Bitcoin or Slavery: El Salvador's Insane Plan to Disrupt the World Order | Nico of Simply Bitcoin

Live from Bitcoin Beach in El Zonte, El Salvador, in this episode, I sat down with Nico from Simply Bitcoin to explore the seismic shift we're living through—the separation of money and state—and how Bitcoin plays a pivotal role in this transition. 

Nico shares his experiences in El Salvador, where Bitcoin has been embraced as legal tender, and how this small nation is challenging the global financial status quo under the leadership of President Nayib Bukele. We discuss the challenges El Salvador faces, how the people feel about their president, and why Bitcoin adoption has been a game-changer.

He also opens up about his journey into the Bitcoin world, from a tough time working a minimum wage job to becoming a well-known media figure advocating for financial sovereignty. This is a can't-miss conversation about the power of Bitcoin to reshape our future and the importance of standing up for sound money and personal freedom.

Tune in to hear firsthand insights, unique perspectives, and an uplifting conversation about how Bitcoin is bringing positive change to the world.

- Mike

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Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode:

00:00:00 - Why is the Separation of Money and State Important?
00:02:03 - How Do El Salvadorians Feel About President Nayib Bukele and Bitcoin?
00:05:06 - How Does Media Influence Perceptions of Bitcoin in El Salvador?
00:07:28 - How Did Nico Get Involved in the Bitcoin Space and Mining?
00:13:52 - How Does Simply Bitcoin Guide Viewers Through the Separation of Money and State?
00:15:32 - How Do Partnerships with Bitcoin Companies Support Simply Bitcoin's Mission?
00:19:45 - Is There More to El Salvador's Bitcoin Adoption Than Meets the Eye?
00:20:40 - How Does El Salvador's Bitcoin Adoption Affect Its Role on the Global Stage?
00:22:15 - What Impact Does Bitcoin Have on Economics and Ideology in El Salvador?
00:25:38 - What Are the Challenges of Parenthood for Bitcoin Believers?
00:34:37 - What's It Like Living on a Bitcoin Standard?
00:36:02 - How Does Bitcoin Affect Inflation and Financial Sovereignty?
00:40:37 - What's Unique About Bitcoin Culture and Projects Like Lightning Goats?
00:43:35 - Why Is It Important to Showcase Diversity in the Bitcoin Space?
00:44:15 - What Are the Different Ways People Contribute to the Bitcoin Movement?
00:47:04 - How Can You Get Involved and Support the Bitcoin Podcasting Community?

Live From Bitcoin Beach

Transcript

Nico  
You know, we want to guide people through the separation of money and state and we're living through a very tumultuous time in human history. We're not only living through the disintermediation of information, but also the disintermediation of money. And what we're trying to do is we're trying to win over the hearts and minds of the masses to really get them to see the truth that it is not left versus right. It's not Democrat versus Republican, it's not liberal versus conservative. It's the party of grain the party of Fiat versus the party of Bitcoin. 90% of the world's nations are actively developing a central bank digital currency so when I mean Bitcoin or slavery, that's not a hyperbolic statement. And our mission at simply bitcoin is to wake up the masses and I truly believe that if enough people wake up and they see the truth and Bitcoin, Bitcoin is a great unifier.

Mike Peterson  
Got Nico from simply Bitcoin with us here at the having party, El Salvador or temporary studio that we put together. It's been a lot of fun doing a bunch of interviews today and seeing so many people who it's their first time in El Salvador. So what do you think so far?

Nico  
Yo, well, it's happy to be here, man, thank you so much for the invite. I had to see it for myself. You know, you hear all these things about El Salvador, about it being this and this and that, you know, as a Hispanic myself, I'm bilingual. Had to come see it myself. You know, don't trust verify, right, you for real bilingual or you know, totally 100% Yeah, my parents are both vendors. 

Mike Peterson  
Forget it, forget it. We're gonna test it later.

Nico  
Let's do it. Here we go. 

Mike Peterson  
That was me with Paco.

Nico  
All right. All right. So maybe picked up the Venezuelan accent anyways. So yeah, so I had to speak to the locals myself, right? And I had to speak with him and just say, listen, like, what's the deal with McKelly. Do you like the guy? Have not met one person who has spoke ill of the president?

Mike Peterson  
You gotta go to the wealthy part of the city to hear that? 

Nico  
No, I mean, at the airport at the airport. Yeah, I got an Uber, you know and I just kept hearing the same.

Mike Peterson  
No, no, but there is there is like the wealthy elite. That is the one group that doesn't like him.

Nico  
Oh, you mean the ones that used to benefit?

Mike Peterson  
Yeah, the one disrupting everything in their lives?

Nico  
Yeah, yeah. Well, I seems like the 95% of the population seems a guy? So isn't that what democracy is all about? You know, and a person we get lectured on democracy all the time, right? 

Mike Peterson  
That's what I always say. The one thing he he's guilty of being too popular, that's why they call him a dictator because there's too many people that like him, and he has too much power because of that. I think because they voted all the other parties out in his party in for I find any fault somebody for that. 

Nico  
Exactly, and I find it funny that you know, you're it's these, these Western nations, which are much wealthier than El Salvador. Lecturing El Salvador and democracy while their current governments have 39, 40% approval ratings. You know, like, why do they care? And I really believe the reason that they care is because Nayib Bukele is proving that you can actually have someone in office that is actually going to do the things that he says. He was going to do if you were to get elected, right? 

Mike Peterson  
Well, I think the real reason they cares because he's bucked the system and adopted Bitcoin I think he probably they probably would have kept their mouth shut about all these other things if he hadn't adopted Bitcoin. But now they're like, we want this guy to fail because he was gonna undermine the existing financial system.

Nico  
A 100% In the US Congress right? They literally like some senator and it's bipartisan. They like pass like you know what the correct terminology for, it is exactly but that basically investigate El Salvador, right?

Mike Peterson  
 Yeah. I've ever seen that. 

Nico  
Coincidentally, that happened after, what? The Bitcoin law right? So, it's a big coincidence.

Mike Peterson  
How crazy that they said another country's what they were doing with their financial system was endangering the US system. Little El Salvador like and like it was the US business to begin with.

Nico  
Yeah. It's, you know, the US the most powerful economy in the world. El Salvador has an economy the the GDP is 32 billion when I looked it up. It's, it's very small. 

Mike Peterson  
So what's the what's a rounding error? Then for a daily spin the US? 

Nico  
Yeah, Elon Musk, what's his net worth, right $200 billion dollars? 

Mike Peterson  
Something like that. 

Nico  
Like, you know, and then you gotta you have to ask yourself, it's exactly what you said. Why are they so concerned about El Salvador? Well, I think it's because you know they have chosen to adopt an alternative to the US dollar, and it's a better currency. And I think that is a threat to the status quo and I think that's why the flack was so heavy over the target. I mean, you had the whole legacy. I don't call it mainstream media anymore because it's not this is mainstream media now independent media. But yet you had the whole apparatus, like white blood cells, attack this man? You know, say everything like, you can say about the guy.

Nico  
And you know again, my my parents are originally from Venezuela. Venezuela to consider it a failed state at this point. Why are they talking about the human rights violations there? Like, what, what, what about Nicaragua? Like, what about Mexico? Like, why is it El Salvador specifically? And then it reminds me of an article that named Kelly wrote for Bitcoin magazine. And the name of the article is Don't Drink the Elites Kool Aid. And one of the quotes in there is one of their most important, like, one of the most powerful weapons is their control on the truth, rght? So, I think that's really what's happening is that the internet has disintermediated information is democratized content creation, like what we're doing right now. And, you know, they can't control the narrative like they used to know.

Mike Peterson  
That's why we always tell people come come down to El Salvador and see for yourself. But the funny thing though, is all these articles even the negative ones, they're actually pushing tourism here to El Salvador, because then they always include pictures of the beautiful beaches and the other stuff. And people forget what the article said that they remember. Wow, Salvador looks really pretty, we should go check it out. So, I think even the the attacks are actually strengthening things here.

Nico  
Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, what doesn't kill Bitcoin makes it stronger. I think, you know, in the era of the internet and social media, which is why I think governments are trying so hell bent on wanting to censor it. I think, you know, authenticity and the truth is going to, it's going to come up. You can't you can't plug that like, you can't, like it's a it's a sinking ship. And there's too many holes, like you can't do it is you can't stop, you know all these people talking directly peer to peer, right? So yeah, it's uh, you know, it's a brave new world and I'm happy to be placed some type of small part and all of this. It's, it's pretty crazy to live through these times.

Mike Peterson  
Well, speaking of that. I'd love to hear how you entered into the Bitcoin space and what the led to you being here in El Salvador?

Nico  
Yeah, so I got into bitcoin class of 2016. And I was in I would say, it was a very, like, low point in my life. I was working a minimum wage job and had a friend of mine who he had an apartment in Brickell in Miami. And he was nice enough to let me sleep on the couch. He lived in Ecuador most of the time. And I was just looking for opportunities. And you know, just to get out of that specific situation. I was desperate. 

Mike Peterson  
Did you grew up in Miami? 

Nico  
I did. I grew up in Miami. Yes, and I had a cousin visit me from Venezuela. when he was actually with me here today. And we were just speaking, and we were at my friend's apartment. I said, what are you doing these days? And I had these magic internet machines in Venezuela. Like what are you talking about? And that's when I first heard of Bitcoin and I was so enthusiastic. 

Mike Peterson  
It was mining. 

Nico  
It was mining. I was so enthusiastic that I sold everything that I had. I borrowed money from my mom for my ex girlfriend, jumped on a plane went to Venezuela and it was his father. So my uncle that was mining and they had a pretty decent mining operation and it was the years of 2016 and 2017. And during that era and Venezuela's history, it was kind of going through like a hyperinflationary type of period. Where basically the the government had an official exchange rate and then the free market had another exchange rate, but you would pay for electricity in the official exchange. 

Mike Peterson  
It's like nothing. 

Nico  
So you're essentially mining for free. But what ended up happening is that the government officials themselves, started to realize that one S9 would make them more. Than then they would make an a government salary. So it wasn't like the government themselves, they found out later, but it was members in government that worked in customs that would literally steal the machines that we would ship in. And that spooked a lot of my uncle's clients and my big break came when I was the only American citizen. So I was able to migrate a lot of my uncle's clients to the US. There's a small town in South Carolina, it's called Barnwell. It's bordering with the state of Georgia.

Nico  
And I had I worked in commercial real estate before I got into Bitcoin. And my clients would send me all their properties and send me details. And one time I got this, like all the specs of this property is a 500,000 square foot facility. It used to be an old pantyhose factory. So it had all the electrical infrastructure already in place, and I called the guy I'm like, if you're a Bitcoining? It's like no, I'm like, let me ask you something, off the top of the head off the top of your head. Do you know what the electrical capacity of this facility is? He's like, no, but I'll get back to get a text message the next day. 10 10 megawatts, Mike. What are you paying for electricity? 

Nico  
Oh, we're getting between three and four. So I'm like okay, so I literally got on a plane, start mining there, then 2018 hit, that was bad. Had to go back to Fiat mining like they say, and I got into bitcoin media in 2020, that's when I started simply Bitcoin. In that era, there was no Bitcoin only media was in its infancy. So, there was crypto and Bitcoin media, but there wasn't Bitcoin media, right. And the theory of the case is, and I said this at Bitcoin 2021 on the mainstage. I said, let's take the tools and tactics of the Altcoin channels with the click Beatty thumbnails and you know, trying to get your attention. And let's apply it to Bitcoin content. That was, that was the theory. You know, fast forward a couple years later, you know, ended up working somewhat. 

Nico  
And that's when I got a job offer from from Swan Bitcoin. I joined them and I led their YouTube team for about a year and completely revamped their content strategy. And, you know the bull market started to pick up or sponsors started to pick up but I wanted to some experience in the corporate world, but it's not for me. I don't like working at big companies. I don't think anyone does really, and decided to go back independent again, the beginning of this year, January 2024 and it's been great. So, that's, that was my whole Bitcoin career and experience. It's been a wild ride. It's been a wild 8 years. But you know, they don't call it the Bitcoin rollercoaster for no reason.

Mike Peterson  
 And you guys put out shows daily or multiple times a week, or what's your schedule for shows? 

Nico  
So on simply Bitcoin we post a Daily Live Show, it's about an hour long. Where we cover the news from the Bitcoiners perspective, from Monday to Friday at 12 15pm, Eastern Standard Time. We also put out three pieces of original content. So what do I mean by that? It's YouTube specific content. So 10 to 15 minute retention, edited content, we post that three times a week. And we also post between 7 to 14, YouTube shorts or Tiktok vertical video style content. We post that weekly as well, so that's our current content schedule.

Mike Peterson  
That's a lot. 

Nico  
Yeah, we currently post more than any other Bitcoin only media organization. I think Swan is a close second. But that's because I was there.

Mike Peterson  
And they have multiple people doing it, right? 

Nico  
Yeah, they have, they have a pretty Swan. First of all, I loves one great media team, great company. But yeah, they have obviously to have more resources than us being an on ramp. Yeah.

Mike Peterson  
Yeah, no, I have a hard time getting my one show out a week. So I can imagine that that's keeps you busy. 

Nico  
Yes. Creating content is definitely extremely rewarding but it's definitely a grind. It's it's sometimes mentally, you know, the burnout is real for sure.

Mike Peterson  
Yeah. I enjoy. I mean, I enjoy the long format setting just to get to know people. It's kind of a selfish pursuit because I just, I enjoy sitting down and getting to hear people's life stories and you get to know people a lot quicker during a podcast, then you can often knowing them for months. Sometimes people I thought I know I sit down and all these things come out. So I really enjoy it. What, what is kind of the goal kind of longer term with the channel? It's just continuing to build usership or do you feel or viewership or do you feel like there's a longer term role that you guys would play in the Bitcoin space?

Nico  
Yeah. So we want to guide people through the separation of money and state and we're living through a very tumultuous time in human history. We are not only living through the disintermediation of information, but also the disintermediation of money. And making media and just being mad like I love media, I consume it a lot. This is narrative trench warfare, it's hand to hand on the battlegrounds of the internet, you know. If tweets or bullets, memes, or artillery, and what we're trying to do is we're trying to win over the hearts and minds of the masses to really get them to see the truth, that is not left versus right. It's not Democrat versus Republican. 

Nico  
It's not liberal versus conservative. It's the party of grain the party of fiat, versus the party of Bitcoin. 90% of the world's nations are actively developing a central bank digital currency. So when I been Bitcoiners, slavery, that's not a hyperbolic statement. And our mission at simply bitcoin is to wake up the masses and I truly believe that if enough people wake up and they see the truth and Bitcoin, Bitcoin is a great unifier. I think the whole left and right trope is the divide and conquer method used by by politicians. So that's what we tried to do. We tried to provide guidance and it started as a hobby became a podcast and that you know, evolved into a small media business and we're very extremely grateful to be here. And we work extremely hard to provide people guidance and value in in the stuff that we create.

Mike Peterson  
So who are the companies that are supporting you guys? Let's plug them together. 

Nico  
So, Bitcoin well Bitcoin well is the best place to build your automatic self custody Bitcoin stack stamped seed you can't you have to store your generational wealth properly, right? So you want to stamp your seed phrase on titanium not on paper, kaboom racks best place to buy your Bitcoin miners passport foundation devices, you know, you got to take self custody of your Bitcoin right? 

Nico  
You know, not your keys, not your cheese, orange polyp. The social layer that's the social layer of Bitcoin stack friends who stack SATs, and of course, the Bitcoin way. You know, your Bitcoin IT team. So we, we have a variety of Bitcoin companies that support the show. We've, were previously sponsored by major Bitcoin companies as well, including Swan and Blockstream. So, you know, we just try to find the, I don't like to call them spartannerd sponsorships. I like to call them partners because that's really what they are. So we're very picky, we're very extremely picky on who we choose to partner because we're exposing that to our audience who puts faith and trust in us to, you know, give them the proper information. And we choose to partner with Bitcoin only companies and the which align with our ethos, so.

Mike Peterson  
No, I know and that's, that can be challenging in this space, it's challenging for the conferences, because a lot of times the Bitcoin companies are bootstrapping. They don't have a lot of money for those type of things. But all the alt coins, you know, they're print their own currency. So they're throwing money at everybody. And so everybody in the Bitcoin space is like, we have to turn her away all the big money were offered, because we want to stay true to our principles. So I appreciate that you guys are doing that.

Nico  
We don't. We tend not to partner up with startups anymore. But yeah, we tend to partner up with more established companies that have bigger marketing budgets. 

Mike Peterson  
But I think even in the even the more established companies, their marketing budgets are on a different level than a lot of that, you know, they do an ICO and they they raise hundreds of millions of dollars, and they're just throwing money at people, so.

Nico  
Yeah, definitely. You definitely, you know, the shit coin companies are just throwing this left and right. But we're the, I hate to call it a product, but the show that we produce is structured in a way where. You know, we provide tremendous amount of value for our customers. And they see that and they're willing to pay for the value that they're receiving.

Mike Peterson  
Oh, that's awesome. Love that. So well, Salvador. Yes. You ready to move here yet? Or I think I saw a tweet was that you the other day that put a tweet out about that?

Nico  
It was I did tweet it and I actually tweeted also that I was able to pay for the immigration entry fee and Bitcoin and it was retweeted by the president was second time had been tweeted by the President. So it's surreal. I always send that to my parents and they're like, oh my God, my son's made it. But yeah, this is an incredible country. The energy and the vibe and the optimism that I feel from people is very unique. I've lived in Dominican Republic, I've lived in Colombia, spent a great amount of time in Ecuador. All these Latin American countries and what you feel in El Salvador is very special. On the way to the auction dinner, which you and I attended. I you know, my shoe broke. So I literally, I went to the reception. I said, Do you have a Loca, which is crazy glue and they didn't have. So you know, I got an Uber and I said, hey can you take me someplace? And he took me to some bodega, mostly in Latin America, you don't want to do that. Like it's a very bad idea. 

Nico  
And so we stopped at a bodega literally got out and I went to the store guy, I'm like, hey, can I do crazy glue? He's like, yeah we have crazy glue. I'm like, do you take card, do you take Bitcoin? He's like, no, the guy next to me. I don't know who he is, right? Literally total stranger. He literally just took money out of his wallet paid for my crazy glue. I'm like, are you serious? Like, can I pay? He's like, no, don't worry about it. And that level of kindness is a common theme and pattern that I keep seeing over and over again. And I think it's a representation of the people's optimism in the future that they have, not only because of Nayib Bukele
. 

Nico  
But because the base layer of society is now sound, its most of the world is operating on a broken base layer, right? Which misaligned the incentive structure. And now you have a whole nation state where the base layer sound, and the incentive structure is now fixed. And who could have known? Is it a coincidence that the first country that made Bitcoin legal tender also has the most popular president in the Americas? That's a big coincidence, my friend, there's a, you know, there's a broadcaster that I really like. And he has a really famous saying, and he says, there are no conspiracies, but there are also no coincidences.

Mike Peterson  
Yeah, no, I think that it was a very shrewd move by the President on a lot of levels. But obviously, Bitcoin takes on a life of its own and bringing that into the country has, has put him on the global stage. I think if he hadn't made that choice, nobody would be covering the the gang things and all the other stuff. That's because he's buck that. So one comparison I hear from people, which I find quite ironic and funny. But I'd be curious to hear your take since you were born in Venezuela or your parents.

Nico  
I was actually born in Germany. 

Mike Peterson  
Okay. 

Nico  
Yeah. And I was born to to Venezuelan parents, my dad had a computing company at the time, in Germany, they actually never gave me a passport. I had to go get a visa, which is interesting and we were able to my dad's company ended up becoming relatively successful, and we were able to move to Miami. And most of the time, the reason I still speak Spanish and I have the accent, is I spent a lot of my time in Venezuela because my parents would drop me off with my grandma. And, you know, kind of spend a lot of time you know, between Germany, Venezuela, and then eventually we moved to to Miami. 

Mike Peterson  
Okay. So people will compare, they'll try to compare Bukele to Chavez or sometimes Maduro and which seems just silly to me. But I curious as to what you would say to those people about that comparison.

Nico  
I think, the populism aspect, you can say that there are similarities. I think, from the ideological perspective, I think it's a little bit different. The Chavez government, he's incredibly popular, took a more kind of left wing, socialistic approach, which completely destroyed the country within 20 years.

Mike Peterson  
Just kept taking over businesses.

Nico  
But it was crazy like it, there's something called Godliness. So like, essentially, he would literally just go on TV for hours and hours. And there's like very famous videos of him just walking through town saying, that store over there repatriated, that store over there repatriated back to the people, right? So he took a more kind of socialistic approach, I think, if the 20th century is any type of teacher. Socialism kills a lot of people. So, I think it's tried and tested that, in my opinion, the best way to organize a society is a capitalistic society, free market society. That has the best incentive structure that doesn't rely on coercion. 

Nico  
And I think Nayib Bukele is becoming, not only does he protect property rights, but he also likes the free market. The tax incentives that he set up here are very attractive to potential entrepreneurs that are looking to migrate towards the country. I think what happened in Venezuela was the polar opposite, where perhaps he was a populist as well. But he took a socialist approach. He put his friends in control the oil sector, he took the quote, unquote foreigners out, the ones that knew how to actually run the things. And right now, even though Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, they don't even have the capability of extracting it and refining it. 

Nico  
It's absolutely absurd, right? So, no, I think it's a totally different approach from an ideological and economic perspective. But you could make the case that from the populace perspective, it's similar in the sense because it's like no, he's going to the everyday man and saying like. Look like I don't want to say I'm here to fix your problems, but I have a solution, like I mean, his own party is called noisy this Nuevas Ideas right? So yeah, I am incredibly bullish on Nayib Bukele. What he's doing here is an inspiration not only to the world but to the region. I think a lot of other countries are are looking and they might follow in his footsteps.

Mike Peterson  
Now, it's, that makes a lot of sense what you're saying because he does. Like Chavez had that charisma and and Boo Kelly definitely has a but he's, I think Bukele, he has learned by seeing that you don't want to take over private business. You want to encourage private business, even as the economy has boomed and there's been some push of like, oh, we need rent controls or we need this or that he keeps pushing back. Like, no, we need to build more housing, we need to like, encourage the economy to expand because anytime you try to bring those controls in, they always wind up backfiring on you. 

Nico  
100%. Yes, yes.

Mike Peterson  
So when you move down?

Nico  
Well, I just, you know, I just got married, and I had a baby.

Mike Peterson  
Have you talk to your wife about it first?

Nico  
I've been talking to my wife about it. Actually, you know, I have we have a running joke. It's simply Bitcoin. We say you know, we're going to try to hold it down here in the US. But if things go bad, we're gonna move to El Salvador and we're gonna rebrand rebrand to simplement every coin, right? But no, we just had a baby a month ago. 

Mike Peterson  
Congratulations. 

Nico  
Thank you so much. 

Mike Peterson  
Did you get any sleep? 

Nico  
No, I'm not.

Mike Peterson  
So this is a this is a refreshing trip for you or is your wife join you?

Nico  
Bitcoin conferences at this point are work for me? Yeah. 

Mike Peterson  
But at least you're sleeping through the night, right? 

Nico  
No, because I have to wake up at 8 am to prep for my show. So, no, not kidding. You know, it's definitely my sleeping schedule is completely been destroyed since the birth of a baby girl. Yeah.

Mike Peterson  
Our first one everybody kept telling us I will get better. It was like a year before it finally got better. 

Nico  
Yeah, but hopefully years. 

Mike Peterson  
Much quicker than that. So.

Nico  
Just taking it day by day and doing my best.

Mike Peterson  
So everybody always tells I remember that time people would say like, this time is gonna fly by and those the first couple years did not fly by they were like, challenging. But then they hit that sweet spot, like from like, four to five years old till they get to their preteen years. Those are like the years that fly by and then they get into their preteen years and that's when the drama starts. So, but yeah, nothing better than parenthood. I just yeah,  I know, some people can't have kids and but I mean, I just can't imagine like life without being able to see yourself reproduced, your kids achieving things and such a great privilege. So that's exciting.

Nico  
And in Bitcoin culture, you know, I really think this has to do with the money being broken, but like in Bitcoin culture, like reproducing is like like, which is like the norm of all of human history. It's like, yeah it's great to have babies. It's great to have a family versus what is like rampant in the west right now. Is this idea of like, don't have kids.

Mike Peterson  
Yeah, that's been so weird for me. Like, it's no, it's bad for the environment, or we can't afford it. It's like, it's unhuman. Nobody can afford it. They just do it and you figure it out. 

Nico  
It's crazy. It's crazy to me, but But you heard the lead there, right?

Mike Peterson  
Sorry. Sorry.

Nico  
You buried the lead right there. Okay, where you said that no one can afford it, right? No one could afford it because they're not on a Bitcoin standard yet. I did a show last week and I said the what you hear is housing prices, like can't afford a house, right? The American dream is the white picket fence, you have a house. You know, one of the two parents goes to work one of the two parents takes care of the kid. And ever since the American Dream is dead, you can't afford housing. I'm like dude, if you've been living on a Bitcoin standard, housing has gotten 90% cheaper. Not only is the American dream, not dead. The American Dream has been exported worldwide. If you've been living on a Bitcoin standard, the problem is that most of the world is on a Fiat standard. So they think they can afford it but that's just because they're using the wrong unit of account.

Nico  
It's funny. We're Preston and I were doing a podcast earlier and he was bringing that same thing up. He's like, no prices have been plummeting, if you are denominated in Bitcoin, which most people aren't and it's our job. 

Nico  
Yeah, it's our job as content creators to really wake people up to that reality that reality of like, look like your life will improve tremendously. If you adopt a Bitcoin standard, regardless of your ideologically, ideological, religious, whatever type of beliefs you have, right? Broken money will affect you, right? So yeah, it's amazing what happens when you live on a Bitcoin standard. And to kind of add to that, you have not only has nine books totally been vindicated for him putting Bitcoin on. You know, on the country's balance sheet and treasury, but on the public company level as well like what Michael Saylor is doing, and the fact that his strategy is outperforming everything else in the stock market is insane. 

Nico  
But all the big quarters are just like, yeah, obviously, I would have told you this. But the fact that it's getting proven at those levels, is game changing. And then you put into this, the ETFs getting approved in January. And then you have the CEO and the chairman of the world's largest asset manager on legacy financial media and literally saying all the Bitcoin talking points. And then on top of that, you have the halving and less than 30 days. And what do you think's going to happen to the price, bro? I mean, this thing's not going to the moon, it's going to fucking Pluto. I don't know if I can curse. I apologize but that's the reality. 

Mike Peterson  
No price is the one thing I'm not worried about. I am worried, you know, I do have concerns around the ETFs. And the other things that and then we'll see more and more the government using soft power to push people to. Your bitcoins okay, but do it in the sanctioned vehicles, which ultimately they can control. And so, you know why while the ETFs have definitely driven up price, I definitely have some concerns that you know, whether that's that's the right direction for things. Especially, as we see in El Salvador, just the importance of people being able to use it in their daily life. And so that's, that's the thing. I'm hoping that it doesn't derail that but we'll have to say.

Nico  
Yeah. And you know, that's also a really good point, right? Which is, from a price standpoint. The ETFs are a positive, but from a revolutionary aspect. What is the revolution? The revolution is individuals taking back their financial sovereignty, through taking control of their wealth, right. By a very fancy way of saying take self custody. And I think the ETFs are an extremely convenient way for people that have been living in the Fiat matrix, to get exposure to Bitcoin, without having to take the personal responsibility of learning how to take self custody. So again, from the price standpoint, it's great, but from a revolutionary aspect, not so good. The ETFs currently now hold 4% of the total. If you include Michael Saylor's Bitcoin stack, that's another 1%. 

Nico  
So the ETFs and MicroStrategy have 5% of the total Bitcoin supply, right? And, you know, the ETFs only been around what, 2 months? So but at the end of the day, I'm like, you know of any anyone who's listening to this right now. Like, if you're selling your Bitcoin right now, you're saying you're selling it to Larry Fink? Don't put yourself in that position. Don't sell your Bitcoin to Michael Saylor, Larry Fink. You know, and then the other thing that I always hear is like, I always hear this like, Nico, when are you going to sell? And I'm like, dude like sell for what? And then, what do you mean? Like, are you going to cash out and like, okay, hold on. 

Nico  
So you want me to cash out for something that is absolutely scarce, there is no privileged elite that can just create it out of thin air with no costs. You want me to trade that of which I have full custody of, to something that could just be created out of thin air that I don't have custody of. If let's say I did want to take custody of large amounts of dollars, and let's say for whatever reason, the police or something stopped me. They would automatically confiscate it and say that you're somehow involved in a crime. And you're telling me that you want me to sell Bitcoin for that? Like, dude like, what are you smoking, bro? Like again, It's an educational issue, I don't blame them.

Mike Peterson  
No. And I think we need to change the narrative from selling Bitcoin to just living on a Bitcoin standard where you're spending Bitcoin because that's your unit of account. That's what you're operating on. I always tell people, if you're not spending Bitcoin, you're holding too much Fiat. So I know that's easier to say living down here in El Salvador where it's legal tender, but I think that's the direction all of us want to go. Where you spend it, because that's all you have. 

Nico  
No. 100% 100% And I think, you know, I've been living on a Bitcoin standard for quite a while now. And I can't recommend it enough to people. 

Mike Peterson  
You spend less, right? Because we're spending Bitcoin you think, do I really need this when you're spending dollars? So that's how I always tell people it's the best budgeting tool you could ever take is to live on a Bitcoin standard, because then you will only buy the essential.

Nico  
It hurts. It hurts to spend money when you're living on a Bitcoin standard, it makes you think. Do I really need this thing? Like, do I really need this you know, this car where I can just get this car that gets me from A to Z? And, you know, I think most of the world is still operating under that Fiat operating system. And I feel bad for them because I think that they inherently know something is wrong, which is why you're seeing the rise of populism everywhere, including the United States. Like look at the political environment, holy cow, right? So I think people inherently know something is wrong, I think where they get it wrong. This the liberals and the conservatives is that they're just blaming each other. But regardless of what political party gets in power, they all do the same shit. Keep cursing, I'm sorry, they all do the same stuff, though. 

Mike Peterson  
They just print. 

Nico  
They just print money and it makes everyone poor. 

Nico  
Yeah, right. Now, it's, but like you said, it is palatable, people can feel that something's wrong. They know, they're like, wait I have more education than my parents, I'm supposed to be further along. Yet, I can't afford the home that my parents had on one income when we have two incomes. And, you know, they might have nicer TVs, or nicer cars or going nicer vacations, but like, they're worried about their medical care. And they're, you know, the housing thing is the biggest component that people feel like they're falling behind. I'm like, that's because you are you're like, but no, we're not because we're making more money. No, you actually aren't, you're earning less money because the currency has been the base so much, but the government just keeps hiding it.

Nico  
Yeah. 100%. And that's like the insidious part about inflation. Like, you know, you can only raise the the the income tax so far. But with inflation, it's insidious, because you're looking at your account and the number is still the same, right? But the purchasing power, and then not to mention the gaslighting, which is just absurd, which is literally what we do and simply Bitcoin, like we'd literally highlight that where, you know, they have the goal to like, go on TV. The person in the suit with the official emblem behind them, and they'll say, we're not expecting inflation. And then, you know, all the Bitcoiners and Twitter's saying, they're printing a record amount of money, there's going to be inflation. Then a year later, 2 years later, I was wrong about there not being inflation. And then meanwhile, the entire time that Bitcoin, Twitter is talking about there being inflation, they're literally saying that's misinformation. So and then. 

Mike Peterson  
Well, then it was inflation is good. 

Nico  
Yeah. And then it was the supply chains. And then like, it's like, you know, they blame everything and anyone but themselves, but they are the ones that are solely responsible for this. And, again, it's an educational issue, because I think that people have been accustomed to live in a world where they've been psyops into thinking that money somehow has to lose purchasing power in order to function. And it's just like, absurd, like, it is. 

Mike Peterson  
Like, 2% is the norm that how do we get down from the heaven that 2% was good? 

Nico  
Yeah. And I love what Jeff booth says where he's like, you like the 2% number. It's just enough where people don't realize they're being stolen from, right? And it's so spot on, right? And then they ask drone pals like why 2% like well, some central bank in New Zealand like they said 2% is like the number. So it's just insane. 

Mike Peterson  
That's why GPEDC chose 2% for their fee. 

Nico  
That's right. Because people are accustomed to it. So yeah. 

Mike Peterson  
Let's take 2% for them and they will notice. 

Nico  
It's a crazy, crazy world that I mean they don't call it clown world for no reason. 

Mike Peterson  
Yeah, right. So so you when did you get in?

Nico  
I got in on Monday.

Mike Peterson  
Monday. Okay, so did you spend any time in El Zonte before you?

Nico  
I stopped by the Bitcoin hardware store okay. I stayed in.

Mike Peterson  
Awesome huh. There's so cool there's a store solely dedicated to Bitcoin cold wallets and seed plates.

Nico  
And it's it's like again, it was a coincidence that we had them on the show, like I think like 5 days before to highlight. These, one of our one of the segments of the show. We break it down into parts and we have little commercial breaks in between we break it down two blocks, first segments called the numbers. So we'll go through block height, price, all that stuff. And then we'll react to a video, then we cover the news. And then the Culture segment is completely dedicated to the guests. And we pride ourselves to being one of the very few shows in Bitcoin, where we get Bitcoiners from all walks of life. Like today, I literally could not stop, like, we brought this very low key fellow. Okay, he goes by the name of Seth. 

Nico  
And we were I was so hyped because we were filming in El Salvador, I had Greg zag one of the main factory guys with me. And you know, we had a crazy news day today because Coinbase decided to integrate the Lightning Network. And then we were getting tired mentally I know, right? And then we're getting to the Culture segment. And the guy started talking about his project, and it was called Lightning Goats. And like, I don't, I don't my co host opti deals with the culture sec, I don't deal with it. Like I deal with the news and the numbers and all that stuff. And you know, the business side of things.

Nico  
 And I'm like optic you know, it's I read, I read the ad read and I'm like, up to you. It's, it's your time, like it's whatever and he starts talking. And he's like, can we share the screen, I'm like, okay we share the screen. He has a live stream, okay? Of goats and a pen, and a Lightning QR code on the top. And if you send a certain amount of lightning to this QR code, there's a food dispenser and it dispenses goat feed. And I pull up my phone and I send the lightning, I send the SATs. The food drops, and all the goats on the livestream got mheee, and they're all like flocking towards the food. 

Nico  
And I'm just laughing Mike, I'm like, oh my God is absolutely crazy. It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. And, you know, we like to highlight that and the way that the show is structured, like I said earlier, is we try to get people to click on the video. So we make very high engagement type of titles, with the sole purpose of getting people to click. So when they're when people already, when they already commit to your content, the probability that they'll sit through it is actually pretty high. So, we get people exposure Bitcoiners exposure that don't necessarily have a big platform that people might don't necessarily wouldn't want to hear from. 

Nico  
But it's not because they wouldn't want to hear from them. It's just that they don't know who they are, right? So but that doesn't mean and I say this with because I love you know, the the big guys like Preston is so smart, Luke Boyles, Peter Breedlove. Like they're so smart and great content creators really good at what they do. But you hear them a lot, right? Some of the most interesting stories have ever heard are from Bitcoiners. Like from for today. I've never heard of that guy in my life and he just came up with the most one of the most badass projects I've ever seen. And this guy's an OG Bitcoiners. He's been around since 2013 and he's like, look like I just wanted to build a goat pen. And he's like, I don't even have this on Twitter. This is only on nostril, like the guy was an absolute badass. So yeah, like we pride ourselves in trying to highlight Bitcoiners from all walks of life.

Mike Peterson  
That's been one of the funnest things for me doing the Bitcoin beach podcast is we get, you know, we get some of the big names but we also get people that are just doing little niche things that are super cool that we happen to hear about because they obviously want to come to El Zonte because it's become kind of the Mecca for Bitcoiners. And so they're coming through and they got you know, Paco or somebody else will will meet them be like, dude, we gotta have this person on and so. So I get that, that's great. I love that. And that's, I think it's important that we have that wider exposure to all the kinds of cool things that are going on in the Bitcoin space.

Nico  
100%. Because there's a revolution of of individuals, right. And I think everyone has a part to play. Obviously, you know, you're me and you, we love we love making content. We're, you know, we're media people. But, you know, there's people that are coders, there's people that build goat pens that are, you know, fed by lightning like, it's awesome. There's people that are developers, there's people that are miners, right. So I think everyone has something to contribute to this and to this movement because it really is Bitcoin or slavery. Like what and I just had a child like for me, I take it extremely personally. What type of future do you want your children to live in? Do you want Your children to live in a future of central bank digital currencies? 

Nico  
Or do you want your children to live in a future of Bitcoin and Andrew Breitbart had an amazing quote called, basically went along the lines of I'm paraphrasing, maybe I'm gonna butcher it. But basically it says that politics is downstream from culture. You want over that you want to win the political game, win over the culture, you want to know, how will you win over the culture? What we're doing right now. This is culture, Bitcoin music is culture, Bitcoin art is culture, right? And we need to essentially create a culture where making babies is good. Watching your health is good. Eating steak is okay, right? You know, being an ambitious entrepreneur is okay. Capitalism is okay, right? And we don't live in that world right now. So, you know, one step at a time. But I think we're gonna win because we have the best incentives and I think what they have is coercion.

Mike Peterson  
I think that sums it up pretty well. Speaking of steak, I think we're gonna go eat steak right now. Let's make sure people can find the channel or is there anything else that we haven't addressed that we haven't covered? I need to get back though El Zante for some serious time, if you just pass through.

Nico  
If you have me on again. I'll go. 

Mike Peterson  
Well, yeah, you come in this weekend.

Nico  
I leave Saturday and then I go to. 

Mike Peterson  
We have events going on Saturday and Sunday. 

Nico  
I heard I got invited to the Berlin one. But no, I have a bit block boom out the next week and we're doing the production for them. 

Mike Peterson  
Your wife probably wants to see. 

Nico  
Exactly. I've seen my baby girl, so.

Mike Peterson  
I will support that. 

Nico  
That it's a good excuse, right? Always. But yes, the stakes stakes sound really good and it's been an honor and thank you so much for having me on your.

Mike Peterson  
Well, you'll have to bring your wife and kid down to you know, spend a week in El Zonte. It's a perfect place for you to show to so. 

Nico  
Oh 100%. 

Mike Peterson  
I will even help you out with studio and or whatever you need. 

Nico  
Can I do a show from your studio? 

Mike Peterson  
Oh yeah, 100%. 

Nico  
Okay, count me, count me and she's my wife's better at this whole podcasting thing than I am. So really, she's a natural, you know, so? Yeah, well.

Mike Peterson  
That would be great. Ya know, we always tell people hey, you come down, we'll help you with the studio, whatever you need. We we love people coming down and getting the word out about what's happening in El Zonte. And, and the real world, you know, we're not trying to tell people that tell a certain story, like tell the real story. Yeah, I went someplace. And they said, no, they wouldn't take Bitcoin but these places did. And yeah, it's a work in progress and I think it's important to be real that these things don't happen just overnight. But people who have come to El Zonte, a few years ago and come now are just like, oh my gosh, like the amount of progress. What happened? So we will hold you to come and down. It's actually well, I guess you live in Miami, so there's no cold winter to escape from usually that's how I try to entice people.

Nico  
It's always the same temperature hot or kind of hot. 

Mike Peterson  
So it's kind of like so at least you're you know, I it won't be a shock to your system. So just feel like Miami here?

Nico  
It's a it's obviously a little bit hotter, right? 

Mike Peterson  
Is it hotter here?

Nico  
Yes, it's a little bit hotter. 

Mike Peterson  
Okay. So we will look forward to seeing El Zonte  and yeah. We'll hold it down until then. 

Nico  
Absolutely, thanks for having me.