The Next Financial Collapse Has Already Started (You Need Bitcoin) | Tony Yazbeck | BFM233

How would you handle it if you were financially retired today, but woke up tomorrow to find yourself literally homeless? This is the brutal reality that Tony Yausbek lived through in Lebanon. He didn't lose all of his wealth in a bad trade, he lost it to a corrupt banking system that went bankrupt overnight. In this conversation, Tony explains why the West is following the same unsustainable path of infinite money printing and why Bitcoin is the only exit

from this failing legacy system. He reveals why most people are NPCS that are going to stay stuck in this rigged game and why you should stop looking at Bitcoin as just another investment. This is a high signal conversation and I really enjoyed it, and I hope that you do too. All right, let's dive in. Tony Yasbek, welcome back to Bitcoin for Millennials. Bram, very happy to see you man, how you been? Yeah, really good that I'm I'm happy you're back. You were one of my earlier guests.

So for the people that haven't seen that episode, just search for Tonys name on my YouTube and you'll see our, our previous conversation, which I thought was really insightful. And also that that time when we spoke, we kind of walked through your very brutal, I would say orange pill story and, and the, and the awakening you had when you lived in Lebanon, right? And you realized that the, the money system in your country where you went from being very wealthy to basically having

nothing, right? We know all these stories of people in Lebanon robbing banks, not to get other people's money, but to actually get their own money. That is what you you live through and, and what kind of started your, your journey. And I wanted to refer back to a talk you gave in Bitcoin Prague, where you called Bitcoin a middle finger to the world's financial betrayal.

And I thought that was really nice and and kind of wanted to start with, you know, can you kind of describe Bitcoin or do you describe Bitcoin more as an act of defiance than just a better form of money or digital gold or however people want to define it right now? Wow, this is a very, very powerful question, man, because it's answers are a bit, a bit a bit of everything Bitcoin is, you know, depending on the lens that you view it as is definitely, you know, a middle

finger to the legacy system. It's it's a message. It's that somebody's drawing the line in the sand is like, all right, your BS, your corruption, your theft, your whatever it is that you've been doing for so long, it ends now. That is essentially the message that I hear when I read about Bitcoin and I finally understood what it's about. Now, of course, it's also, you know, the best form of money

humanity has ever seen. And it's also the first form of money that is not government or central bank issued, again,

something we've never seen. And of course, it also comes from the world of tech, something again, we have never seen before, right? So there's a lot of newness to to Bitcoin, which is why so many people to this day have such a hard time understanding it, right. And at some point they all will. How fast and how painful that learning process is really depends on how much work you do.

My role here, you know, ever since I discovered Bitcoin and you know, it literally saved my life in my case, is to really educate and to push out a message of awareness of measure

the message of truth. Hopefully to counter the the false narratives and the psyops that are very strong, but are very out there, which is why so many people to this day misunderstand Bitcoin and why so many people right now are so depressed about Bitcoin. You know, very, very foolish state to be, you know, there's nothing to be depressed about. It's actually quite the opposite.

But that's, you know, that level of conviction and that conclusion, what can only come from someone who understands what it is that you know, you're looking at. And so This is why this question is it like a never ending rabbit hole and we can speak for months about this, but of course, you know, we'll try to be very specific during this this conversation. What do you think is the, is the one thing that people are totally missing about, you know,

the purpose of central banking, Fiat money? What, what is, well, what, what is maybe the biggest red pill that you want or, or, or give to people actively, you know, like what, what is the one thing that they really need to understand? Well, The thing is, unfortunately, to really get to the level of understanding and conviction that I'm at right now, you have to live the life that I've lived. You have to walk in my shoes. You have to get completely

obliterated. You have to taste violence and homelessness and poverty and stress and anxiety and depression and crazy dark thoughts for nine months to really understand why I have the level of conviction that I have. Because all of this is really encapsulates the world that we've been lied to, you know, since the day we were born. The money that we work for before Bitcoin is not money. It's you're working for a surveillance, you know,

apparatus. It's a system that was built to steal from you, to control you and to surveil you. But it was done in such a, I don't want to compliment them, but really it was done in a very brilliant way where most people don't never felt that this was actually what was going on. And like every Ponzi, you know, in its infancy, it's pretty it, it still works, right, because it's still fresh.

It's only when it gets to the end, it's expiration date where the abuse has gone so far past the point of no return, where you start seeing the cracks and everything falling apart, which is the stage that we are at now. And so this is this is the was my awakening. Like I was so angry because of what happened to me that I need it. I was I was in such desperate need to find answers. And eventually that desperation led me to these answers and I

found out the truth. And that truth made me even more angry because now I can point to a who is behind the reason of my collapse, right? So the monetary system is created by a group of, call them whatever you want. I like to call them parasites, right? And that group is essentially what controls everybody's money. But this group is the worst kind of human being you can ever describe. They are behind the wars.

They are behind the genocides. They are behind the paedophilia that we've recently been reading about. They are behind the most extreme kinds of human like evilness that you can possibly imagine. This is the system that is fueling all of this, right? But when you're living in countries where you're not immediately visualizing all of

this, it's like so abstract to you that it's like, this guy must be on drugs, right? But that is the reality of the Fiat system. And fortunately for us, it's gotten to a point where their abuse, their inefficiency, their, their moronic decisions over many decades have fled to a point where their mothership now is collapsing. Money printing is not sustainable. Interest rates are unpayable. But the, the country, the, the,

the world reserve currency right now is bankrupt. the US government is officially bankrupt. It's been that way for many years. They've been able to kick the can with whatever, you know, number wizardry that they've been doing. But that lifespan is becoming shorter and shorter because you are seeing the pain on the streets now, right? People can't afford anything. People walk into the supermarket, they got a heart attack. They try, they even contemplate the thought of buying a house.

They get an even bigger heart attack and it's like, why am I even here, you know, type of attitude, like why do I even bother doing anything when it's a lose, lose scenario, right? So you need like people need to understand that this is the cause of any misery, especially economic misery that they're going through. And before they have a cemented belief in all of this, nothing will change, right?

So I think this is this is really what's missing in the space today and why people like myself don't don't view the world in the same way from that lens anymore, because we have been brutally forced to for to Fast forward into the truth, right? And then once you understand that, everything changes. When it comes to holding Bitcoin securely, Peace of Mind starts with architecture.

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Visit on rampbitcoin.com to learn more and sign up with code Brom. That's BR AM to receive $150.00 in Bitcoin after your first deposit on ramp strengthen many simplicity in one. Some people would say, you know like everything you that you just said you know that's alarmist. Like you said, it's grand thinking you must be on drugs. You know this sounds so bad that it's probably not happening to me right. I think I've also shared and that's why I think also you're a

great guest to talk to, right? Like as someone who grew up in a Western country, money, money just works, right? And I have water and food and I have a home and safety and school, you know, all that stuff that you think, well, that is well that we know is important to us. So there's never really like there wasn't really like a reason for me to start doubting the money basically. And I think that's also kind of what what you are alluding to,

right? When when people react in this, you know, alarmist, you know, crazy, whatever, you know, don't put that stuff near me kind of way. But why do you think that those people are actually the ones that are being irrational, right? Is it is it because they trust the status quo basically, or they don't maybe maybe they don't even see what the status quo is that they agree to and what kind of yeah, powers they gave away, etcetera. Like how, how how would you

describe or illustrate that? How could we help people see that that don't have your point of view of, you know, actually going from a lot of money to nothing in one day? I mean, that obviously wakes you up, but a lot of people won't experience that in their lives. Yeah, but you're absolutely right. I mean, human beings, first of all, are very allergic to change, especially if it's a drastic change. You know, they they get

comfortable with what they know. You know, they say they set up a routine and they pretty much stick to it without, you know, much, much change. And you have those, that small percentage of the world that really goes out of their comfort zone always to excel. That's why you have such a drastic difference between the echelon of really successful

people. And then the majority are, you know, they what they call the NPCS and non player characters that are just, they just exist, not much value, not much contribution. They just go about their, you know, do they, they do what they're told, you know, they go left, they go left, go right, they go right. Not much critical thinking, right. They're given enough comfort so that they don't have to question anything, you know, beyond, beyond that.

And that keeps them as the perfect candidates in a system that was created, you know, for that control and surveillance. And so as long as that comfort exists, well, you know, these people are highly, it's highly doubtful that they're going to question anything. But what we're starting to see now is that for the first time ever, there was a competitor to that system that was born in 2008, right? Bitcoin, that incorruptible, unconfiscatable, unstoppable

idea whose time has come. And unfortunately for the legacy system, this idea is now money, right? So ever since 2009, that entire Fiat legacy system became optional to those who understood what just arrived, that new sheriff in town that no one can stop no matter what they what

they want, no matter how many times they try, and believe me, they've tried. So when you have a force like Bitcoin out in the wild that you cannot contain, what do you do? You try to fight the element that you can't control, which is the narrative about Bitcoin. You try to make it look like the bad thing. Oh, This is Money for terrorists and criminals and you know, all that other nonsense.

And you try to shift people's perception of the tool that was created to set them free so that in their minds, it's the one thing they should avoid at all costs, right? And this is unfortunately where most people still are because they believe the nonsense, the mainstream, the lies and all that stuff. But there's a shift. There's a, there's a, there's like a, a change in the air because the economic situations of these very same people is deteriorating. That is the silver lining here,

right? I mean, the legacy system to sustain itself has to continuously engage in more debt, money printing, money printing and money printing to fund whatever nonsense that they, you know, they, they want. And So what that does is that it's completely destroying the purchasing power of these MPCS. So they were always told follow the rules. They always did well, now they can't afford much anymore. So now their lives are becoming

a bit miserable. But despite all of this, you still have a large majority that shrinks their lifestyle to fit that reduced capacity, right? Instead of thinking properly to find solutions, to get out of the rut, No, they drop their standards. They drop everything to fit that smaller box that they're being forced into, right? And so, but at some point, that box is going to become too small for even the most stubborn, laziest, most resilient human being. They're going to ask better

questions, right? But by then, I don't know if they are able to get to the solution that is available to them, right, which is freedom money, essentially what Bitcoin, what Bitcoin is. So those that understand this now are not susceptible to the same psyops that we hear about out out in the world, which is why, you know, here at the Bitcoin Way, we try really to push hard that education, that understanding of Bitcoin with for everyone that comes to us.

It is not an investment as long as you're still getting upset or excited because of that Fiat price, you don't fully grasp what it is that you're dealing with. The volatility that's out there, first of all, for the most part,

is not organic. It's man made, right? It's designed on purpose by a system that is, you know, on borrowed time. They're trying to contain the threat and so they have resources at their disposal to create all sorts of illusions about Bitcoin, which is what we're seeing now, the UPS, the downs, the left, the right, and they do this by trying to fit Bitcoin into their own track fi world, right? So why do we have the ETFs? Why do we have the Bitcoin treasuries?

Why do we have all these services? Borrow against your Bitcoin. What are these? All of these, First of all, that none of them are Bitcoin and they're all counterparty risk, right? So the narrative is that OK, Bitcoins, you know, the new kid on the block, cool, but use it this way because really, if you do, nothing changes for you. You're still dependent on us. We still have you by the balls and we can still manipulate everything we want about you, right?

So, and most people are still stuck in that, in that narrative because they don't do the work, they don't read the right books, they don't ask the right questions, and they just complain when they lose money, right? So This is why I see a lot of people still stuck. I mean, they are their own worst enemies because I am living proof that you can exit that system. You don't have to play on that chess board.

And believe me, I'm not unique. There are 1,000,000 like me around the world that have finally understood this. The difference between US and a lot of people out there is that we have been completely destroyed morally, spiritually, financially, you name it. And so when you are, you know, eradicated to your DNA level and you survive, the only way is up. But that human being that is reborn from that death is no

longer the same. You can no longer control someone who understands what I'm telling you because they will see your games, they know who you are, they know how you play, and they have 100 million workarounds around you legally. Not talking about anything you know?

Retarded here. And because of the existence of a tool like Bitcoin, that power is available to 8.3 billion people, which is something the legacy system fights really hard to prevent because they are petrified that enough people get this because then their entire existence dies in 5 minutes, right? And I've said this on many podcasts. If the Fiat money that you're using was such a good product, why do you have to be threatened to use it? Why are you being overtaxed when

you use it right? Why is it being debased? Like, tell me one good thing about that worthless piece of toilet paper. That's your earning name 1. Yeah, I, I, I love this. I, I mean, so many directions we can go to, but maybe to, to hook into what you said at the ending. I always use this in a sentence, right? It's, it's a, it's a currency. It's not even a money because it's losing value all the time. So you cannot save in it, right? It's a currency.

I think Luke Broyles calls it a political currency that you're forced to use, right? And that is what you are referring to. And I like the tax part actually, right. If if we all think this is a good currency or you know, money because we we think a currency is. Is the same as as money if this is so good. Yeah. Why why does it need to be constantly taxed? Why do you why does the value change constantly? Why why do you have to create more constantly, right.

And I think the core words that helped me look at that is just the words nominally, right. They they always say that, well, you know, if you have 2% inflation, or rather, you know, monetary debasement and does inflation of prices, people are motivated to spend these these money units. And then we have air quotes growth, right. Growth on paper we can say plus XYZ percent. Yeah, you know, like our our economy grows.

And I think there's a few of these things that are kind of basic, I would say but that that when you put them together, you can kind of start seeing that you like yeah, like, like I had like I'm operating in a system where I basically I have no clue how it works, but it's sort of working for me. So I'll just keep continuing acting in it basically. But by having that ignorance because it's working enough, right Enough, whatever enough is right.

It's working enough for me. I'm not really asking those uncomfortable questions because like you mentioned, they are quite superficial questions, right? Why isn't there a competition of money? Why isn't there a free market of money, right? Why, why can't people pay in Bitcoin or silver or gold or

whatever? Like they could do that individually with each other. You know, when we meet and I, I say give you Bitcoin and you make me a sandwich or what? Like we can do that, right? But it's not at, at a big enough skill because, umm, one, I think we can never force that adoption as medium of exchange, right. That is an organic, uh, understanding of using a better money than, uh, you know, a certain Fiat money. And you see that people do that.

For example, you know, on the border of Canada and America, there's people in the Canadian stores you can buy with American dollars. They give you Canadian dollars back because they know that, you know, the US dollar is a stronger currency. So people have that behavior. But sorry for the long rent, but when you are active in a Fiat money system and it's just working for, it just works, right? You give the coins or the bills away and someone gives you a bread or whatever, you're like,

OK, well, apparently it works. You don't there's no need to think about what the predatory aspect of of that is, right? And one of the things that you talk about when when you talk about inflation, right, many people see that as, you know, it's just a boring metric goes up and down. Christine Lagarde says, you know, we won 2% or, you know, whatever the TV says, you call it theft with a fancy name.

Now, I remember when I came into Bitcoin and more in the podcasting, when I heard, you know, inflation is theft, I felt like, oh, that's kind of a, that's a rough expression Now. I think that is true. Why is it so clear to you that, you know, this current money system is actually like a, it's a global web of financial oppression, right?

You cannot really get out. It's like there's like a, there's like a, there's like something over us that kind of yeah, it forces us to use it, pay taxes, exchange or time and energy, etcetera. Why is that so clear to you, and what do you think other people aren't seeing? Because you've been brainwashed to believe that this is how everything should be, right since day one. The schools teach you that they follow the rules. These are the rules. The money must be government

issued. The money must go in a bank like you're told this since day one. You hear it from your parents. They heard it from their parents. They know on it. And this, this, this lie has been going on for a very, very long time. So to expect an overnight change, it was something as revolutionary as Bitcoin, you know, like, I wish it it would happen, but I think it's, you know, unrealistic to expect it simply again, because people, most people live in fear, right?

Like you talk, you tell them about something as amazing as Bitcoin and the first thought that goes to their head, holy shit, is this legal? Like, am I going to go to jail, you know, for even talking about this? Like, that's how retired most people's brains are when it comes to, you know, thinking outside, outside the box. And until they have no choice but to take this option seriously, I think most people will continue being NPCS, you know, and they'll continue seeing their life.

There's their lives worsen until, you know, it becomes too much. And then they're like, all right, well, get get Get Me Out of here. But The thing is, there's a lot of folks today that are not willing to go through the pain to learn. They are listening to the right messaging, they are reading the right books and they are asking the right questions, but more importantly, they are taking action, right?

So Bitcoin, the first thing we teach folks here is that to win at Bitcoin, you have got to believe, believe with 100% conviction that This is Money, real money. You cannot come to this thinking of it as an investment, which is what most spoiled people in the West are doing, right. You get, you hear a lot of arguments. Oh, it has to start as a store of value. Oh, it has to be this. It has to be that the number go up is critical for mass adoption.

Maybe OK, But if it is, it's because most people understand nothing and they just get excited by seeing something cool happen on screen and they run into it. But this is not the foundation of sustained success because you know they're still going to get excited to sell that pristine asset for worthless rubbish rate later, right? So basically meaning that nothing has changed in their

life. So step one is understanding that this is the money and the way to win here is to start restructuring your life to save in that money, right? And of course, this is not a get rich scheme. So you're not going to go from nothing to owning 17 Lambos by next Sunday that you have to get out of your head.

When you first start in Bitcoin, it's a very agonizing process because, you know, unless you're sitting on millions of dollars just to convert like this, you know, from fake money to real money, you're going to have to work your way up the echelon in the same way you've been saving your entire lives. The difference is, for the first time ever, everything that you save is actually yours, whereas in Fiat none of it is yours. A lot of people mistake or confuse having access to

something with ownership. Just because the bank lets you use your money doesn't mean the money is yours. Just because your card, your credit card or debit card still works doesn't mean the money is yours. That means that someone is still giving you permission to use it. But if one day that person wakes up on the wrong side of the bed or doesn't like your face for whatever reason and just scribbles a few new words on a piece of paper to change the

rules, there goes your access. Poof, right? So that is the reality that most people have not have not tasted yet, but it's coming. It's absolutely coming. You can see it in Europe, you can see it in countries like Australia, you can see it in the UK, you can see it in Canada. And eventually it will be everywhere. And this and the biggest signal to me is just how bad the laws are becoming globally, right? More taxes, unrealized capital, tax gains. What is that for those that have

never heard that word before? Unrealized. OK. Yeah, exactly. That is this translates into extortion. This is pure extortion, like thug style extortion. You don't pay, we're going to break your legs. There's no difference. The only difference is that now it's people hiding behind the title of government. But the result is the same, right? So how do they steal their money? Your money? This is how they do it. And then what do they do on top of it? Now you have an exit tax. Why?

Because they don't want you to leave, right? Because the more intelligent people pack up and go, the less revenue they can extract from them. All this Netherlands nightmare is coming to many other countries. I can tell you from now. These are the signs of a collapsing, failing system that is desperately hanging to any string it can in order to remain sustainable, but it will not work.

It will not last because again, of that new sheriff in town whose silver lining is its limited supply, that 21 million, that thing fucks up everything for the legacy system. They can't corrupt it. They can't manipulate it, They can't inflate it. They can't confiscate it if it's in yourself custody, right? So they are completely helpless.

You know, like they, they, they don't know what to do except level up the, the extreme, the extremes of their tyranny in order to force you into their system. This is what I see happening. And the more people do nothing and think this is just some crazy guy talking on YouTube, well your turn to experience some flavor of what I went through is 100% guaranteed. For my European friends that want to buy Bitcoin with ease, check out Relay.

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If you want to get started, download the app file in my link below or in the description and use code BRUM that's BR AM at checkout to get 10% of your fees. A huge shout out to Relay for sponsoring the show. Now let's continue. Your story was definitely a big help in painting a bigger picture for myself, right? We just mentioned that there, especially in the Western world, you know, also obviously in other countries, but this is my,

my, my, my reference point. There's a lot of high trust in other people that are, you know, just as flawed as, as we are as as humans, right? Everyone has an ego and their own life challenges and wants, wishes, desires, what whatever, right? It's just so hard to visualize, conceptualize when you have not experienced it. It's a very, It's a very hard thing to solve, especially if your goal is to solve it quickly because, you know, everybody learns and understands at their own pace.

And like, the prerequisite for that is for them to be open to understanding all of this, right? But the best way that we found to do it is, well, there's many ways. Essentially, you're going to become a broken record, you know, very quickly, you know, repeating the same messaging over and over. And at some point, people's life situations is going to resonate with like the 50th time that you've repeated the same message. And then it's going to click for

them, right? Or someone's going to experience something and they're like, oh shit, you know, like I heard this, I should have listened. Then they're going to do it. Otherwise, it depends really on how much influence you have on your surroundings. Like, for example, the people closest to me, they're forbidden from working and earning in Fiat. It's just, you know, Tony's rule, if you're going to go out and provide value into this world, you're not going to do it to to fund a criminal or a

criminal cartel. You will not, I will not allow you to do this. And I, you know, and that is, you know, backed up by a lot of education, like it's a tough process by someone who wants to make someone else who understands nothing yet really, you know, like if I can telepathically take everything in my head and port it over in 10 seconds in somebody else's brain, you'd see bitcoins Fiat price at like 10 trillion tomorrow, right? But doesn't work that way, at least not yet.

Maybe one day we'll be able to do this. But as of this conversation, it's a it's a long process. The other very, you know, useful way of doing it is to live the life you want them to see, lead by lead by example, which is something, you know, that we're doing. I'll, I'll be very candid with you. When I first decided to first of all, to get back up on my feet and to rebuild my life, that decision was only made because I found Bitcoin. Otherwise, I was in such a dark

place. There was no hope in hell for me just to, to even bother to even get out of bed. It's like, that's how bad it was. And then when I ran across this Andreas Antonopoulos video, I don't know, maybe it was sent from someone who from above, you know, drop that video my way. I don't know. But something changed. Something clicked for me. And then life started to flow back through my veins.

And I promised myself, I'm like, look, if you're going to get back up on your feet, you're going to do it the right way, even if it's going to take you much longer to do so. Even if, if the, if the initial Rd. is going to be very difficult, it will be worth it in the end. And so I stuck to that conviction. And let me tell you, I am living proof that is it's 100% worth it because you start saving in real money. That money appreciates over time, that appreciation

increases your purchasing power. And when you get to a certain point, external macro factors don't bother you. They don't matter, right? Like if everybody's just ignored Bitcoin today and nobody wanted to use it for the next forever, then Bitcoin would die simply because there's no interest. But this is not what's happening in the world. In fact, it's the complete opposite.

But if you're listening to their narratives or if you're glued to the charts or you're listening to macro and micro fucking rubbish all day long, you're not going to see that reality. There are millions of folks around the globe that are living on a Bitcoin standard. They are not driving Lambos. They are not buying Ferraris, OK, but they are living very happy, very comfortable sovereign lives with no connections to the evil empire anymore.

There's no big bad wolf behind your back breathing over your neck, right? There's No Fear of waking up 1 morning to the news of extortion, unrealized capitals, gains tax, 60% tax bill and whatever other, you know, nonsense that keeps coming up, you know, on a regular basis. Digital ID to use a search engine, central bank, digital currencies, all of that nightmare that only exists if

you stay within that world. But again, as of 2000 and nine, 8.3 billion people have the option to leave that world. But in order to leave that world, you need to understand how to live in the new world. Understand Bitcoin is money, learn how to use it and memorize 2 words self custody. That's it right And once that clicks in your head and you go through the workout of you know, building your savings on sound money, you will reach a point where again, external factors

don't impact your everyday life. I am living proof of it. And again, it's not like because I'm sitting on hundreds or thousands of coins, far, far from it. But when you understand that your life now belongs to you

because when you own your money, no one controls you, right? So once that clicks, you live on your own terms. But again, you know, that ties into another, you know, rabbit hole, which is the jurisdictional freedom, which we can discuss later on if you want to. But Step 1 really is about owning your money. Once that's done, everything else becomes easier. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You echo something that I also frequently mentioned. I, I, I don't think it's about how much Bitcoin you have, right?

I think, well, the more Bitcoin you have, the nicer in general, right? Like just you, you can own your time even even more. But just getting to the point where you are consciously making the decision to actually keep your own money and take all it responsibility, making that,

making that conscious decision. I think my assumption would be like 8 or 9 out of 10 people will then also realize, Hey, what are all these other parts in my life where I haven't really taken a conscious decision, but I'm still following certain, you know, systems or, you know, ways of doing so because other people are also doing them, not realizing that the other people also haven't really thought about why all the other people are doing it basically, right.

So, so just getting to that point where you kind of like peel away all these layers of abstraction that you accept it. And now our, our refuting, I think is, is is already quite a psychological and also a spiritual step in, in becoming more, more sovereign. And you just mentioned, you know, macro, right? We could talk about, you know, why, why do you need Bitcoin? You know, the debasement of the money, Fiat money at etcetera. But you've argued that that is

not really enough. You also have to understand the protocol. And I think you just mentioned a few times, right, like, OK, Bitcoin is kind of the anti thesis right to to Fiat money. What is the essence for you there is that is that the, the hard cap, right? Like why, why is this not, you know, a stock investment as a lot of people think it is, right? Oh, it's trending with the NASDAQ, etcetera.

What? What is it that they need to understand of the of the protocol that for you is is is the thing that that gives you power once you hold it. Well, The thing is, look, part of the attacks on Bitcoin is, you know, the attempts to rebrand it, which is why you know, when you when they try to fit Bitcoin into the Tratfi world, well, you know, the first thing that that's the easiest path to do so is to rebrand it as a stock or as an investment.

And so of course, you know, once once you do that, then it falls within that, you know, manipulated chess board, but can be easily be taken up and down. Like how do you go from 1:26 to 66 in such a quick period of time? Like you think that was organic? Absolutely not. And so when you control these variables, well, then, you know, you also controls people's perception of the the product, like the in this case, in this case, Bitcoin itself.

When you're saving in whatever local currency, do you compare it to any other currency? Like, I don't know, I, I guess you're in Europe, right? Like when you when you earn EUR, you compare it against, OK, wherever. All right, let's say I'll use the US dollar because every, most people, you know, reference that. So when somebody earns in the US dollar, when you get your paycheck, do you compare it to the Zimbabwean currency or the Lebanese pound or the Iranian Riyadh?

Of course not. Why do you do it with Bitcoin? But if we rebranded the US dollar as another tech stock, that's exactly what people would do. And so you can also screw around with the numbers and people will say, ah, the US dollar, wow, terrible product, right? So this is what they're trying to do to Bitcoin, keep it as a like keep keep it as a counterparty risk, as an investment, as a store of value. If that's all it was, Bitcoin

would fail, man. Like if it because it will get Co opted and centralized, you know, at some point and there's no more no more revolution. The revolution is in these two words, self custody the first time where people can own their time and energy their money. That's the part that the legacy system will go to any length to prevent enough people from understanding. Because, you know, that's where

the power lies, right? But it's not working because unfortunately whatever other inefficiencies they're doing are forcing people to learn about self custody because their own life situations are getting, you know, drastically worse. I keep referring to the example of people that live in very high tax jurisdictions. Like just do simple math. If your tax rate, just to keep the numbers easy, is at 50%, right? So you're working and you're

paying 50%. Then on that 50% you have the debasement tax, your inflation, your money's worth less, let's say, again, to be conservative, like 10%. Then you have all these other indirect taxes, sales tax, school tax, bullshit tax, whatever. Tax, right? What is left from your paycheck after you've deducted all of these things? Pretty much nothing, right? So I'd say good, maybe 70% if I'm being nice here, goes to fund these parasites.

So in other words, you, the hard working, honest individual who believes you know by playing by the rules and wants to be the good citizen, are essentially working 7 to 8 months out of the year for free. And then you wonder why your life is so difficult, why you can't afford the things that you used to afford, why there's just not enough time in the day. No matter how hard you try, you're still stuck, right?

If people simply just paused 5 minutes during the day and ask themselves, like really ask themselves that question, what am I doing? It says more about you, right? It's it's allowing yourself to be bullied by the system, which is exactly what what, how I see this. And a bully is never going to stop bullying unless you end it because bullies, they thrive on weakness. And so as long as you're weak, the abuse will continue. It's like any abusive relationship.

You can cry, you can complain, you think you're going to, you're going to get sympathy from the bully. You won't you will get an even more excited to, to, to take it 1 notch higher, which is again, what we're starting to see more and more now. So if you want to end the bullying, exit that abusive relationship that that that, you know, deadly drug addiction, you have got to do the work and pull yourself out. I mean, it's, it's, I just

looked up the number. In the US, people work one day a week to pay taxes only to help their government pay interest on the debt. Which they can't do. Exactly. Yeah. But you know, then people say, you know, when when you start this conversation with someone, people say, well, you have to pay taxes because they have to build roads and this and that. Well, yeah, you know, conceptually you can agree.

But factually, when you look at what the money is spent on, especially if you start going down the road of well, how much of my total income basically is spent on, on taxes or well, yeah, goes to taxes. And what is that being spent on? For example, in the US, it only goes to paying it off. Well, to paying interest. It doesn't go to paying it off,

right. If, if the debt needs to be refinanced like this year a lot and the interest rates are way higher than than before, that percentage is only going up. There are no new roads, there are no new bridges. There isn't an improvement in whatever reading level 5 year olds and you know, all that stuff. It's not getting any money. Basically. You're working to pay off this debt, right?

And I think that is what also eventually incentivizes all these stricter attempts at getting more money from citizens because there's no one ever really that gets serious traction. Maybe that's also a signal, right, that says, well, maybe we should reconsider what we are doing, right. Think about Rand Paul, Ron Paul or any, any type of libertarian type person in any in any Western country. I'd say the, you know, people don't want to and I think that goes back to our beginning.

They don't want to accept that they're functioning or are being the subject in a fundamentally flawed system, right. So even when someone has this picture perfect factual

representation of how money works and what the I would say the mathematically determined end of this system is, people are still going to be like, yeah, you know, like please, please, please don't put that on my play to to think about. Now I wanted to ask you about this. This is a long road, right? I think this is a really long road. And you just mentioned, you know, people call Bitcoin digital gold.

I always say, well, digital gold is just an illustration to help people think in a certain direction when you can think about Bitcoin, but it is characteristically way more than gold. It is vastly superior to gold, right? Some people say exponential gold, you know, perfect money, you know, whatever. But my point is more it's obvious that this is still evolving. Just the understanding, the reflection, the discussion, all these things.

And it's going to take a very long time, I think for enough air quotes. I don't know what enough people are to figure out what you just said. You need to take away energy from that system that is abusing you, basically that you're putting energy and time in and and not really getting anything in return. You're perceptually getting something similar as you had before, but it's only worse, right? I'm in my late 30s. When I think about 20 years ago,

I don't think we progressed. I still have an amazing life. But compared to 20 years ago, I think it changed in a, in a negative way. And that is also a very, very slow process, right? And I think these two things kind of crossing paths at one point, I think it'll take some time. I think that that could possibly be an inflection point. But a lot of people want stuff to happen quickly. They don't understand this, this, this, this bigger arc. Let's say we get there.

What? What does what does that look like When people actually value Bitcoin, they save in Bitcoin, they spend Bitcoin. Is a Bitcoin standard something that takes us more into the future, or does it resemble something from the past? What do you think that that could look like? And maybe what is the total opposite of it if we don't? The thing is, we are already living on a Bitcoin standard, at least for those that understand

the Bitcoin as money. I genuinely believe that we are going to head more and more towards a A2 tiered world, one that is founded on sound money, where people are really just living their lives, you know, or their own ways. No headaches, no fuss, no anxiety. And you've got another part that is completely stuck in a dystopian nightmare. And these two worlds will coexist for a while. But of course, as with human nature, people always look at where the grass is greener,

right? And then they're going to wonder, well, hold on a second, how are these people not complaining and laughing and smiling and doing stuff And my life like Kyle, I want to jump off a Cliff. It's, it's, it's so bad, right? And so you're going to be, they're going to start asking these questions that at one point they're going to want to move from point very bad to point very good. But by then there's no ticket.

Like there's no train to take you from that shit hole to that greener grass area because who's going to trade their freedom for that? So either there's no ticket or that ticket is ridiculously expensive. And so when people are stuck enough, then they revolt. That scenario is what worries me because I've seen a version of it in in Lebanon. Believe me, this is not a movie you want to watch. OK, so, and this was isolated to

a small country. Put that on a global scale where people everywhere are having their Lebanon moments, feeling suffocated. They need answers. That is extremely dangerous and extremely, you know, very ugly to even conceive what that could possibly look like. I think eventually a lot of folks will come into Bitcoin that way because, you know, that's the only option that's going to be available to them. But, you know, it's going to

take time. Like you said, maybe not as long as most people think because, again, pain is the best teacher. And as, you know, your situation gets worse, at least intelligent folks are going to start asking quicker questions. All right, this is not working for me.

What can I do, right. And we're starting to see this more by the way, even even despite everything that's going on in the macro world, Bitcoins price dipping and all that stuff, we are, we are seeing an increase of interest from people in set for self custody, jurisdictional freedom and what have you. It's not the other way around, right? But again, this is limited to those that are actually paying attention. Yeah, I would agree. I also think This is why it's

slow, right. It is a 1 by 1 conversion where Fiat money is probably, you know, a multi layered group enchantment from when you're like 6 years old or something. So maybe that is why it takes so long. Yeah, the thing. The thing is, here's something else maybe a lot of folks are not paying attention to. Because Bitcoin is such a permissionless monetary system. It's for everyone, right? The wrong people.

The worst people, the people you least want to be anywhere near Bitcoin are 100% in it because they understand it. They just don't want you, the worthless pleb, to be in it. So the powers that be want Bitcoin in self custody for themselves, but they want you, the worthless, the worthless

cattle to use Bitcoin but in a way that keeps you dependent on them. The treasuries, the ETFs, you know, borrowing against your Bitcoin, all these carrots that they dangle to keep you within that broken system. That mindset has to die. You have to forget about that world entirely or use it strictly when you need it and then never look back. So some people argue, oh, but I need money. No, you don't. If you can't afford something, don't buy it.

Focus on your immediate needs. This isn't about living a life of luxury in two days. This is about building the foundation to give you that life at some point, with the main difference being that no one can take it away from you anymore. That is the investment in Bitcoin. It's your freedom. It's not a yield, it's not an

interest rate that you get paid. That mindset has to die before you can actually win and move forward in Bitcoin, which is why we never recommend any any, but I mean like not a single one. Try service using Bitcoin wrappers because they are all manipulated services. Even if the intention of the people behind them is noble, these people are playing by rules that they don't control. And the people making these rules, these people are not noble.

These people don't care about anybody except for their own relevancy. You can only trust government when government is no longer in a position to be abusive. And that only happens when you strip them from the power of money so that a business, so that a government is held accountable just like any other business. Just like you, me and everybody else do something wrong, you do something wrong, you pay for it, right?

But when you've got the carte blanche to do whatever the hell you want, no questions asked and a money printer, that's not going to work. So that illusion of good government cannot exist in a world like this. What is your hardest take, hardest take on what the Western version of this Lebanese bank line and, and, and your experience is going to look like in, in the West in the next

decade? Because I assume that, you know, you're the, the history of Lebanon is a bit more fragile and chaotic than a lot of the Western world. So, you know, perhaps you already had a different, you know, point of view of government, etcetera. But I think especially in the Western world where the trust is so high, it's really going to melt brains in my opinion. What? What do you think?

Well, look, one thing I learned is that as bad as the, as bad as the corruption was in Lebanon, these people were not autonomous. You know, there's a hierarchy for the corruption. The Lebanese governments, these, you know, these corrupt politicians, they also report to

a higher level of corruption. And if you want to go down that rabbit hole, well then This is why I'm telling you that the, the collapse is coming everywhere because the mechanics of the Lebanon collapse, the Iran collapse, they're all they're, they're all the same. They're all tied to the same broken system initially, right? They're just different tentacles in different parts of the world. So smaller countries will fall first. You know, bigger countries will

fall last. But eventually, you know, things will will deteriorate. If 5% of what happened after the collapse in Lebanon happens, let's say in the United States, God help us because first of all, in Lebanon there is no 500 million privately owned assault weapons, which is a constitutional right in the United States. A lot of people have guns, right? So you remove these people's bank accounts or maybe you keep the bank accounts, but they're purchasing power is pretty much

formatted. Can't buy shit. These guys need to live. What's the next reaction? Like? Do you think they're going to come and have a conversation over a cup of coffee or like a nice dinner to try to work things out? No, it's going to be act and then think later, which is what I've seen. That scenario is not somewhat something. It's not something you want to be caught in the middle of. And you can't blame these

people. Like it's not because these people are all of a sudden criminals or terrorists. No, they're resorting to survival instinct. And The thing is, no one really knows what they're capable of, like not even you, until you're put in that situation. Like you, you want to know who Bram is, really is. There's no meditation in the world that you can do for a long enough period that'll give you that answer as quick as putting

you in my shoes. In Lebanon, the day after the the, the whole country collapsed because now you really have zero option. You are formatted, you are like this lone person in the middle of a desert, no one around you figure it out. So what do you do? This is how you figure out who you are and what you're capable of and how you rise back from literal hell. And so people were reacting based on their own version of those instincts, right? Some people didn't make it.

Some people made it. Some, you know, some people I don't know where they are. But overall it is. And again, it's not about doom and gloom. It's about just sharing a reality that I've personally experienced and worked my way. Very, very difficult way to come out of it. So if I can do it, others can do it as well. My purpose here is to avoid as many folks as possible to have to go through something like this in order to understand what I'm trying to explain here,

right? Because I don't know, man. Like, I never thought I'd be alive during a time like this to actually see something as historic unfolding before us In 100 years, you know, they'll be studying, you know, this, this, this time of history. And I can only assume what they'd be thinking. Man, we joke around internally a lot that, you know, like a student studying us would probably laugh at us. Like, look at these idiots.

They're working for paper money and giving, giving it to someone who then decides if they can, if they can use it right. Like, I mean, can you just imagine the conversation like 100 to 100 years from now on? Bitcoin is just like a standard sound money. Everybody's living that life. And then somebody decides to go back in time and just study, you know, how how the money evolved into Bitcoin.

And then they'll read about us. So, you know, like if you want to laugh, just think about that conversation and take yourself out of the joke right by by moving into that future from now. So the way anyone can do it is slowly. Unless you're sitting again on hundreds of millions of dollars, you can decide what percentage you want to start allocating to sound money. We don't get financial advice. Everybody does it at their own pace, based on their own comfort level.

But to do nothing, in my opinion, is suicide because at some point, even if you had a lot of that, you know, fake paper, you won't be able to do much with it, right? So understand Bitcoin is money, sound money that appreciates and purchasing power over time. And the investment that you're making is in yourself, in your freedom and the fact that you don't need permission to transact from point A to point B anymore. Those days are gone.

Trusting a third party with your money will be at some for at some point in time considered mental illness. Like you have to be a nut job to give hand over your keys, your money to someone else and then pray that they don't abuse that position. That is probably a great end there to this conversation, but is there anything that you would want to share with our audience as as a final take away or or call to action? Absolutely, guys. There are millions of folks living on a Bitcoin standard

today. Don't let the news, the narratives, the charts keep you away from the real truth, the real signal. Bitcoin is a protocol. You know, like the Internet. There are tons of apps and systems and layer twos and threes being built in that world. There are many high profile merchants across the world that are starting to accept it as money and are seeing their sales significantly improve while using Bitcoin as money. That world is thriving.

But if you're only focused on the charts, you are missing where the truth is, plenty of people around the globe live as free individuals. True sovereign individuals, right? Tax free, low tax, better incentives jurisdictions. They exist. We help people get there. Bitcoin has money. You can do it. Again, it's not a get rich scheme, it's a savings technology. So figure out your formula and how to build those savings. You don't need to buy one Bitcoin from day one when the

price dips. I can assure you that everyone who understands this message is ecstatic and everybody who is fearful is because they are still lacking the fundamentals of what it is that they're looking at. The future is orange. I genuinely believe, and I've said it a million times, and it will continue to repeat it, Bitcoin will become the future world reserve currency and the future of money simply because it's the only neutral asset that everyone will agree that they can trust.

Amazing. Yeah, I I think that is an even better ender. So I want to thank you for your time and your insights and I hope our listeners found a valuable and yeah, man, thanks and I'll see you soon in a few. Months. Thank you, Brian. Looking forward to it man Thank you. Cheers brother. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, you can click here to find more just like it and click here to find all Bitcoin for millennials podcast

episodes. Also, if you want to help me shine a light on the message of Bitcoin, please like this video and subscribe to stay connected. I hope to see you for a next episode. Bye.