SotN #50 - El Salvador Adopting Bitcoin | Nic Carter
Bankless
Bankless
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 June 2021
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last week, El Salvador announced that Bitcoin would be accepted as Legal Tender. We bring on our favorite Bitcoiner Nic Carter to the State of the Nation to discuss this monumental historical event -- a nation-state officially recognizing Bitcoin as a currency.
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State of the Nation #50: El Salvador Adopting Bitcoin
Guest: Nic Carter
Nic Carter, recently verified on Twitter, is a partner at Castle Island and 4-time guest on Bankless. In 2021, Nic has spent much of his time dispelling the common myths frequently pointed at Bitcoin by the mainstream media, and he has been a general in the Green Energy war taking place around Bitcoin.
Last week, Nic started a Twitter Space to discuss El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, a historic moment for crypto. Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, joined the Space as the El Salvadorian congress ratified the bill. This twitter space ultimately garnered over 20,000 listeners, including some of the biggest names in crypto. Bukele showed himself to be savvy with both tech and social media, earning his label as a populist.
This is a pivotal time for cryptocurrency. The news from El Salvador bring up increasingly important questions like the relationship between nation-states and digital value. There are a variety of motives for El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin including lessening dependence on US monetary policy, as the Dollar was previously the sole currency of the country.
What does it mean for a country to adopt a cryptocurrency? Is Bitcoin being used for its 'intended purpose?' Is this a populist reprisal? Do these events represent a rejection of the Cantillon effect, and a move against the monetary hierarchy of capital gains taxes? In this State of the Nation, we cover these questions and more as we digest this monumental news and figure out what to make of it.
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Resources:
Nic on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/nic__carter?s=20
Castle Island:
https://www.castleisland.vc/
Nic's Podcast, On the Brink:
https://onthebrink-podcast.com/
Crypto-Fiat Mutualistic or Parasitic:
https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/crypto-fiat-mutualistic-or-parasitic
Bitcoin Beach:
https://www.bitcoinbeach.com/
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Topics Covered:
0:00 Intro
8:30 Nic Carter, Global Diplomat
10:18 Does El Salvador Change Everything?
15:43 Capital Gains
20:24 President Nayib Bukele
26:04 Is this good for El Salvador?
34:55 Lightning Network
40:15 Custodial Bitcoin
43:10 Bitcoin's Biggest Test
52:13 The First Domino to Fall
58:01 Is This Freedom or Coercion?
1:03:27 Pumping their own Bags
1:09:23 Authoritarian Populism
1:15:03 Gateway to DeFi
1:18:30 Physical vs. Digital
1:21:20 Consequences
1:23:54 Closing & Disclaimers
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The guest we have brought on is Nick Carter, who was the host of the Twitter Spaces. |
| 0:23.6 | Apparently, it was supposed to be to say casual Twitter space, but in this crazy world |
| 0:28.2 | of the 2020s, in casual Twitter spaces, presidents of countries show up while Bill's are going |
| 0:34.4 | through the Congress to make Bitcoin legal tender. |
| 0:38.6 | So apparently that's things like this happened in the 20s, and so we are bringing Nick Carter |
| 0:43.0 | on to not only talk about that crazy event in Twitter spaces as a news media publication |
| 0:49.6 | at large, but also more importantly, an entire country putting Bitcoin as its legal tender |
| 0:56.0 | currency. |
| 0:57.3 | The Bitcoiners of the world are up in arms about how awesome this is. |
| 1:02.2 | Nick used this term when I was listening to him talk on his own podcast about how Bitcoin |
| 1:08.3 | is being used as its intended purpose, and I think the intended purpose line is interesting |
| 1:13.9 | to drill into because who's to say what Bitcoin is actually intended for. |
| 1:18.4 | So I want to get Nick's perspective on that. |
| 1:20.8 | And then on the other side of things, there's a different cohort of people who are a little |
| 1:24.4 | bit skeptical as to what this is, this really the big deal that the Bitcoiners say it |
| 1:30.0 | is. |
| 1:31.0 | And so we want to take on both sides of the news event on this state of the nation. |
| 1:36.6 | Suffice it to say Nick Carter is probably our favorite Bitcoiner. |
| 1:39.9 | Would you say that David? |
| 1:40.9 | Yeah, our favorite Bitcoiner. |
| 1:41.9 | Absolutely. |
| 1:42.9 | How many times does Nick bid on the show? |
... |
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