
00:56:33,967 --> 00:56:38,887
I Um, and I had some Ethereum
like the day that it was out.

1033
00:56:38,887 --> 00:56:40,797
I was like, Oh, you know, I
was playing around with stuff

1034
00:56:40,797 --> 00:56:42,377
because I was naturally curious.

1035
00:56:42,407 --> 00:56:46,697
But, you know, it's like, there's that,
you know, the meme of the guy where it's

1036
00:56:46,717 --> 00:56:50,727
like each level, you know, you get is
eventually you do get to where Bitcoin

1037
00:56:50,737 --> 00:56:56,947
is like, giant laser The I's, you know,
going out where you go, no, this is it.

1038
00:56:56,957 --> 00:56:58,247
This is, this is what it is.

1039
00:56:58,277 --> 00:57:04,697
then again, like, there's something to
that, there needs to be, uh, like if

1040
00:57:04,987 --> 00:57:10,427
Bitcoin goes to shit, or some code that
we don't like get implemented, we need

1041
00:57:10,427 --> 00:57:15,362
to be able to fork off and do our own
thing, and like, Uh, so there's, there's

1042
00:57:15,362 --> 00:57:21,237
something to that, but still legitimizing
those fucking Doty coins and Ethereum.

1043
00:57:21,242 --> 00:57:25,622
Ethereum being the mother asshole
has safely inputted so poetically

1044
00:57:25,892 --> 00:57:28,682
the mother asshole from which
all other shit coins are spawned.

1045
00:57:29,112 --> 00:57:36,372
I mean, uh, and putting that side by side
with Bitcoin is like, uh, uh, what, what,

1046
00:57:36,372 --> 00:57:43,312
what's the analogy is like you have this,
um, um, you have the most beautifully

1047
00:57:43,342 --> 00:57:49,762
marbled ribeye steak, angus steak, or
wagyu steak, and you can buy this, or

1048
00:57:49,762 --> 00:57:56,787
you can buy for the same price, um, Uh,
this, um, eats the bugs dog food here.

1049
00:57:56,787 --> 00:57:59,847
That is, uh, but I promise
it will be as tasty.

1050
00:57:59,877 --> 00:58:03,927
Like, it's, it's such a, it's not
even a bad an, uh, it is not even a

1051
00:58:03,927 --> 00:58:07,167
good analogy, but it, the, the whole
thing is you put the best thing in the

1052
00:58:07,167 --> 00:58:12,177
universe next to the scam, iest fucking
trash shit that has ever been created.

1053
00:58:12,657 --> 00:58:17,817
Uh, and, and, and it there,
that's where the similarities end.

1054
00:58:18,387 --> 00:58:19,297
well, that's what you mean.

1055
00:58:19,597 --> 00:58:22,397
I think the problem, one of
the biggest problems stems from

1056
00:58:22,407 --> 00:58:25,557
the fact that something like
CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko exist.

1057
00:58:25,937 --> 00:58:30,567
It's like, uh, there's a, there's
the, here's a cap is Bitcoin.

1058
00:58:30,987 --> 00:58:34,007
Like, I don't give a shit for me, it's
like, when I, when I turn on and look

1059
00:58:34,007 --> 00:58:37,797
at the price, I go to CoinGecko and
it's like, of course you look at what,

1060
00:58:37,797 --> 00:58:40,387
Bitcoin's number one, that's really all
you need to see, but then you start,

1061
00:58:40,397 --> 00:58:43,217
you know, you find your eyes going
down a line, you're, you know, you're

1062
00:58:43,217 --> 00:58:45,887
curious, you're looking, and like,
that's what most people are doing.

1063
00:58:46,617 --> 00:58:50,737
Is, they're going to these websites
and aping into this bullshit.

1064
00:58:51,037 --> 00:58:56,757
You see things like, uh, I don't know who
it is, uh, Petri, so I think it is opposed

1065
00:58:56,757 --> 00:58:58,647
to these threads about, uh, he's a,

1066
00:58:58,717 --> 00:59:01,877
this guy is a Bitcoin legend because
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

1067
00:59:02,247 --> 00:59:03,857
And he's been doing a good job at it.

1068
00:59:04,137 --> 00:59:07,887
And then all of a sudden Erik Voorhees
shows up there and it's all this, oh,

1069
00:59:07,897 --> 00:59:12,637
Erik Voorhees did this and this, that
and that year, and how awesome he is.

1070
00:59:12,847 --> 00:59:16,017
And he leaves out the whole thing
that he started an exchange where you

1071
00:59:16,017 --> 00:59:18,687
could switch your Bitcoin for shit.

1072
00:59:18,687 --> 00:59:18,937
Tch.

1073
00:59:19,227 --> 00:59:21,697
Uh, and he took a cut
every time you did that.

1074
00:59:21,777 --> 00:59:24,257
And that's the entire
purpose of that fucking site.

1075
00:59:24,277 --> 00:59:27,857
It's that to enrich him at the
expense of everyone else thinking

1076
00:59:27,857 --> 00:59:30,827
that the shit they're exchanging
their precious sats for is somehow

1077
00:59:30,837 --> 00:59:32,267
worth something in the long run.

1078
00:59:32,277 --> 00:59:33,007
Which it isn't.

1079
00:59:33,337 --> 00:59:34,957
It's just fucking scams, all of it.

1080
00:59:36,022 --> 00:59:41,842
But that's why, like, going from one
coin into another and doing this,

1081
00:59:41,912 --> 00:59:45,172
it's like, no, we go back to, like,
I'll give you some Bitcoin for some

1082
00:59:45,192 --> 00:59:49,972
honey or for some eggs, you know,
like, that's what, you know, it is.

1083
00:59:50,002 --> 00:59:54,952
We hear this every day, value for value,
but, like, I enjoy spending my Bitcoin,

1084
00:59:55,002 --> 00:59:59,692
you know, like, I know that's weird
to say for most people because they

1085
00:59:59,692 --> 01:00:02,582
look at it as like, oh, you know, hold
up, but even when Bitcoin is coming.

1086
01:00:02,752 --> 01:00:03,972
Drops or whatever.

1087
01:00:03,972 --> 01:00:07,132
I have, you know, stuff that I still like.

1088
01:00:07,162 --> 01:00:08,872
I spent in my cleaning lady.

1089
01:00:08,872 --> 01:00:11,052
She, she's this lady from Ukraine.

1090
01:00:11,062 --> 01:00:12,272
She does clean.

1091
01:00:12,272 --> 01:00:15,182
I don't need her, but I've had her now.

1092
01:00:15,182 --> 01:00:18,052
And so, like, she's
kind of grandma in now.

1093
01:00:18,052 --> 01:00:20,782
I have her, uh, slowly.

1094
01:00:20,782 --> 01:00:23,622
It started because why do you have so
many of these like treasure T shirts?

1095
01:00:23,622 --> 01:00:24,222
What is this?

1096
01:00:24,222 --> 01:00:27,802
You know, and then she starts learning
about my, you know, I go, I have a

1097
01:00:27,802 --> 01:00:29,582
colleague who also wants his house clean.

1098
01:00:29,582 --> 01:00:31,272
And so then, you know, you
have all these people from.

1099
01:00:31,747 --> 01:00:35,147
Here, who I started talking to about
Bitcoin, and now I told her, I was

1100
01:00:35,147 --> 01:00:39,277
like, okay, every time I pay you, I'm
going to give you this much in fiat,

1101
01:00:39,787 --> 01:00:43,067
which is what I know that you want,
that you need, but then I'm going

1102
01:00:43,067 --> 01:00:47,442
to give you This 10 euros, I'm going
to pay you in Bitcoin every time.

1103
01:00:48,052 --> 01:00:52,252
And you could, you should see her
now, like every, since I've been

1104
01:00:52,252 --> 01:00:55,732
doing this, is she, she gets her
lightning, you know, her QR code ready.

1105
01:00:55,922 --> 01:00:59,352
I pay her and she gets really excited
because she feels that she's saving

1106
01:00:59,352 --> 01:01:00,522
and doing something different.

1107
01:01:00,712 --> 01:01:01,162
And

1108
01:01:01,167 --> 01:01:01,697
it's great.

1109
01:01:02,257 --> 01:01:02,657
It's great.

1110
01:01:02,867 --> 01:01:06,237
Yeah, about, about the, um,
spending versus hodling.

1111
01:01:06,247 --> 01:01:10,292
We have, uh, uh, Uh, section in the
book about that, because I think the

1112
01:01:10,302 --> 01:01:13,032
terminology is what's, what's wrong.

1113
01:01:13,052 --> 01:01:19,162
Like, uh, so the, the term store
of value is flawed, uh, because

1114
01:01:19,162 --> 01:01:20,532
value is subjective, right?

1115
01:01:20,532 --> 01:01:24,012
That's basic, the most basic
building block of economics,

1116
01:01:24,012 --> 01:01:25,032
the value is subjective.

1117
01:01:25,292 --> 01:01:32,272
So, uh, so we prefer, we try to introduce
the term value, medium of exchange over

1118
01:01:32,632 --> 01:01:35,822
time and, and medium of change over space.

1119
01:01:35,882 --> 01:01:36,772
So there's, uh.

1120
01:01:37,732 --> 01:01:43,082
There's a temporal dimension and the
spatial dimensions, and gold was good for

1121
01:01:43,082 --> 01:01:47,822
the temporal stuff because it held its
value over time, and fiat's good for the

1122
01:01:47,832 --> 01:01:53,482
spatial, uh, spreading, spread of money
because it's good of a space, but Bitcoin

1123
01:01:53,492 --> 01:01:59,082
does both, and it also, like, introducing
medium of exchange over time sort of kills

1124
01:01:59,082 --> 01:02:04,322
the whole narrative that, uh, saving and
spending are, are different, they're just

1125
01:02:04,542 --> 01:02:06,892
two aspects of the same functionality.

1126
01:02:07,572 --> 01:02:10,882
Uh, it's just that when you save,
you're trading with your future

1127
01:02:10,882 --> 01:02:14,662
self, so you're still trading,
but with your future self, uh,

1128
01:02:15,412 --> 01:02:18,242
and when, and then you, and
then you trade over space.

1129
01:02:18,282 --> 01:02:21,842
So as I, like, I don't really like
the dichotomy between the two,

1130
01:02:21,852 --> 01:02:24,412
like, uh, yeah, use your Bitcoin.

1131
01:02:24,542 --> 01:02:24,882
You can

1132
01:02:24,882 --> 01:02:26,062
use them in many ways.

1133
01:02:26,192 --> 01:02:28,052
HODLing is one use case.

1134
01:02:28,152 --> 01:02:29,602
Uh, it is using them.

1135
01:02:29,602 --> 01:02:32,612
They are providing you with
something with financial stability,

1136
01:02:32,632 --> 01:02:34,282
security, like self esteem.

1137
01:02:34,802 --> 01:02:35,892
All of that comes with.

1138
01:02:37,127 --> 01:02:38,297
Having a stack, right?

1139
01:02:38,837 --> 01:02:42,557
Go into, you know, it's like, I remember,
you know, going to conferences and these

1140
01:02:42,557 --> 01:02:46,977
things and you always see like the, this
much Bitcoin was, was processed, you know,

1141
01:02:46,977 --> 01:02:51,487
during the conference of people buying
everything from t shirts to, you know, we

1142
01:02:51,487 --> 01:02:55,977
like it because we, of course, it's for
me is that's what Bitcoin is, is I travel

1143
01:02:55,977 --> 01:02:59,637
so much and I'm in different countries,
whether that's Warsaw or Madeira, I'm in

1144
01:02:59,637 --> 01:03:01,317
the Europe, I'm in the Czech crown here.

1145
01:03:01,327 --> 01:03:03,397
It's like, of course, I
enjoy spending Bitcoin.

1146
01:03:03,892 --> 01:03:07,532
But also, like, because we're
Bitcoiners, um, there is something

1147
01:03:07,532 --> 01:03:12,292
truly satisfying about doing that
and, and giving your Bitcoin to

1148
01:03:12,292 --> 01:03:14,312
somebody else for something of value.

1149
01:03:14,312 --> 01:03:18,452
And I think that that's where it starts
to click for a lot of people is, and

1150
01:03:18,762 --> 01:03:21,872
that's where I went with, like, my
cleaning lady is, you know, you can

1151
01:03:21,872 --> 01:03:25,632
tell her to buy Bitcoin and she won't
do it, or I can just start giving her

1152
01:03:25,632 --> 01:03:29,702
some of my own and paying for her and
saying, well, here, I want to do this.

1153
01:03:30,212 --> 01:03:31,132
Will you accept it?

1154
01:03:31,162 --> 01:03:34,052
And if they accept those terms and they
start doing it, then eventually they go,

1155
01:03:34,052 --> 01:03:37,872
alright, now I have something because
they can see the fiat value there.

1156
01:03:37,872 --> 01:03:39,682
So they go, oh, I have something
I need to protect this.

1157
01:03:40,352 --> 01:03:41,282
I need to learn more.

1158
01:03:41,362 --> 01:03:45,122
And, um, that's what I did
with my friend, um, Gary.

1159
01:03:45,122 --> 01:03:46,812
You know, at the beginning of
the call, he said, there's always

1160
01:03:46,822 --> 01:03:48,342
problems with audio or whatever.

1161
01:03:48,342 --> 01:03:52,332
It's like, I played games online in
the evening with my friend for years.

1162
01:03:52,342 --> 01:03:54,842
So we were used to being, you
know, three o'clock in the

1163
01:03:54,842 --> 01:03:56,702
morning talking bullshit online.

1164
01:03:57,032 --> 01:03:59,982
And a lot of that time, you
know, it gets on philosophy.

1165
01:03:59,982 --> 01:04:01,122
It gets on Bitcoin.

1166
01:04:01,402 --> 01:04:02,902
It gets on just life in general.

1167
01:04:02,902 --> 01:04:06,047
And, um, that was one of the ways
I did it with him was like, yeah.

1168
01:04:06,387 --> 01:04:09,617
Dude just like, alright, every time
we go to dinner and I pay, I'm going

1169
01:04:09,617 --> 01:04:11,637
to pay you my portion in Bitcoin.

1170
01:04:12,197 --> 01:04:14,717
And that was what made sense to him.

1171
01:04:14,727 --> 01:04:16,997
He goes, okay, I can
live with that, right?

1172
01:04:17,327 --> 01:04:19,177
And then he got to the point
where, alright, I kind of

1173
01:04:19,187 --> 01:04:20,397
have a lot of Bitcoin now.

1174
01:04:20,707 --> 01:04:22,287
You've been paying for a lot of dinners.

1175
01:04:22,347 --> 01:04:25,427
Um, that that's the way it works with him.

1176
01:04:25,437 --> 01:04:30,077
So you have to kind of find those people
who are skeptical or who aren't sure

1177
01:04:30,087 --> 01:04:34,837
about how to do it or whatever, because
if someone says, alright, how do I buy it?

1178
01:04:35,792 --> 01:04:39,552
That's a hard question to answer right now
because, you know, you don't want to get

1179
01:04:39,552 --> 01:04:45,842
into the nuances of KYC or, uh, you know,
this, it's like, well, that's where Vexil

1180
01:04:45,842 --> 01:04:48,272
and that's why we, you know, we talked
about we wanted to create something that

1181
01:04:48,272 --> 01:04:50,062
my aunt, my uncle, or anybody could use.

1182
01:04:50,347 --> 01:04:54,847
the, the thing I really want to
encourage people to do is earn Bitcoin

1183
01:04:54,877 --> 01:04:59,497
or ex accept Bitcoin for, for, uh,
for the goods and services or for

1184
01:04:59,497 --> 01:05:04,987
whatever, because that's, that's the
true hyper bitcoin ization of yourself.

1185
01:05:05,092 --> 01:05:06,492
Like when you accept it.

1186
01:05:06,812 --> 01:05:07,582
So, yeah.

1187
01:05:07,582 --> 01:05:11,392
And if you have one sat more than you
had last year, you're an absolute 100

1188
01:05:11,392 --> 01:05:13,622
percent winner in every sense of the word.

1189
01:05:13,922 --> 01:05:17,762
That's a financial advisor is the
easiest job in the world right now.

1190
01:05:19,247 --> 01:05:22,547
Well, and that's, that's what we, you
know, I remember seeing, you know,

1191
01:05:22,547 --> 01:05:27,707
just how, you know, Vexl we created
for, for buying and selling Bitcoin,

1192
01:05:27,727 --> 01:05:32,267
but then people went like, okay,
um, so I do back end development.

1193
01:05:32,357 --> 01:05:34,307
Um, I post an offer on here.

1194
01:05:34,307 --> 01:05:36,527
And then the next thing you know,
they have a job where they're earning

1195
01:05:36,547 --> 01:05:38,132
Bitcoin doing back end development.

1196
01:05:38,272 --> 01:05:43,002
Where I talked to one guy who was
literally working for a bank, um, put an

1197
01:05:43,022 --> 01:05:46,572
offer on Vexil for back end development
and was like, ah, I can do this.

1198
01:05:46,572 --> 01:05:48,952
And then started earning money
in Bitcoin through Vexil.

1199
01:05:49,022 --> 01:05:50,252
So that's from Vexil.

1200
01:05:50,292 --> 01:05:54,302
So it is pay your, you know, talk to
your cleaning ladies, talk to your

1201
01:05:54,302 --> 01:05:58,022
dog walkers, talk to these people
and say, Hey, do you accept Bitcoin?

1202
01:05:58,052 --> 01:06:03,762
And if they don't, You know, play by their
rules, you know, let them go, Hey, um,

1203
01:06:03,802 --> 01:06:07,322
okay, I'll give you fiat, but can I give
you a little bit of a tip in Bitcoin?

1204
01:06:07,872 --> 01:06:11,532
And just kind of, if you're not forcing
it, but you're giving them something,

1205
01:06:11,542 --> 01:06:15,332
and then that's how, when people start
to perceive value, they go, okay,

1206
01:06:15,362 --> 01:06:17,672
maybe this does have something to it.

1207
01:06:18,252 --> 01:06:21,602
Um, so I, you know, in looking
at communities and, you know,

1208
01:06:21,922 --> 01:06:23,752
meetups, my camera turned off again.

1209
01:06:24,072 --> 01:06:28,042
Meetups and stuff like that.

1210
01:06:28,042 --> 01:06:32,942
You really do, like, need to be able to
answer those questions for people who go,

1211
01:06:32,972 --> 01:06:34,862
okay, there's a Bitcoin meetup in my town.

1212
01:06:35,242 --> 01:06:37,962
I go along, they're going to
ask people, how do I buy it?

1213
01:06:38,272 --> 01:06:42,412
Well, we have to have some way to do
that that doesn't incentivize them to

1214
01:06:42,432 --> 01:06:44,012
give away all their private information.

1215
01:06:44,589 --> 01:06:45,299
True that.

1216
01:06:45,389 --> 01:06:49,879
Um, Grafton, I, I'm really sorry
how we, we could have gone on for,

1217
01:06:49,879 --> 01:06:54,419
uh, uh, another two hours if we had
the time, but we're, we're sort of

1218
01:06:54,419 --> 01:06:56,889
running short today, unfortunately, so.

1219
01:06:57,224 --> 01:07:03,494
So, uh, uh, um, super, uh, grateful that
you came on and, uh, looking forward

1220
01:07:03,504 --> 01:07:06,894
to seeing you in real life next time,
or we'll have a longer chat there.

1221
01:07:07,209 --> 01:07:11,379
I'm sure it won't be long, um, but thank
you guys really for having me on, um,

1222
01:07:11,459 --> 01:07:16,299
and we can, yeah, we can do it again in
a, in a year or so, and we're, we have

1223
01:07:16,309 --> 01:07:21,159
a lot more, bigger network hopefully,
but please, uh, check out Vexl if you

1224
01:07:21,159 --> 01:07:24,179
don't know anything about it, if you
have, you're, like, you could find

1225
01:07:24,199 --> 01:07:29,659
me Um, sats disco, like everywhere,
um, and check out our website, Vexl.

1226
01:07:29,674 --> 01:07:31,699
it, we're not from Italy.

1227
01:07:32,409 --> 01:07:33,969
It's like, how do you get Bitcoin?

1228
01:07:33,989 --> 01:07:35,169
You Vexl it.

1229
01:07:35,839 --> 01:07:41,469
Um, so check us out and then please like,
let me know if you have a meetup, if

1230
01:07:41,469 --> 01:07:45,219
you're going to meetups, if you have a
community, um, reach out, get in touch.

1231
01:07:45,219 --> 01:07:48,809
We want to help you, um, build
private peer to peer community.

1232
01:07:49,249 --> 01:07:49,479
So

1233
01:07:50,424 --> 01:07:54,384
Check out Vexl, brush your teeth, buy
your toothbrush with Bitcoin somehow,

1234
01:07:54,554 --> 01:07:56,874
and, uh, yeah, see you in the next one.

1235
01:07:57,519 --> 01:07:57,929
thank you.

1236
01:07:58,459 --> 01:07:59,459
Thanks so much, Grafton.

1237
01:07:59,469 --> 01:08:00,979
This has been the Freedom Footprint Show.

1238
01:08:01,119 --> 01:08:01,809
Thanks for listening.

1239
01:08:01,809 --> 01:08:06,499
Don't forget to leave us a comment, let us
know what you think, and spread the word.

1240
01:08:07,019 --> 01:08:07,939
Thanks again, Grafton.

1241
01:08:08,259 --> 01:08:09,419
This has been the Freedom Footprint Show.